Contents:
Aurora
Obvious exits:
North <N> leads to Overgrown Lands - Route 11: Off the Route.

Snow flurries drift silently down from the pale grey sky. The air is damp and cold, and there is little wind. In the forest, snowflurries dust the bare branches of the broadleaves and the needles of the conifers. While at the coast, light snowflakes sprinkle the glossy, black, and calm surface of the ocean.

Ahh, peace and quiet. Though the weather outside is chilling and damp, it's considerably better inside the barn. No, not by far - every breath still takes in a fair dosage of water, and the cold air is enough to affect even extra fuzzy Growlithes. Just like Peppy. Peppy is current laying sprawled out the straw, his chest lining the floor, his tongue hanging out (causing him to drool slightly), snoring away. Chances are, he won't get very far. It's difficult living with five newborn pups - when one gets hungry, it starts whining, which wakes up its siblings, who in turn also start whining... For the past few days, Peppy's dedicated almost all of his time not spent hunting and caring for the kids to sleeping, and he's still deprived. At least right now he's having a nice sleep. The smile on his face suggests that much.

Of course, while Peppy's having an enjoyable nap, his mate isn't having quite as good a time... one of them has to stay awake to look after the puppies, after all. At the moment, they're being relatively well-behaved for newborn pups - two of them are having their breakfast, suckling eagerly at their mother, and two others are doing their best imitation of Peppy. That is to say, they're curled up around each other, eyes closed and occasionally yipping softly as they dream. The fifth puppy, Dakota, is as active as she was two days ago. She's trying to explore the barn, tottering around on tiny, unsteady legs, while her mother watches her. Lying there may seem like an easy job, but keeping an eye on the puppies can really tire you out - and Aurora's rather weary expression shows this.

Poor Aurora. And yet Peppy's entirely ignorant to the fact that -she's- still wide awake, forcing herself to keep an eye on the little Growlithes, while he's thinking about being in a land of burgers that stretch as far as the eye can see! That might explain why he's drooling a little. The solitude can't last long, however - one particularly excited yap from Dakota as she trips over herself invokes a reaction from dad. "Grrrrthe," Peppy mutters sleepily, one eye lazily lifting. The Growlithe attempts to focus on something - anything at all! - but he comes up only seeing the barn's walls, fuzzy and almost indistinguishable. A little pause. <Aurora,> he mumbles, stifling a yawn as he struggles to open up his other eye. <Y'need any...> Yawn. <Help with anythin'?>

<I'm fine, I'm not tired-> Aurora starts to say, and her sentence is cut short with a large yawn. She blinks a few times, trying to keep her eyes open, and then grins ruefully. <Okay, maybe I'm a little tired. But you needed a rest, and someone needed to keep an eye on Dakota. And Briska and Flame were both hungry, so I thought I'd watch them until they got to sleep, and-> And another yawn. Aurora sighs and blinks a few more times, then watches Dakota as the puppy notices Peppy's reaction to her, and stumbles over towards her father, yipping excitedly at the prospect of playing games with him again.

Even though Peppy listens to every single word the female says, it really doesn't look like he does. As she starts to woof, Peppy brings one of his front limbs up to clumsily swipe at his muzzle, hiding his eyes behind his paw. It looks like he's still sleeping. Aurora's final comment causes him to lower the paw a bit, taking a glance over at Dakota, still blurry through Peppy's fuzzy vision. <She doesn't look like she's going to go to sleep,> the pup notes, though whether he's noting this in a positive or a negative manner is indistinguishable from his tone of voice. Peppy pushes off of the ground with his front limbs now, stretching his head up as high as it will go, yawning all through the process. Early morning stretches in the afternoon. Who would have thought. Peppy saves a tiny grin for galumping little Dakota, but turns his head to look at Aurora, then the two feeding puppies. <... Which one is Flame again?> Some daddy.

