Chapter 149
Shannon got to work on Breakfast while Nat was on head pat duty. She still had the one arm behind Sophie's back, but her other hand was alternating back and forth between Copper and Edwin. The former turned to mush under her care, while the other did his best to remain stoic and unmoving. Which worked out pretty well, except for his tail's habit of betraying how he actually felt. At this point, Lucille could not help but laugh as hard as she could at the sight. Her mate however, acted as if nothing was wrong as he subtly leaned into Natalie's hand whenever it came to his head.
Breakfast was just simple BLT's, pulled out from storage, but there had to be a great deal pulled out for all of the canines. It gave Nat five minutes to finish up what she was doing before getting up. She did not attempt to get Sophie to get up from her position, instead lifting her as she stood. With one arm now positioned underneath the kid to prop her up, Natalie made her way over to where Shannon was getting everything set up. The coyotes, who were now done with their watch, came over as well to get a bite to eat. Shannon had some of the softest ones she had set aside on a separate plate for all of the pups who came crawling over. They should have been able to eat the tougher sandwiches as well, but they wanted to be careful. After all, just because one could do something, did not mean it was necessarily the best idea.
As they came up to the impromptu table loaded with toasted sandwiches, the smell finally got to Sophie's nose. She had not heard the crackling of a fire, nor had she seen anyone make these. Regardless, piping hot BLT's were now sitting in front of her, looking delicious as all hell. While she threw a confused glance at Shannon, she picked one up and started eating, not making any motions to get down from her spot in Natalie's embrace. Seeing the confusion, as well as the eating posture, Nat and Shannon both let out a giggle, before digging in themselves.
The smell of the food wafting through the camp stirred the rest of the canines into rising from their slumber. As a wave moving outwards, the canines rose and dragged their sleepy asses towards the pile of food, before going all in. Sophie had thought that had been a lot of food, but upon seeing many of the canines, specifically Ash pack them away like they were nothing caused her to grab a second sandwich, just so she could have more to eat.
As they were finishing up breakfast, Shannon turned to look at her new adopted daughter, "Hey Soph, want to see a magic trick?" Sophie's confusion only escalated at this question. She had never seen or heard of a magician before, but she had heard tales of magic. Mainly in the fairy tales that her fathers would read to her as she went to sleep. As far as she knew, there was no such thing. Hesitant and disbelieving, she gave a short nod.
The next few minutes had Sophie sitting on Natalie's lap, wide-eyed and open-mouthed the entire time. Shannon danced around the camp, making everything from the tent to the fire pit disappear before her eyes. All of the canines who saw her reaction did their best to stifle their giggles at her reaction, given that they knew the trick to Shannon's 'magic'. As they explained what they thought, Natalie did her best to hold in her amusement as well, doing her best to ooh and ah every time Shannon stored an item, trying to build up the show for their daughter. After all, who would guess the secret to this was the presence of three-hundred-pound gorillas. And they were the ones on the lighter end of the scale.
Natalie's acting seemed to have helped Shannon's performance, as after everything was stored and Shannon was doing her bow at the end, the applause from Sophie was fast and loud. Not wanting her to feel alone, everyone else joined in. The smile on her face alone was worth it to them. Sophie had enjoyed it so much, that she jumped off Natalie's lap and ran over to hug Shannon, asking how she did it. She deflected for a while, stating that a true magician never reveals their tricks. Sophie felt a little bummed out by that, but quickly changed to asking what other tricks she could do. Shannon held back by saying it was a surprise for later, but then caved in at the little girl's pleading face. She promised to explain everything while they were on the road, as it was only fair for her to know about what the two of them could do.
While Nat agreed, she had other concerns to worry about at the moment. Sol and Bryden were still banged up from the fight yesterday, so they would be unable to join outside of the Soulscape in travelling once more. Meanwhile, Scout's children were finally nearing the end of the weaning period, and he wanted to help his mate and pups get used to walking around on two legs personally. Kali and Maia were still willing to travel, but Nat wanted to give them a day off if possible. That left the question of who to bring out travelling with them today. Shadow was the easy pick, as was Spirit. The question was who had the best coordination of everyone left. Knowing that Sierra cared more about reading and learning than physical activity, she got asked if who were making the most headway in the Soulscape. After all, it obviously wasn't her.
Her answer allowed two more to get grabbed and brought out. Artemis was apparently the one pup of their generation who could keep up to Spirit for any length of time. Nat guessed she may be attracted to him, but that had yet to be seen. Either way, the energetic pup himself seemed to have no concerns about anything other than being able to run around all day, so he would probably be the densest of the bunch. The other choice was Trooper. This one did not surprise Nat in the slightest, given how attached he was now and as a pup back in the zoo. With the team selected, the group set up along the highway once more, except now it was lesson time for Sophie.
Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Viktor, Saganatsu, Eeleater, John, Hades, Onean, Neal, Sebastian, Ethan, Sir Hellington, Adam, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 50 patrons, which I will then spend more time each month writing some side stories and shorts that show other perspectives throughout my stories!
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