It seemed to Halo that around half of her pups had some interest in fighting. That would make sense, they’d do justice to the Fatalis name in that way. She was proud of them, but she was also… worried. Very worried. It’s in her bones, the worrying. Halo has always been a worrier, and the pups only brought her to worrying more. They were so small, and she couldn’t bear the thought of anything bad happening to them. She would worry always. But there were things she could do. There were ways Halo could help them, ways she could teach them. She could help them avoid harm, even if they were fighting. Even if they were going to be fighters, Halo could arm them with as much knowledge as she could. That was her duty, her job as a mother. Resolute in her decision, she began to set things up in the little clear space outside their den. Dread had come around, as well, asking if Halo needed help with anything. It was nice to see him, actually. The boy had been distant since deciding the healer’s path wasn’t for him, but Halo had done what she could to assure the boy that she wasn’t upset. She wasn’t angry. But he was here, and she was going to rope him into helping. Halo directed Dread to sweep up a big pile of leaves. Beside it, she rolled over two logs, each around a foot tall. Together, they lay a plank of wood across it. “Where are my little loves? Who wants to try something fun?” She called softly to the pups, her eyes glimmering in the afternoon sunlight. It was best Halo not tell them it was a lesson, not right away at least. "Speech"

He felt… guilty. Mostly guilty, especially when it came to Halo. The pervasive feeling that he really had let her down… yeah, it colored basically every interaction he’d had with the healer in the last few months. Though she reassured him that she wasn’t upset, Dread was always going to be harder on himself than anything else. Now that she had the pups, at least he had an excuse to come visit again. There were so many of them, and only two parents… it takes a village, right?

Through that, he’d been roped into helping. It wasn’t so bad, actually. Something to do. As Halo directed him to pull together a leaf pile, he was more curious than anything. A leaf pile and a platform to jump off of, that seemed… elaborate. Still, his curiosity had been piqued. “Do you mind if I stay, too?” Dread asked quietly, hovering somewhere beside Halo. The pale healer offered him a smile, a fond look. “You’re welcome to, it’s actually going to be a lesson.” Her tone was confidential, and Dread couldn’t help but smile.

"Dread Fatalis"

Warden was enjoying the freedom that had come with being bigger. Being bigger, moving better. Doing more things. It seemed that he was always doing things. Really, this boy was one busy pup. Always up to something, always getting into something. The kind of pup that you worry about if they’re quiet for too long, because if he’s quiet, he’s up to something. Yeah, that’s pretty much Warden in a nutshell. In the warmth of the autumn afternoon, this particular up to something was digging holes with Mr. Raccoon, looking for cool rocks.

But his mother’s voice was enough to break the fascination on the dirt. His head came up, gaze bright. Oh, there was someone else here, too! One of the older boys… he couldn’t remember which one. That was alright, names didn’t matter, not when there was good company regardless. All of that, and mum was promising fun? Warden bounded over to where Halo and Dread waited, his gaze bright. “What’re we doin’?” His gaze swung, fixing it on the yearling whose name he couldn’t remember. “I’m Warden which one’re you?”

"Speech"

As Wylan got a little bigger, he found his balance was a mess. His wings were getting heavy, little weights on either side of his body. He was still remembering what to do with them, and he was finding himself tripping over them more then once. Not that he let it slow him down, He was always on his paws. Rushing from one adventure to another. He was quick to respond when his mother called out. “Oh, me, me!” He said, racing over to her and another wolf he vaguely recognised. At this point, he pretty much assumed every wolf was an Auntie or Uncle of his, and this wolf would get the same treatment. “Hi Mumma, Hi Uncle” He said, nodding his head to both so quickly it was like a bobbing duck "Speech"

Do you mind if I stay too? The question came. Halo offered Dread a smile, and a fond look. “You’re welcome to, it’s actually going to be a lesson.” The words were spoken softly, confidentially, before the pups had a chance to arrive. If they knew they’d be learning? Well, then there may well be an uproar! Probably not, but Halo would play things up just a bit for dramatic effect. It was fun, and she was going to have fun with it.

