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Nothing Special

Three

They were three months old now, and growing faster than ever. Cliff sat just outside of their sleeping den, watching Fern and Vulture wrestle. Tree Frog was crouched nearby, watching them with narrowed eyes, her light gray pelt a silhouette in the shadows.

The longer that Cliff spent around his little siblings and the longer that their personalities swelled and grew and formed, the more of a leader he became. Not only a leader, but a peace-keeper and a rule enforcer.

Vulture was the closest to him. He was still slim, more like a cat than a wolf with his lengthy and wiry body. He loved to wrestle and assert his dominance over his sisters, but never dared challenge Cliff.

Fern was becoming muscular and wasn’t one to let Vulture win a fight. She respected all of her siblings, and ensured that all of them were included, even little Bone. She was probably the only one who interacted consistently with their littlest brother.

Tree Frog was quiet and calculative. That could be a dangerous issue with challenging him for the alpha role one day, but she wasn’t very strong and lost every wrestling match that she initiated with her siblings.

And then there was Bone… Cliff looked over at him, sitting beside their mother, listening to her stories of the ancestors AGAIN. Even after all five of them had started learning to hunt and gotten more food, Bone hadn’t filled out. He was still skinny, but not in a natural way like Vulture. His ribs showed occasionally through his fur, and if he arched his back enough, the ridges of his spine were visible. All that he cared about were the stories that their mother told; he never wanted to join their wrestling, or even their conversations. None of Cliff’s siblings liked him, but Fern made a point to be kind.

Cliff narrowed his eyes as he watched Bone, looking up at their mother with wide blue eyes, listening intently to every detail of her story. So what, he decided, if his little brother didn’t want to play fight? That gave him less of a chance being able to fight well in a challenge for the alpha role.

It was fine if Bone wanted to waste his life listening to stories of their dead relatives. He was nothing special, anyways.

- President Loki

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