Moonspear degrees of light

Funnily, despite being identical to her two darker sisters, Lyra was not at all in sync with them when it came to developing and reaching the milestones of puppyhood. Perhaps they were all different...or maybe it was only she who lagged behind the others.

She had woken with a start, startled by the brightness that assaulted her freshly opened eyes. She blinked them a couple of times, the left opening first before she swiped at her face with an uncoordinated movement of her paws. They both opened then, and the girl froze. Unaware that she was a little late to the whole being able to see business, the pup slowly and unsurely cast her head around, squinting at the blobs of shapes that made up the rest of her sleeping family. They were still entirely foreign to her, at least visually, and she kept her blurry gaze on them for a moment longer before turning to the den mouth — the brightest thing in her vision.

She was almost drawn to it, but instead shivered and began to back-peddle on wobbly legs, beginning her usual chorus of cries for her mother, desperately wanting to be swept away from this new and strange unknown.

It can tell them apart, now. One of them, of course, is the Most Beloved. It could never mistake this companion for any other. The pale one is obviously different as well. That just left the other dark-furred creature that looks much the same as the Beloved and - though it has no way of knowing - very much like itself.

It doesn't have a word for these creatures, yet, though it has acquired the knowledge that they should but called something. That everything should have a tag, a callsign, a name. But no one has told it yet, and it does not know. So, in lieu of 'Lyra', it addresses the blue-eyed companion as "Ba! Babababab, bab ba baba!"

It is a joyful exclaimation - another of the companions has gained sight, and it wants the fledgling to know that everything is okay. That this is - apparently - very normal, and that it should stop its incessant whinging and enjoy the new ways in which it is now able to wreak havoc.

It tries, with more incantations of "Baba! Ba ba ba!" to direct its peer toward The Sparkly White Light, but Lyra is intent on being swept off by the Kind Mover. "Ba! Ba ba da," it complains, taking a small, triangle-shaped ear in tooth and pulling insistently toward the Light.

Dash made his way towards the den he knew to be occupied by the Alphas and their pups. He had yet to visit the site, mostly worried that Ame would be extra protective and probably wouldn't want everyone around. He figured it would simply be best to stick to his duties and let the parents do what parents do. 

Today, however, he happened upon an injured rabbit, and it now hung limp from his jaws. It wasn't a difficult catch, just took some patience, which he generally had bounds of. He wasn't very sure when the pups began eating meat, but if they weren't ready for it, he thought their mother would need it, anyways. 

He approached the den, looking around for signs of life above ground. He found none. Slowly, he stepped towards the opening, laying the rabbit there. He was just about to turn and leave when noises from inside the den caught his attention. Ears perked, his eyes gazed in. In the faint light, he could see them moving around. His tail wagged, and he chuffed a hello to them, but made no move to enter the den. 

Bleary eyed and mentally slogging her way out of slumber, she lifted her head to survey the relative darkness of the den when a pup's cries drew her attention. First step was always identifying who voiced their concerns so plainly, and secondly came understanding why. Usually there was a reason, no matter how small. Sometimes not, and always, efforts had to be in mind to make sure she'd only have one fussing infant on hand instead of a whole litter worth of whining needing calmed down.

But naturally, another was quick to add in her own chorus and it was the unfortunately familiar noise-maker, Alya. This quickened her focus, although she would have been happier to hear them both quiet down own their own, she wouldn't be that lucky.

Spotting the two that strayed from the rest, she rose and crept closer with the entire delicate touch she could bring from her tired, stiff body. She chuffed, low and fond to the little ones when she came upon them both. In this motion, she realized that Lyra's eyes were open now too. With her own sense of timing not being the best for all of her own life, she has never known what is meant to be appropriate for these pups and their milestones exactly but she is undeniably pleased to see she had joined her sisters finally. Ame couldn't help but murmur a soft shhh onto her forehead. At least for Alya, all this noise was normal, so the dark alpha did not intervene yet, but watched the pup keenly all the same to see how she may test her current limits.

