Rove

Rove pads in drops a buck near the den entrance and gives a yip. It was for MOONSHADOW and MOONSHADOW only!

Moonshadow & Pups

Moonshadow walks away from the pups just long enough to snatch the meat, then drags it back to the pups and eats. Stormcloud and Golden Night snuggle by their mother, yipping softly.

Ninaki & Storm Dancer

Ninaki lies down several yards from the den, one ear drawn up to listen to the pups if they made noise. Storm Dancer becomes wary and backs off further. She would be would be satisfide waiting for the pups to come out... she wouldn't go up to them until then for fear of being attacked. Resting her maw on her fore-paws, Storm Dancer looks blankly at the den's entrance. Maybe she would be a pup-sitter.

Pirqua

She glides elegantly over the den, circles it a few times, then perches on Ninaki's back and serveys the den with curiousity. It seemed so odd to raise young animals underground! And in the dark!

Moonshadow & Pups

A while later, the pups could walk more and where curious about the outside world.

Stormcloud gets up, yawning and stretching, having just awakened from his nap. He sniffs the air, alert for new things. Soon, inelligent Golden Night is by her strong & bave brother's side. She looks ouside of the den and wags her tail. Stormcloud looks at his mother questioningly, as if to ask, "Can we go?" and Moonshadow nods. Stormcloud barks at the other pup, them walks outside, stopping outside the den and sitting. Golden Night follows him, sitting by his side. They look around, awed, and soon begin exploring the den area. Moonshadow nudges the other pups encourigingly, then gets up and trots outside the den, stretching her legs joyfully. She takes in the fresh air, excited and happy to be out of the den. She gently herds Stomcloud and Golden Night back towards the main den area, then lies with her head on her paws, content. Stormcloud and Golden Night chase each other, careful to stay close to their mother, and soon get into a playfull puppy-battle.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Ninaki watches the pups with interest, but stays where he is. Storm Dancer inches forward, but keeps her distance. She waves her tail happily though, for this was the first time she's seen the pups.

Pirqua shifts her gaze from Moonshadow to the pups. She scans the area around the den, making sure there was no emidiate danger.

Golden Night & Stormcloud

As the puppy battle ends, Stormcloud looks at Ninaki & Storm Dancer, tail wagging. He moves towards them, still wagging his tail. Golden Night follows her brother, looking around. She barks curiously at Pirqua, then wags her tail and looks around again.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Ninaki glances up questionaly at Moonshadow, then back at the pups. Storm Dancer extends a paw closer toward them, and lies her maw on the ground, tail still waving. Pirqua leaps from her perch, wings spread, and sails down to land on Ninaki's back. She gives a light falcon cry in respons to the pups, then hops to the ground.

Moonshadow & Pups

Moonshadow smiles, then howls for the whole pack to come and meet the pups, also giving them permission to get near them. She rests, but is alert for any sign of danger.

*Blue Moon*

Blue Moon approaches catiously, wondering what to do with these small things. He looks questioningly at Storm Dancer, not knowing really anything about pups.

Pups

Golden Night looks at Blue Moon, wagging her tail. She barks a greeting, then starts chasing her tail excitedly.

Stormcloud looks at Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua curiously, tilting his head first to one side and then the other and woofing softly.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Storm Dancer whimpers light encouragement to Blue Moon to say all was well. She got up and strode over to Stormcloud nudges him slightly with one of her fore-paws, and grins a bit playfully. She was an adult, but still a young one that still had alot of playfulness in her.

Ninaki stays put, but offers a friendly grin of his teeth. Pirqua ruffles her feathers and watches Golden Night with amusement, then hops closer to her.

Pups

Stormcloud blinks, then barks happily and runs in a circle.

Golden Night eventually trips, rolls, and lies on her back, panting. She curiously looks up at Pirqua, then barks.

*Blue Moon*

Blue Moon watches the pup runin circles, and woofs softly, still not quite sure what he was supposed to do.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Pirqua's feathers flatten instantly when Golden Night barks, and her eyes go wide. But just as quickly, she relaxed again, and hops yet closer to the pup, and reaches out her neck to touch the pup's nose with her beak.

Storm Dancer smiles, watching Stormcloud run in circles. Then she glances at Blue Moon and her brother, who didn't seem to be interacting much with the pups. She stands up and walks closer to the pups, bowing her head down and yipping to invite them to play. Though she didn't have any experience with pups, she had an idea of all the energy they had.

Pups

Golden Night lies still, crossing her eyes to look at Pirqua's beak. She stays silent.

