One pale paw hooked into the foot holds that the breaks in the rock and the thick vines created, her other black-dipped paws quickly following as she matched the steps of her mother who had taken the lead in their day of exploration. Now that their mom could see again she had of course immediately asked to go out and see something–anything, really–past the borders. Usually it was her dad that she was bothering for adventures and exploration, but now she could ask both of her parents! That meant double the chances for adventure! Today that request had brought them to a deeper ravine than the one they lived in, the hot sun making this place feel twice as lush, hot, and steamy than anywhere else she had been near their home. It wasn't uncomfortable, but she did notice the difference as they neared the bottom where the river ran past them.

She made soft 'oooh's and 'ahhh's as she followed behind her mother, looking around at all the weird looking plants that seemed to grow everywhere around here. Loving water the way she did, she of course hopped over to the river as soon as they were close enough for her to do so, swatting at the flowing water playfully and feeling the cool liquid wash over her paw pads. She did at least learn her lesson after the incident at the lake so she knew better than to do anything other than keep at least most of her paws firmly on the dry ground. Just over the sound of the rushing water, however, she caught the sound of a squeaking whine on the other side of the river, the sound pulling her attention with a curious tip of her head. "Momma? Do you hear that?"

"Rebel Klein"

Not much time slipped by before Rebel was asking her to take her outside the pack’s boundaries for some good old fashion exploration. Venom couldn’t deny her youngest daughter, especially when she wanted to relive her own childhood. Hers had been interrupted by the volcano’s eruption and her own father’s death. Life had been fully upended and her childhood was taken. Venom would do everything in her power to keep her own pups from experiencing that.

So Venom had her guard up, but she let herself taste the feeling of being so young and exploring a world never seen. Of course, as soon as Bel saw the water she was making a beeline. Venom chuckled and followed after her, keeping a watchful eye. She wasn’t deaf to the sounds her daughter heard, in fact Venom had been aware of something on the bank, but she hadn’t deemed it a threat. Her best guess was a muskrat, but perhaps she was wrong. "I hear it, what do you see?” She asked from behind her daughter, trying not to look as if she were about to spring at any moment should danger find them.

"Venom & Maverick"

Once her mom confirmed that she also heard the whining from the other side of the river, Rebel inched forward, both of her mismatched forepaws now standing in the shallow edges of the flowing river while she tried to get a better look at the other side. After some squinting she spotted a bit of movement from the brush on the other side and she watched as a little pup wiggled out from under the branches of a bush. She gasped softly, her eyes widening with surprise. It seemed like a pup like her, but really little and still wobbly on its feet. She couldn't really tell what kind of canine it was, but she could tell it wasn't another wolf at the very least. "Mom! Look!" she whispered excitedly, watching the pup for a few moments with her tail wagging excitedly, but the longer she watched the pup that was stuck on the other side of the river from her she started to notice how upset it looked and maybe a little lost.

Her smile faded into a frown and her magenta gaze shifted to look up and down the river a couple of times, looking for a place they could cross. She spotted a place where the river was shallow enough that some rocks were sticking up past the surface almost like stepping stones. Rebel turned and ran down the bank of the river and started to hop across to the other side, probably missing some kind of warning or scolding from her mother along the way in her determination to reach the lost pup. Once she was across the river she hurried over to where she had seen the little, fuzzy, gray and tan pup. She knew she was still little, but even compared to her the jackal pup felt tiny.

The pup saw her coming and cowered a bit, backing up toward the bushes where it had appeared from. She slowed down, her ears folding back as she tried to lower herself down and not look scary. "It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you!" she insisted even though she wasn't sure the pup would be able to understand her. She glanced back over her shoulder to see if her mom had followed, looking up at her with a pleading look. "Momma, we can take her back with us, right? She looks so scared!"

