Octavian. An emperor. It was a striking name, one that sounded grand to a young boy. He'd taken to this name, vague amongst his Mothers stories, and made it his own. This was for the better -- he wanted a name people remembered in song and told forever and ever, sure, and as cool as it might've been to look and grin at his siblings when a popular one came up over and over again he also thought it would lose its ring.
Octavian was somewhere in the middle.
Octavian felt right.
He could always change it, they said. That made him feel better. There were lots of names: Mom had one, and the three other adults had them, and some of them even had more than one! The ginger one -Papa, he called himself sometimes- said he and Aunt Benny had several. This intrigued Tavi very much! But one was hard enough to think about without worrying about a second right now, and while the idea of matching with others and being called Nightshade at the end of it all sounded even cooler, he also wasn't sure about that. If he matched Papa and Auntie, what about Mama? His siblings? Coyote?

It was all very much to think about for his forming young mind, and most often, this was when Tavi abandoned all thoughts of turmoil and carried on with his life. Nobody ever pushed him on it - he thought it mattered very little, nonetheless. Whether he even had a name or not, he simply... was. Didn't matter what anyone called him!

As long as it wasn't quiet, Octavian didn't really care what was said or done, frankly. He could not tolerate the silence, and would act up himself just to stir up any sort of sounds if there weren't any distractions readily available to him :)

Once the great outdoors had been shown to them, Tavi couldn't get enough. It was warm outside! And bright! And the bright was warm!
But now, the bright was gone. This was the way of things -- the sun went away at night, and the sun came again in the morning. What he didn't appreciate was how when it got dark, everyone piled up or disappeared, and they slept. Tavi didn't particularly appreciate sleep. Or, rather, the laying around waiting to fall asleep. Too quiet. The static ruffled his brain and got louder, louder, louder, till it was deafening in and of itself.

Tonight, he was striking out against this injustice.

He less snuck... and more waltzed his way from the nest and out the bedroom door, kicking up into a giddy little prance as he reached the hallway and spotted the front door askew. He didn't feel the need to hide, though he knew someone was supposed to be around to watch him. Frankly, he was never alone! It was usually Mama, but sometimes one of the others followed, too. He just... sort of assumed the same would happen now. (He did, in fact, hear pawsteps behind him, but didn't look to see who they belonged to.)

The little ginger boy popped out from the structure and sucked in a deep, long breath, tasting all the fresh scents on the air. He didn't much like the cramped, dusty den in the first place, so it was hard to contend with the breeze tempting him with every new smell. The wind was fierce, and he leapt out on clumsy, stumbling limbs to bounce about in the grass. The air felt charged, heavy. The sky was dark, and in the distance, he could see the glow of the Blue very well! Even darker clouds covered the sky, and a rumble of thunder had the blue-eyed boy peering upwards curiously.

A single drop of rain fell and plunked right between Tavi's eyes, prompting a squeal of laughter before the zoomies kicked in and he went haring around the "front yard" with snapping jaws. It wasn't an effective way to catch them (or get a drink), but the satisfaction of feeling a cool drop of water burst against his tongue was unmatched thusfar in his short childhood.

A few more droplets began to plop around and against the boy.