Stormcloud barks playfully, running in circles around Storm Dancer.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Pirqua makes a soft 'peep' noise and tilts her head to the side to get a different view of Golden Night. They looked like Storm Dancer and Ninaki when they were little. Pirqua yanked a greyish feather from under her wing, and held it above the pup's head, then drops it, seeing what the she-pup would do with it.

Storm Dancer wagged her tail all the more and whirled around in a tight circle just like Stormcloud. But she whirled in too tight of a circle, and toppled over onto her side. As Stormcloud ran around her, Stormdancer flicked her tail out to brush it aginst the pup's face playfully.

Pups/ Moonshadow

Golden Night barks as the feather falls towards her, her breath causing the feather to float upwards again. She keeps barking, tail wagging.

Stormcloud yips playfully as Storm Dancer's tail brushes his face, then stops, panting slightly. He looks at Storm Dancer and barks, tail wagging.

Kapu and Amaroq come out of the den finally, blinking as they look around. Katani soon follows them, looking up at the sky in wonder.

Moonshadow smiles and wags her tail as the other pups come out of the den, then yips encouragingly.

Katani looks around, then sees Stormcloud, her 'puppy alpha' and runs over to him, tail wagging. She stands behind her brother, peering at Storm Dancer curiously.

Kapu sniffs the ground and air, then starts exploring the areas close to the den, but doesn't go far away. Amaroq sits, tail wagging.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Storm Dancer also yips when she sees the other pups come out. Still lying on her side, the she-wolf thumps her tail to the ground in greetance to them all, and looks toward Katani, then the others. She was trying to see their different personalities.

Pirqua croons and watches the feather float back up, amused with it. But she begins to get nervous when three more pups emerge from the den. None-the-less, she stays on the ground and watches them all, intrigued at the different colors in their fur.

Ninaki stays where he was, watching the five little pups around the den. Every once in a while, he lifted his head and glanced around to make sure there was no danger.

Pups/ Moonshadow

Amaroq notices Pirqua and look at her in interest. He stays where he is, cautious of this new creature, but keeps his eyes on Pirqua.

Kapu sniffs the air to see if there is any danger, then looks at Ninaki and slowly walks over to him. He lies down by Ninaki and looks at him, tail wagging and alert.

Golden Night lets the feather fall to the ground and slowly gets up, not wanting to scare Pirqua. She looks at all her siblings, tail still wagging.

Stormcloud looks at all his siblings, tail wagging even faster. Katani stays near him, looking around at everything.

*Blue Moon*

Blue Moon pads a little closer, gently sniffing Golden Night before pulling back. He looks up again at Storm Dancer and Ninaki, and then reaches out his muzzle again.

Golden Night

Golden Night smiles at Blue Moon, curiously tilting her head to one side. She wags her tail to show friendliness.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Ninaki looks down at Kapu, then thumps his tail aginst the ground and gives a small smile.

Pirqua turns her attention to Amaroq, bobbing her head slightly to get a better veiw of him. She then glances up at a tree, flaps her long, black wings and takes to the sky. She circles around and around the den, riding on a thermal before she glides down to perch on the tree's branch. From there, she scouted for danger, but also watched the pups.

Storm Dancer notes their personalities again, getting to know them better.

Pups

Kapu wags his tail happily, then yips softly and smiles.

Amaroq watches Pirqua, amazed. This strange new creature seemed to walk through the sky! Woofing, Amaroq jumps into the air and tries to fly, then falls onto his back and blinks in surprise, his feet stuck up in the air. He is unharmed, but very surprised.

Golden Night watches Amaroq, then grins and barks.

Stormcloud and Katani smile as they watch Amaroq.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Pirqua rouses her feathers, ang would have grinned if she could. The falcon tilts her head to the side, and croons lightly, watching Amaroq.

Ninaki stretched his fore-paws out before them, and gave a yawn. Then an idea came to him. He was part dog, but still had enough wolf in him to howl like one, so he throws back his muzzle and howls lightly.

Storm Dancer looks at him curiously, but then catches on. Normally, pups howl when ever they hear the adults do it. But she didn't know for sure.

Pups/ Moonshadow

The pups look at Ninaki and Storm Dancer, then look at their mother. Moonshadow smiles at them, then howls with her adopted children.

Stormcloud frowns slightly, then points his muzzle to the sky and howls with the adults.

Katani howls also, taking a high note, adding in puppy yips and barks. The other pups howl lightly, barking in excitement and furiously wagging their tails every now and then.

Storm Dancer, Ninaki, & Pirqua

Storm Dancer suddenly stops short in her howl, and tilts turns her head to catch a distant sound. It was a howl from another wolf, telling of a blizzard that was coming. The young wolf looked toward Moonshadow, seeing if she also caught the message.

