Wolf RPG

It was only a matter of time before Peregrine's mind wandered to a certain sassy red she-wolf. He felt guilty about the flutter in his belly when he thought of her and, in the same synapse, remembered that he was now a free agent. It would be a long, long time before he was ready to commit to a relationship and he would certainly take his sweet time the next time around, if it ever came... but, still, he found himself thinking of her and, eventually, deciding he would surprise her by dropping by the creek. She was always visiting him and, well, things were going to be different now, weren't they?

He spent the morning breakfasting and playing with the kids, then bade them farewell and set out into the wilderness. It always felt strange to him when his paws passed over the borders of his territory, leaving it behind. He brushed away his unease and trotted at a swift but leisurely pace, scents and landmarks marking the route. He wondered if Crete and Osprey had passed this way, his brow furrowing and his heart lodging in his throat as he thought of his siblings and realized how much he missed them. Yes, even that butthole, Crete, who'd been right about Hawkeye all along.

He shook off all thoughts when he approached the distant border of Fox's domain. As he drew closer, his scent filling his nose, he reminded himself to keep things friendly. He would tell her the news, of course, but Peregrine wasn't after tail, hers or anybody else's. Of course, thoughts of such nature drifted through his head (he was a male in his prime, after all), but Peregrine was an honorable creature, or at least he did his best. He might be single now but he still had a family and he wouldn't just throw himself into at another woman.

Besides, he'd told Fox she should never be someone's mistress, second choice or backup plan. And he'd meant it. Thinking of this, Peregrine folded his dark haunches to the ground, intending to sit here awhile and see if anyone approached. Failing that, he would call for Fox directly. Or, Peregrine thought with a smirk, maybe I'll hike a leg and piss on her borders to get her to come running.

One day shy of her two-month birthaverssary, Ty had spent the morning playing with her father and rough-housing with her sister and couslings. Something was certainly "up" at home, and Ty was keen enough to notice it. Her father was gone more often, and her parents, while still friendly, didn't act like the used to. The charcoal girl had been throwing more tantrums than usual (as if that were possible), and today was no different. When her father had said goodbye, she had grovelled at his feet and begged him not to leave, but he did anyway. She was exasperated, fed up with this stupid whatever that was going on, and had decided to feign acceptance of his departure.

As soon as Blue Willow and Hawkeye had their attention on the other pups, though, Ty stole away into the brush and away from them, her nose stuck to the ground as she hurried along the path Peregrine had taken. She tried to keep in mind the techniques her guardians had been teaching her when tracking something. Hang back until you're ready to pounce, keep your nose to the ground, and most importantly: never give up!

The first two were rather easy for Tytonidae, but the last one grew harder and harder as Peregrine was surely flying quickly through the territories. Her own legs were short and stumpy, not meant for such long adventures outside of her packland. Still, she persevered, panted, and stopped alongside a stream for water, her tiny pea-brain determined to find her father and bring him back so they could continue their play-date as she lapped up the cool water.

The creek had grown deathly quiet the last couple of weeks. Fox knew a large part of that had been due to her decision, but she did not let that wear on her too much. The same thing had happened shortly after the cougar incident, and they had come out of that experience stronger than ever. She had no doubt that Tuwawi and Njal would come around, and Bazi already seemed to be on her side (though Fox lacked the knowledge of why Bazi was so seething toward Ferdie and Jace). It was a shame that it had caused a rift between four of the longest-standing members of the pack, but it was only a matter of time before things were mended. With new life on the way, Njal and Tuwawi wouldn't have time to question her motives.

Fox took to the borders, knowing that both Njal and Tuwawi would be busy nesting and preparing for their children—the creek's children. Fox looked forward to meeting them and helping raise them, even if she was unlikely to admit it. Surprise washed over her face when she recognized the scent of Peregrine. This was quickly followed by a grin and a wag of her tail, though she bristled out of instinct. It was a mixed message for sure, but he could probably understand, given he was often on the borders himself.

“Come to retreive your mistress?” she beamed, ears fanning back as she strode toward him. “Or just to return the favor of pissing on the borders?”

She came, just as he'd hoped, and the sight of her reddish fur prickling made his lips part to tease her in some fashion, when she referred to herself as his mistress. Peregrine felt his insides burning pleasantly, despite everything he'd gone over in his head a moment ago. A lopsided grin appeared on his dark face, his eyes meeting hers briefly. She was beaming at him like he was the best thing she'd ever seen and that pleased (and melted) him more than anything.

