Wolf RPG

He had so many things on his mind. Life had already been complicated enough in the wake of his falling-out with Peregrine, and then news of his mother's passing and Tyrannus's death, then Osprey's sudden appearance back in his life, not to mention the birth of his brother's first litter. Good god, he didn't think he could take much more drama and craziness. But then there had been more drama and craziness -- he had kids.

He was still reeling and shocked with disbelief at the enormity of the news that gangly-legged, cute-faced, spirited girl had dropped on him out of nowhere in the twilight of an otherwise ordinary evening. He couldn't believe he was a dad. A fucking dad. He'd never actually taken pride or anything in being a bachelor. It wasn't something he'd ever really thought much about before, honestly. If one had asked him if he'd ever like to be a parent, he would've said yes, of course. But that would've followed the clause about mateship too. To simply skip the whole courting-mateship gig and suddenly have kids…it was really fucking nuts.

He had to tell someone, of course. Bones would undoubtedly be back soon, and she would be wanting to visit her family members. They deserved to know about her. He hadn't seen much of Crete lately, and things with Osprey were still sort of uncomfortable, so (ironically) the one he chose to go to was none other than Peregrine.

As he neared the Alphas' densite, he knew that Peregrine was on higher alert than usual, now having puppies to protect. Not wanting to surprise or alarm him, Atticus announced himself before getting too close by woofing softly toward the den.

Peregrine lay grumpily in the den's entrance, staring off into space while the four pups slept in a pile behind him. They had been very lively earlier this morning and he'd been in a great mood while he played with them. Now, all four slept soundly with bellies full of milk. His mate had taken the chance to get out of the den for a few minutes to stretch her legs. And now he lay here broodingly, thinking sour thoughts about his brother.

Meanwhile, his other brother approached. As Peregrine lifted his head to receive Atticus, he mused over the bittersweet turn of events. Now that Crete had left, the bad blood between himself and Atticus seemed unimportant. It was water under the bridge now. At least Atticus hadn't left, despite all of his anger and misgivings. At least he hadn't left without a word.

"Hey, Uncle Atti," the young father said as he rose, stretched and wagged his tail. "What're you doing?" he asked with true confusion when his sibling hung back tentatively. "Get over here and say hello to your nieces and nephew, pencildick." A lazy grin wound over his face and he stepped aside, openly inviting his brother to step into the den to visit with the pups.

When Atticus came nearer, Peregrine's eyes flashed briefly but darkly. "I don't know if you know yet but Crete's gone. Did he say anything to you?" he wondered, his words soft but edged with bitterness.

At his brother's warm and open greeting, a wide grin split Atticus's face. He was glad that the issues between them -- mostly caused by his own dickheadery -- seemed for all intents and purposes to be done and over with. A small, lumpy pile of puppies lay sleeping soundly behind where Peregrine had lay. They smelled sweetly of warm earth, soft fuzz, and milk, and he brushed them ever so gently with his snout, their velveteen fur tickling his nose. He already loved them so much, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that if push ever came to shove, he would gladly lay down his own life to protect theirs.

"Just didn't want to startle you, bro," he commented after a moment, by way of explaining his hesitant approach. "Wasn't feelin' getting my ass kicked today." He chuckled and flashed a grin at Peregrine. He started to open his mouth and ask how things were going with the kids, how Peregrine was taking to fatherhood (and boy, could Atticus go on and on about how fatherhood was affecting him these days), but Peregrine beat him to it with some startling news about Crete.

"Crete…what?" A true look of what the fuck? came over Atticus's face as he took in the news that his brother had up and left. Judging by the look on Perry's face, Atticus guessed that their mute brother hadn't said any goodbyes to him, either. Why would Crete do that? Was it possible that he'd been angrier about Peregrine's promotion to Alpha than he'd let on? Or was it something else? Atticus truly didn't understand. This wasn't something that he'd ever expected from his cool, level-headed brother. "No," he said after a moment, his brows knitting together with mixed anger and confusion…mostly confusion. "I haven't seen him since the day you got promoted. That's fucked up. I wonder what the hell possessed him to just leave."

