Sun Mote Copse Ya don't say

Wow, this whole rendezvous thing was kinda... overwhelming. They hadn't been here long, but Crow felt like he was on some kind of stimulation overload ever since they'd gotten here. When he wasn't rushing around to smell every little thing he could get his nose close to, he was scrambling up rocks, over logs, running from one thing to the next without pausing in between. And when he wasn't moving, he was dead asleep, unable to be woken up by even the loudest, most rambunctious siblings.

Right now, Crow was exploring the river, stepping into the slow-moving water until it came up to his elbows. C-c-c-cold! he said, shuddering. It wasn't actually that cold, he was just being a big ol' baby about it. Then, he stuck his nose in and breathed out, watching the bubbles form all around his snout.

It was nearly two months now, since Wildfire had passed, and with Eljay struggling to move one, Elfie had quite given up on trying to engage him in anything remotely fun. If there was something he wished to do, he asked his grandparents, if he wanted to play, there were plenty to choose from, if he wanted to learn, there were other grown-ups in the pack to bugger. It was difficult for him to comprehend, how a person could be physically present, but at the same time very far away. Beyond his reach. 

It is no wonder, therefore, that he did not ask any permission to do stuff, he just went and did. Even better, if another puppy of the gang had got ahead of him and was already stirring trouble. Like Crow in the river. "Watcha doing?" Elfie asked, having sneaked up on the bubble-blowing fellow quietly and stating his question very, very loudly on purpose.

Blowin' buttholes! Crow cheerily replied, using the wrong word. On purpose? The world may never know! He had come back to the river after Elwood had led Sugar and him here to clean them off and rid their stomachs of whatever they had eaten. Now that he'd had a nap, he was glad he'd come back. The river was out-of-this-world awesome.

You come try, he instructed. Feeling the need to demonstrate, Crow sucked in a huge breath of air, shoved his face into the water, and blew it all out until his lungs were emptied.

"Buttholes..." Elfie smirked, being of the age, when potty-jokes first became funny in any form and context. He observed Crow's demonstration carefully and then did the same. Except he had missed the part of, where he was supposed to inhale a lungful of air beforehand. So, instead of blowing air out, he breathed in out of habit. You can easily imagine that this did not end well - he pulled his head out instantly, fell backwards in the water and coughed until all the water had left his airways. 

"How did you do that again?" he asked, ready to try again. They played together merrily, until it was time to go for a lunch and have a mid-day nap.