Redhawk Caldera All my used liquor bottles are on display

The following members are permitted/wanted (doesn't have to be all of you or anything): @Finley @Elwood @Wildfire @Derp @Raven . I'll be powerplaying Peregrine looming and glaring in the background.

Eight hours post-birth, Nightjar was milk drunk.

He was sprawled out on his belly, with his legs spread in all four directions and his face mushed into the floor. He'd had too much milk again. Thankfully, this time it wasn't quite enough to make him puke, but Nightjar was feeling the effects of it in other ways. He was incredibly drowsy, but having just stuffed himself, he also found sleeping difficult.

Moaning (read: squeaking) into the floor, the cub reached out one of his legs in a half-hearted stretch and then slapped his thin, weak tail on the den floor. He then rolled slowly and laboriously onto his side, wriggling his legs like a turtle on its shell the entire time. For the time being, no one was touching him; it was terrifying and also awesome, for the fat baby was sort of like a mini furnace, and being away from warm bodies gave him some much needed relief, even if he couldn't regulate his body heat enough to be away from them for too long.

Yay! A little powerplaying of @Finley -- hope that's okay Stevie! I figured they would visit together. :)

Elwood had waited most of the day before venturing towards the Alphas' den. He didn't want to crowd the little family -- and besides, the idea of being in the presence of such tiny puppies made him a little nervous. He certainly wanted to avoid accidentally stepping on them or squishing them, especially when they were only a few hours old.

Eventually, though, his curiosity got the better of him, and with Finley at his side, he made his way to the birthing site. Even as he drew nearer, he could smell a variety of new scents. They weren't bad odors, by any means, just...different. He paused a few feet from the den's entrance, his head low and his ears splayed as he peered inside. He could see Fox curled protectively around the pups, though one of them seemed to have rolled away from the group. And Peregrine, ever protective, gave his Betas a stern yet welcoming nod. Elwood knew that this was meant to be a short visit.

He moved to the threshold, lowering himself to his belly. Carefully, he placed his chin on his paws, leaving room for Finley to squeeze in next to him. Yellow eyes fixed on the mottled cub as he struggled to roll about independently, already an apparently ambitious little guy. His eyes and ears were sealed shut, but Elwood chuffed softly nonetheless, his warm breath curling towards the tiny firebird.

Fin needs an @Elwood !!! loll at your shadow post þese two re so perfect

Fin didn't know what to do. She'd long dreamed of what it would be like to meet the Firebirds, which she basically had named, and yet, sitting outside of the den, knowing they were right inside just waiting for her.. all she could do was panic.

After all. What good was she to them? Her whole life, she'd never been more than one huge ass, ongoing train wreck. To think that her best friends trusted her with some level of responsibility for the little potatoes was just bewildering, now more than ever as she could see just how absurdly tiny and fragile they really were. And so, silently the godmother sat just outside the den, staring inwards at the squirmy little maggots, wanting to rush on and slobber lovingly all over them, but too scared to do anything more than stare, even as her lover squirmed eagerly towards them.

Since not long after her reverse debut, Wildfire had been sound asleep with something or other (sometimes a teat, other times her own paw) jammed in her mouth to pacify her. The movement of her parents and siblings did not disturb her; she was, after all, used to lots of motion and crowded quarters. She very much slept like the dead, though it was only a matter of time before she woke.

That moment arrived nearly simultaneously with the Betas' arrival in the den's doorway. In case there was any doubt she was no longer sleeping (since her eyes were sealed shut and all), Wildfire stretched out one of her stumpy forelimbs, groaned and then announced her status with a loud shriek. She then promptly loosed both bladder and bowels, then screamed again.

One of the Alphas scooped her out of her own mess and nudged her closer to Nightjar and the visitors, unbeknownst to her. Wildfire grunted when she was set down on the floor, then jerkily kicked out her foreleg again. It struck something soft. Instinctively, she scooted nearer, smashing her little body against Nightjar's larger one. Making random squeaks and whimpers, she thrust her nose into one of his flappy ears and loosed yet another squawk. It was a good thing he was already deaf...

