Bearclaw Valley there are so many books i mean to read

the youngest of the bearclaw children, the move to the rendezvous site had proven quickly that merrick was totem-pole dead last. largely too young to participate in the rougher games of the older puppies, the lone boy cavorted after the others all the same, hoping to gain their favor or at least their attention.
today, however, it was too hot to chase the courtiers in the puppy kingdom; mid afternoon found the child lazily chewing on a length of bark, eyes half-lidded against the heat.

Nunataq was eternally curious about he small blob of fluff that Indra seemed to be often playing around with during the last month. But all her attempts at stealing it away or even finding out, what it was, were nipped in the bud by either her caretaker herself or Laurel. And eventually with 200 other interesting things going on in the world, the energetic puppy had lost interest in the thing altogether.

However, things had changed, when the said blob had turned out to be pretty alive, able to move around on stubby legs and emit sounds as well. Again - due to the still considerable size difference - Nunataq had wanted to steal it away and play with it on her own, and again all her not too sneaky attempts were noticed and cut short. However, any attempts to explain to her that this was not a toy, but a living being fell on deaf ears and incomprehensible eyes.

Therefore no wonder that on a day, when the little fluffy thing happened to be on it's own, Nunataq stealed herself away from the rest of the group and sneaked up on the youngest family member. She drew very close, ignored all polite manners and began to sniff the odd being's fur all over. It was time to find out, what this thing was once and for all.

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the boy had begun to slip into a doze; he sputtered more fully awake at the brazen brushes of a larger cousin's muzzle over his body. baring needle-sharp teeth, merrick did not retreat; upthrust his ears and with a fiercely trembling bottlebrush of a plume flagging behind round hips, he shouted "YOU NOT TOUCH ME!" as loudly as he could in a deep a voice able to be mustered.
perhaps overly aggressive, the child nevertheless glared into other's face. it did not occur to him that this amazon of a cousin could bowl him over quite easily, or enforce his place in the court of cubs — he challenged her with a toddler's righteous indignation.

The fact that a thing so small could emit such an ungodly sound had not occurred to Nunataq entirely. She was caught entirely by surprise, when she had been toying with the idea of grabbing this fluffy fellow by the scruff and dragging it elsewhere. The brown cub sprang back and eyed the little, furious beast speechless (more an emotional state, not an actual one, since Nuna never spoke at all).

Then she recovered, shook her coat, appeared to be contemplating something and eventually plopped on her stomach, her tail wagging, her face lit up in excitement. Perhaps, if she poked him with a paw lightly, he would make a different sound? She tested this theory in practice and reached out to paw at Merrick.

his shouting seemed to have dissuaded his giraffe-born companion; to the small and round child, nunataq was quite tall. he made as if to bustle away from her, only to have his fat haunch rudely poked by one of her outstretched paws. "I SAY NO!" merrick hollered, swinging around to confront her.
lowering his hard poll, the boy charged the short distance between himself at the girl. a growl bubbled from his throat, flung behind him like some avenger's cape; merrick intended to defend his overreaction by demanding with his teeth his napoleon syndrome be taken seriously.

Nuna was not malicious in any way - she was just curious and therefore annoying to the second party during the process. When the pup swirled around and charged at her, a grin appeared in her lips - now this was a game she understood. She swiftly avoided his first assault and then responded with one of her own - a nip on the fluffy butt, if she got a chance to do so.

his attempt to thwart nunataq's play and drive her off went largely ignored. to add insult to injury, his fuzzy round rear lit briefly with the other's nip. merrick gasped, stumbling over his paws before he turned toward her again. and there he took in her features, the unthreatening way she regarded him, and in answer, the brat's tail began to wave over his haunches.
"you pay'm me?" merrick inquired, surprised. however, his initial shock was not so great that he did not bounce toward her again, this time a more friendly growl rising in his throat.

Apparently Nunataq's theory of, how this little fluff-ball functioned, was not entirely correct. Initial idea - you poke it and it makes an awful noise - had had not proven to be true. She toyed with the thought that, if you squeezed it hard enough, perhaps... but you did not need Laurel present to have Nuna reconsider planning mischief. She drew her ears to her skull, when she came to a conclusion that - for whatever reason - rough play and experiments with this fellow would not be looked upon kindly.