While she did, she noticed Dash just at their doorstep. She chuffed at him, although found her voice clipped and expression stiffening -- which she masked by nosing Lyra gently in her silence. She trusted him, though, and he brought food, so she would let him have his first true glimpse of them. Ame swallowed thickly and wriggled her tail in the den's dim light.

Another was quick to rouse, though it was not the one Lyra pined for. Instead, she swung around to come face to face with her loud sister, receiving a barrage of high-pitched exclamations in her ear — ears that had only just began to pick up on sounds. The girl yelped in fright, eagerly scrabbling even further away but her tiny legs refused to cooperate and she did not get far. The other pup tugged on her ear, causing Lyra to complain even louder as she was pulled forward.

Their mother seemed to be more than calm about Lyra's predicament, gently touching her forehead and offering a little nudge. She awkwardly turned to face the dark blurry mass that was Amekaze — not even realising a stranger had appeared at the entrance of the den — with her ear still held hostage by her sister. "MMMNN...BUH," she cried, trying to tug away, the distress clear in her voice.

The shadow at the mouth of the den is what convinces it to let go. Somehow, it connects its sister's whines with the appearance of this beast, and natually assumes that it has appeared to protect the squealing girl.

Dropping the soft, fuzzy triangle and tucking its chin against its throat, it observed the monster that now stood at the mouth of the den. Funny that it smelled masculine - it was black, and everyone knew that being black meant you were a girl, and white meant you were a boy. But this black creature was definitely male. Weird.

The distinction was vague and foggy in the back of Alya's mind. It did not know whether it was black or white, or even that it could be, though it had long since figured it out iwas the same manner of creature as the rest of its family. That black wolves could now also be boys threw a wrench into its view of the world, but it was quickly adapting, relying more on scent for such things than sight. Maybe color didn't matter, but her nose could never mistake a male for a female - not in adults anyway.

With its siblings, things were less concrete. They all smelled vaguely girlish, but then, the Kind Mover was a girl. Maybe they just smelled like her? It was certainly a conundrum. Luckily, Alya was far from such complex thoughts. Confusion reigned supreme before she quickly came to the conclusion that she must be a girl. The most beloved was a girl. They were the same.

And this stranger was not the same. Alya didn't know him; he wasn't family and so he didn't belong. Growling mightily, she charged two bouncing steps toward the wolf, daring him to try and enter.

"Ba gaga da!" she shouted.

While he was excited to see the pups, their own reactions were different. One seemed scared, and moved off away from the entrance, while the other seemed to actually lunge at him with a growl. Was she warding him off? They looked so tiny and cute, it was hard to be scared of them.

But, that's what Mom was there for, and the moment Dash seen her expression and heard her clipped chuff, he immediately went to his belly, and his ears flattened on his head. He was about to move on when he seen her tail move. Was that a wag? He wasn't sure if she wanted him to leave, but just this once, he took a chance. He shifted back a little, but his head was still in view of them. His soft gaze watched the pups as they tried to make their way through the den. His muscles were kept taunt, however, just in Ame decided to run him off.

She was getting used to sharing the puppies with anyone. It was a gradual process, though, and she'd only improve it the more she allowed. Slowly, steadily, she had to expand their repertoire of who they could see, and who could come close. All of it, even the still-foreign feeling maternal protectiveness itself, still prickled up her skin in that vague anxiousness unlike anything she'd known properly before. But so long as she remained appeased, it was easier. Somewhat.

The pups themselves distracted her briefly, although she saw Dash lower himself and seem poised to respond should she move on him, but her paws were full with two conflicting responses. Lyra's got her attention first, and she tried to collect the distraught girl after she swept forward enough to grab the rabbit at the entrance. Alya was kept under a careful watch, who had pounced boldly. "It is fine.. for now, they do not see many yet," she cautioned to Dash as she stepped back and situated herself sphinx-like near enough to the entrance to let Alya burn off some energy harassing Dash while soothing Lyra simultaneously, who she scooped gently into her forelimbs with the rabbit off beside Ame's legs.

