Moonspear too much of a good thing

It awoke hungry and cold, far from the companions that it so cherished and the fuzzy mountain where they lived. It knew as well as any of the companions that beyond the fuzzy mountain was a brutal and blisteringly cold wasteland. They'd often called to each other from either side of it, stranded until the Mover saw fit to rescue them, swooping down from the air and carrying them to safety on soft-scented wings.

It knew these things as well as it knew the companions, by now - but it'd never seen it. It'd never seen anything, before today.

And today, everything changed. Just as surely as it had during the Exodus and resulting Exile, things were changing once more. A new part of it had become cold, and everything had suddenly gotten much brighter, until it realized that the cold bits that it'd uncovered were the cause of this and figured out how to cover them again.

But the light... it'd been so beautiful. Part of it knew that it would be worth the pain to see it again. So it'd uncovered the warm, wet bits once more, and felt them grow cold again, and had seen the light as starkly as before. Slowly, though, the light was beginning to... not fade, but become something else. Something that was both easier and entirely more frightening to look at.

The great divide, the icy tundra... it was so small. And small was such a new concept, it didn't even know how to comprehend the idea. But the distance between itself and the great fuzzy mountain was miniscule. Far closer than its nose had led it to believe, and yes, there were the companions! Even this strange new was of sensing them - seeing - could never hide them from it. It dragged itself the tiny distance across the tundra and attached itself to @Lyra's side, not even caring that it was not it's Beloved, not @Hydra that it was nearest to.

It did not know its siblings by these names, of course - it did not even know them as siblings. That would come in time. For now, it was content to be near to those that had always been nearest to it.

Something was different today. Lyra wasn't quite sure what had changed but, as she roused from sleep, she sensed something was different. Her eyes were still shut tightly as she rolled and squeaked, desperately trying to find a comfortable position to fall back into so she could drift off again, but her efforts were in vain. Her mind and muscles slowly kicked into gear as she woke fully, and the dark child began to work her stubby legs, eagerly calling out for one who gave them warmth and food.

She stopped only when another touched her side, warm just like their mother but much, much smaller. She was unaware that the other had gained some semblance of sight — her own eyes refusing to open for the time being — and was now exploring yet another new thing added to their tiny world. The girl wiggled to touch her nose to her sister, poking and prodding her soft fur curiously.

Floki was determined to cement his role as his nieces' favorite nephew, so he dropped by the den whenever he could. Naturally, he respected the space of both Charon and Amekaze -- understandably, the new parents were defensive of their young children, but as the babes grew, he felt more comfortable spending time with them. And even when he wasn't visiting, he often found himself passing by the den on his way to complete some other task, taking a moment just to peek inside.

He was doing just that, pausing at the entrance with his snout barely crossing the threshold. The girls were wiggling around under their mother's watchful eye, making their usual noises, and Floki began to move away, his curiosity satisfied for the time being. But a flash of blue suddenly caught his attention and he looked again, finding that one of the triplets' eyes had opened. With a lopsided grin, he lowered himself slowly to his haunches, casting a shadow across the mouth of the den.

Lyra (though it did not know the name) pressed closer against its side, and for the first time, it saw the true form of its companions. What fine and beautiful creatures they were! Immediately, it knew that it was also shaped in this way; for why would its companions (who had been made with the same things by the same creator) look one way while it itself looked another? And almost as quickly, it determined that the paler being was Korei Julia (although, again, it did not know her by name) - the outsider, even on the inside. It loved this strange companions as much and as quickly as the rest, but there was still something... different about her.

Sound and motion drew its eye once more, and it looked out across the not-so-wide tundra to see the strangest creature it'd ever laid eyes on. This was not a diffcult feat, of course, as it'd only just opened its eyes for the first time several minutes before, but the term was no less true. For several long seconds, it simply stared at its uncle, tiny head swaying as it struggled to both remain upright and determine whether or not this creature was a threat.

In the end, it broke the silence partially out of boredom, and let out a squeaking cry for the Mover to come and take it away to safety, as it had always done before. The boredom quickly shifted to terror as its own cry startled it out of its stupor.

