Redhawk Caldera You have excess candies!

Since moving to the rendezvous site things had been a little chaotic with Titmouse. Then again, when wasn't it chaotic? He couldn't sleep no matter where he squished himself (the puppy pile, near Lagan's butt, on top of Raven's face, etc); there were no good rocks for chewing (major deal breaker), and his favorite bone to play with seemed to be everyone elses favorite too because it kept going missing! Ugh.

So, to get to the point: he didn't sleep, didn't play, and found numerous ways to get under everyones skin just to keep himself contented. Nothing new, really.

The biggest difference being, springtime had arrived and with it came the dreaded growth spurt. Titmouse seemed to grow like a weed despite the lack of sleep (as some say, you grow the most when you're unconcious; let it be said that Titmouse did grow but only physically - mentally he was still dumb as a stick). He wasn't finished yet, but there was a new gawkiness to the boy that heralded of things to come — and a very distinct paternal resemblance starting to show its face (er, his face, I suppose).

In a state of sleep deprivation and needing something to entertain himself with, Titmouse slunk away from the rendezvous site while his siblings were distracted. He was on the hunt for something good to chew on, like a branch, or an antler, or — ooh, that right there! A shiny new rock to suck on. He aligned himself with the pile of pebbles, wiggled his butt like an eager kitten, and pounced upon the biggest and shiniest of stones. As soon as he bit down on the jagged piece of quartz there was shock of pain and a pop!, and the boy let out an indignant squeal as he dropped the stone back upon its nest.

Along with the stone came a baby tooth, slick with blood, and Titmouse was left staring down at the mess like a real idiot.

Towhee sat at the edge of the rendezvous site, staring off into space as she digested. It wasn't food she was trying to process but a bit of information Raven had finally tried to convey to her earlier that morning. Truthfully, she was struggling to grasp it properly. Apparently, the other wolves in the pack could do something called H-E-A-R, something they did with their ears. The caregiver had done her best to try to explain the concept to the Pi and Towhee had done (and was doing) her best to understand. Fortunately, her sister had had the forethought not to frame it as a disability, though there was a queer sense of... something in the girl's breast. Loss? Envy? Exclusion? She was too young to put her finger on it.

D-E-A-F, she thought to herself for the umpteenth time, which was another term Raven had provided to her. In her mind, she pictured her sister signing the individual letters Towhee had only recently really memorized. Cannot H-E-A-R S-O-U-N-D. Maybe it would just take time for this information to really absorb, because right now Towhee was just giving herself a headache. Eventually, she rolled onto her feet and gave herself a great shake, ears flapping and bottom wriggling. She then pushed her thoughts—a somewhat recent development, at least comprehensively—to the side and peered around the rendezvous site in search of a distraction.

Her nearly orange eyes clapped upon Titmouse as he slunk across the clearing and, instead of stopping, disappeared into the longer grass that edged it. Towhee's brows rose and she trotted after him, pausing at the barrier for a moment before trailing after him with the intention of fetching him, dragging him back here and sternly reminding him that there were boundaries for a reason. Instead, she caught up to him, peered down at the bloody rock and the tooth, and almost immediately felt lightheaded.

Blood was everywhere. Well, okay, not everywhere everywhere, but in enough places to make Titmouse a bit confused. It dripped from his mouth, coated his lower jaw and throat like a bib, and didn't seem like it was about to stop for any reason. His little baby tooth sat on the ground next to the stone, shining and strange, and he stared down at it with a mixture of horror and fascination.

He was so focused upon the mess he'd made, and the throbbing in his gums, that Titmouse didn't hear the shuffling of Towhee until she was practically on top of him. She must've stepped on something, because the sound cued a sudden jolt from him, and as he looked over his eyes went wide. Towhee! he blurted loudly - not understanding yet that she was deaf, but perhaps she could read it on his lips - and the fur all over his body puffed like a dandelion.

The smell hit her and Towhee retched noisily. Since she was totally oblivious to the sounds she was making, they were exaggeratedly dramatic. She squeezed her eyes closed, essentially shutting out the world, as she tried to swallow the bile rising in her throat. She couldn't say why the sight and smell of blood bothered her so much when it came from fellow wolves. She could eat her weight in bloody meat, yet when she or her loved ones sprang a leak... it made Towhee feel very funny and not in the ha-ha-ha way (especially considering she couldn't hear those).

Instinctively breathing through her mouth, Towhee slowly cracked open one eye to peer at Titmouse. Both eyes opened, widening in surprise, when she saw his fur puffed up so theatrically. She then saw the bib of blood on his chest, gulped and slammed her eyes shut again. -Gross!- she signed blindly and clumsily. Her mouth was watering tellingly again when the mental image of her bloodied brother flashed on the back of her eyelids.

She was concerned about him, though, and forced her eyes open once more. Towhee turned a cheek to Titmouse and continued signing awkwardly from the side, momentarily unaware that she wouldn't be able to see his response if she wasn't looking at him. -What happened? Are you okay?-

She opened her eyes and messily signed something at him, but Titmouse was a dim creature. He didn't understand all of her quirks, nor did he pay enough attention to fully learn her language - it was odd to him that she'd wiggle about so much when she could easily just speak. Hopefully the child's insensitive behavior wouldn't stick.

