Redhawk Caldera my toes is froze.

Surprise packtivity! Round one with me will end on 1/31. GOOD LUCK TEAM!

Finley had been eyeing the slopes above the den for a few days now. The ice and snow had been accumulating, but she had not been able to tell just how quickly, nor how dangerously. She'd glanced at it hours ago, just that day as she was tugging the frozen carcass of a deer into the cave with @Liffey and @Lagan. It had been a difficult job, but Fin knew it would be worth it to have food inside the shelter so they wouldn't have to go all the way out into the snow to forage.

She and the twins had left the deer just a few feet inside the shelter, pressed up against the wall so that it was far enough out to be out of their way, but near enough that they could get to the meat without having to go outside. A job well done, Fin had decided to treat herself to a nap in the puppy pile, pulling her boy @Oriole close for a good snuggle. She was too tired to be fully aware of where the older wolves were at that point, but she didn't particularly mind. She had five babies in her arms. That was good enough for a quick nap.

And a quick nap was all she got.

The vibration on the floor of the cave was the first to bring her out of her sleep. It was slow at first, but enough that she had lifted her head by the time the sound of it pulled her to her feet. She stepped warily towards the entrance to the den as the sound grew louder and louder until it was beating against her eardrums. It was right about then that the small glimmer of light at the far end of the cave disappeared and Finley watched as snow (and Sassafras) came flooding in. With a cry, she stumbled backwards and rushed to push anyone lingering nearby as far back as she could, panic gripping her heart as the rumble continued.

It felt like hours before quiet returned when in all actuality, it was likely only a few minutes. Finley lifted her head to peer towards the cave entrance from her position, huddled over the pups. "Stay back," she warned whoever was around her as she crept forward to look at the damage. A mound of snow and ice littered the once clear opening of the tunnel. Silently, she thanked whatever gods there were in the world that the cave was deep enough into the side of the mountain that they were able to keep away from it. The whelping den would have been completely flooded... So apparently, Raven was the god to thank.

Quietly, she stared until she was certain the wall of snow and ice wasn't going to move again. Only then did her mind begin to reel through what this meant for those now trapped inside the cave...

Although she wasn't aware of it, Towhee's senses of sight, smell, taste and touch were developing more rapidly in the absence of hearing. Her vision was now crystal clear and sharp, second only to her ability to sift through and identify various scents. Taste and touch were a bit more nebulous but she was still remarkably sensitive to both. She was becoming such an astute student of her environment that it still wasn't obvious that anything was amiss.

Today might be the day that someone finally noticed. She felt the rumbling but it didn't feel much different than the everyday footfalls of her brethren as they moved around the cave. Towhee was so unaffected, in fact, that she yawned hugely and stretched where she lay sprawled on the cave floor. She didn't hear the crash of the avalanche, nor her godmother's screams. She only sat up when the cavern was suddenly plunged into a deep and breathless gloom.

Technically down two senses, Towhee immediately used her nose (via both smell and touch) to locate @Phox. She pressed closer to her litter mate, mouthing along his jawbone as if to query, What's going on? She squinted into the darkness, trying to make out shapes in the noiseless black and otherwise make sense of the atmospheric shift.

The deepening snow didn’t equate to a shortage of prey, so Sassafras had continued with her hunt that day just long enough to snag a marten that was after a tunnelling vole. So consumed with its own hunt, the animal had leapt from some burrow tucked beneath the freshly laden flakes and the she-wolf had immediately pounced. It was her first kill in a few days and it filled her with a tremendous sense of predatory satisfaction in a right-place, right-time stroke of luck.

With a reclaimed, proud little swagger that had become unusual for the once characteristically confident female, she re-traced the deep-seated imprints of her own leggy stride back towards the cave. Just as she arrived, though, a collapsing roar began to plummet from high up on the mountain face with such frightening ferocity that she nearly ran away instead of descending into the darkened depths of the rocky Redhawk hideaway. The avalanche nearly crushed her hind end entirely as she narrowly squeezed inside the opening of their quarters.

She’d slipped and then sprawled spectacularly, releasing her kill as she’d less than expertly escaped the winter’s deadly wrath. As she collected herself and stood instinctively to shake the icy crystals from her fur, there it was, its bottle-brush tail sticking up like a tuft in the settled snow that had sunk inside. She snatched it up with a venomous gleam in her eyes, but ended up dropping it indignantly and simply leaving it there where it fell. Sassafras only had interest enough to move close to those who were stranded inside with her, lie down where her irritation would inevitably melt away, and discharge a heavy sigh.