She's crying for mommy @Amekaze

Even for all of their whimpering and kicking about when life didn't suit their immediate needs precisely, the quieter moments that allowed her to just observe them perplexed and soothed her simultaneously. There was a curious awe in beholding such a new, fresh life as it learned, developed, and simply became something more. She found it easy to watch them unfold.

With her forepaws crossed and chin set against the cool den floor, she oversaw their wiggling about in contemplative silence. Two of the darkest ones seem to draw her attention most of all, and between them, she realized what has changed as she sees the girls prod and nudge about between themselves. However Floki's presence in the den's door distracted her. She chuffed softly a greeting to him, and stilled the quiver of her furs in the next breath. He was among the very few she had been allowing around and she settled to watch the puppies again.

It hadn't been a moon yet -- close, though. The phases would be her closest marker to their age, a little bonus from their birthdate falling on the full moon but sheer lack of exposure to puppies left her with no strict timeline on what to expect from them and when. So, naturally, she simply assumed this was as it needed to be and instead wished to see how this new development may be received by its beholder, then how far behind the others may be.

When the dark one in question broke into cries, she moved gently and exhaled a sigh onto her back before nudging her closer to herself. She flicked a glance towards Floki, then the still-sightless dark pup, but mostly focused on the pups before either of them could launch towards outright tantrum -- especially now that the blind one had been (relatively) isolated. Ame was prepared to intervene soon enough, unless of course she was seeming extra brave for someone so small.

She quickly determined this small being moved quite a lot. She had her nose unknowingly pressed against her sister's neck and, as she cast her freshly-opened eyes around, the movements caused Lyra's own head to move in tandem. With a squeak of annoyance, the pup made to wiggle backwards, away from her more active sister. She was much too weary for this!

Suddenly, she sensed movement as the larger being brought the other girl towards her. She didn't know it, but she was alone now in the vast expanse of the den floor. She shivered, both from the chill and general unease about the experience and began to crawl unsurely, whining quietly, in a random direction — one that led straight to the den mouth and Floki.

The pup whose eyes had opened looked up at him unblinkingly, and Floki found himself admiring the soft, innocent blue of her gaze. The four girls had presented him with his first true experience with puppies, and he was in awe of them. They were so small, and so alike; and although they were only a few weeks old, he could already see the changes in their bodies and personalities as they grew. He returned Amekaze's chuff softly, though he didn't take his eyes away from his niece. She watched him intently for a few seconds, and then began to wail, which caused him to withdraw somewhat, as though he was the cause of her distress.

Even with his limited knowledge, he knew that he had done nothing to directly upset the babe. Amekaze was swift to comfort her, and while she was distracted, the other dark-haired daughter began to wiggle away, her path leading her straight towards Floki. Her movements were slow and unsteady, but Floki smiled and waited patiently; naturally, he wouldn't let her cross the threshold, and he assumed that Amekaze would redirect her well before she had a chance to escape.

It had always imagined the Mover as a disembodied crane - it knew only of the two-part grip and the bristling points that lined the inside of this grip. The Mover was not a frightening thing. Not usually.

But when it saw the gaping jaw of the giganitc creature reaching toward it, and unholy terror drew more terrified squalling from the newly-gifted youth. It could not reconicle this cavernous mouth with the gentle protectiveness of the Mover. Nor could it comprehend what these eyes were now telling it - that the Mover was one in the same as the Great Fuzzy Mountain, and that the Mover-Mountain was another creature like itself - the same general shape, but infinitely larger.

The world was spinning, topsy-turvey, and it was drunk on the knowledge that came with sight.

Feeling silly - almost bashful - it gave a questioning purl even as it was settled against the larger creature's side. An instant affection for the creature grew in its heart, and it knew at once that the Mover-Mountain was as beloved to it as the companions that'd grown with it.

Therefore, it pushed its head into the creature's side, kicking and kneading as it would do any of its companions.

She often felt like she learned along with them. It was a different course, but it was more and more glaringly obvious to her by the day that her lack of dealing with puppies for much of her life left her a little out in the cold here. She had zero expectations for how it should be for a pup learning of their vision for the first time, so little Alya would have to be victim of her observation.

