Blacktail Deer Plateau Take care of the proper papework

Tagging: @Blue Willow :)

I hope short posts are okay! I'm in a short posts mood...

The Alpha male yawned hugely as he lurked about the clearing. Maybe he couldn't patrol the entire territory, yet he could keep an eye on this smaller demesne. As night fell about his dark shoulders and his family settled into sleep nearby, he swept around the perimeter like a giant bat, keeping his eyes, nose and ears alert for any who approached his doorstep.

jumping in

A cool breeze greeted the girl as she crawled out of the den she and the pack's female Alpha called home. Most teenage girls would be itching to have a den of their own, of course the idea of a bachelorette pad sounded pretty neat, but Amelie wouldn't trade the cozy nights she spent curled up next to Blue for the world.

The young girl pranced aimlessly through the shrubs and trees, not being able to fall asleep yet. She thought about finding a place she could lay down and watch the stars and fireflies ignite the night, but without knowing she crossed directly Peregrine's line of vision. Surely he wouldn't let her scurry off into the night.

A familiar figure entered his field of vision. Peregrine prickled, then almost immediately calmed. "Amelie?" he called to the familiar figure. "What're you doing, skulking about at night?" He tried to inject some mock disapproval into his voice but mostly failed. His quiet laughter filled the night air.

Like a cat sticking it's paw in the birdcage, Amelie was caught redhanded. She froze at the sound of her name, expecting to be scolded and growled at by some other member of the plateu. But instead of snarls she heard laughter, inmidiately she spun around to face her observer.

Peregrine! Her frigtened stance was replaced by a more friendly one, and the bristling fur on her neck rested again flat against her skin. She hadn't really spoken to the male since she had joined and had started to stick by the pups, nothing more than a simple greeting had grown between them. She hadn't had the chance to speak to him after his injury, well perhaps now was the chance.

"Oh hey" she murmured holding her tail between her legs with sudden embarrassment, but then her confidence kicked back in and slowly she raised her tail, "I couldn't sleep..so I figured I'd watch the stars and whatever" she barked padding slowly at the Alpha.

"Oh, yeah?" he asked with genuine interest when she told him why she was slinking about in the darkness. "May I join you?" he asked in the next beat before explaining, "My dad was a Skywatcher. It was never really my thing, though I enjoyed sitting with him some nights and listening to him talk about the night skies. I haven't gone stargazing since before I left Flightless Falcons." Left was a forgiving word for what had really happened, yet he'd long since healed from that particular wound.

The juvenile limited herself to nod when Peregrine questioned her, she wasn't sure if he'd tell her to go to bed or would keep her for a while so he could lecture her on the dangers veiled by the night. But to her surprise he wanted to tag along! With her tail wagging wildly behind her the girl gave a little happy bark and looked at the male, "Sure! How's your leg going by the way" she asked, as she waited for him to stand.

A skywatcher? How strange, she had never heard the term before, maybe it was the name of another trade? Maybe Blue would like being a Skywatcher as well, she wondered silently as the male talked briefly about his past.

"It's doing better," he said, then motioned for her to lead the way. When she began to move, he fell into step beside her and asked, "Is looking at the stars more of a whimsical past time or do you know a lot about the constellations and phases of the moon and that sort of thing...?"

Amelie nodded as she began to walk slowly towards a small clearing where they could see the sky clearly, free of the tree tops that blocked their sight. "Great, you seem better" she commented as she turned her head to watch him limp beside her.

With his next question she remained silent for a second, she then gave a thoughtful hmm and answered, "I know a bit about the moon phases, I know it has erases itself and then appears again faintly every month.." she barked, not completely sure of what she was saying. "Can you teach me?" she asked then, wanting to know the real explanation of what and why it happened.

She led the way to a small clearing that offered them a decent view of the night sky. Peregrine settled down, craning his head backward to peer up at the dark heavens salted with stars. His gaze dropped suddenly and he laughed lightly at Amelie's query.

"I was hoping you could teach me, actually. I never really picked up on the knowledge from my father," he admitted. "Perhaps we can just admire it all informally. Supposedly, there's shapes up there. Do you see any?"

