Blacktail Deer Plateau Bye, baby Bunting, daddy's gone a-hunting

Osprey had come a long way in the eighteen days since her birth. Her eyes had been open for several days now, wide and blue and clear, even if her vision wasn't. She now recognized each of the three adults that frequented the den, though she had trouble differentiating her parents without an accompanying sniff. Both of them and Uncle Kisu (not that she knew him as such) had begun to present her with regurgitated meat, which she chewed with her brand new milk teeth. Her small ears had yet to truly open, yet she could make out some sounds; it was as if she were deep underwater, not that she knew to make the comparison.

Her sister and younger cousins had also continued to grow and develop and now the den was full of wobbly-legged pups on the go. At the moment, Osprey Jr. remained seated, watching the palest blob (Saēna) face-plant for the umpteenth time. Once down, she began to wriggle, which triggered a natural instinct within young Osprey's breast. She rose onto legs only slight less rubbery than her small cousin's and attempted to caper across the den to tackle her. She stumbled and slowed several times but eventually reached her target.

With a happy yip, she flung herself at the smaller, paler puppy, their bellies smacking together with a muted thwack. For a second, all of Osprey's weight pressed down on Saēna, though she found her feet a moment later and stood over top of her patchy relative at a perpendicular angle. She wriggled in place, her tail instinctively stiffening and arching over her back.