Ankyra Sound sometimes i don't know where this dirty road is taking me

maybe siblings? @Ephraim @Illidan @Rhakios

Life had been good up until this point. Predictable, but good. The grotto that housed them, or the cavern really, was all quite familiar to her. Her stubby legs had mapped out every corner, every dip in stone and every arching column of ancient andesite. This time, Raleska wanted more. Gripped by insatiable curiosity (and having already been firmly admonished over approaching the ceremonial pool in the center) Raleska started climbing up. The flowstone columns served as good concealment as she snuck out from under her mother's watchful eye. She had seen her father come and go up this smooth-worn slope, and had seen other wolves disappear in that yawning mouth too. Consumed by tenacious and youthful desire to explore, Raleska attempted to jump up the small cliff. Presently, the slope was too steep and the step too high for her small legs to reach.. but one day...

There was less and less to do for a growing pup in the grotto. Caiaphas didn't allow her brood too close to the saltwater pool in the center of the main room, nor did she allow exploring paws to venture down any of the side tunnels. Ephraim was quickly outgrowing the confines of his home and it showed in the form of irritation; previous play with his siblings turned rougher and more wild as his energy was bottled up.

He watched through still-blurry eyes as Raleska pulled away from the pup pile and headed for the Other. The Other was a place where other wolves came from. Up until now, Ephraim had just accepted that they came from somewhere and returned to somewhere; they were transient in his life and he was meant to stay here. With as cooped up as he felt, though, he entertained the notion that perhaps the Other was an option for him, and so he stood and stumbled after her.

It would be impossible for him to sneak away from Caiaphas given his light complexion, but even if he had managed, he would give himself and Raleska both away with a sharp, high-pitched yip at his dark sibling, a sound that was far more coyote than wolf.

His brother's shrill yip popped his lids open, and Rhakios graced him with some serious side-eye for disturbing what had been a quiet sleep until then. Loud fuck. The pup grunted as he shifted himself, scraping his belly against the den floor as he turned a half-circle so that he was then facing his siblings as they investigated the exitway.

For a minute or so he scowled in their direction, but curiosity got the best of him and he soon he was padding over to them. Though he had seen his parents and other wolves and come and go, the boy was suspicious and hung back, his head swaying lightly as he squinted and tried to make sense of the blurriness in front of his eyes.

Raleska rested upon the ledge with both front legs above her, and turned around to glance at her mother who remained unaware of her whelps' most recent escape attempt. She pushed back against the stone as Ephraim came trudging over, and with a sigh of defeat redirected her energy towards her brother. Just in time to get a proper earful of coyote-scream. 

Stunned by the noise and how loud it was, Raleska forgot all about clambering the stone. She sat back much in the same manner as Rhakios did, squinting with a scowl on her face as she battled the strange sensation of ringing in her ears.

He, of course, was immune to the effects of his own shrill voice. Caiaphas' mixed genes were strong in him and it showed from the tapered tip of his muzzle to the sharp points of his ears. Even his tail was long, promising to be quite luxurious indeed for a scrappy coywolf pup. He showed no sign that he noticed the resentful look cut of his sister's eyes; he was too busy straining to reach his paws to the top of the step as Raleska had done.

He didn't notice Rhakios at all—he wasn't quite in tune enough to recognize someone padding up behind him—as he scrabbled at the rock with his bony wrists. There was nothing but slanting light from above, no indication that anyone was going to descend into the grotto from the Other place, but suddenly he was intent on getting there. His tail whipped back and forth and he whined, much more quietly than before but no less high-pitched, as he rounded on his sister for a way up.

Since she was a puppy, Raleska couldn't be surly for long. Her previous failures were fairly quickly forgotten, especially as her brother's attempts for freedom bulldozed into her. Jostled by Ephraim's bid for escape, Raleska hunched her little body and with a playful growl, went directly for his flat hocks. 

She was too young to have thoroughly absorbed the "No Biting" doctrine, so she set to her assault of Ephraim's legs with lavish gusto.

Several ideas flew through his mind in a matter of seconds. Ephraim decided on the most obvious one, the one requiring the least amount of effort on his part: he would use Raleska for a step to boost himself to the top. She had a different idea, of course. Before he could find the best means of achieving his plan, Ephraim was assaulted by the very wolf he thought to make use of.

He screeched as his sister's sharp little milk teeth chomped down on his leg. Yo what the fuck?! his gaping maw said as he twisted and, with nothing to hold onto, fell over her. He found his mouth somewhere around her tail when he finally managed to make sense of his orientation and he reached for it, intent on returning the "favour".

The little stormcloud was unaware of Ephraim's ulterior motives, having known only her own. She fell upon him with frustrated gusto. Such redirected frustration was not very successful, if only because her target suddenly collapsed and then regained the upperhand; her long ears flopped to the side in worry as she felt pressure on the tip of her tail, and she whipped around like a tiny shark with a piercing growl that seemed to shout NO!!

Wrenching herself back-and-forth, heedless to the injury it might cause her tail, Raleska's jaws swung left and right to catch anything and everything - a desperate measure to force him to relinquish her limber tail.

His teeth met the wiry tip of her tail, but Ephraim wasn't able to get a grip on it. Raleska wrenched away with a rocking motion and swung her jaws at him, catching him with sharp teeth in the side of his neck. Ephraim squealed and backpedaled with a sharp sound of protest; now it was his turn to jerk his head side to side in an effort to dislodge his sister. He threw his weight to the left, dropping to his shoulder with the effort of throwing her off, and his pedaling paws caught Rhakios in the chest.

Their brother was quick to snap back, catching Ephraim's tender toes and earning himself a snap as the masked coywolf went down. Theirs was a savage brood, born and raised in an unkind territory. Playing rough was what they did.