The girl's eyes dropped when he told him he didn't know either, what a shame, if she had the chance to learn such thing she wouldn't let it go to waste. "Aw, you should've wrote it down somewhere" she mused as she brushed the tip of her tail lightly against his flank.

Then she shot her eyes up to the gazillion like dots that danced through the night sky, she didn't look away, not even when he spoke again, although she did keep an ear pointed in his direction. "Yes I do," she barked, "Don't you?" she then turned to face him, and with a wide smile she continued, "It's not that hard, you just have to connect the dots" she winked. She would create her own constellations.

He grinned softly when he teased her, enjoying her friendly sass. "My bad," he quipped, then sucked in a quiet breath and refocused his attention on the sky and trying to discern shapes in the blanket of black marked with countless pinpricks of light.

"I guess I'm not imaginative enough," he replied at length when nothing jumped out at him. "What do you imagine stars really are, anyway? Fireflies that flew too high and got stuck?" He gave Amelie a cheeky sideways glance.

bwahaha awkward teens

A smirk spread across her face as she gave him a little tsk tsk, she had nevet had a fatherly figure in her life, as far as she remembered she just had her mother and odious brothers by her side. To be honest Peregrine wad as close as close to a father she had ever had. Still she felt a little something flutter in her chest as he gave her his fullest attention. .

"Come on start with the easy shapes then,a line then a square" she barked with mocking tone, though her eyes flickered with warmth. "I dunno", she shrugged while narrowing her eyes at the sky, "My guess is as good as yours" she smiled.

She sassed him playfully, earning a smile from him. Just as she likened him to a father figure, Peregrine treated Amelie like a younger sister or daughter. He was completely oblivious to the vaguely admiring look on her face and, of course, the little flutter in her chest.

"They're all scattered randomly, though. I could totally make up whatever shape I wanted if I tried hard enough," he argued lightly. "I guess we're probably not going to be Naturalists any time soon," the Alpha quipped. "This is actually kind of boring," he added with a chuckle. "Is that why you decided to do it: to bore yourself to sleep?"

All the squinting and head turning cold not help her decipher what the little dots above them really were. It was impossible to see with the naked eye but it didn't stop the ebony coated female from trying.

"That's what I'm telling you!" she whined back while giving him an exaggerated sigh as if she were a tired grown up trying to teach a pup with the attention span of a fly something new. "I've already found one that looks like a stick and I'm pretty sure that little group further to the right are supposed to be a rabbit --or maybe a hog I'm not sure" she joked while giving him a toothy grin.

"We should find a new hobby" she agreed between more laughter that slowly faded when he confessed how boring it was for him. Actually Amelie thought watching the sky was relaxing. Things up there seemed less chaotic than in the ground.

After another lingering glance at the sky, Peregrine decided he would never find rhyme or reason up there. He lowered his gaze a final time and replied, "I think you're right. I've decided to sharpen my sleeping skills." His lips twitched. "Sorry I couldn't provide you with the stargazing companionship you were looking for..."

Rising onto all fours, the Alpha male regarded his young pack mate for a moment then said, "Enjoy your stars, Amelie. Good night." He bumped his dark muzzle against her shoulder, then turned and glided the short distance back through the dark woods to the rendezvous site.

thank you <3

Maybe this was one of those hobbies that was better off remaining a secret. As far as she knew only Blue would share this interest, she had mentioned once her father was a Stargazer or something of the sort. Peregrine wasn't tat type of guy, he was more of a hunter, and as soon as his leg was healed he'd be back at it.

She felt the urge to tell him not to leave just because she didn't wan to stand alone in the dark, but she quickly stopped herself and gave him a soft woof to send him off. She had been intending to be alone in the first place, so she simply shrugged it off. His company had been nice, even if he hadn't enjoyed it as much as her Amelie would like for him to share his company in the near future.

"Night Perry" she called when he had already stepped out of the scene. Holding her gaze to the point she had last seen a flicker of movement until the twinkling light above her demanded hr attention once more.