Broken Boulder i hear a symphony!

The days since the birth had been long, but Queenie relished in every passing moment. They really were incredible, the three of them; they didn't do much aside from squirm and succ, but that was more than enough. While she recovered, she relied on @Delight for more than she would have liked to admit. With three suckling babes, Queenie couldn't do much more than sleep and hope that someone would come by to visit, which meant that Daddy was on food and guard duty. Constantly. 

That's right. Delight was a Daddy now; calling him that instead of something more crude would take some getting used to, but Queenie was sure that she could manage. What she couldn't take anymore was referring to the pups as One, Two, and Three, so it only made sense that she should start thinking of proper names.

they were, well, pretty damn perfect. delight finds having a specific task has invigorated him somewhat. guard the den, fetch queenie food, check on babies -- these tasks aren't abstract and ask little of him emotionally,nstinct pushing him forward. suddenly he's able to get up and get stuff done. it's a startling change after weeks -- months? -- of feeling nothing but lethargy and cotton-y thoughts, and abstract things like processing how he feels remain elusive. 

but he shows up, he brings queenie food, he does what wolf-fathers do. today's no different: he pokes into the den with a rabbit from the cache, laying it within queenie's reach. the babes spotted, wiggling bodies hold his attention as he settles down, his thoughts turning to the same subject as hers. "we should probably.. name them, right?"

The rabbit's limp body was taken with greedy haste. Queenie stood and moved away from the three nursing babes to eat on her own in another corner of the den. They had just fed, so she was confident that spending a few minutes away would be safe. I was just thinking that, she laughed in between bites, her lips lined with chilled copper, They all look so similar right now. I don't think that naming them would make much of a difference.

For now, the pups all had that same dark brown pelt, and although there were times when she thought that she could make out small patterns peeking through on each, Queenie knew that it would be a while before they actually started to look like themselves. Do you have any ideas? she asked, wondering what was on Delight's mind. And last names. What are we gonna do about those?

he laughs too, softer, briefly looking away from the tiny forms to queenie's face while they talk. it's hard to imagine them growing, actually, the way it's hard to imagine anything that isn't immediately in front of him at the moment. he licks his lips, thinking. "last names.. we could, uh, alternate," he suggests. he's not arrogant about his lineage or anything, but seeing as he's the last surviving singing-sunlight as far as he knows, it seems important to pass it on. "a singing-sunlight, a st. clair, and, uh..." the third one. right. "however you want to do that one."

good delegating, delight. ahem. "for the name-names, i was thinking, maybe brilliance?" it falls into the pattern of his family's name schemes: a little silly, maybe, but it's the one he's been thinking about since he first tried to bring it up to queenie, so he hopes she'll go for it.

It was certainly different, but Delight's slight deviation from her pool of names was appreciated. Besides, he'd been responsible for half of each pup anyway, so she figured that giving him this one wish was the least that she could do. @Brilliance, Queenie repeated, eyes scanning the tangled row of squirming pups, It's a good name for...this one. One of the three had found her way beneath her two siblings, limbs swinging in protest as they climbed over and around her helpless body.

Brilliance Singing-Sunlight. I guess it had a ring to it. Because he hadn't suggested anymore after that, Queenie thought that it was safe to assume that Delight would be leaving the rest of it to her. @Solomon for this one, I think. She's definitely a St. Clair. The other girl had been the embodiment of attitude since entering the world; a perfect clone of her mother, for now. Since he's the only boy, he gets the weird name. I wanna call him Malachi, or @Mali, I guess. Malachi Singing-St. Clair.

As if on queue, once Mali was named, he started screaming -- and by screaming, that of course meant making tiny squeaking noises.  As far as he could tell, he was totally lost.  His sister's burrowing had dislodged him and rotated him the wrong direction.  His rear legs were stuck on one side of her back, and his lack of control over his feeble form meant he couldn't unhook himself.  Though he weakly slapped his itty bitty front paws on the ground, it wasn't like he had any traction on the floor of the den.