Dragging the carcass into the cave had been very tiring, so Lagan had a similar idea as his mother. After propping it up against he wall, the small silver male bounded over to his mom's side and slid along her flank affectionately. They walked towards the puppy pile, and after giving her a quick lick, Lagan flopped down, snuggling himself up next to @Titmouse and letting out a long sigh. This nap would be well deserved, and Lagan would be nice and warm with his little bros and sis's acting as his blanket.

He was deep asleep when he felt the earth start to vibrate. At first he refused to wake up stubbornly, assuming it was probably just somebody farting really intensely or something. But when the rumbling didn't cease, the Blackthorn raised his head and looked around. Finley was walking towards the cave mouth, which made him nervous. He really didn't want his mom getting hurt, so he started to stand to go after her. Just as he was standing, the ground quaked more violently than before and he dropped back down to keep from collapsing.

He watched in horror as the mouth of the cave was swallowed by a flood of white, that overtook the entire entrance in less than a minute. He saw Sassafras make an impressive entrance, almost getting crushed to death my the mountain of snow. He blinked a few time in utter shock,  wondering what had just happened. He wasn't panicking yet. As long as he had his mommy he wouldn't feel too scared. He shifted his position, grabbing Titty and whatever pups were nearby and pulling them close. He started to lick them, hoping maybe he could calm them down. All the while he kept his eyes on his mother waiting for her to shout a command. He wasn't panicking yet, but he was scared.

The world was a limited thing for all the newborn Redhawks. They were privy to only so much information as they developed; now with their eyes and ears open, they could absorb more. But thus far Titmouse had been too busy screaming at his family to really notice much of the world around himself. He hadn't been so adventurous when his eyes had opened, and by the time his ears had unfurled, he'd screamed himself hoarse. The boy wasn't quite mute — he could chirp like his namesake, for instance — but the world had gotten a whole lot quieter since he'd been muted. That is, until the cave started to bellow.

Titmouse had been fast asleep when it began. The strange sensation of the rumbles were mostly ignored as he was oblivious while so distracted. His little feet kicked while he dreamt (probably rehashing his grappling match with Liffey), and then there was a larger body pressed in to him. Tit hooked a paw around Lagan's forelimb while he slept; then the rumbling got louder, and louder, until it came to a sudden halt and the boy was roused by the sound of a panicked Finley.

He chirped and yawned in the dark, his eyes opening slowly to greet it, and seeing nothing amiss (because he was so young and stupid and beautifully naive) he rolled over and grabbed for Lagan again. The older boy had gotten to his feet and rushed for the door - and the dark woman Sassafrass - and so Titmouse was met with nothing but the cold stone floor. He was about to protest this when Lagan returned and gathered all the Firebirds together. Tit squawked and wriggled uncomfortably, but eventually settled, and stared out from the nest of bodies at the dark of the cave mouth.

No posting order! Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday :) I'm going to try to reply every three days to keep this moving along.

It took a while for Finley to feel confident that the avalanche had stopped, and even longer for her to acknowledge that the snow that had flooded the entrance was not going to be moving in any further - that outside of trapping them inside, it posed no additional threat. Her first instinct then was to make a mad attempt at escape by digging her way out. She restrained herself though and turned instead to look back at the wolves inside with her.

"It's stopped," Fin said, moving back towards the deep end of the cave, "Is everyone alright?" The puppies were nestled against Lagan and appeared to be okay. Her eyes shifted to Sassafras, wondering if her spectacular entrance had damaged anything other than - apparently - the girl's pride.

Eljay was asleep when it all happened, and he didn't wake up through the entire thing. One could only wonder how he could've been so deeply asleep, but he was. He only woke up when the last of the ice and snow had rumbled down and he stared into the darkness where he had expected to see light. Eljay had been sleeping by the pups and mommy, and he blinked and looked around as he tried to decipher what was going on.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Mommy, what happened?" He got up, possibly shaking some pups off him in case they weren't all nestled at Lagan's side, and looked at the entrance wide-eyed. Then he saw Lagan who it seemed had just brought in some food and there were a few others there. "Did it — is it closed off?" Eljay slowly stepped towards the entrance, almost as though he was afraid things'd fall down more as he stepped too close, and gingerly touched the snow as he tried to figure out whether he could dig their way out of here.

