Moonspear miracle of life

siblings maybe? @Vela @Galaxy @Jarilo

Walking didn't come as easily to Ran as it did her siblings, but in time she had come to learn that she shouldn't put pressure on her left front paw, as it would only result in pain and she couldn't use it to stand on. She used the other three legs now but it made it so that her gait was wobbly and clumsy at best and she fell over a lot. She saw the scrutiny on her father's face when he looked at her, but being a young pup was often distracted again quickly and couldn't quite decipher what it was that was wrong about her when she did take time to fully notice him.

Words were her next cool thing to focus on. Ran loved words. She loved when others spoke them and she loved to try and mimic them even though she wasn't as good at it yet. She also knew that Ran or, when pronounced by Galaxy, Wan meant her! It thrilled Ran to no ends to hear her own name because it was a reminder that she was a part of this world too and that she was allowed to be there, too.

Today Ran was sitting at the edge of the den when she noticed a butterfly not far off. "Oo!" she cooed and looked back to see if any of her siblings could be enticed to check it out. "Zee, ook!" she called out to her favourite sibling, Galaxy, tail wiggling as she stood alert staring at the butterfly from the mouth of the den.

Galaxy dreamed less and less of her previous life as she grew. She still thought of her former family on occasion, musing about what they might be doing at any given moment. Were they still out there somewhere, mourning Scion's death? Although there was no way to prove it—short of going in search of them, she supposed, something that was entirely out of the question at this juncture—she instinctively knew that they were out there. They ran beneath the same sun that warmed her back during the day, peered at the same moon that illuminated her nights...

She was dreaming of that instant when she had gone sailing over the cliff as Scion when Ran's voice made her start awake. She rolled onto an elbow and blinked blearily at her sibling, already forgetting the dream. "Zit?" she murmured even as Galaxy pushed onto all fours and bounded across the den to join Ran in the doorway. She followed her sister's gaze and spotted the butterfly. "Da's a buttewfy," she informed Ran cheerfully. "Mawipo-o-oza," she added in a singsong voice, her white tail giving a merry twitch.

Ran's tail wiggled excitedly when her sibling showed up to watch the beautiful things outdoors with her. "Oooo!" Ran cooed when Galaxy said a lot of words. She tried to mimic where she could — "Bum-fy!" — and — "Po-o-o-za!" where she tried to also mimic Galaxy's sing-song manner of saying it, hitting a higher note on the third 'o'.

"Come!" Ran cried out excitedly and she bounced forward to try and catch the butterfly. She pounced, jumped up, stretched out her right paw, missed the butterfly and then fell flat on her face when she tried to land again. "Oooow!" she cried out and she looked at Galaxy with a sniffly face, eyes teary and wide for about a second until she saw the butterfly again and quickly scrambled to her three feet, then called out an excited "Bumfly!" at the darty creature.

When Ran decided to call it a "bumfly," Galaxy found this utterly hilarious. She did have the sense of humor of an adolescent boy, after all. She began to chuckle, then giggle, then laugh outright. She went boneless with it and was tempted to fall to the ground and roll. But then her sister's cry caused her to look at her and gulp in several hiccuping breaths to steady herself.

Her blue eyes tracked Ran's movements as she bumbled after the delicate, elegant insect. It quickly flapped out of reach. When Ran glanced over at her with a pout, Galaxy grinned broadly at her sister and gave her the wolfish equivalent of a thumbs up to encourage her. The paler puppy then finally bounded out to join her sibling, though she made no effort to interfere. This was Ran's hunt.

Accordingly, she hollered, "Geddit, Wan!"

After Ran had gotten to her feet again, she hadn't really considered going after it at first. She was just staring and oogling, amazed by the creature that looked like it was gliding through the air on invisible steps she couldn't see. It was so beautiful! "Boof bumfly," Ran murmured under her breath as she watched it, and it wasn't until Galaxy encouraged her that she was tempted to try another shot at catching it.

So with an excited yip Ran came into motion again, stumbling after the butterfly on her three good legs. She wasn't very fast and wasn't very strong, so she stood no chance against it, but she looked happy, at least, for the moment, while she was shambling after the butterfly and took another shot at pouncing it — and again, she landed flat on her face.

She watched as Ran bounded after the butterfly, its movements so much more elegant than the pup's—especially when she fell flat on her face. Galaxy's mouth twisted into an "o" of surprise before she bounded over to nose at her fallen sibling.

"Okay?" she asked, intuiting that it would hurt Ran's pride more than her body. Her blue eyes flicked upward to see the butterfly drifting away, out of reach and eventually out of view. Truthfully, neither one of them had ever had a chance at capturing the delicate insect and that was fine; they only would've torn it apart, destroying its beauty.

