Moonspear carry on phenomenon

By midday, everything was dreary and Amekaze frustrated; she'd been cooped up all day, as if she'd not already been den-bound more in this last month than ever before, but it had rained starting late last night and into the morning hours. Now, it was at least not raining any longer, but the trees dripped and everything was still drenched. A little time passed, things settled. The scent of the rained on mountainside permeated into the den and she could stay confined no longer. It was good enough for her.

She uncurled from the nearest puppies then nudged @Charon purposefully on the cheek, chuffing softly into his pale furs. There had been some minimal discussion on the matter that itched at her, especially with trying to encourage the puppies to be comfortable with the den's doorstep and a few select members of the pack lately, all while their senses sharpened by the day. It was nearing time to extend the offer in full and make them more aware of the rest of the pack. She hoped it may be appropriate now, but everything was not yet in place.. not exactly.

Lacking the usual stealth in which she'd slip away from her young family to be on her own, she yipped softly and beckoned them towards the entrance -- pressing her snout against @Korei Julia first and then a sweeping motion over the dark ones, @Lyra @Alya and @Hydra on her way out. Once beyond the threshold herself, she pranced light across the damp earth then looked expectantly over her shoulder. Some should follow, and she hoped that once she got the momentum going with her, she could judge whether or not to proceed today.

Alya was ready.

As was usual, she was awake as soon as Mom was, but still pretending to sleep until something proved interesting enough to pull her away from the snuggle-plie of her sisters. And this was the most interesting thing that she'd ever heard of - this'd never been allowed before but she'd dreamed of it, yes she had!

They were leaving the den! They would be like Mom, coming and going - maybe even like The Great White. Maybe they would become creatures of the day, and their pelts would turn stark and white like Korei's.

"Yayayayaya!" she chittered, loud enough to wake her sisters, if any had still been asleep, but not loud enough to bring that pained, unhappy look into The Great White's eyes. Without another thought, she charged after her mother, stepping bravely into the unknown and promptly running into the long, dark legs of her guide.

"Ouch!" she chirped, gazing gaily up at the woman.

She was roused slightly when their mother untangled herself from the pile, huffing quietly in annoyance as she was bumped. Her eyes did not open, however, and the girl instead tried to snuggle deeper into the furry shoulder of an unknown sibling, refusing to leave the cocoon of warmth she had created for herself. She let out a soft whine as she felt a cool nose brush against her, rousing her a second time. Still, she resisted.

Until Alya broke the silence of the day which caused Lyra to jerk her head up in fright.

She immediately stared at her sister in both confusion and irritation, before watching as she boldly sprinted after their mother who had left the den. Oh no! No, this wasn't allowed! They were never allowed out into the Bright. What was she doing? Lyra nearly tripped on her own paws as she went to follow her idiot sister, before stopping to glance up at their father, who she gave a panicked whimper to. She hadn't connected the fact that Amekaze had invited them to come see the outside for the first time.

He awoke and smacked his lips as he looked around with a sleepy expression on his face. He saw Ame depart the den and watched as one of the dark ones noisily followed — he guessed it was Alya, who was the loudest of the bunch so far. Charon yawned and stretched his front legs when one of the other dark ones caught his attention. The expression on her face was comical, almost as though she was worried when she whimpered.

"What's wrong? You can go on outside with mama," he instructed, though knowing they (probably) didn't understand much of it yet, except for perhaps 'mama'. He nosed Lyra's bottom to get her moving, and chuffed to let Hydra and Korei Julia know they were headed out, too. After nosing Lyra out of the den Charon slipped out too to make space for the other children. It would soon be time to move to a rendezvous site and offer them more freedom -- however frightening that sounded to Charon, to let his little girls go more often -- and it was definitely getting time to get them bantering around outside so that they could meet with the pack soon.

Hydra watched as her sister rushed outside once goaded by mother. Hydra let out a loud, No!!!!!!! a word she was learning. Hydra did not want either of her twins to escape, first, and not because she wished to be first either. It was simply because she was invested in her twins, and if the paler one were to go first and be swooped up, well, she would not mind that so much as she minded Alya.

The cub was never mean to any of her sisters. In fact, she exhibited small degrees of protectiveness over each of them. But there was a true preference toward her inky sisters, if only because they looked so alike and it pleased her eye. Hydra shifted her weight, and when she heard no sounds of pain, she moved alongside Lyra as her father spoke to the littlest of the triplets. Hydra gazed at him for a moment, not translating what he said, but understanding 'mama' well enough. Hydra looked outside again before glancing toward Lyra. Hydra, who supported Lyra despite how much of a scaredy cat she seemed to be, encouraged her sister forward with a nudge before moving warily outside herself. She was less certain of this development, and squinted at the world as her eyes adjusted, looking most displeased.

