Redhawk Caldera you teach me and i'll teach you.

I WANTS BABBERZ @Oriole @Titmouse @Towhee @Phox @Orca @Stoat and anyone else can pop in too that's kool :) 

Maybe if she stapled him to the ground...

Finley stared at the black and silver pup as it ceaselessly twitched about. It seemed to have no intention of ever stopping. Like, ever. She'd done all that she could to satisfy the little beast. Grooming, snuggling, burping, feeding. It wanted nothing, and yet its limbs just would not fucking stop.

The Blackthorn shook her head as her eyes moved over the rest of them. She reasoned that it shouldn't have surprised her how this one behaved considering the others. If she stapled Fidget to the ground (as she'd named him in her head), then she'd have to staple Screech's mouth shut, and Crapbag's butt closed. And she was pretty sure they'd still find a way to pursue their favorite pasttimes. Or they'd invent new ones for her to deal with.

Fox really lucked out that this was the litter she'd left for someone else to take care of. She probably would have eaten Fidget at the very least.

Finley breathed a sigh as she nudged them around. The other three hadn't done much to earn their nicknames from her yet, but she would watch and wait. The Redhawks had their traditions in waiting to name their kids and then naming them after animals - Finley had every intention of keeping that for them. But they needed to be called something until then and Finley would go by her own family's traditions for that, which were less strict. After all, there was nothing about her that resembled a frog in physical appearance or personality (her family would have disagreed considering they were the ones who watched her hop everywhere the first couple months of her life). Gently, she nuzzled their little heads in turn, still pondering what to call them all.

It wasn't that Fidget was particularly unhappy. He wouldn't even know what that word meant, considering he had little to compare it to. Fidget was just... well... fidgety. As soon as he'd been thrown into this messy world, his limbs had been raring to go. And go they had. Every waking moment was spent squirming and thrashing about. It was probably making it more difficult for his guardians to take care of him, but he had no real sense of who they were, other than their faint smell and warmth. As for the other five wriggling (or not wriggling) bodies, Fidget didn't pay them much attention unless he was fighting them for food.

When booped on the head, Fidget began to crawl slowly toward the large mass of warmth and fur that was his godmother.

If there was any small part of Raven that wanted the pups all to herself, it died a very, very quick death. By day two, she was overwhelmed and desperately thankful for her godparents' involvement. Her life had become an endless cycle of feeding and cleaning the pups. She didn't really mind that part, much as her body ached for the efforts. What made it so hard was how loud, squirmy and messy they could be. Raven thought she could handle two, maybe three, but six?

The Gamma took a much-needed potty break just now. It was tempting to take a walk and get some fresh air too. But the pups were still so new and they really couldn't go very long without sustenance. Besides, she was exhausted. As a matter of fact, she moved back into the den, exchanging a fleeting smile with Finley before she slumped to the floor. She did make sure to position herself so the pups could nurse before letting her head flop to the ground. She was out in less than a minute.

She may wake up later. Feel free to skip me in the meantime. :)

With limited senses, Towhee had no idea what anybody—caretakers or siblings—looked like or how loud the den could get. She only knew that she was mostly warm and comfortable; that the fluid she sucked into her mouth tasted so good she never wanted to stop eating; and that the world smelled pretty dank. Without any basis for comparison, she didn't really mind the latter bit.

She slept 92% of the time but during the other 8%, Towhee's personality began to emerge and shine. She preferred to rest on her back, for instance, and would protest if righted right before rolling herself bellyup again. Oddly, she didn't like her feet being touched and cried the instant someone so much as breathed on her little exposed toes. She quieted the instant it stopped, to be fair.

Unlike some (if not most) of her siblings, she didn't like to make a lot of noise otherwise. Presently, the dark girl somehow managed to curl her stout little body so that she touched her own toes. She bleated in distaste at first, then the unusualness of the sensation caused her to grow quiet. She felt herself out and, within seconds, Towhee was making a strange giggling noise.

