[ P ] Teddy Bear Picnic

“B

irch! Biiiirch, where are you?” A little voice piped up between the trees as she looked for her corvid friend. She hadn’t seen her sweet nuthatch nor her squirrel friend in a few days…in fact, the whole of the Fae Forest seemed to be eerily quiet lately. No other prey stirred as she poked around in tree hollows and abandoned dens.

“Where’d everybody go?” She asked no one in particular with a huff, plopping back onto her rear with a pout. Clover was really hoping she was going to get to play with her friends today. There was a sound like someone stepping on a twig and she perked up, turning her head in that direction. “Birch? Nibble? Is that you? Are you back? She asked hopefully, hopping up to her feet and moving to peek around a tree.

There was another pup there that looked kind of funny from where she was and it sounded like maybe she was calling for her parents. “Hi there! Are you lost? Maybe Cian’s around! He likes to help lost wolves!” Clover had already inserted herself into the scene. She saw that the other little girl looked like she might be hurt.

She moved quickly to try to help her, but as soon as she was noticed and got closer, the pup vanished. Pink eyes grew twice as large and her mouth dropped wide open.“W-where’d you go?” She asked nervously, turning around and trying to see where the pup might’ve gone. Clover caught sight of a tail disappearing through the undergrowth and she scampered after it, trying to catch the mysterious pup if she could. “Wait! Come back! ”

@Juniper @Willow

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

THREAD TITLE MUSE

Many of her friendships were fleeting—but not this one with Willow. This one seemed real, ripe with sustenance and potential, and as the two yearlings grew, greeting the new spring with fits of giggles and fantasies, Juniper found herself happy.

Her sisters were wonderful, of course, nurturing and kind to her, but there was something special about having a friend her own age, someone with whom she could share her secrets. They could count the stars by night, imagining the stories that took place across the vast expanse of inky sky.

Willow was the more adventurous of the two, always pushing the limits, encouraging Juniper to come out of her shell and explore new places, try new things. While Juniper was not always comfortable upon first inspection of the said new thing, she often could be convinced. After all, they enjoyed one another’s company, and who else was there to help her become braver and better than she was yesterday?

Today, they decided to romp through the woods, laughing and wrestling one another in a game of pretend. But, amid their banter and affectionate brawl, something felt very out of place. Juniper lifted her head, pausing the play for a moment. “Do you hear that, Willow?” she said.

@Willow @Clover

manip + code: clae

W

illow had wanted to visit this particular place for a long, long time -- at least, comparatively to her single year of life, it had seemed a very long time. It was home to fanciful creatures, so unlike the normal and boring of daily life. She loved her own abode in the Lowlands and her family dearly. But it was an insatiable thirst for adventure that brought her there to far-off lands. After all, who could resist the notion of faes and other magical beings only seen otherwise in stories?


The forest here was even more beautiful than Willow had envisioned, and her senses were running wild, with so much to see and hear and smell and explore! Along for the adventure was Juniper, who Willow could count on for fun, who, despite her lingering shyness, had swiftly become one of Willow’s most favorite wolves ever.


In the back of her mind, her curiosity had been running mad with thoughts of fae and goblins and who knows what… What would they look like? Would they be very friendly to the very friendly girl? Today, Willow was determined to find out. ”First one to find a fae wins… um…” But this thought was interrupted by an unexpected sound, one that Juniper had also heard.


Willow was not fearful, though perhaps a bit of caution would have been useful to the girl. In the distance, she spotted a pale figure, rather small in stature. ”There, over there! See it?” Her eyes squinted in an attempt to see better. ”Is it a fae? I dunno, looks pretty… wolf-shaped to me.”



@Clover @Juniper

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

P

oking her heard through the brush she watched as the injured looking pup walk here and there crying out for her Mama and Papa. The sound made Clover flatten her ears and she lowered her head, wide eyes staring out at the poor girl with sympathy. She moved herself through the undergrowth, all matter of twig stuck to various parts of her fur and began her approach again.

The sickly child had seated herself facing away from Clover and she inched herself closer, noticing the misty, transparent quality of the other pup’s frame. She lifted her nose and sniffed the air, realizing there was no sent to her before she attempted a greeting again. “Hello…?”

There was no movement, only the quiet sobbing of the other little girl. Clover took a few more steps until she was inches away, tilting her head back and forth as she tried to understand what was happening. “Are you okay?” The pup’s head whipped around, her face fearful as she gasped before her image disappeared again, dissolving right in front of her eyes.

Clover hopped back and shook her head, then noticed movement past where she’d seen the ghost. When she lifted her gaze she spotted two other little girls from afar. They didn’t look strange like the other one did and she remained where she was, but called out to them. “Hello! You’re not going to disappear too, are you?”

@Juniper @Willow

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Juniper was cautious as a pup, and as such, she was cautious as a yearling; it was a habit she would likely never grow out of, a part of her heart that sealed in her personality, given what had happened in her childhood. “Um, I don’t know,” Juniper said, her instincts whispering a tale in her ears. There was something abnormal here, a feat that brought her anxiety out, a chill along her spine.

She glanced up, noting the pale figure, but she could not make out what or who it was, one way or the other. “It could be wolfish,” she said, quietly, wishing that she had the courage Willow always seemed to carry with her head held high. Instead, Juniper was the shy, uneasy, afraid one in their friendship.

Sometimes she did feel useless or inferior, not because her dear friend Willow made her feel this way, but because she thought she would be more like her.

Then, someone called out to them, and Juniper’s ears flicked forward, her first instinct to duck lower, as if she could hide among the brush in the forest. But the voice sounded young and friendly, and she looked up, only to find a girl about her and Willow’s age. “W-why would we disappear?” Juniper replied, trying to be brave for Willow.

@Willow @Clover

manip + code: clae