Redhawk Caldera Make me a bicycle, clown

In just three weeks, she had gone from a lumpy meatball with limited senses to a full-blown miniature wolf. The latest in her repertoire of acquired senses included true hearing. Ever since her ears had properly opened (perhaps a day or two ago) and she had heard her own screeching at full blast, Wildfire had ceased and desisted. She still made noise—it was an inevitable part of being young and without much in the way of impulse control—but she was significantly less noisy for the mere sake of it. Her parents and the rest of the pack were surely breathing a collective sigh of relief as that obnoxious era came to a close.

Presently, the middlemost pup sniffed quietly around the entrance of the family's den, whiskers twitching and ears flicking in response to the myriad sounds from outdoors. Any time she attempted to step beyond the threshold, she was warned with a deep growl from Peregrine, who lay at the burrow's rear. For now, it was enough to keep her contained. She was content enough anyway, hopping about in the patch of March sunlight just inside the cozy lair and swiping her little red paws at dust motes floating there.

Finley often approached the Redleaf-DiSarinno den bearing a gift of some sort for either the parents or the children. Today, it was a gift for the latter. At three weeks old, the firebirds were finally looking more like wolves than little four legged meatballs, but they still had much to learn before they became truly integrated with the rest or the pack. Fin's gift wasn't a huge stepping stone towards gaining that knowledge, but... It was about the same size.

The beta grinned when she spotted Wildfire playing in the mouth of the den. All of the kids would probably get a kick out of the "toy" clasped between her teeth (or so she arrogantly believed), but Wildfire would probably enjoy it most since she just seemed to enjoy the crap out of everything. She woofed gently as she approached, simply enjoying the fact that the pup could actually hear it now when she did so. A few strides of Fin's legs brought her right up to the den where she dropped her gift onto the ground at her feet: a pine cone.

Best godmother ever, right?

For one of the first times in her life, Wildfire heard the sound of footfalls approaching the den. She sat down hard, blinking curiously at the den's mouth and pricking her ears toward the noise. When a familiar face floated into view, she jumped immediately onto all fours and began dancing in place. She barked sharply at her aunt, startling herself with the burst of noise and causing her own ears to flatten. They sprang right back up the next second as the puppy leaped to lick and nuzzle the Beta female's chin. Her little black tail wagged so fast that it caught the side of the door with a loud thump! that Wildfire largely ignored.

"Abba, abba!" she babbled when Finley deposited a strange object in front of her. She immediately pounced on it, only to squeak and backpedal when the sharp little scales pierced her nose and toes. Her ears pinned and she gave her Aunt Finley a questioning look, then approached the pine cone more cautiously. She sniffed at it, then batted it with a paw. It rolled, which caused her to smile. She shot Finley another, happier look, grateful for the new toy.

But then something strange began to happen. All of a suddenly, Wildfire's face felt funny. Her eyes and cheeks were abruptly very itchy. She scrubbed at them with her paws, though it only made matters worse. Although she couldn't see it, her eyes, nose and lips were swelling. Even her little toes tingled. Worst of all, perhaps, her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, muffling the sound as she began to whimper in discomfort and fear.

Fin smiled broadly as Wildfire hopped up to her.  While the little girl made no sense whatsoever, it was adorable watching her try to communicate.  "Abababa to you too, lil' Wiffle," the beta replied while knowing Wildfire had no idea what she was asking.  Fin watched as the pup went right for her toy, only to recoil seconds later.


Finley tilted her head slightly to get a better view of the pup as she continued to poke at the pinecone.  She relaxed slightly, attributing Wildfire's sudden rewind to simply be a part of the exploration process.  But then something even more peculiar happened.  Fin lowered herself to the ground just in front of her god daughter, watching as she wiped her face with her paws and began to whine.  Finley bit her lip as she watched, totally lost as to what it was that was happening.  Well, that was until...

The sudden image of her sister's swollen eyes and face entered her mind.  She'd nearly killed Tiger that day..  They'd been kids and hadn't known any better, so the sight of Tiger's face swelling up had made Fin laugh instead of worry.  She'd made her eat more blueberries to see if her head would grow.. Instead her throat began to close and the pack medic had had to rush to intervene before her littermate suffocated...