Between licks, and when she dared to glimpse away from Dash and Alya, she peered down into Lyra's puppy-blue eyes, wondering what this was like to her to see her world for the very first time, and then just who she may one day become.

Suddenly, the pinching sensation on her ear was relieved as her sister let go to focus her attention on the larger wolf outside. Finally, she was free! She went to jerk her head back in reaction, tail wiggling with delight, before the shadow that was their mother loomed over her. Lyra paused to watch Amekaze quickly pull the metallic-smelling, furry lump into the den from the outside, curious about it, before she was swept towards her in another smooth movement.

She was cradled now in the female's forelimbs, flipped onto her back and staring up at her chin. Lyra quickly cast a glance over to her sister, and finally took notice of the dark stranger at their doorstep. She couldn't see much of him — her eyesight being as blurry as it was — but what she could make out, she did not like. Shyly, the pup turned away from the entrance, leaving her braver sister to take on the giant being. Her blue eyes instead turned up to the much nicer view of her mother, who she stared up at in wonder as she soothed her.

The beast did not flee or lunge at her urgings. Alya tipped her head back toward the Kind Mover, only to see that she seemed virtually unaffected by the encounter. Words drifted over her head and caused her ears to flicker, but Alya paid them no mind. Instead, she peered at the dark stranger, her head cocking comically to the side.

"Aga ba?" she asked, taking a few brave steps toward the stranger and plopping down before him. Who was he? Another sister? (No, that wasn't right. She would always know her sisters.) A Great Black? (Also wrong; this stranger was nowhere near as wonderful as The Great White.) A Mover? (This seemed the most likely of her musings, so far.)

Standing again and wagging her tail, she bounded forward until she was right at the Strange Mover's paws and bestowed upon them many happy kisses. "Aam aam aam," she declared, peering at the Mover's underside in order to locate an availible teat.

Hydra watched, quietly. She had first been loud, but now, silence ruled her. Until it did not! When her favored Alya quieted, Hydra was disappointed; she had hoped her sister would continue to rally against the foreign entity, to which Hydra herself was not entirely comfortable with herself, despite her mothers own acceptance of him. Hydra, at that point, rose and quickly lurched beside Alya, barking in a low pitch that hardly invoked fear but surely was meant to! This thing, she believed, scared Lyra; it could not be had!!!!

A verbal acceptance from Amekaze had his tail wagging and a smile appearing on his maw. He nudged the rabbit forward so that she could more easily grab it, and turned his attention back to the pup in front of him. His ears perked at the sound that came from her maw, but he had no idea what the pup had said, if speaking was what she was trying to do. She came towards him, and his tail wagged in delight. He hoped this was a sign that the pup was accepting of him.

Suddenly, he was bombarded with kisses, distracting him from the rest of his surroundings. He readily attempted to return them, his tongue grooming the young pup as she she uttered more unintelligible things. His focused was moved to another pup that had decided to join them, and so Dash was unaware the first was looking for something he couldn't provide. This new pup seemed a little more aggressive, but Dash was hardly afraid of her. He moved his maw towards her in an attempt to shower her with the same kisses he had just given the first.

She'd observe them quietly, especially now that Alya moved upon him more and Hydra soon rallied against unsuspecting Dash, who seemed quite happy about their attentions. Ame wouldn't interfere. They were his problem for now, and she almost warned him that they could be surprisingly needle-like with tiny claws and eager jaws. But he'd get to figure that out in his own way, she decided, just as she had.

Lyra seemed much more content with Dash out of her sights, and this made her hover her muzzle over the pup a bit more protectively so she could feel more at ease perhaps. Ame wouldn't push the matter for her to be more forward like the sisters and instead just enjoyed these moments of a good puppy while the others exhausted their energy on someone who wasn't her. Ame took it as a win-win for now. She occasionally peppered the dark girl at her chest with licks and watched the others.

