Sun Mote Copse You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter

Plink-plink-plink. There was a new sound outdoors, one that hadn't ever been there before, at least not in the pup's memory. She was dozing, sprawled out on the den floor, but her ears were alert enough that with every plink, they twitched. This continued for some time. Plink. Twitch. Plink. Twitch.
Baah! she grumbled eventually, having grown annoyed with her own reflexes. She'd tried her very best to keep her eyes squeezed shut and ignore the sound, but the novelty of it tugged too strongly at her curiosity. Slowly, she blinked them open. A sidelong slide of her gaze surveyed the other inhabitants of the den before she got clumsily to her paws and made her way to the den entrance.
The plinking changed to a crackling, static sort of sound when Alyx poked her head out of the den and felt rain drops on her face for the first time. They were cold and sudden, causing her to withdraw with a gasp, but no pain or other negative consequence followed. In fact, she snaked out her tongue and tasted nothing but water on the side of her muzzle. Taking her chances, Alyx creeped out of the den.
Only to step immediately in a puddle of mud that had formed just outside. The feeling of it squelching between her toes and slicking through her fine fur made her freeze on the spot, hackles rippling with discomfort. EWWWwwwwuh! she whined, giving her foot a vigorous, displeased shake.

Phox had been out and about, chatting it up with Towhee about parenting life and how it was wild. Splitting his time between the two families had been a lot easier than he'd expected. He was fairly certain that Meerkat was even nearing the age where she wouldn't need to be supervised around the clock. That alone would make things a lot easier, since she'd free up some of Towhee's time and Phox's. The rain had started to come down on his way back to the Redhawk-Blackthorn den (was that the proper name?), and he arrived to find a disapproving Alyx standing just outside.

-I see you've discovered mud,- he commented with a bemused grin. She did not seem at all pleased by it. Phox, feeling spunky for whatever reason (ok, let's face it, he just loves being a pesky father figure) had an idea. A mischievous expression took over his features when he saw a puddle nearby, and with a momentary look to Alyx, he raised up his front half and plunked both front paws into it, creating quite the splash of muddy water.

I'll leave it up to you how much she gets splashed, hah!

Shaking her foot did little to dislodge the mess. Alyx's frowny face grew even more frowny when she realized it wasn't going to just come off like water, and so began a miniature meltdown as she waggled her foot around and shrieked, OFFFFFOFOFOFFOFFF! as loud as she could, which was exceptionally loud. If half the pack couldn't hear her shrill screeching, it was an honest miracle.

By the time Phox arrived, she was panting and staring hatefully at her own paw with angry tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. All in all, not the best time for dad to be a Dad. She was so preoccupied with her mucky foot that she didn't even notice when Phox snuck over to a puddle... until he reared up and slammed his paws into it. Flecks of mud and water splattered her beautiful, clean flank.

Alyx had exactly five long seconds where she stared, aghast, at the dirt on her fur before her face contorted into the classic prelude to a tantrum and she threw herself to the ground and rolled around, behaving very much like she'd just been shot while screaming, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

He had known this might be one of the outcomes, but it hadn't stopped him. Phox watched as Alyx died on the inside, and then he watched as her face scrunched up. Oh boy, he'd really done it this time! The (maybe too delightful) part of it was that she was now rolling around on the ground, which would only add to her filthiness. As for Phox, he simply stood back and watched as she made the big show. He didn't try to comfort her or get angry about it, but simply watched. It was fascinating how angry a child could get over such a small thing. Depending on how long it went on, he'd step in, of course, but for now he was content to watch his handiwork's repercussions.

Phox was right: Alyx's fur was now coated in filth. The splotches of mud on her side were smeared and dotted with bits of grass, while a heavy layer of dust covered every other inch of her. If Alyx realized this, she didn't show it. She was too busy shrieking and throwing her little body around in wild convulsions, waiting for some angel of justice to descend and make right the horrible wrong that her daddy dearest had committed.

Of course, Phox knew that for a parent, it was sometimes best to just let these things run their course. The longer she thrashed around with no reaction besides a grin from her father, the more worked up Alyx became. Soon, she found her feet and began a veritable stampede, hopping around and striking the ground with her forepaws and kicking like a riled stallion and screaming all the while, throwing herself into a total frenzy, all over a little bit of mud on her coat.

Alyx continued to throw her fit, and Phox continued to watch. So long as she wasn't hurting herself (or one of her siblings), he didn't see any need to step in. Eventually, she'd wear herself out, the moment would pass, and maybe she'd see it wasn't so bad after all. In fact, that gave Phox an idea. Instead of demanding that she stop, the older Redhawk joined in, rolling himself onto the ground and covering himself with mud and debris so he'd come out looking even more like Alyx than before.

-Look, we match!- he declared, blinking away some of the rain from his eyelashes. He was probably even more covered in the mud and earth debris than she was, but his point still stood. Phox wagged his tail, a giant toothy grin on his face.

Phox saw fit to join her in her dilemma, but Phox underestimated the imaginative capabilities of his younger children. Not only was Alyx now upset that she was dirty, but when her father rose from the mud and grinned at her, she saw only a ginormous mud monster that obviously had eaten her daddy, because he was nowhere to be seen.

AAAH! she shrieked in terror, turning to flee from the mud monster, only to slip on the muddy ground and fall face-first into it. She was about to be eaten for sure, and now she was a complete mess. Alyx was so upset with all this that all she could do was contort her face into a silent wail.

Unaware of why this upset her, Phox merely rolled his eyes as she doubled-down on her tantrum, falling with a splat! onto the ground. Surely she'd give up sooner or later... right? If not, he could always call in the much gentler (and probably less mean) parent to the rescue. Niamh tended to be a lot less hard on the kids than their goofy dad.

The rain did seem to be letting up, and Phox looked up to see the sky brightening as the clouds drifted on to their next destination. Maybe the change in lighting would brighten her mood as well.

Last one for me!

Phox underestimated Alyx. It was a solid half hour before she finally calmed down, probably only once someone promised to bathe her. By the end of it all, Alyx was well and truly exhausted and fell into an immediate deep sleep, but if nothing else, she'd proven the power of her lungs and her stubbornness both.