Moonspear what will tomorrow bring

i'm a bit late with this, i always figured it would take a while to show anyway but probably should've started mentioning it a week earlier. :p it would look something like this i think.

Ran had been loud from the beginning, especially for being the tiniest out of the litter. Charon kept thinking she may yet grow, but it became painstakingly clear that there was more wrong with Ran by the day. Her eyes had opened up a few days later than her siblings @Vela , @Galaxy and @Jarilo , but considering her size that wasn't too unexpected. But then when she came to the stage where she tried to actually stand on her feet, she wouldn't manage and she would keep falling over. Charon tried to right her every time in the beginning but after a few days he just started giving up. She'd figure it out herself eventually.

He paid little attention to her after that, spending most his time encouraging his other three to be amazing if the tiniest of the litter would not.

Ran herself had by now realised that every time she tried putting pressure on her right front paw, it would hurt and she would fall. She would scream and scream louder when she saw her siblings going off together or when she was unable to reach @Amekaze other than a slow and painful crawl. She hid her paws most of the time, just crawling everywhere, but if someone would inspect (Charon surely hadn't, simply thinking the pup was weak and slow and maybe a little soft in the head) they would realise that her left paw lacked any of the finesse her other ones did; that instead of toes and pawpads to walk on she had nothing but a stumpy leg leading up to one weird, deformed toe.

"MAAAA!" screamed Ran after one of her attempted stand-ups gone wrong and she stared at her mother with a wobbly lip and moist eyes while trying to garner her attention before any of her siblings would.

With the additions of both sight and mobility to Vela's arsenal of talents, the freckled child was finding life to be all the more interesting with every passing. The simplicities of life, all of which would bore an individual of even double her age, captivated her in a way which would keep her occupied for hours on end. In this instance, it was the manner in which dust particles danced in the sunlight that trickled into the den. Every so often when the specks of matter would settle, Vela would draw a poised forepaw towards them to cause a ruckus. When the flurry continued, she would settle once more, pleased with the work that she had done. 

Feeling at peace, Vela felt the first inklings of a nap overcome her as she laid near the stream of light. Her eyes lids grew heavy, weighing down her head and gradually she brought it to her outstretched forelegs. It was as she parted her lips to suppress a yawn that a sudden noise broke the silence of the den and quickly, her head shot up and turned from her entertainment with a look of irritation, not all too pleased that the peace had been disrupted. Vela was a child that thrived in peace and silence, only raising concerns when something interrupted this delicate balance. Ran, who had disturbed the peace, was often a cause of Vela's irritants. Though she wasn't acutely aware of the differences between she and her sibling, she knew that there was something different about this sibling-- something that she already could comprehend that she didn't quite care for. Ran seemed always to have something going wrong and, in reaction to such catastrophes, Vela would find herself begrudging her deformed sibling whenever this occurred. 

Picking herself up, Vela hobbled over towards her sibling on somewhat steady legs, her eyes hard as she approached. Once near her sibling, Vela sat and stared, hoping that this look alone would get her other siblings to be quiet.

Tacoma's whining loudly. Their mother clutches him, her own eyes filled with tears. They're both looking at something. Instead of following their gazes, Scion peers at the other wolves sitting in a ring. Night's falling, so their faces are cast in shadows. But their eyes glow in the gathering gloom, all of them looking down at something in the center of their makeshift circle. Finally, Scion drags his own eyes to the shape lying on the earth.

It's a wolf. There's a puddle forming underneath his body and Scion at first thinks it's a pool of blood. Then he realizes it's just water; the body is soaking wet despite the clinging desert heat. The fur sticks up in spikes. There's something else strange about the still wolf. Scion leans forward to take a closer look, recognition beginning to register—

"MAAA!"

Scion startled awake with a snort, her blue eyes wide as saucers. "Buh?" she blurted nonsensically as she raised her head and peered around the den, gaze eventually clapping upon the fussy Ran. The girl's lip was quivering and there were big, fat tears wobbling in her eyes. Scion felt an errant jolt of déjà vu—Tacoma, why are you crying?—but the last residue of her dream came unstuck and faded into the ether as the pup bumbled onto her feet.

