Wolf RPG

Fox exited the den she and Peregrine shared and yawned. She shook her coat, took a few steps, and then yawned again. Blinking lazily in the light of dawn, she peered around to see if there was anything of interest happening close by. Confirming that no, there was not, Fox proceeded to find something to do. She could try and track down something to eat, which would mean digging up one of the caches. Or she could actually try and give back to the caches. There were borders that needed attending to, of course, and surely her fellow wolves could always use companionship.

Speaking of wolves she liked as companions, where was that mate of hers? Peregrine was never too far from her side, and so she let out a mid-range howl to call for him. That settled, Fox wandered a little ways away from their cozy, moss-covered den and began to drink from the nearby stream. The water was clear, and chilled with the season. It must have been below freezing, judging by the way each breath created a cloud of mist in the air. Still, the water was clean, and Fox needed it.

When Fox's howl cut through the air, Peregrine was standing at the borders, keeping an eye on the retreating coyote he'd just chased away. What looked like silver smoke puffed from his muzzle at roughly five-second intervals. The bladed black fur along his neck, shoulders and spine still stood on end. His ears and tail were both thrust up into the frosty air. He stood like this even after his mate's call subsided, though at last he turned and responded with three short barks.

A while later, he found her not far from the den. "Hey, you called? I was just chasing a coyote away from the borders. Just a small lone female," he reported before dropping his head and helping himself to an icy drink.

Peregrine materialized, stating that he'd just been a gallant knight and fended off a female coyote from getting onto their precious land. "I don't understand why we've become such a hot target," she said with a frown, "I guess it comes with plopping ourselves down somewhere that wasn't already established, but I'd swear some of these 'canines' don't even have noses. We piss on the border all day long, and they still come walking in like it's no big deal." Her chest rose and fell with a huff, creating her own little silver smoke puff. Maybe she was getting too worked-up about this stuff, but it baffled her that so many wolves (and now coyotes!) could be so stupid.

"The worst is when they're all 'this is totally a neutral place,'" Fox ranted on, "It's only neutral if nobody wants to protect it. And by gods, I want to protect the stuff around Redhawk Caldera, too. Especially if those vermin are hunting on it." The gall of some of them was astounding. Fox clawed at the ground, finding that it made her feel a little bit better about things, then realized she hadn't even said hello. "Sorry. It just bugs me. How are you?"

Peregrine continued drinking as his mate vented, keeping one black ear cocked in her direction so she knew she had his attention. When she finished, he finally lifted his head and licked the stray droplets from his chops. Before he spoke, he gave her a sympathetic nudge and an affectionate nibble to the curve of her neck.

"The coyote looked absolutely desperate and I think that's the only reason she took the risk. I'm not sure about the others. Some folks are just outright stupid, though," he opined with a shrug. "Between you and me—not to mention the rest of the pack—they don't stand a chance," he reminded her, his eyes flashing.

"All right, I guess. I have a little headache, presumably from the kick I took the other day," he reported. He'd told her about the failed hunt with Somnia and Elwood, of course. "I got to spend a bit of time with Finley. I'm glad she seems to be getting better every day. I can't wait until she's fully healed and I can return to kicking her ass on the reg," he quipped with a wave of his tail.

"Hmmm," she hummed, "Maybe it's just winter that's got them acting stupid." That was easier than trying to explain their behavior in any other way. Fox knew that no trespassers would be able to fight them, least of all loners, but she did worry that it would wear them down in some way.

When Peregrine mentioned his headache, Fox gave him a concerned look. She did not want him to end up like Haunter or Atticus, and the mere thought of it brought dread to her heart. Instead of mentioning either of them, she gently licked the top of his head in a wolfish kiss. Surely if anything bad was to come of it, it would have already happened.

"I'm so glad she's back," Fox confessed, "She's one of the few friends I've got." Friends were a sparse for Fox. Although, ever since she had come to Redhawk Caldera, she had noticed that there was a distinct lack of enemies (she wouldn't count the trespassers). Everybody within their ranks had been personally vetted by either her or Peregrine (or both), leading to a great bunch of wolves.

For a split second, Peregrine wondered if his evident fondness for Finley would upset Fox in some way. She immediately put that brief worry to rest by sharing in his affectionate banter about their Beta female. Fox even confessed that Finley was one of her few true friends. He understood what she meant and felt the same way, especially now that he wasn't entirely sure he could count anyone from the plateau on his own friends list.

