Sun Mote Copse bvxtjwmylcfegou

She had napped too long today and now she was wide awake. It was past nightfall and the darkness fascinated Meerkat, as did the fireflies winking in and out of view. She chased them even as Towhee watched, waiting for the child to grow tired again. The Regent's face was more pensive than usual this evening, though Meerkat couldn't see and, anyway, all the drama about her paternity was still way over her little noggin.

Her paws slipped in the grass and she stumbled, ultimately losing her balance and falling over. She sprawled on the cool ground, letting out a long, happy sigh through her nose. A moment later, she lifted her head, then sat up and rolled onto all fours again. She zoomed toward the watchful Towhee, stopping abruptly when a peal of thunder rumbled in the distance.

Hoping for someone she hasn't formally met (e.g., threaded with) yet! @Maia @Weejay @Nellie @Pippin

Fireflies had returned to the copse, and for a moment Weejay almost called for her brother in excitement; the last time she had seen them, they had been chasing them around the grove as little stump-legged puppies.. And now, a new generation was carrying in their footsteps. Weejay watched Meerkat with a twist of sadness in her gut: she missed her brother more than anything.

She didn't quite see Towhee, but assumed the guardian must be near if Meerkat was there frolicking. Weejay bent down to grab a stick and paused as a ripple of thunder pealed overhead. She hadn't realized it was going to storm -- and part of her garden bed was still unfinished.

Torn between sussing play out from Meerkat and tending her flowers, Weejay decided on the former and approached with a gentle woof.

It reminded her of the noise her belly made when she was hungry or the sound of Towhee's explosive toots. That thought made her grin and start giggling to herself as she began loping toward her mother again, only to be distracted by the approach of a pale shadow.

The puppy spun to face their incoming guest, who did not strike her as familiar. Nonetheless, Meerkat bounded right up to her with an exuberant, -"HEY!" before wondering, -"DID YOU JUST FART?"-

Weejay kept an ear craned for anymore thunder; she remembered Eljay cautioning her to stay inside as a puppy if it began to thunder, and wondered if it would quickly pass or if they would be forced to seek refuge. Grinning while Meerkat did a rollback and strutted up to her, Weejay giggled at the accusation and shook her head. "Mmm, nope! Must have been you!"

She didn't believe Meerkat was responsible for that thunder anymore than she herself was, but Weejay enjoyed the teasing all the same. She crinkled up her nose: "Peeeee--YEUUUW!! What did you eat?!"

The stranger promptly turned the accusation back on her and Meerkat made a noise halfway between a giggle and a scoff. When the she-wolf remarked about the smell, the child inhaled deeply. She generally enjoyed the smell of her own farts. But she hadn't farted, of course, so there was no smell.

She swatted a playfully indignant paw in the adult's direction when another, louder bit of thunder rumbled. Meerkat froze, cocking her good ear skyward, and then gasped audibly at a streak of lightning along the horizon. It was a pulse of light like the fireflies' but the sheer breadth of it amazed the youngster.

Meerkat seemed to take Weejay's joshing in good stride. The girl grinned as the whelp swatted at a paw, keeping her digits just within reach so Meerkat would not be discouraged. A crack and a flash of white had Weejay's eyes trawling skyward, where a vein of impossibly blueish-white lightning snaked across the endlessly dark sky.

"Whoa," Weejay gasped, wondering if it was still safe to be out here. She figured Towhee might come and chase them somewhere safe, but realized belatedly Towhee might not have heard the ominous noise after all. She motioned briefly to get Towhee's attention, followed by mouthing the single word "thunder" -- although surely, Towhee had seen the flash of light that had accompanied the terrific cracking noise. "Looks cool." Weejay mumbled to Meerkat, searching the sky for any sign of an encore.

The pup's nostrils widened as the scent of ozone permeated the air, the fur along her back raising. She continued staring at the sky in wonder, waiting for the pulse to come again, and didn't notice her mother striding toward the two of them. She jumped a little when Towhee's gruff voice spoke on her deaf side.

-"IT'S,"- Meerkat gasped, -"SOOO COOOOOL!!! DID YOU SEE IT? DID YOU HEAR IT?"- the youngster asked, rump wiggling.

It was a teachable moment, though with the threat of a storm literally looming over their heads, Towhee saved it for later. -"Why don't you two come over here, beneath this tree, and huddle with me?"- she invited, making sure to include Weejay with a glance. -"C'mon. Last one there's a ballsack full of puke!"-

Meerkat shrieked a laugh in response to that, then zoomed toward the indicated tree across the rendezvous site. Once she reached it, she rapidly swiveled to see whether Towhee or Weejay was scrotal vomit.

Towhee, don't you mean a scround of puke?

Weejay's skin was prickling as the scent of ozone permeated the area. She had always liked storms -- there was something terrifically beautiful about storms, but there was also something terrible about them too.

