Her temporary bamboo barrier hadn’t lasted very long, well, for anyone but Fuji, but Sedna supposed she was the one she was worried about accidentally stepping on the most. Raijin had returned from his travels and a more permanent home had been set up for them built mostly by the two younger wolves. Sedna didn’t like being in anyone’s debt so she would find a way to make it up for them sooner than later, but first, she needed to herd these cats kids into their new, hopefully sturdier and more escape proof home. Eyes and ears were open now, a sea of puppy blues staring back at her as she lifted the smallest and deposited her outside the den, waiting for the rest of them to follow, trying to ignore the uncanny way the pink puppies paws seemed to thread into the fur on her chest in the same way Otis’s did, or the protective way the possum scrambled to her back and lifted the tiny body to sit before him on her back. She rolled her eyes and snorted, “She’s got legs too yer know.” She had been hopeful the walk would wear them out enough to give her a break. Sedna Archer-Lyall #1 possum mom (and regular mom too)

An audible Oof left the girls lips as dark jaws grabbed the back of her neck indelicately and hoisted her up into the air. An intense look of concentration and frustration pulled her brow down in wrinkles over the nubby bumps that were already making their presence known on her tiny head. She wriggled with frustration, reaching out with paws that opened and closed like fingers, wrapping themselves tightly into the big dark that smells of milk fur and pulling herself into its familiar warmth. It was only when the hissy wolf pulled her uppies that she noticed her brothers and sisters were down. She wriggled and voiced her annoyance with a growl, she wanted to be down too!

Milk wolf seemed to agree and her large body with the glow spikes went down, allowing Fuji to slip off from her perch with a grumble at the hiss as she barrelled towards the Ta’s (one was a Ta-To, and the other was a Ta-ch, but they were both bigger than her and she just wanted to remind them that she was tough too). With savage growls and grippy paws she flailed her small form dramatically.

“Speech”

Just move those left feet, go ahead, get crazy

Life was nice. Bundled up in a pile of downy soft furs all the time. Warm and cuddly, never alone. It was comforting until suddenly the smallest of her siblings was jerked from the tangled mess of their bodies. Looking up with squinting eyes as a bright stream of light filtered in, Rheum blinked a few times. Listening to the scramble of paws in fur and hissing coming from the smaller motherly figure that wasn't the one who gave them milk, she was curious. Yet, snuggled up with her brothers and sisters was so warm. Why would they leave? Resting her head back down atop one of the others, Rheum contemplated leaving for a few more seconds. The bigger one, mom, was still standing there waiting for them. Letting out a dramatic sigh, the plum and pink speckled pup rolled away from her siblings until she was standing. Even as she watched Fuji scramble back toward Tate and Tachi, Rheum gave her an interested look. Turning her bright yellow eyes back to mom, she looked farther out toward the bright light that somehow felt warmer than cuddling with her siblings. More curious now, the slim pup wandered closer to the den's opening. Dirt squished between her toes as she stopped at the entrance and looked up once more to mom. They were allowed to leave? By themselves? Lots of different things on the other side of the entrance did seem inviting. Loud noises, movement in the brush, tall things that reached toward the sky. Pushing her nose just outside, Rheum sniffed at the ground before taking a few more steps. Okay, so nothing bad was happening. Mom wasn't yanking her back inside either. Did Fuji not want to leave for some reason? Rheum wouldn't have considered herself the bravest or boldest of the bunch, but someone had to make the first move. With her dark tail wagging excitedly now, she pounced a good foot away from the door and nearly fell over. Legs still clumsy, she was the smallest of the bunch next to Fuji, except Fuji was really tiny. Even sometimes she felt small next to her other siblings. As she recollected herself with a shake of her fur and a delicate smile, Rheum glanced back toward the hut. Taking a few more steps away, mom still didn't come to take her back. "C'mon guys," she crooned as she turned back to face what she knew as their home. Leaning down into a play bow with her tail wagging, she waited for the rest of them to come out and play.

