Play Date

They were insufferably excited and it was taking every ounce of Songhue's patience not to tell them to simply be still for a little while. In the end, she simply gave a resigned sigh as her two cubs pranced all around; her daughter in her unisus form, her son in his flaming wolf.

They'd run a few laps with the boy 'hunting' his sister, his bright sun-gold fur flickering in the shadows, only to turn around and play protector as he snapped at those same shadows. It really was very cute.

Still, she was glad when they reached Krinlith's glade - the area at the outskirts of those lands her brother had taken responsibility for. Today was a special day, one where the pair would get their uncle's full attention. They had several such days with both their parents, but they were quite rare in regards to their beloved uncle. They didn't quite understand the reasons, nor did they worry over them - in the end, what mattered was rather or not they got that time with their clan member.

Today they did. Songhue grinned to herself as her son shifted to his own unisus, the both of them trying their best to flutter over the glade in their excitement as each tried to be the one to spot him first.

Krinlith was excited to be able to see his niece and nephew. It had been a little bit since he saw them last, and any time with Clan was precious and to be treasured. He knew they were close by the excited giggles, and the soft sound of hooves in the grass. Krinlith exited his Den and shifted to his unisus form, giving his wings a stretch. As he trotted out to meet them, he grinned at the sight of their excited and hyper selves, and their slightly tired mother. "Hey! Are y'all behaving, or are you exhausting your mother?" he said, with his "pretend-stern" face on.

She grinned, glad to see him, glad to see the way her cubs circled around him, glad in general; it was good.

With a stretch she glanced over herself; she often forget to keep track of what form she was in. It was a bit of a surprise to find herself as a unisus as well; she'd been a ferret while rounding the pair up, then found herself as Fae. The feel of wings weighing her shoulders hadn't altered much so she didn't notice the shift.

"Hey, we're matching," she said with a laugh hidden in her voice, amusement ringing through her gaze.

"We're bein good!" her daughter was saying, the pair of them shooting off rapid-fire chatter at their poor uncle, "Honest we are! We went on a hunt last night, and I caught a cat-thing!"

"It was not a cat-thing," her brother scolded, trying his best to bump her out of the way in order to lip at his uncle's wings, "It was a rat-thing."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes it was! Mother said!"

"No, she said-"

"I said," snipped Songhue, her tone firmly forbidding any further argument, "That it was a cat-rat. You're both right. Now shut up."

They didn't, of course, but at least they stopped arguing.

"We walked the lands the other day," her daughter gushed, the healer nature becoming evident as she pranced in an overjoyed circle, "It's so much stronger now! We have new critters too-"

"These unicorn deer things," her son took over, and a spark could be seen in his eye - his warrior's instincts surfacing. "They have super long tails with long hair like some of the really old unicorns do and they have the single horn source but their horns-"

"Are really beautiful," her daughter nickered, "they have all sorts of horns, there's no one type-"

"Some have a full rack and each tip is as sharp as a proper unicorn horn," her son stated, trying to warn his uncle without being pompous enough to actually give a warning. "They're really small though,"

"About as small as Shield is," her daughter said, and promptly got bit on her shoulder by her brother - right where the wing joined, a very tender spot. "Hey!" she squeaked, and within moments they were kicking at each other.

Sighing, Songhue gave her brother a long-suffering and rather imploring look. Cubs!

"Enough!" she said, stepping forward and knocking both of them on their rumps, "What do you want to do with uncle Krin' first?"

And that started the chatter afresh. Oh dear.

Oy, these kids were a mixed bag of nuts. Together they made an interesting conversation for Krinlith, though. He thought it was cute how Rory tried to caution him against harm without outright saying it.
"I'd love to see them up close, I always do enjoy a challenge whilst hunting. Prey that fights back is always more fun. I'm sure the cat-rat thing could put up a good fight, too. " he said, with a big grin. "So! Now that we're a matching set, what would you like to do? Go for a run? Find an adventure somewhere? Save the universe from destruction?! Or would you like a snack, first?"
He couldn't help but get them excited. Plus, the more energy they expended now, the better they (and their mother) would sleep later. But they didn't know that. He gave Songhue a wry grin, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye that she knew all-too-well. He had always been playfully mischievous, and had always been good with cubs. He just knew how they ticked. Today was going to be a good day.

