Her eternal game of hide and seek was something she almost always found herself doing in the days that followed being set free on the woods around their family den. It was just so much fun when she had so many siblings to sneak up on and spook! She hadn't managed to actually sneak up on her dad yet since he always seemed to notice her before she got to him, but that just meant she needed to practice, practice practice! Right now her target was her winged brother and she crept along the forest floor, hiding in bushes and practicing working her way through the branches without being seen. It was pretty easy to squeeze through the branches of the small brush and bushes since she was as small as most of the gaps she found, but it did make her wonder what would happen once she was as big as her momma and dad. How would she sneak around then?!

Wynter's game was cut a little short though as she squeezed through a particularly dense bush and lingered there for a moment, peering out at Wylan as she watched him going about his day, but he began to walk away and when she went to follow she realized that she had managed to squeeze herself into something that was not so easy to get out of. The bush had thorns on some of its branches, but there were more thorns facing inward than outward for whatever reason. That made it easy enough to get in, but whenever she tried to get out they immediately began to poke and pull at her sides. She huffed with annoyance, her ears flicking back as she tried yet again to get out, crawling through the spiky branches until she finally toppled out very ungracefully onto the other side, rolling forward and flopping onto her back with more than a couple new cuts scattered over her sides and shoulders. None of them were very big or deep, but they did certainly sting. "Owwwwww..." she muttered grumpily with a huff as she started to roll to her paws.

"Wynter Fatalis"

Wylan was making his way through the clearing around their home, examining the plant specimens that grew wild here. He was trying to learn their names, and commit them to memory when his mother told him what they were. He didn’t want to be one asking her every other minute what the same plant was! He picked a couple flowers for no other reason then he thought they looked pretty, and maybe his mumma would like them? He started to move off, further into the woods when a sudden noise caught his attention. He frowned, turning his head to the side as he wondered what that scrambling noise was. Maybe it was a bird or a squirrel? He took a couple steps backwards, listening. It seemed to be coming from that direction… He turned, and found his sister suddenly appearing from beneath a spiky bush, muttering to herself. “Wynny what happened” He asked, trotting quickly to her side. "Speech"

Of course her brother ended up spotting her as she fell out of her attempted hiding place so her cover was completely blown. She sighed and finished righting herself, wincing a bit at the little scratches that somehow managed to be everywhere that needed to shift or move with her. "I uhhhh... I thought there was something cool in the bush and I went in to get it, but then I got stuck. Turns out it was just a rock," she explained to cover her tracks, saying her lie surprisingly believably. Yep, definitely smooth and perfect on the recovery. She looked to the flowers that he had and started to divert the attention from her and her oh so graceful exit as quickly as possible. "Collecting flowers? What kind are they?" The lessons their mother had given them about plants hadn't really caught her attention the way it had some of her siblings, but she could at least pretend to be interested if it got the attention off of her and her failed spying for a moment.

"Wynter Fatalis"

“Was it at least a good rock?” He asked with interest as he leaned over her to have a look at her coat. Her fur was all over the place, and she had little nicks. He started to gently push her fur back the right way. “We should probably wash your cuts before mumma sees them” He advised her thoughtfully. “These? I’m not sure, I think they’re just flowers. I thought mum might like them” He explained, moving the flowers so that Wynter could get a better look at them. Hmm, had any of the herbs mum told him about help with her cuts? He as already mentally recalling the herbs in a list, trying to see if any would. "Speech"

Wynter shook her head with a disappointed frown, her own real frustration coming in handy as she huffed at his questioning over whether it was a good rock or not. "No, not even a good rock. Just a normal one. I think there must have been a shiny beetle on it or something when I peeked in that tricked me into thinking it was cool." Yep, that was totally what happened and this wasn't all just a cover up for her failed attempt at spying on him. Not in the slightest. Then he recommended that they wash off her cuts before their momma noticed and she glanced back at her own sides and legs where the dark fur was slightly clumped in places where the blood had seeped from her cuts. "Yeeeeah, I guess you're right..."

First though, she was going to find out about these flowers he had been carrying with him. She hummed and nodded as he explained that he thought they were just flowers that momma would like and Wynter immediately saw an opportunity to get in her mother's good graces before she noticed all the cuts from her shenanigans. "Well, they're very pretty!" she complimented with a nod. "If you help me wash off my cuts I'll help you pick more flowers for mom. We could make her the biggest bunch of flowers ever!" she suggested, hoping to ride on Wylan's coattails of collecting pretty flowers to distract their mother from how beat up she was.

"Wynter Fatalis"

Wylan could not be more oblivious. His sister said that one thing had happened, and he never for a moment doubted her. He frowned at the mention of the beetle tricking her. Right. Before he came to bed tonight, he needed to find a really good rock. Something that made up for the disappointment of this one. Clearly, his sister liked rocks. He would help her start her rock collection! He looked over at his sister with clear affection. “It’s a deal!” He agreed as Wynter spoke of washing off ehr cuts, and hunting for flowers. There was nothing he would rather do. He grinned at her, and immediately trotted off to grab the buckets their mother used for cleaning. He was pleased to find one full of water. Waddling awkwardly, he managed to carry the handle in his mouth and drag it over. It was far too big for him, and he sloshed more than a little over himself. “Alright, give me your leg” he said, grabbing a sponge from the water. "Speech"

As soon as Wylan agreed and immediately totted off to fetch some kind of supplies she breathed a little sigh of relief. Success! Her cover would last for another day. She followed him a bit as he went to get the wash bucket full of water and went to meet him half way so he wouldn't have to waddle with it so far. It was already a mess watching him slosh the big bucket around as it was. "Alright, alright," she agreed with a little chuckle as he told her to give him her leg. She sat back on her haunches and held up her foreleg where the little cuts were the most obvious so he could start washing it off with the sponge he was holding. Getting a mid day bath of sorts was certainly not on her plans for today, but neither had getting stuck in a thorny bush. She made sure to hold still just like she would have for their mother. He was already helping her out with erasing the evidence of her shenanigans so the least she could do was be a good patient.

"Wynter Fatalis"

Wynter was a great first patient, in fact. She gave him her paw with no fuss, and he was able to scrub down her ouchies and examine her fur for cuts. She had a bunch of little ones, but once he washed the blood away, there was little evidence of them beneath her fur. But there was a lot of little spots to watch, and a couple of them still bled after he’d washed them a couple times. Frowning at that, he ended up grabbing some cloths, and pressing them gently against the cuts. Holding them until they stopped dripping. That meant the blood was… clotting, right? Or something like that. When he was finally finished, he gave her fur a satisfied look. “Your not cold, are you?” He asked his sister. "Speech"