Wolf RPG

Aryn landed rather haphazardly on a tree branch, her wings heavy with fatigue and morning dew. The sun was just about to peek over the mountains, and the wandering owl still had not found a good place to sleep.

I guess it's a good a time as ever to watch the sun go up into day... She thought to herself with a halfhearted hoot. She fluffed up her feathers to keep herself warm. She absent-mindedly began to click her beak, tilting her head this way and that to listen for breakfast, or dinner, in her case. Though, at the moment, she wasn't feeling very hungry, rather bored, in fact. It had been a few days since her last contact with a wolf or even another creature besides lunch.

Osprey Jr. burst out of her family's den like a bat out of hell, whooping, "Mawning! Mawning! Mawning!" in her girlish voice. Learning words was fun and repeating them at high volumes was even more fun. She skidded to a halt in the center of the clearing, then veered suddenly toward the nearest tree, now hollering, "Twee! Twee! Twee!"

Once she reached it, Junior intended to find another object and another word to shout. When she reared up against the tree trunk in preparation to push off it and run the other way, she spotted the owl for the first time. The sight surprised her into a momentary silence, her blue eyes bugging as she looked up at the large, peculiar-looking bird.

"WHAT IS?!" suddenly exploded from her mouth. "WHAT IS?!" She wanted a word for this strange creature and, being only six weeks old, didn't have quite extensive enough of a vocabulary to properly ask, What is it called?

Aryn was on the verge of sleep when the screeching howls of a puppy interrupted her slumber. She looked down to find the source of it at the base of the tree, asking what she was. Aryn blinked and flipped her head upside down to get a better angle.

She wasn't the greatest at wolf language. In fact, she talked much like a puppy herself. Only screechier. Still, she was fluent in understanding the speech.

"Owl." She said. Her tone was guttural and screechy, and it sounded more like she said "Owoo".

She looked down and waggled her wing in the trademark fashion of the wagging-tail look-alike.

When the large bird turned its head upside down, Osprey screamed, not in terror but in delight. "OW! OW!" she screeched excitedly, oblivious to her parents' presences as they darted out of the den. Her father eyed the owl warily, even though he supposed Osprey Jr. was too large to be picked off by a bird of prey. Hawkeye was likely musing over the irony that Osprey should discover the owl, rather than Tytonidae.

"GIN! GIN!" the dark puppy shouted up at the pale raptor, meaning to say, Again! Again! It seemed Junior only had one volume today: LOUD. Meanwhile, she tried to turn her head upside down but only managed to twist it side to side, of course, and give herself a bit of whiplash in the process.

Aryn churred, the chuckling sound of an owl. This time, she awkwardly turned herself around on the branch. At first it seemed to pretend to not be interested in the little pup, but quickly spun its head around in a modified, more fascinating version of Peek-A-Boo. She wasn't sure if the pup was still young enough to appreciate it, but the concept of a flexible neck fascinated the adorable pup, so Aryn humored her.

She noticed the parents, and made a hello hoot.

When the owl upped the ante, Osprey Jr. responded by laughing so loudly that it rung in Peregrine's ears and made his jawbone vibrate as he stepped nearer his daughter, just to keep an eye on her. Still blind to her parents' presence, Osprey reared up and began hopping upward in a fruitless attempt to scale the tree. "Ow, ow!" she yapped between bounces and the father mused to himself, Blue Willow will hear that and get here on the double with bandaids and an ice pack.

Although Junior didn't do it consciously, her screeches began to blend together. "Ow, ow, ow, owowow, owowow, owowowoooooooooo!" she declared to all the world, the yelps now losing their syllabic cadence and giving way to one of the pup's very first (and obnoxiously pitchy) howls.

The owl's churs grew even louder as she righted herself. She always had a soft spot for pups. After a glance at the parents, she lifted her wings and soared into flight, circling a few times before landing a few yards from the pup on the ground. She waited for their next move. She knew that there was a chance of the parents attacking, but she took that chance to be with the adorable creature that howled cutely.

