Week 4 Wher Bonding (Final Week)

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Revel1984

There, that was better. Music gave a confident nod once Bekah got as good as the pup suspected she could get her. At least now her attempts weren't actively unpleasant to listen to.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Day 4 Prompts

The first piece of wood that had found its way into the den had broken when Moonlight played with it. Too many strong wher pup bites and it had eventually snapped. The splintered remains had been taken away and another piece brought in. An adult wher had dragged in this new source of fascination. A thick tree branch that was longer than Moonlight herself. Still that just made it all the better for gumming and the green happily did so with her new toy.

As the age they would bond approached Misshapen found himself feeling even more lonely than usual. Some of his siblings seemed confident over the candidates that they liked and that liked them. The pups shared information like that. Misshapen, however, he knew several candidates that he liked, but determining which candidates liked him was a very different matter. Honestly he just wanted the whole thing to be over at this point. That was the state that the candidates found him in today, laying in a shallow wallow with his head on his forepaws.

The rock had been interesting, but Dyad had soon run out of things to throw it against. The gold had managed to snap a decent sized stick off of the branch that had been dragged into the den, but found it didn't make as satisfying sounds. Many times it didn't make much of any sound at all as she threw it. This toy didn't seem as interesting as the one from yesterday. Clearly sticks were only good for chewing and didn't make for many possibilities.

 

[Earisa]

It wasn't unusual to see Misshapen looking down. The smaller bronze had taken great strides over the weeks from being a timid little thing sitting in the corner to sitting openly on the sand. Jelric had thought bronze whers were supposed to me more aggressive, but it must be a trait they age into because neither of them in this clutch compared to their golden sister. The man wasn't sure what he should do for Misshapen this time, he had stopped bringing in things because he felt bad to take them away and food was no longer a constant demand. They were also getting much too big to be held anymore.

The large branch clogging up much of the free space looked like it had been ripped straight from the tree, some sticks still holding leaves. Jelric snapped a few of these off, planting them in the sand on either side of Misshapen's paws. Jelric really didn't know where he was going with this, but maybe the bronze would respond.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Earisa

Misshapen at least looked up when Jelric arrived. He liked this one. They seemed nice. Patient. Still the bronze found it difficult to view the candidate's pleasant behaviour as anything other than pity. Still he watched with interest as the candidate placed the sticks and leaves in front of him. The purpose was beyond the pup, but it was pleasant to have to company all the same. Shifting his head to look directly at one the pup blinked sharply when the huff of his breath had the leaf dancing around. Tilting his head the bronze moved his nose closer, letting out a quiet peep of confusion as the leaf continued to dance on his breath. How was it moving?  

[Revel1984]

A new day and Bekah was free again to interact with the young whers, she saw moonilight happily chewing on a large branch and decided not to disturb her for the moment. She'd been about to approach misshapen who looked sad but another candidate got there first, that was ok, so instead she went towards Dyad, trying not to let colour influence any of her decisions now it was clear, the Wher chose, not her. She sat near Dyad, (out of stick hitting range) and started to draw in the sand, hoping to pique the gold wher's interest in something else.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Revel1984

The stick didn't really have as many possibilities as the rock. At least not that weren't the same as the rock. Throwing it was less satisfying and the noises it made less variable. It was pleasant enough to have something to carry, but Dyad found that too quickly became boring. Walking through the den she noticed a candidate sitting nearby and drawing in the sand. Briefly the gold looked down at the drawing. It didn't seem to be of anything important from her perspective, but the pup was a practical sort. Giving a dismissive snort the gold turned her head a plunged the stick into the ground. Bekah could use that if she wanted, Dyad was done with it anyway.  

[Revel1984]

Bekah knew when Dyad came over, she'd been watching after all, thankfully she was better at drawing than she was at carrying a tune, though all she'd done was doodle random lines. When Dyad dropped the stick near her she had an idea "Hi there, want to watch?" she asked, then attempted to draw a picture of Dyad in the sand, wondering if the wher could be interested in making art herself.  

