Laoise had grown tired of listening to her mother talk, as well as listening to her siblings snore. The girl had been debating waking her siblings by force but decided she did not want to be lectured. Walking out of the den, the girl squinted at the sun that peeked over the lands that their mother called their home. Laoise imagined running through the hills and wrestling her siblings through the plains. Her short tail wagged at the thought. Breaking from her daydreams, the early bird climbed from the den, plopping down a few steps as she figured out her plan for the day.

The girl was disturbed from her thoughts when she felt something crawl over one of her paws. Glancing down quickly, she noticed it was a small lizard. The girl leaned down to sniff at the creature, her nose almost touching it. The sudden gust of air had startled the lizard, and it ran across the girl's sizeable paws and booked it into the rather short grass.  

"Hey, wait!" she yipped out, scrambling on the wet ground to chase after the small thing. It wasn't long before the girl managed to trip herself up on her large paws, landing face-first into the soft grass. Laoise watched as the lizard continued its frantic escape from her, letting a huff out from frustration. The girl made no effort to right herself, simply peering down at the dew that graced the grass, as well as the small flowers.

"Man, I'll never be a good anything since I can't run," she grumbled out forlornly to herself. The thought caused Laoise to clamp her eyes shut and scowl at the world.

Coran had been dreaming, back paw kicking the ground, neck stretching out with soft puppy’sh growls that were anything but intimidating.  The motions and sound stopped as another sound came.  Some part of his mind acknowledged it wasn’t part of his dream and the pale coated pup stirred awake.  With a big yawn Coran looked around the den and the sleeping family.  Laoise wasn’t with them.  Getting up he imagined bounding right out to se what she was doing but had to stop to stretch.  He just couldn’t resist the urge.  Should Coran wake the others to alert to their sister missing?

No, knowing his sister she wasn’t in trouble as much as refusing to keep still.  Coran hopped out of the den looking for signs of where his sister went up to and spotted her after a few moments in some short grass. Why was she lying down out here?  Coran bounded over to her looking down, “Uh Laoise? Whatcha doin? You ok?” Funny how she liked to make up rules but here she was also the one sneaking off before anyone else was awake.

Hearing her brother approach, Laoise was quick to wiggle so she could peer up at him. A large, puppy-ish smile graced her maw as she stared at her sibling. The girl refrained from rolling her eyes at his concern. Didn't he know she was like, the strongest warrior ever? She batted a paw playfully at him as she giggled at his questioning. She peeked around him for a moment to see if anyone else was up, though it appeared Coran had been the only one to awaken.

"Hey, I gotta learn how to protect you all and be the strongest warrior ever somehow, and first that starts with waking up first," she replied confidently. She sprung up from her seated position, tail wagging as she booped her brother's muzzle in affectionate greeting. She was always happy to spend time with her siblings, and Coran always seemed to act like he knew a little more than her. She didn't mind though, since he could be the brain and she could be the brawn. Her mind often moved at a mile a minute, and so the girl was quick to whip her head around to peer around the surroundings, keeping to her word of keeping her family safe. Even if she wasn't nearly as ready for fighting and protecting her family on the frontlines as she thought, a girl could dream.

Coran's eyes seemed to show some mirth at her comment, "Waking up first doesn't count for much if you just come to sleep out here"  After all, she had just been laying on the ground first when he spotted her!   "You know, all of us gonna be some of the strongest.  Cause look how strong our parents are," as far as Coran could imagine his parents had to be the strongest wolves as this was the best pack ever and it was his parent's pack.  

"So all we gotta do is practice real hard."  This last part was said as he hopped up on his back legs to end by whacking Laoise on her muzzle.  Coran's tail wagged as he offered this obvious and positive advice to his sister.  "Wanna beat me though you gotta work extra hard.  Cause I'm planning to be the best," he needed to be the best to get a higher up rank and protect his brother.   Coran's tail was swaying back and forth as he imagined it.  Technically Ardyn should be even better but this was just between him and Laoise for the moment.

Laoise huffed at his statement, watching him with her brilliant blue eyes. What did he know of waking up early and being the best fighter? She giggled, brushing it off as playful jest. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by being smacked across the face. A bit of spit flew from her mouth as she let out a playful puppy snarl.