Clearing his throat and trying to remain cool and collected, Peregrine took a breath and then exclaimed, "Surprise!" He paused, smiling more casually now, and said, "Did you ever think you'd see me showing up here? I did consider leaving my calling card but you showed up before I had the chance; impeccable timing, mistress." As that word left his mouth, his eyes flashed sultrily without his being aware of it.

"I wanted to see you," he said after a moment, keeping it honest and without pretense, "and, I guess, check out your domicile." His blue-green eyes lifted, coming over the views at her back. "How're things?" he questioned lightly, his eyes returning to her face (although respectfully avoiding direct contact with her own). The query was open-ended; he could be referring to the creek or just Fox herself. Peregrine supposed she probably knew him well enough to tell which one he actually cared about and which one he cared for not at all.

Feeling rejuvenated by the sudden rehydration, Tytonidae took off once again with even more determination than she'd had before. her floppy too-big paws flew as she kept her nose to the ground. Thankfully, she knew her father's scent well, and he made no move to try and hide it along the way, so at least that was easy. There was a moment where it seemed it had been hidden by the tracks of another wolf. It was at that moment that she realized how incredibly alone she was out here. No guardians, no siblings, no couslings, and the scent of the other wolf made her realize that she was far-gone from her home. It caused her heart to pitter-patter, and only made her run faster toward her eventual goal.

As she fled through the lands, ears splayed back against her head and tongue lolling to one side, she squinted in the distance. Finally there he was. Perhaps she was not as slow as she had originally thought. Either that or the fear had gotten to her and she'd busted ass to get here. “Dad!” she screeched, smiling big and wagging her tail, unaware that he would more than likely be less than pleased to find that she had followed him all the way out here. “Foun' you!” As if he should be proud of such a thing.

It was only then that she spotted the small (compared to Perry) red wolf standing just off. Ty stopped in her tracks, wide-eyed and tail stiffened as she proceeded to growl at the stranger. Suddenly abandoning the thought of her father's praise, she now only wanted this lady to go away.

To be quite honest, she was surprised to see him here. After their last meeting, she figured she would be too much of a temptation for him to come hanging around and asking for something to happen. Then again, he was dead set on them being friends, so perhaps he just wanted to test himself to make sure he could do that. She thought it was silly, but he seemed into it, so she couldn't complain. Besides, he was easy on the eyes, and she didn't mind having more man-meat around to objectify. Not that she would consider him mate-material. He had his own, and he lived far away from her, so that was unlikely to ever pan out into anything other than flirting.

When he called her "mistress," she batted her eyes in an exaggerated way to suggest that she knew he was joking. But who was she kidding? Fox adored the attention. She wondered why exactly he wanted to see her (aside from the obvious), since she usually brought news when she went to see him. It wasn't like she was going to give him a tour or anything. Despite their personal... "friendship," he was still an outsider.

“Things are—” she began, but was cutoff by a figure in the distance. A small, pudgy-looking thing barreled toward them, and Fox bristled, but relaxed when the little thing yelled, "Dad!" Of course, it reminded her that he did have a family back home, and this was not going anywhere. She couldn't tell if this was the same one who had been with him when she had greeted him at the plateau. It was certainly feisty, to say the least. Fox couldn't help but giggle when the pup growled at her.

“You didn’t say you'd brought one with you,” she said, flashing Perry a questioning glance.

Fox cut off mid-sentence and Peregrine experienced a split second of total confusion. He saw her looking at something and began to turn even as the loud cry of, "Dad!" reached his ears. Now he veritably whipped around, his lips parting in utter surprise when Tytonidae came barreling toward him. He froze, gaping at the pup and trying to sort through the half dozen emotions (surprise, anger and frustration, to name a few) swirling inside him at his young daughter's abrupt arrival. He only snapped out of it when she began to growl at Fox.

Although the sassy Alpha female took it in stride (his heart hiccuped at the sound of her giggle), Peregrine said very gruffly, "Tytonidae Redleaf-DiSarinno, what do you think you're doing here?" He glared down at the puppy, ears pressed forward and face stony. "You're a very bad girl," he told her, wondering how much Hawkeye et al must be panicking right at this very moment and realizing he would have to cut this meeting fairly short. The thought made his guts feel queerly empty. He was deeply disappointed.