He was very nearly asleep again by the time anything interesting happened. It started with the unseen and unnoticed arrival of the Beta pair, who lurked in the doorway like little peeping pedophiles. Of course, Peregrine was in the depths of the den to make sure none of them made like Michael Jackson disturbed his children too much, a fact for which Nightjar couldn't be grateful in the slightest, since he was effectively brain dead at the moment.

His awareness of the world came back slowly as he dimly noticed a breath rushing over his short fur. To him it was just another part of the large milk-making machine that was "the entity", or his whole family, and so he reached his wobbly head out for the source... but was curbed when Wildfire practically dropped on him. He instinctively dropped his head when a paw smacked him in the side and was about ready to submissively display his belly to the entity (i.e. Elwood) when a squat little snout found his ear flap and hollered loudly into it.

If he had any sense of hearing, he might've heard a ringing in his head at the other pup's volume, and sensed a sudden dimming of his hearing. Instead, he felt it in the way his whole head vibrated, his gums "chattered", a distinctive popping sensation made him recoil, and a sharp pain lanced through his temple. Whining and yelping loudly, the boy curled in on himself, unable to even understand what the entity had just done to him.

Elwood looked back at Finley, trying to coax her wordlessly to join him in the entrance of the den. He could feel the anxiety and excitement radiating off of her in equal parts, and he couldn't help but smile. "Come on," he encouraged quietly, his tail thumping the ground behind him. As this exchange took place, little Wildfire yelped, eliminated, and then was deposited next to her brother.

The Beta male turned back to face the pups just in time to see Wildfire kick poor Nightjar and then holler in his ear. He winced, his sympathy evident as he shifted his gaze briefly back to Fox and Peregrine. Already, the hours-old children were a handful -- they caused a lot more commotion than he had expected.

The male pup curled up, seemingly trying to get away from his sister, and Elwood reached out to nudge him gently with the tip of his nose. He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself -- neither Peregrine nor Fox appeared to be alarmed, but maybe Finley's unease was rubbing off on him.

Fin continued to stare and damn was it awkward. The tiny little nuggets were squirting comically beside each other, and yet the otherwise brave as crap Blackthorn stood idly, nervously by. She barely glanced at Elwood as he urged her to come forward. She appreciated the attempt, but... sljfkajfhsklahfjf.

Fin's breath caught in her throat as one pup kicked the other and began to cry out. Her heart began to throb and she fell to her stomach beside Elwood and whispered frantically to him. "oh no oh no oh no, twig, help them help them oh no...." she whined softly in his ear, even as he was already leaning in to placate the little cry babies.

Nightjar shrank from her. Unaware of the havoc she had wrought upon his poor little eardrum, she made a snuffling noise and moved forward, seeking him again. She didn't feel right with cool, open air on all sides. It was decidedly unusual and disorienting, after nine weeks stuffed in a warm womb alongside her litter mates. Wildfire filed a complaint by making a noise somewhere between a growl and a squeak.

Deciding to implement one of her three available senses, she quieted down just long enough to scent the air. Following her nose, she scooted forward toward the looming Betas in the doorway. She quickly bumped into a paw (Elwood's right) and immediately mistook one of his toes for a teat. Although it was larger and harder than the typical nipple, she closed her mouth around it and automatically began to suck vigorously.

Unlike his loudmouth sister, Nightjar wasn't so adventurous. It was a long day for him, and he was still wailing loudly from the assault on his nonexistent sense of hearing, after all. He couldn't know that's what she'd done, and so he curled in tighter on himself, even as that particular limb of the entity withdrew.

When another limb moved in smoothly to prod at him, the ailing Nightjar reacted with a surprisingly strong kick of his left hind leg. His head still hurt, damn it! and did they really need to be probing him right now? If either Beta could look past his screwed up face and his loud yips—which no doubt his parents would soon save them from—they would know that, if he could think, he would've felt rather guilty for possibly pummeling one of them.

Instead, he felt rather relieved for having fended off a possible threat with the flailing of his limbs, and his yips decreased in volume about half a step.

