He trounced along happily beside his younger sister, his tiny paws working hard to keep his slender frame upright. More than once he tripped upon some unseen obstacle, more due to his own ungainliness than the awkwardness of his puppy size and the pace being set. An impish smile split across his round face, mirroring the one beaming at him from his sister who trotted alongside at her remarks about their uncle. “Uncle Tally’s just a big ol’ stick in the mud, ‘sides he’ll be grateful we gave him the afternoon off,” he replied with a devilish wink as they moved along. It was undoubtedly due to their parents that they were this way, so carefree and mischievous, Hollowpoint and Haven were the most childlike of parents. While they loved the children fiercely theirs wasn’t the strictest of households which often lead to these little adventures.

It was then that Moonie finally caught up to them, the most behaved and responsible of the trio as it was like to remain. Compared to his sisters Rufio thought himself rather plain, he had inherited his mother’s colors and, Tali told him, the brindles on his legs from his grandfather. Still Samus had her intriguing coat of bluish black which shone coppery brown in the wind and that wild patch of white on her face, which made his own brown splotch over electric green eyes seem dull in comparison. Then there was Moonie, as if silver had laced itself in her mahogany and cream coat which made her different from anyone else. Still, perhaps sisters were made to look better than their brothers and he knew it was his lifelong duty to protect him. Flippant as he was in most occasions, when it came to his sisters he would never falter.

He walked over to nudge his small nose into Moonie’s side in greeting as Samus made her offer of adventure, looking back until his silver brown sister made her own rebuttal. “I think either would be a great adventure! Why not the sun now and the stars later? If we can convince mama and papa to let us out of the den to go and see them.” Childish as their parents could be, they weren’t so naïve as to let their children run amok on the mountainside in the middle of the night.