They were officially far too cute - literally too cute, she had to take a good step or three back as they whirled around.

"I'm hungry!" her son declared, only to be countered by his sister shouting "Let's save the cosmos!" almost on top of him.

Before a spat could really begin Songhue cleared her throat, bringing them both to a dead standstill.

"Why not start with a snack," she said, keeping her voice low enough to make sure they had to pay attention just to hear her, "and after that you can take some with you while you run off on a grand adventure to save the cosmos - the poor things you save would probably appreciate the nibbles."

She blanched as they shouted "yeah!" in tandem, but grinned as they shot off towards the woods, shifting down to half-grown wolves in mid-stride. Oi, she was glad it wasn't her turn this time!

"They have a minor magic and some small sentience," she said to her brother, keeping a weather eye on the two cubs that were sniffing around for some sort of prey, "So they do make a wonderful challenge; they call them the ones with the horned-faces, as some of them seem to have an armor of horns sprouting from their unicorn's spot. Don't hunt them too much though; they are bright enough to know resentment and start to hassle you for it. Not much brighter than that, in all honesty, but pretty gifted as far as prey goes. Might make a good pet for your cub, if you think about it."

"Found something!" her son howled, and Songhue rolled her eyes as her daughter groaned.

"No fair, I was just finding that!" she cried - she hated that her little brother had the better nose. Of course she got even by shooting ahead, tossing him a tongue-lolling grin as her longer legs were put to good advantage.

"Hold!" Songhue cried, and they froze again. "Here," she ordered, and they trotted over to sit in front of her, each of them looking abashed. "What," she said, her voice threatening a smack if either spoke out of turn, "have I told you about dashing after things? Hmm?"

"That not everything is to be chased," her son said dejectedly.

"That it can be dangerous," her daughter muttered.

"You do. Not." Songhue grunted, "dash off. Not before checking, and not before we know to keep track of where you are. You know this. For shame, the both of you! Why do you need to check, hmm? Do you remember that?"

"Because some prey is too hard for us to lead a chase on," her daughter said bitterly - it was a sting to her pride to admit it, yet she knew that if she hadn't said it first she'd be made to repeat it.

"Because we aren't masters at energy trails," her son added, sounded about as forlorn as if he'd been kicked.

"They are and you aren't," Songhue confirmed. "If you chase something that can hurt you and don't have an Adept to lead you, you'll get hurt. If you wander too far you can't trace your way back to the den; you haven't that skill yet. If nobody's following your trails and keeping an eye on you, we have to start tracking from scratch. If you really want to put yourselves in danger, make me mad again!"

Neither of them said a word for a long moment, the pair of them trying (and failing) to resist squirming under her glare. With a dismissive snort, she gave a jerk of her head and said "Go find the trail again. This time, wait for your uncle. I don't care how fast he can be on your tails. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Mama," they muttered, and slunk back to the edge of the woods.

Heaving a sigh, Songhue shifted her wings and flopped down in the grass, turning her face skyward. It was very much a "what am I going to do with them" motion if ever there was one.

"Work 'em hard," she said to her brother, a mischievous glint of her own lighting her eye, "make them put in effort for the hunt. Just don't get 'em killed, eh?"

"I think that would be good for her to have a smart pet like that." Krinlith replied. Seeing the cubs get reprimanded like that reminded him of himself when he was a cub. He would get all excited and run off half-cocked all the time, and would get his hide tanned for it. He never meant to make trouble like that, he just happened to be good at it. "I'll keep them safe. I'll also keep them from doing the stuff I used to do when I was young, like that time I came back almost missing a foot." he said.
"Now, oh young ones, are you ready for the hunt?" Krinlith asked, while shifting to his wolf form and making his way to the edge of the woods. "Let's go find something delicious for us all to eat, and give your mom a few minutes to relax. What do you say?" he said as he stepped into the woods.
Krinlith began sniffing around for the scent of something that would be just tough enough for them, but not overly so. As he caught the scent of a wild boar, he remembered fondly the last hunt he had with a wild boar; the one that was eating and destroying everything in sight. That was a tough hunt, but it was very rewarding when he finally took that sucker down in his Shadow Hound form. He was glad Songhue set that one up, he had a great need to release a lot of energy that day. This boar didn't seem even a quarter as dangerous, so Krinlith was glad for that.