Blackfoot Forest make it up as you go

For @Elijah :D

Rory had never really had a lot of freedom at home. He was too small, too fragile to be trusted with wandering; one of the pack members was liable to gobble him up. Or so Mama had said. Often. Out here, Rory hadn't even seen another canine, let alone been threatened by one. He suspected Mama had been more of a worry-wart than she ever let on.

To be fair to her, Rory was regretting that morning. He'd approached a black-and-white shape roughly his own size; assuming it had been a wolf puppy was probably the dumbest thing he'd ever done--second only to the tackle-greeting he'd given it. That particular badger had been really grumpy after that. Rory's poor nose was still smarting, unaware of the scar he'd gained for his troubles.

For now, Rory was ignoring that in favor of watching a rabbit hole with all the intent focus he could conjure. His small chocolate form was resting in the dappled shadows, plainly visible no matter how you looked. Rory thought he was very clever, though, laying in wait for the rabbits to come up. He hadn't quite gotten the hang of that 'subtlety' bit yet.

/slobbers on

That morning something possessed him. He decided to be a useful pack wolf for once and attempt to try and get a meal of his own. Sure, he was an okay hunter – he survived thus far as a lone wolf after all! – but it wasn't exactly his strongest point. But Elijah was going to try his best! So he marched further southbound. He wasn't positive where he was going – made hunting an excuse for exploring. He decided that, perhaps, he could find the best hunting spot in this whole wide are and then hunt.
By the time he ended up passed the Meadow, he found himself in a nice, shaded forest. Dark tipped ears were pointed forward – alert as could be – with jaw somewhat agape in awe and blue eyes glancing around to stare at just about anything. There was a butterfly over there! And a patch of moss there... and, and an interesting looking rock over there! Usually his focus was the best trait about him, but he found himself so overwhelmed by all these new things... that he couldn't focus on anything. That was, until he got a whiff of blood.
Eyebrows furrowed slightly with the tilt of his head. He adjusted his position, stalking forward in the direction of the strong scent. Jaw was parted just to aid the agouti wolf. That was when he saw it; a big, brown-ish rabbit! They looked plump and juicy from behind... it seemed like they had a little hiding spot ahead, however, so Elijah had to be smart with this. He immediately froze, slipping into a crouch and only moving forward when he was certain the creature's attention wasn't on him... until all of a sudden, he bolted forward with jaws ready to snap the rabbit off the ground.

idonotneedabath D:

Rory was usually much less focused; shifting restlessly or darting looks around. It was strange to be so intent on his task. On any other day, he would have given himself a pat on the back for being more grown-up. Today, it prevented him from seeing the behemoth eying his plump little bottom.

Rory jumped at the feel of air being displaced just above him, yelping. He lurched as if to start running, but the creature behind him snapped again and suddenly he was caught. Rory was lucky the first strike had missed, or he would be a dead little puppy; as it was, he let out a pitiful whine and kicked his paws weakly. His squirming brought the large canine's figure into view, for just a moment, and only out of the corner of his eye.

Rory's green eyes widened. Mama was right! He whined again and struggled a new, boyish voice issuing a high-pitched complaint. "Lea'me 'loooonnneee!"

notanymore!!

The first lunge had missed, but by some miracle – or perhaps just talent as Eli would like to say – he had caught the large rabbit! Only... it made a weird sound. Rabbits typically made whiny noises, but not ones that sounded... wolf-like.
Eyebrows furrowed, immediately his grip on the creature softened. His head tilting when he heard the words, too! Either this was a very intelligent rabbit that somehow knew how to talk like a canine, or he had accidentally swooped up an innocent pup. It wasn't his fault though! They looked just like a rabbit and had been lingering near a rabbit hole too.
Slowly Elijah lowered the pup down, moving a paw protectively around him as if to try and keep him from going anywhere. Head remained tilted with bright blue eyes blinking as he released the tiny pup and sat back to give him a good glance over.
“Little man, why do you look like a rabbit?” He asked, completely puzzled by this discovery.

He was slowly set down, one paw sort of herding him when he would have liked to dart away. Rory sucked in a deep breath and then did a sort of bouncing-hop over the caging paw, tumbling over his own legs as he made an effort to turn around and get a good look at his attacker. Now that the danger was immediately passed, Rory felt his fur bristling with indignation--especially as the guy went and called him a rabbit!

"I don't look like a rabbit!" He barked, though it came out more as a yip with his mortification. Really, a rabbit?! He knew he was small but that was too much! Never mind that he could run about as fast as one...and they were roughly the same size...and he'd never been able to finish a whole one on his own...

"You're a big...big...goat!" He puffed up his chest, ears perked forward and nose in the air as he huffed.

At first he was scared the little guy was attempting to run away and that he wouldn't get his answer... If that happened, he'd forever wonder if it really was a super intelligent rabbit that he could tell stories about. It'd be nice to know for sure though. He frowned, head straightening as he watched the little thing hop over his paw and was about to try and corral him in again when the brown pup turned to bravely face his attacker. Elijah's chin tucked towards his throat, leaning back a bit in a mixture of surprise and awe at this little guy's bravery.
“Yes you do,” he bluntly stated. His right eyebrow arched up curiously, tail swaying behind him with his left paw still hanging akin to a feline about to strike. “Your face looks sorta wolf-like though, but you have no tail and are super tiny!” He stressed this, trying to explain why he was so confused. But the little guy went on to say that he was a big... big goat which caused Eli to gasp aloud.
“Wait, what really? Do I look like a goat? I thought I lost weight recently.” The agouti wolf glanced over his shoulder at his stomach.