"Ohhh god... oh god oh god oh god..." Fin whispered as panic began to take her, "Shit shit shit, nooooo don't don't don't, it's okay midget, it's okay..."  Fin had no idea whatsoever what it was the medic had given her sister to make the swelling go down, but she wracked her brain wildly as she swept over the pup and began to lick her face and eyes to try and wash away the evil pinecone poison.

She found comfort in Finley's licks, though they only exacerbated the mild but still uncomfortable anaphylactic reaction as the Beta's saliva was contaminated with traces of pine sap. When the discomfort continued to grow worse, Wildfire eventually withdrew, shaking her swollen head and making awful mewling noises. She was lucky the allergy wasn't more severe and that her throat wasn't closing. It was less like suffocating and more like being maced, not that the puppy could draw comparisons.

Without being aware of what she was doing, the puppy found her feet and walked over to a puddle about four feet to the right of the den's entrance. Instead of dipping her face or her paws in the cloudy water, she simply splashed right into it, then buckled her legs and began to roll. Before long, she was soaking wet and slathered in mud. It would have been fun, if she were being playful. Wildfire was merely acting on instinct; some part of her understood that a good mud bath would provide relief.

And it did. The stinging, itching and swelling began to subside. The child remained in the puddle, sprawled like a little sphinx, her golden eyes finding Finley's face. Despite associating the Beta female with the pine cone, which had wrought so much distress, she still very much loved her aunt. It showed in her face as her lips peeled back in a smile, her pearly white milk teeth bright against her ruddy, muddy face.

Despite Finley's attempts to rectify the situation, it didn't seem to fix anything for soon Wildfire was struggling away from her godmother's ministrations and toddling away.  Fin whined softly as the girl went, crawling on her belly a little ways after her, wanting to do more and wanting to make sure that she was getting better.  Her brows popped up a little higher as the pup suddenly flung herself into a nearby puddle and began to flop around, effectively rinsing away the pinecone's residue.  She watched timidly, nervously.  What if it didn't work?  What if she choked and died?  Fin could scarcely breathe, even though she likely should have been marvelling at the fact that little Wildfire somehow just innately knew how to cure herself.  Instead, she just laid there with bated breath, waiting to see if ...well, basically if she died or not.  Cause what else was there to do?


Fortunately, death was not to be the outcome that day.  Wildfire finished splashing about and turned to smile happily at her godmother as though not a thing had happened.  Fin released the breath that she'd held tightly in her chest with a huge heaving sigh.  She crawled forward even more until her arms were on either side of Wildfire so that she could plant a series of kisses on her god daughter's face, whining happily all the while.  She wasn't dead!  Sweeeeeeeet!

Finley crept closer, her silver legs stretching out on either side of Wildfire, then squeezing together to hug the little girl. She gave a quiet yip, her black (well, currently brown) tail whipping back and forth and flinging muddy water everywhere. Her aunt didn't seem to mind the mud, though, as she kissed the youngster's filthy face and earned happy giggling and babbling from the recovered puppy.

"Fee, fee, fee," Wildfire opined, pushing herself onto all fours. Her ears twitched as water ran off her underside rather loudly and she looked down between her legs. "Ooh." She watched until the runoff subsided, then righted herself and smiled at Finley. "Gum, gah? Gum, bee?" she said in a rather inquisitive tone.

The tiny wannabe dhole sprang from the puddle then, abruptly pouncing on Finley's right forepaw and biting it. Unlike her gummy nips of yore, this one included two rows of needle-like milk teeth. And the cub didn't know her own strength, so she proceeded decidedly without caution, sinking her tiny fangs into her godmother's foot.

