Redhawk Caldera Peach or plum

@Carolina Redhawk Sibling thread?

The early morning had gone about as smoothly as usual. The Redhawk pups were fed, Lyric complained for more, and then ran outside to look for familiar faces. Usually he would have found his grandmother or barked at a swiftly departing Cinar but it seemed that most were already out and about or sleeping in this morning.

Momentarily, he was defeated. Until he remembered the important fact that he had a built in playmate, straight from the same womb and everything. Swinging his head around, the Nestling with his clumsy paws yelled back into the den for his sister; CAROLINA! And he could really yell, he had the pipes of an opera singer.

Carolina had not begged for more. She was eager, always, to venture out into the big, green world. Colors had fascinated her from the beginning, but her favorite was quickly becoming green. She padded quietly from the den to seek it out while her brother was still busy, and sat now with her eyes on a brushy dandelion head.

It looked like it would feel funny in her mouth.

The sound of her name had her head whipping around. Carolina had an idea that she'd been busy, and so she was annoyed to be interrupted — but in truth, thoughts of the dandelion itself had fled her mind as soon as new stimuli entered it. She stalked toward her brother, tail lashing, and then pounced!

She was a quiet girl. She didn't growl or bark as she attempted to tackle her sibling. Only threw her weight into it, and reached for his ears with the intention to pull.

His sister soon responded by tackling, Lyric squealing as he put paws to her muzzle and pushed. For him it was all in good fun, why wouldn't it be? Though he wasn't too keen on letting her pull his ears.

Wriggling out from underneath Carolina, Lyric was intent on making this a proper game. Freezing momentarily, he flinched forwards before running as fast as his legs would move him away from the entrance of the den. He rarely had any sense of concern for who else was walking about on a regular day, so perhaps it was a good thing that the caldera was so quiet this morning.

Though the attack might have started in anger, Carolina forgot she'd been offended as quickly as she'd forgotten... well, whatever that thing she'd been occupied with before Lyric arrived. Even so, she was a vicious creature. She tried her hardest to get an ear between her sharp, puppy teeth — and then let out a primal yell when her brother slipped from her grasp.

She wriggled back to her paws and charged after him, her vision tunneling until all she could see was her prey. She was past her chattering stage, and now seemed rarely to feel the need to vocalize unless expressly bade to do so — but in that moment she wanted to shout her brother's name. Her lungs burned with the effort it took to keep running, however, and so she put all her focus into that.

Slowly, she was gaining on him.

Lyric had always thought his sister to be strange. He was a performer at heart; loud, dramatic, and always looking for the next exciting activity. It seemed to him that she was just the opposite, much more focused than he could ever imagine himself.

Looking back he could see her gaining on him, and chose to come to a sliding stop. Whipping around, his eyes widened with all of his dramatic spirit. There's a spider.. he claimed, on your tail! Whether or not Carolina would jump at his proclamation, he didn't know. They had learned of the strange bugs only a few days ago when it was crawling about the den; Lyric hadn't liked them too much.

The chase abruptly ended. Carolina was not ready to stop, and though she wheeled her short, puppy legs, the result was that she went ass over ears and bowled straight into her brother, spider or no.

She knew about spiders. Liked them, even. She was briefly quite concerned that it might bite her or else be squashed in the tumble, but all the rolling quickled joggled the thought from her mind. There was only the here and now, and the here was sprawled atop her brother, and the now was that they were obviously in another wrestling match.

Carolina went for his ears again, quiet as ever and intent, as ever, on dealing damage to her opponent.

She went for his ears again, imagining the flesh shredding between her teeth like some of the scraps they were sometimes brought.

He wasn't quick enough this time and Carolina was able to get ahold of him, though when the bite became too rough Lyric was swift to let out a cry. This wasn't a game he was interested in playing anymore!

Paws pushing upwards, he aimed to get his sister off of him as quickly as he could manage. Whether or not he planned on running to cry to their mother, well, he probably would. Mama's boy.

The girl was frustrated when her prey wasn't as gamely as she wished — but of course, she knew that his cry meant that she had to stop. She even felt a little bad that he wasn't having fun, and sighed to herself to release some of the tense emotion that balled in her chest: guilt for hurting him, anxiety that he might tell on her, anger that he'd put an end to her fun.

She slid back to the ground, belly low despite the unfettered aggression she'd displayed. She was not a domineering wolf — just one with a hair trigger prey drive.

"Let's hunt," she urged, breathless still from the run and the tussle. She wanted to distract him quickly from telling, so she forced the words out. "Or pick flowers," she added, in case hunting reminded her beloved brother of having been hunted by her moments before.

He was undoubtedly upset, quick to stand back up once Carolina was done with his ears, though her offer did seem to successfully distract him. Alright. He decided, eyeing the surrounding area for any sign of worthy flowers or potential prey.

Wait! He froze, eyeing Carolina. You just don't want me to tell. And why wouldn't he? He was so good at it. Had Lyric been a bit smarter or a bit older, he probably would have used to as blackmail to play a game of his choice. One of the stupid one's where he got to pretend he was a cool pack leader, and Carolina was the significantly less cool role of not the pack leader.. but that didn't come to mind.

It seemed for a moment that she'd gotten away with — whatever she'd done wrong. The memory had already faded to the back of her mind, where she'd likely not revisit it at any point during her childhood. She still breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and prepared to follow her brother on their next adventure when —

Carolina gazed back at him, her heart beating fast in her chest.

"...Tell what?" she asked, trying to sound innocent. Even though she could not (or perhaps simply would not) recall what she'd done wrong, she knew perfectly well that she was guilty.

Lyric couldn't quite recall either, but he knew he was upset, and being upset meant one thing.

MAUMM! He yelled for @Amalia, little snitch legs running back towards the den as fast as he could manage. There was no more room for play here, only absolute sibling war!

If there was one thing Lyric loved more than singing his songs and running wild, it was crying to his mother. He wasn't evil, it was more for her comfort than it was to get anyone in trouble, but nonetheless it could be troublesome.

Troublesome indeed — but there were few things that plagued (or delighted, unfortunately) Carolina as much as her own overactive pretty drive. She chased after Lyric at once, at first only intent on begging him not to tell.

Quickly, however, the sight of him running before her, and the nervous drum of her own heart, activated a different part of her brain. Her vision tunneled once more as she fell into true pursuit, always just a few inches too far behind to make a proper pounce.