No rest for the wicked,

Faust noted Hawking has been gone.

He was one of the few individuals that was taking care of the bastardly brood, alongside of @Teodora and the visits of their eldest brother, @Warwick. The rest of the family tended to stray away or look at them with a scorn, but on occasion would she see @Maral. It felt like a kinship had formed, for not only the white on her toes matched their own alabaster, but she saved her from the wrath of another. She was left without wounds and only bruises that healed days later ; but it was a core memory, a core moment of knowledge that one was deemed as the enemy, and the other as family.

But since one of the caretakers were gone, she felt.. She wasn't sure. Faust went searching for him, and strayed a bit too far from the forest. Her small figured appearing outside of the trees, staring outside to the open fields she never seen before. A twinkle, within her blues as she saw nothing but the wide field and grass before them, coated with the flowers that brought a sweet aroma.

There was elk grazing, but they glanced over and cared no more as they munched toward the flowers. Meekly, carefully, did the young, abandoned Princess tip-toe closer into the fields of the range.. She could see there was a mountain close, but her vision couldn't see further that was the Winterheart Forest.

Faust looked around — was she.. okay doing this?

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It looked like Ceria was a little farther from home than she would've liked to be, too -- only difference was that the flame heart was old enough to afford that luxury. Any excuse she would take to stray as far away from their warlord as possible was a chance she would gladly take, and the farther away from pack territory she was, the more leads she could possibly find on Anai's dissappearence.

She searched everywhere in this feild. Scent trails, markings, fur clumps, a pile of shit. ANYTHING that belonged to her brother, Cancer was desperately in search for it yet found nothing in return. The girl was tired and within an hour of searching in this hot ass feild with these ugly deer: came up with nothing. In frustration she lashed out, grunting loudly, kicking up dirt and even snapping at the flank of a doe that happened to stray to close to Ceria in the middle of her tantrum, causing it to flee back towards the herd. But a tantrum wasn't gonna bring Anai back.

She was defeated, and in her frustration plopped herself to sit in the grass, scowling at her paws and thumping her tail against the ground. Though an ear flicked at the sound of grass moving around her, and an icy glare was snapped in the direction of the noise in alarm -- only to soften just a tad at the sight....it was just some dumb pup.

"Hey! Kid!" One that looked a little to young to be wandering without an adult around, right? Curious, Ceria called out to them to see if the sight of her would cause them to run back to their mother or somethin'...

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Faust knew about Elkshire. She understood the ranks, the allies, and the territories.. They claimed The Elk's Crown, where the herd lays, but with so to the forests around ; Royal Wisterian Woodlands, and Sleeping Doe's Range. Save, she was told, but to be sure to be with a guardian as the claim is lesser then the forest she was born in. It didn't occur to her the possibility of anyone besides an Elkshirian to come forth, and especially not someone that looked to be the same age as her brother.

They were adjourned with reds, a crimson that looked like the sunset and eyes that reminded of her brother and herself. She approached with an attitude, that reminded her all too well of @Edith — but they weren't a Deorwine. Stranger danger, but their mother instills of grace and majesty, even to the bastards she gave birth to ; to not shame her so. The small child lifted her head, smiling, and although she tried to mimic her absent parent, the lisp of a language could not be missed.

"Hows may I help you?"

Faust looked back at the forest, she was close enough she should be safe.. Right? If not, @Maral would save her again, right?

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To her suprise, the little kid didn't walk the opposite direction as Ceria approached, but would turn to greet the flameborne with a 'lil smile instead. Her ears flickered like springs hearing the girl speak -- with the slightest of lisp, too. Cancer was never educated on how old pups needed to be in order to form words, as her own memory of when she'd start cursing out either her dad or brother was nothing but a fuzzy blur she couldn't remember. All Ceria saw before her was someone's baby the she expected to start...babbling at her, or some shit.

"Help me?" The Pheonix asked with a raised brow, yet her voice nor body language did not hold agression towards the fawn; she was casual. Cancer was just a painfully direct girl when it came to words. "Where th'fuck's your mom at?".

and no, the girl didn't know of any morals teaching older wolves not to teach younger children cuss words...to Cancer, words were words and fuck meant....whatever the fuck 'fuck' meant.

