Blacktail Deer Plateau don't feed the animals
<strong>here is a strange and bitter crop</strong>
308 Posts
Ooc — Karmencita
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#1
Anyone with access to the den. Pura can eat chewed meat around about now, so I'm keen for someone to give him a taste. :D Power-playing a parent slightly.

With each passing day, Pura Virtúte's mastery of his own limbs improved. Under the watchful eye of a fuzzy shape (Pura was far too busy doing things and stuff to differentiate between Kisu, Hawkeye and Peregrine), the little boy experimented with different gaits at the mouth of the den. He was bigger now, with recognizable ears and a steadier look to his big, bright eyes. Across his nose, a smattering of freckles were making themselves known.

He had walking down pat. One, two, three, four - repeat! It wasn't swaggering gait he would eventually sport, but much better than previous attempts. Trotting was less of a doddle; it required a more developed sense of balance and often ended in a spectacular fall. And what was the difference between galloping and flinging oneself forward? So far, he had only managed two strides before landing flat on his belly with an undignified cry.

He continued this way for some time, romping around the den-site like a colt in a corral until his belly's cry for sustenance became unbearable. Still very much a pup, Pura dropped his fat little rear onto the ground and raised his head to bleat hungrily at no-one in particular. Someone would come. Someone always came.
3,373 Posts
Ooc — Kat
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#2
I feel like Perry's hogging all the puppies. This can be a cameo to make room for anyone else who wants to play with them, lol. *shifty eyes*

The Alpha male spent the morning doing what he did best (aside from parenting, of course): hunting. He missed out on the chance to fell a doe from the neighboring black-tailed deer herd but he managed to knock out three rabbits in a row, followed by a fat woodchuck. He cached the rabbits and then feasted upon the overgrown rodent. He ate the entire thing, though not out of greed or gluttony, as would would quickly become apparent.

He arrived back at the den within minutes of finishing off his oversized meal. "Watch out, coming through," he warned adults and pups alike as he zoomed inside. "Projectile vomiting commencing." Peregrine's neck arched and he regurgitated a quite frankly disgustingly enormous pile of half-chewed meat on the den floor, even splashing some of the gore on the walls. He gave Hawkeye and Kisu a smile that was part sheepish, part proud.

"Woo pig soooooie!" Peregrine hollered, his way of ringing the proverbial dinner bell for the four hungry pups. "Tonight's special is ground chuck," he quipped before stepping out of the way of hungry, stampeding toddlers.
<strong>here is a strange and bitter crop</strong>
308 Posts
Ooc — Karmencita
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#3
Right on cue, Peregrine appeared at the den-site with a belly full of half-digested food and every intention that it should see the light of day once more. Pura scampered after his uncle, superman-ing into the mouth of the den without fear or concern for what he would land on. It was Kisu's soft side rather than a pile of regurgitated meat that cushioned his fall - no doubt every adult present breathed a sigh of relief at that - and little Pura rolled gently from his landing pad to the dinner table.

His uncle had put on quite a spread, and it smelled divine. The pups' senses were improving every day, and Pura's hearing and ability to smell were coming along nicely. Even the most putrid Daddy-farts or post-meal-Uncle-burps were a delight by the sheer fact that they were strong, and different.

The freckled whelp toddled clumsily to the wet pile and thrust his face straight in. He was struggling to make the transition from suckling to chewing, and performed the latter without any grace what-so-ever. Despite his enthusiastic "Om-om-om-nom-om..", Pura was mostly mashing the food into an even finer paste.
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Ooc — Kat
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#4
The entire monochromatic rainbow fell upon the would-be puppy chow like they would fall upon a fresh kill one day, or so the swarthy father imagined. As Peregrine watched them, he experienced a strange mix of pride and disgust at having provided the youngsters with sustenance that amounted to little more than a puddle of chunky puke.

His dusky eyes fixed on Pura in particular as the freckled boy seemed to struggle with the texture. "You're going to make me puke again, young man," the Alpha male said, watching Pura slather himself in the pulpy mush. "Chew it, you tard," he added with a laugh, spotting the pup's struggle and exaggeratedly miming chewing motions in the hopes that Pura would imitate him.
<strong>here is a strange and bitter crop</strong>
308 Posts
Ooc — Karmencita
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#5
"Chew it, you tard," Peregrine chortled. Pura turned his big, clueless eyes up at Peregrine and attempted an enthusiastic bark through a mouthful of regurgitated goo, rump wiggling furiously. He understood the emotion associated with a laugh as compared to a growl, and assumed that his uncle was proud. Other pups crowded around the feast now, making their own om-nom-nom sounds and filling their little faces with varying success.

Pura Virtúte squinted up at Peregrine's Fisher Price of demonstration - his eyesight was good enough now to make out most of the world - and promptly began to mimic what he saw.

