Sun Mote Copse The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,

Alyx had come a long way since her eviction from Niamh's womb.

It was hard to believe that a mere week and a half ago, she was wailing helplessly after being stung by a bee, or sucking her paw so fiercely after finding herself stranded alone in the den. Not because her crying had lessened, because it hadn't, but because Alyx was growing very quickly and acquiring new skills at a breakneck pace, leaving behind those simpler times.

Take, for example, her strong little legs. Gone were the days of propelling herself sluggishly across the den floor. Alyx was now quite capable of standing up and balancing herself in place. She even attempted a step now and again, though every attempt was wobbly at best and usually ended in a tumble. She couldn't quite figure out how to move her legs in tandem, and often tried to move all of them simultaneously. This had become an hourly activity.

And now, the most significant of achievements: she woke up from her nap and blinked her denim blue eyes open, only to squint against the blurry flood of light assaulting her sensitive retinas.

i'm assuming he still hasn't really met any of the newbies and hasn't been allowed too close :D

Fig was enthralled with his new siblings. He hadn't been able to spend too much time in contact with them yet, but he'd still managed to play the part of the helicoptor brother by spending much of his time lurking nearby, watching, listening, and basically just being the sweetest, most well-meaning creeper there ever could be. He felt a spasm of joy every time he caught sight of them moving about inside, felt his stomach flutter with excitement whenever he heard a happy cry or sleepy howl.

Another of the new customs he'd taken up was to bring them little gifts. Fig had no idea if they liked any of the trinkets he left for them, but he figured it was worth a shot. He certainly remembered enjoying silly things like this when he'd been a kid, so he tried to find them similar things--pinecones, squirrel furs, bones, spindly sticks and leaves as big as their little bodies. 
 
That day, he approached the den with a long strip of birch bark tucked between his teeth. It was only about as wide as his leg, but it was also as long so he thought they might find it interesting. He whined softly to let the family know he was there, sliding onto his stomach about a foot away from the den's entrance. He set the strip of bark down at his front toes and nudged it forward, smiling as he tried to sneak a peek inside to see if he could snag a look at one of them that day.

This new sense was lame.

No matter how much Alyx blinked or scrunched up her face or widened her newly opened eyes, she could barely make out anything that wasn't directly in front of her nose. Which was truly unfortunate, because now that she'd realized she was capable of seeing, she wanted to see everything. She spent several minutes marvelling at the soft blonde hue of Niamh's belly, its darker mirror on her brother's flank, and the inky black of Quetzal's face. And since she was the first to open her eyes and Niamh was napping, she was alone in celebrating this milestone, which is fine because it quickly grew boring.

That is, until Fig arrived. Alyx couldn't hear him and she wouldn't be able to see him from there, but that didn't mean she was completely useless. Her sense of smell was decently strong, certainly strong enough to pick up on the new papery scent of the birch bark that Figment presented. Almost on cue, the chubby cub swivelled her head on her wobbly neck, blinked the largest and most exaggerated blink known to cub-kind as she tried and failed to focus on the flash of white that slid into the den, and proceeded to rapidly belly-crawl toward the enticing new scent.

Fig would've been content to lie there, merely listening for a while. He enjoyed listening to the silly little squawks and mewls they made, imagining what it would be like when they got older. He looked forward to them catching up to Meerkat and coming out to explore the world. He loved watching her stumble around outside of the log, giggling at plants and bugs and whatever else she set her sights on. He was excited to see all four of them out and about, discovering the world and playing together. Hell, he was excited just to see them.

He might've dozed off just then had he not heard a sound that was somewhat unusual to him. He blinked into the darkness, bright green eyes straining to see as a small figure came squirming into view. Fig felt his heartbeat speed up as he looked upon the little pup, his breath catching for a moment before his face split into the biggest of smiles. She was heartbreakingly adorable and her big brother was utterly in love.

Fig glanced into the darkness behind her, wondering if Niamh would scoop her way. She didn't move, which either meant she was okay with the little escape artist or she was asleep. He knew it was wrong, but he decided not to tell on the little lady. So, he smiled and reached out a paw to set it on end of the bark strip nearest to himself, shifting it about so the other end was wagging in the air invitingly in front of Alyx.

From a grown wolf's point of view, Alyx's crawl was probably painfully slow to watch, but for her, it was the fastest she'd ever gone in her life. She wasn't justt carrying dead weight along with her now, no sirree. Now her hind legs were getting in on the action, pushing against the ground to propel her forward even as her forelimbs reached and grasped the dirt in front of her. Sure, it wasn't elegant, but damn was she fast.

