Bearclaw Valley Did you know that midgets make up a small percentage of the population?

Things were progressing slowly for the tiny dancer. It had taken almost five days for his lungs to fully empty of fluid, during which he had developed a wet productive cough. It was much better than it had been, but still clung with some persistence to his airways; he was awoken from his nap by a wrenching cough that broke mucus in his chest.
For a brief moment, the tiny piebald boy cried. The shock of waking up in such a startling way overwhelmed his usual good nature and made him squall for assistance from his mother's soft, warm belly, over which he was draped. It lasted only a short while, however, before Lucas quieted down and his wet baby lips pulled into a smile as he lifted his wobbly head and surveyed the den with faint whiffs.
Always smiling even in the face of adversity—now that was one sexy trait.

Would love an @Indra

a whallop of coughs caused indra to jolt from her leanings on the stone arch, her ears turned to the stirring infant with concern writ across her muzzle. the coughs subsided, but a cry persisted in its place -- indra rose to her feet and peered inward, taking some time to adjust to the dim light the den afforded. the perpetrator was already afoot, and indra followed his path with quiet interest.

she noted, belatedly, a smile present across his features -- and for a moment she wished to be so blissful. with a mirroring smile she stepped into the den and across the floor, her trailing muzzle extended to gently bump him away from collision with any walls.

He snuffled as he slid clumsily from Laurel's belly, plopping to the floor somewhere between his siblings before doing an expert breast stroke away from them. His thin tail whapped Piper's cheek strongly as he propelled himself past her, displaying an impressive quantity of vitality for a premature baby wolf. This liveliness, along with charming smiles and a sexy amount of positivity, would no doubt shape if not entirely define who Lucas would become.
The dry, warm smell of one of his favourite wolves—I mean, who wasn't a favourite wolf, thought Lucas fleetingly—suddenly invaded his senses and the boy lifted his head even higher with an excitable sniff. His paws grasped the floor even quicker and his tail begain a slow and uncoordinated wiggle as he dragged himself toward the nearest wall, which Indra guided him away from with a gentle nudge. The touch of her muzzle was all Lucas needed; he slowly rolled over onto his side, nose furiously searching as his mouth gaped into a wide, gummy grin to accompany a wheezing whimper.
Touch me! his grasping little paws seemed to say as he reached blindly for his aunt.

heartmelt.png

indra felt something stir in her chest when lucas bumped against her nose; it was fleeting, but it was strong -- something maternal and primeval at once. it was electric -- and it seemed lucas was affected too, for he flopped onto his side in a series of round wiggles that seemed to invite some sort of play. for something so small -- so fragile -- he radiated inescapable energy.

she carefully slouched to the ground then, her muzzle pressed alongside his body as she shifted onto the floor of the den. gently, she coiled herself around him -- and set to grooming his writhing frame with a small smile on her muzzle.

Lucas was thrilled when Indra complied with his soundless request for attention; he wasn't wholly aware yet, but he craved both attention and approval. No doubt it would push him to great pursuits in life, or great follies. Who knew how he would turn out? The only answer to that thus far as sexy, for even as a newborn he was undoubtedly handsome.

With soft coos of delight and toes flexing with a baby's simple pleasure, Lucas rolled into Indra's ministrations with a wildly wriggling tail. He could hardly help himself; who didn't love a massage? And who didn't reward their masseuse with puppy gums in clumsy puppy kisses on the side of their muzzle?

This guy knew how to give a tip.

lucas squirmed beneath her, his tiny paws upturned and the pale pink beans on each foot flexed out. sitting here with him, indra was aware of how narrow the world seemed -- suddenly, all that seemed to matter in that den was him, and she felt the tension of being on constant guard slowly ebb away.

she continued her soft grooming of the boy until his fur sat flat and clean; it was delightful to watch his reactions and see how blissfully and jovially lucas responded to every stimuli. she wondered how he would grow - would he keep that cheerful demeanor, or would life's hardships chip away at his enthusiastic outlook until at last he was old, tired and bitter like her?

she paused for a moment, troubled by her introspective thoughts -- the tip of her tongue poked out and both paws cradled around the cherubic redleaf boy.

Being clean was such a nice feeling. He was so little that he couldn't possibly clean himself, but he hated being dirty; he could feel it in his gossamer baby fur as a slick heaviness whenever he was, and it bothered him until it was groomed away. Indra's attention was therefore twice as delightful for Lucas, who was not only getting pets from her tongue, but was being cleaned in the process.

When she finished and drew into her own head for a moment, the tiny wolf pup pulled his toes and legs both in to his body and yawned mightily, bitty tongue curling briefly. And then he began to dance a sexy dance. It started slow at first, tail waving and carrying his little hindquarters with it, but the wiggle then moved up his pelvis into his belly, and then his shoulders followed, and soon he was wriggling happily in his aunt's arms. If any wolf kept beat they'd note that Lucas had a fairly good sense for it, even being blind and deaf, but mostly he was just expressing joy in his most favourite way.

He hoped Indra would join him, but he wouldn't actually know if she did or not.

indra was pulled back from her quiet trance by the gentle and rhythmic nudging of lucas -- her eyes seemed to snap back into place, and she peered down at the piebald boy with the most bemused of expressions. even she, who was not much of an imaginative creature, could see plainly the beat that captured him -- she marveled at the cleanness of the metronome he kept, and how impenetrable and unrockable his world seemed.

earnestly, she hoped it never changed.

her tongue tucked back into her mouth and she stretched out alongside lucas' rocking form, her long limbs held before her and her claws poking out from tufts of fiery red fur. her nub of a tail started to thump of its own accord, keeping in beat alongside the infant boy's silent song.

He could feel the gentle thud-thud of Indra's tail beating against the ground as a sort of vibration in his chest, though he didn't associate it with his aunt. He associated it with his heart or whatever other part of him made him love to move. The development pleased him and the small boy squeaked, then continued his dance. It didn't take long for his movements to grow more sluggish as another yawn split his muzzle and, eventually, he rolled onto his side and cuddled up to Indra's ankle and fell asleep.

indra watched as lucas' tiny body slowed its rhythm, affection held in her gaze as she watched the piebald boy. she too felt the cling of exhaustion, and while she put up a valiant fight against the oncoming shades of sleep, eventually her body's needs won out.

with a tired yawn that curled her pink tongue between her canines, indra blinked and rested her head gently alongside lucas' slumbering form. sleep came chasing soon after.