The little boy who would one day be Titmouse should've really been called Barking Owl, because of the way he endlessly screamed. It wasn't a normal scream either. As he was too small to make a lot of noise or to keep a tune going for long, he mostly hummed and squeaked — but it was loud. It was endless. With every gasp of air he would make some kind of noise, at least until Raven's belly came in close to him, and then the tiny child would try and grapple on to a teat. Most of the time he would nibble at the teat rather than suckle, causing Raven an undue amount of irritation which would (presumably) only get worse as his teeth came in.

When Raven slumped against the den floor, she wasn't too close to Titmouse. In fact, she nearly squished him with her panther-like sprawl, but he was lucky. As soon as she was down though, he began to scream. It started as a bubbly series of chirps and blips. As the little boy realized he wasn't eating right this second he gradually increased in volume and tenacity, like a kettle whose screeching high-note could be heard six houses down — and he didn't stop until someone moved him next to one of Raven's ready teats.

Chomp.

Finley glanced up at Raven as the girl returned to the den. She returned the smile, then shook her head lightly as the black wolf laid down and immediately passed out. She could tell that Raven was exhausted already, but she had to commend her resolve. She hadn't run for it yet as another may have considering Finley was there as a fall back. Her niece was likely all too aware that her brothers and sisters wouldn't survive without the milk her body had tricked her into producing, and the Caldera had suffered enough death.

An odd sound filled the den suddenly causing Finley to glance down. One of the dark ones was making weird noises - the picky one that was sensitive to basically everything. Fin cocked her head slightly, studying the girl. "What're you doing, chuckles?" she murmured softly, amused. She was tempted to reach down and nudge her, but remembered all too well how very loud this one could get when... well, Fin hadn't figured out exactly what the trigger was yet. But in any case, it was best to leave her be.

Besides, Screech was beginning to screech again. Fin reached to push the little gray beast over to Raven's stomach. He seemed to know exactly what to do from there, which had always been surprising to her. How did they know? She winced slightly to see the fervor with which the boy clamped down onto his sister. Then winced again to think that the boy was feasting on his sister. But in either case, Crapbag seemed to be placated. Or wait no, he was Screech. Or.. was he?

Six god damn puppies... what a mess... Fin thought to herself as she lifted a paw and laid it gently but firmly on top of Fidget.

Mommy was barely home when Fox gave birth. His time had been spent at home, enjoying his time with family, until the tragic day. Eljay felt really guilty, because he wanted mommy for himself and he could not help but feel like he should be more supportive and helpful. But he wasn't helpful at all, because though he tried Eljay barely hunted more than he ate and so most food he brought Raven and mommy was either fresh out of his own mouth, or from a cache.

The guilt of being so useless as well as missing mommy so much that it hurt to see her with the new babies was so overbearing, Eljay didn't know what to do with himself. When he arrived with a piece of meat from a cache that day he heard mommy talk to the pups and his stomach churned unhappily while he berated himself for being such a terrible person.

He nosed the food towards mommy from the den's entrance and asked carefully, "Can I come in?" He licked his lips submissively and silently waited for an answer.

Phox's head was still too big for him to lift properly, so he ended up pushing it across the ground most of the time in his endless quest for movement and exploration. Considering his sense of smell was weak at best, he usually used his sense of taste and touch to understand this crazy world. Abandoning his current trajectory toward Finley, Phox began to taste the dirt beneath his chin. It was, in every sense of the word, disgusting, and he whimpered quietly while trying to backpedal. Which was more of a slow wobble than anything. His mouth opened and closed, trying to get rid of the wretched soil he'd tasted.

More babyish giggles escaped her as Towhee's front and back toes touched. Because of the pressure this placed on her midsection, a very loud toot! escaped her. The puppy couldn't hear it, of course, but she certainly felt it. She froze in surprise at the odd vibration. When it didn't happen again, she relaxed and rolled onto her side, tiny tail tap-tap-tapping on the cool floor.