"Aaa-ba-ba-ba-ba," the whelp attempted, first into the air - easy. With a squinty-eyed look of determination, Pura turned back to steaming pile of chow, drew breath, plunged his entire face back in and flapped his jaws. "AAA-BA-BA-BA-BA."
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Ooc — Kat
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#6
Pura did his best to imitate his dunk, his measure of success open to interpretation. "But you get an 'A' and a 'B' and another 'A' and a few more 'Bs' for your effort," Peregrine quipped upon noticing the youngster's repetition of the two consonants. "The letter you're looking for next is 'C,'" he added, an impish grin curling his dark lips.

He knew it would take a while for the pups to begin understanding speech, then using it themselves, but this was a start and how else would they learn but by example? So Peregrine hunkered down to be closer to Pura's level and said, "How's that food, Pura? Do you know that's your name, Pura? Pura Vir-toot, purveyor of virtuous farts, I guess. And I'm Dunk Perry. Dunk Perry," he repeated emphatically, hoping some or any of it would stick.
<strong>here is a strange and bitter crop</strong>
308 Posts
Ooc — Karmencita
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#7
Ever since his ears had woken up and realized it was time to start their shift, the adults had been babbling an endless stream of nonsense at him. Every day, the same noise - aoaooosusobjoaoefalfaefajaljdfafpoo.

Poo was the only word he could isolate, and he had noticed from watching interactions between Peregrine and the other three pups that 'poo' was a sound that occurred more frequently when the dusky alpha's eyes met his. "Poo," the cub repeated, straining to wrap his lips around the word. It made his face look as though it was going through a particularly tricky shit.

"Pooo..a. Pooo-a." But Dunk Perry wasn't finished. There was a tricky consonant that Pura Virtúte could barely hear, let alone mimic. "Dooo...pee. Dooopeee," he copied. That was it. Doopee. The pup barked delightedly when his own voice reached his ears, carrying his sad and mangled interpretation of 'Dunk Perry' like a war casualty on a gurney. "Dopeeee!" he squealed at his uncle, thoroughly pleased with his own progress (and spraying food-vomit on Peregrine's knees to boot).
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Ooc — Kat
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#8
It delighted Peregrine when the small boy parroted him, actually making words that sounded vaguely like the one's he'd spoken. "Good going, champ," the Alpha male praised. "Poo and Dope, that's us," he added with a hearty chuckle, lowering his swarthy face yet more to give the youngster a fond, approving lick across his forehead.

Straightening up, the Alpha male peered around the den momentarily before returning his attention to Pura. Only now did he notice the bits of spit-up on his leg. "Pura," he said with playful reproach, "you got your purée on my leg. Or is it my purée? And your purée is that absolutely revolting magma that erupts from your ass at regular intervals." Peregrine would make sure all four kids refined their toilet humor at an early age.
<strong>here is a strange and bitter crop</strong>
308 Posts
Ooc — Karmencita
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#9
"Asssss," Pura copied diligently, hissing through comically bared teeth. "Ass-ass-ass-ass. Poo-assssss."

Aww,, baby's first sentence! Sort of. Delighted with his progress, Pura toddled over to his sisters on the other side of the diminishing slime-pool and demanded their attention with shouts and soft slaps to the rear. "Nana! Nana! Nanana!", he yelped - Puraspeak for 'Saēna'; he used the same word for each tiny girl, not just his biological sibling. When they finally looked up - curious or annoyed, it didn't matter as long as he got to hold court - Pura Virtúte bellowed: "ASSSSSSSSSS."
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Ooc — Kat
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#10
Hell, it seemed Pura would pick it up even earlier than expected. Some parents might have been appalled at their child yelling the word ass loudly and proudly, yet Peregrine smiled with amusement. He made no effort to discourage the boy. He didn't even mind the swearing, though he thought that if he didn't make a big deal out of it, the boy wouldn't even know he was saying something bad. Thus it would not have any particular appeal. Or so the Alpha male theorized.

"Yes," Peregrine replied to the little boy's bellowing, "na, na, na, na, na, na na, scat man! That's you." Smirking lazily, he followed Pura around the puddle of pulpy, half-digested meat, then nudged him toward the door. "I know that what goes in comes right back out pretty quickly," he mused to no one in particular. "So, potty break."
<strong>here is a strange and bitter crop</strong>
308 Posts
Ooc — Karmencita
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#11
Last post from me. :D

The other children weren't nearly as impressed with Pura's new-found vocabulary. His yelling was met by a wall of frowning faces - his own sister only stared quizzically at the loudmouthed mess she deigned to call a brother for a moment before turning back to the meal.

Pura Virtúte stuck his tongue out at the lot of them and turned to waddle back to his cool playmate, but Peregrine had other ideas. "Na na na na na na!" Pura yipped excitedly, getting in the way of each and every one of the alpha's steps as they exited the den together - 'poo' and 'ass' would occupy them both for the next twenty minutes, as the scatty little pup went through the ritual of soiling himself for the third time that day (at least).