Surreal

She yawned widely and rolled onto her other side, moss scrubbing against her back. Bleary mismatched eyes of blue and gold blinked open, keeping the bleariness a moment before she blinked again and they cleared. Surreal rolled again, coming to her belly and looking around at her sleeping family. The dark shadow of her father wrapped around the white ghost of her mother, and the jumbled tangle of legs and bodies that were her siblings. The little alcove was filled with the sounds of her family breathing. It was warm. It was? It was brighter than usual. Her head turned and she squinted at the alcove opening, toward the light that filtered vaguely through the opening of the cave. She rose to her paws, delighted at the continuing retreat of her wobbliness, as her body continued to mature. Her legs were longer now, she was steadier on her feet. She could run! Really run! She trotted to the den mouth and stopped, stalk still. Her mismatched eyes widened and her jaw dropped a little. It was weird. The smell was weird. Crisp. Cold. Fresh. New? She levered herself down the stone steps of the rise, still having moments where her bum tried to overbalance and send her tail over nose to the bottom. She didn?t stop to think that she still had trouble getting back up the stairs. This new stuff was too alluring to remember the trivialities of being little. She sniffed at a pile of the stuff. It smelled great, really. She pushed her nose against it and squeaked, jerking back and snuffing hard, shaking her head lightly. Then she stared at the stuff, It was cold! She turned and looked toward the ravine. The thrill of adventure caught her in the claws. She took off, tail up, having now grown it?s own brush, losing the thin look of a newborn. She came to the end of the ravine, and skidded to a halt, jaw dropped again. Everything was white! Like her mother! Her head swiveled as she gazed around at the white cover of? Stuff. ?They have got to see this!? She squealed softly, then whirled and raced back to the den, fully intending to race up to her sleeping siblings and pouncing them into waking. That was? Until she reached the stairs. She began to take a leap, and her front end landed on the edge of the first stair, then her still puppyish bum pulled her back to the ground with her weight. She sat at the base of the stairs and looked up. ?Oh bother! She stood up and raised her front end up to hang her paws on the top stair, filled up her lungs and yelled for her siblings. ?Castiel! Gabriel! Arella! Lyriiic! Wake. Up! Come on I have got to show you this!?

The sound of her sister's voice woke Arella up quickly. The darkness of sleep was comforting and she felt warm, curled against her mother's belly, her siblings all close -- save for one.

The young girl blinked, revealing brilliant blue eyes beneath. She had expected it to be light when she finally awoke, but the brightness that shone from the den's mouth was blinding. A whimper escaped her tiny mouth, eyelids briefly closing, pressing her face against her mother's warm fur. Her small jaws parted, a quiet yawn escaping her throat as sleepiness slowly escaped her body.

"Whaaaaat, Surreal?" She mumbled softly, moving slowly from her mother's embrace. Her voice was void of annoyance, but instead was simply curious and wondering. Eventually she was awake enough to fully open her eyes, looking around the den again. It wasn't quite as bright as it had seemed before, but it was cold. Colder than she had expected. Her mother's fur was a tempting place to hide about for awhile, but as she peered at the entrance to the den, she became overcome with curiosity at what Surreal had found.

"What is it?" She called a bit louder, voice ringing with happiness and wonder at what her sister had found. It must've been exciting, to make her call for all of them so loudly! Quickly Arella pulled herself to all four paws, clambering out of the den with surprising swiftness.

What she found left her breathless. Soft, white stuff decorated the ground. The light reflected brilliantly off the stuff, causing the whole world to glow and shimmer. Eyes grew wide as she stepped down to Surreal. She leaned down, nose barely touching the snow, and jumped back slightly as though surprised by how it felt. "Woah! This is so cool," she remarked breathlessly, a giggle escaping her mouth. She barked then, calling her siblings to join them and see the snow.

Her dreams were pleasant, but idly she noticed the chill in the air, even in her sleep. At six months old, she was quickly growing, but clearly she and her siblings were still very much children. She twitched in her sleep, her ears wiggling for a moment when she heard one of her sisters calling for her. "Just a few more minutes." She mumbled sleepily, but then her pillow decided to start moving. Arella had gone, and she blinked sleepily, her swirled yellow and blue eyes peering at her dark colored sister.