As Junior's howl tapered away into silence, the owl took off, its wings sweeping the air until it rose into the sky to circle the Alphas' den site. Eyes wide, mouth agape, head tilting, Osprey Jr. watched the pale shape drifting overhead. She didn't even notice her father step closer to her, hovering protectively. He didn't think the owl was planning an attack, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

The bird of prey wafted back down toward earth and landed on the ground. Osprey Jr. immediately sprang toward it, yet her father clipped her scruff with his teeth, dragging her backward and waiting patiently for her to stop struggling (which took several minutes). When she finally submitted, he released her, then shot her a warning look and even a low growl to make her obey.

"What is it you want?" he asked the bird, feeling a little strange for talking to an avian. Would it even understand him? "I don't want you getting too close. I'd prefer if you'd return to the branch, actually," he added. Peregrine decided he would not be allowing Osprey any closer to the owl, even if it didn't mean harm. Even from several yards away, he could see that sharp beak and those fearsome talons. Nope.

Aryn blinked. She nodded and flew back up to the branch. Her wolfish wasn't good at all, so hopefully they'd make out her words.

"Aryn talk to wolf on branch?"She hooted down. Her speech was getting better, but her sharp letters still cut off suddenly, and her "n"s sounded like "m"s.

The owl seemed to understand his command and quickly acquiesced. Peregrine's eyes followed the large bird as it hovered and then resumed its post on a tree limb overhead. He then looked down at his little girl's head. She, too, was gazing up at the owl, her tail waving to and fro and her body quivering, though she remained obediently frozen otherwise.

"All right," he said to both owl and pup, nudging Osprey Jr. She bounded ahead and he dogged her steps. They came to a stop at the foot of the tree. "Osprey, this is... Aryn?" the Alpha male said, unsure he'd heard correctly. "Aryn, this is my daughter, Osprey Jr. And I'm Peregrine."

Aryn tilted her head and closed her eyes, mouthing his words and translating in her head. She reopened her eyes, looked down, and nodded.

She opened her wingspan, letting it flow out gracefully. She then took a low, graceful bow. "Pleasure."

The owl's polite display delighted the youngster, causing her to explode into a slew of half-gibberish, partial repetitions. "Ow-wyn," was her attempt to repeat the bird's name, though she didn't realize that's what it was. Then her own name: "Jun-yaw!" And, finally, she twisted her head around and grinned at Peregrine as she exclaimed, "Da, da, Pew-gwin!"

Naturally, hearing any rendition of dad or his name (it made him think of how his mother always required her children to call her Mo) made the father's heart melt into a puddle of goo. "Good job, Junior," he praised glowingly, forgetting all about the owl for the moment. "Can you say dad. Daaad?"

Aryn churred. "It's nice to meet you, Osprey Junior."

She watched the trade of words from above, and her gizzard lurched. She sighed softly. She knew it was going to be near impossible to get her own chicks. She was considered 'weird' for interacting with wolves among her kind.

Even though she could be a headstrong child, Osprey Jr. was perhaps becoming a bit of a daddy's girl. "Daaaaa?" she repeated after him, somehow intuiting the importance of the word, even if she didn't necessarily think to apply it to him directly just yet. "Daaaaa-duh?" she tried again, lips smacking with satisfaction when the word came out sounding mostly right.

"That's my girl!" Peregrine praised her, obviously pleased beyond measure. "I'll never get tired of hearing that word, tell you what..." he mused, suddenly slinging his foreleg around Junior, tugging her against him and giving her an affectionate noogie and a kiss upon the top of her head.

This earned an indignant, "Daaaad-uh!" and a bit of squirming, though she laughed despite herself. As she struggled, her blue eyes remained fixed on the bird overhead. He may have forgotten all about it but Osprey wouldn't stop watching it until it finally flew away.

And, a few minutes later, the owl did fly away, perhaps to find a quieter place to roost. Junior stared after her in wonder, then quickly forgot all about the great bird and began to zoom around the clearing, screaming, "TWEE! TWEE! TWEE!" all over again.