the child couldn’t have been more pleased to have his attention if she tried. his eyes were different from lifegiver’s bright green or other’s mix matched pair, and focused on her! when the stranger leaned forward to give her a sniff, her entire body wiggled with glee. for such an unsocialized pup, nothing seemed more exciting than this new wolf and her interaction with him. her world was limited to lifegiver and other, and now to her stranger - he could have told her that the moon came down to tap dance once a month and she would have believed him. as he drew back, she looked earnestly up at him - and promptly attempted to mimic his expression. her result was quite a bit more ambiguous than his, but it didn’t bother her much at all. he was speaking now, and her face fell into it’s more comfortable, earnest expression once again.

”What’s yours? The ground that you're hugging so tightly?" her head fell to the side in confusion as she stared up at him, blue eyes round. did he not understand? or, and the thought made blurs of sadness cross her concious, he already belonged to someone! a frown crossed the child’s face and she almost didn’t notice him leaning forward to sniff her again - if he hadn’t been the third wolf she’d ever met, she probably would have. brilliant blues peered up at his face and then narrowed a little. ”you,” she replied lightly, poking her nose at him to reaffirm her point. daria fell silent as she fumbled with her limited vocabulary and ability to form the question she was asking. ”you...mine?” she ended up asking, inching closer as if that would sway his opinion. she wanted him to be her’s, because she’d have a new thing! and new things were fun - her lifegiver brought them new things sometimes, scraps of fur or bone that smelled nice and were fun to play with and chew on. giving her stranger an appraising look, daria determined that he wouldn’t be fun to chew on, even if he did smell nice.