@Alsek - set for tomorrow
Pele could see. She’d been able to see for a while, but it was just starting to really register. Shapes were becoming less blurry and she was able to distinguish things better. Also, she could stand and waddle around on unstable legs. She’d been a bit behind her brother in that regard, but that didn’t bother her. Nothing really bothered her, actually. She observed him, now, curled up beside their great hulking shape of a mother. She stood and teetered, but kept her balance; curiously, cautiously, as if unsure as to what would happen, she reached out and touched Alsek with a paw, nudging him. Probably, they were too young and unsteady to play very effectively, but she didn’t care. She continued to nudge him with one paw, until standing on three legs became too exhausting and she sat half fell over, half sat down.
really, he'd only wanted some time to sleep. alsek's sleeping schedule hadn't regulated itself yet; he was still struggling to stay awake during the day and fighting to fall asleep at night. after his morning meal, alsek settled into a ball, completely at peace until...
mrph
, he grumbled. alsek flagged his tail for pele to stop, hoping that she would get the message. except she didn't. he lifted his head and frowned, then prepared to strike back. as he stood up onto shaky legs, pele sat down, only making him more frustrated.
Aha! Alsek had finally decided to move! For a minute there, she’d been afraid he was dead or something. When he stood up, she quickly stood up again also, all prepared to do some kind of mock battle with him, but she fell over almost immediately. Unfazed, she stood up again, albeit slower this time, and then her tail set to wagging. She yipped at him. This caused their mother to lift her head and stare at the two of them for a moment, and then the head went back down as if Grezig had decided that her two children fighting each other was a non-issue.
Pele attempted to lunge at Alsek (again, this was all for play, and there was no real aggression in her movement). She only managed to trip over her own paws and tumble forwards, landing in a heap at Alsek’s feet.
grezig's glance caused alsek to freeze. he didn't know much about his mother, but he knew that sometimes, she could be scary. however, her head quickly went back down, allowing him to fully enjoy pele's company.
she lunged forward and collapsed, eliciting several rounds of giggles from alsek's little mouth. he laughed hard enough to knock himself onto his back, opening him up for whatever other attacks she had stored.
When Alsek started giggling, Pele couldn’t help it. She started giggling too. Now there were two little puppy heaps on the floor of the den, laughing. Grezig grumbled grumpily (yay alliteration), but otherwise left them alone, turning her head so that she was facing away from them in an attempt to block out the noise.
Pele tried to get up but she was still laughing, and that thing was happening where it’s really hard to move properly cos you’re laughing too hard. She kept falling over again, which only caused more laughter. She poked Alsek again with a paw because toddlers think literally anything is funny, paused dramatically, then began laughing again.
everything was funny. things were actually so funny that alsek had effectively doubled over with uncontrollable laughter. in between hollers were moments of silence where his breath was hitched in his throat, unable to be released. one paw rested against his belly while the other slapped the den floor, as though he were trying to tap out of their match.
for a moment, alsek was able to calm himself. he lifted a paw to brush against his snout, only to be rendered helpless again by pele's soft touch. this time, he wanted to be the one to make her laugh. baba
, alsek whispered. then, louder, he yelled, some collection of nonsensical syllables, hoping to entertain his sister with the funny sounds.
’Baba!’ Alsek shouted.
Pele stared at him with wide blue eyes for a moment. “B-ba!” she imitated, and immediately doubled over laughing again. “BABA!” she screamed with laughter, as if she had never heard anything funnier in her entire life. Which she hadn’t because she was only a month old. It was then that she discovered—truly realized—that she could make sounds with her mouth and her throat.
She proceeded to make as many sounds as she could, which ended up sounding like some verbal equivalent of a keyboard smash: kdngkjdnkjsnefknkgjdngdnjfg.
“Pbbbbbffffftttt!” She blew a raspberry and laughed because her mouth tingled afterwards.
pele's scream made alsek scream louder. he widened his stance and opened his mouth as wide as he could, before absolutely screaming: B A B A!
the force used to make such a sound left him dizzy and disoriented, though he quickly returned to earth.
alsek laughed at his sister's keyboard smash, finding her interpretation of the skill to be much more enjoyable. he was dazed by the beauty of her raspberry and decided to try it out.
rather than doing it the right way, alsek let his tongue dangle from his mouth and began whipping his head from left to right as quickly as he could. while doing this, he hummed a low note, making him sound sorta like an out-of-commission air conditioner.
Grezig had slowly been getting more and more annoyed with her children as their noises continued. Other parents might have been thrilled that their kids were starting to make sounds for the first time, but she had heard it all before with Xizur and Tizir, so she was kinda over it already. She had tried to ignore it at first, letting them have their fun, but the second Alsek screamed ’BABA!’ as loudly as possible and basically broke her eardrums, she was done.
She stood up quickly and towered over her children, lowering her face down toward them slowly. “ENOUGH!” she bellowed, even louder than Alsek had just screeched. She pulled her teeth back into a snarl for a moment to really let the message sink in. “We’re going to be quiet now,” she snapped, and then fwumped back onto the ground and closed her eyes, trying to go back to sleep.
Pele was absolutely shocked by her mother’s sudden outburst, and stared with wide eyes at those gleaming fangs. She could almost see her reflection in them. Everything went still and silent after her mother’s warning. Pele continued to stare upwards, now at the ceiling instead of her mother, but soon turned her head to look at Alsek. Her ears—newly opened—were ringing, but otherwise she was fine. That outburst hadn’t upset her so much as it had surprised her. She had to suppress the the urge to laugh again, actually. She knew her mom meant business but it had just been so shocking to see her so upset like that that it was almost funny.
unlike kavik's voice, grezig's was familiar. hers was the first voice he'd ever heard, the first distinct sound he'd ever experienced. and when she was calm, alsek enjoyed the low vibrations that her words sent through his tiny body.
this time was different, though. she'd been loud (very loud) and although alsek didn't know what baring teeth meant, he had a feeling that it wasn't good. his eyes immediately began to well with tears, his cheeks hot with emotion, though he tried to maintain his composure.
alsek looked at pele as his smile quickly turned to a frown. when grezig finally settled back onto the ground, he began to release pathetic weeps, the release of sadness and fear swaying his body.
Pele was even more shocked to see her brother crying than she was at her mother’s outburst. She had always kind of instinctively known that her mother was a grumpy person; she had also always kind of known that her brother was… well, kind of a wimp, but… But she’d never seen him cry like this before. This seemed different. This wasn’t because he was hungry (she didn’t think). This was… sad. And somehow she knew it was her mother’s fault.
“Mom, come on!” she yelled at Grezig’s prone form, except that it came out as a wordless growling yip. She stood up on shaky legs and stumbled over to Alsek, attempting to snuggle close to him for comfort, but just kind of flopping onto the ground next to him instead because her limbs didn’t work properly yet. She babbled uncomprehendingly at him, trying to calm him down (which was the puppy equivalent of when toddlers give each other weird hugs to try and cheer each other up but just end up falling over together onto the ground or something).
defense, offense— these terms didn't really mean anything yet, but alsek could tell by the situation that there were definitely two sides present. he wiped the snot from his nose and sniffled, having stopped actually crying.
soon enough, both puppies were on the ground of the den, the smaller having somehow stolen the advantage. alsek didn't mind; he'd originally intended to have a nap, and could now sleep in peace, hopefully with pele doing the same.
Alsek seemed fine now. He'd stopped crying so that was good. Pele swiveled her head to look at Grezig, just to check. Her mother the hulk was snoring again. Pele sent her her best glare, and then curled up beside Alsek and fell asleep.