Dragoncrest Cliffs She sets the city on fire

The days passed by in a blur. It felt like Wildfire blinked and the pups were suddenly a month old. She gazed at them as they bumbled near the den's entrance, chasing dust motes floating in the April sunshine spilling there. She smiled slowly without realizing it. Beyond her three children's heads, she could see a glimpse of blue sky and green grass. Her heart did a funny little thing in her chest. It felt lighter than it had in a while, perhaps since the night of the birth. There were still plenty of shadows on her spirit but maybe her mood would be on a spring upswing.

"C'mere," she murmured, rising onto all fours and stepping out of the tree. She turned to face @Artaax, @Blixen and Robin still just inside the makeshift den. "Come play with mama." Gingerly, she reached out to wiggle her toes at the trio, the sun warm on her back and her smile tentatively growing broader as she realized the little hitch in her chest was—at long last—love for her children taking root and slowly blossoming.

Even though she was only a month old, Blixen was growing fast. Already her coordination was improving, and she was able to toddle along in awkward, stomping steps as she chased sunbeams and insects that floated past the den entrance. She'd been outside a few times since her eyes and ears opened, but not for extended excursions and definitely without her mama or nomi beside her. But she desired, with a mighty need, to see more of the great wide open that her parents called home. The world around her was expanding rapidly—just as swiftly as she was growing, the more she needed to consume, both visually and physically. 

Something rustled behind her and she swung her tiny head around to watch as her mama rose and stepped past them into the bright April sun. Blixen, bold as all get out, bounded out of the den and reached up to lick at her mother's face with a whine of excitement. She wasn't sure if Artaax or Robin would share her enthusiasm for these little adventures, but she wasn't sure if she cared, either. Unfortunately, she wasn't yet developed enough to understand these emotions for what they were; her brain worked in simple urges, still. Follow mama, kiss mama, chase this, chase that. 

"M-aaam." she giggled.

unlike wildfire, who was just beginning to warm up to her children, portia loved hers dearly from the get-go. she herself preferred just to snuggle up to the babies and shower them in kisses... but they needed exercise, especially as they aged. so, today, portia ushered her babies from the den and into the real world, always curious what they'd think of it this time. from a short distance, she spotted the bandrona, and her tail began to wag. "wifi!" she chirped, gazing at the children that flocked around the redheads ankles.

she nosed @Sirio and @Dalia along, moving towards her sister-wife with perked ears. "good day to stretch your legs, hun?" she asked, green eyes keeping sharp watch on the puppies, even as she spoke to wildfire.

[table width=80%][tr][td]Sirio, while surely comfortable and happy with snuggles and kisses n a dark cave all day, liked the idea of the outside world. He had been caught staring at it every now and then; the opening, so much brighter than the rest of their small yet also big den. He almost had no clue how big their den really was - he had no other places to compare it to. That was, until mother ushered him and his sister out the den into the open where the little man almost froze in place at first. The sand and rock tingled and it smelled... not-home here. He peeped and whined the first few minutes of his time outside, following mother with a tail between his legs and somewhat-floppy ears pressed tightly against his comically large head. Blue eyes tried to deceiver what everything was, but to no avail. Everything was blurry and it was all just a mess of roughly coloured blobs.

When they got nosed toward something, Sirio couldn't help but stay still stuck in place - forcing his mother to simply push him to where she could keep an eye on him. Finally there, he hid around mother's legs, bumping into them every now when he wasn't paying full-attention. Above him, he heard strange noises that did not make sense to him just yet and he couldn't help but whine. This was no place for him - couldn't they just go back home?[/tr][/td][/table]

At a month old, Artaax had begun developing his own perception of his small world. He hadn’t been exposed to very much yet, but in his eyes everything was grand and exciting. No matter how many times he encountered some type of insect near the mouth of the family den, he was never any less fascinated. On that particular occasion, he was distracted from tagging after Blixen by a grasshopper that loitered in his proximity.
 
He stumbled towards it, voicing his excited delight with a high-pitched squeal even as the small creature quickly made its escape. The boy likely would have pursed it had his mother not swept past him, capturing every bit of his attention as she beckoned her children nearer. Grinning widely, Artaax toddled after her and quickly tumbled in-between her forelimbs. He huddled near his sister, licking eagerly at the space that separated his tongue from his mom’s chin.
 
