Redhawk Caldera Let me show you how

Being vague about location, since I'm not sure if they've moved to a warmer place or not.

If his guardians had thought that Phox was hard to contain before, they were in for a surprise. After several failed attempts, the wiggle-worm was on his feet, taking a few shaky steps before toppling over. This, of course, did not hinder his determination to try again until he got it right. Again, he got himself onto four feet, took a few steps, lost his balance, and fell down. He didn't whimper, he didn't fuss, Fidget just kept trying again and again.

Eventually, his little legs grew tired, and he paused his venture to take a break from learning this new skill. He lay on his side, stretched out as much as he possibly could, but wide awake.

*ignores all sense of timeline*

Liffey had yet to truly meet her newest cousins. She'd heard about them, of course. Elwood and Finley had both talked about them during their breaks away from the whelping den. Even Eljay had told her a bit about them, there with a reserved, almost sad tone that might have struck her as odd were it not for the fact that her elder brother was always a little melancholy about everything. Still, Liffey had stayed away. The puppies just held no real interest for her, which made her feel bad, though not bad enough to actual visit them.

Even now when Liffey crept into their current densite (wherever that may be), it was only in search of her mother. The weather was messing with her senses enough that she hadn't realized that she wasn't there before entering. She glanced over at @Raven who was sleeping soundly while most of the puppies snuggled calmly beside her. All but one, actually.

Liffey had wanted to make a run for it the moment she realized neither of her parental buffers were present. But the one who was moving was actually.. moving. Like, really moving. Liffey stared as it stood, wobbled and fell over. She didn't know much about puppies, but it seemed like the sort of thing that should be supervised by more than a sleeping babysitter. Timidly, Liffey slipped down onto her belly a few feet away from the puppy, her orange eyes wide and watchful, her heart hammering as though it was somehow going to break in half right in front of her.

He would never remember the journey from the old den to the new, nor would Fidget remember his wonderment at the multitude of new smells. One of those smells had just crawled into the den, and he immediately ventured toward it after his brief respite. Phox's progress was slow and uncertain, but there was a hint of quiet determination in his movements. Now that his eyes had opened, he couldn't help but want to use this new sense to explore the world, too.

His tiny stubby tail wagged when he got closer to Liffey, and soon the wagging was too fierce, and it toppled him right over. He huffed, but didn't make a fuss. Uncoordinated flailing of his legs eventually got him upright, but he didn't get back on his feet just yet.

Liffey didn't know what to do. It had fallen down for a moment and seemed like it was just going to stop right there, which was good. She didn't want to creature to come any closer to her as she was afraid of what it might do when it got there. It wasn't that she was afraid that the pup would hurt her - she was just afraid of hurting it. Or of it getting hurt somehow while near her, which struck her as even worse, but only because it occurred to her second.

To her horror, the animal stood again and pivoted towards her. Liffey stared at it as though it were a zombie rising from the grave. She looked hurriedly from side to side as though expecting someone to be there to stop the rampaging beast before it reached her, but there was no one. It was just her and the rodent-looking thing that would one day be a wolf. Quietly, she shuffled backwards and began to whine, her ears planting themselves back against her head as her tail tucked against her rump.

"Hey, no, stay there," Liffey whispered into the dark as she scooted to a stop, "It's cold over here. Go back over there." She gestured with her muzzle towards Raven, praying that these things had learned how to speak already.

Although Phox couldn't exactly make out what she was saying to any degree, he could hear muffled sounds. It was about the same quality as you might hear through a thick glass wall. This, of course, only drew him toward Liffey again. Back on his feet, he took another few steps closer, stopping to steady himself when he nearly lost his balance again.

Unbeknownst to him, @Towhee had also awoken and was testing out her new legs, too, albeit a little less successfully. It likely wasn't obvious to the adults just yet, but the two siblings were nearly inseparable. If one ever wandered off, the other was quick to notice and follow along.

When Phox reached Liffey, he stopped, stretching his neck out to sniff at her paw while his ears twitched and his tail moved slowly from side-to-side.

Oh god, there were two of them. Liffey's eyes widened fearfully as another puppy broke free of the pack. She saw the girl toddle along in her brother's wake, but was unable to pay too close attention since the first pup had finally reached her.

The young Blackthorn didn't dare move any further towards the entrance for fear that it would get too cold for the little wolves. Truth be told though, that might work to deter him from pursuing her... but Liffey didn't really want to take that risk. So, she simply frowned as the puppy sniffed at her toes as though any second it would sneeze and snot all over her, which it probably would.

Instead of snotting all over her toes, Phox licked her toenail, scrunching up his face at the taste. It didn't taste anything like milk or meat (his two favorite things), but it also wasn't as deplorable as the dirt on the ground. It was somewhere close to that, though.

Towhee bumped into his butt, then, and he toppled over right on top of Liffey's foot with a startled squeak. He regained his footing surprisingly quickly, getting himself back upright and turning to face his sister. He mauled her face (gently) and ignored Liffey for the time being.

The puppy licked her toe, and Liffey felt a shiver of distaste run along her spine. Why did everyone like these things so much? She jerked her paw back when the boy toppled over with his sibling, backpedaling a few more steps. She could feel the chill of the outdoors on her rump now and it compelled her to move forward again. The two puppies in front of her kept her in her place, however.

"You need to go back to mom," Liffey said, finding her voice and giving the two a stern look. "It's cold out there and you're tiny. You'll freeze like that -" Liffey slapped her paw on the floor for emphasis, "Go back to mom. Quit following me." These two were pushing her to her limit, and she was about ready to turn around and just walk out to the door of the cave to sleep, even if it meant possibly freezing to death. She stood still for a moment though, wanting to make sure they were going to obey before she did so.

He couldn't hear her (at least not clearly enough to even recognize her tone), but when she slapped her paw onto the floor, Phox cowered back, shielding Towhee from the big mean paw lady. Convinced that this was not where he should be, Phox began to waddle back to the source of warmth and comfort that was his guardian. Towhee was not far behind.

FINALLY, it relented. Liffey didn't feel even the slightest bit of guilt when the pup cowered away from her. She was simply relieved, particularly when the boy grabbed his other little companion on the way so they were both retreating now.  It was for their own good, really. Liffey turned to look towards the mouth of the cave, her ears tilting at the sound of the wind as it picked up. As little as she liked it, she too followed the small black pup back towards the warmth of her packmates to settle down for the night.