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She was near the age of Warwick, they were of similar heights but her fur reminded more of neither so. They were reddened and orange, deepened beyond her littermate and with eyes of blue ; but she acted too much of the older sister. The tongue of roughness, the way she was.. How did her older brother grow like he was, while there were others like this one around so? The young Deorwine sniffed the air lightly ; she smelled familiar. Smelled of a rancid that caused her nose to twitch lightly, a pack that she knew not but was on the scent of her older siblings at some point.

Faust didn't know what swearing was — no one did to her so far.

She lifted a paw, pointing to the inners of The Elk's Crown, just behind her. She was somewhere, probably ; away from her and the rest of her littermates.

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Her head tilted lightly when she followed the direction of this little girl's paw, blinking slowly towards the foliage covered in what Ceria had now realized were a collection of scents. They were sitting just on the skirts of a pack and the young flame hadn't noticed it up until they drew attention to it. The scent was...farmiliar. A passing scent she'd detected a few times lingering around the Nightwalker's members. Yet Cancer had not bothered to care enough for it to ever investigate further.

And the fucks she gave about it then were equivalent to the fucks she gave right now; nonexistent. If Ceria wasn't waltzing their territory, they couldn't argue about it, right? So this is where that scent was coming from, huh?

"Guess yer momma plays disappearing acts like mine does, huh?" the pheonix humored morbidly with a dry chuckle. Ceria couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her mother and only felt her warmth and milk through the distant memory of fighting for a teat to suck on. One half of the girl felt hurt and forgotten from her nonexistent visits. The other half was pissed off about it....

....Bitch.

"The next time you see that lady, call her a shitsack for not watchin' you close enough 'round strangers." something tickled at Cancer's funny bone, telling a child to call their mother and shitsack. If that ever did happen, she'd totally burst out laughing.

A few seconds and the mirth would pass, being replaced by boredom and overall neutrality. She'd approach the child closer and sit back on her haunches, staring at the equally blue depths of the kid.

"Anyway, when's the last time yer mom fed ya? You hungry?"

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She lurked, as usual. Maral was a silent shadow, prowling the outer reaches of Elkshire's claim. It was better that way, she felt: it meant avoiding her mother and sister, and any unfair judgement from anyone that might've heard about her scuffle with @Edith.

An unfamiliar voice captured Maral's attention, and she went toward the source. She found a stranger whose pelage was made of wildfire shades, but it was the vivid sky blue of her irises that the young Déorwine noticed. There was something oddly unsettling about them; the skin of her shoulder twitched.

Faust, much to her surprise, had wandered again. A muscle in her jaw tightened and frustration built within her - not with the child, but at her absent dam. It was her job to mind the brood she'd whelped, yet once more it fell to her elder daughter to guide the younger. She stepped closer to the girl, dark eyes lingering with suspicion and tail rigid at her rear.


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"No. My mother is the Queen." Though in one way or another was neglectful, but Faust still saw her at times and throughout the forest. At times if she caught her she would give an affectionate lick or otherwise whisper within sweet words that didn't last long, and she would drift otherwise in an excuse of patrols and other royal duties that Faust and the rest of the 2nd litter, would not be learning. Much of the teachings came from @Warwick, @Teodora and even @Hawking at times attempted to play with them, but she hadn't seen him in quite some time. She was neglected, but she wasn't abandoned.

"Where are you from?" Overall ignored the discussion to insult her mother — not something she was currently comfortable to discuss or dissect, for like any babe ; she was desperate for that attention and recognition. It was an uncomfortable feeling that felt like a slight chill within her heart, both an anger and a sadness that came through, and she tried to breeze it over my re-direction the convo..

And she was to answer, maybe see how others hunt, but her sister came to the woods. For a moment Faust brightened up — a favorite among her older siblings, someone who not only looked like her, but protected her. But she hid her wagging, stepping on her tail and looking at Maral with a curiosity..

Why was she here?