The world had gone mad!  He was stuck!  There was no food in front of his nose!  Woe, WOE!

that was easier than he thought it'd be. he's content with queenie's choices -- well, she'd carried them and everything, she gets the right to name them all. brilliance singing-sunlight, his daughter (maybe, a little selfishly, more than the others, since she has his name). and solomon and mali. they all look more or less the same to him, truth be told, though in the light of day he can sort of make out the faint dappling on their tiny bodies. 

"brilliance," he repeats, "solomon, and mali. i like that." his words are overlapped by mali's sudden squeaking -- alarmed, delight freezes as he starts to panic. why is he yelling? is he hurt? is he dying?? "what's wrong?" he asks frantically (about one step shy of 'hysterical'), too afraid of hurting them to reach and try to fix it himself.

while newly named brilliance may have upgraded to a bigger, more spacious location of queenie’s den, it wasn’t all that great. the same two roommates she had before are annoying and in her way most of the time and, ugh, one of them keeps stealing her favorite teat (which is all of them, of course), and if she can shove them away from the one she wants Right Then and Now. one of them (solomon) is currently taking up residence on her favorite and so she clambers as best she can to get there and shove the other squirmy body out of the way. the other one she’s dislodged and tossed aside goes unnoticed despite protests because she’s gotten the one to release and immediately latches onto the wet teat, suckling eagerly until she’s dislodged or her belly is full.

It was sweet, seeing Delight act so interested in the affairs of their pups. Queenie laughed and placed a paw to strategically block his way into the den, giving him a quick flash of her squinted eyes. Eventually, she would be more open to him mingling with the kids, but not while they were this young. He's fine, Del, she laughed, retracting her reach, Probably just hungry or something. 

Queenie, being the responsible young mom that she was, lifted Mali off of the ground by his scruff and moved him closer to her side, where he could reach a now fully available and freshly stocked teat.

The tiny wails ended in a little "eep" as he was lifted into the air.  His feet poked out in every direction, wiggling as he searched for the ground.  And then he was back on level earth!  Woo!  Properly oriented now, he wriggled closer so he could mash his face into Queenie's side, blindly searching for the teat before he finally latched on and quieted down.  All was well in the world again -- at least until he got beat up by another sister.

brilliance's shoving is met by disdain from @Solomon, who squalls and smacks her tiny feet against her sister for a moment before resigning herself to her new position with a series of petulant grumbles. delight doesn't watch this, too busy being laughed at by queenie (and why! its a valid concern!!!), sheepishly retreating a step so she doesn't think he's going to burst into the den. he's not an idiot and he enjoys not being bitten, thank you, even if he's still eyeing his son with exaggerated concern. but mali seems to have calmed down now that queenie's -- done whatever she did to fix him. "oh," he says, relaxing a tiny bit. "they're so.. tiny. it's kind of scary," he says a moment later, feeling a little bit embarrassed. but it's honest -- it's hard to imagine them bigger. right now they're just..tiny shapes in perpetual danger, as far as he's concerned.

Feel free to skip me after this!

no one dislodges her from the teat and she’s able to get her fill despite her sister’s protest. brilliance pays little attention to the flailing while she’s using her front paws to knead into the tender flesh and suckles away. milk bubbles at the corners of her mouth, taking in as much as her stomach will allow. by the time she’s done, she mimics violet beauregarde after chewing the forbidden gum. an audible, wet pop occurs when she lets go of the teat and it takes all of her energy to shuffle back enough to get herself comfortable. she nearly tips to one side, waves an arm, before lowering back down and settling in the warmest spot she can find with such limited movement. heaviness takes over, then, and she drifts off into satisfied slumber.

They won't be this tiny for long, Queenie mused, looking up at Delight with a shockingly warm gaze. For those pups to grow, they would need rest, just like their mother. I think that it's nap time in the den. Visiting hours are over, she laughed, stretching to playfully nudge Del's shoulder before rolling back into her one comfortable position for a midday nap.