By the time that she called again, Lyric was more awake, and she followed after her when she left the den. "Surreal?" She called for the other girl, but stood frozen, her mouth agape when she reached the entrance of the den. Everything was shining! Shining and as white as her mother's coat, oh it was dazzling! She beamed at it, hobbling over the stairs to stand beside Arella, because as beautiful as all of this was it was still cold! "It's beautiful..." She whispered after her sister's remark - and then was whisked away by her own curiosity, bounding into the nearest pile of powdery freezing fluff. "And squishy!" She laughed, because it cushioned her fall much like a pile of leaves would.

Castiel

A good dream gone just like that as the higher pitched voices of his sisters woke him. He rolled to his belly and sighed with a stretch. A moment or so later he came in a sleepy tumble to the three of them babbling about squishy beautiful things. "What the fling are you girls talking about?" He said as he looked out into the glare of the snow. "WOW, what is this?" He jumped head first into the deep snow and immediately regretted it. "SAVE ME I CAN'T SWIM." He squealed as he rolled around in the wet fluff. Sputters of snow and water droplets flinging about from his flailing appendages. A moment or two later after the initial panic, he popped from the snow drift and panted. "Gah, it's so cold out here..." His face was amused and embarrassed as he stated the obvious. He mouthed at the new material and shook his head about in it, enjoying himself. Suddenly there was white slushy snow being slung about, generally towards his sisters and his playful laugh echoing through the brisk air. "This stuff is awesome!"

Surreal

Faintly, Surreal heard Arella?s sleepy voice answering. Soon enough, her black furred sister arrived, blinking away sleep and asking about the same question. ?I don?t know! But it?s so cool! As Arella saw the stuff, Surreal was delighted by her reaction. She gave a little hop, the white cold crunching slightly under her paws. Arella came down to her level, and Surreal giggled as she touched her nose to it and jumped. Her sisters words were met with a giggle. ?That?s What I just said!? Just then, Lyric came out, and she too stood like she?d been frozen. ?Come on, Lyric! It?s amazing! Wait till it touches your paws!? Surreal could hardly contain herself. Castiel soon came out, and his reactions made Surreal fall over in laughter. The laughter quickly became a squeal as the white stuff splattered onto her face. For a moment, she sat there, stunned, and then she charged with a squeal of delight. She made to pounce her white brother, paws outstretched, tail wagging. ?Gettim!? She crowed to her sisters.

She only stood there, staring at the snow, enraptured by the brilliant white substance, for a few moments. Before she could move, her sister awoke and hobbled to her side. Lyric's bi-colored eyes shone with keen interest, like her own, and she flashed her sibling a cheerful grin. It's beautiful, she said, and eagerly Arella nodding, agreeing wholeheartedly with her.

Before she could really experience to the snow, Castiel appeared from out of nowhere, launching himself into the snow. While she was normally rather fearless herself, she was guarded about this stuff, it being so new to her. Following Surreal's lead, she dipped her head, shoving her entire muzzle into the snow. Shivers crawled down her spine, making her fur stand on end. She watched Surreal leap after Castiel, and she let loose a laugh of delight.

She was not at all opposed to exploring on her own, and so she went, slightly away from her siblings -- but no more than a few feet -- padding happily through the snow. Only occasionally did she stop to lift her paws, or shake the stuff from her pelt, finding it quite colder than she had expected it to be.


"Speech"

Gabriel

Gabriel was, of course, exploring rather innocently when the cry of his siblings caught his attention. Ears careened forward, curiosity peeked before he hesitated, debating if he truly wished to run across them. His head would tilt contemplatively to the side, before slowly he set off in their direction. he wasn't sure if they wanted him there, he didn't like to wrestle and they always poked fun of him when he refused, but they were his family, and mama always said that family was important. With a soft huff, his den came into view and he watched his siblings carefully as they tumbled through the white, fluffy stuff. He had been exploring most of the morning but he found he didn't rightly care for it. It was wet, it disorganized his fur. He didn't like it. He watched as his siblings one by one emerged from the cave, too engrossed in the white fluffy stuff to take much notice of him, he didn't mind, he was a curious child. He enjoyed watching, studying, observing. he reclined to his haunches, tail coiling absently around his hind legs in a vain effort to preserve his warmth. He wondered vaguely if mama was still sleeping, she was usually the one that sat with him, he felt lonely without her here.