"Same," he echoed lightly. "She's a weirdo but then, so are the rest of us. That's what makes us so awesome. Hm, I even vote we change our name to Weirdhawk Caldera," he quipped with a faint smirk, tail stirring the cold air.

A brief silence passed between them and Peregrine joked, "When I heard you call, I was hoping in the back of my mind that it was time." He winked a dusky jade eye at her. It hadn't actually occurred to him at the time, though the mere thought of it sent a thrill of excited anticipation through him now. "It has to be getting close, right? You're the right age and if we conceived now, they'd be born at the end of winter at the earliest. I bet it's going to happen soon." His eyes danced and glowed as his tail waved.

"No pressure," he added with a wink in the next breath, laughing quietly and favoring her with a nuzzle, a nip and a kiss to the corner of her gray eye.

Weirdhawk Caldera. What a buffoon Peregrine was. But then again, that was half the reason they got along so well. It probably said a lot that her two closest friends were total goofballs in every sense of the word. Fox hadn't started out as a weirdo, but the more time she spent around Peregrine and Finley, the more she picked up on their strange sense of humor and antics. That kind of thing was contagious!

Peregrine spoke of children then, or at least of conceiving them, and Fox put on a half-frown. She wasn't sure when the magical moment was supposed to happen. She grew more and more impatient with each passing day, and a worry that something might be wrong with her had started to creep into her thoughts lately. She was well past a year old, growing closer to two each day, and yet she felt no changes. And the changes she did feel were only frustration that her body wasn't ready yet.

“I'll be ready when I'm ready,” she said with confidence, even if she didn't feel that confident about it. “The real question is: are you ready?” she asked with a grin. “These children are going to be little hellions, I know that much.” Not that Peregrine's other children weren't hellions, of course. In fact, she wondered how much her own little beasts would differ from his first litter. “Do you think they’ll be anything like your older ones?”

Peregrine gave her first question a quirked brow and a wolfish grin. "Guuurl, I've never been more ready for anything in my life," he replied. "No, the real real question is: are those pups ready to have us as parents? Those poor things have no damn idea..." The swarthy wolf snorted.

He sobered at his mate's next inquiry. "Ah... I hope not, not because I don't love them or think there's anything wrong with them. I just want a totally different childhood for these guys. So many shitty things happened; so many mistakes were made... I know better now and I will do everything in my goddamn power to make sure these pups have the best upbringing possible." Sure, part of it would be nature but a big chunk of their development would happen via nurture and that's exactly what he hoped to do: nurture the best possible experience for these new pups.

"But on that note... I miss them. I hope they're doing okay," Peregrine admitted in a hushed voice. He fell silent for a moment, then drew in a very deep breath and said a bit more lightly, "Let's not dwell on the things we can't do anything about, though. We can do everything in our power to be the wickedest parents on the block. And you know what I think is a huge part of that...?"

He trailed off, leaving Fox hanging for several beats, then said, "I think a huge difference between my first litter and this one will be my relationship with their mother. I love you so much, Lil' Weenie, and these unsuspecting spawn are going to be raised in the cheesiest environment ever," he promised with a loud laugh and a wet smooch to his companion's cheek. It would definitely be a far cry from the four pups who'd been raised between him and the distant, estranged Hawkeye.

Fox grinned at his comment about the firebirds not knowing what they were getting themselves into. All jokes aside, Fox thought the two of them would make grand parental units. With their powers combined, Peregrine and Fox would raise some of the most badass little hellions the world had ever seen. She was sure of it. Fox listened attentively as Peregrine explained how he thought these kids would be much different from his last litter. Fox was not sure how she would react if her own children went around like Junior and Saena had. She'd never known Pura or Tytonidae well enough to judge their behavior, really. They'd always seemed a bit more distant.

She was hopeful that they would remain as close as they were now. Fox had a feeling Peregrine had not always been estranged from Hawkeye. Had he not loved her at first? Fox tried to remember what he had said about the downturn in their relationship, but her memory failed her, as it often did. She just remembered that he'd come to her one day complaining about how it wasn't like it once was. A flutter of worry kicked up in her gut, thinking that maybe the children had been the cause of it. If that was the case, would history repeat itself? Would the two of them grow apart once the firebirds were born?