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Ceria snorted -- "Queen-Shmeen. People ain't worth th'dirt at the bottom of your paw if you don't allow them to, kid." The Ember woman didn't know the frosty-eyed child was actually serious when referring to her mother as queen -- she just thought it was some fancy way of saying she could never think about talking to her mother like that. After all, she was just a little kid. A reaction like that was expected, but you had to find confidence somewhere, right?

Much to the Zodiac's dismay, the topic was changed to something much lamer -- so much for a little fun, then. The girl blew a raspberry and slumped in visible disappointment, though she supposed trying to make a kid cuss their mother was....bad, or whatever.

The young doe asked where she was from next, and after a lengthy, toothy yawn, Ceria spoke in the best possible way she could describe it -- "Some loony bin run by a guy who doesn't know what the fuck a bath is." Ceria answered simply, shrugging her shoulders as she did "You should visit sometime, you'll have a blast there." That last bit was meant to sound as sarcastic as possible, and hopefully, that meant this kid got the memo to never try coming near the place. Like, ever. Did pups her age even have the ability to understand sarcasm, anyway?

Much to here suprise (not really, Ceria expected to be found eventually. Took 'em long enough), rustling within the grass signified the arrival of another body closing in near the little girl she was talking to. The first thing the flameborne noticed were their stark similarities. To each other -- brown molting into sparse marks of white here and there, safe for the fact that this one was larger, with dark, oak-hued eyes.

"You her mama?" the crab asked as they approached, but raised a brow and stuck a bottom lip out thoughtfully, clearwater eyes looking them up and down rather shamelessly. "Nahhh...you look too young to be..." she then mumbled.

"Ya'll should watch yer kids."

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"You her mama?" Maral shot the red wolfess a pointed look, with a sharp comment on the tip of her tongue that the stranger ought to mind her own business. She did not bark back, however, choosing instead to maintain a cool silence. It was a good question, for Faust's true mother was often nowhere to be seen - for hours or even days at a time, her newest brood would be abandoned to the care of others who could not always be around. The shadow, who had never wanted the role of child-minder, seemed to have adopted it all the same.

The stranger was quick to observe that Maral herself was far too young to whelp cubs of her own, followed by the reminder that her kin ought to better watch their offspring. Exasperated, the dark-furred youth sighed. She kept her eyes narrowed on the other she-wolf, who looked to be of similar age as herself, and with a sideways sweep of a velvet lobe she voiced an order to her little sister: “to me.”

Her tail-tip curled, frustrated. Maral didn't like that the child had ventured again, and definitely didn't like that she'd been found by an outsider first. She remained on edge, her fierce stare indicative that she'd rather the wildfire move on so that she might appropriately reprimand the cub and begin their way home.


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Those within Elkshire always held a poised and prim talk, elegance and barely one to use slang — at least, as far as Faust has heard. The eloquent way her mother and brothers spoke and how rare it was to hear otherwise, and even swears seemed to be lacking. Edith was the first one to be outside of that scope in language, and so hearing this red-phoenix speak in such a way was fascinating in a way. A luring that she wanted to know more and more of who was that man she spoke of. At the moment, not knowing the connection to not only Elkshire, but to her sister Maral.

"Sister." Something was uncomfortable creaking to place such as a parental figure — though in truth the young frosted Deorwine didn't want anyone in that title, even the Queen seemed to be but teetering on the edge of comfort, but it was the only name that they knew. From how they were raised by the warmth of Teodora and Warwick, a mother was supposed to be a warm and protective figure..

Maral was protective, but not the warmth she sought, that any of her siblings sought.

"You are a kid." As her gaze went to Maral and back at the fire-started, she was quick to retort that so. Many seemed to comment about the fact she was out and about and didn't stop, but the one who ruled the forest did not, so why was it an issue? It felt restless to be cooped up in such a cold den, and much preferred the freedom outside.

Ice-eyes then locked onto the fluttering of a bird, a cardinal that swarmed above and disappeared into the forest behind. If she was locked inside, Faust believed she wouldn't be able to see a bird like so, and one as free as the one before her. Young as the rest, but around and about and not of her own pack?

What was out there?

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Oh dear -- she looked like she wanted to kiiillll her.

