Sun Mote Copse and the mome raths outgrabe

By the 5 week mark, pups may accompany adults on short trips away from the den. Weaning occurs during this stage and pups will speak their first full words in week 6.

Guess who's 5 weeks today! Someone take me on a field trip?! @Elwood or @Finley? :D

The day started warm, with nary a cloud to mar the endless blue skies. Sugar had breakfasted with her family just outside the den, eating as much of the chewed meat as she could, and sluggishly dragged herself back inside to sleep. When she roused in the middle of the afternoon, the weather was drastically different: it was now cloudy and overcast, with a chilly breeze whipping through the wood. She smelled rain. More importantly, she smelled meat again. She followed her nose outside and once more dined on freshly regurgitated venison.

Afterward, she felt spirited and began to explore the dooryard, occasionally bumping into a parent, sibling or cousin. She knew to give @Weejay's flower patch a wide berth, though as far as she knew, the weeds on the far side of the small clearing were fair game. She started out by chewing on some of the various greens, though that ended quickly after a particularly bitter sample. Sugar took to the soil then, eating some before beginning to dig, then marveling when she discovered there were more plants underground!

Her head shot up and the tiny striped pup's tail jerked happily as she shouted to anyone who might listen, "Ook! Ook!"

Title from "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.

Due the lack of anything other viable option, Dorminos had decided to use up his afternoon harvesting herbs. This had lasted for a little over half of the morning, at which point he took a detour and decided that he might find more enjoyment in scouting out his new territory. Along the way, he spotted the attractive flower patch and strolled over for a stronger whiff. This was also around the same time that he heard the undeniably adorable exclamation of yet another tiny Firebird (a Firechick?). 

There must have been something about the genes floating around between his packmates; every baby that he’d seen thus far had done nothing less than impress him. Intrigued, Dorminos sneaked quietly around to where the little one stood, about dusted with fresh soil. What is it? he asked with an affirming grin, wondering if she would be as friendly as the last.

Sugar Glider's cries of "Ook! Ook!" drew Elwood's attention; he had been supervising Avery as she gnawed on a bone he had dug up from a nearby cache. She seemed to be content enough -- and there was at least one other adult present, with both Finley and Eljay calling this den home -- so he turned away from her and padded across the front yard to where Sugar had been digging.

He wasn't the only one to respond to her calls, though. Almost simultaneously, the white wolf that had previously played with Crow materialized from the woodwork and peered down at Sugar. Elwood offered a wave of his tail as he came to stand next to his daughter, first looking down at the dirt she had churned up and then glancing up at the other adult.

She had already been asked what it was that she found, so he did not reiterate the question; instead, he addressed his packmate. "I guess it's time I formally introduce myself -- I'm Elwood," he said, his tone friendly.

It pleased her immensely when her shouts summoned not one but two adults, one of them her father. Sugar grinned up at them in turn, her smile smudged with specks of dirt, and then resumed her digging. She unearthed more roots, which she eventually yanked out of the soil, bringing the stem and leaves with them. She was left standing over and staring down at her handiwork in wonder.

One of the roots was wriggling! Instinctively, the youth swatted a paw at it, flinging the earthworm a few inches. It began to curl into itself and writhe madly. Sugar's eyes widened and she pounced at it again, grabbing it between her sharp little teeth. She whipped her head back and forth rather wildly, prancing aimlessly as she did so.

She stumbled right into Dorminos's left foreleg, causing her to spit out the crumpled worm on Elwood's neighboring paw.

The other male introduced himself in kind, and the two adults took part in a bit of small talk while Sugar Glider momentarily amused herself. Elwood keep an eye on her as she continued to dig, and he chuckled as she pulled up an earthworm and proceeded to pick it up between her teeth and show it off.

She bumped into Dorminos's leg just as he was excusing himself, and the worm landed on Elwood's paw. "See you later," he said after his retreating packmate, then directed his attention to his daughter and her prize. The worm looked a little worse for wear, having just been abused by the toddler, but Elwood still uttered a shriek and reacted as though it was a huge snake instead of a tiny worm that she had deposited on his foot.

He gave an overexaggerated yelp and shook it off his paw, taking a few steps back to move behind Sugar. "Help! Save me!" he cried.

Elwood's unexpected cry took her aback momentarily. She gazed up at him, wide-eyed, the noise still ringing in her ears. Slowly, it dawned on her that he was only playing. A slow smile crept over her features and her tail wiggled. Her lips parted in a cherubic laugh, amused by her dad's antics.

Happy to play along, Sugar pounced his foot and grabbed the partially mauled worm again. She shook it, the poor thing falling apart in her mouth. It tasted strange, though she'd eaten her fair share of dirt and the like, so it wasn't that off-putting. With that said, she went to spit out her victim's remains and what came out was a slimy, chunky mess that dripped languidly like goo. Some of it stuck to her chin.