That is, until a blacker-than-dim-den-lighting blur joined the white blur, which suddenly began moving. This phenomenon stumped Alyx, whose head came up faster than a gopher from its hole in the middle of a forest fire. Wuh? her expression seemed to say as she squinted harder, collapsing her own face into dozens (or maybe even hundreds., if you counted those gigantic cheeks) of teeny tiny folds and rolls. Bulughpthph, was her response, which was really just the sound of her pensively blowing bubbles simultaneously from her nostrils and her mouth.

But in short order she was on the move again, only for the white blur to become less of a blur and more of a straight edge as it touched her nose. She heaved a mighty snort and transformed into an alligator right before Fig's lovey-dovey eyes, senselessly reaching up with sharp little milk teeth to chomp rapidly and ferociously at the fluttery strip of bark.

Fig grinned as he watched her react to the way he moved the strip of bark. He slowed the movements to a near stop to give her a moment to focus on it. He liked to watch her little face and listen to her little noises. He paused when she attempted to turn her noises into some sort of words (or that's what he thought she was doing, anyway), listening attentively to her comment, trying to understand. He realized pretty quickly that there was no use, but still he nodded as though he was totally on the same page.

"You make some great points, Squiggles," Fig told her, his tail wagging though the only glimmer of amusement he showed on his face was in his eyes. He held his serious expression for only a moment before it broke and he smiled as he watched her attack the bark that he'd started to make dance for her again.

Well, duh. She was an honorary delegate of the UN Security Council, she'll have you know. On matters of home invasion by offending bits of bark and unfamiliar toes, Alyx was nothing short of an expert. How astute of Figment to notice his sister's potential! A well-time snap here, a teensy-weensy growl there; she was shaping up to be an excellent guard dog.

That is, until a piece of the papery bark fluttered off plastered itself to the roof of her mouth. Alyx's head promptly shrunk so far back that her neck seemed to disappear and her eyes blew wide open. Her brain quickly flipped through its little picture book of appropriate reactions as she wavered somewhere between gagging and snorting, but settled for rapidly flicking her tongue in and out of her mouth while sadly warbling, wughwaaughwaulghwaugh!

Fig was surprised when he saw Alyx shrink back from the shred of bark. For a moment, he thought that he'd hurt her, but she wasn't crying or whining or anything really. Just flapping her tongue around, which was interesting. He crawled forward an inch and dropped his head to the ground, peering at her with concern. He wished he could just reach in and nab her, but really didn't want to be mom-raged all over. He bit his lip, peering back into the depths of the den for a hesitant moment before he reached out to his little sister with his paw until he could lightly boop her on the nose with a toe. It was his way of saying, Don't cry, little lady--big brother's here. You can tell by my toe in your face.

Alyx's waggling tongue finally dislodged the papery bark, only for it to flutter right down her throat. In the split second after it happened, the little black pup completely froze up. Almost perfectly in time with Figment's slowly approaching paw, her eyes grew wider and wider. Not because of the paw, mind you, but because she was struggling to fathom what the heck had just happened.
Suddenly, Fig's toes came into focus and Alyx's eyes found them, resulting in her pupils growing rapidly. He poked her nose, snapping her out of the reverie she'd been in moments before. She responded to this intrusion of her personal bubble the only way a little puppy with needles for teeth could: she chomped on his outstretched toe.

Fig didn't know if his gesture would help the situation at all, not even after she reacted to it. He quirked a brow as he watched her break free from her distress and zero in on his toe, waiting to see what happened next. The wait was short. The little pins in her jaws dug hard into his toe and he winced. He knew puppy teeth were crazy sharp after all the time he'd spent playing chew toy for Meerkat, but it wasn't exactly something you got used to. You just learned to control the reaction.

He let her keep her hold on him through the pain, his muzzle splitting into a smile. He wriggled his toes for her after a few seconds, partly to amuse her and partly to see if he could get her to let go. Regardless, he was pleased to see that she seemed to have moved past her upset over the birch bark. A happy baby sister was a worthy trade for personal comfort. Or toes, if it came to that.

If she was causing Figment any kind of discomfort, there was simply no way for Alyx to know. She wasn't aware yet that her actions had consequences, specifically for other wolves. She pulled no punches when it came to biting down because inhibition wasn't something she'd really grasped when it came to larger wolves. When he wiggled his toes, Alyx clamped her jaws as tightly as she could and gave her head a rapid, instinctual shake, growling playfully and probably making Fig regret everything.