Broken Antler Fen stardust

Well. AW if you'd realistically not get eaten for being in / near the den

The children were a few days old, though it made little difference to any of them. Nova's days thus far were spent with exploring the immediate radius around her, lashing stubby tail and prodding paws as she explored her still dark, still silent world. It had grown so much though! No longer was she occupied just by a little space crowded with her siblings, now, there was more to the world. The warm comfort she had known all around her had become a solid figure in her life and she frequently lost herself in her mother's warm fur. 

She had woken up with high spirits, for the moment not hungry, instead she had pushed herself a bit to start nosing around and exploring. Little progress was made by the tiny mooseling, but, still she explored. She'd forget soon enough, start the process over again, but that wouldn't be so bad either. 

Eat.  Sleep.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

Without knowing much else yet, Ivy thought she had it pretty good.  A free, hot meal whenever she wanted and the warmth of her parents and siblings.  What else could a girl possibly need?  Well, except attention.  She wasn't quite old enough to be so self aware, but she could feel that her siblings were larger than her and sometimes it was easy for her to get lost in the fray.  Well, pile of small, squiggly bodies, anyway.  As such she'd discovered that making the most noise got her the attention she needed.  Quite a thing to learn at a young age.

The pale girl felt movement at her side and with the loss of a small bit of warmth, she realized her sister was beginning to explore the world around them.  Ivy may not have had the use of her eyes or ears yet, but being able to pick out her siblings was something she just knew.  Squealing, she rolled her body around and began squirming off in the direction Nova headed.  Despite her slow progress, this sure felt like a lot of work!

Cameo from Mato! Feel free to skip me in future rounds!

 

Despite the initial transition from womb to had been an interesting one, to say the least, but Mato had managed it with flying colors. He was growing all the more used to his new life, loving the interactions that this life brought him. Speaking of which, he had just finished a nap and had woken to the fleeting wriggling from his sisters. Somehow, in the midst of his napping, Mato had somehow ended up on his back, with his soft belly fully exposed, and the eldest of the litter wasn’t quite sure how this had occurred.

He wiggled fiercely, moving himself side to side, in an attempt to roll back onto his his belly. A few determined grunt fell from him as he did just this and, eventually, after an adequate amount of effort, Mato’s world was normal once more. Now that he had flipped himself, Mato turned his head blindly as he attempted to find out where his sisters had went. Though he could not see or hear, the child could faintly smell and perhaps that was what would lead him to his sister’s sides.


But, instead, fate had a different plan for the darkest child. He caught the scent of his mother quickly and turned towards her, completely forgetting about the task at hand and finding himself rather hungry in that moment. Eagerly, he wriggled towards Pearl in search of a teat. He nosed at her side with determination and soon found himself the sweet spot that he had been searching for. Latching on, Mato feasted for a job well done, the idea of finding his sisters completely behind him in favor of some food.

Sebastian was laying more towards the entrance of the den. He wanted to be there for Pearl and watch his kids move around. He usually did patrol when most of them were passed out. The dedicated father laid a bit away from Pearl so the pups had room to move around and crawl to explore.

Sebastian watched how the sisters seemed to be on the move now. Ivy's squeal caused him to pay attention to them. He watched how the girl were trying to crawl around. Sebastian wondered if they would be able to reach him. Surely they knew his scent too, and decided that it was safe. He watched how Mato was currently drinking by his mother.

Though he could not provide the milk Pearl was having, still he could offer them warmth and nice licks too soothe them. He looked at them like any proud father would. "Oh yes, come to daddy,"he spoke, not that he expected them to listen at all.

Her progress was slow going. Her sister's cry didn't reach her ears really, although she knew the form following her as her sister. It was different than the boys were - both brothers that she was familiar with but couldn't say that she understood love at all, or anything truly. She could feel warmth nearby and while she felt the world between herself and her father was cold, it didn't deter her. 

Pudgy limbs pushed on, head bobbing a bit as her tail served as a rudder to help guide her some; Nova wouldn't stop. She was determined. She didn't know exactly where she was going but she wasn't going to stop - eventually she might have found herself curled against her father's plush side, but, she had no foresight to hope for such a thing. 

Oh, no, this was more than a lot of work.  It was too much work.  The girl had no idea how far she'd gotten - could have been a million, billion miles as far as she was concerned! - and truthfully she didn't particularly care at the moment.  An odd sounding grunt left the palest child when she stubbornly stopped her wiggling escapade.  Her sister kept on and that was just fine.  At least one of them could claim victory on this day.  Victory over.. whatever it was.

Little Ivy, however, was pooped.  And finished.  She let out a wimper and curled up as tight as she could.  No bodies were out here for her to snuggle up to!  Whimpering pathetically to signal that she'd officially given up, the smallest of the litter yawned and promptly fell back to sleep.  When she woke up she'd be back among the warm bodies of her family and her quick excursion would be long forgotten.

Sebastian watched how the agouti child pushed herself forward to his side. When she did arrive against his plush fur the male instantly showered her with little licks, praising her for her good job. It might have been a coincidence that she came to him alas, he did want it to be something pleasant for her.

It was followed by a whimper from the other sister. Sebastian watched how she was so close but not able to know that she was. He reached for her and picked her up even though she was close to sleeping, or perhaps even sleeping. He knew that they needed body warmth so Sebastian would provide that for the both of them and placed Ivy next to her sister.