Stone Circle first, the ground rules get established

@Valette since he's touching you lol, though other pups and anyone else allowed in the den are also most welcome to join! <3

The child had come to accept the terms of having sight. While for the first few days he'd kept his eyes shut, gradually the light drew him. Fuzzy shapes began to take finer form, and while Merrit was nowhere near the seer he would be in weeks and months to come, the simple sights the inner den provided were enough for him. For now.

Presently he watched his family sleep, having scooted a few meters beyond them so he could observe the blurry rise and fall of their sides. That was the basest rhythm he felt when he lay alongside them, he knew; that was the rhythm that stirred the other rhythms, he would come to understand. But seeing gave him sight to rhythms he couldn't feel. The dance of shadows across the sleeping masses, the interplay of light and dark. He didn't comprehend them - he simply knew they enraptured him.

He had watched one light beam in particular for probably an hour now, draped across his mother's back. Over time, the beam had shifted to curve around her face - but it had also grown dimmer, thinner, and Merrit crawled forward. He had come to understand that there was always a time when the light seemed to vanish, and he sensed that time drawing near. So far, he had only found the courage to watch the beams - but seeing wasn't enough. He wanted to feel them, like he felt the rhythm of breathing - and gingerly, he reached out his paw to touch the one fallen across his mother's face, eyes fixed with wonder.

Tag for visibility! :D

Valette often lied down with just her eyes closed. She could feel happiness radiating from her body. She was extremely happy and in her element. She hoped @Stark would see it as well, or better yet, feel it as well. She hoped that he was enjoying this as much as she did. Stark had made her very happy by giving her more children. Sometimes when she would close her eyes, she would doze off lightly thinking about how they would look when they were bigger and what their interests would be.

Valette was dozing off at this moment as well, perhaps she had been dozing for far longer than she realized, but the moment she felt a paw touch her face the mother opened her eyes. The female didn't stir or move away from the paw. She was just trying to see what Merrit was doing. He seemed to be looking at his paw and at the light that was shining on it. Valette smiled. In the light, she could see his front legs had little socks. She already knew there was going to be some white on him as the pads on his feet had been pink at the front. Now his fur was really becoming darker and lighter in some places. Valette hummed softly. So cute. She wondered if he would feel the warmth as well, coming from the sun.

The light - he felt it, if ever slightly. A warming - not unlike when he cuddled against his mother's side, or squished to sleep between his dozing sisters. Yet this warmth was a different kind. He felt that. There was no pressure with it, no comfort of closeness. Just - warmth. And it simply was.

Merrit held his paw, unable to make sense - and slowly drew his touch away. Only then did his eyes refocus and straighten to catch his mother's own twin watch. The slightest breath escaped him, and his brows leapt with a spook when off-balance as he was, he toppled back and fell. His mother's face fled from sight, and he found his gaze met with the deep shadows of the roof, spinning. Light no longer played there.

He landed in an awkward sprawl and puffed up the downy collection of furs and feathers that warmed the den. Whoof. The world kept spinning, and he closed his eyes, though Merrit didn't hurt - but he was confused. With kicks and flails he scrounged about for purchase but found no solid ground to help him get off his back and back on his paws, and quite quickly, he gave up. His energy spent, he warbled a whine pitched with defeat and a small plea for his mother's help.

How I see Merrit :'D

Valette didn't mean to startle her youngest son. He seemed so enthralled by the light that he probably hadn't noticed his mother watching. The shock was on his face as he toppled. Valette thought it was rather adorable. Though it seemed that Merrit wasn't able to get back on his paws just yet. Valette wanted to see if he could manage it by himself but as soon as the pup gave a whine to call for help Valette reached in closer with her muzzle.

The mother nudged him to roll him over so he was back with the ground under his feet. However, she didn't comfort him or soothes the child. She didn't want to nurture him too much that he would become frightful of experiencing new things. She doubted that would happen after only one time. Valette was just curious if he would come to study the light again or would stay away from it.

LOL literally Merrit right now, 100% xD

Bless his mother, who swiftly nudged him with her nose to right him up from his upsidedown world. Whoa. The den roof shifted to give way to the light-strewn walls, and though dizzy, he felt the ground come clear under paw again. Merrit scraped and scrambled until he drew upright, and turned on his heel to face his mother.

The dilemma of standing had only been a small hitch in his exploration, a road-block he'd literally stumbled on. Now that he found himself standing sturdy again, his attention wove back to the light, whose beams no longer fell across his mother's gentle face. Rather, they draped in long fingers across the wall behind her, and with a cursory glance at his mum, Merrit tottered to reach them.

"Bah," he said and smacked his tiny toes against the beam, turning his wide baby eyes back to his mother so she could see why he had touched her, and that she could share in this mysterious and marvellous thing he had discovered.

Valette watched with joy as her little man started to explore again as soon as he was back on his feet. She was glad that she wasn't discouraged. The mother watched as her son waddled to the rays of light again and then went to pat his paw down on it. It wasn't something he could catch or was solid which might be a strange concept to him. "Sun," Valette spoke when he looked with a questioning glance at her. She then pointed her muzzle at the exit/entrance of the den to indicate that the sun was out there, outside of the den.

Valette smiled at how his cute white little toes seemed to light up when the sun hit them. Valette placed her muzzle down again on the ground. The same beam shone over her nose and muzzle once more. "The sun is warm and nice," she spoke, though she doubted he understood much of her words, she couldn't help but to elaborate.

Merrit turned with the point of her muzzle to look toward the brightest light, the source of every scattered beam that stole its way underground. He had traced the glow there, but he hadn't found need to draw closer yet to discover what that meant in his own private study. There was so much left to learn about the light just below his paw. Only when he put these pieces together would he even think to venture elsewhere - unless, as his mind shaped and formed, he grew to discover that a broader grasp of information would actually help him understand the little things - like why the light came and went, and where it hid when the darkness reigned.

But for now, his mind still thought very little beyond what was right before his eyes. As his mother moved to lay down, Merrit turned to the wall and patted the light again. His half-closed ears prevented him from hearing clearly, and he what he could hear, he didn't really understand. But that didn't stop the soft rumbling of his mother's voice from stirring a want to try and speak himself.

"Sahh." He tapped his paw once more and turned to his mother with the same look of question and affirmation in his eyes. "Sahh."

Oh god! Somehow I looked over this! <3 I apologize!

Valette smiled at the boy's first mumbles that mimicked the word she spoke. The female quirked up her lips into a smile and then licked over the top of his head. "Yes, sun," she returned for him. In time the little pup would be taken out of the den, and he would experience more of the sun. Valette was excited for him. How fun would it be to explore everything all over again, not knowing what things were? The female hummed and placed her head down again.

Fade here?

No worries! Last post from me - unless you want to get another post in, otherwise, fading sounds good, so feel free to archive! Such a sweet thread, you know I'd love another <3

A smile quirked at the corner his mouth for the second his mother rasped affection across his head, and while the expression faded like the day's final rays, the warmth of his content blossomed in his chest.

The sun. The denmouth glowed where the light soaked through, and he fixed his baby eyes upon its fading glow. A long ray stretched across his charcoal side and he shifted into it to feel the heat seep in again. The sun was warm, just as before, and as he eased against his mother's side, he decided the sun was probably even warmer than her. But while the sun gave warmth, it was fleeting. The sunlight didn't stay when the night stole the warmth away, and it didn't give the whirl of his mother's heart, the gentle rise of her breaths, or the peaceful rest of her earthy scent. Yes, for everything the sun was, his mother was so much more.