"I didn't," he belatedly told Fox, though that much was already quite obvious. "Come here, Tytonidae," he said, still using the girl's first name so she knew she was in very deep trouble. "Fox, this is my daughter, Tytonidae. Ty, this is Fox. She's the Alpha of Swiftcurrent Creek, which is where we are right now. Although you're going to be grounded for the next ten years," he continued, eyes glittering, "on the rare chance you encounter a wolf from outside the pack, you must behave as the situation calls for. In this one, you show respect and submission, as she's the leader here and we are her guests."

He glared down at the top of the charcoal smudge's head, then glanced up at Fox and mouthed, Sorry. There was genuine regret on his face at having their moment alone stolen from them. He felt frustration stirring strongly again and he wanted to scruff Tytonidae and drag her across the ground a bit to show her her place. Never one to lay a hand on his kids, though, Peregrine restrained himself. He did make certain she remained close at hand; if she so much as tried to creep an inch away, he would forcefully drag her back beside him.

When his dusky eyes returned to Fox again, he realized with a small feeling of dismay that he hadn't told her the news about himself and Hawkeye. Would it be in horribly poor taste to convey it to her in front of Ty? He'd explained the situation as best as he could to the toddlers, so it wasn't like he was trying to hide anything from them. Still, it just felt tacky to discuss it with her there... but he'd come all this way...

"Ty," the father said after a moment, "stay here. I'm going to walk with Fox a little bit. We're not going to go far; I'll still be able to see you. If you move one muscle, I will end you." He didn't mean it literally, of course, but he leveled the youth with a look that could wilt flowers. "Get me?" Turning to Fox then, "Can we walk a minute? I wanna get out of E-A-R-S-H-O-T of this B-U-T-T-H-E-A-D," he told her, his voice exasperated but affectionate.

The giggle of the red wolf caused Ty to perk up, ceasing her growl. Her attention was quickly diverted to Peregrine, who went about scolding her. He didn't even give her a chance to explain! “But!” she started, but he continued talking right over her. He went about explaining that she would have to act properly around this "Fox" lady, but Ty didn't really understand why. Doing as she was told, Ty lowered her tail and ears, flicking her tongue to show submission. “Hi,” she muttered dejectedly, feeling in the dumps now that her father had called her out and scolded her right in front of a stranger.

And now he was going to leave her again? Somewhere deep within the confines of her tiny toddler brain, Ty's subconscious made the connection that Fox was taking her father away from them. All of them. She didn't quite grasp it yet, but the seed had been planted and would grow for weeks to come. Her rump plopped on the ground, and she pouted, waiting for him to finish whatever it was he was doing.

Fox watched the scene play out, and was reminded of her own childhood. She had been scolded plenty of times, but she'd also refused to give up like Ty was apparently doing. Instead, Fox had defied her parents' every word, often purposefully disobeying them just for the attention. Tytonidae's response was far more docile, and she submitted appropriately, causing Fox to nod in approval of Perry's child. “Hello to you, too,” she replied, though the child did not attempt to converse further.

Perry commanded his daughter to say, and Fox glanced to the sprog next to him before nodding. When they were far enough away that the pup (hopefully) couldn't hear them, Fox canted her head to one side and asked, “What’s up?” She wondered what Perry wouldn't allow his own child to hear.

Despite his hard words, Peregrine nuzzled the soft fuzz atop Ty's head before looking to Fox and falling into step beside her. The two adults walked a few dozen yards, Peregrine shooting glances over one ebony shoulder at thirty-second intervals to keep an eye on his daughter. When he felt they were far enough away, he stopped. Fox stopped at exactly the same moment, which amused him.

"Ty and the kids know all about this but I didn't want to bring it up in front of her because I'm sure it's tough on them," the swarthy male said. "Their mother," he began without beating around the bush, "and I, we've separated." He mused about how he tended to refer to his former mate by various titles rather than by name, as if it was too bitter for his mouth. "We just did everything too fast. We put the cart before the horse and, well, crashed downhill."

Peregrine paused, casting a solemn glance in his pup's direction, then looked Fox squarely in the face. "And this is something I haven't told the kids for reasons that will become obvious: she also cheated on me," he said, deciding not to mention his brother's involvement specifically, "which was the biggest deal-breaker of all for probably obvious reasons. As I mentioned to you the last time we spoke, I'm not a cheater, nor do I put up with cheaters." He let out a long, low breath.