His sensitive eyes squinted against the bright outdoor light, but he thoroughly enjoyed the way the sun warmed his fur. “Maaah!” he exclaimed in an attempt to mimic the sound his sister had made, still oblivious to its meaning. As a result of his still somewhat dulled senses, he didn’t yet notice the strangers approaching.

If she hadn't already felt a warm fuzziness filling her breast, hearing two of her children cry her name would have done it for sure. Wildfire felt as if her entire body was buzzing ever so slightly and she happily gave herself over to the happy glow. It had arrived inexplicably and without warning but she wouldn't dare question it. Nay, she would embrace it, right along with her three bundles of joy.

"C'mere," she repeated, sweeping out a foreleg to scoop Artaax, Blixen and Robin against her. She gently pinned them and began kissing each of them between the ears. "I love you," she murmured against their soft, sweet-smelling foreheads. Her eyes closed as she breathed them in.

She only let go and looked up when she heard Portia call out to her and turned to see the party of three making their way over. "Hi there," the Bandrona greeted, swiveling to face her sister wife and her pups. She nodded. The puppies were technically brothers and sisters, though Wildfire knew she would consider them cousins and label them accordingly, not that the pups could understand the difference yet.

Glancing at her sprogs, Wildfire asked, "Can you say hi to Sirio and Dalia?" Her black tail waved as she regarded her trio, chortling lightly when Robin squeaked out a loud, "Ayy!"

She enjoyed the leisurely days filled with sloppy kisses and snuggling moments with her brother, but it seemed that her mother had a change of plans for the day. Instead of just napping and eating and playing quietly, dalia and her brother were leaving the den for the very first time. It was quite a shock, dalia couldn't help but slowly move forward, sometimes jumping at her own mother's touch as she was very nervous to be somewhere brand new.

as the duo and mother kept moving, every now and then dalia would stop and press her nose to the ground as she saw things move, like insects and such. Then her gaze would go towards the sky, trying to make sense of the world. Yet, she was brought back to reality with every nudge from Portia.

the greeting with the other lady and her kids went unnoticed by dalia, nothing made sense and in all honesty the little girl just wanted to go home. Wobbly, she hung back a bit before slowly inching forward, this time, in between her mother's front legs trying to stay as close as possible to her. However, dalia did swing back to nudge sirio and to show she was there when she heard him whine.

skipping @Blixen w permission!

portia eyed her children as they crowded around her paws, nosing them sweetly to offer a bit of silent encouragement. the world wasn't scary! they should see that, and regardless, portia was here to keep them safe. robin gave them a loud mewl of greeting, and portia gave a soft giggle herself. "hello robin," she cooed, and to the other two, "and blixen, and artaax." she glanced again to sirio and dalia, her tail waving a little bit. "can you guys say hello to aunt wifi?" she asked them, and eyed her sister-wife with a playful smirk.

"how've you been?" she asked her fellow mother, her head tilting, "anything concerning you that i could help with?" she meant illness or fatigue in herself or the pups. wildfire looked fine but she just wanted to make sure-- she remembered the incident with little phoenix... surely that didn't take a great toll on the mother.

Blixen, unlike her cousins, was overjoyed at the sight of two other puppies approaching. She understood that smaller creatures were puppies, except when they were dead and food. Though she wasn't quite eating solids yet, she was likely already introduced to the concept of prey and even practicing her hunting skills by chasing bugs and sunbeams near the entrance of the den. But for now, she was quite happy with the idea of more playmates. She loved her brothers dearly, but something about the newness of the unknown children and their big mama was enticing.

But before she could toddle over to the others, Wifi swept them all up into a bundle and kissed each of their heads. Blixen struggled against the grip, as kids are wont to do, but still managed to sneak a little kiss on her mother's whiskers when she pulled away to greet Portia. Her mother said something, but she couldn't quite understand all of the words. She did understand one thing, and so she parroted it by her mother's request: "Haaai!" echoing Robin's own version.

