[ P ] first breath

Note: Spring, Year 2

orlaith kinnaird

The looming presence of the coniferous trees blanketed the area in a warm, protected embrace. Even with the currently unstable politics, children raised here would not need to fear beasts or heathens around dark corners. Instead, the community functioned as a defensive unit, providing the said protected area for much of the Highland population.

It was here that the litter was born to a pair of loving parents. They were kept in a tidy den, and had spent most of their time up until this point just sleeping, eating, and sleeping some more. The life of a newborn pup was boring at best, but the moment Orlaith's eyes opened, so did too her world.

Today, it was the first day she was allowed to step foot outside of the den. Excitement sang through her veins; her happy little heart thrumming within her fuzzy chest. As her mother led, three bouncing pups followed along, nipping at her heels with rambunctious abandon.

The first thing she noticed was the sun - a big, bright ball that blazed above them. It hurt to look at it, and her blue eyes seered as she blinked white spots away. This caused her to trip and stumble forward, chin hitting the ground with a quiet yip.

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@Gwydion

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Gwydion Kinnaird

Gwydion was prone to wandering already, despite being so young. He was seemingly becoming the resident troublemaker or so his parents like to say. He smiled as he trailed after Orlaith, the sun was high in the sky and it was time to do some exploring! Arran was somewhere begin, probably bothering dad about army stuff but his sister was up ahead and so when she tripped and fell he noticed instantly. A gasp escaped him and he bounded over to her, nudging her shoulder with his snout. His blue eyes were wide as he asked her "are you okay, sis?"

It was apparant he had a favored sibling. His brother was a little too stuck up for his liking, but of course he loved the russet-topped boy. He was family after all... but Orlaith? They just seemed to connect better, he had more fun with her and they both loved to explore and learn new things, albiet he just like to tear things up more than anything and sometimes she didn't appriciate that. He nipped gently at her ear, attempting to get a rise out of her so that she would stand up and prove she was okay. His little tail wagged furiously behind him the entire time, of course.

@Orlaith

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orlaith kinnaird

She would be quick to learn a valuable lesson - pain is temporary. As her chin hit the ground, her teeth clacked together and the little girl bit her tongue. A metallic aftertaste spread down the back of her throat, and she scrambled to stand back on all four paws to avoid drawing attention to her little scene…

But her elder (though not eldest) brother appeared, as she would grow to expect throughout the hardships of her life. While they were born a trio from the same blood, Orlaith knew, even in her tiny young heart, that their journeys would have much different paths. Only time would tell right now though, as their lives were only freshly new and dangerously impressionable.

“Are you okay, sis?” came Gwydion’s familiar voice, and just his presence soothed the angry stings from her face. A smile naturally broke out across the girls face, and she bounced forward to tackle her brother to the ground.

”I’m fine, I’m fine,” she insisted. Giggles bubbled from her chest as she secretly schemed her next ninja move. But then, there was a colourful, pretty thing fluttering in the air - over there! Orlaith’s head snapped towards it, blue eyes wide and bright with curiosity. Her chubby body jolted forward as she exclaimed, ”What’s that?!” and left her brother in the dust.

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@Gwydion

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Gwydion Kinnaird

As usual, with children, emotions and worries were short-lived, and their flighty attention was quickly captured by something fluttering by. He'd inspected her well enough and when she'd jumped up and brushed him off, Gwydion suspected his sister was just fine.

His blue eyes trailed after her as she lept to her paws and bounded away, chasing something bright and whimsical. It fluttered about and his own eyes grew wide. While he couldn't imagine what Orlaith was thinking, he knew what he was thinking... and that was he wanted that thing NOW! He wanted to catch it and chew it up, as he wanted to do with many a new thing he found lying about. His mouth began to salivated and his ears flicked back as he crept after his sister eagerly. Gwydion was probably the most eager to destroy everything he could get his teeth on, seemingly far more so than either of his siblings.

Mama said it was okay... but that he should be wary of the things he tried to snack upon.

