Redhawk Caldera I only appeared so I could fade away

"Rawlaraw!" Nightjar was saying to his father as they returned from a jaunt around the pack land (i.e. the half-mile surrounding the den), as if he had something meaningful to say about their journey. In truth, Nightjar had noticed almost nothing on their walk except for a few birds that lit from the ground when they got near, and couldn't even have easily retraced their steps, but it was fulfilling to babble senselessly at Peregrine. The Alpha male was always a good sport and responded, even when his son wasn't even saying real words, as he did presently before nudging the boy toward @Wildfire and Raven, who were both absorbed in their own activities.

Nightjar didn't go to them immediately. Instead, he dropped to his rear in the grass to rest, scaring a honeybee up from a flower that was growing near him. It bumbled through the air toward him and made a pit stop on his deaf ear the exact moment that he lifted his hind paw to scratch. He was groaning and enjoying himself until a sharp pain lanced through the sensitive flesh of his deaf ear. Nightjar yelped loudly, leaped to his feet and whirled around to look for his assailant, but he would never spot the bee that was using the last of its life force to detach its stinger in his skin and struggle away through the air. His eyes locked accusingly on his sisters as though he thought they were the culprits, and very loudly, he said, "OUCH," just in case they didn't realize they'd hurt him.

Fox had dropped a bone between Wildfire and Raven just moments ago, causing a lively game of tug-o'-war to ensue. Although Wildfire put every ounce of her energy into it, there was simply no hope for her. She was already much smaller than both her brother and sister. At last, Raven tore the bone from her mouth and trundled away with it. The smaller pup considered giving chase, yet just let it go with a shrug. Maybe Raven would end up sharing it with her later.

Turning, she noticed that Peregrine and Nightjar had returned. At the very moment she realized they were back, her brother screamed, "OUCH!" quite loudly. "Ouchie?" she echoed, trotting over to him. Her legs were getting longer and her feet were still too big, so Wildfire's movements were rather ungainly. "Ni'jar? 'S wrong?" she queried, putting a strange emphasis on the word wrong if only because it was still new and slightly difficult to to pronounce. Wildfire's black tail swayed inquisitively, her head tilting as her golden eyes sought and captured his pale blue gaze.

Raven made no move toward Nightjar, but Wildfire was quick to come to him. By the time she reached him, he was already batting pathetically at his stinging ear, almost as if he sensed there was something amiss. It was in the form of a rather unfortunate bee stinger earring that he was unable to dislodge himself. This was naturally due to his clumsiness and inexperience; even if the stinger had been somewhere he could see it, it was unlikely Nightjar could pull it out.

"M'err!" he squeaked, staring almost accusingly over at Raven. "Ra'en bitsed m'err!" Raven, of course, had done no such thing. Wildfire was probably aware of that, as well. Yet Nightjar lived in a world where blame culture was acceptable because he was still too young to really know otherwise. Since he was almost completely unaware that bees existed and could cause such pain, he concluded that it had to be one of the wolves present, and it definitely wasn't his perfect parents.

Yes, it had to be Raven! That was why she hadn't come to him. "Hurtses," Nightjar whined, sinking to his belly and looking away from his dark-coated sister in the distance, briefly locking eyes with Wildfire instead.

When Nightjar made his accusation, Wildfire's brow furrowed. She looked questioningly over at Raven, who was chewing vigorously on the bone several yards away. Her quizzical eyes then flicked back to her brother. Before she could try to make sense of how that was possible, he said the word hurt (in his babyish dialect). Wildfire's lip drooped into a full-blown frown and she moved forward, gently touching her nose to his earlobe and then giving him a few gentle licks.

"I he'p?" she asked, hoping the dabs of her tongue had removed some of his pain. Instead of commenting, Nightjar sank to his belly and looked up at her. Wildfire held his gaze for a moment, still frowning sympathetically, her golden eyes then flicking to his injured ear. That was when she spotted the small object latched onto it. The would-be Naturalist licked her lips and leaned in closer to investigate.

