Bearclaw Valley standing on the olympic platform, accepting our gold medals for eating

Spring had finally made an impact on the wilds. The sun was noticeably brighter and lasted much longer. The skies were showing signs of blues and bright splashed of cloud no longer appeared to hold the threat of a chilly storm. As the days passed into a warmer season, Piper had grown into a sprightly little russet potato. Her limbs could carry her and her eyes were adjusting well enough to the world that she could make out the distinct shapes of her mother and her two brothers. While she tried to make sure she was a well behaved young pup, growing up with two boys had been a difficult task. It was a blessing that she could not yet speak her mind; she already had so much to say. 

With surprisingly strong limbs, Piper Redleaf puttered about within the den. Her eyes roamed toward one of her brothers and she yipped with joy, hoping that she could coax one of them into playing with her for the next little while. 

Lucas was making an effort to nap, but it was surprisingly hard to keep his eyes closed. His ears twitched toward every muffled sound now that he could make them out, distracting him from pursuing his dreams, and the world was just too exciting for him to lay down for long. With his paws tucked under his pudgy belly and his muzzle on the floor, he struggled to pretend he was sleeping. If he pretended to sleep, then maybe he would actually fall into slumber.

He was doomed from the moment he tried, though; Piper's shrill yap had his eyes popping open in an instant, and even though he issued a soft whine of protest, his tail wagged strongly. He tried for half a second to stay down, hindquarters twitching with the effort, but he just couldn't do it. Lucas was made to live, baby, sleeping was for the dead. He launched to his paws and was waddling toward Piper in an instant, his features consumed with a huge smile while his fat belly rocked side-to-side.

He didn't play like a normal pup, though. He came nose-to-nose with her and then reared up on his solid hind legs, attempted to shimmy his puffy hips in an invitation to dance with him, and promptly fell on his equally well-padded hiney.

Lucas seemed to fight the temptation and the sound of his whine barely tickled the hairs of her ears before he rolled his rotund body and landed squarely on his stocky limbs. Piper watched as her brother waddled excitedly in her direction and the young Redleaf was so filled with childish glee at the sight of her pudgy sibling that she tossed her head up three times and forced herself off balance. The rusty-coated whelp reared back and lost all ground with her front paws before finding herself landing squarely on her butt. Lucas erased all space between them and approached, his nose to her own. He too then pulled himself back in a stand on his hind legs before the weight of his own body seemed to topple him back to his rear end.
 
Piper’s tail did not stop the rapid wagging that had possessed it.
 
With a squeak of delight, the pup hopped a bit and found her footing again. This time, she had every intention of holding her ground so that she might properly dance with her brother. She scooched herself forward a few inches, stretched her neck so that she could sniff at his cheek and ear and neck, then she yapped and attempted to mimic his previous movement. Piper ended with the same result as Lucas, but dramatically rolled to her side and peered up at him with a soft sigh.

Even if none of them were very good at it, including himself, Lucas loved it when his family joined in his antics. He could never describe the beat that existed within him, a sort of natural metronome that made him want to always move, but the boy delighted in sharing it with others. Eventually it would wane in intensity, but before it did, he was determined to make the most of it.

He scrambled back to his feet and attempted to rise as Piper did, reaching one chubby forepaw out toward her as if to grasp her shoulder, but she plopped back on her rear end and fell to her side. Lucas wobbled unsteadily for a second and then fell over himself, but it was breahtless laughter that whooshed out of his lungs. His eyes were bright and playful as he reached slowly for his red sibling's nose with wiggling toes.

Tag, his vibrating body seemed to say.

Piper was too young to be sure of what pulled her to feel so attached to the sandy-coated boy. They shared blood and a bond of being born together. They slept closely to each other each night, and she almost knew the quiet rising and falling of Lucas’ little round body like she knew the beat of her own heart. There was something special about the bond of birth and family, but something even more electric in the way that Lucas behaved. He pulled her in and she willingly followed him, eager to explore all that he had found. Even at a young age, it would not have mattered what he did – Piper would have been there with him.
 
Her brother’s paw stretched out toward her nose and she stretched her neck to meet it somewhere in the middle, feeling the roughness of his paw pad there. With a thumping tail, she laughed and the tickling sensation that spread through her muzzle had reached her ears. The Redleaf girl shook her head and – in turn – ended up shaking her entire frame against the dirty floor. Quickly moving to rise up, she shook her pelt once more and then bowed her torso low, eyeing Lucas with a playful glint in her baby blue gaze.

All the rules of tag were kept in an archive in his head, labelled Instincts, so the moment that his pads touched his sister's whiskery muzzle, he pulled it away and scampered off in another direction. The same ticklish sensation that had her wriggling on the ground made him scuff his toes consciously on the floor as he went. His figure was a heaving mass of soft puppy fur and roundness as he looked over a shoulder, spotting her play bow, and forced his chubby legs to move quicker as excitement overtook him and turned the game into Hide And Seek.

Without any conscious thought to the fact she could see where he was going, Lucas hid somewhere behind Laurel's tail, his own thumping loudly on the floor as he crashed onto his belly. It was the best hiding place he could think of and he was was absolutely, positively certain Piper couldn't find him here.