But Galaxy was an empathetic sort who could feel Ran's disappointment and frustration. "Is okay. We pyay wif..." She cast her eyes about for some other plaything. There was nothing as colorful and enchanting as the butterfly, though she saw a millipede marching across the grassy patch by the den's mouth.

She had never seen one before and briefly thought it was a snake. "Sewpiente," Galaxy muttered under her breath, white fur ruffling cautiously, when she blinked and realized it was just some sort of weird bug instead. Her expression quickly melted back into a smile as she pointed a toe and shouted, "Yook!"

Ran shook her fur as she got up again, being the resilient sort even though her body was small and underdeveloped yet. "Yaaa," she cried out excitedly and her tail wiggled in joy to share the moment with the best sister in the world. "Zee!" she yipped happily, having already forgotten about the butterfly in her youthful excitement. 

She didn't know what the new plaything was, but was instantly attracted to it nevertheless. "Oooo!" called out Ran with a wiggle of her tail and she stumbled over to the bug. She wanted to paw at it but didn't manage very well, considering she only had so many front legs. "Yook, yook!" she parroted and giggled at Galaxy, having now dubbed the bug a 'yook'.

The two of them scrambled over to investigate the creepy crawly, both of them shouting, "Yook! Yook!" to one another, which was a little bit ridiculous. Galaxy grinned at her sister's enthusiasm, glad to see she'd recovered from her failed attempt at catching butterflies. This thing couldn't bat some wings and simply fly away. Now they stood an actual chance at capturing their buggy prey.

The pale puppy reached out a paw to bap the bug, which began to scoot all the faster along the ground. She glanced up at Ran, her eyes drifting to her sibling's misshapen foot. "Speaw it!" she cheered suddenly, seeing the limb not as a handicap but a specialized tool for harpooning millipedes, evidently.

Ran's tail wiggled excitedly as she looked at the yook. She looked questioningly at Galaxy when she was given the command to 'spear it', not really sure what it was. She knew the 'it' was the yook but what was spearing? Then she noticed her sibling's look at her dangly leg. It was kinda funny how Zee looked at it now, since all Ran was used to was seeing it as a thing that hurt and as a thing the adults looked down on.

Not sure what she was asked to do but sure that it had something to do with her weird leg Ran moved over to the yook and slammed her cripple leg into it with much force. Ran then cried out because it hurt, letting out a pained yelp until she saw the result of her action: A not-very-speared, but very splattered yook. "Zee! Yook's yadey!" she repeated, not sure if the yook was still a 'yook' now, but having no words for what it was just yet.

Rather than expertly spear the millipede, Ran's deformed paw came crashing down to smush it. Galaxy gave a gleeful cry regardless, watching as the formerly round bug flattened out and oozed. She sniffed at it, nose scrunching at the peculiar smell, then glanced up at her sister with a beaming grin.

"Did it!" she exclaimed, white tail wriggling. "You's huntew!" She bounded toward Ran, clapping the other pup on the shoulder. It was a shame it wasn't edible (going off the yucky smell) but there was still reason to celebrate. "Wan's huntew!" Galaxy crowed, prancing in circles around her sibling's first kill.

Ran's tail wiggled excitedly at her sister's happy tones. "Eeheeheehee," she giggled happily along. "Hunhun!" she semi-repeated, the word a bit too long for her yet and her attention span not quite long enough either. "Wan hun!" Ran leaned down, after a brief victory parade, to sniff the crushed bug. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, displeased that whatever she'd hunted wasn't very edible. She'd have to crush something yummy next time!

She was proud of Ran and happy that her sibling seemed so pleased too. Often the younger girl was fussing or moping in the den, largely ignored by her family as she struggled with her deformed leg. But today Galaxy had helped prove to Ran (and anyone else who might be watching) that she could succeed despite her handicap. Just because she was different didn't mean she wouldn't do well in life.

You're gonna be a great hunter when you grow up, Galaxy thought toward Ran as her celebratory dance wound down and she plopped on her haunches. She wished she could say so now but her childish tongue still stumbled and tripped over words. She contented herself with snuffling happily against Ran's dark cheek before sliding to her belly with a happy sigh.

The bug's remains were nearby and she idly sniffed at them without bothering to lift her head, only to wrinkle her nose at that terrible smell. Galaxy let her chin fall to her paws, though her eyes drifted in the direction of the den. She couldn't help but think of the food contained within and suddenly she was leaping back onto all fours, Ran and the triumphant hunt forgotten momentarily as the hungry child zoomed toward sustenance.

Ran was mesmerised by the prize a bit longer before she was distracted by Galaxy, who suddenly ran away. Ran followed and when they reached the mommybar did she realise how hungry she had been, too. She dove towards a teat and started to suckle with a content "mmm" and life was good, for now.

feel free to slap on a last post or just archive this! :)