Pups/ Moonshadow

Moonshadow catches the warning, and stops howling. The pups stop howling, also.

Moonshadow thought a moment, then pushed the pups into the den. She signals to Ninaki and Storm Dancer that she was going hunting, and told them to stay by the den and watched the pups.

"Try and dig yourself dens near the pup's den. If you're done when the blizzard comes, go in your dens and curl up to preserve body heat. If the blizzard comes before you're done, curl up in the entrance to the den together. Alright?" she says, then runs off, hoping she would be back with food before the blizzard came.

Storm Dancer, Ninaki, & Pirqua

Storm Dancer nodded, "Be careful out there!" she said and laid down by the pup's den. Ninaki began digging a den a few yards away near a mound. When he got tired, Storm Dancer would take his place and dig more while he would lie by the other den to gaurd the pups.

Pirqua watched them from up on her perch. She had a strange feeling that she should go somewhere else, but the falcon decided aginst it. She would stay with her family.

Pups

The pups watch Ninaki and Storm Dancer curiously. Amaroq walks out of the den only far enough to see Pirqua, and looks up at the falcon.

"Big cold coming! You come wif uth?" he asks hopfully.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Pirqua swivels her head around to see the pup, and takes a moment to figure out what he said. Then the falcon thinks on that; she felt on urge to fly somewhere else... but where? "Yeah, I'm going where ever you go.... where are you going?"

Amaroq

"Umm.. In dat big hole." he says, nodding quickly three times.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

She looks towards the den and becomes nervous. "You're staying in there? Well... I've never realy been in such close places like that..." Pirqua hops from her perch and glides down toward Amaroq, landing lightly in the thin layer of snow a few feet from him. "How long will you stay in there? Like a few hours?" the falcon glances from the den, back to the pup. She had no idea about blizzards.

Ninaki and Storm Dancer kept digging, and had gotten the tunnel almost two feet long. IT was slow going because the ground was frozen. Now they were working on enlarging the tunnel so they could both fit in it.

Amaroq

"We stay in da big hole til big cold go bye-bye!" he announces happily.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Pirqua tilts her head slightly to the other side, "Well... I suppose I could stay in there alittle bit. Just as long as there aren't any snakes or wild cats that can come in." Pirqua rouses her feathers, then holds them tight to her body. The winds were getting very strong now, and she had to brace herself aginst them to keep balance.

Amaroq/ Other Pups/ Moonshadow

"Yay!" Amaroq says, yipping, then runs into the den, snuggled close together. Despite the fierce winds, they are warm. They leave some space for Pirqua.

Moonshadow comes into the area, slowly, for she is dragging a dead doe. She drops it by the den and smiles lightly, eating until she's satisfied.

The pups, led by Stormcloud, come out and sniff at the meat, then adventurous Kapu takes a tender bite. He smiled and gulped it down, then ate until he was satisfied. The other pups eat, then go into the den and snuggle together again.

Moonshadow smiles. Her pups were now old enough to eat meat! She motions at everyone that they could eat, then goes into the den and curls up by her pups, still leaving space for Pirqua to come in and have plenty of space.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

Pirqua hops over to the doe, then takes a bite, tearing the meat with her sharp beak. It didn't taste the good to her, but she ate a few more bites since she was hungry, then hoped into the den, pressing close to the wolves. She was frightened in such dark, close places. At least, though, it was warm and snug.

Ninaki and Storm Dancer were exhuasted by the digging, and hadn't gotten much further. But they did get enough to protect themselves from the wind. Once the pups were done eating, they strode over to the doe, and fed, keeping their heads and bodies low to the ground. They had learned hard that they must use caution when feeding from another's kill, even if it was the 'mom's' food. After eatting, they curled up tight next to each other in the pit they dug into the mound, and waited for the snow to cover them. When it did, they would become even warmer.

Ninaki, Storm Dancer, & Pirqua

After a while, the howling of the winds had stopped, and Pirqua was restless. She was also starving, and couldn't wait very long inbetween meals with her smaller body and fast metabolism. The falcon blinked her wide eyes, but there was only darkness. She would have to wait for Moonshadow and the pups to clear the entrance of snow.

Ninaki crawled from their den, breaking through the snow door that had been packed hard aginst their entrance. He squinted his eyes aginst the gleaming briteness of the new world, then walked out. Storm Dancer crawled out after her brother, and started up a howl in celebration to this new snow. It would provide easy hunting... if they could find food. Ninaki joined in.