She didn't dawdle for long at all. Since she had one willing (noise-making) volunteer early on, she moved forward eagerly and allowed for Charon to bring up the rear -- and rouse any stragglers if necessary. She was eager (perhaps overly so) to get out, move around, and take these puppies with her if she could help it. They didn't need to go far. Just.. here, out. It was a start.

In her pause to look towards the den, her ears flicked towards the voice from below after a collision that barely registered to her. She drug her sights down just afterward. Ouch. Not long before, she had overheard the complaints of another clear cut no!! from behind them somewhere.

All served a stark reminder that their sounds were becoming words, and quickly. Babbling would give way to more coherence before she'd know it -- so she hoped. She stared down at the whelp in silence for a beat, deducing that the ouch really couldn't have been much to concern herself.. especially with considering the cheery look about her still. Ame decided a fond lick onto her head was as good of a bandaid as she'd need, and so, that was delivered quickly before turning her sights back to the den yet again.

Her tail waved, and this time she chuffed again towards the rest of them with a bit more vigor to invite them all further out, should they so choose. She hoped to inspire them more, and whether or not she actually did, she'd humor her first victim until the rest could be warmed up.

With a quick sweeping motion of her muzzle, she nudged Alya softly then sprung forward. A few strides later, she turned sidelong, and batted the ground with her forelimbs, rump and tail in the air accordingly in the universal signal for come play.

All the fun came to a screeching halt when the voice of the Most Beloved rent the air. At once, Alya turned all her attentions toward the dark princess, blue eyes wide as she tried to assess the health of Priority Number One. Hydra seemed unharmed, but Alya did not let that fool her. Obediently, she broke away from her mother and fell in line beside Lyra and behind the Commander in Chief.

"No no no no no," she whispered softly, committing the word to memory. Although she knew it as well as any word by now, it'd still taken her precious moment to connect the sound with its meaning, and such things could have cost Lyra or Hydra their lives.

Silently, Alya promised herself that she would not make the same mistake twice.

Julia was a deep sleeper. Amekaze detached herself from the pile of puppies, bending over to brush her nose against her stark body. It hardly registered to the girl, and still, she slept on. Alya cried out and departed from the others, as did Korei's other black sister, but she remained, quiet and asleep. She was pleasantly happy until the evil hands of cold began to reach at her, clawing at her thin fur. Slowly, she opened a single puppy-blue eye, the sun seeping through to reveal to her a startling image. No one was there! Daddy was gone, Mama was gone, so were Alya, Lyra and Hydra. 

With a new burst of energy, the babe bounced to her feet, screaming at the top of her lungs, "NNNOOOOOOOO!!" She dashed to the Bright, a place she always saw her Protectors leave and enter. Now at the mouth of her den, she could see it, and it was amazing. Daddy and Mama were there and so were her sisters, and Julia felt better. Without thinking twice about it, she pranced joyfully out, head and tail high. She passed the cluster of black puppies and pounced up to Mama. Once there, she began her fast and ill-pronounced story.

"I up an' no you," she told her excitedly, "An' I did an' I yay." She giggled hysterically then, finding her tale extremely amusing.

Her father seemed rather unconcerned with this whole situation, instead offering a calm prompt that Lyra barely understood. Though his tone was reassuring, her brows still furrowed, staring at him and giving a soft whine as he nosed her forward before exiting the den himself. At least now she was up on all fours and was slightly closer to the entrance, yet she was still unsure. It was Hydra's gentle push that finally convinced her to follow the others out into the Bright.

She blinked against the harsh light as she emerged, mirroring the look of displeasure of her sibling. A flash of white suddenly streaked past her, following by rushed babbling and a giggle of delight. Lyra cast a glance back at the now empty den, nervous about the development but, upon seeing her sister's elated reaction, she felt a spark of excitement. Perhaps it wasn't all bad!

Their mother seemed the least concerned of them all, and Lyra peered at the dark adult as she pranced around playfully, inviting them all to come to her. A small smile spread across her features, and the triplet looked to her sisters — Alya had come to join them too — and wiggled her tail, ready to follow their lead.

just gonna throw a post in here!!!

