Black Orchid

Cassie púffed out her chest proudly as three of the original fifteen praised her singing. She looked proud of herself, really. "Yup, I think it is something special to sing! I've only seen Mr. Cash and myself sing this good. Well, Mr. Cash is a teeny tiny better, I must say." She added sheepishly. She then looked up at Perdita, still with that bright look on her face. "Maybe they can sing, but I have the greatest voice around! Right, mum?" But before Perdy could answer, she titler her head to the side and seemed to think for a little.

"You know, maybe if you heard me sing you'd know, mum." She stated, her tail wagging at the thought of showing her newly discovered talent to her siblings. But before anything else could happen, a loud pup entered the scene, apparently taking the attention away from Cassie, which seemed to upset her greatly, but she didn't pout or make an overly angry face, she just moved away from the drashing pup and sat a bit farther away from Perdy, not wanting to be that clumsy pup's next spot of collission.

"This is no party." Cassie huffed, just loudly enough for her to hear, then looking down at her front paws and seeing a small ladybug climb to her toes. She smiled down at the creature and picked it up, gently placing her on her nose. "Hey, miss ladybug!" She gleefully and inocently greeted, her full attention now on the bug and not on the rest of the crowd. Which lasted just little while, since miss ladybug flew away. "Bye bye, miss ladybug!" Cassie said.

((Lol, random ladybugg moment. I just wanted to write it down XD))

Apr 16, 2012 11:56:57 GMT -5 Crescent said:

"MummyMummyMummyMummy!" The whir of words flowed from the lips of a very hyperactive dalmatian pup. She rushed towards Perdita, sliding between her paws on her back, rolling her bottom and back up Perdita chest. She was curled in an odd position. "Huhahahaha," she giggled, "Oopsie!" She looked up at Perdita and frowned.

"Mommy why are you so sad?" she asked, "Why's everyone here? Is this a party?! Why wasn't I invited? I wanna party tooooooo!!!"

"Now Cassie, it's not polite to boast." Perdita chided. She knew each of her pups had talent in them somewhere, and boasting about what they could do certainly wouldn't help the others find what they were good at. Before she could continue speaking to Cassie, though, she found her attention drifting off in the direction of another voice calling for her.

For the second time that day, Perdita found herself being bumped into by one of her many little ones. This time, though, it was Crescent that had been the cause of it. It also appeared that Crescent had gotten herself into a bit of an odd position as a result of colliding with her. Perdita laughed softly and nudged Crescent with her nose to try and help her get into a better position. At least one of her pups was concerned besides Jewel. "No, darling, it's not a party. I was just taking a little stroll and thinking about... what's happened, I suppose." Perdita replied. That sounded about right. Her expression turned a touch more melancholy as she recalled what she had been thinking about before Jewel had joined her.

"I suppose I just haven't let go of what happened to your father, Lucky, Penny..." Perdita stopped herself and shook her head. She couldn't lose her hold on her emotions in front of the pups. She simply wouldn't allow herself to do so. Even if that was what she wanted, though, she couldn't stop the emotions entirely. "It's just been so difficult to take in everything that's happened." Perdita said.

Cadpig's ears lowered sadly as Perdita talked about Lucky and Pongo. Seeing her mom like this was just too much for the little dal. She cuddles close to her mom and nuzzles her paw sadly. "Don't start crying now girl. You can not start crying. You got to be brave for Cassie, for Jewel , for your family" She repeats over and over in her head. She looks at her mom trying to blink back the tears that had started to form in her eyes. She quickly wipes them away with a little sniffle. You could tell by the expression on the dalmatian's face that she felt absolutely terrible for her mom. But, was trying to be brave for her mom's sake.

Penelope's smile widened when Cassie talked more about her singing. Penelope didn't know that Mr. Cash Cassie was talking about, but she was happy for her adopted sister. At least she had found something to pass the time with during this war.
When Crescent appeared like a small tornado and slid between Perdita's paws and ended up in a weird position, Penelope couldn't help but chuckle. "Hello", she said to Crescent with a smile on her face.

But then Perdita's anxiety catched Penelope too when her mom mentioned Pongo, Lucky and Penny. Realization hit her hard. If this had been difficult for Penelope, how about Perdita, then? She lost her mate, her pups...
The puppy lowered her head and the smile disappeared, as swiftly as it had appeared.
"I'm sorry that you're feeling that way, mom", the dalmatian mumbled and looked at Perdita, trying to force an encouraging smile on her face. Perdita had been there for all of them for all their life, now they should help their mother.

"Awww, I'm sorry Mommy." Crescent snuggled in her short coarse fur, tail wagging softly when she finally was back on her feet after crash landing into Perdita. "Everything's gonna be okay. Daddy's up in heaven chasing buggies with Lucky and Penny!" There she went again with the buggies, it had become Crescent's mantra. After all she liked chasing bugs so why wouldn't Daddy and Lucky and Penny? One was relaxing, she knew that, after all the pup had been so responsible she needed a good rest.

"Its okay Mommy," she said rubbing her leg, "Partner's gonna be strong for us. I'll be strong too for you but I ain't so smart..." Ears drooped as she recalled her scars. "I promise Mommy, Daddy's up there chasing buggies. He just gotta be."

Well, if that didn't cheer her up then she certainly didn't know what would. The image of Pongo laughing and playing with the pups up wherever it was deceased heroes went to was admittedly an amusing one, and Perdita couldn't help but smile a little as she imagined it. Who knew? Maybe they were up there playing and chasing crickets like Crescent had said. It didn't take away the pain Perdita still felt, but it did make her a bit happier knowing that maybe Pongo was happy wherever he was and that their children were as well.

"Thank you, Crescent. I know this must be hard on all of you, and my being sad won't make it any easier, but I do appreciate all of you trying to stay strong." Perdita finally said. The little doofy pup did have a fairly good point, too. They had to stay strong in the face of the troubled times that had befallen them. She especially needed to stay strong for the sake of her remaining children. How she had lost sight of that was anyone's guess, but Perdita didn't want to lose sight of it again. She slowly lowered herself onto the ground so that she was laying down and, after making final adjustments on her position, gently nuzzled Crescent's cheek.

"And I'm sure you're right. Your father and the others must be happy wherever they are." she said. They just had to be. What sense would there be in having them stay wherever it was if they weren't happy?

Penelope gulped and looked at Crescent with sad look in her eyes, but slowly the image of her siblings and her father hunting some flies took over and she made a noice which was a mix of a chuckle and a sob. "Yeah, I think so too...", the puppy agreed her mother's statement and then sighed before lifting her gaze towards Perdita. "...Um, mom? Do... Do you think everything's gonna be okay?", she asked cautiously; she didn't want to upset her mother.

A silent breeze made the white and black colored fur sway lightly. There was a hopeful twinkle in Penelope's eyes.

(sorry for the wait, guys! ^^")

"I can only hope so, Penelope." Perdita replied. She didn't quite know what to expect for their family anymore. Every day seemed to bring about a new threat of losing more pups to the horrors of war. Or worse, having to fight her own children because they had joined the other armies. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. The last thing Perdita wanted was to have to attack her own children.

"I heard a human say once that it's always darkest before the dawn. Perhaps... we've just entered that point. Things may look bleak, but maybe they'll get better. I hope they do. Oh, how I hope things get better." Perdita said. She didn't want to diminish her children's hope, though, and so she offered a little smile as she finished speaking. Things would get better. They had to get better. What would become of their family if they didn't try to press on?