Redhawk Caldera You and I were fire, fire, fireworks

Happens while Fox and Peregrine are burying Derp. @Wildfire @Raven @Finley all welcome! Hope ya don't mind the powerplay, Stevie!

On the last day of February, something changed.

Nightjar's primary concerns were still the same a week after his birth: food, sleeping and shitting, in that order. He still struggled to comprehend his situation and operated primarily on instinct alone. Yet a part of his brain was solidifying a perception of his environment; the bodies comprising a single milk-generating, undulating entity in his mind were now recognized as individuals. He could almost tell father from mother, and knew the smaller "limbs" were other bodies, probably much like him, though admittedly he never so much as thought of them.

On the last day of Feburary, one of the "others" disappeared. They say children have a sixth sense about things, so although Nightjar couldn't possibly think about it or give any indication that he knew, there was a perceptible change the second that "Derp" took his last breath. Something was different and he knew what it was, his mind a cosmos of possibility and infinite understanding that completely understood the phenomenon of death and even what happened when you died, but by the time he could speak the words to describe it, his experiences would shape his mind and that small, brief connection with ever-knowing would be lost forever.

"Derp" was gone, Fox and Peregrine were gone, and the one that visited them frequently—another individual, he expertly recognized—took his mother's place. Of course, Nightjar's mind ended there and his instinct was left to take over, so although part of him recognized that Finley wasn't Fox, he didn't yet recognize that she wasn't producing milk, so he probed rudely at her stomach, mouthing her fur with every poke and whining loudly when no milk resulted.

Wildfire remained oblivious to her new status as sole middle child. She noticed the disturbance in the den, of course, as her parents both rose and exited. She squalled accordingly. Within seconds, someone else joined them. Wildfire gave an indignant shriek when she realized it was neither parent, then promptly began doing the same as Nightjar: poking and prodding Finley with her nose. She wasn't so much interested in a teat as simply probing her aunt, driven by belligerent curiosity.

She took no notice of the absence in the den so heavily felt by the adults and even acknowledged by Nightjar. One day, her parents would surely tell her about her older brother, affectionately known as "Derp," and how there had once been four puppies in their first litter together. Otherwise, the fiery pup would never even realize he had been there and that he was gone now, never to return.

Though their brother was no longer amonst them, the firebirds continued to wriggle about just as they always had. Fin watched them with a sorrowful gaze, wondering if there was any part of them that was aware. She supposed it was unlikely, but that in itself made her feel even sadder. They would never get to know him, would never remember him. Hell, they'd never even seen or heard him before. He would be nothing more than a sad story their parents would tell them someday when they were older and ready to learn about the harsh, cruelty of reality.

Finley shut her eyes in an effort to reel her emotions in. She too would probably forget he ever existed. Someone else would bring him up and she'd pause, wondering what they were talking about for a moment before his little tan face suddenly popped into her head. Her heart ached for Peregrine and Fox and the pain they were in at that moment, burying their little boy. Beyond that, she was sad for the simple fact that it was terrible to lose a pup. It was also natural, though, and Derp had been the runt...

Fin heaved another sigh, turning her attention to the three that remained. It was strange to feel them kneading at her belly, whining because she had no milk to give them. It was a feeling that normally would have sent her into an awkward, uncomfortable fit, but given the present circumstances, she tolerated it with only the mildest of grimaces.

For a long time, Nightjar was still. Wildfire stirred beside him, no doubt restless as ever. He was still blissfully unaware of how loud and annoying she could be, so he responded to her activity with a burst of his own, matching her squawks with little burbles and growls of his own as he prodded vigorously at his aunt's belly.

When Finley sighed, the newly solo boy of the litter stopped moving. He then slowly turned himself, having sensed her movement and the swell of her sides, and unconsciously mimicked her actions... effectively causing himself to burp right in his sister's face.

There's some slight PP here, so let me know if you mind. :)

When Finley drew in a deep breath, it caused her expanded rib cage to press into Wildfire's face and for one blissful moment, the little girl unleashed a perfectly angelic giggle so unlike her usual sharp cries. Their temporary sitter's flank then deflated as she sighed, leaving the tyke's face wobbling in midair. She jerked to the side for no particular reason, bring her face-to-face with her equally blind brother. He belched and she opened her mouth wide, pink tongue waggling as she tasted the foul smell.

Wildfire then shed her briefly seraphic mask and plowed right up and over the litter's largest member, her black tail trailing along his nose and crown as she slipped down his spine like her brother was nothing more than some sort of tube slide. She plopped on his other side and scooted with surprising swiftness toward Finley's anterior, loosing a surprised yip when her pugged little face smashed into one of the Beta female's outstretched legs.

