Redhawk Caldera five, six, seven, eight!

COME TO ME BABIES

"Follow me, my legion of brats!" Finley cried out as she burst out of the Redleaf-Disarinno den and pranced forward a few feet.  She stopped just after her first forward march to see if her army truly was behind her.  She had no doubt that @Wildfire would be there - the little cinder-pelted lady was always up for an adventure with her godmother.  Whether or not @Nightjar or @Raven would join her remained to be seen, however.  They were a little more.. what was word.. Reserved?  Cautious?  Intelligent?  Whatever the adjective, they were more that than to just shoot forward recklessly into one of Fin's outdoor adventures - likely they would rather stay safely in their mother's more sensible arms.  But then again, Aunt Fin was pretty flippin' sweet - who could resist?


It wasn't as though she was taking them all too far, in truth.  The kids were still too young to move away from the den, even though she knew that day would soon be at hand (or paw?).  Or maybe not.  She didn't know.  Paying attention to important stuff was hard.  She was too busy enjoying her life.  She had a wonderful supportive pack, a wonderful supportive... mate-like but not really a mate type thing boy, awesome alphas, and their super amusing kids that made her life feel so full and happy and complete.  She wanted for nothing... Except for these kids to hurry to crap up so Aunt Finley could get them into trouble and then blame it on their wild, childish instincts, which she had nothing to do with, obviously.

Raven had come to adore her godmother.  Finley's fun-loving, imaginative, and adventurous personality was a sure-fire win with the younster; despite the fact that Raven was a bit more on the reserved side (especially when compared to her feisty sister), it never took much for Finley to get her out of her shell.  She was already restless and eager to get out and explore the world, and with the passing of each day it became harder and harder for Peregrine and Fox to keep her corralled near the den.  So when her godmother came and invited her to come outside for some unknown adventure, Raven forgot all about the bug she was tormenting on the den floor and stumbled all over herself to follow.  "Fuuhh...huh-leeeeee!" she squealed excitedly -- it was the closest she could get to pronouncing her godmother's name for now.

At this age, the pups can actually go up to a mile away from the den with supervision. :)

Although Wildfire still adored both of her siblings, her brief obsession with Raven simmered as her interest in Naturalism really began to sprout (pun intended). With that said, she was pressed close to her sister today, as Raven had made an awesome discovery: an interesting bug scuttling across the den. But whereas Wildfire wanted to observe it, Raven began to bat it around the earthen floor. The smaller girl's mouth dropped open in protest when Aunt Finley's voice boomed out from the den's entrance, summoning them. Raven immediately went scurrying in response, leaving the bug behind.

Although Wildfire was just as eager to join their godmother, this gave her the opportunity to collect the bug (she fearlessly snatched it with her teeth) and add it to her collection, which had recently been relocated to the far rear of the den. She dropped the insect on top of the pile, then turned to scamper back toward the front of the lair. When she returned later, it wouldn't be there, of course... although a few of its legs had been broken in the process, it would quickly zoom off to a safer place now that the pups' backs were turned.

"Flea!" Wildfire crowed as she bounded up to the Beta female and hugged against her leg, reaching to lick at her chin. Like Raven, she knew her loved ones' names by now but was only halfway decent at pronouncing them. "Pay?!" she said loudly, thin black tail whipping back and forth as she looked hopefully between her aunt and sister.

In spite of popular belief, Nightjar was very far from reserved. He slept a little more than his sisters did during the day, but while he was awake, he could be an absolute terror. As the only living boy of the litter, it seemed he'd soak up an endless amount of energy during the night and then blow it all in wild explosions during the morning. If Nightjar seemed reserved, it was probably because Finley must never have seen him in the early hours, when he played at being a barbarian king for hours on end.

When her voice echoed into the den, he was already up and about, bouncing roughly on his father's paws and biting none-too-gently. Peregrine was a good sport about all this as usual, though doubtless he looked forward to a rest from Nightjar's toothy habit. His right ear perked and swivelled immediately toward the den entrance. His sisters were quick to finish up their activities and race to Finley's call while he lagged behind for a moment, transfixed by the bug that Wildfire had deposited on her pile of junk at the back of the den. Creeping forward on rather loud paws, Nightjar gave a shifty look around, then quickly gobbled the fleeing bug up and ran out into the sunshine.

Finley and the girls were already ahead, so Nightjar strained to catch up. He might've been the largest, but he was probably also the fattest, so his exertion cancelled out the advantage of his size. He did catch up eventually, though, with a chorus of loud barks and an excitedly hollered, "Ann Fuh-leeeee!" as he aimed a rough but playful nip at his closest sister's tail, spraying bits of bug carapace as he snapped.

omg I love each of their versions of the name 'Finley', also RIP little bug

Fin paused only briefly after calling out to the firebirds to join her, just to glance back to see if she at least had caught some of their attention.  The moment she saw a pair of beady little eyes peeking out at her from the depths of the den, she knew she had them.  With a happy little skip, she pranced on forward, leading what soon became the full firebird trio away from the safety of their parents and out into the wild unknown with the wildest and most unknown thing out there - beloved Aunt Fuh-lee.