Atticus's response made Peregrine mutter quiet oaths under his breath. His brow furrowed and he asked, "Really? That long ago?" Not wanting to make his brother feel bad about it, he continued by saying, "Well, Crete handled my promotion all right but he wasn't getting along with Hawkeye. Because of that, I figured he might go home after we found out about mom..." He frowned deeply. "We even talked about it. Ugh, it just gets my goat that he upped and disappeared without bothering to say something. I made it totally clear I would've been fine with it too, so it's not like he had any reason to sneak away." His teeth ground together audibly.

"Anyway," he said after a moment, realizing that he would accomplish nothing by blowing steam out his ears, "there's nothing we can do about it. Come inside and distract yourself with adorable puppies," he invited, his tone wooden but sounding less strained when he mentioned the pups. "They even make great stressballs. Just give 'em a good squeeze," he joked.

Leading Atticus fully inside the den, Peregrine motioned for Atticus to get comfortable, then began to introduce each of the sleeping whelps. "The black one's Osprey Jr. Her sister, Tytonidae, is right next to her. Then there's Pura there and Saēna here takes after her late mother." He glanced up, sure his brother knew of Pied's death but not knowing how it affected him. Peregrine knew that Osprey the Elder was quite sad about it—the two had known each other pretty well from their Flightless Falcons days—but the swarthy leader couldn't remember if Atticus had been close to Pied at all.

As Peregrine ranted about their brother's departure, a troubling thought struck Atticus. What if Crete hadn't left? It truly wasn't like their brother to just vanish without a word, especially if Peregrine had made it clear that he would hold no grudges if Crete chose to return home. It was truly a baffling situation, and because of all the possible answers, Atticus found it difficult to be truly angry with his mute littermate. Irate, yes. A little insulted, yes. But pissed? Not really. Not until he knew why.

Peregine quickly diverted their discussion to the puppies -- a far more enjoyable topic of conversation indeed. As he followed his brother into the den, he felt a moment of discomfort as the darkness closed in around him and the walls pressed upon him. He did not like closed-in spaces, and truly did not understand how some wolves could sleep in dens all year long. Pushing all of that aside, he focused on the lumpy pile of fuzz as his eyes adjusted to the dimness. "They're so cute," he commented with a grin as his brother explained their names to him. He'd heard the news of Pied's death and had mourned her in his own quiet way. He hadn't been super-close with the oddly-marked she-wolf, but she'd still been family and he'd known her since his own childhood. That she was gone now was just…strange. There were too many deaths for him to process right now. Pied's, his mother's, Tyrannus's…

He lay down near the pups, prodding them gently with his nose and enjoying the sweet, soft scent of them and the tiny sounds they made in their sleep. Fatherhood had been dropped into his lap out of the blue and the entire thing scared the crap out of him, but he thought that if he had the opportunity to experience all of it -- like this -- he'd actually really like it. He still needed to explain all of that to Peregrine too. But…one thorny subject at a time. "Perry," his voice was almost involuntarily hushed and soft. "What if Crete didn't leave? Have you considered the possibility that he might be hurt somewhere? It's just…not like him at all to leave without a word."

Atticus's admiration of the pups made Peregrine grin rather foolishly. He watched approvingly as his sibling reclined near the pups, then made to do the same. He stretched out on the other side of the puppy pile, curling slightly toward them. Saēna was nearest to him and, though he didn't want to disturb her sleep, he couldn't resist reaching down and gently licking the top of her head.

His brother asked a very reasonable question. Peregrine let Saēna alone and straightened. "I considered that, of course, but I tracked him. I actually went well outside the territory to do it. His trail led northwest, toward a forest. Beside it was a pack's territory. His trail led along the borders, then up and over the ridge line and then led me partially up the coast. I didn't want to go any further, so I turned back. There was absolutely nothing to indicate he didn't walk out of the wilds of his own volition," he finished, "and I'm a Gamekeeper, so it's my job to hunt and track."

The Alpha male pursed his lips, paused for several moments, then shook his head lightly. "Aside from that, my gut tells me that Crete probably couldn't muster the courage to tell myself and Hawkeye in particular about his plans. And that's what gets my goat. Hawkeye would've been disappointed, no doubt, but by just... vanishing, he's probably completely fucked his chances of ever being welcome back here. They didn't get along," he added, in case Atticus didn't know, a sad flicker in his eyes displaying just how much that had bothered him.