The tiny whelp sniffed this obstacle, then climbed right over it just like she'd done to Nightjar. She then proceeded to approach the rear wall at ramming speed. When she struck it, she yapped again. Like before, she was more surprised than hurt. When Wildfire pressed against this obstruction, it did not give, nor could she clamber over it. She quickly grew frustrated and began screeching even as she simultaneously sprawled, her rear legs spreading and her toes pointing in opposite directions as her tail went limp in unhappy defeat.

The firebirds seemed oddly calm, Fin noted as she watched them doing their usual squirming and squeaking. Of course, any moment little Wildfire wasn't screeching seemed like peace to her. She wondered if that was perhaps a sign that they knew their littlest sibling was gone.

As though she'd heard her godmother's thoughts, suddenly little Wildfire was on the move. She watched as the flame-licked potato made a break for it, barreling straight over her brother and plowing right into her leg before vaulting right over that as well. She craned her neck to see what would happen with the feisty pup next, too nervous though about disrupting the other two to actually move to stop her. A grimace contorted her face when the flight of the firebird ended in a headfirst crash into the wall of a den, accompanied by a sharp wail of misery.

"Craaaaap..." Finley muttered to herself as the child because to shriek, her whole body tensing against the sound, "What is wrong with your sister, damnit..." She made a move to reach for her, but that shifted the weight of the other pups and thus she froze, her eyes darting to them to see their reactions unfold. She reached down to give Nightjar a little nuzzle upon a single of his tiny ears, hoping to placate him before he got too worked up, but Wildfire quickly stole back her spotlight though with another round of cries. So, nearly blinded by panic, Finley did the only thing she could think of to calm her(?): she began to lightly bop the pup on the head with her tail. Cause.. who doesn't feel better from a good tail attack?

Nightjar grunted softly when one of the entities began climbing over him. For a short while he was still, but then he aimed a toothless nip at the entity, who unfortunately was already gone. Responding to an instinct to show the entity that he was displeased with its actions, Nightjar began to blindly follow Wildfire by her scent (and did a pretty bang up job of it, minus a detour around rather than over Finley's leg), albeit far more slowly. He eventually did reach her, though, and promptly flopped his body across her tiny hindquarters and lay there, fat and lazy as a seal.

Because of his, he was subjected to Finley's tail thrashing as well. After the third or fourth tap to his body he writhed, reaching for whatever was hitting him with his menacing gums. He growled squeakily as he grappled with midair, unable to catch or even hope to overpower the Beta female's tail but hoping he was threatening anyway.

To add insult to injury, something heavy smashed down on her backside, pinning Wildfire to the floor. She squeaked and made a halfhearted attempt to bend backward to bite at her assailant. When she couldn't reach him, she made a tiny hmph! sort of sound and starfished again.

That's when something began fanning across both pups, alternately swishing cool air around them and lightly bopping their heads. A second cherubic giggle exploded from the puppy's smudged snout. She rolled, dumping Nightjar off her, and began jabbing the air with her paw just like her brother, trying to catch and hold onto Finley's moving tail.

Just as soon as she'd nosed comfortingly at Nightjar, the boy was scrambling after his sister. She barely even noticed he made a break for it as he hadn't scaled her limbs like some infant mountain climber. When she did notice, her breath caught in her throat and she paused her tail bops for the briefest of moments so that she could go WTF in her brain. She glanced down to make sure she still had the last one with her and up spotting the little girl nuzzled lazily beside her elbow, insisted quite earnestly: "You're the good child, sleepybum."

Fin's gaze darted quickly back to the two miscreants who were oddly... not super pissed off or miserable. Her head tilted slightly as she watched them paw and nip at her dancing tail. The littlest one was actually... were those happy noises? She blinked at the little red ball, startled. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen little Wildfire actually happy before. With a grin she continued to bat at them with her tail, hoping she might illicit a little giggle from Nightjar as well.

The strong gusts of wind didn't stop, nor did the powerful stroke of the Beta female's tail against his body. Pretty soon he was growling and whining loudly, thrashing around to reach for the thing that hit him each time it buffeted his small body. It was no use, though; he was much too slow and clumsy to catch the woman's tail.

Unlike Wildfire, Nightjar didn't giggle or find it even remotely amusing, and soon he'd had enough. Instead of enjoying the attention, he drew his forepaws into his fat chest, screwed up his face and began to bawl.