Elwood winced; he felt like he was surrounded on all sides by commotion. Poor Nightjar was wailing, Wildfire was making some kind of noise (at least, until she latched on to Elwood's toe with her mouth), and Finley was squabbling nonsensically in his ear. In the next few seconds, things started to settle -- as aforementioned, Wildfire mistook the Beta's paw for her mother's belly and began to suckle contentedly. It was the weirdest feeling, but he didn't try to shake her off for fear of causing her to cry again.

But simultaneously, Nightjar kicked out defensively and managed to punch Elwood right in the snout with his tiny foot. "Ouch!" he said, lifting his head off the ground and wrinkling his nose. The pup was too small to do any real damage, but the sharp, quick motion had startled his godfather.

Turning to look at Finley with wide yellow eyes, he whispered a single word: "Help." How in the world were Fox and Peregrine going to manage four of these little buggers? Elwood couldn't even keep up with two!

Hope y'all don't mind if I pop in a little late! :)

Whilst all the commotion was going on a few short feet away, the little blackbird was enjoying having a bit of extra leg-room. Being crammed head-to-ass against her siblings was certainly nice and warm (except for when one of them decided to shit all over themselves, in which case it was warm...but not so nice), but it made for some cramped quarters. Much like Nightjar, there was an exhilaration in the cool air that now flowed around her body, and the Alphas' youngest daughter reveled in it by stretching her tiny body to its fullest length, all four legs splayed out in the air above her.

After a few moments, though, she felt a tongue brushing her roughly -- one of her parents had stepped in to clean some mystery-gunk off of her. The motion rolled her awkwardly over, and she was suddenly upright. She could feel strange vibrations and sensations in the air and the floor; curious, she began to move about, blinding stumbling and swaying toward her siblings and the Beta pair.

Not at all! The more the merrier >:D

Fin's tension was eased in the very moment that the male potato suddenly kicked out and hit Elwood squarely in the jaw. She immediately snorted with laughter, only to flatten her ears apologetically when he reacted in pain. Her mood much improved, she gave Elwood a quick kiss on the nose, then turned to look at the offending kickboxer. "Awww.. I think someone must've seen a moth," she teased, scootching even closer to Elwood in order to bump his shoulder, hoping the joke would ease the look of panic that he seemed to have inherited from her.

With a sudden burst of inspiration, Fin leaned in to stroke Nightjar's spine with her tongue, hoping to soothe him while Elwood - most likely - dealt with the babe who was certain to begin yowling again when she realized her friendboy's toe wasn't about to yield any sustenance for her. In the midst of this, Fin noticed that they had yet another little potato rolling over to visit her godparents. "I think we have more company..." Fin murmured to Elwood, anxiety beginning to settle in faintly yet again at the prospect of them now having three unexpectedly rambunctious newborns to deal with.

No matter how hard she tugged on Elwood's toe, it yielded no milk. Wildfire opened her mouth to yell in protest, spitting out his toe in the process. Almost angrily, she began to clamber up and over her uncle's foot, the ridges of each toe rubbing against her belly. The sensation was new and strange, so she stopped moving to pay closer attention to it. It ceased too, of course. With a sharp yip, she began to wriggle in place, which felt pleasant.

But the kneading on her abdomen had another effect: it stimulated the little whelp's bladder to empty. Instinctively hiking her thin, black tail into the air, she relaxed her muscles and urinated copiously on the Beta male's paw, complete with a loud sound of satisfaction that was part sigh, part squeak.

For a short while, the mottled pup's abandonment was distressing. Any relief at having forced the much larger, menacing entity to leave him alone was quickly squashed by the need to be coddled and protected, and soon he was wailing even louder. If the Betas weren't overwhelmed enough, then he was about to make it harder on them.

Finley's tongue swept across his back. It should've soothed him but by now the babe was so worked up that nothing would truly work. He hiccuped loudly, then spit up a small ball of curdled milk promptly on the den floor from the force of his crying. The smell of it distracted him momentarily so that he stretched his neck out and sniffed at it, but soon his face was screwing up and he was making characteristic sobbing sounds once again.

Elwood's ears splayed as Finley tended to his "injury." He grinned at the mention of a moth, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated manner as she sidled up to him. "That must have been it," he agreed quietly, then shifted his gaze as the darkest of the four pups began migrating towards them, as well.