He gave her a moment to process, then felt it was necessary to add, "I wanted to tell you because you're my friend but also because..." Peregrine hesitated for a long beat, mentally warring with himself. What his feral side wanted to say was, Well, I'm free now if you wanna be friends with benefits, or something along those lines. Too soon, the nobler side of his conscience whispered. Peregrine compromised and eventually quipped, "I wanted you to know you're free to flirt with me as shamelessly as you like." He winked.

Laughing quietly, he said, "Any adult biz you'd like to convey yourself before I have to go back and corral the mini?"

Fox's eyes widened at Perry's admission, but softened soon after. To hear that Perry and Hawkeye had separated was strange and unexpected. Although Fox had enjoyed their interactions, she knew that whoever she chose would be for life. Until either she died or they did. It didn't make much sense to her, but she had come to realize that many wolves put their emotions before instinct. While she certainly had emotions, they did not rule her like they did so many others. If she had fallen out of love with her partner, they would have kept on going. In fact, she wasn't even sure she would be in love with the father of her children, although it would be a nice bonus.

To hear that Hawkeye had cheated on him changed her perspective wildly from one end to the other. “You mean she...?” Fox trailed off, but she understood immediately. She just couldn't fathom it. Why would Hawkeye do such a thing? It seemed not only out of the ordinary, but downright blasphemous.

“Damn, Perry,” Fox said after a hefty pause, and then he went on to give her "permission" to flirt with him. To be quite honest, it sounded like he had way too much to worry about without their complicated thing alongside all of that. “I don’t really have anything. At least not of that sort,” she answered.

Fox's commiseration gave Peregrine a sense of relief in a way. Although she neither took him up on his offer to flirt nor his request for news, he thought of the stricken look on her face when he told her the news. She felt for him. He held that image close.

"Okay, well... I really wish I could hang around and chat," he told her, real regret carving his facial features, "but I should probably take Ty home before anyone thinks she's been kidnapped." The dark male paused. "If you like, I can visit again. I think it's also safe to say you have an open invitation to come by the plateau's borders."

He gave her pretty face a lingering look, then reluctantly turned to pad back to Tytonidae. He would collect her and the two of them would start the long trek back home.

The word "kidnapped" stung Fox, although she was sure Perry had meant nothing by it. She still hoped for Bones's safe return, even if she did not think it was likely. Cutthroat had not brought back the young girl, and he did not seem to think that his presence would ever do such a thing. Nevertheless, his time here was well-spent, as he was another body among their ranks to keep them strong.

She watched him move away, giving him nothing more than a parting nod. Fox wondered if getting involved with him, on any level, was a good idea. She felt oddly responsible for the split between him and Hawkeye, although she had never even met the plateau's other leader. She, of course, lacked the knowledge that Hawkeye was no longer leading beside her mate. And she would have thought such a thing absurd. Then again, she found the whole thing absurd.

Only when they had retreated out of sight did she return to the creek's inner depths, thinking long and hard about the news Perry had brought with him.

Ty strained to hear what they were saying, but she could catch none of it. All she could see was the body language that transpired between the two. There was lots of communication happening between the two. First, her father spoke in a hushed tone for quite some time. Fox's face looked shocked, and Ty tried to lean forward to hear what was being said, but she only caught mutterings. Whatever it was, Father certainly didn't want her to hear it, which only made Ty want to hear it more. She frowned, flopping her front half to the ground in defeat.

When Perry turned around, Ty straightened back up, tail wagging as if no part of the scolding had happened at all. She was simply happy that her father was returning to her, and she pranced in place as he drew closer. When he was just close enough, she took eager steps forward to lick his chin. “Go home?” she asked pleaded. Maybe if they went back home, everything would fall into place again. Ty still didn't fully understand what was going on between her parents (even if they had explained it on some level).

When Peregrine reached his daughter, he regarded her stiffly, his body language letting her know that she wasn't off the hook. When she licked at his chin, he softened somewhat. Although her query grated on his nerves (why had she insisted on following him all this way only to complain that she wanted to go home?!), he only sighed impatiently and nudged the top of her soft head.

"Yes, we're going home," he answered her. "Start walkin', inmate," he then drawled. "Let's see what your mother says when she finds out what you did." Peregrine lapsed into silence, letting young Tytonidae mull that over as the two of them trekked homeward.