“Warden, your manners.” Halo’s tone was serious for just a moment, her eyebrows lifting. The mom look. The boy took the correction without so much as a roll of his eyes, but she dropped the look just a heartbeat later. Wylan was quick to join them, too. Halo’s smile was gentle, proud, as she looked at the boys. “This is your uncle Dread.” A quick introduction wouldn’t hurt. “Dread, this is Wylan, and this is Warden.” She ruffled each boy’s ears in turn.

“Okay my dears! We’re going to practice falling.” Halo’s gaze sets on each of her pupils in turn, making sure they’re following along. Making sure they’re paying attention. “When we’re playing, it’s not unusual for us to fall down. I know some of you boys want to be fighters, too, and that involves so, so much falling down. It’s important that we learn how to fall so we don’t get hurt.” Halo pauses once more, looking for understanding from her students. It seemed like they were getting it well enough, so she continued on. “The most important thing to remember is that when you’re falling, you want to feel loose and wiggly instead of tense and scrunched up.” Halo demonstrated what she meant by loose and wiggly. Wiggling over her knees, her elbows, being silly about it– but silly was a good way to learn. She demonstrated tense, too. Scrunching her face, locking her knees, exaggerating– exaggerating in an important way.

“Show me wiggly!” Halo instructed the group, standing before them and wiggling. Once satisfied that they understood what she was asking for, she stopped wiggling. “Great job! Show meeeee tense and scrunchy!” She demonstrated once more, waiting for the group to mimic her movements as well. When she was satisfied with that as well, she began her instruction once more. “You can relax now, well done! If we’re loose and wiggly, we’re less likely to get hurt when we hit the ground.”

“When we’re falling, it’s also important that we try to land on the places that are soft and squishy. We don’t want bones to be the first thing to hit the ground, that will hurt more. Squish hitting on the ground hurts less. Does anyone have a guess as to what squishy parts are the best to land on?” Halo waited patiently for her pupils to answer. Dread looked to her for a moment, deciding to give the pups a chance to answer first, earning a small grateful smile from the healer.

"Halo"

After introductions, Halo was quick to launch into one of her long-winded lessons. Dread had to admit, he didn’t miss this. Her healing lessons had always been rather wordy as well. At least when it came to a fighting training, they would actually be doing things. Dread finds himself antsy when it comes to lessons. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t hack it as a healer. Yeah, it was certainly that, and not the immense frustration that he had to grapple with when it came to not being able to make life easier for his siblings. When it came to the fact that there was nothing he could have done for his mother.

But those were thoughts that he bit back, re-focusing on the task and lesson at hand. Halo asks them to wiggle… so Dread wiggles. It’s a strange feeling, letting his muscles go slack. Wiggling, though he remains on his feet. Wiggling and feeling… feeling terribly silly while he does it. Right, Dread is wiggling. Wiggling, and then Halo changes the direction. She wants tense and scrunchy. Dread tensed his muscles, hunched his shoulders, locked his knees and elbows. Heck, he even scrunched up his face. If he was going to set a good example for the kids, then he supposed he had to follow Halo’s directions.

Actually, what she said made sense. If they were loose, they were less likely to get hurt when they hit the ground. The shock from the fall would probably be rough on their skeletons if they were tense… shit, it made sense. Dread would remain quiet when Halo pitched the question to the group, letting the pups take a crack at the answer first.

"Dread Fatalis"

Shoot, right, his manners. He could do manners. He could probably do manners. Well… maybe. Warden reached out in an effort to affectionately chomp at his brother’s snoot as he arrived, grinning the whole way. At the stink eye from mum, though, he straightened up. Uncle Dread. Okay, that was… this one. How did they have so many aunts and uncles? Like, so, so many. How was he meant to keep track of them all? Not only that, they had cousins too. So many. More than they’d met, even. But that one was Dread, and Warden could probably remember that.

