Grizzly Hollow walking on clouds

@Joan @Felix @Ophelia First puppy outing! Pack welcome, puppies first though!

The weeks since the forest had been torn to pieces passed without further disaster. The little family had since been relocated from their emergency shelter, now settled in the den the expectant mother had originally carved out for the purpose. The snaking den was tucked  From there was her vantage point, only able to spectate as the rest of the pack picked up the pieces that the storm had torn apart. Not that there was much an alternative, she needed the time to recover and the three little lives now in her care  kept her plenty busy enough. Thankfully her pups were all healthy and well, for the most part. Joan and Felix were as robust and healthy as one could wish for, but little Ophelia... Such a tiny thing! If she were put in a fox's den, the girl would not look out of place, as small as she was. But what the girl lacked in stature was only made up in the strength of her vocal chords.

 

Veho was taking very good care of her, occasionally bringing on his visits bits of meat, and plants she could only take at his word that they helped. But she couldn't help but feeling a little bit guilty, leaving him to look after her and the aftermath of a disaster at the same time.

Finally she was starting to feel a bit better, thankfully just as the cubs were gaining their senses and becoming a bit more active. There was only so much Oula could take of being their personal jungle gym, and it seemed some fresh air would do them all good.

"Children, follow me." Oula said lightly as she nudged the three little Macieos, "We're going outside today."

>3> I tried and therefore no one can judge me.

The teeny pale fuzzball unfurled from her place on top of her siblings, tumbling from her perch haphazardly. This resulted in the most piercing of attention-grabbing wails that soon petered off its own as she wobbled after her mother. By now, she'd seen the occasional visitor but had certainly mastered two things. First, that screaming generally got her what she wanted eventually. Secondly, who Mama was.

Mama was the prettiest wolf to walk the planet. Ophelia knew because she had seen all the other wolves in the planet already. Mama was definitely best. Besides, none of the others fed her and Mama was certainly best at cleaning everywhere, even if she didn't always want to be cleaned. On second thought, during bath times, maybe Dada was her favorite.

Though she wasn't all too sure what outside meant, Mama seemed pretty excited about it. Ophelia toddled after her Mama, complaining loudly when she got too far ahead. The little one paused in the den when bright light cut a straight line across the floor. Pitifully, she whimpered and yowled - was it gonna eat her?? How did Mama cross??

But her little paw stuck forward into the light and no harm came from it, so while she still bellyached about it, Ophelia wormed her way across the barrier. Once she made it to the den entrance, the pup paused again, refusing to stray from her Mama's leg. She blinked, puppy blue eyes still struggling to take in all the new things to see at once. For all her life, she knew only Mama and Dada and Papa and the few others whose names were unimportant. She didn't know all this existed!

...What was it? What was that?

small pp of @Felix hope that is okay ace????

This morning she had startled when she woke, surprised by the familiar darkness of the den for once. But why should this be odd, she mused in the cloudy, inarticulate way of a pup who only knew four things: family, food, familiar, unfamiliar. Darkness had been her life until this moment, and although the world had slowly begun to lighten her vision was still murky and the walls around her were still comfortable shadows. With difficulty, closing her eyes, Joan reached for the fading impression of a burst of a sensation against her eyes so intense and un-namable and she knew this had not been in real life. Real life was monotonous, real life was just periods of warmth flowing down her throat and the ceaseless cry of one family member or another. Joan was silent now. How could she have seen the brightness down in here? There was nothing in this pit but wolves—hungry, willful, noisy wolves.

Grunting with displeasure, Joan felt the earthly world come back to her as the weight of her sister became more persistent. Ophie, the loudest of the family, tended to get herself into all sorts of precarious situations. Joan would not say that she hadn't pushed her. But the transgressions of her sister were altogether forgiven when Mama spoke, deep tones ushering in an excitement even though the meaning of the word "outside" remained at the edge of her grasp.

Outside.

She turned the word over again, hoping to tap it closer so that she might latch onto it. Well, where was there to go? Joan had seen all there was to see of the dirt. That left only one place. With the realization came the bright flash of light she had seen without seeing: the tunnel. Papa and Dada came and went from this tunnel, a slope that seemed impossibly steep to the young girl. She felt Mama's nose against her rump. Impossible meant nothing. If Joan was ever going to be a big wolf like Mama and Dada and Papa, then the slope was no more than small knoll.

Ophelia was already mounting the slope. Her paws itched: she did not want to be outdone. Yet her head turned, for she felt with a greater strength that her brother should come with her, too, and that she should see him safely to the top. "Fi," she insisted, giving him a poke, "Fiiiii come on." She would drag him by the tail if need be.