She fell still for a moment or two, then rolled onto her belly and began to scoot. She bumped into something large and soft: her godmother, Finley. Towhee opened her mouth in an attempt to explore this furry blockade, mouthing along the Alpha female's lower ribs. When her nose flicked against a teat, she naturally sucked it into her mouth and gave it a few pulls. Nothing happened, however, and she released it with an indignant cheep.

Fidget escaped and Finley let him go without complaint. Chuckles was being silly and gassy, scooting around like a little tugboat until latching onto a teat. Fin couldn't help but smirk at the little girl, wondering how long it would take her to realize that these nips weren't going to give her anything (thank god). Not long, apparently. She chuckled softly before picking the pup up and plunking her back down alongside Raven. "There, suck on them," she advised, turning then to look at Fidget who was making faces at the dark.

Eljay's arrival distracted her only momentarily from watching the six little beasts. She glanced up and smiled before returning her eyes back to the savages, though her attention split between them and her eldest. "Come right on in," she replied, "But be careful - they are trying their darndest to cause whatever mayhem they can." Which wasn't very, ahh.. mayhem-ic, all things considered.

Eljay watched as the pups squirmed all around, much busier than Lucy, Liffey and Lagan had been from what he remembered. He wondered if he had been so active as a pup, always on the go and running around everywhere. He was glad when mommy asked him to come in, and that she wasn't mad that he had brought cache food rather than hunt something fresh. He just hadn't been able to find anything.

Eljay carefully slipped into the den, making sure that he wouldn't squish any pups. "They're so active!" he noted as he watched them crawl about. "It's like they don't even know their mommy's gone." Well, on second thought, Eljay realised it was probably like that because they had never really gotten to know their mommy. He wondered with a twinge of jealousy if that meant that they would come to see his mommy as their mommy. Or would they see Raven as such? Or both? Or maybe none? But it seemed unfair for them to have to go through life without a mommy. Still, Eljay couldn't help but feel possessive and unwilling to share his mommy with another six new puppies quite so easily.

Finley did her best to wrangle in the newborns who had decided to make a squirmy break for it as Eljay made his way in. Gently, she plucked Fidget up and moved him into her arms, then reached to snatch the other black and white puppy who had chosen that moment to break away from Raven's nips and make a name for herself - @Orca. She winced at her son's comment about them not realizing they were without a mother. In a way, they weren't - they actually had two of them. But it was a crime that they were deprived of their real mother.

"I'm sure they don't," Fin replied, sadly as she gazed at them. Another pup had stopped feeding and was shuffling beside Raven - a fat little thing that also hadn't earned a nickname from her yet. She reached and plucked up @Oriole and placed him beside the other two, gazing at the three of them. "But so long as they're warm and well-fed, they're happy. And when they get older, we'll all be here to tell them everything they could ever want to know about their parents, so even though they'll never meet them, they'll still know them, in a way."

She meant the words as comfort, but all it did was tug at the pieces of her broken heart. So, Finley tried to change the subject. "You want to hear what we've been calling them?" she asked, smiling through her melancholy.

She didn't stir, not even when Titmouse chomped one of her teats with his little gums. The various noises and movements in the den did nothing to disrupt Raven's deep sleep either. Although she needed the rest, she tumbled into a dream where she and Fox argued. It quickly became more of a nightmare when the Alpha female lunged at her. The Gamma jerked awake with a snort and a muttered, "Mom!"

Her head lifted and she looked blearily at Finley, Eljay and then the six tiny, wriggly bundles beside her (some nursing, some not). The nightmare quickly receded, thought not before the knowledge of Fox's death hit her like a punch in the gut. Raven exhaled heavily through her nostrils, blinking the sleepy fog from her yellow eyes.

"Hi, Eljay," she said groggily.

Fidget was picked up and plopped back down, but he didn't whine. Where he'd come to rest was warm and soft, something Phox very much liked. Finley's breath on his ears caused them to twitch, and soon after, Fidget began to bap his paws on whatever was closest to him. Which was Oriole, of course. He smacked her right in the face, though his strike was weak and his paws were soft, so it was probably more like a pet.

