left & right, in the dark

leaving it aw, but specifically for papa @Vengeance

---

The scent that Piglet had found a few days prior never left her.

Not that she wasn't used to the pervasive scent of rot that haunted the hallowed grounds, but this particular scent was new. It would drift in on the wind, sickly saccharine sweet, and be gone just as quickly — frustrating any lame attempt she could make to follow it, and satiate the gnawing curiosity of her mind.

Though her body was spent from an afternoon stalking one of the season's earliest fawns and salvaging all parts of its corpse, her brain never seemed to tire. She thought about the scent, and where the fuck it came from, and she channeled this endless churning into grinding her back teeth on the thin, toothpick-esque femur bone.

Lilith bore down until she heard a snap, and smiled as she tasted marrow.

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Hi, Daddy.

She didn't see him often, spending far more time with her mother and brothers than anyone else in the pack. Like, pretty much no one else. The girl definitely made a definite point to not ever be around @Amata, and a small part of Lilith actually considered her to be her mortal enemy. Lilith liked to think of herself as highly-specific in the company she kept, and dad was just... dad. He came, he went, he maimed, it was whatever. She didn't overthink it.

But whenever Lilith did find herself under her father's scrutiny, she found herself becoming alive in ways she simply couldn't around the other members of her family. The girl felt an intense need to impress and please him, and she found most of the time she shared with him was spent like a talent show, with her demonstrating whatever skill Mother was making her practicing that week.

Perhaps one day this might turn into a complex, but at this tender age, it manifested more as whiny attention-grabbing.

Honestly, the dark girl wasn't feeling that well, and her mind felt like a candle burnt at both ends; this smell had overtaken her in the past couple days. "It's fucking gross around here," she whined as he approached and inquired about her activities, tossing the small bones to the side and leaning to the side dramatically. "and it smells disgusting, and it's everywhere." Again, it's not that Lilith wasn't used to the normal aroma of The Nightwalkers and their land, but this one was new and she simply couldn't go nose-blind to it. "I can't think, I can't sleep, I can only.... smell..." She grit her jaw, her frustration palpable.

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Father didn't humor her, but didn't outright dismiss her concerns either. Laying upon the ground as she was, he seemed so large and imposing — well, he looked like this all the time, not just to children — and the shadowed girl found herself oddly pleased when her father lifted his nose to sniff at the air. Her expression brightened, and tail wagged eagerly to see if he could smell what she smelled; but to her dismay, he gave her no indication. Only instructions.

Lilith climbed to her feet and shook her pelt, pursing her lips in consternation, wondering how to explain her dilemma to him. "Dad, I've tried," she said with an unintentional shrug, as if she were nonchalant about this despite her frustration in moments prior. "It's here and then it's gone," she rocked her head to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of this particular smell. "and then it's over there, and then its gone again." The girl's peacock blue eyes glinted, truly curious how her father would suggest she track such a thing. So far, no one else had given her any aid.

But of course, Lilith rolled her eyes and felt compelled to continue speaking. "I keep thinking that Piggie or Levi farted but... they didn't." she scoffed, leaving little to the imagination.

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Ugh. Lilith was frustrated with the lack of help she was receiving from her father, but honestly, she hadn't expected much different from him. It was difficult to track something that existed only in one's head, though Lilith had no awareness that it wasn't a true scent that drifted in and out of her awareness several times a day. Either way, Lilith could tell that this was not a tree worth barking up any longer, unless Daddy start thinking she was a lazy cry-baby.

She perked up and strode a step or two closer, absolutely unable to help the exasperation in her teenage voice as she bobbed her head and claimed "Okay, okay, I will, I promise," which she concluded by reaching out and pressing her nose against the underside of his jaw, as a younger cub might when asking for food. After the briefest of indulgences, the stormcloud pulled back and whirled around, wagging her tail fiercely, not wanting to lose his attention just yet.

"But Daddy, hey, Daddy, look at this—" the lanky girl abruptly sat back on her haunches and all-too-quickly lifted her lips to the tree canopy, taking a sharp breath and ushering a weak yet heart-felt howl. It probably couldn't be heard even half a mile away, but hey, she was pretty young and had no real need to howl yet. "I've been practicing that," the little raven said with pride, fluffing her feathers.

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