- - -

And at the top she saw it, truly saw it this time—the brightness. Joan had to blink several times before she could see her pale sister standing there, looking almost dingy in comparison to the light. Ophie made such an event out of every moment, but her discomfort had never stopped her from anything. Her chest felt warm with pride as she watched her sister step boldly across the line and disappear into the whiteness.

She knew without truly knowing that the brightness would not harm her. In the dream it had felt like a comfort, that was all she could say. Giggling, she tumbled forward and felt the heat of the whiteness surge through he fur. Before, Mama was the only one that could give warmth. But the outside gave it freely, generously. Rising up on her hind legs shakily, the girl came down atop of her sister's back, hoping to insight some play and perhaps get back at her sister for having beaten her out here into the light—her intentions were not to be mistaken for jealousy or ill-will, only lighthearted fun.

"Pin Ophie, Pin Ophie!" she cried, hoping her brother would soon come to her aid and help her flip her pale sister over onto her back.

Joan @ ~8 months: Adult fur and winter coat grown in, eyes are now grey, nearly adult sized. Human age ~11-12

Outside did not hold the same sense of wonder for Felix that it did either of his siblings. Come, children, their mother said, and the little boy made not a sound. He’d rather been enjoying his nap here, where it was safe, and it was warm. He had Mama and Jay and Opie – sometimes Dada or Papa too – and that was all the little Macieo needed. Indeed, he’d have been content to stay where he was if the youngest had not started wailing and the oldest hadn’t started jabbing him in the side with her wet nose.

With only a deep sigh to voice his unhappiness, the prince uncurled himself from his tight ball. At least he wasn’t slow about it, he supposed, finding his feet as quickly as he could and stumbling after his older sister. For all that Ophelia had fussed about the light, the boy puttered blindly through it – the three ladies before him traversed it just fine, and so he did not falter.

The brightness was much more…more…more everything as he came to the top of the den, bumping into Joan’s rump as struck with the brief blindness. He keened once as he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the lack of sight. No matter how hard Felix shook, it did not go away – until he did, Joan blinking into sight, followed by Ophelia, and then his Mama, too. “Playin’?” he asked, voice raspy and thick.

He trundled up, butting his head into Ophelia’s flank. “You it.”

It had been made abundantly clear who was welcome near the newborns, and that whitelist was pretty short. Oula was, naturally, totally in her rights to dictate who could come and spend time with her children, and, in a decision which hadn't surprised Tomen, his father had been on that first list. He'd known it, and it still felt just as weird as ever, but somehow he was coming to accept it as normal anyway - insomuch as normal was turning weird rather than the other way around. Who needed societal norms, anyway? If everyone was happy and healthy, who cared? Nobody had left the pack lately, so apparently it was working. Veho made a more solid lead than Rook had, it seemed, and Tomen found he was okay with that.

Whenever the yearling wasn't busying himself with something productive - eager to prove that he could be a brother to the puppies he wasn't technically related to, just like Rook could be their father - he was lurking somewhere in the forest near to the den where Oula was usually curled up with her children, straining for any voice or sound, feeling like a silent guardian in the shadows. In truth, he was just super impatient to meet them.

He'd been loitering in that manner today, aware that Oula was planning on introducing them to everyone at some point soon, but when he heard the woman's authoritative voice from her den, Tomen's ears fixated on it immediately and his head was up, heart pounding. Was it happening now?! Heaving himself up from where he had been gracelessly lounging on the forest floor, gnawing on a fallen branch to pass the time, he crept forwards, catching a glimpse of the first tiny adorable ball of fluff which came peering out into the sunlight. Tomen bit back the high-pitched squeal which threatened to rise in his throat. Keeping an eye out for Oula, who was surely going to emerge herself any moment, he watched as another girl appeared and bounced on the first, and then there was the boy, and Tomen bit down on his tongue to try and contain himself. Why was this so exciting, it was so silly but he just felt flooded with something warm and delicious and it felt so right.

Moving slowly, because he had absolutely no idea how to act around puppies and were they easily frightened, could they speak yet?, he edged forward before laying down near the line of trees, perhaps ten yards away from the den, waiting for Oula to appear and give her permission for him to move closer. The urge to squeal was so powerful that he laid his chin on the ground and placed his paws firmly over his muzzle, criss-crossed over each other in order to contain it, tail flattening the grass behind him as it beat the ground to death.

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health