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an eternal autumn - Pup - 10/9/2025
there were only a few things pup remembered;
-- mother's fur, the touch of her tongue passing over his ears --
-- the silent presence of father --
-- an older sister already crooning in fondness
then the bad things.
running running running running his body jostling between frantic teeth meant to carry him away. they bruised and he cried.
sister running sister looking back sister touching noses with him sister setting her claws on the side of a mountain.
falling falling falling falling.
his head still spun. eyes still blue with newborn sheen blinked hazily up at the bright cerise moon. pup did not feel the rain dangerously chilling his tiny body.
little paws stumbled between wet stones, his neck still craned to stare. he tasted salt and sobbed for milk.
hunger drove him to grubs, to pieces of clay, to wet grass. he fell asleep between two sea-stones, curled like a twist of flotsam.
-- mother's fur, the touch of her tongue passing over his ears --
-- the silent presence of father --
-- an older sister already crooning in fondness
then the bad things.
running running running running his body jostling between frantic teeth meant to carry him away. they bruised and he cried.
sister running sister looking back sister touching noses with him sister setting her claws on the side of a mountain.
falling falling falling falling.
his head still spun. eyes still blue with newborn sheen blinked hazily up at the bright cerise moon. pup did not feel the rain dangerously chilling his tiny body.
little paws stumbled between wet stones, his neck still craned to stare. he tasted salt and sobbed for milk.
hunger drove him to grubs, to pieces of clay, to wet grass. he fell asleep between two sea-stones, curled like a twist of flotsam.
RE: an eternal autumn - Setka - 10/9/2025
Tag for reference
For brief time, Setka departed from Myyrh to explore more of this strange land. The man could not find a reasonable explanation for his arrival to this world. The hot plains stretched for leagues. The ocean lingered close, salt stained the air. From the closest shore, Setka could see more land masses blocking the horizon. Towering cliffs that took great effort to climb.
He needn't be so bold for this endeavor, but a higher vantage would benefit him.
The cliffs held aloft great plateaus. From their ridges Setka could see far beyond himself. Except of course for the hidden drop that the three legged man could not see.
Sent tumbling down a slope, Sekta is fortunate that he does not plummet straight to the bottom. On a ledge halfway down from the plateau, the man hisses through his teeth. He was sure to have small scrapes from this mishap. At least he didn't break one of his legs.
Cautiously leaning over the rim, Setka could spy dark sands below and rocky shores. Well, perhaps he could find some sea treasures on the shore. Rare things grew in saltwater, after all.
He just had to make his way carefully down.
RE: an eternal autumn - Pup - 10/9/2025
ama. ama. oba. eena. he remembered those things too.
rudimentary babble, the speech of a baby only now tottering on his legs. half-dreams, not formed and without sense. they bobbed like colorful mirage in the boy's mind as he slept, too close to the water to retain his body's warmth.
the sleep that had first been welcome now sunk him down. it felt as if he were watching sister's legs climb again. if he thought hard, the child could still see the shale sliding down between her claws, over the instep of one forepaw.
his eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. a shorebird scuttled near, pecked at the sand under his paw. but pup felt as though he had never moved before. he felt like a stone, like the one lying still not far, crusted in lichen. a crab slowly picked its way across the pitted surface.
pup shut his eyes. he had never been so thirsty, but he had no word for thirst. not yet. only a deep and insistent need, one his exhausted body simply would not move to fulfill.
rudimentary babble, the speech of a baby only now tottering on his legs. half-dreams, not formed and without sense. they bobbed like colorful mirage in the boy's mind as he slept, too close to the water to retain his body's warmth.
the sleep that had first been welcome now sunk him down. it felt as if he were watching sister's legs climb again. if he thought hard, the child could still see the shale sliding down between her claws, over the instep of one forepaw.
his eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. a shorebird scuttled near, pecked at the sand under his paw. but pup felt as though he had never moved before. he felt like a stone, like the one lying still not far, crusted in lichen. a crab slowly picked its way across the pitted surface.
pup shut his eyes. he had never been so thirsty, but he had no word for thirst. not yet. only a deep and insistent need, one his exhausted body simply would not move to fulfill.