Mum was talking about… falling. Is that why there was a leaf pile? Warden was hopeful. Maybe they’d get to fall on the leaf pile. Falling was fun, it was sorta like flying. His brow furrowed as mum gave them instructions, though. They had to wiggle first. Warden could do that. He could wiggle. When Halo told them to wiggle, the boy wiggled all the way to the ground. Yeah, here he was, wiggling away. On the ground, still wiggling. Heck yeah.

And the instruction changed. Warden sprung back to his feet, going all tense and scrunchy just like mum asked. He mimicked Dread, scrunching everything up, all the way to his face. Looking all silly and growly for a moment, before relaxing back to normal. Mum was talking about landing on the squishy bits, too. Without a moment of hesitation, Warden throws out an answer to her question. “The butt!” That was the squishiest thing he could think of, after all.

"Speech"

He’d been right, the wolf was an Uncle - but that came as no surprise to him. Really, it seemed any wolf described as not related to him was more shocking. He smiled politely at the older wolf and nodded his head. “I’m Wylan!” He said helpfully, despite his mother already introducing them. When his mother spoke next, he couldn’t help but giggle. “But I’m already really good at that, Mumma” He said. And he was. Not falling well perhaps, but falling was no problem to him. Her mother launched into the lesson despite his assurances, and he couldn’t help but giggle at how silly she was. When she told them to wiggle, he did so. He was wiggly, so wiggly! He smacked Dread across the face with a wing as he really loosened up. Letting every part of his wiggle and fly about without concern. “Oops, sorry Uncle” He apologised. “Is it a wing?” Wylan asked helpfully as his mother asked the best thing to land on. "Speech"

Wylan was right, he was pretty good at falling. Still, he made her nervous. Though the wings looked solid, she was concerned about the nature of the bones within them. Having felt the weight of Mort's wings around her shoulders time and time again, Halo was fairly confident that they were hollow, like that of a bird. Fragile. Too fragile. Halo would need to wrap him in bubble wrap, if not for his sake then for hers. "Practice makes perfect," Halo winked. She hoped that it would encourage him to give his all in their practice, now. Wylan whacked Dread across the face. Warden was on the floor, for some reason. Yes, this was about as well as Halo expected things to go, at least for the first portion of their training. Outside of that, it seemed like things were going alright. They were understanding, they were getting it. Not only that, Dread had even taken it upon himself to go full-sail on the participation. Halo was quite pleased. Both of the boys pitched their ideas for good places to fall. Warden was spot on with his addition, falling on his butt. "Yes, the butt is a good place to land!" Halo nodded. Wylan, though, had her worried. "You need to be careful with your wings, my love. There are bones in your wings, and those bones aren't like regular wolf bones. They're like bird bones, which are very fragile. They are easy to break and take a very long time to heal." Her tone is a serious one. "When it comes to the very specifics of how to hold them when you fall, I'll have your dad show you later today, okay? For now just tuck them in, but stay loose." Halo smiled softly, making a mental note to make sure Mortis was around to demonstrate next time. "Your thighs are also a good spot to land, they're good and sturdy." Halo explained. She strolled confidently up to the platform she and Dread had set up earlier, the one right in front of the leaf pile. Stepping up with a confident step, the healer began talking again. "We're going to practice falling here, where there's soft leaves to fall into. The ground under is also safe, with grass and soft dirt. No sticks, no rocks, just fun. I want you each to think about what we talked about, the staying loose and the landing on a squishy part of your body." Halo looked to each of her pupils in turn, waiting for a nod. "You're going to stand up here, let your body go loose and wiggly, let yourself fall into the leaves. You're going to try to land on your bum or your thigh, and try really hard not to land on your head or neck, okay?" The woman explained, going over the lesson one more time. "I'm going to demonstrate, and then I'd like you to come up and try." Halo demonstrated, letting herself go wiggly before dropping into the leaves, angling her body so she landed on her butt. After only a heartbeat, she came up, peering to her students. It was their time to shine, and shine they would. She was sure of it. "Speech"

