Wolf RPG

It had been a while since Luke had seen Peregrine. How long exactly was unknown to him, for a side effect of living in the moment was that he was a terrible judge of time. He knew only that it was about time he said see that handsome face again, and knew nothing of all that had transpired at the caldera since last he had been there.

It was noon, the sun was high, the day beautiful and warm as he approached the caldera's border. He threw back his head and howled for his dark companion, thinking nothing amiss and expecting only a warm greeting, but he stopped abruptly when he saw a flash of red. Was that a fox, or was that the Fox?

The next voice that called for Peregrine was one that was not from the plateau. Fox couldn't quite place it, but it was near enough that she knew she could sneak a glance before approaching. She did so, flitting in and out of the brush until she found a proper place for observation without being seen (or so she thought). It was Luke. The wolf whom Peregrine had developed some sort of relationship. Or had he? Fox had heard little of the man since the last time she'd seen him, but that had been before the incident. She had no reason to hate him, and yet distrust now ran thick in her blood.

Fox approached him with a raised tail and forward ears, though not with as much hostility as she had with both Osprey and Saena. She was still torn in places from the white and red bitch, and she was careful not to place too much weight on the left front paw that had been mangled. The day after the incident, she would have forbidden Peregrine to see Luke at all. Now, she wondered if it might be good for him.

"Luke." A pause. "We don’t allow visitors inside any longer," she said, braced to take whatever kind of reaction he had.

It took a few moments, but it was soon revealed that it was the Fox that he seen moving among the trees. Luke's tail began to sway and he wore a bright smile. She was not the one whom he had come to see, but he was just as happy to see her, a familiar face. He dropped halfways into a play bow as she neared, but as soon as he did he took note of her posture and gait: dominant, but also favoring of one paw. His brows furrowed as his gaze fell upon her wounds.

This was not how he expected to see her. Then she spoke, and he froze entirely. His tail stopped wagging. This was not the greeting he expected, either. At length, his worried and confused eyes merely searched her face. "What happened?" he asked softly, his head tilting. Luke generally believed most things had simple, common answers, and were never as bad as one might first think. But this was one of those times when he genuinely believed something terrible had occurred.

"Somebody thought to be trustworthy was not. The threat was eliminated." Fox's hackles raised. She was beginning to grow impatient, and she was not one to hide such emotions. After what Junior had done, all trust for those not of Redhawk Caldera was nonexistent. Perhaps, if things had been different, if her daughter had not been attacked, Luke would have been welcomed in with open arms. That was not the case, and Fox would no longer make exceptions to a rule she'd adopted long before she'd bonded with Peregrine.

"You'll have to leave, Luke," the alpha said, more sternly this time. The firestarter was not in the mood to chit-chat, either, and she didn't even think that Peregrine would be. His mood had done a complete one-eighty ever since the incident, and it was not something he was taking lightly. Which was all well and good, because if he had taken it lightly, Fox would have beat him to a pulp. The girl took a step forward, ready to do whatever she needed to preemptively protect her home, her family.

Her answer was curt and she shared with him no details, but those words coupled with her change in demeanor toward him, both between visits and between moments as her hackles suddenly raised, was enough to make his heart sink and his blood run cold. Furthermore, his welcome had been completely retracted with a stern statement and a step forward that echoed the spoken sentiment.

Luke's ears fanned backward, his head lowered as his entire posture sagged. But he could not ply his searching gaze from her face. Instinct implored him to run, but he was rooted to the ground, frozen as a sickening mix of questions and emotions invaded him. He was concerned for Peregrine, most of all, and wished dearly that he could see him.  

"I..." he murmured softly, and at last his eyes dropped to the ground, as his voice took on a meek tone. "Is Peregrine ok?"

"Yes. I'll tell him you were here. Now for the sake of everybody involved, Luke. Leave." It was no longer a polite request; it was now a demand. And no matter how much she (and Peregrine) had enjoyed Luke's company before, there was no room for it here on her doorstep, let alone in her home. If Luke had intended to join them, which she was almost certain he did not (he hadn't asked the last time he was here), it would have been a whole different ballgame. As it were, he was just another outsider, and Fox intended to treat him as such.