Try as she might, Wildfire couldn't grab hold of Finley's fanning tail. Her amusement gave way to frustration and she made a strange rumbling, grating noise, then screeched angrily. Right around the same time, Nightjar totally shut down and began to bawl. She couldn't hear him, though she seemed to sense his distress because she shut her own mouth and began wriggling until she found her brother's anterior.

She began licking at his damp face. She might have been soothing him... or perhaps Wildfire just liked the taste of his tears. Shortly after that, she sprawled over him. It could have been a hug to comfort Nightjar or maybe she was even trying to protect him from their godmother's infernal appendage... or, more likely, Wildfire was trying to smother the crybaby. Maybe that's what had happened to their poor brother.........

Fin giggled gently as she continued bopping them, completely unaware that she was quickly crossing the line between 'fun' and 'life-ruining'. Nightjar was the first to alert her of her wrong-doings with a loud, miserable sob. The beta stopped her tail whip attack immediately, giving him a startled stare. She was used to Wildfire being emotional, but not her brother. In truth, he was probably just as whiney and squeaky as his sister - he just had far more subtlety than his constantly-miming-a-car-crash sibling.

Luckily, Wildfire was not as thrown by her brother's tantrum as Fin. Her speed at responding to his cries actually made Fin wonder if the little girl's ears weren't starting to work, for almost as soon as he began to cry, she was at his face, gobbling up his tears. The beta stuck out her bottom lip in an OMGSOCUTE pout while throbbing hearts replaced her eyes at this touching moment of sibling love.

Soon the crying babe was met with the tiny, wet tongue of his sister lapping at his tears. This did soothe him for a moment... at least for as long as it took Wildfire to fall on top of him. His cries quieted to whimpers, and then muffled little puffs of air as his red-haired sister sprawled over him. She was smaller, and not quite heavy enough to suffocate him, though after about ten seconds, Nightjar had enough.

He opened his mouth wide and loosed a piercing, extremely not masculine scream and began to struggle beneath her, letting her (and everyone else) know that he was so over it.

*references other thread!* This will be my final post. :)

Nightjar tolerated her for a brief spell, then began to struggle. A little growl buzzed out of Wildfire's mouth but there was no way she could hope to win against her brother. She might have been the loud one, yet he was bigger and stronger... and though she couldn't really hear it for herself, he also had a nice set of lungs on him, which he proved right now to the detriment of their aunt's ears.

Huffing, Wildfire began to scoot in a random direction again. This time, she began making a (relatively slow) beeline toward the den's mouth. Right then, the bereaved Alpha pair returned home and Peregrine almost turned her into a potato pancake as he toted a dead fawn inside and stashed it in the den's rear. Luckily, he spotted her on his second pass, carefully plucking her off the floor and placing her beside Fox as his mate indicated it was time for them to eat.

With a final huff, the ginger puppy latched onto one of Fox's teats, suckling greedily. Her parents soon placed her siblings beside her and she flailed at them halfheartedly, still unaware that where there used to be three, there were now only two.

Last for me toooo! <3

It seemed that the remaining boy of Fox and Peregrine's litter was a rather impatient, grumpy child.  His tolerance of Wildfire's affectionate glomping did not last very long for soon he was wailing at a decible that mirrored the loudest of the brood.  Fin cringed at the sound, her aww-so-cute moment ending immediately.  She was tempted to plop a paw down on the boy's stout little muzzle, but resisted the urge as she recognized the importance of Wildfire's next move against him.  It was a tiny struggle that neither would likely ever remember, but Fin knew that it would be the first of many tussles for dominance between all three.  So, she let the scene play out, only moving to interfere when Wildfire suddenly jetted towards the mouth of the den.

Fin had barely lifted herself an inch off of the ground when the alphas suddenly returned.  Sorrow fell over her again at the sight of their pained faces.  She had nearly forgotten what she was doing there amidst the commotion of the siblings, but all at once it came back to her like a cold wind tingling along her spine.  Making certain that little no-name was still secure and sound asleep, she crept up onto all fours to make room for Fox to take her place.  Without a word, she shared her sympathies and farewells with both of the parents, and then stole away to give them their space to grieve their lost son.

Having lost interest in her wailing brother, Wildfire began to move away and, feeling less squished, Nightjar began to quiet himself. He still hiccuped unhappily at regular intervals and fussed loudly, right up until the moment that Fox intervened by scooping him up and placing him back at his regular place.

Maybe he didn't really understand that all the pieces of this great entity were separate yet, but he was able to smell them as individuals. This one smelled like their regular inhabitant, quite unlike Finley, who smelled more like the outdoors. The knowledge that he was safe now soothed him instantly; he too greedily suckled when he found a teat, then drifted off into sleep, feeling delightfully less crowded than he usually did.