Dread took a wing to the face. Though it startled him for a moment, he couldn't help but chuckle once he realized what had happened. Wylan didn't quite know how to control them yet, and that was okay. Dread barely knew what to do with his own limbs at this point, much less what he'd do if he had two spare ones. "Happens to the best of us," he reassured the boy at his side, offering a gentle smile. They would stand and they would wiggle together, it only seemed to make sense that things would get a little silly.

Halo began to talk again. Dread looked on with interest, watching as she climbed up on the platform they'd created earlier. While Dread had some inclination what was coming next, he wasn't entirely sure. Oh, there she went. Falling, but not just falling. Falling with intent and control. They were practicing falling in an environment that wasn't stressful, wasn't dangerous. They were practicing for fun, but practicing for the sake of practice too. Dread watched as Halo fell gracefully into the leaves, rolling a bit as she landed. It looked so easy... why did that look so easy?

As they were able to try it, the yearling was happy to lead the charge. Climbing up the plank and then... falling off? Okay. Taking a deep breath, Dread allowed himself to go limp and drop into the leaves. Why was it so difficult to just let himself fall? (Don't look now, but Dread might have some minor control issues.) There he went, falling. It was strange, trying to maintain the thoughts in his head as he fell. Limp. Go limp. Go... limp. It was harder than it looked, and the yearling landed with a solid thud. Not satisfied with the first fall, Dread climbed up to try again. He'd try over and over again, until he felt he'd gotten it right, going limp as he tumbled down. There was also the nuance that Halo hadn't explained to the pups, but Dread had picked up on. A little roll at the end.

Practice, practice, practice.

"Dread Fatalis"

Mumma certainly had a lot of things to say. Warden did his best to listen, but as she chattered on about wings, Warden found his attention drifting. He didn't have wings. Nope, just Wylan. That was the one thing that made them different from each other, at least in his eyes. The one thing that meant that he needed to be extra careful... Warden didn't have to be, though! He could be as un-careful as he wanted because he didn't have extra bones to break. Or at least, that was what he heard, as Halo explained just how careful his brother needed to be. Wylan had to be careful, Warden didn't. Excellent.

Listening to what Halo had to say about the practice falls was almost torture. He just wanted to jump! Jump and fall, jump and fall. Watching uncle Dread land in a heap was awfully funny, too. Only a half-step behind the older boy, Warden was ready to try for himself. He didn't think twice, didn't hesitate. Throwing himself off the platform into the leaf pile looked like fun! Moments later he realized it absolutely was fun, launching himself off. Right, launch himself and then go limp. Warden could do that. The pup only remembered at the last second to let himself go slack and wiggly. His first landing was a bit rough too, crashing down with an oof. Now he saw why Dread looked so silly.

But that was alright! He was already on his feet, ready to try again. Half trying to follow the lesson and half enjoying throwing himself into the leaf pile, Warden decided that today was a very good day.
"Speech"

Woops, apparently the wing was exactly the wrong thing to say. He listened carefully as his mother spoke, nodding his head to show he understood. “Dad says I can’t fly with them, you say I can’t fall with them. What’s the point of them, Mumma!?” he asked, sounding maybe a little more exasperated than he had meant to. But he wanted to be able to fly with them! A little part of him couldn’t help but think that maybe he was different. Just because his dad didn't work, didn’t mean his didn’t, right? When it came time for him to do his falling, he did so, moving onto the platform like his brother had before him. He looked over the ledge, entertained the breath thought of spreading his wings and flying, just to prove he could, and ultimately deciding he didn’t want to disappoint his mumma. He tucked them in, went loose, and let himself fall. Hitting the ground with a grunt as he landed on his butt, before rolling out of the way in case anyone else wanted to fall again. "Speech"