Heron Lake Plateau Giant's milk

A fitful dream was imposing on Phox's sleep, and his eyes twitched wildly to anybody who might be watching from the outside. When he woke, he remembered very little of it except that there had been a red wolf with one eye. She had been trying to say something to him, but it was too muffled, too far away. It left him puzzled, but many dreams did that to him.

Towhee and the two kids were fast asleep, and since the sky outside was still dark, Phox slipped out of the den. He didn't go too far, but he did find his favorite spot to gaze up at the stars, and that was where he sat. He wondered which of those stars was Camilla if she had found peace there.

Fennec wasn't a super light sleeper, but for some reason, Phox's slipping out made her jerk awake.  She looked up in time to see his shadow pass in front of the den, and she immediately stumbled to her paws and followed him out.  If he left, they could leave, right? That's how it went.

She yawned sleepily and nearly lost him - he was dark in the dark, no more than a blur to her stilted vision.  Luckily he was moving.  She picked up to a run, barreling right into his side and snuggling her head in.  If he was going to sit out here then she was too.

Something bumped into him, and he peered down to find little Fenton squeezing into him. He glanced back at the den, expecting Fig to come barreling out any moment, but it seemed Fenn's brother was still fast asleep along with Towhee. Maybe he was deaf, too.

Hey, little one, he said, bending down to lick the top of her head. His gaze returned to the stars, picking out the constellations one-by-one and quietly reciting their names under his breath. They comforted him in some strange way, although he could not tell anyone who asked why that was.

He didn't force her to leave, so she plopped down and summarily began to chew on her paw while leaning up against him.  Her ears twitched as he greeted her, and she left off long enough to mumble a sleepy Hama before going back to it.

He seemed pretty keen on something above, but when she lifted her head to look, she saw no stars in the great big blur that was the sky.  She never would.

She went back to chewing on her paw, and Phox shrugged it off as her being uninterested in the night sky. Plenty of wolves ignored it entirely, especially before they realized it could be used to navigate, so he didn't see anything strange about it. He wondered if either of them would end up liking astronomy like he did. Phox couldn't remember a time when he hadn't had his neck twisted up toward the night sky, but Towhee didn't seem terribly interested in it.

Maybe the two of them would become fighters like Towhee.

She kept watching him as she chewed, and when he didn't stop looking up, she whined curiously.  Then she looked up again.  Was something up there?

She couldn't ask and probably wouldn't comprehend much of what he said, but if he could show her that would be grand.  Unless it was some adult ritual to come outside and stare at the sky, in which case she might go find herself a stick to chew on instead of her paw.

Fenton whined, and Phox sighed. She probably wasn't that interested at this age. Not only that, but she was getting antsy. Alright, alright, he said, relenting to her pestering. He grew a devilish grin, and nipped playfully at her. With the top of his muzzle, he nudged her, trying to throw her off balance. Might as well start them young if they were going to be fighters like their aunt.

hay how dare you try to thread without me >(

 

Fig was dreaming a very pleasant dream. He was running around in the grass outside of the den, chasing after something and giggling. The green ribbons were reaching for him as he went, wrapping lightly around him as he flew by, tickling him and making him laugh even more. He felt free, excited, and happy. He didn’t ever want to stop running. Not until the very end of his dream where a blade of grass wound tightly around his ankle, tripping him, and sending him falling flat on his face.

He woke very abruptly then, flailing jerkily to his stomach and spinning around wildly, trying to find the offending grass. There was none to be found, which was quite a relief. But that feeling lasted only about twenty seconds before he realized Fenn was no longer where he had left her. Then the panic rose again, and the little boy began zipping around the den, whining like an ambulance siren.

Fig quickly realized she wasn’t inside of the den, so he spun and went shooting towards the entrance. In his panic, he actually wasn’t paying any attention at all to where he was going. He just ran like a whimpering bat out of hell. And he probably wouldn’t have stopped were it not for his impeccable aim, which sent him slamming straight into his father’s hiney. He bounced off of his dad like a ping pong ball and went splat on the ground behind him, blinking up at the night sky in a daze and wondering What in the mother fuck just happened?

Fenn heard Fig's arrival, but she was too preoccupied to do much about it.  Dad was playing with her now, and even though her brother was kinda her ride or die, pops didn't give her 100% attention all that often.  Because usually, as now, Fig came careening on set.

She managed to get a little growl and a hop in, lifting her little jaws to try and grab the muzzle he tauntingly prodded her with.  Unfortunately, she had no depth perception and therefore no aim, and her tries ended up falling very short.

Fig ran into his bum, and Phox turned around to see him splooting on the ground. He chuckled, then went back to Fennec. She wasn't a very good fighter, but Phox reminded himself that she was still very, very young. Maybe she'd get there someday and be just as rough and tumble as Towhee.

Not wanting to favor one pup over the other (okay, he really wanted to, but he was consciously trying not to), he turned his attention to Fig and gave him a growl and a shove, too.

Fig righted himself with a shake of his head. He blinked around to gather his bearings, his eyes landing shortly on the "battle" between Fenn and their father. His anxiety was forgotten quickly after that as he took a couple of steps forward to watch them at it. He was usually the one doing the fighting, so getting to see it happen was interesting. Not interesting enough that he didn't get bored and fidgety after about twenty seconds, but Phox took care of that before he had to start whining for attention.

Fig giggled as he was shoved, then sprang into a play bow, giving a little growl of his own. He tried to make it sound as big and strong as his father's, and though it didn't at all, Fig was pretty sure that it did. He sprang forward with jaws agape, aiming for his dad's nose even though it wasn't exactly within reach.

See! See that there!! As soon as Fig showed up he stole her game, how rude!

Phox was going to have a time of it, because now he had two on him.  Fenn growled as well, and then went for his back paw.  This wasn't moving nearly as much as his muzzle was, so hopefully she'd hit her mark!

Phox continued to play rough and tumble with both Fig and Fenn, shoving them around, growling at the appropriate times, and occasionally feigning hurt when they took a jab at him. Eventually, the two began to move more slowly, and he recognized the telltale signs of his children becoming sleepy. Gently, he corralled them back toward the den, already feeling more relaxed and ready to catch some more Zs before the sun came up.