Now that her obligations were dealt with, she made a beeline towards the other kids on slightly unsteady legs. Her little tail whisked back and forth and she peered at Dahlia and Sirio behind her. A wild smile lingered on her face as she leaned forward and sniffed at the girl pup. She didn't have any other girl pups in the den, so this was very exciting for Blixen! She whined and shifted her weight from one paw to the next before leaning just a bit too far one way and toppling over with a giggle.

[table width=80%][tr][td]Sirio retreated even further at all the voices he heard - even as Dalia tried to comfort him with meaningful nudges, blue-eyes blinking and quivering with confusion and slight fear. He went on whining, not comfortable with being so vulnerable outside where everything was new.[/td][/tr][/table]

Short post to keep this moving! I wouldn't worry too much about the post order. :)

Although Wildfire's children exuberantly echoed her, neither Sirio nor Dalia seemed particularly pleased with the friendly greetings nor the goings-on in general. The Bandrona chuckled under her breath, then redirected her pups' attention before it could become an issue by saying, "And don't forget to say hello to your Auntie Portia." The words had barely finished leaving her mouth before Robin exclaimed, "Kekeke!" and sprang at Portia's toes.

Shaking her head at the little ones' antics, Wildfire glanced at the Fisa's face. She wondered if the medicine woman's intuition had seen through today's smiles. But they were genuine and she only paused for a beat before shaking her head and replying, "No, nothing that I can think of. I'm good. We're all good." If there was relief and gratitude in her voice, well, that was nobody's business but Wildfire's.

Dalia was unsure how to feel with the rambunctious crowd around her, but nonetheless she tried her best to make Portia happy. Edging out, leaving sirio to cower by himself, Dalia bumped noses with a few of them, even gave them a playful (and shy) pat on the head with her paw. She hadn't began to speak quite yet, only vocalize a few things or so. Dalia felt herself relax a bit more, it felt a bit nicer to be with others that weren't going to hurt her or the rest of her family.

she then edged out a bit more, this time, to the red female who was her aunt. She looked up at her with icy blue eyes, tilted her head in just the slightest way, and gave a little "weof" as a hello.

dalia, happy and proud with herself, left then to rejoin her mother and brother. She even went behind her brother to quietly nudge him forward a bit, asking him to just say hello to at least someone.

Blixen was determined to make friends. 

When the pale girl finally mustered the courage to come forward and touch noses, the Wifispawn was still for a fraction of a second before loosing a mighty noise of delight from her tiny little lungs. She squirmed around until she found her footing again and toddled closer to Portia's protective shadow but stopped short when her mother called out. Blixen rolled her head back, nearly becoming lightheaded from the movement, only to look up at the other woman. The other mama! 

"'tee!" She parroted, working the syllabules around in her mouth before her attention was drawn to the other children yet again. Blixen was relentless. She crept forward on unstable legs and leaned into Portia as she watched Dahlia try and rouse Sirio into action.  If anything, Wildfire's russet daughter was not known for being patient. Instead of waiting, she dove right into the pile and made herself at home beside Sirio and Dahlia with a series of whimpers. Come on, come on!

"good," portia replied, finding that was the only answer she had. it was good. wildfire was fine and healthy, the pups were fine and healthy, everything was fine. all she needed was for her own two to pop out of their shells a little more... but she prayed that come in time. they got their reservedness from dio, and should it ever come to haunt them she'd blame it all on him. with a wave of her tail, portia sat back and watched the pups interact, giving her two licks of encouragement to go play-- it wouldn't hurt them.

one of wildfire's came and popped themselves into the mix, to which portia smiled. she still watched the reactions, ready to pick one up out of the chaos if feelings got too hurt-- for some reason.

This one's been lingering a while, so I'm going to wrap it up for us. :)

"Good" appeared to be the word of the day. Wildfire flashed Portia another brief smile, then turned her attention upon the five kids. They all seemed to be playing well together, though Sirio and Dalia still seemed a little reluctant to socialize with Artaax, Blixen and Robin. Knowing it was just a matter of time before they got comfortable, the Bandrona folded into a relaxed, sphinx-like position to keep an eye on the goings-on until it was time for the pups to eat and take a nap.