"Nnn," Scion verbalized as she touched noses with the weepy Ran. "N-n... o?" Her pink tongue poked out to comfortingly stroke the darker girl's cheeks. Her eyes shifted sideways, catching a glimpse of a put-out Vela in her peripheral vision, but most of Scion's attention was focused on consoling Ran. Don't cry, it'll be okay, Tac—Ran, she thought, dimly aware of her sister's name even if she had no hope of saying it out loud at this juncture.

After a moment, she took half a step backward and shook her head, as if trying to get rid of her cluttered thoughts. She could still remember her previous life (or was it just a dream life?) perfectly and sometimes things could get mixed up in her head. But as she came more awake, Scion not only parsed out each life and her siblings' names but also reminded herself of her own: It's Galaxy now, remember?

Galaxy—not Scion, not anymore—pushed her face closer to Ran's once again. She still appeared to be upset, so the four-week-old puppy resorted to lifting one wobbly paw and batting at the other pup's snoot with a cry of, "B'p!"

Since she hadn't moved him yet, he was content with his spot essentially tucked into his mother's armpit best he could be and determined to nap as buried into her dark fur as he could get. The brother of their little lot was not immediate to respond to the sound of cries from elsewhere in the litter. It was when it all didn't immediately quiet down and he felt Ame shift enough to inconvenience him that he lifted his head to peer that way, unimpressed and bleary-eyed now that a decent nap looked to be escaping him.

It didn't take him much effort to identify that it was just the same as it ever was, with his smaller sister complaining the worst. By then, Vela and Galaxy already looked to be addressing the matter, and he didn't feel particularly pressed to join them yet.

He certainly didn't have any means to help her any himself either since she always complained and he always did nothing about it. So without a better plan in his sleepy head, Jarilo wriggled close and put his nose back down with a frustrated grunt to try to wait this one out some more.

The runty female who continually slipped behind even the other small one in growth milestones kept catching her attention, and not usually in a good way. In many ways, she was.. off. The mother observed with a careful, guarded scrutiny was the small babe struggled with a paw that wasn't right, and her ears slicked back instantly to the sound of her cries. Amekaze had watched all of her siblings grow and begin to build their foundations bit by bit. However, that one simply seemed to lack, even now that they were almost a full moon in.

And accordingly, after having them nurse on her and need so much of her attention and energy devoted only to them for just as long, her patience was wanting to run awfully thin some days. The lighter sisters were at attention now too, and their brother snoozed in the spot behind her armpit. "Shh," she warned after a low, quiet bubble of a growl, and reached over the other puppies to nose Ran's head gently. Not interested in consoling the girl in any sort of length right now when the solution to her issues was suspect enough, Ame gave her a few sort licks before withdrawing to watch again to see what may be the matter -- besides the obvious something isn't quite all the way there.

Ran didn't get quite the attention she wanted — one of her siblings just gave her a hard stare that was returned with a sad sob, and another batted at her face. Ran batted back, her sickly left toe flailing at her sister, but when she hit it just served as a reminder of the pain and caused her to cry another loud "BAAAH!" before her mother's 'shh' distracted her again. Ran looked at her, at attention a moment, and then tiny ears fell back as she fell quiet.

Quiet, that is, until she tried to stand up to play with Galaxy and tried to stand on the left paw. It resulted in another sad "Nmuuu!" and for a moment the possible consequences from Vela and her mother were forgotten.

As Galaxy batted, Vela held back and watched what would come of her sibling's actions. In the chid's mind, she believed that she had done all that could be done to confront Ran. With this conclusion, Vela did what she could to aid her sister and took a step back, her hard expression still intact as she sat and watched.

Although she was more aware than most pups her age (due to that whole 'possibly reincarnated' thing), Galaxy didn't even notice Ran's deformity, not even when it was thrust in her face. Cracking a wider smile, she flailed at her sister again, encouraging her to play. But when the other little girl tried to stand, it came with an accompanying wail of pain.