As she walked, Finley glanced backwards over her shoulder at the little troop.  "Where you guys want to go today, huh?" she asked, knowing that even if they did know what she was asking, they wouldn't be likely to answer with anything resembling ...wolf english... anyway.  "We've got a nice little stream nearby we could go splash about in...  A little field a bit to the east where I bet we could do some rabbit chasing... Or!  The ever popular deep, dark cave with a huge drop we could cross our toes and fling ourselves down!"

Quick, crappy post because I spent too much time in the Community Center forum and now must get ready for work! D:

As her brother and sister quickly piled out of the den to follow her and their aunt, Raven's excitement grew by leaps and bounds.  Sure, it was fun doing things by herself, but the fun was tripled when all three of them were together.  Alternately bounding after Finley, playfully nipping at her brother and sister, and chasing whatever bugs crossed her path, she was completely oblivious to the words Finley was speaking.  Raven was an intelligent girl, but her attention span was more fleeting than that of a bumblebee.  She stopped several times to investigate something that caught her eye -- here, an enticing stick; there, a scurrying beetle -- and each time would linger there as long as she could before she had to run and catch up with the group.

Finley provided a laundry list of possible destinations, consulting with the three puppies about where they wanted to go today. Of course, none of them could really understand her (nor appreciate the dark humor in her latter suggestion), though Wildfire did pick up on one word in particular. "Go!" she shouted loudly in Nightjar's already partially deafened ear before turning to Raven and repeating, "Go!" Finally, her golden eyes lifted to Aunt Finley and a third, "GO!" spilled from her lips.

There were other buzzwords in Finley's soliloquy that latched onto Wildfire's brain like pieces of chewing gum to the bottom of a shoe. She repeated these in random spurts. "Eamerby gospash!" she sang. "Bitties betty bitsing! Plardrop sandfing vestown!" She punctuated these largely nonsensical exclamations by bouncing around—were there springs in her feet?!—and nipping at her three companions, expressing her enthusiasm and excitement in the only ways she knew how.

Soon a snout was thrust into his deaf ear. Nightjar didn't so much as flinch when Wildfire yelled into it, though his opposite ear strained forward to compensate, and he excitedly agreed with her decision with an over exuberant bobbing of his head that quickly left him dizzy. Wildfire was listing off all the places Finley had suggested, while Nightjar weaved drunkenly on the spot, then heavily sat down, blinking away the spinning of his vision.

"Vistown!" Nightjar agreed with the most interesting word his sister said, having absolutely no idea what he was agreeing to but sounding completely convinced that it was an awesome idea. "Vistown, Fuh-lee! Vistooown, go vistown!" Already his legs were way ahead of him, and soon Nightjar was bounding away from the group in no particular direction, completely not heeding their usual simple rule of sticking together. "VISTOWN!" he bellowed, still making absolutely no sense as he unwittingly made his great escape.

While Raven proceeded to meander along in their wake, inspecting anything and everything she could, the other two were quite vocal about what they wanted to do that day.  Fin slowed to peer quizzically at Wildfire first as she babbled on about something, then to Nightjar as he quite enthusiastically agreed.  She took a moment to mull over the options she'd just given them and was unable to place where exactly they'd come up with "vistown" from.  Apparently that was the majority vote, though, so it seemed like it was time for Fin to improvise.


"Well okay then!" she barked with a wag of her tail, "To Vistown we go!  ...wherever that is!  Or whatever--"  Fin trailed off as her gaze swept across the ground, following Nightjar as he clumsily (yet speedily) abandoned the rest of the party.  "Wha-- HEY!" Fin barked after him, nervously pacing after him a couple of feet before wheeling back around towards the other two firebirds.  "Okay guys, new game!  Catch your brother!!" she called to them as she pranced around behind them, leaning down to nip at their butts in order to herd them after their wayward sibling.

Raven had been tormenting inspecting an especially fat, hairy spider in the grass -- which was probably on the verge of biting the crap out of her -- when she suddenly noticed Nightjar hauling ass away from their group.  She watched him tear away and couldn't help herself -- the tug on her heart was too strong, and immediately she followed him.  At the same time, Aunt Finley was encouraging the two girls to do exactly that, though of course Raven was oblivious to this.  Completely forgotten was the fact that there was a rational adult in charge as the little blackbird lost herself in the thrill of chasing her crazy brother.  Her tongue was flying out the side of her mouth, there was a wild gleam in her eyes, and high-pitched squeals of laughter bubbled from her lips as she ran.  It only took her a few moments to catch up with Nightjar, at which point she nipped playfully at his tail and rump.