Alright then... plan B was set in action the moment she caught Merrick's tail wagging and she responded with swaying of her own tail. Add the growl in the mix and Nuna replied with a loud "Whrufff!", challenging the boy to do something like it. So far she had been best at barking among puppies.

nunataq wagged her tail; merrick rejoined with more furious gestures, until his hindquarters swayed with the effort. the ears that had flattened with delight now swept upright to quiver at her impressive bark. merrick gaped toward the girl a moment until he was able to gather himself.
giggling with a breathless surprise, the child puffed out his velveteen chest and gave a squealing yap in response. not quite as deep as hers, nor as confident, but merrick was undeterred. he offered her another example of his skills, this one at a lower pitch. and when he had done so, the boy straightened, eyes shining with anticipation of how she might answer.

Nuna tilted her head, smiled a "not so bad, but not as good as mine" smile and spent a minute, preparing for even a better show. A growl reverberated in her throat - a long and melodic "RRRRRRRRR" - with a thundering (that's what she thought) "WrouuFFF!" finale, accompanied by he drumming her forpaws against the ground. She sat back and regarded the kid smugly - beat that!

merrick was bowled over in a giggling heap and regarded her with one shining eye. she was impressive, the boy decided, scrambling to his paws. "whofff!" he shouted back, before lowering his muzzle to snap playfully toward her paws. yes; nunataq was superior in noise-making, but she hadn't yet one-on-one wrestled her smaller companion. therefore merrick would retain his title until she proved otherwise.

Ouch! Very unlike Nuna she was too slow to move her paw away from the little attacker in time and the tiny, sharp piranha teeth made contact with her poor limb. She yelped quietly and yanked her paw away, then she used her advantage of size, leaned over and aimed to gently grasp Merrick's head. It was small, round and just the size for her jaws.

a glee filled merrick as his teeth connected with nunataq's paw; he giggled to himself but the laughter was cut abruptly short as his older cousin closed her mouth around his entire head. for a long moment, the boy froze, unsure of whether or not he should panic or keep calm.
indignantion won out; her mouth echoed with a babyish wail as the boy tried to backpedal out of her jaws. he was not hurt, nor uncomfortable, but the whimper he gave was truly pathetic.

The sound that the little furball emitted, when Nuna had almost accomplished the task of "beheading" him, was far from happy and joyful (wonder why...). And the older cub, who was very experienced in the art of crossing the line, being overbearing and unintentionally tormenting her fellow pups, let go immediately. Naturally she could go on, but this sad sound - unfortunately - always meant a game over with her siblings and some ear-boxing, if an adult had been involved.

In order to remedy her crime, Nuna flopped on her belly and put her head between her outstretched forepaws, so that now she was in the same level as Merrick. And the friendly and apologetic look on her face meant that he was allowed to take some liberties as a retribution for the scare.

the strangled sound he had made resulted in not only his head being released, but an apology. merrick hung back for a second. was she about to swallow his entire face again? he was not sure, and neither did he wish to find out. yet the girl's imploring look and quiet invitation that he get in his own licks was too great an offer to withstand, and the boy chuckled lowly.
merrick stole forward, then with more directness sought to grasp one of nunataq's ears in his jaws. he could not hold her entire head in his own mouth, so this must suffice, and he suspected it would.

Nunataq was a big fan of ear-grabbing herself, yet up until this moment she was not aware of the painful torment that she had inflicted on the poor victims. Ears were tender and Merrick's sharp teeth made her wince and want to pull away immediately. Which she tried to do by rolling on her back and attempting to swat at the puppy with her forepaws.

merrick was jerked forward by nunataq's attempts to dislodge him; she rolled onto her back and swatted at him. the puppy gasped as he was grazed, buffeted to one side. and then he was laughing; he darted toward her again, attempting to use his round weight to begin another wrestling match.

One out of three or four swats had been succesful and Merrick had let go of Nuna's ear. What she learned, however, that little guys were hard to fight, not only because they were fragile and tended to scream at the least provocation (or what she would rather call - spicing up the game), but also that smaller moving targets were more difficult to aim at.

And the little, black, biting beetle was not kept away for long - in the next instant, it was right back on the assault, and Nuna simply rolled on her back now, gave half-hearted counter-attacks and let Merrick have the feel of victory, before she drove the little horror in the ground.

merrick was getting the better of her, or so he thought; her parries were weak and he intensified his efforts. the larger pup was on her back now, eliciting a little rumble of victory from merrick. and the boy would have continued, had not he been unceremoniously pinned to the ground. a small fierce growl racked up from this throat; he wriggled wildly, shocked she had ended the game so effortlessly.

Nuna let out a muffled chuckle at the little tyrant's surprise and efforts to break free from her grasp. She held him just a tad bit longer for her own satisfaction, then let go and danced away, inviting him for a game of "catch me, if you can". If the boy was anywher as ambitious and tough as his older playmate was, he would not turn down the invitation.

Last one from me and let's have a new one!