Today was the day she was finally going to conquer the slope of the den! This was it, her big moment. Mom was out and dad was... well somewhere else. Her brother and sister were still inside but she didn't want to wait any longer."'mon guys!" even though mom had told them to wait she was set on climbing out. She scratched her way up only to emerge into a world of.... white.... and cold. A whine left her and she stopped uncertain about the substance.

Then a paw touched it and after a moment the tiny girl was off. Her adventure was starting. Her little bobbed tail was held high and she could barely contain her excitement. She was dashing about before zipping off to the water. It was so cool. Then she bounded across where she could see pebbles under the water. Brrrrr, that was cold! She pushed on after shaking her coat out, not caring if she was doing exactly what she wasn't supposed to right now. She was denbound and she wanted to play. A bird caught her eye, its cawing up in the branches, near a border she didn't know about, catching her perked, almost too bigh for her ears. She started off looking up at it then
Erupted. Barks came from her and she stared standing against the tree. It looked like a feathery chew toy. Though then a distraction happened. Dad's scent! She was off bounding to find him.

The mighty hunter of her dad! And as soon as she saw him she bounded and launched. Her needle like teeth aimed for his left rear ankle. She had him she knew it!

"Speech"

Rhyme tried not to let either of the dens which kept his pups go too long in between times he checked their vicinities. He had to keep doing larger patrols, but now that the little buggers could escape he was keeping a closer eye. When he saw the lone puppy tracks leading from the maple tree he knew trouble was up. He made sure the other two weren’t about to go off following their tiny sister before he turned around to seek her out.

He heard Solitude a few trees away, he was calling an alarm. It was an intruder, and he had to guess the white bird had found the exploring Verse. He sighed softly and headed in that direction, wanting to hurry and corral his tiniest child before she hurt herself. He’d feel better about them all going out on their own when it was warm enough to teach them to swim. There was a lot of water in Abaven, and if one of them got swept away by the river he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to find them again. Dead or Alive.

The somber thoughts didn’t leave him before he heard the sound of trouncing through snow. His black ears were perked as he swung his head in the direction of a tiny pup barreling towards him. He couldn’t help the huge grin over his face as she was suddenly slamming into his ankle. He chuckled enthusiastically as she sunk her sharp little puppy teeth into his white fur. His laugh was cut off as she pricked his skin, her teeth were sharp!

”Verse!” He called out, hesitant to shake her off his leg. ”Didn’t your mother tell you to stay put?” He asked her, a bit of scolding creeping into his voice.

The mighty hunter had succeeded! Her teeth were in daddy's ankle and she wasn't about to let go. His voice did however make her let go. He wasn't happy to see her? Her ears fell and her eyes looked up at him. Her mother had said to stay in the den. But she was bored of that. None of the things in there were as much fun. Noir was a meanie and theory wasnt as much of a chew toy. "but, I wans play what you play!" and just like that everything was pushed back again. Her stumpy tail was wagging so fast her whole butt was moving with its motion. Then she was trying her best to stand on her back legs and use Rhyme for support. A pleading in her eyes for him to take her on an adventure.

She knew which strings to pull, mostly anyway. How could anyone stay mad as such a big pawed cutie patootie? "pweeeeeeaaaasssse daddy?" she was begging now. Just cuz momma wanted her to be bored didn't mean she couldn't rope daddy into letting her have some fun. She bet by the time they got back theory and noir would have escaped as well. She really didn't get why they wanted to keep them cooped up in the den anyway. She'd already chewed holes in the tiger pelt they were using as a bed. Keeping her in the den was just asking for boredom and destruction. She batted her eyelids at him for the final touch. She was irresistible like this she bet.