Beru was made all too aware of the fact that momma wanted them up now, but he was so warm and comfortable that he thought he'd stay a little longer.  As long as he wasn't the last to leave he probably wouldn't get in trouble.  Plus, why go out there?  They'd never been allowed out there before.  It was better in here where things were familiar.  Right?

Oh, who was he kidding.  If momma was letting them out of their little home then he sure wasn't going to say no.  It'd be a good distraction from how sore his neck and shoulders had been as of late with all of those weird little hard things growing out of them.  In order to free himself from the fleshy bundle that was he and his other siblings though, the boy would have to step all over Wari's face.  Didn't seem like much of an issue to him, so that's what he went on ahead and did.  'Mooooosh' he thought as his paws pressed all over her pudgy cheek.  Trotting with all the grace that a puppy who only just learned to walk like.. last week, the little pup fumbled all the way to momma's side and let out a tiny excited yip to alert her of his presence.

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Gather 'round, we can all watch the throne fall.

To his absolute shock, the puppies were now a whole month old. They toddled around like little autonomous beings and had even begun speaking, albeit not greatly, but their progress amazed him. Everyday he fell more and more in love with his little brood, and he had to admit, seeing Sedna be a mother softened his heart a little, too.

Now that the pups had gotten bigger, Sedna had deemed it time for them to move into their new home. Kuroo and Usagi had done a fantastic job of getting most of it up by the time he’d come back, and while it was still a bit of a work in progress, the overall shell had been built and was ready for them to move in. His partner began nosing their kiddos up and out, starting with teeny tiny Fuji. He grinned at their interaction, watching Fuji growl with as much as she could muster. ”You’re the scariest of all your siblings, have mercy on them,” he said as he leaned down and pressed his nose to her side to help right the toddling pink pup.

Rheum and Beru were next to show interest in leaving the shambling hut they’d known their entire short lifespan. Each personality of his 6 pups were showing more and more each day, solidifying them further as real life beings. For not the first time since they’d arrived, Raijin felt tears welling up in his golden gaze. “They’re getting too big, Sedna, make it stop.”

Speech

We ride the breeze to cut patterns in the earth And in time we find some shelter, Spill our seeds and then wait for our turn Wari watched the events unfold before her with concern clouding her gaze and creasing her features. She wasn't sure what possessed her mother to pluck the tiny one from the bunch and set her aside, but from the tiny girl's protests, it seemed that neither she nor Himawari were pleased with the situation. Rhuem was the next to move, taking what Wari could only amount to a leap of faith right out the door. When mumma made no move to stop her the cub began to panic. What was this? A test? A prison break? And if so, why was their mother the ringleader? A whine escaped the cub's throat, broken almost instantly by Beru's big, fat paws as they mushed her face into the ground. Himawari's lips curled back instinctively and a growl bubbled up from her throat. He was so rude. "Ugh." But now there were far fewer cubs in the den than there had been, and she was getting nervous about being left behind, so she had no choice but to toddle after Beru in hopes that the others would follow. H I M A W A R I speech

Inside or outside was fine, the chocolate orange smudge didn't care too much either way. Tachi followed where everyone else went, gangly limbs and a nubby tail that wagged in tandem along with his siblings. It was all a lot to take in, but he wasn't completely taken unawares as like the rest of his brothers and sisters he'd taken a sneaky peek or two at the outside world. Twitched his little nose as the ocean breeze rolled in and listened to the faint clacking of the long, tall greens in the distance.

Quick to try and donk his little sister on the head with a reaching paw, Tachi soon got distracted by the white and red big. He wasn't around as much as Mother-aka milk giver-was, but Tachi recognised him easily enough. Felt his ears flit to the side the dire proclaimed little Fuji was the scariest of them all.

Liar.

Time to slap Tato, he supposed.

"Git!" Tachi reached out again, freckly paw swishing through the air as he attempted to wallop his brother around the head. As brothers tended to do.