"Okay okay, compromise, what if WE become the best-maybe not Aoife 'cause she small-but anyways what if we all became the best guards so we can protect mom and dad and Ardyn? We'd be better together," she replied, lowering her front into a bow. Her tail waggled, moving so fast it blurred.

"And please, I'm not that smart so therefore I have to be the strongest! You can pretend all you want, princess," she added snarkily, a happy grin on her maw. The girl then leaned back onto her hindlegs and raised her paws to bat at Coran's ears with a mischievous giggle.

This was clearly a serious conversation.  All one had to do was like at wagging eager tails to see the importance.   "Compromise," Coran agreed bobbing his head, "so we are all the best fighters including Aiof.  You don't want anyone to call one of us weak right? We have to make sure she's just as strong as we are." His mouth parted in a grin, "Thats your job.  You make rules, well a rule for you is to help make her strong!"  Did it even matter if there were flaws in his logic?  Coran spoke with open confidence, clearly proving how smart he was, right? "Besides, Ardyn will need all of us, so he needs her also." Family was important.  Even in mockery jokes it was his job to defend the one not present.

Those important words were said even as he dropped into a bow as well, butt wiggling in anticipation.  Then the word 'princess' came from his sister.  That did it! He squatted down, her paw swatted ears and in turn Coran pounced his sister, aiming to bite into her ear muttering, "princess huh? Princess this!"

Laoise listened intently to her brother, blue eyes blinking in confusion. She hadn't meant it as mean, but she honestly didn't think Aoife would be interested in the same lifestyle she and her brothers were aiming for. But maybe she was mistaken. She opened her mouth to speak but replaced it with a wide grin as she noticed Coran's stance change.

Her tail wagged once before her brother was upon her. The weight of the duo sent them somersaulting backward and Laoise giggled with glee, trying to hide the sound with a fake growl. She landed on her back with an oof and was quick to kick her back legs up against her brother, teeth bared in a growl-smile combination.

"No, if Aoife doesn't want to be strong, and wants to be smart, I'll be twice as strong for her!" she replied confidently, sticking her tongue out at her brother. Whatever anyone in her family decided to do, Laoise would always remain a support for them, even if she didn't understand. I mean, why wouldn't you want to be as strong as dad and as cool as mom?

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

“Aoife is strong, Lee.” Ardyn piped simply as he padded down the three steps, landing at the bottom of the last with a faint grunt before he shook out his ink-black coat, kindling a fresh blaze in his fur from nose to tail-tip before he launched into his two younger siblings with a purring growl, reaching to playfully tug on either pup’s ears with his nimble front paw-hands. He’d woken up about the time Coran left the puppy pile, and he’d listened to the majority of the conversation from just inside the cave mouth. He squinted at both of them, a mixture of stern and play as he added, “We are all strong. As long as we work together, nobody can stop us, right?” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Coran returned Laoise snarly growl with that tail weaving circles behind him. When the legs kicked at him he hopped, stumbled off with perfect puppy grace. He was about to make a comment but then there was Ardyn. See? Ardyn agreed with him! It didn’t matter that Laoise had kinda agreed in a different sort of way, Coran still took that as he won the conversation.

When Ardyn tugged on his ear Coran hopped back, lowering his head with that playful growl before responding. “You bet! We are the best! No one’s ever gonna even want to mess with us.” Coran was all in with clear belief and pride in his words.

“Hey, we should all go hunting together at some point. Maybe if we work together we can catch something!” Adults wolves used group hunts to catch large game, so maybe they could catch somewhat smaller game as a group? It seemed a good way to prove how they could all be strong together in his mind.

The weight of Arydn hit her, making her let out a huff of playful aggression. Laoise frowned at Arydn, her tail fluffing out in annoyance. Why didn't they understand? Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout as she watched the two in silence. She resisted the urge to bat his paws away, fluffing up her hackles and grumbling instead. However, her attention quickly flicked back to Coran, her eyes lighting up at the mention of something physical. Her earlier sour mood was pushed aside as she offered a smile, one that was a bit duller than before.


"I doubt we have to work together to get a small thing, but we could probably bring down a bear if we were all together!!!" she replied enthusiastically, tail wagging softly. Laoise knew couldn't articulate how she felt well, but perhaps she could show her love through actions.