"Whassat?" she wondered aloud, touching her nose to the embedded stinger.

Wildfire's soothing licks had an almost cathartic effect on Nightjar, who felt the physical and emotional pain of being stung begin to slip away. He even felt less angry at Raven already. The niggling sense in his brain that she couldn't possibly have done anything to him was pushed away for now; he couldn't be expected to understand how unrealistic his logic was. Wildfire babbled to him and he nodded clumsily, wincing as she drew nearer.

He didn't expect Wildfire to be capable of hurting him in any way, but he would've said the same about Raven only moments ago. He'd obviously been wrong. Maybe Wildfire's attempts to help would prove him wrong, too. All she did was inspect his ear, though, and with a muttered query, drew attention to the stinger in his ear by poking it with her nose.

Nightjar flinched, having felt the stinger move just slightly. It didn't hurt, but it did shock him. His hackles rippled uneasily but he remained laying down and quietly echoed, "whassat?" back to his sister.

When her brother flinched, Wildfire tensed immediately, golden eyes widening fearfully. But he didn't cry out, nor push her away, so evidently whatever incidental discomfort she had inflicted hadn't been so bad. She let out her breath like a tire losing air—in a long, low hiss—then cocked her head, brows furrowing as her tongue ran over her bottom lip. What was that thing in Nightjar's ear? How had it gotten there? Could she remove it? Should she remove it?

Some instinct compelled her to try pulling out the stinger. Lips wrinkling back from her teeth in a comedic grimace, Wildfire tried her best to nip the tiny stinger with her front canines. Unfortunately, she was nowhere near coordinated or graceful enough for this minor surgery of sorts. She managed to clip part of her litter mate's soft ear. Without nerves in the tips of her teeth, she could not know this, and so Wildfire began to pull.

To her credit, she did not yank, but moved slowly. And because of this (and Nightjar's likely reaction), she quickly realized she hadn't been very accurate with her bite. Wildfire immediately let go, causing her brother's ear to flop damply from her maw. To the little girl's surprise, the stinger dropped to the ground between them, having been dislodged by her well-meaning if badly executed efforts to extricate it.

For a moment, neither pup did anything. Nightjar remained prone on the ground, intently focused on the weird sensation of the stinger in his ear, while Wildfire contemplated her next move. He was about ready to seek out an adult when his dhole-like sister closed what little distance remained between them and inspected his ear more closely.

He could hear the whisking of her lips over her teeth and winced long before she managed to get a grip on anything. Her teeth gnashed gently and finally found purchase. Unfortunately, her grip was primarily on the soft flesh of his ear. Nightjar whined softly, hoping to deter her from harming him in any way by showing that he was completely at her mercy (this was, after all, also a typically submissive position for him), but it did nothing to stop her from pulling his ear.

When she pulled it to its limit and the stinger began to smart, Nightjar yelped loudly. As expected, his pain response was enough to make her let go, and at exactly that moment, he saw a small, thin black thing fall into the grass. He flicked his ear a few times, relieved that the slight weight of the stinger was absent. Even though it had hurt, he was glad it was out, and turned to shower Wildfire with affectionate, grateful swipes of his tongue.

She stared at it, then bent down to take a closer look when a grateful Nightjar assaulted her with licks. Forgetting about the stinger, she smiled and giggled. "I he'p!" she said proudly, then blew a raspberry and playfully shoved her brother way with a bemused, "Stahhhp!" There was slobber all over her face now!

Wildfire was busy wiping her brother's drool from her muzzle when a strange grumbling sound caused her to freeze, golden eyes blinking. She exchanged a quizzical glance with Nightjar. "Rumbly tumbly?" she guessed. "Choo fart?" But then the rumbling repeated and it most certainly wasn't coming from Nightjar. It was coming from somewhere in the distance, along a suddenly darkening horizon.