Lagan didn't move from the flock of children, nuzzling Titmouse when the small boy started to wriggle a bit. He was so worried, about pretty much everything, but he felt like it was his job to stay with all his little siblings. He was their uncle after all, and he owed it to Uncle Pee to watch after them. He heard his mom shout, asking if everyone was alright. I'm ok mommy! So are the babies. He called back, he tried to sound brave but there was a slight quiver in his voice.

Eljay spoke up, walking towards the snowy entrance and touching it. Lagan gasped when he did so, afraid that the snow would slide in more if he poked it too hard. Still lying with the kids, Lagan looked over to his mom and spoke. Mommy are we stuck in here? His lisp worsened when he was nervous, so he stumbled over the word stuck. He didn't like the idea of being stuck, at all. He already dislike having to sleep in the cave, but now they had to live down here. And for who knows how long!

She could almost taste the tension in the air, though Towhee couldn't hope to comprehend it. She went limp when Lagan gathered the pups against himself, happy to be coddled for the moment. Phox was still close by, which gave her comfort. She felt the vibrations in Lagan's body as he spoke. Towhee couldn't really see in the deep gloom, nor was her face turned toward the older pup's, yet she just knew his lips would be moving. Even without auditory cues, she was beginning to understand what speech was and how it worked. When the adults' mouths moved, the vibrations happened, and vice versa.

Eventually, she wriggled free from the Omicron's grasp and plopped to the floor. Picking herself up with a little grunt and shake, Towhee squinted and began navigating through the darkness. Although the small bit of fear sitting in the pit of her belly dampened her appetite, she nonetheless sought Raven, as much for comfort as for sustenance. But no matter how much she bumbled about the sunless cavern, Towhee couldn't locate the wet nurse.

She did bump into Finley. Frustrated and disconsolate, Towhee pressed her face into her godmother's soft, pale chest. She murmured unhappily, rubbing her face back and forth, then drew back to look up at the Alpha female's face, blue eyes wide, damp and beseeching.

Sassafras dipped her nose somewhat sheepishly when Finley’s eyes briefly reached her in the aftermath, but there were more important things at hand than anyone’s damaged dignity. The weighty sense that she and the lot of them were now trapped inside didn’t seem to occur to her, however, until Eljay voiced his concern.
 
Her dark ears splayed and tipped towards the heap of snow that concealed that had only moments ago been their doorway, but she was remarkably contemplative rather than alarmed as Lagan echoed his older brother. It wasn’t the first avalanche she had witnessed in her young life, but it was certainly the first time she’d been blockaded from the outside world by one.
 
“Once the snow settles and freezes the way it is we can try to dig our way out…” she suggested, but trailed off quite quickly after that because she didn’t know how long it would actually take for the accumulation to stabilize and was hardly qualified by experience to make any further recommendation. She glanced back to Finley, then down at the Alpha’s paws where a discontent little puppy prodded and stared up imploringly. It was exactly then that Sassafras was struck by the realization that Raven wasn’t there and that their situation was just a bit more dire than she had yet considered.

Wrapping up! Feel free to post once more if you wish :D I'll archive in a few days

What is it?

What's going on?

Are we stuck?

Mommy?

Mommy??

Now that it had been determined that everyone was okay, Finley turned to stare back at the once-entrance of the den with their words echoing in her ears. It had been a while since she had felt anxiety like this, and immediately the guilt at feeling it began to set in. Quietly, she reminded herself that this was an extreme situation. Go easy on yourself. Finley Blackthorn had never been one to appreciate being trapped, physically, literally, metaphorically, none of it. But here she was, the gods or whatever it was that controlled her world shitting all over her yet again.

When would it be enough...

She felt a puppy bumping against her legs and heard Sassafras suggesting they wait to try and break free. Finley swallowed dryly and gave a nod, wondering if she would be able to restrain herself that long from completely losing her shit.

"Why don't we try to dig the deer carcass out for now," Fin saidly quietly to the adults in the cave, "Lagan, keep the pups back. Eljay, Sass, help me." She nudged Towhee back towards her youngest son before turning to work on the deer. It was only half covered in snow and debris, thank the shitty gods. And she supposed she owed them another thank you for giving them a bit of food, at least. She remembered how awful it had been trying to wean Eljay and shuddered at the idea of having to force it now on the pups, but it was the only way they would survive. She tried to think of Liffey and Lagan instead. They had taken to solid food well enough. Maybe there was some hope.