Nightjar picked up on one of Wildfire's random ejaculations (lulz), screaming "Vistown!" over and over. Wildfire, naturally, joined him. "Vistown!" she crowed, smiling at him, then at Aunt Finley as she announced that that was exactly where they would go. "Yee, vistown!" Wildfire exclaimed, pleased that they'd gone with her suggestion, even if she had no idea what or where this destination might be.

Then her brother made a break for it. Finley and Raven were quick to run after him. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Wildfire giggled loudly and joined the chain of wolves chasing Nightjar. She was the smallest, the little red caboose, and she stumbled several times as she tried to gain on the others. Whereas Raven easily caught up to Nightjar—and Finley would likewise have no problem overtaking the youngster—little Wildfire fell further and further back.

Nightjar's wild escape was hardly wild at all, for the porky pup was surely the slowest of his siblings by a long shot. Finley's voice sounded from far behind and he giggled wildly, putting out as much energy as he could to sustain his less-than-speedy flight, but Raven quickly caught up to him, exhibiting a hunter's and an outrider's incredible agility in the process. When her teeth grazed his rump, Nightjar squealed and did a ninety degree turn on a dime (thanks to being not-very-fast to begin with) and shot off in another direction, but not before catching sight of Wildfire stumbling behind the others.

He wheeled as he ran, still playfully hoping to avoid Raven, which was impossible, and headed for Wildfire instead. "Ruhhh!" he shouted, hoping to entice her to run away with him. "Vistown" was all but forgotten in the excitement of the game he'd unwittingly started by breaking into a run.

No sooner had she taken off after Nightjar than it seemed she had lost Wildfire.  The boy was young and thus was as stumbly and uncoordinated as they came.  It didn't take too much effort for Fin to catch up to the pup, nor did it for Raven either.  Fin slowed as the children tumbled into each other, smiling in relief that lasted for less than twenty seconds before she realized there was a brilliantly red midget missing from the trio.


Fin spun to stare at the terrain they'd left behind, quickly snapping her eyes onto Wildfire's thin, tiny frame.  She was breathing a sigh of relief just as the little girl's brother dashed off to celebrate their reunion with a colossal tackle.  All she could do was just pray that Raven decided to join them even though it was clearly her turn to tear off on her own and set the godmother to panicking.  She'd never before realized how much a handful the three of them were together.  They were so tiny!  How were they such a hot mess together when they were each so tiny?

Sorry to skip + PP in one go but I wanted to git 'er done. :)

Before Wildfire could fall too far back, Nightjar suddenly switched directions, aiming right toward her. Her mouth opened in a playful scream as she attempted to do a whirl of her own. In her excitement and haste, her little red legs tangled together and she dipped forward, face-planting with her butt stuck up in the air. She grunted, then shoved herself back onto all fours even as both of her siblings came hurtling right at her. Wildfire didn't even have time to scream.

Although it was a little uncomfortable being at the bottom of the dog pile, Wildfire took it all in stride. Grunting and squirming, she managed to squeak her way out from beneath her brother and sister. Rather than make another break for it, she spun and leaped on top of them both. Her amber eyes then lifted to Aunt Finley standing nearby and she crowed, "Flea! He'p!" in the hopes that her godmother would help her properly squash Nightjar and Raven.

It seemed their magical Vistown destination was entirely forgotten as the litter's collective attention shifted to a never-ending game of king of the hill, with each of the three puppies taking turns as the king and the hill, respectively... at least until one of them realized Aunt Finley would make the best hill of all and the trio tackled her in tandem.

Closing this one up! :)

Fin followed along as the puppies began to battle one another, smirking especially when Wildfire called out to her for help.  She dropped down onto her haunches to watch, shaking her head in response.  "Nah, you got this," she replied with a shrug, her lips peeling back to reveal a toothy grin.

After a minute or so, Finley slipped down onto her belly to continue watching the pokemon puppy battle - a move she regretted soon enough when they decided she would make the perfect battle arena.  She flattened her head between her paws to allow the three their fun, periodically nipping at a floppy ear or wriggling butt as it came her way.  When finally, she decided she'd had enough, she stood abruptly and set little firebirds tumbling about her paws.

"All right you fiends... Whoever gets back to the den first wins a special prize from Aunt Fin!" She cried, setting the kids eagerly racing back home.  Fin trotted easily after them, snickering at their gullible adorableness.  When eventually they made it back, Fin declared them all winners and so they each were given the treat of a big ol' godmother smother - quite the prize in the eyes of three little adoring babies.