[Earisa]

Something seemed to be working, the pup curious about the movement of leaves. They had not been allowed outside, their world so far was this small cavern and the things that were brought in, so they didn't know about leaves or even plants just yet. Jelric jostled one of the sticks he still held, showing how the leaves moved and bounced by small movement. They even made a sound as they hit each other, something like a faint combination of hissing and snapping. "They also can smell strange," snapping a leaf between his fingers and wafting it in front of the pups nose.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Revel1984

The gold remained standing, looking down at the sand as the candidate kept drawing. She recognised it as being a wher at least. Unfortunately Dyad wasn't the artistic type. The pup knew some of her siblings would enough such and activity, but it wasn't something that really called to her. There was nothing really to be learned from it. Seeing as Bekah hadn't taken the stick to use for her drawing, Dyad picked it up again. No point wasting it, she just might find another use for it. With another glance at the drawing and the candidate the pup turned to leave. It had been pleasant enough, but she really couldn't afford anymore frivolous distractions.

Earisa

Misshapen stared, wide-eyed at the leaves as they moved around. By now his vision was good enough that he could track them clearly. When Jelric jostled the sticks the pup flattened himself slightly more. The noise was different and had startled him for a moment. Carefully he began to perk up again, watching the shaking leaves with fascination. The pup even climbed to his feet when Jelric held the leaf in front of him, sniffing in the scent. It was so different. Nothing like the smell of wher, rock, and meat that he was used to. Perhaps getting ahead of himself the pup leaned forward and poked the leaf with his tongue before recoiling and shaking his head. Ew, okay, definitely not food.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Day 5 Prompts

The den was slowly becoming a little cramped for nine growing whers. Some were growing rather rambunctious and that could be troublesome for the ones that weren't. One pup that was definitely enjoying this moving business to the fullest was Moonlight. The green had managed to get passed toddling to be able to lope around the den in uneven bounds. She wasn't entirely in control of her motions and several siblings had been crashed into or bowled over by the spirited young wher.

Grave was peacefully minding his own business, like he always did. Lying in the sand calmly he was uninterested in Moonlight's bounding. That is until it came to directly involve him. The blue wasn't prepared to be pounced on. Maybe it was because they were larger now that the groan he let out sounded almost irritated. The pups were virtually the same size, but Grave was slightly thicker in the limb. Turning his body the blue kicked out with his limbs, shoving his sister away with a grunt. As Grave flopped back onto his side with a huff, Moonlight seemed unbothered, darting off away from her dull brother.

The branch had been of great interest to the pups. At times even entertaining multiple at once. For now though there was only one pup chewing on the wood, and that was Water. The pup was braced against the trunk of the branch, trying to pull a large offshoot away. Why he was trying this was uncertain, but it wasn't going very well. The blue's target was very thick and resisting Water's attempts almost completely.

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Day 6 Prompts

Sometimes it was just difficult to get comfortable, and for Blood today was one of those days. The green pup had tried lying on the rockier parts of the den and the sandier parts. Neither were any good. She'd tried piling up sand into a mound and lying on that, with no better results. Now she was trying to dig a wallow. Repeatedly scooping out sand and lying down, only to make an irritable sound and repeat the process.

Music had a source of irritation of her own. The green was found of sounds, specific sounds. The noises that the adult whers and the candidates made to communicate were very interesting to her and she, in turn, was rather vocal herself. Then there were her siblings. Most of the time they were fine, but as she grew older the green found her patience for some of their antics waning. It was when that patience ran out that she found herself marching over to Ancient with a single irritated bark. Stop that.

It is unlikely that Ancient realised that he was irritating his smaller sister. The brown was growing and as he grew he had found that he could actually make quiet an impressive amount of noise. The adults made plenty of noise, but were usually fairly gentle with their vocalisations. So when Ancient realised that not only could he make a loud honking sound, but also a rather impressive bugle he was very happy. Until Music appeared to scold him. Ancient didn't plan to have her tell him what he could and could not do. Drawing himself up the pup brought his snout close to that of his sister and honked. Loudly. It was about half a heartbeat later that the two were rolling around the floor of the den in an angry tangle.

 

[Revel1984]

Bekah was having one of those days, she'd woken up with a headache and no amount of Klah seemed to be helping, but she was determined to spend as much time as she could with the young whers, hoping one would choose her to bond with. She watched the antics of the young ones, Music shouting at Ancient and her head throbbed with every loud sound they made so she moved towards Blood, who looked just as uncomfortable as she felt "Want some help?" she asked, kneeling down near the wallow Blood was trying to make for herself, sympathetic to the fed up green.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Revel1984

Pausing her shifting of the sand Blood looked up at the candidate that had joined her. Making a sad whine she attempted to lie down again. Shifting about the wallow proved to not provide her with any comfort at all. Huffing the green pushed herself up again and looked at Bekah. Yes please, she couldn't get it right.