Neither of them could know, she decided, and tucked the worries away. Fox pressed her head into Peregrine's chest, happy to have him to herself. “The selfish part of me hopes that they’ll want to stay at the caldera,” she said, “even though I know it’s perfectly natural that they’ll want to go out and explore as they get older.” Fox was probably getting a little too far ahead of herself, but she really did want her children to be happy. If that meant staying here, that was great, but if what they really wanted was to go out into the world and start their own ventures, she couldn't really imagine herself saying no.

"I feel exactly the same way," he replied, arching his neck to lick the top of his mate's head. "I figure that if we have the dozen we agreed on, it's statistically likely that at least a few will stay put," he quipped softly. Of course, it was incredibly unlikely Fox would birth twelve pups. Somewhere between two and four seemed much more reasonable. Even if just one stayed... and, if not, the great thing was they could always make more!

Although he couldn't possibly read Fox's mind, he found his own wandering to a similar plane. He did not worry that the arrival of their pups would change their relationship, as had been the case with Hawkeye. They had spent so much more time fostering their love before reproducing, something he and his first mate hadn't done at all. Especially in hindsight, everything about that relationship seemed so unstable and rushed. He and Fox, meanwhile, were rocksteady.

"I really love you," he said gently and sincerely, giving her head another lick. "I can't wait to go on this adventure with you." Because parenthood was just that: an adventure. It would be her first time and only his second. They would learn a lot about themselves, each other and their progeny as it all unfolded. It wouldn't be sunshine and rainbows all the time—if Peregrine recalled correctly, there would be a lot of poop and pee involved, not to mention puke—but still he looked forward to it with every fiber in his being.

It actually felt that, in a way, his entire life had been leading up to this moment—well, the moment when he and Fox created life together. Everything that had come before was all a part of the greater master plan. His exile from Flightless Falcons had led him to these lands, for instance, where he had met Fox. Sure, he had taken a side trip on the way here but without it he never would have learned how to be a better mate and father. And, of course, Fox's discomfiture at the plateau had led them to the caldera for the specific purpose of raising their young here together.

He let his chin sink to rest gently atop the Alpha female's head as his eyes stared ahead to the view before them and, more figuratively, the future that lay ahead of them. Peregrine shuffled even closer to his tiny mate, pressing his body into hers. Perhaps one thing would lead to another... or maybe they would just sit here and cuddle for a little while. He was happy either way, as long as Fox didn't fart on him.

I hear the wind across the plain,
A sound so strong, that calls my name,
It's wild like the river, it's warm like the sun,
Ya, it's here, this is where I belong...

“D’aww,” she said softly, “I love you, too.” She'd never been a particularly romantic wolf, at least verbally, but Peregrine had managed to change that over the past several months. The puppies would be a challenge, she had no rose-colored glasses about that, but she had a good feeling about them. She couldn't see them being so terrible, and there was that whole "unconditional love" thing that typically happened between parent and child. Fox wondered if it was possible to not love your own children, but that was a question far too complicated for her tiny wolf brain.

Fox felt a familiar stirring in her abdomen, and it certainly wasn't children kicking around in there. With little warning, she let out a long, high-pitched whiny fart. She giggled until the smell hit her, at which point she wrinkled up her nose and coughed. The smell was downright awful! Laughing, she ran a few steps away, checking to see if the air was any less stinky over this way. “Damn,” she said, realizing she'd managed to stick it up pretty bad, “Maybe we should vacate the premises?” Fox sure as hell wasn't going to stick around Stink Town.

As it turned out, he was still happy even when Fox did kill the mood with a particularly squeaky, smelly fart. Peregrine gave her a playful shove in response but she was already springing away to escape her own gas cloud. He stood, coughed theatrically, then trailed after her as she proposed they vacate the premises.

"Just for that, I'm going to train our children to fart and shit on you every chance they get," he promised with a loving nudge. "Yeah, let's go for a run... a long run. Maybe it will dissipate the smell enough that we can do some boner jams," he proposed with a wiggle of his brow before gliding past her and breaking into a run.

“Boner jams,” Fox repeated, amused by Peregrine's constant invention of words. She didn't seek to question him or even make sense of what he had said. It was just the way Peregrine was, and Fox was perfectly happy with that. He took off, and Fox was quick to pick up speed so that she was running alongside. Whether or not they ended the run with gratuitous lovemaking was to be seen, but considering the way things normally went, it probably would.