ohoho i'm AMBULATORY NOW!
arcturus, the yams, and the tiny leviathan revui were all nearly a month old. the days, transpiring into weeks, had lent them new powers: sight, hearing, vision. most disconcertingly, control over their limbs.
they were no longer squishy potatoes -- they were long-legged, autonomous puppies. or at the very least, arcturus believed himself autonomous. day by day his will to explore the den grew; day by day, he toed the stony threshold beyond, wrestled with his siblings, and grew discontent with his tiny world.
curiosity had taken him now -- thirsting for new adventure, arcturus took his first few steps outside of the den. the world around him was alarming - everything alien and huge and unfamiliar. he felt a new sensation take hold of him - fear -- and he instinctively spooked back into the den as a bird flew past his vision.
Being recognized by his parents as as trusted guard and occasional hunter had bolstered his morale considerably, so he kept it up all the same day after day because he was just about good at it--if he said so himself. This did give him many opportunities to loiter around near the den, and he was often sure to make use of them. However, since he did not yet have all the confidence to really go nosing entirely into the dark den (not with a strong chance of mama's teeth within), the best he got were quick, shadowy, glimpses when he dropped off snacks and reported in; the newest Ostregas were still very much curiosities to him, ones he was anxious about getting to know whenever they were finally ready. But he smelled them every day, and heard their weird little noises.. Accordingly, expectation was all over the place.
Time, too, had steadily made him bolder.
Aiming to appear nonchalant, and only halfway scanning for Vela to see how her patrols were, he came jogging on into sight of the den in time to spot a little flash of unfamiliar motion from just beyond the darkness. Zeroing in on this, he perked all up and didn't take his eyes off the depths. He could certainly hear them in there... and when he took a tempting step closer, he realized with a start just how close he was.
Now very careful with this information as he hoped to decide what to do with it, he dropped down and flattened out on his belly a few paces in front of the threshold. After about two whole seconds of seeing nothing, the eta proceeded to whine quietly at it. Bug-eyed, he waited to see what that would get him, if anything.
He was tantalizingly close to just stealing a better glimpse in. It could be so easy.. in theory. From here, from how the shadows played, he could only see vagueness within and all the scents and sounds tickling at his senses just lured him in closer. They were right there.... practically right underneath his nose.
Until suddenly that closeness was magnified and it charged right at him, making him start and yip and oh my god one was RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
Eyes still big and now starting to pant, torn between spooked and curious, Jarilo had straightened up into a scrambly sit and now couldn't take his frantic stare off the strange little kind of wolfish-looking shape that had come out at his leg. He was excited to see the little downy-soft boy up close but he knew this was pretty against the rules most days, and a squealing puppy was the last of what he wanted; he tried his best for damage control mode, and nosed the little thing's sides to encourage him. "Ohhhh what, no you gotta not," he murmured at the impossibly small boy, gently nudging him again to try to cease the noise. "You are waaaaaay too small for this," he murmured, fretting.
the demon that cast its pall across the mouth of arcturus' stony nursery seemed to move, and witless, arcturus watched as his littermate charged blindly towards certain doom.
a sense of territorial protectiveness overcame the small child, who, insistent his brother not be harmed, placed both paws across his mother's barrel, hoisted his chunky form upright, and loudly voiced his concern over revui's well being by a series of high pitched and clamant yowls meant to inform the 'intruder' he best leave his brother unscathed.
He had wanted a closer look at the puppies, but he had not come prepared for this. Noise from inside, presumably from another one of them but he didn't know who, threatened to distract him, and the gray one collected himself soon after. Jarilo's approach went steering quick from damage control to holy shit--he was sharp.
The older Ostrega barely muffled his yelp and gave an anxious whine, then an "Hey! Ow!!" directed right at the silvery fuzzbutt as he shifted nervously. He hadn't come prepared for them to already be this pointy or vicious, either. A low rumble of a growl in his mother's unmistakable tone quieted his complaints immediately, toning him right down to staring woefully at the tiny monster chewing on his leg, defeat surely imminent. He found no sympathy from her, not when he himself had very much been the biter of his litter. "Okay but I'm not even tasty," he whispered and with a rush of gathered courage, he picked the pup up by the scruff, pulled him off his leg, and promptly turned him around--teeth facing away from any Jarilo-bits and back towards their mom.
He tried a few small nudges on his rump, but he was scared the little bean would turn back on him if he got any closer than this--which reminded him to back away just a little.. juuust in case.
He hoped that the gray little boy would get the hint and go in the way he pointed him with just that. The onslaught of other noise from within the depths of the den kept Jarilo's ears tucked tightly downward, and really, only further motivated him to make for more distance; his nosiness had been met with nothing but vaguely unpleasant answers this time around and none of it was inspiring him to push it any further than that.
More barks sounded, and taking the hint for all it was worth, Jarilo grumbled something inaudible at the notion back at it as he turned away to prance off. He'd be back later.. hopefully when they were done feeling quite so vicious towards him.