Fin felt a shard of ice cut into the pad of her paw and winced. Some hope. Some.

Eljay was afraid to touch the snow because he feared that it would send some snow crashing down upon him. He looked back at Lagan as he took care of the babies, feeling a wave of jealousy and sadness. It only intensified when mommy asked him to help dig out the deer carcass. He looked at her with a hurt and indignant look on his face, and it was clear that he was not happy with her decisions. Why was Lagan allowed to watch the pups and he was going to get frozen toes instead?

He looked back at his brother once more with sadness dripping off his face and then he turned to the task at hand, to uncover the food. He kept telling himself that this was also for the good of the pups, but somehow he just couldn't convince himself of it.

Watching the puppies was the only thing he seemed to be good at, and now Lagan had brought home a deer carcass and he was tasked with watching the puppies. It had been a while since Eljay had the feeling of incompetence creep up on him the way it did now — it was before Lagan and Liffey were born — and he felt a panic attack on the lurk. But when they were caved in like this it seemed like a totally dumb idea to have a panic attack, so he shouldn't. He really shouldn't.

Don't.
Don't.
Don't.
Don't.
Don't.

He just kept repeating the mantra in his mind while he dug on while biting his lip, his tongue, whatever he could grab hold of to stop himself from having a complete breakdown while he gulped in the occasional whiff of air and thoughts raged freely in his mind. They didn't need him anymore, mommy didn't need him anymore, and what was he to do when they would realise he was really just a freeloader?

Breathe, breathe, just breathe.

If only Raven was here. She'd know what to do. She always knew what to do — and she had milk for the —

— Oh no, the pups. He frowned as he continued to dig, only hoping that the pups would do okay on solid food only. They were already eating it, he knew, but he also knew they had also been having milk so far. Were they old enough to go without milk? Why was he selfishly thinking about his own incompetence when there were far bigger things to worry about?

He just kept digging.

Lagan nodded to his mom as she barked the orders, for a moment he couldn't peel his eyes off of what once was the cave entrance. How could this have happened? Their cave, so sturdy, what had kept them safe- it had become a prison, and if they didn't get out they could easily die. The thought only made him hate caves all the more, as if he didn't already prefer the outside world. Finley nudged little Towhee in his direction, and Lagan shifted forwards to grab her and pull her into the bundle of her brothers and sisters.

He sat there, watching intently as his family dug and dug, trying their hardest to get the deer out of the snow. S'ok puppies. Mommy and Eljay and Sassafrass (Lagan saying that name oh lordy) are gonna make everything better. Their superstars. He whispered to them in a hushed tone, though the person he was really trying to comfort was himself.

Finley offered a nudge, though it was less about comfort than moving the little girl away. Towhee's lip wobbled, though she was soon within Lagan's warm, comforting clutches, pressed in alongside her brothers and sister. Squeezed against them, she felt a little better, though she twisted around until she could mash her damp face against Lagan's chest. Without realizing what she was doing, she rooted around his ribs, absently searching for a teat.

She didn't find one, of course, and Towhee ended up jamming her own paw in her mouth to suckle. It pacified her, for now, and the deeper than usual gloom made the child drowsy despite the commotion. It wasn't long before she drifted into sleep, albeit a slightly restless one due to the pinch of hunger already starting to gnaw at her belly.

Sassafras got to her paws with a wince at the bruising stiffness in her hip and elbows from her impact of entry, but almost snorted with laughter as the youngest trapped Blackthorn pronounced her name in voiced comfort to the puppies. It was fortunate that she sneezed not half a second afterwards and was more or less able to cover it up, but she couldn’t deny that she’d needed a lift to her spirits and hoped he hadn’t noticed.

Just for good measure, she tried to catch Lagan’s eye to offer him an expression of reassurance over their entire situation as she padded her way to Finley, Eljay, and the snowy deer carcass, where Eljay’s distress did not escape her.

She knew the eldest Blackthorn child to be a sensitive boy, and whether she liked it or not (she didn’t) she often found herself walking on eggshells around him. She shouldered up to him, though, wondering if he might be able to steady his thoughts if he focused himself wholly on the task at hand. She then gave him a direct nod of encouragement and began to dig.