Fin barely even noticed the mud as Wildfire sloshed about between her arms, babbling happily.  She leaned back after the barrage of I'm-so-glad-I-didn't-kill-you kisses to smile at the girl.  "Oh yeah, totally," Fin responded, shifting her facial expressions to match her tone of voice as though they were actually carrying on a conversation, "I'm so glad you brought that up first, I was like.. awkward!"  In truth, Fin had no idea what imaginary topic she was referencing, but it amused her nonetheless.


Wildfire's sudden attack didn't phase her in the slightest, up until the part where she felt suddenly as though she was being stabbed in the arm with a thousand tiny needles.  Fin's entire body tensed against the pain, which wasn't all too terrible, but the surprise of it seemed to make it worse.  She growled instinctively to express her dislike of the feeling and pulled her paw away, furrowing her brows at the little wolf.  "What the fuck you have in your mouth, child?" she asked, quirking a brow, "You chew on your mama's tits with those teeth?  Jesus."  The thought was too horrible for her to handle.

Wildfire reacted instantaneously to the warning growl. She froze, then unlatched her teeth, shrinking slightly backward and slinging her belly to the ground. The filthy cub then rolled onto her back, exposing her faded (and currently mud-slathered) underbelly to the Beta female and wagging her tail tentatively. The she-wolf's sharp words made it fall still and her golden eyes grew wide, staring at Finley's chin and silently begging forgiveness. Simultaneously, her lower lip began to tremble... in her tiny way, she hated that she had displeased her beloved godmother.

Finley lifted her paw to her face, turning it over to inspect it.  It didn't seem that the pup had inflicted any lasting damage, and in retrospect, Fin was pretty sure having her back almost ripped in half by a bear had hurt way worse.  All in all, no harm done.  She relaxed as she set her paw back down upon the ground, returning her attention to Wildfire just in time to see that tiny little tremor in her black lips.


"Oh no you don't!" Fin barked out immediately, lowering her muzzle to the girl's exposed belly and snuffling heavily, "I am DONE with your shrieks, kid.  There will be no crying on my watch."  Fin wriggled slightly closer, though there wasn't a whole lot more space to close between herself and her fiery god daughter.  With her nose pressed against the child's belly, she continued to sniffle powerfully against the girl's soft fur, intermittently flicking her tongue out and giving some gentle nibbles to add to the tickles.  Laughter was way better than crying - Finley was quite an adamant upholder of that moral.

A single tear welled up and broke free, leaving a clean streak on Wildfire's dirty cheek. Then Finley's muzzle arced down toward her belly. The pup sucked in a breath, fearing physical rebuke. None came, though, unless tickles counted. Her watery eyes flew wide and a sharp, surprised giggle burst out of her. Wildfire began to squirm, her paws batting at her aunt's muzzle. She was very ticklish -- so much so, in fact, that she peed a little and screamed as she tried to get away. It was all in good fun, though!

Although her tickle attack had succeeded in preventing Wildfire's sad tears and screams, it had not prevented her happy screars - rather the opposite.  Fin cringed as the little wolf began to screech and giggle.  As much as she wanted the sound to end, she couldn't help but enjoy the simple fact that the child was happy, and thus she continued for a minute or two more.


Once Fin was satisfied (or once she couldn't take anymore of the shrieking, idk), she stood up abruptly and looked down at the giggly little girl between her paws.  Fin scrunched her nose in a playful smirk, then trotted a little further away from the den towards an even larger puddle of mud.  She spun in a couple of circles before pausing and looking at her god daughter, her expression completely serious before a grin flickered across her muzzle and she suddenly flopped over - squirming and rolling and wriggling in the muddy, mucky filth.

Unlike her screaming of yore, this was entirely involuntary. Wildfire simply couldn't help herself as she struggled to get away. She didn't notice her father pop his head out of the den to mouth, "What the fuck?" Nor did she see his questioning expression morph into one of amusement before disappearing back inside. If she had seen him, she might have been deeply offended that he didn't come rescue her from this tickle monster!

After a minute or two, Finley stopped and withdrew suddenly, causing Wildfire to fall limp with relief. She took a few steadying breaths, then perked up when the Beta female began to flounce away. "Eruh!" she called after Finley's retreating back, eagerly climbing onto all fours to give pursuit. She didn't even glance backward to make sure her father didn't mind her straying so far from the den. Not that she thought about it consciously but the puppy figured she was safe as long as she was with her aunt.