"There's nothing we can do about any of it, though. I do hope Crete made it safely back home, for what it's worth, but I'm afraid of what it means for our relationship. Dude completely deserted just in time to miss out on this." He pointed his black muzzle at the four pups. Ty whimpered as if on cue. "Unfuckingbelievable," he muttered, biting back a sigh and touching his nose to Saēna again to soothe himself.

He listened as Peregrine went on to explain his thoughts on the possibility that Crete might be injured, but with each passing moment, Atticus grew more somber, his brows more furrowed. If what Perry said was true, it did indeed look as if Crete had deserted them. The evidence was pretty damning. Peregrine was a grade-A tracker, so he knew that there was no chance that Perry had followed an old trail or had somehow been misled. "I can't believe he'd do that," he commented after Peregrine had finished. "What a bitch." He was sure that Crete's reasons had seemed valid to him -- after all, Atticus had damn near left too and he'd felt pretty damn justified himself -- but…damn.

His eyes fell to the puppies again, and he couldn't help grinning despite his ire with Crete. They were just so adorable! He'd seen his younger siblings in their puppyhood, but he'd been so young himself at the time that the memory was distant and faded. This was fresh and real to him, and it had a new significance to him now that he was not only old enough to appreciate just how precious this furry, sleepy treasure was, but also now that he was himself a father. He found himself wondering what Bones looked like when she was this little. He still couldn't believe he had a daughter.

"Perry…" he started, his voice halting a little with hesitation. He wasn't sure how his brother would react to this, but he knew he had to tell him. Not only because Perry was his Alpha, but also because Perry was his brother and his child's uncle. "I…found out something kinda…kinda huge recently." He looked up at Peregrine's face, his pale eyes full of apprehension and uncertainty. "I have kids."

With nothing left to say on the subject of Crete, Peregrine simply sighed a last time, his wordless agreement with Atticus's remark. With the topic dead in the water, Peregrine hoped to move on to better things and looked up sharply when his brother spoke his name. Something about the hesitation in his voice made the Alpha male uneasy. He found himself bracing for some more bad news.

Atticus's gaze found his and their eyes locked. Peregrine saw uncertainty and perhaps even a touch of fear in his litter mate's frosty blues. He felt his black fur prickling, wondering what had upset his brother into this attitude, when Atticus spilled the beans. His fur flattened, as did his expression, before a look of incredulity began to creep onto his face.

"What." It lacked the inflection necessary to make it a question and, instead, it sounded a little like a disbelieving accusation. Forcing more feeling into his voice, Peregrine added, "Where? With who? What...?" When Atticus said kids, his younger brother immediately pictured pups the age of his own and so he assumed, incorrectly, that Atticus had recently fathered a litter without Peregrine's knowledge, blessing or permission.

Well, there it was. The big can of worms was open and squirming on the table between them. He waited and watched with nervous anticipation as his brother processed the news. Understandably, he quickly demanded more details, so Atticus took a breath, did his best to quiet his nerves, and began to explain. "Well…like…nine months or so ago? There was this girl, from a nearby pack. She was really cool and she took a liking to me. And holy crap was she gorgeous. So we hung out and…well…yeah…" The implication was clear that they'd slept together.

"So the other night someone howls for me. I go to see who it is and it's this girl, about…six or seven months old. Says she's my daughter, her mom is Cutlass -- er, that chick. I didn't believe her at first, but she knew exactly what she was talking about. She came looking for me." He fell abruptly silent as a puppy wiggled toward him. Gently placing a paw around the infant, he cradled the little one closer to himself. A flower of affectionate warmth bloomed in his chest as he looked at the child, and a small smile played on his features. "Perry, I have fucking kids." Wonder and shock were still clear in his tone as he said the words.

Peregrine listened, a shrewd look on his face that didn't shift until Atticus finished. It was a lot to process. On one hand, it was a relief to realize his brother hadn't knocked up anybody behind his back. On the other, the Alpha male found jealousy blooming in his chest. Atticus has been a father first and it bothered him. As he watched his brother cradle Ty, Peregrine acknowledged the pettiness of that.

