Redhawk Caldera king of the mountain

Every day seemed the same to the pup. Or rather: all the time seemed the same. Days were not something that he yet recognized, not a rhythm he acknowledged, for its eyes were still shut tightly. The pup’s behaviour remained the same, and a lot of the time the pup was still, not moving much nor making much noise. It was not bothersome to its parents, except perhaps to worry them that he may yet decide that life was not for him, for he remained small and fragile due to his early birth.

The pup lived, it survived, although the pup did not know nor understand what he was doing here or why. Ten days after its birth, for the first time the pup started to discover Mt. Mum. The pup slowly clambered over her front legs, all the way up towards her shoulder, and pressed its nose into the soft, warm fur to inhale the familiar scent while it tried to think of a way to climb further up there.

PPing Finley. Hope that's ok!

Fox had given the new parents space for the first several days. She wanted to ensure that they had time to themselves, without a badgering Alpha looming over them. Not only that, but... Fox just didn't care about other kids that much. She was the self-centered type, preferring to care for her very own, and nothing more. Eventually, though, curiosity and concern for Finley drew her close to the Beta pair's den, and she poked her head just inside the den's opening.

It took a moment for her grey eyes to adjust to the absence of so much light, but eventually, she spotted the tiny lone pup scrambling on top of its mother (who was, presumably, asleep). Knowing how she had felt during the first couple of weeks, Fox quietly crept in, hoping not to wake @Finley in the process. Sleep had been hard to come by for Fox, and she gently nudged the pup toward her and away from his mother. "Leave her be," she whispered.

The pup did not notice the alien influence coming into the den. It was trying to clamber on top of its mother's shoulder, but such was not an easy feat, it turned out. The pup squirmed in dismay as it did not quite manage to get on top of the shoulder, for it was too straight upward for it to crawl onto, and it could not find purchase to climb.

Seemingly out of the blue, something pushed the pup away from its target of climbing on top of the pleasant warm fur thing. While the touch had been gentle, the pup was startled by the touch and lost its balance. The pup fell down to the ground beside its mother's foreleg, and it had suddenly lost all of the warm fur bits.

However much the pup wanted to find the warm fur back and be rid from this painful terrain around it, the pup did not start to move instantly. Instead it remained on the cold and uncomfortable ground, laying as still as it could. Only the tiny inhales and exhales of its breathing betrayed that the pup was still alive, for it seemed to try to play dead now that its first attempt at discovery of the world around it had been punished.

Well, he was a weird one. Instead of screaming bloody murder as Wildfire might have done at his age, he remained quiet. A little too quiet, which caused Fox to gently lift him and place him between her own front legs, close to her chest. If it had been anybody else's child, she probably wouldn't have taken the time to do so, but this was the child of the Beta pair, her best friends, and two of the most loyal and loving wolves she'd ever met: Elwood and Finley. He was a lucky little squirt.

Gently, Fox began to groom him, starting with that soft little belly of his.

The pup remained still, hoping that the world would quiet down and that he would be allowed some rest. Maybe he would try to climb his mother's soft fur again another time, to embrace its warmth and to get a sense of achievement by taking tiny steps forward. For now, he was done with it, after being deterred.

His quietude was not met with acceptance; instead, the pup let out a brief squawk while he was being transported to another place. After his brief protest, the pup fell silent again, waiting for whatever was to come next.

It came in the surprising form of a soft tongue, and the pup fell silent, allowing the tongue to groom his fur. It felt nice.

Fox's gaze flashed to Finley for a moment, worried that the mother might awake with Eljay's brief squeaking, but she did nothing more than grunt and roll onto her other side. Perfect. The little wolf seemed the enjoy the soft caress of Fox's tongue, to which she was pleased. The last thing Redhawk Caldera needed was an unruly pup who disliked being handled. Once his belly was done, Fox nudged him so she could get at his back, another easy target for grooming. It was hard to believe the Firebirds had ever been this tiny, even though Fox knew she'd held them just like this once upon a time.

The pup allowed himself to be groomed, for he enjoyed the feeling. Most touches that wolves offered were nice, felt good, and he lavished them, although there were many touches less pleasant, too: mostly of the surroundings. The pup did not like those much, like the cold ground, but he could forget about the bad feels when he felt the good ones for a moment.

There was little to show that the pup enjoyed the bath that he received. He remained still while he was washed, although there was a lack of protest (something that could be either positive or negative when it came to the pup, so far).

He seemed to settle, though she was not sure if this was good or bad. She liked to think it was the former and that she'd done something right. After raising three little sprites up halfway to adulthood, she must have done at least one thing correctly. Fox continued to bathe him, making sure that he was all good and clean. She hadn't intended to stay for too long to begin with, and she stopped momentarily to see what little Eljay would do. "You know," she whispered, "you look more like a Koala to me."

The pup did not respond much at all when the bathing stopped. It was slowly falling asleep, although there was little sign on the outside to signify that the pup was drifting off to sleep at all. It remained silent, steadily breathing with its eyes closed, but not much else happened.

Eventually the pup drifted off to a dreamless slumber in the other wolf's arms, unaware of what would happen afterwards.

my last post, thanks for the thread! ^^

No problemo!

His breathing slowed, and Fox held her breath for a second, worried that she had done something wrong. Instead, she realized that he had fallen asleep. A content smile drew her lips upward, and she carefully placed the pup back next to his mother. Before leaving, Fox gave Finley a lick on the head (though her friend did nothing aside from mumble something incomprehensible). Her duty here done, Fox stepped out into the bright light of the afternoon, ready to move on with her day.