Eljay smiled warmly as he looked at the little bundles of joy, and looked at mommy when she said that the pups would be told all about Uncle P and Aunt Fox. Eljay smiled at that sentiment, both because he felt a bit sad having to share his mommy so soon after her return with these little ones, and because he'd love telling them all about Uncle P and Aunt Fox and how amazing they'd been. "Yeah, we'll make sure to tell them all about Uncle P and Aunt Fox," he echoed fondly, thinking about all the trips to Uncle P's that he and daddy and mommy had taken when he was a little boy himself. It wouldn't be the same, but still.

Mommy then asked if he wanted to hear what they'd been calling them, but before Eljay managed to reply with any more than a single bob of his head Raven snorted awake with something that sounded a lot like mommy. Eljay shot her a sympathetic look — he wasn't sure how he would even be able to survive without mommy there for him, so how could Raven be okay in any way? — and then smiled, not sure if she even wanted his sympathy because it wouldn't make anything much better. "Hi Rave," he said and he then looked to mommy, wanting to hear about the pups' names.

Finley's heart was warmed when Eljay agreed with her, that they would make sure that the newest and last firebirds would know their parents through the stories their remaining family would tell. She felt a lump form in her throat as she considered it, but she swallowed hard and pushed the emotion back down. Perhaps she could pay attention to it in the private moments she stole for herself or alone with her mate. But not now. Now she had to be strong. Now, she was a mother and an alpha.

Jeezus... Alpha...

She grinned and began to gesture towards one of the little potatoes snuggled in her arms when an abrupt sound from Raven startled her. Finley turned to peer at her goddaughter with concer. It hadn't gone unnoticed by her what word she had uttered as she'd awoken. It did, however, go unnoticed that it was Eljay she said hello to instead of Eljay and her. Boy would that have been fascinating to note. Dangit, Fin.

"Well good morning, Ray," Fin said offering a smile, "I was just telling Jay here what we've been calling these birds" Her tail wagged as she said, and also as Oriole suddenly burped loudly at all three of them. Fin cocked her head and peered at the boy as he rolled in her arms ad began to snooze once again. What a weirdy.

"I'm definitely confident on four of them. One I have no idea, then the lastkind of fluctuates depending on what word I like best at the time I refer to him," Fin announced, sharing an almost conspiratorial grin with Raven as she said it, "This guy is known quite fondly as Screech since all he does is scream as though we're paying him for it. This baby we call Fidget since he doesn't know how not to move. Then here we have Widget..." Fin nosed at @Orca as she said it, which I decided to narrate since I finally decided that it's her that Fin calls Widget. "...Because it rhymes with Fidget and I couldn't think of what else to call her."

She paused then, nosing at fat little Oreo Oriole before starting up again (WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF OREO SOONER). "Then here we have Mumble, since he makes no sound and does nothing but snore quietly while he sleep all day long. Then this little lady, sometimes she's Chuckles, sometimes Giggles or Tickles. I called her Teehee once I think. I can't really land one which I like best." Finley smiled brightly as she looked up at her son, wondering what he thought of the names. She glanced over at the little brown pup then, frowning guiltily as she added, "I've got nothing for that guy... He hasn't earned any sort of name yet. Not from me at least, unless Raven's got a bead on him now...?" She quirked a brow at her niece, wondering.

She made an odd little rrr! noise as Finley lifted her and it was anybody's guess which end it came from. Within seconds, she was back on the ground, cuddled up against something motionless but warm. Towhee instinctively rooted among the soft furs on the dozing Raven's belly, quickly finding and latching onto a teat. She drank so greedily that milk dribbled down her little black chin. A bubble formed at one corner of her mouth, growing larger and larger until it suddenly burst, causing Towhee to freeze for a heartbeat before continuing suckling.

