Family Romping (Cascade)

[Deleted]

Moonflower, totally unaware of what had happened to her mate, led her two pups, now grown, into the meadow for some snow-play. Although she was the more quiet type, she had observed that remaining active in the winter kept your spirits up. With Kanut, that had been the main struggle. She never gave up, though she wondered if he even realized how much she wanted to help him, given how quiet she was.

But he'd befriended her when she was alone...gave her a home...and the gift of her children when the need to mate was deep in her bones. Beyond just falling for him, she felt like she owed it to him to try an help him through...whatever it was that he was going through.

Sometimes she grew worried, and on the breaking point of where hope could take you, like recently...but she planned a hunting trip after this play session...she'd insist on him eating when they got back.


Snowgoose followed quietly after her mother. Her head was own a bit and her ears drooped slightly. She could tell mom was in her worrying mood, even though she was trying to hide it. She looked over at her sister, eyes showing some of her worry but she couldn't escape some of the excitement that the open space and fluffy snow gave her. She sighed with conflicted feelings. Moonflower was doing this for their own good...but sometimes Snowgoose was convinced that her mother was so busy caring for her family, that she barely remembered to care for her own health.

Cascade

[Cascade]

Abigail had been reluctant to come along on this trip. Unlike her sister, who seemed to cling tightly to the idea of their strange family unit, Abbie had grown into an independent adult and had spent much of her recent time actively avoiding her father. The notion of family was a confusing one to her...her pack was her family, but often she felt that the family within her pack were like strangers to her.

Abbie looked to her mother and noted that she was on edge. Tempted to say something, make up some excuse and relieve herself of this obligation, she elected for once to stay quiet and allow her mother the pleasure of a family outing. She met her sister's gaze and felt like Snowgoose did not fully understand her. Like she expected Abbie to be feeling whatever she herself was feeling. Abbie didn't know what to think at this point, so she returned her sibling's look with a meek and noncommittal smile.

She liked the meadow in the winter. It had its own unique sort of beauty, and Abbie always thought that she and her sister and mother were suited best for the winter months. She wasn't sure that her father was best suited to anything.

[Deleted]

Right. Snowgoose sighed, she had nearly forgotten that her sister didn't really care about the family, something that tore at the female wolf when she thought about it. She looked back towards her mom, wondering how her sister couldn't be worried about their mom, who had given so much of herself to them as pups. Even though they would be watch over by other pack members like any other pack pups, Moonflower had always done what she could for them. She respected her mother that, and it was the main reason why she'd always wanted to help out.

Besides that, her mom could use all the help she could get since their father was in particualry bad shape recently.

Moonflower eventually stopped and sat down. She looked over the landscape, her worried slowly disipitating as she took it all in. She even smiled slightly. Snowgoose pause behind her.

[Cascade]

Resentment bubbled up in Abigail when she saw the look her sister gave her. Who was she to be so judgmental? Abigail hated the elaborate dance of hiding your feelings and leaving things unsaid. Her mother had been creating this delicate balancing act their whole lives and Abbie wished she could just topple it. But this was the first time in weeks she had seen her mother smile, so she held her tongue. Snowgoose believed that she didn't care, but she was trying very hard right now for her mother's sake.

"It's beautiful," the lavender wolf said in an effort to break the silence. She tried to maintain the mask of normalcy, but her tone betrayed her, wavering ever so slightly. Abigail joined her mother in sitting, although just a hair further away from her than Snowgoose was. "I like the snow." Her tone was more controlled this time, but even she cringed internally at the utter lack of substance in her words.

[Deleted]

Moonflower's ear swiveled in her daughter's direction as she spoke. She then looked at both of them, her tail very slowly waving back and forth through the powdery snow, happy to be in this moment, even though she knew Abigail didn't usually care to be with the family unit. While she had been a bit disappointed each time Abigail had protested against their occasional family outtings, she knew her daughter had her own life within the pack, and quietly respected her individuality. She would have to thank her later for going along with it this time.

Snowgoose didn't like the way her sister was talking...she didn't really feel what she was saying right? Part of her was upset and confused as to why Abigail didn't seem to care...yet didn't speak out against the outting and leave.

Moonflower, however, seemlessly ignored tones and kept her slight smile. "Yes well, you always have."

Another moment went by, but Moonflower knew her kids didn't like the silence like she did, so she cut her enjoyment of it short and stood up. "Let us go." and she was off running surprisingly fast, letting the open space give her the sense of freedom.

[Cascade]

Abigail scrambled to her feet when her mother took off so soon. 'I suppose there's nothing wrong with that,' she thought, rationalizing that running would warm up her joints and keep her from getting too stiff. Her mother's words reached her, but didn't stick in her brain in any meaningful way which allow them to sink in. She felt as though they were doing just that—exchanging words back and forth between each other.

She avoided her sister's gaze as they ran. She could think what she wanted about her. Abigail knew the kind of wolf that she was, and she knew it didn't match the image that her sister had of her. But it did make her sad. They had grown up in the same situation with the same parents. They could have been each others' biggest support, but instead there was this rift between them. Resentment and misunderstanding clouded their relationship.

[Deleted]

The purposeful avoidance was not lost on Snowgoose, who felt a bite spited by it.She tried to move past the upcoming anger by running off aftr them, gaining ground on their mother.

Moonflower smiled to herself as she heard both of them behind her, and in possibly a twist of mischeviousness gained from having children, she tightly turned so that she was suddenly running back, between the two. This caught Snowgoose off guard and forced her to turn to face her sister.

[Cascade]

Abigail skidded to a stop as her mother suddenly turned and started running in the opposite direction. She blinked, staring across the now vacant distance at Snowgoose, who had done the same. Her mother was up to something, but she was far too exhausted from playing their usual 'happy family' game to imagine what it was.

[Deleted]

There was a stunned, awkward moment between the sisters..at least, that's what snowgoose felt. Remembering the avoidance that Agigail had done just moments before, she slowly lowered her gaze and used it as a sort of transition to turn and slowly trot after their mother. It could be obvious that she still wasn't happy about it.

Internally though, she sighed. She wasn't as angry as she was before, but now she felt like maybe it was better to stop caring...Her sister would never understand or come to care about the family, and in that moment, she wondered how Moonflower could keep trying like this.