She stood on the edge of the mud puddle as Finley flung herself down and began to roll around. Wildfire watched in absolute delight, her golden eyes dancing. She wanted to jump in and join her, yet she hung back to simultaneously await a proper invitation and avoid getting punched or kicked by the Beta's flailing limbs.

Fin had started rolling about simply for Wildfire's amusement, but the more she wriggled, the more it actually became fun.  After a moment, she spun back onto her belly and shook her fur hard, likely spattering mud at Wildfire in the process.  She lifted her paws to wipe the mud away from her eyes before turning and blinking happily at her god daughter who had come to see the show.  She ignored Peregrine's shout from the den, her focus fully upon his spirited daughter.


"Hey Wiffle!  What're you gonna do, just stand there and watch?" Fin asked, her tongue rolling out of her mouth as she gave the little girl a toothy grin, "Get over here!"  She growled playfully at the child, shifting her weight so that she was facing her.

The fiery cub didn't have to be asked twice. Grinning from ear to little ear, she yipped loudly and pounced toward her aunt, splattering thin brown gruel over both of them. Of course, this was her second coating. Her parents were in for a rather challenging bath time later. Knowing them, they would likely carry her down to the lake and dunk her rather than try to lick this mess from her sticky, gooey fur.

"Ororo!" Wildfire babbled as she smacked her tiny paws into the mud puddle, laughing as the liquid ooze danced into the air. "Hiyeee!" Her golden eyes lifted to Finley's face, seeing what her aunt thought of her antics, then dropped again as Wildfire abruptly decided to dip her entire face into the sludge.

Wildfire apparently had just been politely waiting for the invitation to join, for the moment Fin barked at her to come, she bounded into the mud with unbridled enthusiasm.  Finley laughed and turned her head to avoid the splatter of mud that came towards her face like a small tidal wave.  She wiped her paws across her face again as she turned back to watch the puppy toddling about in the mud.  There was mirth in her eyes as she watched Wildfire's antics.  Playing with the pup in the mud was definitely way more fun than playing with her father had been.


Speaking of which... In a rather Peregrine-like fashion, Wildfire quite abruptly face-planted into the mud.  Fin's brows lifted in surprise and for a moment, she wondered if the pup was about to pop back out of the mud and pull a Ms. Doubtfire by shouting "HELLOOOO" just like her papa had. 

The mud felt so weird on her face, yet somehow enjoyable. Wildfire couldn't breathe like this, so she quickly lifted her head again. A strange squelching noise accompanied the movement and she felt a peculiar force as the mud puddle bonded insistently to her face. It wasn't hard to break free, though, and when her head popped up, Wildfire grinned and declared, "Hiyeee!" again. little did she know how similar she was to her silly daddy in that moment.

Then some of the mud began to drip into her eyes, which wasn't so pleasant. Wildfire shut them tightly, then lifted a paw to scrub at her face. This only made matters worse, as her feet were just as filthy. She tried cracking them open again, yet her vision was bleary. Making a sound of complaint, the puppy waddled sideways out of the mud pit, bumbling about blindly for a moment before lowering her face to the grass and wiping it there.

That seemed to do the trick! Still blinking some goop out of her beautiful golden eyes, Wildfire oriented herself and blinked at Finley, a laugh escaping her as she romped back toward the edge of the puddle. She didn't jump back in for the moment, instead dipping her little front feet into the muck and contenting herself with splashing about for a little bit.

Finley snorted with laughter when Wildfire did exactly what she'd hoped.  Her laughter subsided though when the little girl crawled away and began rolling around in the grass.  Fin crept forward through the mud towards her, wondering at her methods of filth extraction.  Fortunately, they seemed to work for the muddy little wolf was soon bounding back to the edge of the mud puddle to splash at it with her forepaws.