She did intend to keep her word on telling Perry that Luke had visited, and he could do with that as he wished. Something told her he would not likely seek the blue-nosed (blue-balled?) male out right away, though. Things at home had to be mended before Perry could take on anything in the outside world. He would, hopefully, become a homebody like Fox had always been.

He cringed at her words, as if he had been physically blasted him with a face full of stinging sand. He could linger here no more, as it was he had overstayed. Luke lifted his head to glance past Fox, but he could not glimpse the form of his companion among the trees. He cast one last look to her - not of anger or frustration, but of hurt and concern - then he turned and slowly slunk off. He did not look back. His tail was limp, and his head hung. It was hard to take the wind out of the blue-nosed wolf's sails, but this encounter had done exactly that.

Helping his pack mates focus on training as Warriors and Wardens gave Peregrine a sense of purpose. The kids in particular were full of questions, which he was happy to answer. He wasn't a Warrior by trade, though he felt that he could teach them quite a lot. The same went for everyone else in the pack. He might not be an Alpha in title anymore, yet he had ruled for over a year and knew how to fight and defend his territory.

He was already very routine about patrols, though the pack's new requirements compelled him to redouble his own efforts too. With this in mind, the Kappa began to head toward the borders when Luke's call rose up into the air. The male had kept him waiting so long, Peregrine had long given up on him. And the new rules certainly complicated matters further.

There was no future for them, which Peregrine was prepared to tell the lighthearted male. But Fox got there and dealt with Luke long before the swarthy wolf arrived on the scene. His jade eyes flicked questioningly to the Alpha female when she came into view and he glanced over her shoulder, toward Luke's pale back as he slunk away like a rebuked pup.

Peregrine frowned thoughtfully, though he didn't say anything. His eyes lingered on Luke's retreating back for a moment before he turned to Fox again, gaze, head and tail lowered.

Luke was fading from sight when Peregrine arrived, and Fox gave him a sympathetic smile. She had given him her thoughts on fooling around with somebody who was not a part of the caldera as soon as he'd brought Luke up in conversation, and it seemed even more prevalent now. Fox had no intention of preventing it, but their relationship would not be much of anything if Peregrine was bound to Redhawk Caldera and Luke was forbidden from entering.

"Why does everybody act like this is such a surprise," she half-asked. They never should have allowed them in the first place. Fox had always held a strict no-trespassing mentality when she'd ruled Swiftcurrent Creek, but Peregrine had assured her that allowing their friends and family in would not be a problem. He had been wrong.

Fox paused, allowing Luke's figure to disappear before speaking again. "Do you still want to pursue him?" she asked. Fox did not plan on forbidding such a thing, or even discouraging it, but she wanted to hear Perry's thoughts, plans, or whatever he had locked in that (suddenly grey) head of his.

Her first question read as purely rhetorical, so Peregrine made no reply. But her second question begged an answer. His lowered gaze lifted briefly to her face, then dropped back to his broad paws. He shook his head no. Even before the incident, he had given up on Luke. The male had left him waiting... waiting... and waiting some more. Peregrine didn't mind delayed gratification but there came a point when interest waned. He had reached and bypassed that point.

That wasn't to say he wouldn't have welcomed the man's friendship or not given him a second chance but wasn't that all irrelevant now? So he answered simply and truthfully, "No."

She nodded neutrally. Fox would neither praise nor condemn his decision. It was his to make, and not one that involved her to much of an extent. What Peregrine did with his male lovers was not her concern, so long as they did not interfere with their own relationship—which, to be fair, was already strained for other reasons. She wanted so desperately for things to go back to normal, and she predicted that they would, but this in between state was terribly painful.

Fox stared at him a moment longer, then turned toward the heart of Redhawk Caldera. "Walk with me?" she asked. They needn't chit-chat or discuss their current problems. She just wanted his company.

She did not reply, which didn't surprise him. Nor did her request. He licked his lips and nodded yes this time. "Of course," he replied. "Mind if we walk the border? That's what I came this way to do," Peregrine queried, then fell into step beside his lovely superior. He quickly pushed Luke (and the slew of other recent callers) to the back of his mind.