Oh Ruin was a bad bad girl.

She couldn't contain her giggles as she rummaged through Motif's den, pulling and tugging at her furs till they were all strewn out on the grass outside. It had been a spur of a moment scheme, the sort that popped into her head like a catchy tune. And once she started thinking about it there was no way to let it go, Ruin had to see it through to the end or else. But what did the rest of her plan entail? Oh ho ho, Ruin grinned at the deviousness of her plot, her tail wagging a mile a minute as she grabbed a corner of the den and began to pull it along. It was a lot harder than it looked, that's for sure. She huffed and she puffed, tugging them with all her might, but really a small thing like her wasn't meant to do heavy lifting. She'd barely dragged the bedding a few feet from the den before her sides began to heave and her stubbly legs wobbled with the strain.

A whine slipped from her lips as Ruin flopped to her belly atop the soft furs, puppy legs slanted out to the sides as she rested her chin on the floor. Where were her brothers when she needed them?

He found little Ruin outside the den of one of their sisters. This place had always smelled like feathers and herbs to him. He hadn’t ventured inside before, but Motif always greeted them with a smile and a kiss. He knew the older wolf, their sister, wouldn’t mind a silly prank. So seeing what his little sister was trying to do, he laughed softly.

He stepped around her, tweaking her tail as he did so, before reaching for a corner of the bedding. His ears were dirtied, to hide their blue. He was in a near-constant state of trying to see how many wolves he could trick into thinking he was Haiku. From their scents, to the sounds of their voices, they were twins. “Where are we taking this?” he asked Ruin, stepping into her game and offering his help without question. That’s what big brothers were for, after all.

"Speech"

Ruin leaned up on her front paws to nip playfully at her brothers nose, only for her attack to quickly transition into some sisterly nuzzles as she stood up on her tippy-toes, barely able to reach. It really unfair that both of her brothers were clearly destined to be giants, leaving Ruin and Suspense in the dust. How come they'd gotten the short end of the stick ? Didn't they deserve to be big and tall too?  Maybe, just maybe, Ruin didn't want to take after her tiny Ma, why hadn't no one thought of that? Though she'd never admit it, she'd spent many a night squeezing her eyes shut as she huddled up next to her siblings , mumbling under her breath in prayer that one day she'd grow just as tall, maybe even taller, than her brothers. But for now she was more than happy to make...Haiku (maybe???) do all the heavy lifting. She was the mastermind and he the muscle, a fitting arrangement if she did say so herself.

Stepping off of the furs, Ruin gestured to the river with a sharp jab of her snout. Most of her antics so far were based around the river, she hadn't really gotten all that creative yet but that would change. Soon enough. They'd have to be quick though, they couldn't hang around in the open for too long in case they got caught. Though in Ruin's eyes the sense of risk was half of the fun, that and the sneaking around she really liked that part too.

"The river and..." She trailed off with a pout, her tail hanging limp. In all honesty she hadn't gotten that far yet. "I dunno." Her gaze was expectant, hoping that her brother could help her fill in the blanks, with something equally mischievous. After all what was the point of a partner in crime if they didn't see things eye to eye?

He laughed easily as Ruin grabbed for his nose. Getting it between her teeth. He yelped in surprise, that hurt! But was laughing too much for Ruin to think he was annoyed. He splayed his front paws out, and nudged them under Ruin’s much smaller ones, giving her a leverage point and a little more height to reach his face if she so pleased. If she wanted to attack his nose and ears and eyes, then he would be brotherly and accommodate her.

When her attention turned back to the fur, he did too. She would explain the start of her diabolical plan, and trail off. “Hmm…” he amused, thoughtful. “Are we dipping it into the river, or are we trapping frogs in it to scare her later?” he asked, giving her ideas, but leaving the final choice up to her.

Ruin's eyes widened in a snap as she took in his words. Dipping the furs into the river sounded like fun and was probably where her first line of thought had ended, before she'd gotten distracted. But the thought of using frogs.... Yes yes! Why hadn't she thought of that? It was sneaky but inspired, simple and easy to execute, lessening their chances of getting caught by one of the adults. Kill joys that so often were.  It was so bad but it was good, Ruin pranced about in an almighty celebration of his idea, her tail wagging so fast it turned into a dark blur as her tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth.

"Frogs!" She cheered, only to click her mouth shut when she realised she might give them away. Whoops.

Getting into her devious mindset, Ruin took charge and pointed to particular spot by the river, where it was at its shallowest with rocks large enough to stand on littered the riverbed. She knew Ma HATED the idea of them playing in the river but that seemed like such a minor detail since they weren't actually going to get in the water, were they? When her dark little paws reached the shore, Ruin's ears flicked forward and her grin grew wide. All around she could hear the croaking of frogs and some even hopped away when she'd approached. Finding the frogs wouldn't be an issue at all,  keeping them in the furs might be though. With a thoughtful frown, Ruin quickly put together a solution.