"I think you mentioned her at the time," Peregrine said after a few beats of silence, his head tilting as he gazed up at the ceiling and back in time. "I was a little bit jealous of you for losing your virginity and to... wasn't she a pirate or something like that?" He paused, then smirked slightly and added, "You scalawag."

Although he still felt a few misgivings about the entire situation, Peregrine let himself smile. "So you're a dad too. Wow," he marveled. "And you're sure this kid wasn't pulling a fast one on you?" he asked, just to be certain. "Where is she now...?" he wondered, wondering if this faceless youngster would be joining the family. It rankled slightly again but Peregrine reminded himself that Atticus hadn't done anything wrong (by him, anyway).

Peregrine took the news with a calmness that almost unsettled Atticus. He'd been expecting……actually, he didn't know what he'd been expecting. It baffled him as he thought of it. Had he allowed his relationship with his brother to sour so much that he automatically expected the worst now? That would not do. He needed to work on that.

A tiny squeak drifted up from the baby cradled against his paw and he grinned, giving her a gentle nuzzle and licking her tenderly to soothe her. Perry commented on Cutlass's being a pirate and then jibed him scathingly, calling him a scalawag. Atticus couldn't help chuckling deviously. "Oh yes, every bit a pirate. She sure as hell commandeered my ship." His brother continued on with a few questions, and Atticus answered with a thoughtful tone, "I really don't think she was trying to trick me. She asked for me specifically by name, told me she was Cutlass's daughter, she's about the right age...talks all pirate-like..." to this, he couldn't help chuckling. He found Bones's rough, salty way of speaking to be most endearing. "She looks a little bit like Osprey. She has Mom's eyes." There was no lie in those bright green eyes -- she was of their lineage.

"Her name is Bones and she lives at Swiftcurrent Creek." His tone soured a bit at the distance between the two packs. It was why he hadn't gone to visit her yet. To go see her would require a whole day or two and he just hadn't been able to find that time. "I invited her to come here with us, but she didn't sound too enthused about that. Kinda hard for me to figure out why she'd come all this way to find us and then not want to be here with her family. Weird." He was quiet for a few beats, his brows furrowed in troubled contemplation as he considered it. Then: "I'm not really sure what to do about all of this."

Atticus revealed her whereabouts, along with a lot of skepticism about his future as a father. "Hey, man, look at this way," Peregrine said, "she didn't come here expecting you to suddenly daddy her. She probably just wanted to meet you. At that age, I doubt she even considered anything beyond that..." He rolled a shoulder. "We might be family but we're strangers too. And who said I'd accept her? Just kidding!" he added before his brother could throw something—possibly a fuzzy puppy—at him.

Finding his leg cramping, Peregrine stood and stretched his legs. "I'd like to meet her, though. I know the creek's Alpha," he added rather randomly. "I'm not one for alliances or any of that B.S. but we're on neutral terms with them. With that said, I'd rather she not go traipsing around the plateau when she visits; either escort her or meet with her in the flatlands. Fair enough?" Peregrine had a territory and, more importantly, a young family to protect. He doubted Atticus's daughter—my niece, he thought with some disbelief—posed any threat but she was not from the pack, therefore the Alpha male could not inherently trust her.

Atticus wagged his tail and bared his teeth playfully at Peregrine's joking insinuation that he wouldn't accept Bones. Perry had a point, though -- maybe Bones didn't want him to daddy her. Maybe she really had only wanted to meet him. On one hand, that idea was sort of a relief to him. He wasn't ready for the burdens and responsibilities that came with parenthood at all. His eyes involuntarily fell back down to the puppies nestled together before him. There was no way he was ready for this right now. Not to mention the fact that he'd be severely disadvantaged because he'd missed the entirety of her childhood and developmental months; he would basically have been skipping the intro and going straight into teenage daughter. Good god.

But on another hand, the idea that she might not want to be near him, might not want him to be an active part of her life...kind of made him sad.

