The squawking of migrating geese over the forest echoes into the birthing chamber. Though his ears are muffled and filled with a watery hollowness, they stir atop his head in response to this faint and faraway echo. He barely makes out the sound, but it's enough to prompt the raising of his head. His eyes, brilliant baby blues, blink open. He stares at the blurry shadows opposite him while his ears, lengthening now as he begins to grow out of his awkward potato-like phase, work furiously over the top of his head.
The sound doesn't come again, and Pietro is left to wonder at it. His young mind can't yet comprehend the sound or pinpoint its direction, but still it churns rapidly, so provoked by this stimulus is he. His expression is almost pensive, but he doesn't truly think about what he's heard, nor that his legs gather under his curiosity and hoist him into a shaky stand.
Burke was very proud of his two potatoes, who were becoming more like wolves every day. Burke was surprised that he liked seeing their process. The last few days it went especially quick for him since their eyes opened and their hearing was starting to develop. Burke was nibbling on a carcass of a hare as he watched Pietro. His ears caught the migrating geese which also caused a reaction from his son. He looked so engaged in the sound that the little one got to his feet. Burke licked his own bloodied muzzle clean as he watched his son.
The father was curious to see what his boy was planning to do. He was not going to interrupt just yet. He wanted to see what the young grey would do as in a reaction to what he heard. Maybe Burke would be surprised once more. Burke would keep an eye out if the youngster was planning to go outside. He was still debating if he was going to stop that or let the pup naturally explore the tunnels. After all they were in a chamber that was connected to one of the main tunnels of Mephala's Web, and that main tunnel resurfaced a bit further up.
The younger twin did not really pay attention to what was going on. She was busy eating what mother had prepared for them. Meat and milk was a weird mix but she loved it. Even more because the milk was starting to taste sour , she did not know why but it was not always nice. She just laid with a full belly and yawned and watched her brother. She always needed the feeling of having him close. It was important. At leas tin her short, small world. She lifted her head , sniffing the air but did not smell anything. She wondered what made her brother act like that , but only briefly. Giving a low puff, she asked what was fretting him.
Before he knows what he's doing, Pietro is standing. His stance is square and strong, very unlike a week ago. He no longer wavers. Walking is a harder affair, something he proves now as he takes a shaky step toward the faint, blurry light filtering into the tunnel system from the nearby entrance. He is singularly focused in this, such that he doesn't notice Burke watching him even as he approaches the point where most parents would scoop him back into the safety of the den.
He does notice his twin. His steps falter and he falls over onto his tiny haunch when she makes a noise. He swings his head slowly over his shoulder, squints, and eventually locates her. She's hardly more than a fuzzy blob in his imperfect vision, but his tail wags over the floor as if he can see her clearly. He chuffs back in a puff of air so quiet it's almost drowned by the sound of another goose squawking from outside, which causes him to whip his blurry gaze back around to the den's entrance.
Burke expected the young boy to climb out of the den into the tunnels but it seemed his link with Kendra was much stronger than he expected. One single sound from her and the boy stopped all his actions. Well that was going to make his parenting easier. Burke could even stay in his spot and watch them instead of fetching Pietro. Still he wasn't even sure if he would fetch him back. Burke liked that he was exploring and curious about the outside world. He would only want to encourage that. He wasn't sure but it was about time they were getting their first steps out of the den right?
Burke wasn't going to drag them out. If they wanted to see outside he would go with them, but keep them in a two meter range of the den entrance, if not a meter. He didn't want any of the crows to think they were some kind of snack. Their interactions were really cute. Burke nudged Kendra to see if she wanted to practice walking too. Burke secretly caring nature was really starting to show in the privateness of the den.
Kendra groaned and looked backwards to her father. Why was she nudging her. She didn't want to move. She was warm and cozy and whatever drove her brother to move did not the same to her. She looked back at Pietro and this time she heard the goose as well. She titled her head. What was that sound ? Curiosity took over and she pushed herself up to walk or equivalent of advanced stumbling walk to her brother. She glued herself to his side and made a sound , asking what that was.
He peers through squinted eyes at the hazy blur of the tunnel beyond the den. The sound does not come again, though Kendra stirs now too. He turns his head slowly, and though it takes him a moment to lock onto her, he manages to fixate on his twin stumbling toward him. As she draws nearer and nearer, her form becomes crisper, but even at point blank range his vision is far from 20/20 yet.
Burke's form has faded into the background, as invisible as Meldresi's within the cavern gloom.
This close, he can make out Kendra's faint sounds, and returns with a meaningless coo and a bit of babble. Who knows what it means? Certainly not Pietro. He fancies it as a form of language, though, and it is his only means of communicating beyond touch and natural expression, both things that any young wolf cub knows well. His head swings back around to the tunnel. He leans against his twin for a moment, wavering, then takes an unsteady step forward, and then another, toward that strange sound from before.
Burke pushed himself up into a sitting position. His pale eyes focussed on his two mobile potatoes. He wanted to keep an eye out for them. Though Burke knew that they weren't going to be able to go over the ledge that they made. Both parents didn't want his pups go exploring during the night and get lost in the tunnels under Black Feather. So that obstacle was of importance right now. Once they were better at seeing and better with walking he would take them out.
Still he wouldn't be too surprised if one of their kids managed to break out anyways. They were the children of two dark masterminds. This was the exact reason why Burke was sitting up. This would give him some amusement or he would be needed to take action. He yawned. He didn't realize how tiresome having pups could be.