Wolf RPG

It had been a good three weeks since the pup's birth. Its life had not been very notable thus far; it simply lived, breathed, drank, and slept. It was a quiet and unresponsive pup so far, something that could be interpreted negatively or positively depending on the onlooker.

Unaware that it was late -- for the pup did not yet have much sense of time -- it opened its eyes, baby blue as with any other pup. It looked around through blurry vision to see what was around it in the den, which it had not once tried to escape so far.

Eljay stirred, and Elwood, who was nearby, glanced down at his son. He was becoming accustomed to his boy's pinched little face and the fact that his eyes hadn't opened yet. Although he was beginning to feel some concern, he assured himself that development occurred at a different rate for each puppy -- Elwood Jr would use his vision when he was good and ready.

He was surprised when he found himself looking into a pair of matching stormy blue eyes. The pup blinked, adjusting to his newest sense, and Elwood's tail thumped the ground heartily. "Well, look at you, little dude," he crooned, reaching down to nudge his son's cheek gently with his nose.

The pup blinked and looked around. It was strange to see for the first time, but instinct told him that this was a good thing, and so the pup easily adjusted to this new sense and new world.

It did not take long for another to react to him, and the pup lifted its head to look at the approaching figure of another wolf. His little nose wiggled while he inhaled the air around him, identifying the wolf as his father.

Through his blurry sight, the pup stared up at its father, and it let out a brief squeak of excitement at the movement in front of it.

Elwood's grin only grew as he looked down into his son's wide eyes. The pup sniffed and blinked, trying to adjust to the new sensation and the barrage of stimuli that were surely assaulting him, and his father patiently waited. After a moment, Eljay gave a little yip -- of excitement, Elwood assumed -- and he laughed.

"What do you see?" he asked, wishing that the boy could give him a proper response. It would be some time before he was stringing together words or understanding questions, but he couldn't wait for that day. In the meantime, he would enjoy watching Elwood Jr. meet his developmental milestones, even if he accomplished them a little later than the firebirds had.

The words his father spoke sounded like a garble of sounds, vague and distant, but the pup tilted its head and stared at his father anyway. He did not realise a question had been asked that prompted a response, and so he just sat there and smacked his lips while looking up at his father with a derpy look on his face.

Eljay did not break eye contact, continuing to gaze up at his father. After a moment, his vision seemed to go out of focus -- his expression shifted into one of happy confusion and Elwood bit his lip to keep from laughing. He moved his face closer to the boy's, until their noses touched gently; he watched the child for a reaction, looking to see if he was able to maintain eye contact (which would cause his eyes to cross in the process).

He then leaned back and gestured towards the sleeping Finley; she was curled up nearby, catching up on some much-needed rest. Elwood hated that she was missing this moment in their baby's life, but she would be happy to see Elwood Jr's beautiful eyes when she awoke. "Look, there's Mommy," he said, motioning with his paw towards Finley in an attempt to draw the puppy's gaze in that direction.

When its father moved closer to his face, the pup tried to scrambled backwards. He kept focussed on the face of his father all the while, causing his eyes to cross, and when his father's face was all the way there, the pup fell backwards on its butt with an "oof!" because it had only moved its head backwards and not its entire body. The pup shook its head and got to its feet again (well, somewhat; it still mostly crawled).

The pup did not hear more than a blur of distant sounds when its father said something, and it look in its father's direction. The pup did not notice the paw gesture, and instead it crawled towards its father, not understanding where it was supposed to go or look.

Elwood's mini-me toppled back onto his bottom, away from the proximity of his father's face. Big Elwood chuckled as he watched his son right himself and shake his head as though refocusing his vision. But instead of looking in the direction that Elwood pointed, the pup continued to fixate on his dad's snout. He moved closer again, prompting another quiet round of laughter from the Beta male.

"You like how I look, huh? Think your daddy's handsome?" he teased. He then got another idea and physically moved his whole body away from Elwood Jr., re-positioning himself near Finley. Maybe that would prompt the pup to take note of his mother.

It seemed to take forever to reach his father, but the pup crawled on, determined to find its way there. It would succeed, eventually, wouldn't it? However, it seemed that its goal only moved further away instead of getting closer, which was frustrating.

The pup halted for a moment, falling still on the ground while it looked around, at its father and the distance between them. It was as if the pup gave up for a moment, as if the effort was too big now that his father was moving away, and it had decided that it was never going to reach its goal and therefore it would stop trying.

However, after a second or twenty of sitting on the ground motionless, the pup started again and crawled onwards towards its parents.

Once there, the pup's gaze shifted towards its mother. The pup hadn't noticed her until it had reached its father's side, but now that he was here, the pup looked at her with newfound curiosity: it looked startled, kind of like a baby tasting a slice of lemon -- as if it thought that someone had just put his mother there when he wasn't looking, now that he noticed her.

Eljay's determination was admirable; this was one of the first times that Elwood would see his son display this trait. The boy wiggled forward, fractions of an inch at a time, and then stopped. He seemed almost to be frustrated, but after half a minute of stillness, he moved again. The grin that split Elwood's lips could not have been bigger and he couldn't help but encourage his boy to keep moving forward. "That's it! You're doing it, buddy!" he said softly.

Eventually, the pup reached his destination and blinked his big blue eyes up at his father. He then shifted his gaze to the other wolf at Elwood's side, and his reaction was comical. His expression registered surprise as he looked at his mom for the first time, and Elwood watched -- fascinated! -- as Eljay put Finley's familiar scent together with her appearance. "That's Mama," he said, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb her slumber.

The pup was comforted now that it knew that this wolf was its mother and all was well. There was no mistaking the scent. The pup looked back at its father through blurry vision, and back at its mother, who was silent: probably asleep.

With a nonsensical "awb!" the pup fell down to the ground, as though it had suddenly decided it was time to sleep. A wide yawn split his lips and he smacked them a few times. Then the pup closed its newfound treasures and started to drift into sleep by its mother's side.

Eljay spoke -- well, kind of -- and Elwood's eyes lit up. It was one of the few times that he had heard his son try to make any sort of meaningful communication; his grunts and squeaks were usually very quiet and only in response to some sort of stimuli. Although "awb" didn't mean anything or sound like a real word, he was excited to hear the boy's voice.

"Naptime?" he wondered aloud as the puppy snuggled up next to his mother. Eljay's blue eyes slid shut, and Elwood followed his lead; he, too, curled up alongside his little family, and soon his breathing evened out as he fell asleep.