Finding that the close confines of the den were making him uncomfortable and crampy as well, he too stood and stretched, gesturing to Peregrine to step outside the den. To Perry's fair enough?, he grinned and replied lightly, "You're the boss." He understood his brother's reservations and the same priorities that governed Peregrine's decisions also governed his own as well. "I'm sure she already knows not to wander around here without me, but I'll remind her just in case. Next time she comes to visit, I'll call you to come meet her." Away from the puppies, of course. He didn't think badly of Bones at all, but Perry had said it best -- they might be family, but they were strangers.

The two brothers moved outside again, Peregrine choosing a spot just beyond the doorway to recline on his haunches. He squinted against the glare, his eyes fastened on his brother when Atticus said, "You're the boss." The Alpha male didn't detect any sarcasm or resentment, which was good.

Feeling lazy, Peregrine slid down onto his belly, then took a page out of young Osprey Jr.'s book and flipped over onto his back. "So... Bones," he murmured as he made himself comfortable. "What kind of name is that? I guess it does sound sort of pirate-y..." He chuckled.

Squinting one eye up at Atticus again, the Alpha male murmured, "Hawkeye will be back soon." He didn't know whether his litter mate wanted to be around when she returned, especially with both of them here. It might still be awkward for him. And though Peregrine wished it wasn't so, he wanted to give Atticus fair warning to avoid any possibility of making his brother feel badly or out of place.

Atticus followed his brother's lead and laid down into a more comfortable, sphinx-like position, but remained there instead of lazing on his back as Perry did. He grinned, happy to see his that his brother was so at ease and comfortable. It occurred to him once again how utterly wrong he'd been about Peregrine's promotion to Alpha. "Yeah, kind of a weird name, but then I guess 'Atticus' is a weird-ass name too, so who am I to judge?" he replied with a chuckle to Perry's comment about Bones's name.

Then Peregrine mentioned that Hawkeye would return soon. At the thought of seeing her again, Atticus felt a mixture of emotions: anticipation, jealousy, excitement, resentment, bitterness...but surprisingly, above all of that, he felt peace. He would always have conflicting emotions about her, but much of his heart had moved on. He was fine. "It's okay. I'm past all that," he assured his brother, and with a wry grin, added, "I need to find me a girlfriend though, man. Damn."

"Ha," Peregrine chuffed in agreement, "yeah, it is. Remember when I went through my dickish yearling phase and referred to you as Asskiss?" He chortled fondly at the memory of those days, when they'd been lean, strong, rowdy yearlings with foul mouths and belligerent streaks a mile wide. His laugh tapered somewhat when he considered that his own kids might go through a similar stage.

Ah, well, that's a long way off... he said to himself and rolled onto his side toward Atticus when his brother made no indication of leaving despite Hawkeye's imminent return. "Well, there are two strong candidates but it depends on what you want," the Alpha male replied sagely. "If you want a pretty young thing to bang, you should check out our newest recruit, Sabriyah. But if you want a woman who'll make a good partner for the long haul and a good mother to your children... you should try to romance Blue Willow." He quirked an eyebrow and glanced upward at his brother, wondering if he'd met the two women in question.

Grinning and doing his best to stifle a laugh, Atticus rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Who says the dickish phase ever ended?" he retorted, his grin growing a little wider. "You asshole. I hope each of your kids is just as much a rotten shithead as you were. That will be fun to watch." Now it was his turn to chortle, with an evil little gleam in his eyes. He looked forward to the day that his brother looked at him in much the same way that their parents had looked at one another when they themselves were kids.

Then the subject turned to the women in their pack, and Atticus actually listened. He was genuinely interested in finding a companion of his own, and if anyone would have a good "bird's eye view" of the female prospects in their pack, it was the Alpha male. After Peregrine finished speaking, Atticus seemed to consider it for a moment. "Well, not gonna lie, it would be nice to get laid…" he contemplated in a thoughtful voice. It'd been a while, for sure. "…but I don't need more scraggly pirates showing up calling me 'daddy'. Blue Willow, though…hmm…" He'd seen the lovely, quiet female around their lands and was well-acquainted with her scent. She'd been with the pack quite a long time and had actually risen above him in rank. She was gorgeous, smart, and talented. "She's fine. But damn, a girl like that is probably way out of my league."