RE: an eternal autumn - Setka - 10/9/2025
Skill — Healer ( 1 / 5 )
It is with great care that Setka lowered himself to the beach. Once all three paws touched stable ground, Setka released the breath that he held onto. The man glanced back up the treacherous cliff, pondering only for a moment how he might climb back up. That is a bridge he would cross once he got to it, but it would be prudent of him not to wear himself out beachcombing.
Ruby eyes scanned the rocky beach. Dark sand molded beneath his feet as he approached the shore, taking care not to walk into the clutches of the water. Setka, well aware of his limitations, trusted not the cruel and powerful grip of the ocean. He is by no means well versed in the nature of the tides, but he knows that those lapping waves both give and take.
Hiking across the bluffs and peering into tidepools, Setka finds plenty of sea creatures, stranded until high tide. His mouth watered as he considered sampling the bounty until the movement of birds captured his eye. Ears pricked upward and the coywolf slowly made his way to the birds. Perhaps they would show him an unseen treasure.
The birds startled at the coywolf's approach. Setka could not blame the creatures for their nature, even if it did draw a disappointed sigh from his chest. Still, even if the birds had abandoned their place, it did not mean there was nothing of interesting. His nose lowered, Setka began investigate the rocks the bird gathered by.
He could only gasp at what he found.
A boy! A little boy!
The pup had closed eyes and a coat sodden from the sea spray. Setka drew close to the child, his heart pounding in his ears. A gentle nose probes the pup, stiffening at the tiniest rise and fall of its chest.
What are you doing here?Setka whispered as he bent over to pluck the pup from its stony crib. The boy was featherlight and cold within his jaws. Turning away from the water, Setka made towards the stones furthest inland. The child needed someplace warm and dry. Finding a broad stone that was not touched by the water, Setka hauled the both of them upwards, grunting with the effort.
Atop the stone he would put the boy to rest at his side, his tongue drawn in long strokes to try warm the babe.
RE: an eternal autumn - Pup - 10/9/2025
ama,moaned pup.
oba.he could hear his own voice echoing inside the bones of his skull. they felt thin, like the papergrass that sister brought into the den to wrap around him when it was just the two.
his body offered no instinctual tension to the shadow which suddenly hovered over him. his nostrils twitched. not like ama. like oba.
fading thoughts found it funny to watch the ground lurch away. pup blinked sleepily at the space of air where the crab had been. it was not like sister carrying him. her run had been smoothed, her scent filled with the racket of panic which held the boy in tenseness as well.
eena?not sister, pup told himself.
the sky was blackening. he scarcely felt the dry stone under his body but he did know that the familiarity of wolf was near. wolf nor not quite wolf. pup mouthed blindly at the fur where milk should be, where he could smell none.
slowly the boy's body regained some of its heat. he pumped frantic paws against the milkless belly, the physical memory of sister's terror filling him again. he found warm skin, latched to it immediately with babyish verve.
RE: an eternal autumn - Setka - 10/10/2025
Skill — Healer ( 2 / 5 )
The boy's voice rattled out of his tiny body. Setka does not understand the words the child babbles, but readily assumes the boy is asking after his kin. He cannot answer the child as he carries it, but that fragile voice indicated the boy still clung to life.
Setka cannot say for how long that life will last.
Further away from the shoreline, Setka can discern the milk scent on the boy. So subtle amongst the stench of salt. There is a furrow to his brow as the pup paddles fruitlessly at his belly. He does not dissuade the boy, not yet. Setka could withstand the discomfort if it meant the pup was moving his own body. In turn, keeping himself warm.
Setka does not keep track of the time, his eyes fixed solely on the life stirring within the boy. Of the drying of that damp coat of pup fuzz. This age was an ambiguous period for children. Their health so delicate, they also had limited individuality. Their coats typically a muddy, darker variant of their adult colors. Even still, Setka could distinguish the boy as a full-blooded wolf pup. From the set of his ears, to the roundness of his chin.
