Ankyra Sound Dirty looks from your mother

Ephraim napped apart from his siblings, having rolled away in his sleep. Caiaphas was still close enough that her warmth blanketed him and lulled him to drowsiness, but otherwise, the boy was utterly alone in his small personal bubble. The drip and lap of water echoing through the grotto and the dulled roar of the waves at high tide served as a lullaby, but all good things had to end. With a pop in his colourful sequence of incomprehensible dreams, Ephraim awoke, stretched out his tiny baby legs, and yawned with a shrill and loud whine that was sure to summon the attention of any unfortunate soul wolf in the vicinity.

@Lycaon

Just a single post from me so Nyx can acknowledge that the Kierkephas puppers are here, hope you don't mind.  EDIT: just realised there is a tag for Lycaon here, so let me know if you want me to delete this. Sorry!  <3

The coywolf was a fierce creature that Nyx had never been fearful of, but she'd grown suddenly wary of her for an entirely different reason. Only a week ago had she happened across her in the Grotto, hidden away in the darkness of its tunnels to protect her most precious secret, and within the agouti Ostrega had sprung a very real uncertainty. It was a niggle she could not quite place (or admit), something repressive she'd come to fret over in the days that followed her discovery of the sea witch's pregnancy.

Her sickness had lessened overnight, leaving her feeling famished and, as a result, irritable. She hunted a hare in the forest that Grimnismal claimed and devoured a fair portion of it, leaving enough remains on its bones that she decided would be gifted to their pack's mother-to-be. She supposed Caiaphas would need all the nourishment she could get if she was going to hole herself away in the depths of her cave. Nyx crossed the strand with the half-eaten animal dangling from her jaws, a certain reluctance in her stride; was it defeat, to feed the wolfess she disliked most? Whatever they thought of one another, they were still tied by the bond of their collective group, and Nyx was prepared to at least pretend to look beyond their differences.

She paused at one of the Grotto's many openings and peered into the blackness, ears perked atop her crown for any sound of movement within. Truthfully, she half expected the masked hybrid to come bolting out from within, all teeth and snarls, but she figured Caiaphas would be nestled deep enough within that she would not even register the huntress' arrival. Nyx placed the carcass at her own bloodied paws and inhaled deeply, testing the cavern's damp air, and stalled at the unfamiliar aroma of afterbirth. A baby's cry echoed far within and, with realisation that the litter had recently been whelped, the golden Ostrega did not hesitate to make a swift getaway - leaving her kill behind to be found or be stolen.

lauren feel free to jump in if she would tell him to gtfo

news that the grottolitch had at last delivered her clutch in the night proliferated to the beta's ears the next morning. he was thrilled and nervous and wildly unsure of what to expect when visitations hours were declared. he'd never gotten the synopsis of how a woman's body wrought life, so he didn't know how fierce, how hardwon, how depleting it was to beget even the smallest of existences.  

anyway. what if she didn't even want to debut them to the world, yet?! 

Lycaon knew, if nothing else, that a lil bit of payola never hurt anybody. before making his way to the grotto, he ran an errand to the rockpiles in which marmots were known to burrow, and tried his luck at filching one still in hibernation. to his misluck, there was nothing to be found in the crevices except extremely surprised/upset snakes, which he really wasn't in favor of, and was quick to desert. his patience was weakend by the eagerness to meet his new siblings, thus, he settled on hauling a muskrat from the reedy creekbed, sopping wet and eerily similar to the mushpig Tachyon had always best liked.

nerves were unraveling him into a delicate alabaster fibril on his way back to the coastal hollow. he'd long since vacated the recesses of the grotto to find his own smaller-scale, less disorienting den in the forest where he and Nyx could have more private affairs. even after the affairs stopped, he remained there--mostly out of a sense that he wasn't soon to be embraced into the maternity ward with open arms. 