Nestled within Amekaze's forepaws, Lyra gingerly peered over her shoulder, her view partially obscured by her mother's muzzle. She happily accepted the little cocoon of warmth and safety she found herself in, giving her thanks in the form of tiny licks against her mother's fur. Still, she was curious about her sisters' antics and peered at the two darker forms at the feet of the larger one.

Faint barks and growls reached her ears but she could not tell who had made the sounds. Yet an instinctual urge to join in her sibling's rally cry rose within her chest, and Lyra wiggled around to position herself so she could face in the direction of the intruder. There was a moment of hesitation, before she let out a barely audible boof, hoping it would frighten the stranger.

Disappointed by the lack of food on the beast, and frightened by the Crown Princess's aparent displeasure with their guess, Alya began to back away. The entrance of the den had always scared her, and anything but the Great White that came from it was probably just as scary.

"Bah!" she declared, lashing out at the thing when its warm tongue came down on her. "Bah na bah!" she shrieked, biting and clawing until she found herself away from the creature and back against the kind Mover's pelt. She scooched over until she was pressed close to Hydra as well, knowing that her sister would always protect her.

"Bah bah bah mah," she whispered gravely, explaining the situation to the Crown Princess. "Bah bah ah mah!"

Hydra led the vocal charge, and as the others tongue came, Hydra's yells reached a shrieking pitch that they never had before. Ah! But the blow landed, and Hydra was at once very, very quiet, calm for but a terrible microsecond as a storm brewed within her. It was Alya's chants that encouraged Hydra to launch at Dash, her needle-like teeth seeking to grab at whatever was nearest which might have very well been his face, should he have not yet withdrawn. Anything was fair game to the wrathful Hydra, who was less than pleased that the other did not back off as she wanted to. So angry was she that she did not ask her sisters to partake in this battle, but perhaps on principle they would as it seemed where one went, the other followed.

The mood seemed to change suddenly from happy and playful, to the pups barking and attack him. His ears flattened on his head as Dash shifted uncomfortable, not knowing what he had done to cause the shift in the moods of the pups. One pup continually barked at him, while the other jumped at his face.

He jerked his head back to avoid injury to his eyes, but he felt the nip of her sharp teeth on his muzzle. His tongue darted out to lick the wound and he tasted fresh blood. It wasn't much, but enough that he knew she had broken skin. Dash whined, offering no retaliation to the pups, who he only wanted to be on good terms with. But, it seemed they simply didn't like him. His gaze shifted to the darkness of the den, hoping this scene, and his presence, wasn't upsetting Amekaze. And maybe his eyes begged for a little guidance, too, as he had no idea what to do now.

She watched, eventually with a growing furrow of her brow when the noise continued. "They can be picky," she warned but it didn't seem they were taking kindly to his company at all. "And sharp," she sighed. Terrorizing Dash was one thing, assaulting her ears was even more. Eventually, her patience ran out. Apologetically, she growled softly and swept one last lick over the pup at her chest before she moved to gather the others -- starting with the nosiest. She scooped them one at a time, and shuffled them back further into the den with a firm lick suggesting they stay put until reorganization was finished. Eventually she added Lyra to the collection too.

Sweeping her ears back, she sighed tiredly. "I think some quiet is in order," she grumbled, and hoped Dash understood that these things just took time -- and evidently now was not it for them. That much was crystal clear. She nodded her best attempt at a see you later? towards him before she returned to curl around the pups and hopefully feed them until they went back to sleep.

my last here ;D

Her sisters didn't seem too fond of the stranger — one announced her displeasure loudly while the other lunged for his face. Lyra stared, exhaling a quiet gasp as Hydra attacked the larger unknown, though she made no attempt to help her sibling. No, she was quite happy to stay right here where it was safe. Thankfully, the stranger didn't retaliate and, just as quickly as the two dark pups were allowed near him, they were swept away once again.

Lyra watched as her sisters were dragged back to the warmth of their mother's belly before she too was added to the pile. She gave soft, reassuring nudges to her litter mates, tenderly licking at their stubby ears before giving one last glance to the den entrance. She moved to latch onto a teat then, happily wiggling into a comfortable position, pleased that situation was over.