He got the jist of what Towhee was trying to say eventually, but was still much too interested in the tooth on the ground and the blood on his face to really watch her. His tooth shouldn't be there! It was supposed to be in his mouth not on the ground! Ugh. On one hand his gums hurt, but on the other... What the heck tooth! Titmouse didn't know what to do about the situation, and decided to try and fix things by drawing his tongue across the baby tooth and slurping it back in to his mouth. It clicked and clacked against his healthy teeth, tasted awful, but eventually he worked it back in to place along his gums.

After some masterful maneuvering with his tongue (a skill which may come in handy when he reaches a NSFW age), he turned to Towhee and grinned a big smile at her — old tooth included — but managed to inhale too sharply and dislodge it. The tooth shot back in his mouth, caught at the back of his throat, and he was suddenly choking on the tiny, sharp, oddly shaped piece of himself. The boy was doubled over in the next instant, coughing and salivating like crazy, spraying spit and blood all over the ground - and probably his sister.

It quickly dawned on her that she would need to look at him in order to see his response. Reluctantly, Towhee turned her face back toward her brother, just in time to watch him slurp the bloody tooth back into his mouth. Her stomach rolled. -I'm going to...- she signed without really thinking. She didn't know how to say "throw up" but that was all right because she went ahead and just did it. Her neck stiffened, her mouth opened and she retched violently.

Fortunately for both of them, Raven had been tracking their movements and began moving closer as soon as she heard sounds of distress. She glanced first at Towhee, who remained oblivious to the presence behind her as strings of acidic drool dribbled from her lips to join the puddle of sick on the ground. Her yellow eyes then darted to Titmouse and she gave a little cry as she flicked to his side (startling Towhee) and immediately began clapping a paw between his shoulder blades.

"What did you eat?" she asked the paler of the two siblings, shouting a little in her panic, convinced the pups must have ingested something poisonous.

Feel free to tag-team Raven. ^^

He was watching Towhee signing, and while Titmouse did sort of understand, he was much more entertained by the messy manner in which she conveyed her information. And then she began to puke, and well, that was all kinds of fun for the gross little boy. He squealed with laughter upon seeing the hot sick flooding the ground in a wave — but he couldn't do much else, because Raven was suddenly among them, and smacking his back.

The jostling should've knocked the tooth free and clear of Titmouse's big dumb face, but instead he was forced to inhale sharply, and the tooth zoomed backwards and down his throat. It caught something down there. With a sputter the boy began to cough and curl over, arching his back as his gag reflex was activated. Not long after that moment it was Titmouse who was salivating and retching all over the ground — and as he gasped for a fresh breath, the loose tooth poured free from his mouth atop a nice chunk of half-chewed rabbit.

Yummy.

When Titmouse vomited as well, it only ratcheted up the medic's concern. "Here," she said, trying not to raise her voice in her panic, "eat some grass." Charcoal would have been very handy right now but she didn't have any of that, not even in her stash. It wasn't exactly easy to come by. "You too, Towhee," the caretaker added, whirling to eyeball the darker pup.

Towhee was busy drawing in breaths and licking her chops when Raven faced her. Strangely, her brother's puke didn't bother her nearly as much as the blood. When she noticed the tooth in among the other flotsam and jetsam, her stomach rolled a little but her curiosity won out over her mild nausea. Titmouse had thrown up right on top of the blood, mercifully erasing the puddle of crimson.

-What's that?- she signed right as Raven insisted again, "Eat some grass!" Her yellow eyes flicked to where Towhee was pointing and she added, "Is that a tooth? Did you swallow it?" She glanced at Titmouse, then back to Towhee, still trying to piece together what on earth was happening here. "Do you feel okay? Did you eat something weird? Do you know what made you sick?" She gestured at the cooling puddle beside the Pi.

-The blood,- Towhee signed with a shrug to indicate that she felt fine now.

Doing as he was bid now that the chaos had ended, Titmouse begrudingly sauntered over to a patch of grass and began to munch. He grabbed for the grass with the side of his mouth, snorting each time he misjudged the distance and got some up his nose, and eventually just stopped trying altogether. He pouted at Raven and proclaimed, Don't wanna! Then, having made his decision to flout her orders, he flopped on the ground and rolled on to his side, his paws crossing indignantly over his chest.

As a newborn, Towhee hadn't liked anything touching her feet. Nowadays, she wasn't quite as fussy, though she didn't really feel like getting her brother's barf on her toes. All the same, she couldn't help but fish the tiny fang out of the puddle of vomit, then flick it around in the grass a bit to clean it. She was so preoccupied with this that she didn't realize she was ignoring Raven's concerned prodding, though the medic captured her attention with a gentle poke to her ribs.

"Eat some grass," the caretaker repeated patiently, explaining, "It'll help settle your stomach."

-My stomach is okay,- Towhee signed with a slight edge of impatience. -Is Titmouse hurt?- she added suddenly, glancing over at her petulant brother, then back to Raven, before glancing down at the tooth. It was fascinating... but didn't he need it?

"No, no. Everyone's teeth fall out," Raven was quick to reassure, causing Towhee's eyes to widen. "Not all at once!" the caregiver reassured, fighting the urge to laugh at the comical expression on her little sister's face. "Your milk teeth will fall out one by one so that your adult teeth can grow in."

Towhee accepted this with an inscrutable expression before turning to face Titmouse and signing, -Can I have it?-

He shrugged carelessly and Towhee carefully collected the tooth even as Raven said, "C'mon, you two, let's get back toward the main clearing." The young girl missed the movement of her older sister's lips but knew to fall into step when Raven began moving and Titmouse bounded after her. The loose fang clicked against her teeth (an interesting sensation without sound for her) as Towhee trotted behind them.