"It didn't, Asskiss," he concurred, then said, "Hey now, same to you, daddy-o. By the sound of things, you'll be facing belligerent teenager probs long before I ever have to worry about them." Peregrine clicked his tongue and chuckled softly, still marveling at the fact that Atticus was a father too, to a teenager.

"Yeah, man, there's nothing better for the soul than cleaning out the pipes," the younger brother observed crudely. At Atticus's remark about the possibility of knocking up another she-wolf, the Alpha suggested, "Maybe wrap your dick in a leaf or something?"

Atticus seemed to think Blue Willow was out of his league and Peregrine shook his head lightly. "Nah, man, she's down-to-earth. She's the sweetest thing. Matter of fact, if you do pursue her and hurt her, I might have to slap you in the sack. She deserves the best: a good husband and prospective father. I wouldn't throw her name on the table if I didn't think you were worthy of the task. Want me to try matchmaking you two...?"

At Peregrine's idea of contraceptives, Atticus couldn't contain the bark of laughter that burst from his lips. The mental image was too ridiculous. "There aren't any leaves in this lame-ass forest big enough for that, bro," he replied crassly after a moment, amusement still clear in his face and his voice.

Perry went on to talk in a bit more detail about Blue Willow, and Atticus was interested. He took note of his brother's threat; if Peregrine was that fond of her, then she really had to be a good one. Atti was intrigued. When his brother finished speaking, going as far as to throw in an offer to do some matchmaking, Atticus felt his pulse quicken a little. It'd been a long time since he'd pursued a female. Hell, had he ever really, actually pursued a woman at all? Cutlass had seduced him, and that whole thing with Hawkeye had just sort of…happened. That whole misguided affair had just sorta fallen in his lap. To actually court a female…he wasn't sure he even know how. "That'd be cool, actually," he finally said after a moment of thought. The whole courtship thing had evidently worked pretty well for Perry, seeing as he now had a wife and kids and a mortgage and a white-collar job and was shopping for minivans and whatnot. Atticus knew he'd be asking Perry a lot of questions if he chose to go through with this.

Finally giving in to the warmth of the sun, he rolled over on his back and let the rays bathe his belly. "You and Hawkeye, the kids…it's awesome, man. You've got a really great thing going on, and I'm happy for you. But it's just kinda made me realize what I'm missing out on, y'know?" He'd always been a happy bachelor, but he was three now. The prime of his life wasn't going to last forever. "And then finding out I've got a kid but I missed out on it all. I dunno. It's easy to get laid, but after all that I'd still be alone. And being alone is kinda starting to suck."

"Then I'll make something happen," the Alpha male promised vaguely, already cooking up plots in his head. "Just remember, she's a proper lady, so you'd better treat her like one... or else I flick you in the nuts, hard." And every man of every species knew how even the slightest sap-tack could bring him to his knees (not that wolves have knees...).

Atticus's positivity about his brother's home life surprised and endeared Peregrine. "Hey, man, it's not too late for you to find the very same thing. I'll hook you up with Blue Willow and you'll get your happily ever after. You deserve it, you know. And what's-her-face—sorry, Bones—fits in that picture somewhere, I'm sure."

Taking his brother's lead, Peregrine also rolled over onto his back, so that the two of them lay practically side-by-side with eight legs sticking up in the air. "We probably look like morons," he observed in a tone that indicated he couldn't care less, "and anyone that walks by is going to get an eyeful of the Redleaf-DiSarinno family jewels..." he mused before laughing to himself, closing his eyes and resting his head serenely on the grass.

As Peregrine promised to work some magic and assured Atticus that someday he'd have his happily ever after, Atti smiled and felt the warmth of brotherhood and kinship that he'd missed since things had blown up back at the Falcons. It was nice to have life returning to a steady sort of rhythm. He wasn't really sure what each new day would bring, especially now that there was a surprise teenage daughter in the picture, but he did know that as long as he had his brother there to back him up, he could handle anything.

As they lazed in the sun, Perry commented that they probably looked like morons, Atticus chuckled in agreement. There was no 'probably' about it. They did look like morons. But neither of them cared. And as for the likelihood of someone getting a peek at the jewels, well… "They'll be struck dumb with envy, I'm sure." As the warmth of the sun bathed his belly and seeped into his soul, he felt sleep luring him in and didn't resist its pull.