He was restless, filled with both anticipation and fear, Spirit had spent a good portion of his night curled up staring at the mouth of the den. Today was the day. Today he would go outside. The dark hole slowly filtered in light, telling him the sun was rising, but that only increased his anxiety. Young puppy muscles were tensed to the point of quivering as he lay there. His mind filled with all sort of monstrous things that could happen to him out there. What if a bird took him? What if he got lost? What if... It was never ending.

The dark toned pup glanced at his mother, still curled up sleeping and then to his slumbering siblings...least he thought they were all sleeping...shakily, he got to his feet. Large paws took him as quietly as he could towards the Dens mouth, each step his breath quickened. Until finally he was at the mouth of the den, breathing as if he had just ran a marathon. Body crouched and tail tucked he looked at the sunlight on the ground, he could do this...just one step...one paw came up, stretching forward as his eyes closed tightly. The paw came to the ground where the sun was gently warming the ground. Ears came forward as he let his eyes open just a little...nothing had happened.

Cautiously, Spirit looked around. Nothing that he could see wanted to eat his paw. A small smile pulled at his lips as he took another step, the front half of his body emerging from the den for the first time.

Desolate's dual-toned gaze fluttered open sleepily as the sounds of movement rustled in the den. Today was their first day outside, there was no way his mother would be leaving without him! However Eulogy was still asleep, and it was his brother, Spirit, who's head was poking outside the den. Desolate could see his brother was nervous, eyeing his tucked tail and cautious steps with a playful expression. He got to his small feet as quietly as he was able, crouching low to stalk towards Spirit with a determined smile. Once he got a little closer - and Spirit's posture relaxed - the pup pounced, aiming to land his front paws lightly atop his butt. "Boo!" He exclaimed, a wide grin upon his face. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Eyes continued to look around, absorbing the sights. The grass was tall, but he could see the shimmering blur of a lake in the distance, trees sprouted up here and there offering a sufficient amount of shade in most places. Crisp morning dew glistened on the blades of grass around him, the autumn air was sharp, chilly…something he didn’t realize until he had been standing there for a few minutes, but the sun was warm and pleasant on the front half of his body. Spirit sighed, ready to take another step out into the new world when all of a sudden, something touched him.

The weight was enough to have his flank dipping down into a sit. The ‘boo’ his brother exclaimed was drowned out by a loud ”AAAAAHHHH!!!” The scream was far too loud, far too high pitched. Flailing about until he was once more on his feet he found himself completely out of the den, facing his brother. Breathing heavily with heart racing he glared at his brother. “Not funny!”

His brother screamed so loud that Desolate was sure he'd wake the entire den. His mother was bound to come barreling out wondering what caused such a racket! "Oh shush! Shh!" He hushed Spirit as the other pup flailed about. Finally the yell stopped, and Spirit was facing him with a glare.  "Well I thought it was funny." Desolate admitted, a smile upon his face. Another idea struck him as he looked upon his brother - outside for the first ever time - with his butt facing the world and his head facing the den. Desolate dropped his smile suddenly, letting his eyes grow wide and fearful as he stared past his brother to the nothingness that was outside. Hopefully his acting would be enough though, and for good measure he lifted a shaky paw to point behind him out the den's door. "Spirit...." He warned softly, trying his best to pretend there was something terrifying like a bear right behind the other pup. His devilish plan was for his brother to turn to look at what might have been behind him, and if he did so then Desolate would take the moment to pounce again and tussle with his sibling playfully. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

His brother tried to shush him, and in response, Spirit only glared harder. It seemed like he was always the source of some joke or entertainment, exploiting his cowardice for their amusement. Well…okay…so it didn’t happen often but the few times it had was more than enough! The playful smile on his brother made it hard to stay mad, however, even as he was saying that he thought it was funny. Spirit huffed again, trying to put it aside with a half smile. Maybe it was funny?

When his brothers face suddenly fell, his ears went up and then back, his breathing slowed and his tail tucked a little more. His brother looked afraid…of something behind him. Desolate pointed a shaky paw behind him, offering a shaky, soft verbal warning. Spirit froze. For a moment he didn’t breathe as his tail tucked to his belly and his ears tucked tight to his skull and eyes widened into an expression of terror. Unfortunately for Desolate, his façade worked too well. Spirit did not turn to look at what was behind him, instead he lunged forward back to the mouth of the den- with all intentions of knocking Desolate down if he didn’t get out of the way. As he did, he would scream “MOMMAA!!!!!” As loud as he could.