Why was there so much noise all of a sudden? And when Potato was trying to nap? Ugh, what did they even want from him? The lumps of fur that he’d been curled up beside were on the move… but what if he wanted to nap? A growing boy needed to sleep, after all. A growing boy, squishy as he was, and a whole month old? Wild. So wild. You know what else is wild? The amount of sleep that Potato seemed to want. Really, the kiddo has two speeds— too many or absolutely nothing.

The pup was mid-yawn when he caught a paw to the side of his face, promptly keeling back over. A grumble came from somewhere deep in his throat, or at least as deep as the child could muster. ”Git yersef,” Tato mumbled. He launched himself forward as best he could, stumbling in Tachi’s direction. Darned limbs didn’t quite cooperate yet, but soon he’d be sorry! Fuji too, rolled in their direction. A haphazard swat of his too-big paws, Tato could help to catch something with them… right?

Potato was well and truly awake now, and he was going to make that everyone else’s problem.
"Potato"

Sedna did a quick headcount, 6 pups and Raijin all present. She turned a blind eye to Tachi slapping Tate, puppies would be puppies after all. Otis scambled down from her back and started rounded the pups into a closer huddle as she smiled down at them all. “Alrighty you lot, we’re goin’ on an adventure. Let Oti know if there’s anythin’ yer want ter bring with yer cos we won’t be comin’ back fer a while.” Not that they had had much of a chance to gather up stones or feathers or other little knick knacks, but Chips bought them strange little tid-bits and so did Otis.

She looked to Raijin then with a grin, “Yer’ll have ter lead th’ way, I’ll only get us lost.” She’d been a bit busy to properly learn the marks, and it would probably take her a bit longer before she was confident in navigating the maze.

“Speech”

we wear red so they don’t see us bleed

Beru thought long and hard about anything from the den that he might want to keep but he wasn't so sure there was anything left that he hadn't already completely destroyed with his sharp little baby teeth by now.  Why were they even leaving in the first place?  Sure, the thought of an adventure absolutely filled the young pup with a bunch of good feelings, but at the end of the day he liked their little home.  Seemed dumb to just leave it here all alone.

"Get lost."  he mimicked his mother, looking up at the other familiar big wolf that was also there before turning to try and trip his sister as she closed the distance between their den and himself.

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Gather 'round, we can all watch the throne fall.

There was a rustle of paws and gangly limbs coming from inside as the rest of her siblings moved about. Quickly becoming disinterested when none of them followed her, Rheum lifted from her play bow and sat down with a swoosh of dust circling around her. Watching with big yellow eyes, she saw Beru and Wari come out first with Fuji and the others still wrestling with each other inside. Her ears flicked to the side as her lips curled down. She wouldn't admit that the others seemed uninterested in playing with her. No, she couldn't really care to be bothered. Figuring that mama was gonna let them adventure, Rheum stood to turn and walk a few more wobbling steps away. Stopping at the sight of Raijin, she smiled up at his larger frame before tumbling forward to wrap herself around one of his forelegs and reach up to bat at his chest. She didn't quite reach it yet, but maybe someday she would. Before she could continue to pester her father, Otis had come around to herd her and her siblings into a group in front of mama. Grumbling quietly under her breath at the opossum, she did as she was told and looked up at Sedna. So they were all going somewhere together? Glancing back at their makeshift den, she wondered if it would be worth it to go grab the feather she'd taken from Chips. Thinking better not to avoid the tussle ensuing between Tachi, Tate, and Fuji, she looked back over to Sedna to wait for their next instructions.

We ride the breeze to cut patterns in the earth And in time we find some shelter, Spill our seeds and then wait for our turn As much as she liked the sound of an adventure, Himawari couldn't help but feel a little anxious about everything that was going on. Between her parents, and the grabby-pawed creature, and her siblings, well, it was hard to pay any attention at all to her surroundings. Thus, when she reached the point where the youth thought she might pass her brother, her little limbs caught on something, sending her tumbling tail over head into the dirt. Once her chubby body came to a halt and she was able to stand, Wari shot Beru the sharpest, meanest look she could muster, followed by a growl and a show of pointed teeth. "Not funny." H I M A W A R I speech