She nursed herself into a stupor, jerking awake along with Raven but drifting right back to sleep once the wet nurse settled again. With a sigh and a tiny pop!, Towhee unlatched and flopped onto her side, milk drunk and passed out.

She managed the smallest of weary smiles for the Blackthorns, then tiredly began to nose through the pups even as Finley introduced them to Eljay. Her ear flicked in time with the rhythm of her godmother's voice but Raven didn't otherwise pay much attention to the conversation. Each tiny infant appeared to be well enough. A few were even sleeping soundly, including the little black girl with the orange and white smudges. Raven noticed some milk crusted to the unconscious pup's chin and delicately cleaned it, feeling victorious when she didn't even stir.

Knowing the Alpha and Delta would keep an eye on the others, Raven decided to relax and try to catch a few more winks. She supposed she would get used to the lack of sleep and other demands the pups put on her, yet it was still very early in the game and she really hadn't been prepared for this at all. She only felt a little guilty as she let her head rest back on the floor and closed her eyes, once more becoming dead to the world.

Raven seemed sleepy still, and Eljay didn't blame her when she slowly started to drift off again. Instead he listened to what his mother introduced the pups at. He looked at them as their names were said -- well, temporary names, he supposed, even though he thought the names were pretty cute -- and then glanced at mommy. "Those names are pretty cute," he said. "When they get older, will they have animal names?" It was custom, after all, but it'd been Fox' custom.

Oriole, reacting to his pet, began to mouth his ear, and Phox bapped pet his brother again. But when Oriole was nosed, he lost interest and began to squirm toward food. Phox, exhausted from all the excitement and newness around him, soon found a spot curled up next to Towhee. He settled in with his back against her, his feet jabbing into Titmouse as he drifted off to the quiet muffles of the adults talking.

Raven drifted off again, and Finley couldn't blame her for it. It was exhausting being poked at and tugged on all day long and the stress of having to watch out for the lives of such helpless little creatures didn't improve the situation. Not for the first time, Fin found herself thankful it wasn't her playing wet nurse to the brood. It was a selfish though, but one she forgave herself with the reminder that she'd likely be having a litter of her own this year and so it would be her turn soon enough.

Finley smiled, grateful for her son's compliment about the names they'd been calling the pups. She looked at them thoughtfully at Eljay's question. "Yes, they will," she confirmed, "Just like the other firebirds. We'll name them for whatever animals they look like."  She considered this for a moment before adding, "Raven has some ideas about those names. I don't think I'm going to be much help."

for some reason i kept thinking Raven was still in this, lmao. wanna wrap? :)

Eljay nodded as mommy said the pups would be named after animals too. Truthfully, he didn't know the names of many animals; only those in the Redhawk territory and those he heard of. He knew the names of some, like bears, but they were scary and he hoped never to meet them. Though he reasoned 'bear' would be a cute name, but, going over the pups quickly, none of them were the same colour without any markings.

"I'll ask her about it later," Eljay said softly, looking at Raven as she tried to catch some much-needed z's — she'd be there after her sleep, so he wouldn't disturb it now.

He wondered aloud, "What would my name have been if I was a firebird?" Because he didn't think he resembled any sort of animal very much, except maybe a wolf.

Wrapping! :)

It seemed she and her son felt a similar plight. They were not well-versed in the names of different fauna, not like Peregrine and Fox had been. Finley would never have been able to come up with some of the names they had. Raven and Ferret were one thing, of course. But to this day, the Blackthorn still had no idea what the fuck a Whip-poor-will even was.

Fin gave her son a thoughtful glance as he asked what he would have been named. She truly had no idea, but she tried for a moment to come up with something to appease her son. "But you are named like the firebirds," Fin said, smiling suddenly as the thought came to her, "You look just like an Elwood, which is why we named you after one." Sure, Elwood wasn't exactly a species of animal, but he was an animal. It kind of counted.

Finley smiled and leaned over to plant a kiss on Eljay's muzzle, content to spend the rest of the afternoon chatting with him and fussing over the babies.