Swiftcurrent Creek In a space ship

Bordering Duck Lake

Breathes are taken slowly, attempting to calm his screaming lungs as he grows further away from the heart of Swiftcurrent Creek. Helios travels knowing well that his parents won't exactly be pleased should he dip from the protective borders of the pack. Helios, himself, possessive of the territory and the inhabitants. Yet the outings made him curious of what lay beyond their realm; what the world may have in store for him.

He slows his gait until he is walking rather slowly, a wheeze forced his jaws open, and the raven boy is stuck in a cough fit. Vision flickers, spots appearing in the corners, with darkness slowly consuming until Helios is forced to sit. A shudder quakes his body, vision absent in a few precious seconds until it finally begins to return.

His brother has wandered, and Zephyr is determined to follow. He follows his scent as quickly as his clumsy little legs will take him, stumbling over foliage and rocks as he goes. It's difficult to swallow his increasing anxiety as the trail nears the outskirts of the territory, but he's certainly not turning back — so he simply keeps moving, chest tightening a little more with each step.
He's not alarmed when he hears Helios's coughing, though; it's a sound he's used to hearing, from himself and his siblings — and another way to track him. Ears pulled forward, he picks up into a run when he spots his brother. He's gotten better at running recently, and only stumbles a little as he bolts toward Helios. Unfortunately for both of them, he hasn't quite mastered the stopping part — so of course, he crashes right into his brother's back with a yelp.

He gasps hungrily for each breath, filling his lungs to their maximum capacity. Chest moves up and down almost violently, but his vision returns and that is what matters most. He had not realized his hearing, too, had dulled. Else perhaps he would have picked up the thundering of clumsy paws charging in his direction.

Air is knocked out of him once more, and forearms spread to catch himself as a weight slams into his back. A mix of a whine and growl escape his parted jaws, as Helios is forced to lean forward in an awkward position. His body aches at the collision. Zephyr. He hates how weak he sounds, how weak he feels. So he gets to his feet, pulling away from the silver pup who crumbles to the ground behind him. His tail swishes. Helios turns until he can face him, before he sits again, and smacks his paw gently on his younger sibling's forehead.

The impact hurts, and he finds himself wheezing rather loudly as he hits the ground, whining a little in response to his brother's retreat. It takes him a few moments to recover, chest aching where the impact had been strongest. Embarrassment heats his cheeks and face as he tries to catch his breath, and a million things race through his mind. He hardly even notices his sibling's touch. When something finally bubbles to the surface, though, it isn't at all what he'd hoped to say — I wasn't following you! The words come out in a panicked, slightly hoarse rush, louder than he'd intended, and he coughs harshly. His face heats further, tears stinging his eyes instantly. His mouth opens again briefly, then snaps shut as he grasps desperately for something else to say. But he finds nothing, so he lunges to bite Helios's foreleg instead.

Spar dice rolls!

By now, Helios accepts Zephyr as his shadow—amusing, for it should be the opposite. The outbursts are normal. It wouldn't be Zephyr without them, and yet Helios is always puzzled over the reasons. Out of nowhere, the silver sibling is denying following the eldest, and Helios would only believe that if he bumped into Zephyr instead.

Just as Helios leans down with the intention of pressing his nose to Zephyr’s cheek to comfort, the silver pup lashes out—teeth grasp around his foreleg. Tiny pinpricks of baby fangs poke uncomfortably at his skin, and the eldest brother attempts to tackle Zephyr in retaliation, taking a page out of Lainie’s book and using his lanky body to try sitting upon the smaller pup.

Helios is quick to respond, and it catches him off-guard. For some reason, he hadn't really expected a fight — but he's definitely not backing down. His brother's weight upon him knocks the air from his lungs once again, but it doesn't stop him from lashing out with a series of kicks, flailing with all four limbs as he goes down (and hopefully pummeling Helios). The sprite emits a strangled, breathless war cry as he batters his oldest sibling with his legs, wheezing a little and thoroughly enjoying himself.

What he thinks will be an easy victory turns into a flailing mess. Limbs go flying, kicking and smacking into him enough that Helios has to close his eyes a few times when a stray paw comes slapping him in the face.

It would be cute, if the smacks didn’t hurt to some degree. A playful growl rumbles in his chest, and the raven parts his jaws, attempting to sneak through flailing arms to grasp the fur of Zephyr’s chest. If he’s successful in his grasp, he’ll start to shake his head.

Unfortunately, his flailing only slows Helios down a bit — and with his brother's weight still atop him, Zephyr quickly finds himself running out of stamina. His kicking starts to slow, limbs feeling heavier with each movement. Then he feels teeth raking through his chest fur — which is absolutely unacceptable, of course. He pulls his hind legs in close, twisting a little to center them directly underneath Helios, and gathers his energy. He hesitates only briefly, until the tight feeling in his lungs reminds him of his brother's weight upon him. Then he kicks the shit out of Helios.

Attack succeeding, he, once more, underestimates Zephyr’s strength. With each flail growing weaker, the raven boy assumes he has the upper hand, until he doesn’t. Kicked square in the gut, air rushes out of his lungs, and Helios feels the need to hurl at any second. He staggers away from his silver sibling, attempting to catch his breath. Worn out, he flops onto his side. Chest heaving.

He doesn't really expect Helios to give up. For a moment, it's incredibly disconcerting, and panic flashes through him as he realizes he might have hurt his oldest sibling. The sprite has never thought himself capable of such a thing — but he's also never thought himself capable of winning anything. He doesn't give himself much time to think on it further, though, immediately squirming to his feet and rushing to Helios's side with a slightly-alarmed whine.
Are you okay? He asks, sniffing him over frantically for several moments whether he responds or not; he's already learned not to expect a truthful answer from his brother. When he finds no trace of blood or other injury on him, though, he determines Helios is fine — and promptly flops on him for some very poorly-timed cuddling.

Everything hurts where it shouldn’t. Helios wants to curl around on himself, to cry out, and for that pain to disappear. His breath having been taken from him again in such a short time frame really knocked him out. Instead of appearing weak, however, he works on calming his breathing.

« I’m fine,  » Helios sounds far from fine, but Zephyr is correct; telling the truth in this situation is a taboo. His eyes flicker, breath finally being caught, and he watches carefully as Zephyr observes him. A wheeze escapes him once more as his sibling flops onto him. Body lowkey screaming that it is just starting to recover and cannot take more weight upon him.

He wiggles a bit, trying to ease the silver sibling so he is tucked near his belly instead.

He allows himself to be shifted, happily pressing against Helios's belly with a soft, contented sigh. The exact position matters little to him anyway; he's just happy his brother isn't protesting the contact. The silver boy would never admit it, but he needs this — to reassure himself that their fight was not real, that Helios is not hurt and still loves him. He sighs again and tucks himself closer, burying his face in his littermate's fur and trying to forget the anxiety suddenly threatening to swallow him whole. He'd had fun, but... he can't help wishing this had gone differently.

Now in a better position, Helios is able to recover—and he, too, is content with their close proximity. Despite how much he hates losing, Zephyr played well, and he knows that he must improve himself physically if he is ever to withstand a true threat. Tucking his head down, the raven boy places a kiss on Zephyr’s cheek—staying cuddled together. Maybe he can even convince his sibling to stay still long enough to enjoy a short nap.