Moonspear sunshine for days

Maybe a packmate wanting to meet Seal?

Following their first excursion beyond the den, the girls’ trips outside became more frequent. The spring weather was glorious – cool but sunny – and lent itself well to playdates in the glen beyond their ulaq. The girls were still tiny, however, and were closely guarded by both @Meerkat and @Njord during their play sessions.

Today, their parents chaperoned as Seal wrestled with her sister @Orca II. Eventually, the pair became more curious about their environment than each other and began to sniff around. Seal found a twig and tested her baby teeth, gnawing on the damp wood.

Stingray did his best to be a good big brother, but most of the time, he was just a tad awkward around his little sisters. They were so tiny still, and he wasn't exactly a paragon of grace and elegance. Sure, he'd seen the way they roughhoused and they seemed tough relative to one another, but that wasn't saying much. He really had no idea how to play with them.

He spent a lot of his time seeking ways to hang with them without risking stepping on or rolling over somebody, and today he thought he had found the perfect thing. In his jaws he toted a scrap of animal hide pulled up out of a cache, but it was what was inside that he thought would be most fun.

He spotted Seal near his parents' den, working her jaws on a twig, and with a boyish grin he loped toward her. Think fast! he said between gritted teeth before releasing the animal hide and dropping the contents — three extremely fat, slimy slugs — all over his sister's back.

The sight of Ray’s sunny fur made Seal perk up and laugh.

“Ra! Ra!” she called him, toddling over and babbling pretend toddler talk.

He carried something different and it immediately piqued Seal’s curiosity. But her reaction time was so slow that it wasn’t until the slugs were on her back that she realized he had tossed anything.

At first, she turned in a circle. Her back felt different, but baby Seal was so rotund that she couldn’t look past her own shoulder very well. “Dadabu?” she questioned and began to roll on her back - like one did when you got a good itch - accidentally squashing the slugs into the ground.

The whole thing took maybe fifteen seconds, which was long enough for Ray to recline back on his haunches and enjoy the front row seat. He thought Seal might scream or try to shake them off, but instead she dropped to the ground and rolled right over them, tearing a surprised laugh from her older brother.

Daaang, girl, you’re a savage! he said, hopping up to examine what remained of the citizens of Seal Slug Harbor. One was still moving, but half its body was mashed into the dirt. You missed one! He’ll tell his captain to send the slug pack after you if you don’t end him now! Get ‘im!

Seal still didn’t quite understand that she had squashed the slugs… but she clung to Stingray’s compliments all the same. His cajolery made her baby-blue eyes shine bright and a wide smile cast across her chubby face.

He pointed out the half-alive slug and, with Stingray’s encouragement, Seal lept into action. She pounced! And then chomped the slug, scooping the whole dang thing into her mouth.

She turned to Stingray, cheeks full, proudly. But then… she felt the slime on her tongue. The wriggling! Oh my god, she was gonna be sick!

Seal spat it out violently and screamed. “AUUGGHH!”

I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this one up so it's one less thing to worry about after your vacation and we can have a newer one where Ray comes to visit once you're back! <3

Oh.

Oh.

That wasn't really what Stingray had in mind when he sicced his baby sister on the slug. He loved Seal and Orca endlessly, but boy, did they ever make Ray feel like a genius. Surely he and his siblings had never done anything as silly and dumb as eating a slug!

It was hard to contain his laughter when Seal began to scream. He couldn't, in fact. It burst out of him with a sound like a Whoopee cushion until he sucked his lips back into his face and tried to vent it silently out his nose instead. The result was a spray of snot as another giggle overwhelmed him.

He really ought to be more concerned that she was okay and that he hadn't poisoned her or something, but Ray couldn't help it. She was adorable, and dumb, and hilarious, and might hate him from the rest of his life after this.

C'mon, let's get you some water, said Ray on the tail end of another giggle, sweeping her in a quick embrace before ushering her to the nearest stream to wash the slime out of her mouth.