Rory relaxed, just a bit, when he realized that the big goat-man was just confused and not actually insulting him. He wiggled a little self consciously at the mention of his tail, ears flattening. He began doing a little prancing-in-place dance as the wolf continued, a fierce pout on his face. "Still though! That's not nice!"

The behemoth wasn't as offended by his remark it seemed, and Rory was slowly relaxing. He gave a wet sort of sniff, bending to rub his bloody nose off on his leg without seeming to notice the way it dripped. He valiantly tried to maintain his haughty expression, though a grin couldn't be repressed. "Not your belly! You've got a fat head. Like a goat," He proclaimed, and mimed butting his head up against something. He fumbled over one paw though, awkwardly tumbling into a furry brown heap at the wolf's feet.

He didn't get it. What wasn't so nice about calling someone what... they appeared to be? Or rather, trying to explain why he had accidentally grabbed the little man instead of a true rabbit? Eyes squinted, his confusion only growing stronger by the moment. Honestly! His gaze flickered away from his stomach as the pup went on to explain that he wasn't goat-like in the gut, but rather... had a fat head. Wow. Rude.
“Hey! That's mean!” His ears pulled back with watery blue eyes and a deep frown on his lips. Eli's tail tucked close to his hip. His attention, however, was once more taken away from how mean this tiny, brave man was and to the fact that he was... injured. That wasn't good. Eyes got all wide then, Elijah leaned forward, stepping over the brown heap of fur with a paw on his back and began inspecting for his injury. Once he found his nose, he would attempt to plant furious licks on it.

The big goat-man didn't seem to have any clue what to do about his insult--or rather, it hadn't registered yet. When it did, the wolf got such a hurt look on his face that Rory actually felt a little bad. His own wounded pride wouldn't let him apologize so easily, however.

"You were mean first!" He protested, wiggling after his fall to try and get back on his feet. Rory squeaked in protest as the wolf suddenly stepped up, planting a paw on his back and sniffing at him. "Wha--! Ghe'off!"

They were nose-to-nose now, and the stranger was licking furiously at his muzzle. Rory wiggled in confusion and frustration, whining hotly. "S'opit! What're yo--" He had to stop then, as talking while someone else's maw was right up against his meant getting an unwanted tongue in across his teeth. It was almost like one of mama's forcible baths.

'Oh.' It clicked then, after the boy explained it. He had been mean first. Was it cause he said he looked like a rabbit? He hadn't said anything mean about it though, but he supposed being called a prey animal when you were a wolf was sorta... rude. It certainly didn't make Eli feel good to be called a goat, so maybe the little man felt the same way. 'Gotcha.'
He'd apologize later, but for now, he needed to focus on cleaning the cut on the poor thing's pink-ish nose! Underneath his paw, he felt the kid squirm, struggling to get away with verbal complaints soon to come. Although those cut off too, and the agouti wolf thought he realized what he was doing then – and hadn't thought that it was uncomfortable to accidentally get a mouthful of someone else's tongue.
“Your nose is bleeding,” he muffled, his words sounding awkward and off as he tried licking and talking at the same time. Eli was never one to multitask. “Apology for being mean!”

Rory grumbled under his breath as the bath continued, though he relaxed a little when the big wolf spoke. He was bleeding...so the guy was cleaning him up to apologize for being mean. Okay, he could forgive that. Rory did his best to stop wiggling, waiting impatiently for the bath to finish, but finally he'd had enough.

"Okay that's good thank you!" He piped up, wiggling and squirming until he managed to slip out from under the male's paw. He didn't leave though, bringing his own paws up to wipe the spit off his muzzle. Rory checked to see if there was any blood left, then looked up. Green eyes locked sincerely onto blue and he offered a big smile.

"Sorry about calling you a fathead goat," He said, his tone seeping with guilt. "I was just bein' mean 'cause I thought you were bein' mean. You're not really." It was one of his better apologies, if he said so himself, so of course Rory ended with, "Do you wanna be my friend?"

Eli thought this was a good way of apologizing – he wasn't all that great at apologizing himself. The words “I'm sorry” never slipped passed his lips unless they were choked out and then, arguments typically happened because he seemed like he didn't “mean what he said”. So the agouti wolf came up with other ways to show that he was, indeed, sorry. Elijah decided that this was the best way to do that. Ears perked, continuing to clean the pup's nose as the kid finally relaxed... until he had enough that is!
The russet kid slipped through his grip, leaving Elijah with his tongue sticking out awkwardly – ears pointed alertly forward and his paw hanging in the air again. His head tilted off to the side for a moment before he pulled his tongue back into his mouth and gave the kid a grin. It seemed like he got his point across and the kid wasn't so upset with him now. That was good!
“Oohh,” he hummed – eyes widened in surprise as Little Man spoke up, too, saying he was sorry for calling him a fathead goat and that he really wasn't one he just thought he was being mean... and so forth. Then he mentioned the magic word... friend! Friend. He wanted to be friends!
“Friends! Yes! Friends,” the male exclaimed excitedly, prancing his forelegs with his tail wagging so fast that it looked like it would go flying off at any moment. “What's your name, little man? I'm Eli!”