Hydra waved her tail at Lyra, pleased to see her out in the open. Korei was the last to exit, though Hydra did not pay much mind to that. Not until she noted how Korei moved. Ambition and instinct were not things that Hydra truly understood quite yet, but there was something about the way her paler sister moved that irritated her. That was not an uncommon thing, and Hydra was never one to step aside from letting others know she was bothered.

Hydra looked conspirationally toward her sisters, tail wagging and her own ears pricked. Get! She yipped, and looked pointedly at their pale counterpart, who sought their parents affections. With a high pitched giggle, Hydra moved to lead the charge to tackle Korei, who she liked on principle but did not love quite as much as she did her mirror images. This was why Korei was more susceptible than any other sister to receive Hydra's aggressive attention... though admittedly, sometimes she got prickly with her twin sisters as well when the mood struck her. Often, it happened when she did not get enough sleep; she was a right grump, then.

Korei Julia's story to her mama was adorable, even if it didn't make any sense at all. Charon looked at Ame with a grin and said, "Yeah, mama, what do you say about that?" He was just glad that he wasn't expected to give any sensible answer. It seemed the triplets, after some running back and forth, seemed to decide that outside was okay, too.

As one of them (stars knew which it was, really) lead the charge towards Julia Charon just watched, not expecting anything vicious. Pups would be pups and playing was part of them growing up.

Her first attempt at play fell flat, for the dark girls were more involved with each other than anything else. With them all together, busied, it was hard to keep them all apart but she'd already found it sometimes easier to consider them.. an entity of itself, instead of wholly separate always. Maybe, she hoped, this may become more clear with age. For now, she also wondered if they'd all look like her more as they grew. Considering what they showed now (obviously not yet the whole of what they would become), it was evidently a distinct enough look for her to stamp them with it three times over.

However, Korei was the odd one out, and arrived soon enough to take the forefront of her attentions instead. Amekaze did have to quirk a brow at the story that now had the girl laughing merrily. She only got.. the general gist of it but she waved her tail happily -- how sickeningly sweet! She shot Charon an amused glance too, and laughed softly as well. "Aw, such an interesting story," she approved. "Let us see what happens next," she breathed into the pale furs of the girl's cheek, and pressed her nose against her fondly. On noticing the oncoming assault of the dark sisters, she nudged her sights that way so she may address that matter as she saw fit. The pale princess' tale certainly had something in store. Amekaze was content to let it play out for now.

After finding that Hydra was perfectly safe, Alya's fears were quickly forgotten. There was a whole new world of bright and pretty and exciting things, and it was quite a lot of trouble to keep her mind on Hydra at all, let alone her current state of health. As it was, Alya found the presence of mind to keep the Crown Princess in her sight, even if it was just out of the corner of her eye.

It was a sufficent amount of her attention to perk her ears when another word came out of her mirror-twin's mouth. This one was also one that Alya knew well, particularly when connected to the pale princess - Alya's least-favorite sister.

"Get!" she agreed, allowing Hydra to exit her line of sight so that she might attack their pale sister with all her ferocity, and no little amount of love. Sharp teeth would nibble fretfully at whatever was near, but Alya was more concerned about pinning the other girl down.

Sorry for the wait! I should be back to normal now.

The attention she recieved from her parents pleased the girl indeed, and as soon as she finished her bout of laughter, she was all smiled. Mama nuzzled her and Julia nibbled at her dark fur, freezing only when she heard that word she hated the most. Whenever it was spoken, it normally was directed at her, and out of instinct, she whipped around with a wagging tail, barking merrily and ready to play.

But she had expected one sister, and she was met with two upon Alya's screech of agreement, and the third was bound to come next. Tail tucked and she attempted to leap out of their way, but from the surprise of the whole sutiation, her reaction was delayed. She found herself on the ground with the weight of two siblings atop her. She wriggled around and nipped at their paws with sharp milk teeth and aimed at she bellies with hind feet -- she never knew if any of these attempts ever met their targets but she ought to try.

The assault on the palest of the siblings was led by Hydra, and Lyra followed hesitantly behind. She wasn't as aggressive towards the smallest of the litter than the other two were, though she still wanted to stay on their good sides — they were a team, after all. And so she partook in the attack, albeit with the aim to be gentler than her twin sisters.

With a yip and glance to her parents, Lyra bounded towards the poor girl who had been knocked to the ground, head bobbing as she tried to find a way to...help. With so much practice already under their belt, Alya and Hydra were doing a fine job of keeping their littlest sister pinned, it seemed. Lyra rounded to where her head was then, minding her gnashing teeth, before attempting to snag one of her cream-tipped ears and give it a playful tug.