Blacktail Deer Plateau boys can play with dolls too

Although Saēna had proven herself to be robust and resilient, taking punches, hits, and stink bombs from her fellow cubs without complaint, she remained the smallest and the most timid of her siblings. Add to that a displeasure with her first experience outdoors, which had resulted in a small, harmless spider bite, and the trio of parents both real and foster had on their hands a child with a severe desire to never go outside again, who had learned to avoid playing too long with the other cubs lest she get injured by their larger bodies.

But when Kisu brought an extremely excited Pura outdoors to play, Hawkeye thought it best to give him company in the form of his smaller biological sister. She grasped Saēna by the ruff and dragged her kicking and screaming out into the rain, plopping her down just shy of the mud puddle that her brother presently played in. Regaining her feet, the pup immediately attempted to skitter back indoors, but was blocked by a paw and a firm growl from her foster mother.

Defeated, young Saēna crouched in the den's doorway, staring fearfully out at the mud that was presently devouring her brother with her tail tucked firmly up against her underside. Soon enough, she would learn that the spider bite had not been caused by the earth or the sun... But, for now, the young and naive cub blamed the world for biting her toe that day, and wanted nothing at all to do with it.