night dissolves into this final frame

It would've deterred most adult sarane who would never bother with such a miniscule gulp of food, but Juni wasn't aware she was a full-grown hen yet. Everything Leth was throwing at that problem and Juniper hat yet to realize her own size. Proven when she got sights of that bigger fish, sitting still as if it still thought itself as hidden and stoic as a pond bed rock, and like she thought it was a snack worth the effort. This time the satyr had plenty of warning to scramble to her feet and get out of the way. Juniper couched down low in the front, hind end wiggling with excited bristled tailspines, only patient enough to pose there for mere moments before she launched herself at the targeted fish. A small torrent of water rose at the hen's entire bulk smashing into the diminutive pool, displacing most of the water within it.

Once in a while Leth would think to worry about where Utu had gotten off to, but it was typically unfounded. Juniper's miniature clone would probably reappear once the mouthful of minnows they'd caught had been devoured. Plus perhaps another several beached by June.

Lethalia left Juniper dejectedly pawing at her depeleted puddle - there were more than enough to hold their attention. Like this tiny one, less than a yard or so across, at first glance full of mossy black rocks. If she stared into the pool long enough, the satyr could make out tiny legs beneath the rocks that marched the living stones at an unhurried pace. Though she could sic June on some harmless isopods, as much as she hated bugs it felt a little unfair. But it did give her an idea. For her purposes there were plenty of usable decoys around, surrounded by smoothed marine stones barely several steps into the mansion grounds.

Definitely did take her a moment to compute that the thing beneath her claws, however impressively she'd stuck that landing, hadn't twitched a single time since she'd clasped it's cold clammy surface. Not even a little dying twitch to know she'd landed true. Juniper finally dared lift a claw, more boldly removing herself when there proved to be no movement from the sand-buried... rock.

Leth thought the hen was almost so upset she was going to refuse her reward and sweet words. A 'big girl' snack was more in order nowadays, and the satyr had brought along a sarane favorite of especially meaty marrow bones, sawn down into hand-sized pieces. She found it a little more tolerable to deal with than 'whole food'. Juniper might've been mildly upset at her trick, but this treat was way too new and savory to decline the first mouth-watering bone chunk held out to her. Peace offering accepted.

What else did they have? Lethalia attempted to retrieve her rock out of the sand and throw it for June again, but no dice. It had already been deemed boring and not worth chasing by her, and so she'd do no such thing. Trying as a growing creature was, these were good signs in the hen, the fact she was becoming a little more independant and stubborn. Leth hoped to see more of both, if not too much. With Rimefang's blood running through her veins, there was no telling what her personality would look like once she was done going through this awkward stage.

Just barely, Leth caught the twitch of the long seagrass growing in clumps, the barest movement of a rather fat rat poking it's head out from betwen the blades. "Juni! Sic'em!" Lethalia patted June's shoulder and pointed out the rodent, taking a few moments before the hen's eyes focused and narrowed down on the unfortunate creature.

Yeah, it was a decent sign when Juniper started giving a pretty god side-eye her owner's over the top celebrations. Not that it would stop the woman in any way, but Leth was keeping her eye out for the smallest indicators the white hen was maturing at all. The smallest of changes, like glowering instead of getting excited at baby-talk, that would make all the difference in the end.

Heartened by their progress, Lethalia wondered how strong Juniper's association with the command was just yet, especially when she would decide to be bratty and not do it when her owner asked. "June!" Well, the hen near always responded to her name, blue eyes snapping up to scan the horizon of where her owner's voice had come from. Sometimes the woman had something annoying for her, and others she had something delicious. It was usually worth checking out the satyr's hollering because she'd get rewarded for doing just that.

Juniper might not have looked like much; a tiny hen sitting on an utterly tattered umbrella, the rainbow fabric reflecting attractively off of her shining white scales. So perhaps murdering a poor unsuspecting umbrella might not be a typical goal of a sarane's capabilities. With this hen, mauling the umbrella wasn't so much the marvel as much as the hen managing a clean pounce upon it. She hadn't so much as tripped this time! "G'work, Juni," Lethalia praised, a stupid grin seemingly etched on her face for the rest of the day. She hurried to grab her hen another good treat, the thing she actually wanted as opposed to empty words one couldn't eat.

"Nice'a 'ya t'cause a rukus n' dissappear. Welcome back, Utu," Lethalia hailed the cliff jumper as they made their reappearance. Well, the pocket pet had given her the idea for training, so it wasn't all bad.