Relieved Towhee wished to take cover, Weejay nodded wordlessly despite Meerkat's enthusiasm. A shade of her father came out when she replied "Cool, but dangerous. Let's go!" She bolted after Towhee with a giggle, nowhere near as fast, but just as excited.

The two adults arrived more or less in tandem. Meerkat blinked a few times as she tried to puzzle out which of them was a barf ball. In the end, she decided and declared, -"You're both ballsacks!"- before breaking off into a fit of giggles.

-"Well, they do usually come in pairs,"- Towhee quipped more to Weejay than the pup, who she reached out to tickle until Meerkat was breathless and practically about to wet herself.

Another crack of thunder and flash of lightning made them both go still. The pup slipped away from her mother's grasp and sat up from where she'd flopped to the ground, licking her lips and trembling slightly. She wasn't afraid, just awed. She had never heard anything so loud, nor seen anything so bright.

Belatedly, Meerkat recalled Weejay's words of a moment ago: "Cool, but dangerous." The pup looked up at her and wondered childishly, -"Is it a monster?"-

Towhee's quip was entirely unexpected, but it earned a stifled gasp and then a giggle from the girl, who was just now feeling comfortable with her own age and body to be considered 'adult' enough to make such jokes. She stole after Towhee, hanging around as the mother tickled her daughter into fits -- she was gazing up at the sky in wonder when Meerkat's voice sounded besides her.

"A monster? Hmm.. maybe there is a monster up there." She recalled all the stories of gods and wronged demigods; was one of them gallumphing around upstairs, or was it really just the divine force of nature at play? "Maybe he's mad someone took all his snacks! Or.. maybe there's no one there at all, and it's like the sun and the wind.. Just present." She could weave a yarn of how there was some god above responsible for all of this cacophony, but as a mostly rational being, Weejay thought maybe it was best Meerkat not be afraid of storms.

She listened to Weejay's musings, her good ear twitching. Whether it was a monster or just another of nature's phenomena, she repeated, -"It's so cool!"- Even as she spoke the words, the skies opened up with a rush of rain, pouring straight down and immediately soaking the copse.

Towhee tugged on Meerkat's tail, dragging her further under the cover of the brush, then coaxing her to curl up on the ground beside her. Once situated, the pup looked around for Weejay, freeing a foreleg to motion her closer. She froze, a delicious shiver trembling through her body, when thunder clapped directly overhead, followed thereafter by the brightest streak of lightning yet.

Unaware that her pale fur stood on end, Meerkat snuggled closer to her mother's protective warmth even as her eyes remained wide in the stormy gloom. -"WOW,"- she remarked eloquently before tucking her little forelegs beneath her chest and simply letting the rainstorm wash over her senses.

Weejay could tell the storm was on cusp of opening. She settled besides Towhee, her eyes riveted to the sky as Meerkat was pulled under the brush. Any second now they could expect a downpour.

Flinching instinctively at the fierce clap of thunder, followed by the rippling snarl of lightning as it fused across the sky, Weejay's fell flat as fat drops of rain began to pelt down. Inching under the broad leaves of a fern, Weejay grinned as Meerkat WOW'd to herself. She shared similar sentiments - it was always incredible to watch a summer storm, especially from the safety of cover. "It is cool." She affirmed, looking to the sky as another flare of light snaked across the clouds. "But, I wouldn't wanna get caught out in the open. Sometimes those lights hit the earth, and it makes the ground smell funny." She wrinkled her nose, remembering the patch of lightning that had struck a tree not so far from the copse. It had died, and the smell of burnt tree and ozone had been enough to give Weej the jeebies.

A cool breeze soughed through the brush, slanting the rain and making Meerkat shiver a little as the gentle mist hit her face. It was as refreshing as it was distracting, though the pup didn't miss Weejay's next remark, which prompted her to look over at the patchy adult.

Recollecting her earlier accusation, the pup let out a quiet cackle. -"Like a fart?"- she guessed, her head suddenly tilting backward, nose pointed almost at the sky, as she felt Towhee's nose skim between her ears. Her mother gave her brow a lick before Meerkat dropped her head forward, toward her chest.

Her eyes quickly grew heavy as her mother groomed the dampness from her pelt. She didn't want to fall asleep and miss the rest of the storm, though it was strangely relaxing despite the noise. It wasn't long before she sprawled, chin lolling in the dirt as she began to snore, oblivious to the occasional drop of rain plopping on her head.

"No, you're like a fart." Weej countered, the doggish grin lingering. Overhead a heaviness settled into the weald, and the tell-tale sign of burning ozone rolled in, mixed with the dampening of sweet petrichor.

Weejay found herself closing her eyes just as Meerkat had done. They did not reopen as she dozed away the grumblings of the storm. After all, what good were rainy summer days, if they were not perfect to squeeze in a little dog-nap here and there?