Ceria, for the most part, had enough self-control to hold back the mischevious chuckle that bubbled within her chest, for the sake of convincing the dark eyed doe that she wasn't up to something suspicious -- but she didn't bother hiding the shit-eating grin that curved the corners of her lips -- so mission failed, she guessed. There was something oddly entertaining about this whole situation -- Ceria just couldn't take it as seriously as it should've been. When their oak gaze looked upon her, the pheonix's Icy glaciers stared back. Almost challenging, as if anticipating what they might do next and how long this little staring contest would last.

Though it broke, as soon as the young pup spoke in retort to her earlier statement. Ceria blinked at similar hued eyes, a tad suprised that they had the guts to do it -- she seemed like one of those impressionable, goody two-shoes kids who didn't know any better. The Pheonix wasn't expecting her to say anything back, but was pretty amused by it at the same time.

"Pfft, yeah. A kid big enough to pick a fight with a fox and not loose." Ceria humored, putting much emphasis on the child's current build. She was right, Ceria wasn't much of an adult herself, but had already grown into her adult size and was nearly a teen by now -- this one looked at least half her age and clearly isn't aware of how this situation could've escalated. Ecspecially if said wolf wasn't Ceria who had found her, but another nightwalker. Such a lack of awareness was dangerous -- which added onto the question of where the heck was this kid's mom at?

That being said, she didn't really feel bad or outta line about telling them to watch their kids -- in Ceria's mind, she was only telling the truth.

Their "sister", to what Ceria assumed based on what they had called the dark-eyed doe, had called to her. For a moment, Ria would even look upon them to see what they would do -- listen, or stay near Ceria instead? As much as the firebourne would've liked to see, she silently agreed that this one did need to go home -- they were too young to be out and about without someone watching them. Besides, where one wolf had emerged there would be more. She would save herself the trouble of not being dull enough to antagonize the similarly aged she-wolf for longer...

She stood to her paws and yawned, stretching in a downwards dog position and showing off her teeth once more; "Anyways, I think your sis or whatever needs somethin' -- see ya later, midget." she'd say to the child, casting one more glance towards the second body before turning off to trot away. Perhaps Ceria would plop back here one day, perhaps not. Usually the nightwalker didn't prefer the company of others outside of her father,

Though talking to the kid....it wasn't so bad. Maybe they'd meet again someday....

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Faust ignored her instruction, which heightened her irritation. When the red-fur collected herself to depart and bid the youngster farewell, Maral's eyes remained sharp on her hide. Frustrated that she found her within lands dear to Elkshire and far too close to her sister than she liked, she followed her with her gaze until she was far enough to lessen the tension in her muscles. “When I tell you to come,” she barked at Faust, her brow furrowed and her guard hairs settling; she turned her pointed stare to the child and lashed her tail in frustration, “you do as I say.”

She crossed the short distance between them and moved to nudge roughly at Faust's dark flank, and deposit an annoyed nip to her skin meant to direct her toward home.


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She came as she left, quick. A light impact of who one was, and the story she had ; for she spoke a big game and had lightly crude talk, words and tones that did not feel the appropriate length she has witnessed for the meanwhile. A deorwine, raised to be blue-blooded and attempted to be taught as so, refined in a grace — most in Elkshire fell onto this, dignified as they all were, and attempted to present as. But such curiosities was short-lived, as she looked back to the irritated sister who was not pleased by her defying.

Mimicking, her tail lashed. A part of her wished to say 'you aren't my mom,' and even her tongue tasted bitterness to think so, to say so ; for she acted far more then a mother then the other. There wasn't much to be said, looking at Maral for a moment before twisting around to head into Elkshire. As she said.

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Faust simply looked back at her, and Maral dared her to challenge her words with a sharpened glare. She rumbled lowly in warning and gave the briefest flash of teeth, enough to serve a fierce reminder of her place: a minor, one who was far too young and  too foolish to be roaming the earth without guidance. Her frustration at the whole situation had brimmed enough to spill over and be directed harshly on her little sister who, much to her satisfaction, did not answer back.

Instead, she veered away and moved to return to the heart of their forest. Maral pursued quietly, a wolf's length between them so she could watch Faust closely, and made a mental not of the russet face and foul mouth who'd been far too near to what was hers than she liked.


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