"Speech"

Baby blue eyes came into view as the pup floated into reality. Theory fluttered her lashes in order to get rid of foggy vision. Her tiny nose flicked and twitched as her head slowly raised. The sound of her little sister shouting and then bounding off fell into flimsy ears. The much larger pup took a moment to register what was going on but as Theory looked around it seemed neither of her parents were in sight! A goofy grin fell upon inky lips while exposing sharp puppy teeth. The black and white youngling quickly got up and began to waddle her way towards the entrance of the den. Tiny paws paused at the threshold as her fresh gaze scanned the great beyond. Snow covered the earth and some tracks in the snow. She was far to young to be any good at tracking but she assumed those could lead to her sister who was currently missing. Theory began to quickly waddle through the snow with a beaming smile upon dark lips. Her eyes were wide and the snow stung her delicate skin. Her paws were sensitive due to the lack of exposure and the chilled air was nothing like the warmth of the den. A quick shiver stopped the adventurous pup for a moment before the small babe carried on. Not after long her baby blue gaze set sights on her tiny sister and her father! A little yip of joy was let forth as the larger pup barreled forward. Little paws carried her fluffy form forwards. Theory was making her way towards the rear of Verse with a determined look on her tiny face. With that the pup launched forward in attempt to ram into Verse's right rear end with a swarm of girly giggles. "Verse!" Her eyes then moved to daddy with a big happy smile, "Dad!" "Speech"

Noir grumbled quietly to himself as he watched both of his sisters escape their confining den. He was usually one to obey the rules, he loved the praise he as given when he was better behaved than his sisters, but he couldn’t miss out on some of the attention Verse and Theory would receive outside. Noir was curious as well, his father came and went often with their mother sometimes leaving as well. He wanted to experience what was out there, and the rules were quickly forgotten as he made up his mind. His dark blue striped form cautiously approached the ramp leading from the den, by the time he poked his head into the open he could see Theory sprinting away from the den. He lifted his head and sniffed curiously at the air, all the scents were so clean and fresh, not like the stuffy inside of the den. The cold surprised him. He had been chilly before, but never cold like this. Slowly he tested the snow with one blue striped paw and he sunk in. The snow covered his paw and he pulled back, alarmed. With wide eyes he steeled himself, if tiny Verse or Theory could do it so could he. With no more hesitation he jumped in, taking off running behind his sister. His paws were quick to chill but the excitement of freedom warmed him. He felt himself grinning at the blatant defiance of the rules and the awe of experiencing the world for the first time. Noir didn’t have to run far before his siblings and father came into sight. Rhyme’s attention was centered on Verse and Theory and Noir couldn’t have that. While Theory would use her approach to tackle Verse, Noir went straight to his father’s side. He too jumped up on his rear legs, placing two oversize paws on Rhyme’s foreleg. "Dad! Dad dad dad!" He barked, trying to monopolize his father’s attention. He didn’t have much else to say, except to express his wonder at how big the world was. ""

He couldn’t keep the charade up, Verse held a special place in his heart and despite her not obeying the rules he wasn’t really mad. He didn’t lose the grin on his features as she continued to bite into him. Rhyme looked forward to the day they stopped biting. Motif was excellent at that job as well, and her teeth were bigger. Though she usually went for his toes. He couldn’t help his hearty chuckle as she explained her disobedience and wiggled her little fluff of a tail for him. He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep them in the den much longer anyway, and it was better that she was with him than off exploring on her own. He sighed heavily in defeat as the second appeared from the direction of the den.

He chuckled again as Theory greeted her sister with a tackle before giving him a heart warming smile. His grin was immovable as he reached down to nuzzle the both of them. He was about to cave in to their demands when suddenly Noir was upon him as well. If he wasn’t beat before he most certainly was now. His only living son always seemed desperate for attention and Rhyme offered the boy a quick nuzzle as well.

”Yes, hello to you too.” He told the boy before addressing the three of them. ”Alright we’ll go explore.” He knew he’d never get them back into the den, at least not yet. He’d have to keep an eye on how cold they were getting though. ”How about we go see the kill pile?” He offered, sure that all three would enjoy gnawing on the carcasses.