"Rebel Klein"

Venom’s sunset gaze searched the wrestling underbrush by the water just as Rebel was squinting and looking harder herself. The Empress tilted her head slightly as she scanned the area for any threats. Weak animals were a beacon to predators, herself included. Bel saw it first, and pointed her mother’s attention with excitement as the small jackal pup revealed itself unintentionally. Obviously scared, and quite scraggly looking, Venom couldn’t help but wonder if it had been abandoned. The old rule, more are born than can survive, was strong in nature this spring.

Rebel was confused, Venom watched as the girl went from curious excitement to confused concern as she looked up and down the stream, searching for a way to get across. Venom stayed close to her as she found a tiny path, she was ready to scoop the girl out of the water if and when she fell in.

Venom walked a fine line between hovering and standing back to let her children make their own mistakes and triumphs. She was there behind Bel, supporting her if she needed it as she approached the frightened puppy. As she suspected, Rebel didn’t take long to ask her mother to keep the abandoned jackal. She shook her head amusedly, "Of course, my dear.” It had only been a few weeks ago that she had found the little ocelot kitten for Renegade. "Lets be sure there are no parents around though. I’ll look around for a den.”

"Venom & Maverick"

Rebel looked up at her mother with the biggest magenta puppy eyes she could manage as she asked her mom to be allowed to take home the lost pup and when she confirmed that she could Bel grinned excitedly, her dark-tipped tail wagging behind her. The mention of making sure the parents weren't around though made her ears perk with the realization, obviously not having thought of that before. "Right! Yeah!" As much as she wanted to take the little jackal home so she could help her, she guessed it would be better to get her back to her parents if they could find them. But surely if her parents were around she wouldn't be like this, right? Her own parents were obviously around and she was very well taken care of so all pups that had their parents had to be taken care of!

Still, she agreed with her mother and began to help search for the den as well while still keeping an eye on the jackal puppy and trying to show the lost pup that she didn't mean her any harm. Eventually while she was walking along the line of brush by the river and peeking through the brush to try and spot any holes where a den might be she noticed the jackal pup start to follow her more closely and not look quite so wary. That made her happy and Bel's smile grew as she continued on her search, looking everywhere through the brush of the ravine and trying to pick up any scents that were kind of similar to the pup that was now following beside her.

Just as she was about to double back to rejoin her mother, a scent caught her attention and she stopped, poking her head into the brush to follow it. It seemed like the kind of scent she was trying to look for, but it seemed... off somehow. Curious and hopeful to find the pup's parents for it or at least confirm that she could come home with them, Rebel wiggled into the small space between some of the bushes and trees, following the scent trail. She stopped as she heard a whining behind her and she looked back, seeing that her new friend had stopped and wasn't following her any more, clearly not wanting to go this way. She frowned a bit, but she didn't want to force the scared pup to do something she didn't want to do so she kept going on her own–only to quickly see why the pup had stopped. Only a few moments after she turned back to her trail, she spotted a figure laying half buried under another bush that looked kind of like a bigger version of the pup they had found, but it wasn't moving and the ground was dark and stained around it. Luckily with the lack of light around them it was difficult to clearly see anything, but she was able to put together pretty quickly why the scent had smelled off. "Mooooom?" she called, her ears flicking back against her head.

"Rebel Klein"

Rebel seemed happy enough to agree to Venom’s guidelines before they just stole the puppy away to their home. She grinned happily as Bel wandered off, looking just as much as her mother was. The Empress couldn’t deny how proud she was of the young girl. Venom kept one sunset eye on her daughter and the jackal as she went the opposite side of the banks to look. She didn’t smell anything from this direction, but jackals were sneaky little things.

Venom wandered slowly up the bank, but her attention was swiftly garnered by Rebel’s little nervous voice. Immediately Venom doubled back and found the little pup hanging back, Rebel ahead, looking at something, and the smell of death on the air. Slowly her white gloved paws brought her closer, her gaze falling on the still body that Rebel had found. "I see, sweetheart.” She offered softly, kissing her daughter’s head as she aimed to steer her away from the carnage. "Come on, lets take our new friend home.”

"Venom & Maverick"