A cold sea breeze stirred at his back, bringing the man to shiver himself. Glancing over his shoulder, Setka found that the blue ocean water had turned into a choppy gray color. Once playful waves now began to lash at the rocks. A gray hue hovered over the horizon.
The lines at his brow deepened.
Rain.
Setka nudged the boy off his belly and shifted so the child was tucked at his chest. With the pup nestled there between a bony leg and an amputated stub, ruby eyes scoured the cliff faces. It was always easier to come down than to go back up. Gravity assured it. But if the rain didn't snuff out the boy's fragile embers from sheer cold, it could very well keep them trapped down by the cove.
The coywolf could feel the rise of dread. It was a familiar feeling that left him cold and sluggish. Yet the race of his heart reminded him of the urgency the situation called for. Even if it looked bleaker by the second.
Setka had left his fawnskin with Myyrh. An indication to the woman that he had the intention to return. It would have been useful in this moment. He could of wrapped the boy while he tested a route upwards. He would have to plan the best he could with his eyes, and test the route on the fly.
His eyes lingered on the ledge halfway up the cliff face. He could climb his way down, so he must be able to climb his way up. He could set the pup on the ledge as he figured out their ascent.
Setka dipped his head down, his nose brushing the top of the boy's skull.
I'm going to need you to be very still for me.He did his best to keep his sentences simple. Was the boy even being raised by the common tongue?
We cannot stay here.
Setka's eyes remained on the boy, hoping to see that little mouth respond. If only to see if the boy's milk teeth were even erupting.
RE: an eternal autumn - Pup - 10/10/2025
there was no milk, and a dark little synapse flared to life in the tiny brain: sometimes there was not food to be had and it was terrifying.
water sluiced along the stranger's fur. pup lapped eagerly at this fresh wet, feeling how it cooled his mouth and tongue, how it did not carry the heaviness of salt.
too young for many memories, a being fixed firmly in the now, pup pulled away from the betraying stomach and started to hunt the ground. his stomach still hurt from the much-earlier meal of seagrass and clay, but at least he had eaten.
the figure who was almost wolf, who was like oba but not, lowered to reassure. pup whined as the vibration of their voice thrummed on the air and in the stone. his miniature tongue licked at the chin so much larger than his own, reaching up, trying to search along the wide dangerous teeth for any morsel. pup stood on tiptoe for this attempt.
it took too much out of him; the boy sank back down. he knew the older one was speaking, but the sound was nothing like what he had heard in utero or for those first weeks of his life.
pup whined again, more weakly. he was warm but the unfilled belly still sapped at his failing reserves of strength. at least there was water in him now, that sensation of thirst quieted for the present.
fur enveloped pup as he curled his legs and lay down beside the curved belly once more. to not be cold any longer made the boy limp with relief. he stared hazily up into the crimson eyes, smelled the good plant scents in the pelt. they too were not like what he had known, but this familiarity was at the root of all. ama and eena had carried that fragrance, flowers and roots, sweet blossoms and a tangle of fine rich earth. things for which pup had no names, only impressions. but the stranger himself carried in his personal odor the maleness which pup had only just come to associate with his father.
like oba, and not. he was getting sleepy. the other was looking down at him, mouth moving. pup stared solemnly back from his place against furred flank before he asked,
water sluiced along the stranger's fur. pup lapped eagerly at this fresh wet, feeling how it cooled his mouth and tongue, how it did not carry the heaviness of salt.
too young for many memories, a being fixed firmly in the now, pup pulled away from the betraying stomach and started to hunt the ground. his stomach still hurt from the much-earlier meal of seagrass and clay, but at least he had eaten.
the figure who was almost wolf, who was like oba but not, lowered to reassure. pup whined as the vibration of their voice thrummed on the air and in the stone. his miniature tongue licked at the chin so much larger than his own, reaching up, trying to search along the wide dangerous teeth for any morsel. pup stood on tiptoe for this attempt.
