Wolf RPG

Day one of the puppy's life had been entirely uncomfortable. The pup had made the hard-fought decision to stay in this world after some deliberation. After that, most of the things he encountered were hard and painful. The puppy at times wished that he was not here, or at liberty to leave this place, but so far he had not found a way. He had spent his first day feeling the uncomfortable pressure of gravity on his too small body, the air hanging around him, the hard ground beneath his body.

The next day -- this day -- the puppy started to look for better options. He had found out that if he wiggled his little weeny-like paws he could move, and so he flopped around while inching forward over the ground. At first the pup moved away from his mother's fur -- an uncomfortable sensation -- and so he moved closer to the fur.

The pup popped his head underneath his mother's belly, trying to find more of the good stuff, the warm fur, the stuff that didn't hurt. Soon however, the pup discovered that by doing so, breathing became a difficulty. The pup let out a muffled squeak into the muchness of fur that his face was now surrounded by, trying to get loose from underneath the warm belly again.

Peregrine did not come to the Betas' doorstep empty-handed. As a matter of fact, he appeared at their little den site with an entire leg of boar in his mouth, partly to make up for his failure with Elwood not so long ago. The Alpha gently set it down just outside the door, then slid forward onto his belly to peek into the dim interior. He could see Finley curled up near the back, though he couldn't see her face to tell if she was awake. Not wanting to disturb her in case she was asleep, he said nothing.

Instead, he let his eyes drop to the tiny bundle of gray fur trying his damnedest to squirrel away beneath Finley's prone form. Perhaps he wanted to return to her warm, comfy insides. "But you just got here, little Elwood," Peregrine murmured with a smile. One day, he hoped he could bring himself to say the pup's full name without inwardly flinching but, for the moment, Junior was not a name that would pass his lips easily. "Stay here and give it a chance. I promise it's fun." As he spoke, he very slowly stretched out a foreleg to gently tap the newborn's fuzzy bottom.

The pup did not notice the approach of another, for not only were his senses still clogged for the bigger part, he was also far too occupied with his current situation of being stuck. The pup wriggled its little weeny-legs to get free, and he felt his airways starting to protest at the lack of oxygen down here in all this fur. It was warm, but it did not seem like a very life-sustaining environment, and so the pup wanted to get out again. His little weeny-legs, however, did not seem to agree. Crawling forth was a lot easier than crawling backwards.

When the touch to his butt came, the pup -- his face still stuck -- fell silent and stopped squiggling to get free. His breath came out in tiny ragged breaths, trying to preserve what oxygen he had down there as much he could, and he remained still. Trying to use his tiny legs to crawl backwards had not helped the pup so far, and so he hoped that whatever had touched his bottom would help him to get out of this pickle of a situation, as noses tended to be attached to wolves that tended to move him around.

Elwood's miniature squirmed slightly at the touch, then fell still. Peregrine's paternal instincts kicked in and he asked, "You stuck?" He dragged his own body forward slightly, then reached out and closed his jaws around that tiny little bottom. Had the Firebirds been this small once? It was difficult to imagine them this size. Gently, he tugged the pup free from where he was wedged against Finley's flank, then placed him about three inches from his mother's side.

Knowing it was actually quite futile to talk to newborns, Peregrine said nothing. He did use his paw to spin little Elwood around to face him, then cracked a smile at that squishy little mug. He couldn't resist: he gave the tiny puppy a lick. Welcome to the world... and the pack, the Alpha thought, his tail thumping behind him as he waited to see what the puppy would do next.

The feeling of stuckness did not pass, and the pup was starting to give up. It seemed that squirming did not get it anywhere, and so he might as well not squirm, was his theory. He remained in place, remained still, and breathed ragged little breaths into the fur that suffocated him, utilising what oxygen was underneath here.

Finally he was rescued; something touched the pup's hind legs and it was dragged backward, to where the world was perhaps hard, but at least there were things to breathe in. The pup found newfound appreciation for the air that it had found hard and cold on its body before, for it had a use after all.

The pup let out an unappreciative grunt and squiggled its weeny-like paws when it was spinned around, not knowing what was going on. He did know the feeling of getting a bath, however, and so the lick was met with silent approval as the pup fell silent on the floor once more.

Well, he didn't do much at all, to tell the truth. With two (technically three) litters under his belt, Peregrine was not exactly surprised by the newborn's lackadaisical demeanor. In a few days, he would be much more active. In a few weeks, he would be a ball of endless energy. He was going to be one lucky pup, too, with his parents' undivided attention on him. Peregrine loved his big family, yet in a way he envied the tiny Blackthorn trio.

Although baby Elwood hadn't minded the lick and seemed rather content with the idea of a bath, actually, Peregrine didn't want to rob the parents of that kind of bonding opportunity. Instead, he lowered his face and rubbed his black cheek ever so gently against the puppy's face. It might have looked a bit strange, yet it was just one more way of welcoming the puppy to the pack. He wasn't the Alpha's direct offspring, yet now he was drenched in the king's scent and, in that way, he became the entire pack's child.

Turned out it was not time for a bath after all. The licking stopped, and the pup arched his neck to see what had happened. For a moment a silence filled the air between the two of them, and the pup did not mind that. It waited, and while not much time had passed, by the time something happened again, the pup had nearly fallen asleep again.

The pup craned its little neck up slightly when fur touched him. He pressed his nose against the fur in passing, inhaling the scent as best he could. This scent was both familiar and new to the pup, for it reminded him of his parents, but it was different at the same time.

Despite only being a few days old and with very limited senses at his disposal, little Elwood seemed quite interested in familiarizing himself with the Alpha in turn. Peregrine smiled down at the pup as he raised his little head, which wobbled on his even littler neck. Unable to resist that tiny squished face, he gave the puppy another lick. He then found himself circling his forelegs around the little boy as a feeling of warmth and affection flooded him.

"We're officially bonding," he mused quietly before pressing his much larger nose against Elwood Jr's baby button nose.

The pup held still while he received another lick and paws circled around him. It let out a curt squirmy grunt while it tried to realise what was going on, but soon it fell still again.

The words spoken fell to deaf ears, but with the touch of the noses, the pup's little tongue flicked out; not so much to actually touch the bigger new wolf's nose, but mostly just as a reflex response to the touch to its nose.

Elwood Jr's tiny tongue poked out of his mouth, like an itty bitty worm. Peregrine smiled, tightening the circle made by his forelegs. Rather than continue to poke and prod the puppy, he let his chin sink down to the floor beside the miniature wolf. This gave little Elwood the opportunity to explore the Alpha's face if he wanted to remain awake. And if he wanted to sleep, there was now a nice, safe nest formed by Peregrine's cheek and leg. The swarthy leader would be happy to have an excuse to nap.

The pup let out a brief squiggly sound when it was further envelopped in the embrace by the warm fur, but it did not complain. It liked the warmth that it offered, as it was the same warmth it had been searching for when he had poked his head beneath his mother's stomach, nearly suffocating itself.

It was not long before the pup drifted off to sleep, however fleeting or long it would be.