"Say woo!" Sugar declared, favoring her sire with a ghoulishly worm-gore grin, forgetting that anyone else had ever been there.

It took her a moment, but Sugar Glider soon rose to the challenge of saving her father. She seized the worm and crushed it between her teeth, subsequently smearing her chin with its guts. Still, she was proud of herself as she grinned up at Elwood, and he clapped a paw to his forehead in feigned relief.

"Oh, thank goodness! You saved me from that terrible monster!" he said, swooning into a lying-down position on his stomach. He breathed an audible, over-exaggerated sigh of relief, then reached out to wipe the worm's innards from his daughter's face with his tongue.

Her dad made a show of thanking her profusely and Sugar's bottom wriggled. "Say you!" she said again, getting the pronunciation a little better this time. Although her black eyes could oft times seem a little creepy, they now crinkled at the corners, making her look more of an adorable stuffed animal than anything.

Her attention soon turned back to her dig site. Perhaps there were more of those wriggly roots or other interesting things to find. She thrust her tiny pink snoot into the shallow hole she'd dug, then began to paw at the soil once more. This time, she found a small, flat stone buried underneath. That was interesting but what was more interesting was what was beneath it once she turned it over: half a dozen pill bugs went scurrying hither and thither.

At the sight of them, Sugar gave an excited squeak. "Buzz!" she exclaimed, shooting Elwood a quick glance before giggling and trying her best to catch and eat all the poor roly polys.

Sugar's eyes were different -- Elwood and Finley had discussed their odd coloration a time or two -- but, naturally, Elwood didn't think his daughter was creepy. (He might change his mind if he had heard our conversation at lunch the other day.) But she only gazed up at him with those dark irises for a moment before redirecting her attention to the dirt at her paws.

She resumed her digging and Elwood watched attentively. Within seconds, she had found a rock and flipped it over, letting loose a small horde of roly poly bugs. She was thrilled, judging by her exclamation, and she began to go after the insects with her paws and mouth. "Watch this," Elwood said, managing to salvage one bug from her grasp. It had skittered between his front paws, and when he moved a toe towards it, it suddenly curled up into a little ball and was still.

One fortunate potato bug escaped her attention and Elwood pointed a toe at it. Sugar stilled at his command, watching as it went from flat and skittering to round and still. The pup's lips made an "o" shape as she stared at it for a beat, before lunging forward and licking it into her mouth. She swallowed it without chewing.

"Say you," she chirped emphatically, in the instant before the cloudburst that had been brewing overhead opened up and it began to pour without any preamble.

Elwood didn't know what he expected Sugar Glider to do after he demonstrated the roly poly's skills, but he should have anticipated that she would eat it. It was a quick, sudden motion that brought the bug to its untimely death, as she slurped it up with her tongue and then grinned up at her dad.

"Oh --" he started to reply in response to her "saying" him again, but he was interrupted by the abrupt downpour of rain from overhead. It came heavy and fast, and his pelt was soaked before he could even really react. "Here comes the rain!" he said, giving himself a (pointless) shake as he wondered what Sugar would do -- would she want to run for cover, or would she be enticed to play in the wet mud that was puddling rapidly at their feet?

The sudden onslaught surprised Sugar so much that she froze for a moment before ducking for cover beneath Elwood. He shook and she peeped out from between his forelegs, huffing a quiet breath. It was only rain but it was so loud and actually pretty cold too. She pressed against his leg, waterlogged, a slight tremble passing through her small body.

"Say me?" she queried, looking up at his dripping chin before glancing out into the downpour again, trying to make out the den's entrance. Just now, the mud wasn't nearly as enticing as somewhere warm and dry to shelter.

Seems like a good place to wrap up, if you want to post again or just archive! :)

He got the answer to his internal question as Sugar Glider huddled against him, her small frame shivering as the rain pelted her. She implored him to "say" her, and Elwood nearly melted into a puddle right on the spot -- no matter how many children he had raised, it was moments like this that touched his heart each and every time.

"I'll save you," he said, and, tucking her between his forelegs so that she was somewhat protected from the elements, began to move in the direction of the den.

Her father swore his protection and then began to move. Sugar remained huddled beneath him, sheltered from the brunt of the rainfall, and found herself giggling as they trundled toward the den. She only fell silent when she noticed the earthworms emerging from the waterlogged soil, wriggling in the puddles of rainwater accumulating everywhere. She almost shouted for her dad's attention again but, abruptly, they'd reached the den's entrance and he was ushering her inside.

And before Sugar could share about the worms, jaws closed around her damp nape and she found herself being airlifted and then dropped between her mother's forelegs. Finley made quick work of the moisture clinging to the youngster's fur, which sent Sugar off to sleep without pretense or warning. She dreamed of worms.