Redhawk Caldera Twelve years dungeon.

Titmouse hadn't made a peep in days.

Nothing more than a few hoarse chirps, really. Maybe it was beginning to worry the adults (or maybe they were relieved) but it was not something that made Titmouse very happy. In retaliation for the loss of his voice he had begun to vent his frustration on the nearest body — be they sibling, parental figure, or a useless pile of rocks. He couldn't scream at them but he could kick, and headbutt, and gum them until he felt better. Except that his gums had begun to ache lately. It only added to the misery of Titmouse's existence and made him more volatile around his little potato siblings.

Thankfully at this moment he'd found a puppy-sized pile of rocks and was busying himself with rearranging them, rather than trying to reorganize the puppy pile, or chew on some ears. It didn't take much oomph to dislodge the pebbles, but he had managed to get a hefty one in to his mouth, and sat there sucking on it like a lozenge.

eyy puppo!

Unlike his twin sister, Lagan loved the baby firebirds.

They were so extremely adorable. Everyone of them was like a little potato for Lagan to love and covet. He liked to bury himself in their puppy pile, and gave them all the attention he could spare. When he wasn't sulking about with boredom, playing with Liffey or his immediate family, or eating, Lagan was playing with the babies.

Right now he was very interested in watching the little angsty boy, who was taking out his anger on a pile of pebbles. Lagan giggled out loud when the boy managed to stuff an entire rock in his mouth. Lagan stood up and shook out his silvery grey fur, then trotted over to the pup. That's impressive. I wanna try. He said with a lisp, squatting down and grabbing a rock in his mouth. His mouth was much bigger than little screamo's so his mouth didn't puff up like the little boy's did. Thus he grabbed another one. With one on the inside of either of his chubby cheeks, Lagan smiled a rocky smile at the pup.

The rock didn't taste very good. It was dusty, and soon enough the film of soil upon it had turned to a warm mud upon his tongue. Some of this he swallowed, but it wasn't a yummy thing.

And then, when an adult came by to intervene, Screech didn't know what to do. He froze and looked up at the silhouette, half expecting to be admonished in some way, or grabbed and cleaned and thrown back among the myriad of children laying in the puddle behind him.

When  it turned out to be Lagan — who Titmouse briefly mistook as their sister Liffey because he was a dumb little turd — he relaxed a little. Then when the older boy began to chomp on rocks himself, Titmouse felt a mixture of relief and amusement. Lagan looked like a chipmunk! Not that Tit had ever see one before.

He opened his mouth to make a happy sound, and out plopped his pebble. Moist spit-mud tumbled down his front, and he grinned up at the other boy with a sparsely-populated smile layered with dirt.

Lagan made a strange choking sound that was supposed to be a laugh when as he watched the pup spit out his rock along with a whole lot of gunky brown stuff. It was pretty gross, but also really cute, and luckily Lagan didn't care about gross. The cute was all the mattered to him. He almost spat out all his rocks, but managed to hold them in. Waithpl. He said, attempting the word, wait, with two rocks in his mouth. He then reached down to Titty's pile and picked up another rock. With a bit of a struggle, Lagan managed to shove yet another rock, though it was smaller than the other two, into his mouth.

He looked down at Titty, his ears perked and his tail wagging. If his face wasn't completely stuffed, he would've bragged, but all he could do was look proud.

The older boy picked up some of his own rocks and Titmouse's grinning face transformed in to an expression of awe. One by one Lagan scooped up rock after rock, filling his cheeks like a chipmunk. After a moment of staring, Titmouse investigated more thoroughly. He crawled closer and lifted himself torso-up against Lagan like a hound treeing a fox, and stared at the boy's big face full of mud like it was a great treasure he'd suddenly discovered.

Ooawwooh! he babbled, his voice crackling the louder he got; after one loud voice crack he quieted again, and resorted to staring at his playmate in silence with his eyes the size of dinnerplates.