"Put them in the middle, like this." Ruin told him, slipping her paw between the layer of furs to demonstrate what she meant. That way they'd be smushed beneath and unable to escape.

And then it was frog catching time!

He assumed his idea was met with approval when she began to prance about and yelled out the word ‘frogs.’ The larger boy chuckled softly in happy amusement. Happily to follow along with her and let her set up the plan he had suggested.

“You got it, Ruin!” he agreed, after he had put down the coat and peered at the ‘middle’ as she demonstrated. He moved a paw about in it to get a feel for the room, and then turned his attention to the river. Ruin had picked a spot surrounded by rocks, and he could already see a steady supply of frogs.

He rubbed a paw to his chin evilly, and then bounded forward. He paused before he got too close to the river, and started to move more slowly, creeping along in search of a frog to snag.

Sinking low so that her belly skimmed against the ground, Ruin crept along. It was near impossible to be as sneaky as she would have liked, there were too many eyes and the pair of pups had hardly been quiet thus far. But that didn't stop Ruin from trying, each paw was placed with care as she inched closer and closer. There was one frog she had her eyes on, it was brownish and lumpy with spindly toes that Ruin couldn't help but think wereicky. It had it's back turned to her, croaking away as it sat perched on one of the larger rocks by the river side. Wriggling her bum in the air Ruin coiled her muscles tight and sprang forth, paws outstretched as she went to grab the frog.

"Gotcha!!" She declared, smushing her paws together so it didn't have room to wiggle free.

One down, many to go.

Shuffling backwards, Ruin struggled to hold onto the frog as she made her way towards the furs. It squirmed in her grip, using it's slippery skin to slide free with a pop! Ruin's mouth dropped agape as she watched it hop away, then gritted her teeth as she made chase. She wouldn't let it escape! It'd be part of her prank whether it wanted to be or not!

"Hey! Get back here!" She called after it, running as fast as her little legs would allow.

Sen had been hunting down one of his own. Wiggling closer and closer, and the frog seemed to hardly glance twice in his direction. He was certain he would have it within his grasp in a heartbeat. A little closer, a little closer… and then Ruin cried out, and stampeded towards him. Chasing a frog of her own.

His quarry vanished in the water with a ‘plop’ and he gave it a fleeting, regretful glance. He didn’t dwell long. Playing support to his sister was a fun roll that he wouldn’t tire of soon. He jumped forward towards the frog, cutting off its escape. Forcing it to pause, for just a second. He could only hope Ruin would take advantage of the distraction.

Realising that her big brother had her back, Ruin then leapt into action and swept the runaway frog up between her paws. She sort of wanted to squeeze it a little, to punish it for trying to run away but she wasn't sure what her bro would think of that. She glanced in his direction, now that she'd caught her frog he'd rushed back to go and gather some of his own, giving her a perfect chance to indulge in her little impulse. With a devious grin she slowly began to push her paws together, squeezing tighter and tighter as the frog struggled even harder in her grasp. It's spindly legs kicked out against her paws and that only spurred her on, encouraging her to keep squishing and pushing till- oh it wasn't moving anymore.  She released her grip and watched with drawn brows as the frog just flopped down, all limp and lifeless like it had fallen asleep. She gave it a poke with her snout and then another, only to grimace when it refused to play.

Hmm, she didn't want this frog anymore anyways. Joining her brother back by the river side she brushed against his leg as she wriggled down into a crouch, ready to pounce.

Ru waited until she had her frog in her grasp, and then he moved back to the shore. Hoping to catch one of his own to toss into the skin. They needed lots of frogs for the fun to really begin. He was stalking one of his own when he saw Ruin coming back to join him. The frog he had helped her catch nowhere near her paws. He raised a brow, wondering if she had managed to lose it again. Oh well, they would find more.

He pounced on one such frog, trapping it between his paws - but Ru was a big old heavy boy for his age. He felt it squish under his paw. He lifted his paws, and found the squishy mess of frogo between them. A slow, mischievous grin spread over the boys maw, as he grabbed the goopy bits, and tossed them at Ruin’s face.

Ruin let out an ear piercing shriek as something wet and sticky slapped against her pretty face. She reeled and tossed herself about, the reaction genuine as disgust settled in her heart. What had happened? What was- she flicked up a paw and peeled the mess off of her face and watched it splat to the floor. It was a frog, or parts of one at least. And then her gaze snapped to her big brother, her ears tilted back as it dawned on her what he'd done and her tail hung limp between her legs. It had been pretty gross and she was kinda mad but...well she'd show him for even thinking of messing with her like that. And being the observant little thing she was she knew his greatest weakness and how to capitalise on that.

Her lips began to wobble as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Her breathing became choppy, intermittent with gasps as she began to cry in earnest. She turned away sharply, as though to hide her mounting distress as the tears rolled down her cheeks and dropped to the floor. Oh what a sorry little state she was in, how could he have done this to her? Heheheh.