Dragoncrest Cliffs where you gon run

for the sibbies <3

four lumps lumped about, lumping their lumpy way across the floor of the den that had once housed sobeille. sobielle, of course, had been much more graceful as she grew into her body, entirely avoiding the lump stage.

she peered down at each of them from her customary roost above; the tree had fallen in such a way that shelving from a broken limb above fell just so — perfect for spying on little lumpy lives.

maman was sleeping. sobeille traced the silhouette of her body with golden eyes before she looked back at the lumpies.

when were they gonna do something interesting?

can be a cameo!

it pleased mireille to have so much help.
presently, @Jadou was tucked against her chest, @Lucette and @Lafayette against one flank, and @Shadess had ventured to her elbow.
mireille dozed, aware of sobeille but welcoming the watchfulness of her older daughter as she caught much-needed rest.

Since opening her eyes, Lucette had become somewhat more engaged with the world. She ate more often, though she still shunned most things beyond her twin. Often she simply stared at him. There was something special about him, something she sensed even before the conscious thought could form. One day she would figure it out.

Today she was interrupted. Distracted. There were always others in and out of the den, but they'd been easier to ignore before sight. Now they nagged at her. Lucette looked up to stare at her older sister for a few long moments. Then she opened her mouth as wide as it would go and exhaled sharply, blowing hot puppy breath straight up toward her face.

At first, there had been many sounds. Grunts, whines, woofs and words. All foreign to her as her ears heard and a mind tried to distinguish. The only thing familiar to her was the warmth of her siblings and the sound of her mother's heart beat, which Shadess would fall asleep to as she pressed the length of her tiny body against her mother's side. 

Now, there were many bodies. Wolves upon wolves, whom which she struggled to try to understand. Red was the first thing Shadess had ever seen. First by her mother's coat as the girl stared at her breast bone. Then to her three siblings. Then herself, down at her own legs and sides. 

When someone visited that was not red, they were not familiar. Different. Stranger. She would growl and bark out a high sharp noise. This time, someone came who was red too. Well, mostly. Shaded far less vibrant with some black like the twins. Acceptable. Shadess only watches from her lay at the side of Jadou.

sobeille entertained the unthinkable.

here’s a thought: what happens to a puddle of puppies if a heavy branch is dropped upon them?

but her maman was right there. sobeille’s gaze flickered. no way to be subtle about a fifty foot air drop.

a hot blast of puppy breath singed her nostrils, fluttering past her with the perfume of milk and internal organs. sobeille’s head snapped back with a hiss. rude!

another noise comes from somewhere in the crook of mireille’s body; a growl.

sobeille’s ears stood at attention with an affronted gasp. rude, again. she hisspered to the secret growler. i was here first. she informed the tiny lump, turning back to the mouth breather with a scoff and cross of her paws. i like dis one better.

The mouth breather was equally unswayed by her older sister's outrage and her backhanded compliment. Her littermate's growls went ignored entirely. She watched Sobeille with a focused intensity. Her actions had caused a reaction, and that was all she'd really wanted, though she couldn't quite make sense of the reaction she received.

Well, she would just have to try something else. Lucette reached out with one paw, toes flexing, and waved it in her sister's face. She wondered what she would make of that.

This other wolf was disrupting her sleep and Shadess was a moody girl when her sleep and feeding was disrupted. 

Rousing herself from her mother's side, nestled with her two brothers, Shadess came forward too. As Lucette was waving a paw in the other's face, Shadess let out a loud, high pitched bark at Sobeille and proceeded to mouth and drool on the woman's paw.

sobeille sat sphynx-like in the dark loam, eyes trained to the small child that watched her intently.

there was a kinship there in that unbreaking focus. sobeille looked past, to the tottering tot that now lay siege to her toes while her sister waved a paw in the air.

shadess’s high bark rent the air like buckshot. sobeille’s ears pinned and she rose, scaling the bough in the manner of an affronted cat. and like the felid species, she draped herself over the log — tantalizingly out of reach, with one paw dangling to brush the head of the unruly pups below.

this game did not prove very exciting. eventually sobeille bored of tormenting her siblings, and moved off to find astera.