Not before a swift glance towards the still-wandering one, feeling uneasy about her creeping about in the general direction of the den's doorway. But with Floki there, an effective barrier was in place. These worries felt a little redundant. She'd let him intercept as needed, and perhaps have some greater hands-on experience with one of them. So long as Lyra remained.. relatively unperturbed (by puppy standards -- she considered them awfully needy), Ame'd let that play out and trust her attentive younger brother. Maybe letting her rove towards him a bit could be good in the long run, anyway.

Back to the girl with her sight about her: the first response seemed to have been more fussing with the new sense about her, but things settled once she was better situated. Ame gave her forehead another lick, and peered back into the fresh puppy-blues with a squint. "I wonder how much she can see," she queried out loud, wiggling her lip at her as she watched her eyes. "It has to be so strange," she mused quietly, just because Floki was company, and he was at least ears that could hear her.

The one who usually came to her rescue did not come this time, despite her cries. She had been left alone, abandoned, never to be with her sisters again! The realisation caused the pup to stop in her advances towards her uncle and the den's entrance. With tiny ears pinned against her rounded head, she swung her sightless gaze around in fear, convinced her family had forsaken her.

Yet, she could still smell them. They were close!

Though, a foreign scent seemed to grow stronger as she resumed wiggling in Floki's direction (not having the sense yet to turn). With it, came other scents that were faint but just as strange. Lyra stopped, thinking she had travelled far from home when really, all her squirming had earned her about three inches across the den floor. She stared with closed eyes straight ahead, right at the man outside their home, before her head drooped onto her forepaws wearily and she gave up her endeavour with a defeated huff.

"I wonder how much she can see," came Amekaze's thoughtful comment, and Floki shook his head, never taking his eyes off of Lyra. His ears turned towards the crying Alya, but he was committed to watching his mobile yet sightless niece. Suddenly, as if she had just traveled a great distance, the little pup gave a sigh and stopped her forward motion, resting her chin on her paws.

"I wonder that too," Floki replied quietly, finally looking away from Lyra and back at her sister and the protective Amekaze. "Surely it's not much," he mused, shifting his weight gently. It wasn't that long ago that he was as young as the girls -- but strangely enough, he found he had not a single memory from those early days. The first thing he could recall was playing with Jorunn outside of the family den.

It could not see much; That the land was vastly different from what it'd imagined was clear, but not much else. Everything was fuzzy and blob-shaped until it was very close to it, as the instinctually pleasing face of the Kind Mover was. It was frightened still, especially by the voices that echoed above it, but the presence of the Mover/Mountain soothed its restless spirit.

A desire to explore the new landscape was upon it, but gaining sight had been... not a restful experience. Exploration could wait for another day. For now, it tucked its face into the Mover's fur and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Probably last post from Alya; feel free to go on without her or close the thread.

She nodded slowly, still studying the puppy. They were still so new to her. She was not around wolves this young. It was terribly foreign even now. Floki was still considered "young" to her and even so was Charon, all especially compared to her relatively decent experiences in the world that had all failed to really include puppies in any true detail until right now. This took it to a whole new depth that left her almost reeling. Thankfully, obviously puppies grew fairly swiftly given good conditions, so that was what she hoped to give to them. "Yeah. It has to take time.. such an overwhelming change to go from always seeing nothing.." she murmured shaking her head, wondering if the pup could only make out the motion. More or less, eyes were very weird.

"Ah, they still get tired so very easily.." she mentioned, sighing and licking the pup closest to her only a few more times. She settled her head down next to her, resting some herself while she could (and they could pester Floki) and idly watching the others.

i am good to have this be my last post too since we can just have a billion more o:

Wrapping it up! :)

Just as suddenly as she had stirred, Alya promptly fell asleep. Lyra wouldn't be far behind her sister, Floki imagined; her eyelids were looking heavy, though only seconds before she had been on a mission. Floki smiled as Amekaze commented on the pups' fatigue; even the smallest amount of exertion was enough to tucker them out.

"Sleep tight, little ones," he murmured softly, before exchanging a quick glance and smile with Amekaze. The Beta then crept away quietly, happy to have spent some time with the newest members of the family.