it was clear by the dead hare at the entrance that Lycaon had not been the first of visitors, but perhaps the first of those willing to court danger? the kill smelled faintly of Nyx, but regardless of its previous almsgiver, he collected it into the glove of his muzzle with the muskrat. suddenly aware that he could hear tiny squeaks, he tentatively toed onto the grotto's threshold with his ears pricked and trepidation rousing--heartbeat quickening--with the excitement of a little girl when approaching a cardboard box full of mewling kittens. he turned the corner to the resting form of the denmother and her hot-off-the-press brood. "ifsth me. i brouhf fou food." Lycaon announced himself, dropping the quarry at his feet and nudging them towards her with a hopeful shimmer scintillating across his features. 

there'd been an inkspill of sorts, it would seem to him. darkened forms nestled into the pale furs of Caiaphas' belly, one of them making himself very well acquainted with the clout of his lungs. Lycaon lurched down with intrigue, sniffing at the tinny-smelling blob that had no identity to him but was presently insisting a namesake of squeeeaaaeeuuuuu. "nice try, but i'm still better at marmot calls." he whispered into Ephraim's folded-over ears, snuffling wetly all over the characterless blot.

He felt the thrum of sound in his body, though he could not hear it, and sensed it's increase as someone approached. This wasn't the first time, but still his tiny heart picked up its beat as the thud-thud of Lycaon's paws drew close, and he squawked indignantly when something wet and cold brushed across his sensitive newborn's back. A gust of air ruffled the short downy fur on his scalp and he protested, pulling away from Lycaon as best he could (read: not at all).
Though he was seemingly unamused with the attention, Ephraim lifted his head on a wobbly, unsupportive neck and sniffed half-heartedly at the air in front of him before producing a mewling, yipping sound to call attention to himself. Namely Caiaphas' attention, but as she was no doubt preoccupied, it would fall to Lycaon to attend his summons.

you get my slow ass 100th post hooray for you maybe i’ll let you actually win one of our pokemon duels sometime :^) !aki thonk

”you’re not even trying anymore, are you, teensy cthulhu?” Lycaon tutted in a tone of voice thickened by motherese—condescending as hell to anyone that was older than, like, two months old probably. ”you go like this––sQWAAAooooooo...” he caterwauled, pitch trailing off as his side-eye gravitated towards Caiaphas in anticipation for her trademark flinty, dour stare boring into his crumble-crust soul. they can’t hear! he would silently communicate with a “duuh” look unfurling on his countenance, before returning his gaze back to the outspoken bantling presently vying for attention.

”look kiddet, you have three littermates, that’s gonna be rough. i have a hard time with just the two, so, you have my deepest sympathies.” he rambled on despite his condolences falling upon deaf ears. ”you want my advice? cherish these moments of peace and quiet. and don’t underestimate your sis. they’re designed to look innocent buuuut don’t take too much stock in it. they’re wily as foxes.” his thoughts flashed to Wylla and a smarting blow struck his heart as he regretted not having the opportunity to share in her and Ingram's upbringing with Lusca. after mindlessly prattling on about the tribulations of siblinghood surely to come, Lycaon butted his nose into the roly-poly constitution of Ephraim and ministered to his belly and upended toe-beans with gentle nips and nibbles.

Ephraim's warbling coincided almost perfectly with Lycaon's dialogue, but it was only that: coincidence. He felt the unceasing rumble of his elder brother's voice in his ribcage and struggled against it, but he was caged neatly between Lycaon's forelimbs. He battered at them with his own, but had to relent at last to his brother's superior strength—someday, he mentally promised with a yawp and a gurgle of wide-flapping gums—when his toes were suddenly consumed.
He responded summarily by twisting in place and attempting to pull his sensitive feet into his pudgy belly, but not even that was spared Lycaon's wrath. The gentle nudge of lips and teeth made the ticklish babe squirm as his breath huffed out of him in not-quite-laughs, and this continued for a time until his tummy couldn't take it anymore. His whip-like tail stiffened suddenly and his rear end issued a complaint in the form of a loud, wet pfftththtpt.
Probably this was enough to chase Lycaon from the den, but if it wasn't, then the spit-up that followed it certainly was and he was left eventually in the care of Caiaphas.