Lagan would've smiled if he had the physical ability to do so, but the rocks did restrict his facial expressions some. Titmouse looked so happy though, and soon that look of happiness turned into awe. Lagan was pretty impressed with himself as well, and his mind drifted away to a cool thought. What if I could switch bodies with Titty, and then I could see what I look like. That'd be so cool.

When Titmouse moved himself up onto Lagan, he boy bent over and spat out the rocks putting them gently back onto Titmouse's pile. Then he turned back to the pup and with a joyful smile he exclaimed, Taadaa!

Titmouse followed Lagan's motions with his head and shoulders, craning to watch the dark ofhis nose and the slick mud on his lips as he bent to deposit the rocks. They were shining and wet as they were added to the pile. When Lagan spoke, the little one instantly forgot about the rocks and turned his attention away from the stones. He was once again enthralled by Lagan; Tit looked up at him like Icarus must have stared up at the sun, grinning a big stupid smile and wiggling while he tried to reach for Lagan's nose with his tiny, sharp teeth. Daa-daaaa! He tried to mimic, his voice a squeaking drawl, which then turned in to an even squeakier puppy-howl.

Lagan was just as thrilled as little Titmouse, at the fact that he could make him smile so big. He'd never seen little screechy look so happy, the kid always seemed to be a'hollerin in agony. Lagan had done a good job. The small pup crawled forwards and nipped at Lagan's nose, the older boy leaned back out of his way, laughing at the pup. Then Titmouse opened his mouth and let out an adorable 'daa-daaa!' of his own which turned into a howl.

With a smile, Lagan opened up his mouth and howled with him. He wasn't thinking about how that might awaken some of the others nearby. He jus wanted to howl with his little dude.

When he began to mimic the mimic, Titmouse felt the first stirrings of a strong connection with the older boy. Yes, this was what he wanted — someone big and strong to idolize! To learn from! To be loud and obnoxious with! His siblings were great at being both of those things, but they were steadily decreasing in number, and Titmouse could only be entertained by them for so long before finding something else to tinker with. Now at least if he wasn't eating rocks, he could croon with Lagan.

Aaaeeooo!!! Wooooeeoo! he sang an incongruent series of screechy, crackling notes that made a few of the adults lift their heads and turn to look at the two of them, perplexed and irritated. Weewooooaaoo! He tried so hard to match Lagan's sounds that he strained against him, standing on his tiny hind legs and canting his head back aggressively, and then fell backwards — he rolled and smucked in to the rock pile, which scattered behind him.

Titmouse had a very interesting voice on him, something that the silver furred boys had in common. Lagan had his lisp, Titmouse had his... whatever one would call the noise he was making. He continued to howl with his little friend, but stopped when he noticed some of his family members looking at him. His awoooooooo crescendoed down from a 10 to a 1 in a few seconds, and with a embarrassed smile, he whispered Sorry.

When he turned back to Titmouse, the boy was crooning so hard that he fell over backwards right into his pile of rocks. Lagan's eyes widened and he scampered forwards to the pup's side. Nudging him gently, Lagan gave Titmouse an affectionate lick, then nosed him upright. Deciding that it was perhaps time to take a break, Lagan laid back down on his side, his fluffy stomach was an inviting nook for the pup to hide in. Lets take a nap ok buddy? He said, his tail thumping happily.

Naptime was a good plan. He didn't know what the word meant, but when Lagan began to settle down, the tired boy settled too; he emulated his new friend as best he could, and when presented with a spot to squirrel in to, Titmouse gladly squirmed and squished his way to a comfortable napping spot. He was asleep quickly enough, his snores sounding a little like a rain-stick.

Lagan was glad to see that Titty had gotten the message, and in minutes the puppy had curled up against his stomach and was snoring away. Lagan smiled and gave the boy's head a quick lick, then laid his head down on the ground, closing his eyes and falling into sleep as well.

I'll archive <3