it took too much out of him; the boy sank back down. he knew the older one was speaking, but the sound was nothing like what he had heard in utero or for those first weeks of his life.
pup whined again, more weakly. he was warm but the unfilled belly still sapped at his failing reserves of strength. at least there was water in him now, that sensation of thirst quieted for the present.
fur enveloped pup as he curled his legs and lay down beside the curved belly once more. to not be cold any longer made the boy limp with relief. he stared hazily up into the crimson eyes, smelled the good plant scents in the pelt. they too were not like what he had known, but this familiarity was at the root of all. ama and eena had carried that fragrance, flowers and roots, sweet blossoms and a tangle of fine rich earth. things for which pup had no names, only impressions. but the stranger himself carried in his personal odor the maleness which pup had only just come to associate with his father.
like oba, and not. he was getting sleepy. the other was looking down at him, mouth moving. pup stared solemnly back from his place against furred flank before he asked,
oba?
RE: an eternal autumn - Setka - 10/10/2025
Skill — Healer ( 3 / 5 )
One of Setka's worries is alleviated by the child. The boy begs from him. The miniscule muzzle probed at his chin and lip. The boy's snuffling causes an involuntary turn of Setka's stomach. Unfortunately for the pup, Setka only has bile to offer; his own stomach was empty. Setka swallowed the bitter fluid, a sigh hiking his shoulders.
The boy had started weaning. If only in the earliest stages, for he still dove for milk. Setka did not wish to force a complete transition of the child's diet, but if needs must he would have to be cruel. Setka could not provide the boy milk, and even if he could somehow to convince Myyrh to consume Goat's Rue, could he even trust milk from the strange girl? She knowingly sampled poison. Nor would it be worth it to trick the girl's body to produce if the boy could be fed on finely minced meat.
Fed is best. It was what Imhotep taught him. But the boy would have to wait a little while longer. Setka would not brave the tidepools, for the marooned sea-life within were now harshly excavated by angered waves. Many a land creature would be sheltering in place. And he ultimately could not leave the boy unattended.
Begging had exhausted the pup. Setka looked guiltily down at those baleful eyes. Blue with youth, the boy could do nothing but ask for help. The pup could not even chew his own food at this point. How did a boy so dependent for care end up here, alone on the shore?
Beyond his racing thoughts, Setka can hear the boy speak. "Oba?"
Setka,was all the man answered in reply.
Setka was not this boy's oba, but a part of him considered it may be easier for the boy to say. Some children had problems with their "S" sounds. If that proved the case with this boy, Setka still could not take the place of the boy's family. Even if he tried, Setka was not all wolf. None would believe him if he claimed the child as his own.
The sound of rain drops upon stone began to drone. Rising, Setka knew that it was time to move. He lowered his head to the pup, his jaws wrapping around the boy's midriff. Setka could not trust the boy's scruff during this climb. It was too small of a tether to bind them.
Lifting the boy into the air, Setka approached the cliff base. His ears flattened against the wind and rain, eyes narrowing as he lifted his gaze upwards. He had to make it half way, then they could have a break on the broad ledge overhead. Setka had fallen to that ledge after rolling down a slope, so there must be a hidden crag that led to the plateau. He would have to find it.
After pacing at the base long enough to shake out his nerves, Setka shifted his weight to his rear limbs. Pushing upwards, he placed his forepaw onto the first foothold of many.