Galaxy's ears flattened. Are you okay? What's wrong? her expression said what her immature tongue could not. She truly wanted Ran to cheer up and enjoy herself but when that didn't seem likely, Galaxy looked questioningly at the adults, then to her other litter mates. She couldn't even see Jarilo where he was tucked away but she spotted Vela easily enough, still looking a little put out by everything.

Her desire to make her siblings smile extended to the pale eldest. "Ya!" Galaxy cried before pouncing toward Vela and doing the very same thing she'd done to Ran: booped her on the snoot, this time managing a loud, "Oop!"

She watched very carefully, feeling peeved and bordering on a new frustration spurred along by Ran's complaints but still unwilling to intervene yet. A piece of her wanted to see how this may play out and how the litter would take to this.. difference among one of their own. Ame just did not like that leg any, and the more she saw of it in action and how the girl seemed to react to it, she felt a bad feeling about it festering quickly. Less and less, it seemed like something she could just ignore and the pup would outgrow it without repercussions.

At least one of the sisters seemed to feel a little sour about it too, if Vela's stare was any indication. But, Galaxy, took to hopefully busying the complaining Ran after a pounce, and seeing this made her feel a bit better about almost outright ignoring her--not that she had a good answer on what to do for her to make it better anyway.

Amekaze wanted to just watch more, and see how they compared. She had done a lot of that up until now but it mattered more to her by the day. She doubted her patience when it came to her smallest continuing to slip behind, and this.. if she did not learn how to compensate for her problems, Amekaze did not want to doubt her quality of life. She would have to learn what she could and could not do on her own. "Shh, Ran, just take it slow.. try to not hurt it," she murmured tiredly now extending her snout towards the littlest whelp again for another soft nudge to hopefully encourage her. Jarilo grunted, annoyed presumably, but she ignored him for now to try to give her a little support in helping to stand without putting much weight on the bad leg.

After falling down, Ran batted both paws in Galaxy's direction, playing for a moment as her flighty child's brain forgot again momentarily. She remained on the floor as she watched her sisters play — the fun one and the not-so-fun one — for the moment ignoring trying to stand again. After a while of watching Ran started to doze off to sleep and she let out a content "yap" as her eyes slowly closed and she was beginning to drift off.

last post unless anyone wakes her :)

Thrown off by the sudden motion of Galaxy's advance, Vela turned to her pale sibling with wide eyes as she watched the other's advance. Unsure of what the movement would bring, her once-stern expression melted with enchantment. The peak of her observation was when Galaxy reached forward to tap her nose gently, and this fascination quickly bubbled into pure joy. There was something about the manner in which Galaxy had stirred an undeniable sense of happiness within her, and she showed her emotions upon the blank canvas that was her face. 

Her tail wagged in reaction to what had just happened, and she looked to Galaxy with an inviting cooing, urging her forward again to boop her snout once more.

If Ran had cried out again, Galaxy surely would have remembered her and included her in the game. But the fussy girl had fallen silent and the little Rho forgot all about her as she engaged Vela instead. The eldest member of the litter seemed mildly perplexed for a beat, though she quickly smiled and began to wag her tail. Galaxy's own tail whipped back and forth so quickly it became a blur and she let out a playful bark.

"A'me!" she shouted. She meant, "Come at me, bro sis!" but this was as good as her pronunciation was going to get for now. "A'me, a'me!" she encouraged, giggling as she reared onto her hind legs and flailed her forelimbs at Vela's face. She eventually lost her balance and plopped onto a hip, all the while still laughing.

She quickly found herself relieved when Ran didn't seem to want to press the issue too much right now (Amekaze agree) and she stayed on the ground. She gave her a few soft licks on the back, mostly to just smooth some ruffled puppy fuzz, and let her be--not without a lingering glare at the leg that troubled her; something to be addressed, somehow, sooner or later.

