She had spent the last month in a perpetual fog of snappy exhausted seclusion with the rodents she'd birthed. At first they hadn't been so bad. A little annoying with their squeaking and ugly little grub bodies flailing around, but at least they didn't move a whole lot. She hadn't even bothered naming them yet at that point because there was so little to distinguish each little squirming sack of boringness from the others. And then their eyes had opened. Then they started toddling around. Two of the bastards developed little baby tusks at that point that made it real fucking obvious who Daddy was. Then they started to talk and holy fuck they didn't fucking shut up and they had the energy of a sack of ferrets on top of that, and all of that crammed into the confined space of her den, and her sleep-deprived ass had had enough.

"That's it," she snarled suddenly, standing with a sudden violence that nearly knocked her head on the low ceiling, interrupting whichever one of her offspring had been chattering this time. "All of you, outside." She shoved the three little bodies out the den door. Squinted at the wide expanse of grass around them, then reached back in and snagged the stuffed rabbit Viviane had made for them as a baby-gift that she'd promptly thrown in a corner and forgotten about. It was dyed a cheerful pinkish red color that stood out nicely against the grass, so she rammed the toy down onto a stick and jammed the stick into the dirt overtop the den, like a macabre flag. "Look, you little assholes, you see this? Go the fuck wherever but if you can't see this then you're too far away from the den, and if a bear doesn't eat you before I get hold of you I'm going to beat your ass. Got it? Now scram, go play so I can get a fucking nap. Don't come back until the the sun's going down." On that last snarled note, she turned and stomped back into the den to go to sleep. If there was a door, she'd have slammed it firmly shut behind her.

Then locked it.

There wasn't a door, of course, so she settled for disappearing into the dark hole and leaving her offspring to fend for themselves. Wasn't like they could go far at their age anyway, and they were well within the patrolled boundaries. It would be fine.

It was warm in the dark place, maybe even too warm with all those bodies crowded in, growing bigger by the day. He had just been wrestling with the milk one’s fluffy tail when suddenly there was a loud noise and his ears folded back against his skull. At first things had been quiet, but then his ears had unfolded and everything was amplified. He didn’t quite understand the words yet, but obviously they had made the big mad.

Next thing he knew there was a nose under his butt shoving him towards the bright. His eyes widened, then squinted against the sudden glare. He just sat there limply while his eyes adjusted and the loud noises continued behind him. Eventually, the surrounding plains came into sharp relief. The grass was so high, and the sun was so bright, everything was so loud and the smells!

His attention had already strayed from the milk ones directions, he didn’t even see the rabbit placed over the den. His whole body wriggled, there was so much room! With an excited growly bark he leapt forward, digging his nose (and small tusks) into anything in reach. That may or may not have also included his siblings butts.

"speech".

running around like a clown on purpose

Kaija wasn't entirely sure what set her mother off, but all she knew was that one second she was babbling about something - something likely hardly coherent, let alone worth listening to - and the next they were all being yelled at and pushed out the mouth of the den. The child didn't really understand what was being said, let alone the severity of the words themselves, but she knew that she was upset with them and wanted them to go away. She was oblivious to the se. And Kaija was one-hundred percent fine with that. Immediately she forgot all about Justice's angry tone, blinking hard as the bright light assaulted her eyes and temporarily rendered her immobile. Whoa. The world was so big and bright and not at all like the dreary atmosphere of their den. This was great!

Once she had grown somewhat accustomed to her surroundings (at least, as much as she possibly could right away), her attention refocused firstly to Arne. Well, she tried to spin around to see him, but not before feeling tiny tusks colliding with her behind. First she let out a little shriek, dramatically spinning and flopping over sideways in an attempt to avoid his grasp. Maybe her other brother would be the next target, and save her own butt from being assaulted. Though he didn't have tusks of his own to retaliate with, so maybe that wasn't so fair either. Hmmm. Scrambling to all fours she made an attempt to bound away, excited at the feeling of the grass tickling her paws and belly, the feeling entirely alien to her.