It was interesting to see how they interpreted the world -- none of them could see or hear just yet, so they relied completely on smell and touch. They were all incredibly active, too. He was in the midst of marveling about the wonders of life when his forepaw suddenly grew very warm...and wet.

Eyes widening, Elwood looked down in time to see Wildfire peeing on his foot. His first instinct was to shake her off, but he stopped himself -- she seemed to be content, and he didn't want to do anything to start her screaming again (though she would surely find a reason soon enough). "Oh...nice," he commented, stifling laughter. He was quickly learning that a sense of humor was necessary in order to interact with puppies. Meanwhile, he glanced over to see that Finley was just as busy -- Nightjar had just yakked on the floor.

Fin snorted with laughter as Elwood's paw was suddenly drenched in urine by one of the squirming little meatballs.  She leaned over to lick his cheek in a comforting and totally not mocking way before she returned her attention to the little black pup that had officially closed the distance between herself and her godparents.  Fin lowered her nose to the ground to poke it lightly against the little wolf's, giggling gently as the pup sneezed and then wriggled closer to her other siblings.


She returned her attention then to the rest of the scene just in time to see Nightjar throwing up all over the place.  A small whine of surprise and... GDI escaped her throat at the sight, and she searched Elwood's face for comfort.  "What is up with these things?  Does anything actually stay inside of them?" she sighed as her gaze swept across their tiny forms.  She watched them for a moment or two longer before looking at her friendboy again, "What do you think... Shove them back at Fox and run for it?"  She definitely liked the little beasts, but she also definitely had not yet developed the patience needed in order to spend abundant amounts of time with them.

PPing like a mofo cuz WHO YO DADDY (Idek). *nudges toward conclusion* <3

She was pretty much running on empty now. An attentive Peregrine knew it was unlikely that the pee was the end of it, though. He swooped in to hoist Wildfire off Elwood's soiled foot before she could shit on it as well. He licked her dry, then placed her beside Fox, who would do her motherly duty if the pup did indeed vacate her bowels again. Wildfire screamed for a few seconds, then kneaded her mother's belly and soon took a teat into her mouth, refilling aforementioned tank.

When the father turned around, Nightjar was crying so hard he was barfing. It was simultaneously hilarious and alarming. The Alpha male plucked him up too and put him between the suckling Wildfire and the snoozing runt. That left only Raven with the Beta pair, though Peregrine overheard them and smirked in their direction before collecting the youngest child and dropping her off with her litter mates. Wildfire welcomed Raven with an unintentional kick to her tiny skull.

"The answer to your question is 'no.' Run while you're still relatively dry!" he quipped playfully to them before slumping to the floor behind Fox. They had only been alive for some eight hours and already the pups had filled the adults' world with all manner of bodily fluids, not to mention all the other parts of parenthood. And this was only the beginning!

Back from absence!  Just wanted to pop one final quick reply in here before this is archived.  :)

Raven felt a cool nose touch her and she squeaked with curiosity, fumbling blindly around at the large paws of the Beta pair.  She was unaware of the chaos that surrounded her between Wildfire's antics, Nightjar's screaming, fluids spewing from all of them much like that scene from The Exorcist, and the varying emotions of the adults.  To her, all was darkness and curiosity.  However, it was only a few moments before her father scooped her up and gently plopped her among her siblings at Fox's side.  The natural instinct to feed took over as her belly rumbled, and she nosed around until she found a teat.  A big sigh escaped her as she settled in to eat and, afterward, sleep.

I thought I'd go ahead and add a concluding post -- if this isn't okay with anyone, please let me know. :)

There were bodily fluids everywhere, and while Elwood kept his game face on, his own stomach was beginning to feel a bit queasy. He couldn't deny that he was relieved when Finley suggested that they make their escape, and was further encouraged when Peregrine urged them to run before they were completely soaked with puppy juices.

"Let's go," he stage whispered to Finley, his voice loud enough for Peregrine to hear, then took to his feet and began to exit. "We'll be back," he promised to Peregrine, not knowing at that point just how frequently he and Finley would be visiting. For now, he was glad to leave the commotion behind, though the scene was relatively peaceful as he departed -- the babies were snuggled close to their parents, either nursing or sleeping.