RE: an eternal autumn - Pup - 10/10/2025
cw: children in peril
that word was too hard to say. not-oba's eyes held a look that pup was unable to decipher. the ache in his stomach consumed even the tiniest thought, and he scratched at the ground a few more times. dimly he was aware of rain, falling hard around he and the other. rain was as the seawater to pup, and a new impression came to him, a colorful memory of waves not unlike the ones from which he had crawled.
hunger forced another sound of misery from his throat. sekka's nose came down, brushing the boy with the warmth of breath now familiar, made more sharply so by pup's desperation. jaws closed around his middle like
sister running running running squeezing too tight too tight in her fear
pup had squalled. the teeth had loosened apologetically. sister meant no harm.
sister had been scared for herself and for them. day was wet as this one. voices shouting behind. not a year separated she from brother's age. little brother. when her mother had cried out, the girl had not waited. pup in her mouth. running. running.
maybe she had been afraid of hurting brother again. pup remembered the uncomfortable pinch of fangs on his neck, paining him as sister hauled upward. but he had not squealed then. he had been too tired, too frozen by the currents of fear that ran from sister to brother and back again, an ouroboros of confused animal horror.
then nothing. then spinning darkness and nothing.
more tightly held, the rain came down upon him too. pup was losing his warmth, and whimpered. yet he had been here once before; he knew to hold still and silent, shivering a little with the deluge's breath and with the memories which were not words -- sight, pressure, color -- terror.
his blue eyes closed so he would not see the rock face lurching above, or the way his feet dangled too high off the ground. pup was learning to count his own breaths.
hunger forced another sound of misery from his throat. sekka's nose came down, brushing the boy with the warmth of breath now familiar, made more sharply so by pup's desperation. jaws closed around his middle like
sister running running running squeezing too tight too tight in her fear
pup had squalled. the teeth had loosened apologetically. sister meant no harm.
sister had been scared for herself and for them. day was wet as this one. voices shouting behind. not a year separated she from brother's age. little brother. when her mother had cried out, the girl had not waited. pup in her mouth. running. running.
maybe she had been afraid of hurting brother again. pup remembered the uncomfortable pinch of fangs on his neck, paining him as sister hauled upward. but he had not squealed then. he had been too tired, too frozen by the currents of fear that ran from sister to brother and back again, an ouroboros of confused animal horror.
then nothing. then spinning darkness and nothing.
more tightly held, the rain came down upon him too. pup was losing his warmth, and whimpered. yet he had been here once before; he knew to hold still and silent, shivering a little with the deluge's breath and with the memories which were not words -- sight, pressure, color -- terror.
his blue eyes closed so he would not see the rock face lurching above, or the way his feet dangled too high off the ground. pup was learning to count his own breaths.
RE: an eternal autumn - Setka - 10/10/2025
Precious cargo trembles between his jaws. It is with great care that Setka carries him, but the boy cooperates by remaining placid. The coywolf's neck strains with the effort to keep his head upright, to keep the boy above him. Setka cannot look down or behind himself. He cannot crawl along the stone, lest he drag the child against jagged rocks. The rain weeps into crimson eyes, leaving the man to blink fiercely through the haze.
Setka's climb is at a snail's pace. To rush was to risk loosing what grip he had on the stone. Slipping would be catastrophic at this height. He used his rear legs for the hardest work, pushing himself up the stone cliff while his forepaw clawed at ledges and footholds to keep them teetering into open air.
It is an exhausting affair.
To reach the halfway mark was greater feat than the coywolf had imagined. He hauls the boy over the rim first, followed by his front half. When he lifts a rear leg to bring the rest of him onto the ledge, the paw he balanced on slipped. Setka's heart found a new home in his throat as he scrambled to drag that stray leg forward. His nails strained against the slick rock, and Setka loosens his grip on the boy. Allowing the pup to spill out from his jaws onto the stone. Getting a rear paw over the rim, he flopped forward onto his chest.
Setka had himself drenched in rainwater that pooled upon the stone. Finding his feet, the man scooted forward towards the boy.
Oh, I'm so sorry.Setka finds his words tumbling past his lips as he scoops the boy out of the puddle. Pressing up to the stone wall, Setka turned his back to the air and lowered his head down to keep the boy out of the cold wind. He couldn't leave the boy on the ledge like he initially planned; one surge of water would wash the child away. Setka did what he could to balance the boy on his forearm, trying to warm the boy, if only for the moment. They would need to climb again soon.