Fin lifted a paw to wipe away a large glob of mud that was dripping down her brow towards her eye.  She giggled at Wildfire's playful splashing, quickly growing jealous and wanting to play the game too.  With another wriggle, she came even closer to the child and lifted her own paws to splash happily on either side of Wildfire's itty bitty ones.  "Your parents are so going to murder me," Fin said amidst her laughter as the both of them grew even more covered in muck as they played together.

When Finley joined her, Wildfire giggled, warm golden eyes glued to her aunt's own forepaws as she sloshed around in the mud. Her splashes were bigger than the pup's, so Wildfire tried to make hers bigger by flailing her forelimbs harder. It worked. The situation quickly escalated out of control as the child apparently went mad and started kicking and splashing with all her might. The sound of squelching mud was sprinkled with little bursts of girlish laughter.

All the commotion drew Peregrine back out of the den again. "Whoa," he said, stopping as he got an eyeful of the muddy duo. "You do know that bathing falls under the godmother's list of responsibilities, right?" he asked in a deadpan voice, lifting his leg clear when his daughter suddenly turned and hopped toward him. "Who are you, mud bug, and what have you done with Wildfire?" he said to her, pretending to be scared of her.

Wildfire found this absolutely delightful of course. As the Alpha male continued to prance, keeping his legs always just out of reach, she happily gave chase. She never gave up hope that she could catch him, at least until she became winded and sank to her haunches with a giggled sigh. Only then did Peregrine touch her, throwing caution to the wind as he slung his belly to the earth and clutched his child close. He hugged her tight, smearing his black fur with muck.

"I think I'd better get her cleaned up, then it's lunch- and nap-time. You're welcome to come inside and see the others if you like?" Peregrine invited, rising slowly onto all fours again. He gave Wildfire a nudge and the sludge-slathered puppy made to follow, though she lingered, staring at her Aunt Finley. It was obvious she was tired, yet it was plain as day that she was reluctant to leave her playmate.

Soon enough, Finley's laughs were distinguishable from Wildfire's only because hers were in a slightly lower pitch.  Both of them were enjoying the splash attack immensely, though only one began to throw her whole self into it.

Fin swiveled back onto her belly the moment she heard Peregrine's voice over all of the laughter.  She was now completely covered in the muck, but could easily have been considered oblivious to this the way she smiled broadly up at the alpha.  She peered down at the filthy little puppy, then back at Peregrine, shaking her head.  "Uh, that doesn't become my job until you and Fox kick the bucket," she reminded him with a grin.  

The sight of Wildfire snuggling close to her father made Finley's heart skip a beat, although truth be told - it wasn't either of the Redleaf-Disarinnos she saw.  She paused then, for the very first time in her life finding herself longing to have a picture just like this for her very own...

She shook her head abruptly and snickered at Peregrine's invitation.  Hopping up onto all fours, she gave him a wide grin.  "Everybody gets a muddy hug from Aunt Finley!" she barked happily before shooting past Peregrine and Wildfire and darting into the den, eagerly scooping up the other kids in a muddy hug so that they could all share bath time together.

He had invited her inside, so Peregrine couldn't exactly blame anyone but himself when Finley took him up on it and darted into the den. He and Wildfire trailed after Finley, both lingering in the doorway as they watched the Beta female smother the other two pups with both mud and affection. Wildfire giggled sleepily and Peregrine just groaned lightly and informed Finley, "You know I hate you, right?"

On that note, he playfully kicked her out of the Alphas' den (not without calling her a filthy animal first), then wondered how exactly to accomplish the task of bathing the three pups, especially the particularly filthy Wildfire. Well, he'd swallowed his fair share of excrement and other unpleasantness in the past several weeks, so what was a little mud? Luckily, the kids were pretty tired, so all he did was line them up side by side and begin licking them clean. In Wildfire's case, he had to nibble clumps from her fur more often than not.

To her credit, the middle child was the most cooperative of all. She almost immediately started to drowse, a smile curving her lips. Whenever her father had to move or even flip her, she didn't even move or make a peep. She drifted, dreaming of many more adventures to come with her beloved Aunt Finley.