However, Mama wasn't here to tell him that now. So, as he came closer, he saw the creature rest upon a pretty yellow flower and before his sister could get too close. He charged! His fat puppy body wiggled with glee as he snapped his jaws around the creature. It's tiny body and wings gave far too easily and the petals it sat upon crumbled to dust with ease. He frowned, spitting it all out. Well, that hadn't been very hard at all. What a disappointment!

@Orlaith

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orlaith kinnaird

Her head start didn't last very long as Gwydion's longer legs quickly closed the distance between the two siblings. He passed her with a gleeful wiggle before his baby jaws suddenly crunched down on the husk of the pretty critter.

And while she should have expected this outcome, Orlaith was still too young to be fully capable of controlling her emotions. Puppy growls vibrated from her throat, pupils narrowing in grief and irritation. So instead of stopping, the little girl continued to barrel forward, throwing as much of her weight forward until she collided with Gwydion's chest with a dull thud. A throb pulsed from the impact, but her undeveloped brain didn't consider consequences to actions just yet.

She fell to the ground with another - this time lighter - thud. Her attention then fell to the pieces of butterfly that her brother had spat out, ungracefully, on the ground.

"Gwydion!" the young lass then cried, her eyebrows knitting over her piercing eyes. "I coulda made a friend!" she just wanted to talk to someone who wasn't one of her annoying brothers - was that so much to ask? Orlaith huffed and bent down, using a tiny claw to poke sadly at the torn, powdery wings.

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@Gwydion

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Gwydion Kinnaird

Gwydion should have expected his sister to be mad that he'd eaten but when she collided with him in all her fury, a strangled yelp was squeeed from his jaws and he tumbled over. Glowering, he lifted his head and shook it before refocusing his bleary gaze on her.

"You brat!" he huffed. She whined at him, claiming that she could have made friends with the... whatever it was.

Pouting, he stood up and shook himself off before watching her prod at the remains of the nasty creature. "It didn't even taste good. Why'd you wanna be friends with something that doesn't even taste good!?" he questioned, frowning at her. "'sides, I'm your best friend." he said, lifting his head proudly. She didn't need no other friends, especially not stinky bugs like this!

He waddled up to her and sighed. "We could find another?" he said, looking at her ruefully. If anything he didn't want her upset.

@Orlaith

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orlaith kinnaird

It was hopeless - her mood was ruined and Orlaith no longer wanted to hang out with her stupid brother. Tears welled in her eyes when he called her a brat, and she abruptly stood up and wiped at her eyes. Bad went to worse when he tried to smooth it over with deflecting her desires to make friends with the bugs, and an anger welled within her chest and threatened to burst. Why did something have to taste good to warrant a friendship? She glowered at him.

"You don't taste good, Gwydion!" her chocolate brows were tightly knit together as she pressed her ears against her skull. Why did brothers have to ruin literally everything?! Why couldn't he just let her explore and be fun? Her sudden anger infected her mind, and quickly did her thoughts spiral out of control. His confidence in the fact they were best friends only added more fuel, and she took a few ungraceful steps back before shaking her head.

"I don't wanna," she wasn't old enough to control her voice just yet, and it cracked at the end, much to her frustration. Anger quickly dissolved to sadness, and so she just took a deep breath, sighed, and stomped in the direction of home, without another word.

- exit orlaith via temper tantrum -

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@Gwydion

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Gwydion Kinnaird

Gwydion could tell that he'd taken things too far. Orlaith was mad mad. He cringed at her outburst, then tried to give her a sheepish smile and smooth things over, but it was no good. She proclaimed she didn't want to find anymore butterflies and then stormed off, probably to go tell mom and dad about what he'd done.

Panic overwhelmed him and he jumped up to chase after her. "Wait, wait! I'm sorry, Laithy... don't tell ma and pa..." he begged as he followed along behind her. He hadn't meant to piss her off, he'd only been playing! His tail wagged behind him and he looked at her pleadingly, but she wouldn't even look at him. Nope, this was not good, this was not good at ALL. He was in for it big time!

-exit gwydion via following his grumpy sister home-

@Orlaith

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