Sunspire Mountains tadarida

@Atuaserk hhhhhhehee

Tonravik had harassed her thirdborn and then napped. She roused again when she had to relieve her bladder, and was prompt about it. After doing so, she slunk back inside to the three tiny cubs that could be squashed in one step by her massive paw. She was no gentle beast, and so she messily circled around them. Fortunately, none were hurt in the process... and Tonravik did what she could to lay down and not disturb them. She was unsuccessful. In fact, she disturbed them all. They began to mewl and sound off, and the disgruntled mother shoved them toward their food source unceremoniously to quiet them down.

It settled all but one—her first born. He would not latch on, and so Tonravik presumed he was not hungry. She stared dumbly at him as he raged on... before giving in to another instinct, and beginning to stroke his back with her tongue.

<3!

The absence of his mother did not go unnoticed and yet, he made no sound about it. It was not until she cam to settle back down that he found himself disrupted in his simple life and, as he had not done at his birth, he screeched, crying out angrily about this terrible upset. He did not fear the earth shaking (her pawsteps) nor did he fear the cold, but he wanted things to stop moving, damnit.

He got his wish when she finally settled, and a warm, wet thing swept down his small, practically formless body. Yes. This was good. He finally quieted, content in his small world for the moment.

As her tongue continued to move over his petite form, he quieted. Good. Not one teeny wail assailed her ears, and as she coaxed him to either sleep or release his bladder—she was not sure which—she nearly nodded off herself. She shifted slightly, to keep herself awake, and found her paw beside Atuaserk. At this point, her paw was bigger than the blob. But he was large for a cub... just as large as his brothers. Pingasut was smaller than them each, the runt of the litter.

She sniffed absently at his back, and then draped her muzzle partially over him, a significant gap there to provide room to breathe. She then moved the muzzle behind him, a veritable road block.

Sorry! Work is keeping me crazy busy. :(

As the largest potato in the bunch, Atuaserk was a pushy creature already and no doubt that would translate to his personality as he grew older. For now though, he quieted under his mother's tongue, placated by getting what he wanted, which was to evacuate his lower organs.

After, the large presence shifted, a giant thing positioned beside him. It was warm though and his tiny (in relation to Tonravik herself) body squiggled and wriggled, aiming to cuddle near it. A great weight settled over him, however, trapping him where he was. Squirming was all he could do at this point and he did that mightily, giving an angry squeak, though he quieted again as the weight moved off of him.

Instead of settling down however, the first born cub scooted his way over to the road block and didn't stop until he ran into it, whereupon he gave another angry squeak.

The feeling of her son bumping against her muzzle caused her eye to peel open slowly, and look down at him. There he stood, and made noise for his trouble. Tonravik snorted, but did not move for a moment. And then she acquiesced to heed him, knowing that when he made sounds this young, he was in need. He was deaf, blind, and dumb. He knew nothing of keeping silent. None of them did. They would learn when they could... but for now, she reasoned, she would need to cater to them. So she lifted him upward and brought him to where his food source was before putting her head back down to watch.

It was likely fortunate for Tonravik that Atuasek was normally quite silent; he made the normal sounds when hungry but he did not wail, nor did he terrorize his mother's ears in other ways. It was unknown yet whether or not this quiet would carry with him as he grew but for now, it just was. If she catered to him, to them, that was simply because she was a mother and they, her brood. She tended to him then, picking him up and setting him at a teat, which he latched on to almost immediately and settled down for the moment.

He latched to her immediately, which she felt. Her eyes lingered upon him as he continued to suckle, though did shift to her other children intermittently to observe the rise and fall of their backs. Each one was alive and well and grew by the day... and this was but the beginning. She could not wait for this slow, tedious beginning to end. If they had personalities yet, she could not tell. Tonravik could tell them from one another by sound, scent, and sight, but they all acted the same. The first-born was certainly the quietest of them, and Malrok the noisiest. Pingasut and Sitamat hovered in-between, but neither of them had yet reached the beige cubs vocal level. For that, she was thankful.

If he would continue his silence as he aged, it was unknown, but it did for now as he suckled and filled his stomach. It was one of the three things he cared about in these first days, which would pass soon enough (not fast enough for the mother-creature). He would have continued eating to, had he not needed to rid his body of extra air. A strange sound came from him, a fart and a burp both at once, better for the extra space it gave him. Back to eating, it was.

The scent that came from him was stale and not revolting to the mother, who had dealt with more offending a stench in her lifetime. She licked at his face after his burp to clean anything that might have come... but, there was nothing there, and he resumed his drinking. Tonravik herself observed each of her babes, adjusting them as needed. All was calm and quiet, however... and little adjusting was required. So as she often did in these rare moments, she rest her head against the earth again. The mother did not yet attempt to sleep; she knew better than to try such a thing immediately.

The warm tongue that ran over his tiny head was comforting and welcomed before he returned to her teat, engorging himself on the available milk. His mother's motion, though noticed, did not disrupt him or distract him with how intent he was on eating. When he finished, which was not for many long minutes, the large pup settled down for sleep, catching the shut eye that his own mother could perhaps not.

Thread fade!