"Looks like a storm's blowing in fast. Kids, inside," Wildfire heard their father say, though she didn't move. She'd experienced rain in her short lifetime, of course, and maybe even some thunder once or twice. But she couldn't recollect. And never before had she experienced this strange, sudden sensation as her red fur prickled and the strange odor of ozone filled the air.

Wildfire pushed him away, but Nightjar wasn't one to listen to things like "no" or "stop", at least not when it came to affections, and so he was about to have another go when a growly sound made him pause. His right ear flipped forward curiously. He managed to catch Wildfire's eye, but before he could ask what it was, she asked him if he'd farted. "Ummmmm," the boy mused. Had he?

He was just parting his legs and attempting to sniff his own butt to find out if he had when Peregrine ushered them inside. Nightjar rose, took a couple steps toward the den, and then stopped when he realized Wildfire wasn't beside him. He looked back, and like her, experienced the sudden onset of static as his hair began standing on end. The scent that predominated was unfamiliar, but already Nightjar associated it with something bad. "Wifi, c'mooon," he urged her, wanting very badly to get away from whatever was making his fur stick up.

She stood there, rigid, studying the sights, sounds, scents and sensations as the storm swept in over them. Wildfire experienced a strange sense of exhilaration as a gust of cool wind suddenly buffeted against her, forcing her to take a step. She heard Nightjar calling her and felt the weight of her father's imperious stare, yet she couldn't help it. She remained rooted to the spot, breathing in the suddenly tempestuous air, reveling in the coming storm.

Peregrine could see his pup's fascination but he wasn't having it. "Inside," he spoke from right above her and Wildfire twitched and obediently began to slink that way. "Whassat?" she stopped to ask, golden eyes wide as they looked to her father's face. What was this strange thing happening all around them, as the air darkened and cooled?

"It's going to storm, Wifi. We don't want to be outside when it starts—" But it was too late. Big, cold droplets of rain suddenly splattered their muzzles. Wildfire blinked and then, suddenly: downpour.

Nightjar took one step toward his frozen sister, but scuttled back when Peregrine swept forward to loom over her. The tone in his father's voice was enough to keep him from going out any further than he already was. When Wildfire began to slink toward the den, the boy released a tensed breath and fell in step just ahead of their father, relieved to be getting away from the bad-whatever-it-was that was happening in the sky.

Wildfire asked the question that was on the tip of his own tongue, and Peregrine answered just as the sky uttered a low groaning sound. Nightjar quickly looked up and was met with a curtain of rain falling from the sky. There was a sublime second where he watched it descend like some weight falling from the heavens, but then it was on them, and he was soaked through almost instantly. With an indignant cry, he bounded in the den's general direction, albeit a few feet too far to the left thanks to the rain in his eyes practically blinding him.

You can either wrap it up or send it right to the archives! :)

In three seconds flat, she went from sleek wolf pup to drowned rat. With a cry of surprise, she zipped toward the den, bumping against the side of the wall as she dove inside. As soon as the feeling of rain pounding on her head ceased, Wildfire squeaked and gave her body a mighty shake. Noises of indignation caused her to blink, then smile sheepishly at her family members.

Wildfire then promptly ignored them as she turned and inched back toward the doorway. "Wowow!" she exclaimed, watching the waterfall of rain barricading the family of wolves inside their cozy burrow. What was more fascinating was the sudden pulses of light beyond the silver curtain, which was promptly accompanied by a growl a thousand times louder than any her father had ever uttered. Wildfire's heart skipped a beat.

"Whoooa," the cub murmured, turning with eyes as wide as saucers. She caught Nightjar's gaze. "D'y'see, Ni'jar?!" Wildfire stage-whispered to him, motioning toward the suddenly transformed outdoors. "'S storm!" she informed him in a voice of utmost awe and wonder. And that's exactly how, when and where the little Naturalist's fascination with severe weather was born.