Spirit did not react as the boy had hoped, instead of being victim of another pounce he barreled past - nearly through Desolate on his way deeper into the den screaming for mom. "NO." Desolate yelled in response, wobbling as he tried to regain his balance after Spirit's shove before turning to chase him back outside. "NO STOP!" He whimpered, afraid of his mothers retribution. "I WAS KIDDING, YOU BABY." He did his best to keep up with the fleeing pup, running behind him and trying to grab at his tail to pull him back before he could make it to their mother to tattle. Maybe it was taking the joke too far pretending there was a bear behind him, but Desolate didn't expect his brother to be so darn cowardly. He reminded himself to get him back for this later, maybe he could put a spider on his nose in his sleep or something equally as devious. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

When Desolate called for him to stop, he did, if only to make sure his brother wasn’t being eaten by some foul beast. He didn’t hear any screams or shrieks of agony, in fact, Desolate sounded worried. Perhaps that’s what it was that had his head whipping around, only for his feeting to tangle and trip him. Spirit would tumble, rolling to a stop against the side of the den walls with a soft thud. Groaning, he looked up at Desolate as his brother told him he was kidding. Ears fell flat and eyes narrowed but that anger quickly morphed to hurt when he was called a baby. Tears would well up in his eyes, he quickly blinked them away. “I-I’m not a baby..” He muttered, nearly whimpering. He just didn’t like being frightened. Shakily, he would rise to his feet, tail tucked between his legs and head drooping in resignation. He didn’t want to go outside anymore.

The other boy's reaction made Desolate feel very guilty, if only for a few moments. He took in his brother's resigned stance and sighed softly, trodding up to his brother and nudging his shoulder with his nose gently. "Yes you are." He told him with a wide smile. "But I am too. I'd rather be a baby then an adult, we can get in to so much trouble and nobody can get mad because we don't know any better." His two-toned eyes twinkled mischievously and his grin widened further. "If you still want to go out and play, I promise I won't scare you anymore." Today. He stepped towards the mouth of the den once more before looking back to see if Spirit would follow. The pup did want some freedom, to be allowed outside of the den and into the world around them. Hopefully he hadn't completely broken Spirit's want for it as well, because Desolate didn't want to face the new and scary world alone. It'd suck if Spirit wanted to stay at home inside for the whole rest of his life all because of Desolate. He frowned at the thought. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

A soft sigh and a gentle nudge to his shoulder made Spirit look over to his brother, his expression hurt as his brother started to speak, saying he was in fact a baby. Ears fell back, tail drooping a bit more. However, his brother continued, saying he was a baby and the youth smiled slightly, head lifting slightly. Desolate had a point, it was better to be a pup so they could get into mischief and not get in trouble. He nodded slightly, a genuine smile pulling at his lips. The mischievous glint in his eye made him a bit worried, but he tried to swallow that instinct as he listened to his brother yet again. The promise was enough. Spirits ears perked up, head lifting more as his tail relaxed.
“Really?” He asked, not catching that it only meant he would leave him alone for the rest of today.

“Where do you wanna go?” He asked, following his brother back out of the den. He paused at the entrance, looking around before he exited the den completely.

"Speech"

Desolate was glad his brother was seeing his side of things, smiling along with him. "Yeah really." He affirmed happily, trotting over to the den's entrance once more alongside him. Once they exited, Spirit asked where he wanted to go. Desolate didn't know - this was their first time out, how could he? "Dunno." He responded, unsure. "Uh, that way?" His small paw lifted to the west, gesturing vaguely. There was so much to see and so much to do, what would they see first? More importantly, how were they to find their way back home when their adventure was over? Desolate lowered his nose to sniff at the ground outside the den wondering if he could commit it to memory to find later. Dozens of smells flooded through him, from his mother and siblings to Uncle Rhyme and then to various plants and animals that had traveled through. It was overwhelming, and the pup was not convinced he'd be able to reacquire the scent later. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."