But in favor of that, she relaxed to watch the pale girls go at it too, pleased that they were as mobile and vigorous as they were. It was a shame that Ran couldn't quite join them right now, and that the boy preferred to cling rather than do anything.. but they were still so young. This still could change.. Nevertheless, the mother huffed, set her head on her paws, and placed her bets on how Vela and Galaxy's exchange may play out.

her last ;D pp her if needed

Jubilance was evident in the manner in which Vela looked to her sibling. Her eyes, still milky due to their young age, sparkled with mirth as she watched on and expected the unexpected from Galaxy. As the most playful of the litter, her pale sibling was always the one to shake things up. Though Vela often disregarded her sister's advances, as she much preferred a calmer atmosphere, Galaxy had caught her in a rare mood. 

The Rho's challenge sent Vela into action. Her a forelimb surged forward to meet her pale sibling's nose but missed because Galaxy had somehow, unexpectedly fallen onto her hip. Despite the laughter, Vela was concerned about what had just happened. Any excitement that she felt subsided and her head crooked heavily to the side as she looked to her sibling, unsure of what to do.

Her sister's concerned expression caused Galaxy to laugh all the harder for an instant, though she sobered enough to give Vela a reassuring smile even as she bounced back onto all fours. She wobbled and weaved like she'd had too much to drink as she attempted to catch the other girl off guard with a playful pounce. Despite their close proximity, she veered to the left of her mark, merely bumping Vela before losing her balance again and this time splatting on her belly with her crooked tail in the air for a moment before it sank.

Vela's relief did not last long. Just as soon as Galaxy had gotten onto her paws, she stumbled forward like a lush. The bump to Vela's shoulder was the last move that her sister made before faceplanting to her left and with this grand finale, accompanied by a comical lowering of her tail. Finding herself filled with worry once more, as her sister did not rebound as she had previously, Vela moved to Galaxy's side and nosed her cheek in an attempt to rouse her sister. 

LMFAOOOO

She peeped softly at Vela's nudge, turning to grin at her sibling as she once more climbed onto all fours. "Gay!" she yelled. She'd meant to shout "Okay!" but pronunciation was still so difficult at this stage. Galaxy rolled her eyes at herself and pressed her nose to her sister's to convey what she apparently couldn't say: she was totally fine.

With that said, she was suddenly overcome with hunger. She pranced toward Amekaze like some kind of show pony and flopped down at her mother's side, pressing and kneading the she-wolf's flank with her paws until she located and latched onto a teat. She drank greedily, eyes rolling in her head and happy murmurs escaping her between chugs. She wouldn't let go until her belly was as round and taut as a drum and there was nothing to be done for it except a nice, long nap.

---

Tacoma's whining loudly. Their mother clutches him, her own eyes filled with tears. They're both looking at something. Instead of following their gazes, Scion peers at the other wolves sitting in a ring. Night's falling, so their faces are cast in shadows. But their eyes glow in the gathering gloom, all of them looking down at something in the center of their makeshift circle. Finally, Scion drags his own eyes to the shape lying on the earth.

It's a wolf. There's a puddle forming underneath his body and Scion at first thinks it's a pool of blood. Then he realizes it's just water; the body is soaking wet despite the clinging desert heat. The fur sticks up in spikes. There's something else strange about the still wolf. Scion leans forward to take a closer look, recognition beginning to register...

Reassurance was given, and with this, Vela felt herself relax. Pleased that her plump sibling was alright, the freckled could go about her business. This notion was made easier when Galaxy abandoned their play in favor of a snack. Not feeling particularly hungry, Vela turned in the opposite direction from where Galaxy had gone and toddled towards the foyer of the den. Once the Omicron found a satisfactory spot where she could watch the world outside — a vibrant splash of sunshine that warmed the earth that she would rest upon — she laid and settled her sight outside. She would remain there until Charon returned home and would welcome her Papa was open arms, eager to smell all of the strange scents he carried from their territory and hear of how his day had gone.