Fidelias had been listening to his sister politely, his head cocking back and forth in the utmost seriousness that a pup could muster, when suddenly their mothernwas snarling angrily at them, and his ears folded to the sides in dismay, his dismay deepening as she shoved them to the place she had told them over and over again not to go - Outside. He gulped a breath as he was shoved towards the brightness, certain he was going to hit some sort of barrier there... but then he was through, blinking in the sunlight with his brother and sister. There was.... so much. Just... so much everything. Grass - green and waving in the air, not dry and brown like the grass that formed the base of their bed. And up above them was so blue that it was almost too much to fathom. But he dragged his attention away when his mother spoke again, then jabbed their stuffed bunny onto a stick, his eyes automatically following to make sure that yes, he could see the toy. Wait, they could go.... anywhere? As long as they could see it? He opened his mouth to ask, but she had already turned and grouched her way back into bed. Oh. So she... wasn't joking. He turned his amethyst gaze out to the grass partly in womder, partly in apprehension, as his siblings wrestled next to him. Then his sister madea break for the grass, startling him into jumping up to his paws, inhaling sharply in a gasp. He almost called out to caution her not to get to far away, but paused and glamced warily back at the den. He didn't want to get her in trouble...

Aurielle Adravendi

She’d been working on tracking with Ardyn. He was getting good at sneaking when he was on task, though his frame suggested he was going to be huge as an adult, and that, coupled with his black coat, the fiery tones shimmering in every hair, and the glow the flared like a bed of coals and tongues of fire with every move or twitch or gust of the wind, said he’d have to utterly master the art of stealth to escape notice when he was older. Shouting up ahead that sounded like Justice ended the lesson early as the hare bolted out of sight into the tall grass. Aurielle was aware by now that they had three new additions to the pack. The pregnancy was a surprise, more because of the fact that it was Justice. She knew the woman was not one for small pups. She and Ardyn arrived in time to see the last pup booted out of the den and the fuming woman stomping back into the dark. Aurielle’s lips twitched in faint amusement before she studied the three pups. Two boys, one girl. This was her first look at them. The umber markings seemed familiar, and two showed tusks. Her head cocked with interest as she padded forward, smiling down at the children as she greeted, “Hello. I’m Aurielle, this is my son, Ardyn. First time out of the den?” She lowered to her belly in the grass, tail sweeping gently over the ground. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

He’d been creeping up on a hare when it bolted suddenly as a shout reached their ears. Justice? His head cocked but he followed his mother with a last glance after the hare. He watched with puzzled wonder as three pups he’d never met were shoved out of the den, and his eyes flicked to the stuffed rabbit as Justice stomped out of sight. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her mad before. Snarky, yeah, but shouting mad was new. But after a few seconds he was thoroughly entranced by the three pups, bouncing forward with playful stomps of his front paws, claws sheathed as his tail drew fiery blurs in the air. “H’lo! Wanna play?” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Arne giggled as his sister flopped over, torn between pouncing on her chest to lock tusks or go after their brother. Before he could decide one way or the other, a strange voice drew his attention away from his siblings. The boy blinked baby blues as the shiny woman approached, eyes quickly flicking from one glowing wolf to the other in wonder. He wondered if they would glow like that when they got bigger? But the milk one didn’t glow like that, so he guessed maybe they wouldn’t. His answer to their greeting started as a high pitched puppy growl of "Aaarrr-Arne!" No doubt a grumbled note that he would become more familiar with as he continued to grow.

The darker one was big, but seemed funner than the big white one already. On paws he hadn’t quite yet grown into, the boy stumbled forwards with a playful growl, swinging his little tusks as he went.

"speech".

running around like a clown on purpose

Fidelias was all but ignored as she started to bound off. She had begun to learn he was not quite so willing to play as she and Arne were, so it wasn't much of a surprise that he didn't immediately follow her straight into the unknown. What she hadn't expected though was another wolf to show up. She was a stranger, with fur so pale it nearly made her eyes hurt... and some of her fur was so long. It was hard to resist the urge to grab hold of it, honestly. For a long moment she was transfixed by the sight, and the addition of Ardyn didn't make it much easier to catch her tongue. He was a kid too, albeit an older one, but he was giant! Kaija was immediately drawn to him. "Hi!" She chirped at both of them, all thoughts of fleeing suddenly forgotten at the prospect of another, bigger, shinier playmate. "We wanna play!" She offered up herself... and Arne and Fidelias by proxy.