Yawning once again, Aurora replies, <Flame's the one with dark fur...> and closes one eye as she settles in a more comfortable position. With her open eye, she keeps watch on Flame and Briska - Flame seems to have drunk his fill, and lies down next to his mother's belly for a nap, while Briska is still happily guzzling away. Dusk and Karen are still happily sleeping, while Dakota runs as best she can in Peppy's general direction, apparently trying to butt him on one of his forelegs. She's not accurate, being half blind, after all. Someone's very active this afternoon, and it definitely isn't either of the proud Growlithe parents...

October means Kats come out to 'play', save the data! Right away! (Saving)

See, thing is, Peppy expected this to be a breeze. You know, eat a bit, sleep twenty two hours a day, and so forth. This is quite a surprise. But no regrets! ... Or so Peppy keeps telling himself. No regrets. No regrets. Yawn. <That's right,> Peppy mumbles, taking another look at the black puppy who's just now snuggling down to take a nap. A very, very light frown, almost undetectable, slowly comes into view on Peppy's face, and he shakes his head a little. <... Aren't flames usually really...> What's the word he's looking for? <... Really not dark?> How ironic is it that the dumb pup doesn't know the word 'bright'. <... Should we re...?> Peppy blinks, shifting his paw over a pit, glancing down at the thing that just bumped into him. ... Dakota! <Somebody wants to play!> the larger Growlithe woofs, his face lifting into a smile as he motions his paw forward. Peppy, for one, is thankful that all the other somebodies want to sleep.

Snow flurries drift silently down from the pale grey sky. The air is damp and cold, and there is little wind.

Dakota looks as happy as Peppy does at the prospect of playing - she yips loudly and skips away from him by a few steps, almost tripping over her forepaws again as she tries to run and face Peppy at the same time. Aurora, meanwhile, is sinking further towards sleep, and her reply to Peppy isn't very easy to follow. <'S cos he acts like my brother... they're both serious. Not his fur colour, 'cos that's not like flame.> Well, her speech is slightly more slurred with tiredness than that, and her open eye is sagging shut, and... it looks like Aurora won't be awake for much longer.

Though most of Peppy's attention is directed towards his little puppy, watching her clumsy movements and grinning all the while, he does listen to what Aurora has to say. He always does. Unfortunately, however, he really can't pick up much. Something along the lines of, "<He... like... fur... that's... like... flame.>" Needless to say, Peppy can only cock his head a bit at Aurora. <But his fur isn...> The Growlithe sort of trails off into nothingness as he watches Aurora putting her head down, and his half-hearted protests fade into a little smile. Directing his focus back at Dakota, Peppy rather swiftly kicks off of his back paws, landing on the ground a few feet ahead (he makes absolutely positive not to crush the puppy, though!). As he connects with the ground, the canine bends his limbs, bringing him closer to the ground - and to Dakota. <Now!> Peppy woofs, his low voice a contrast to Dakota's occasion yips. His chin pushes the floor as he speaks. <We can't be too loud. Auro... Mom's trying to sleep, okay?> Peppy speaks as though he actually believes she completely understands him. He obviously doesn't get to see many baby pokemon...

Seems like Aurora's drifted off to sleep by this time, judging by her slower breathing and peacefully closed eyes. Dakota blinks at Peppy for a few moments as he talks to her, looking rather confused by his words, then bounds towards one of his legs again, trying to bump into it. Meanwhile, the other puppies, and their mother, are all sleeping peacefully.

Peppy just grins softly as the puppy looks at him like he's crazy. Little does he know just how much she looks like a much tinier version of him when she does that. The larger Growlithe doesn't flinch as the puppy stumbles towards him, and even as she crashes into him, he doesn't move his body. He only rotates his head towards her, grinning all the while, curiously wondering what in the world she's doing. His big and bushy tail is swish-swishing back and forth, but Dakota doesn't seem to notice. She tries to bash into him again! ... And once more she bounces off. Peppy sets his cheek down on the ground, only watching as she tries again, this time hitting a different area. Who knows what she's actually trying to do? Whatever the case, Peppy's settled in and determined to watch. ... Let's just hope she falls asleep before he does.