Redhawk Caldera In my mind

ooc: set after this thread - http://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=14488 

"M-ah-h-zer-fakin' sheeeeet," Peter was chanting to himself, while he was busy, digging a hole near the den entrance. A day or two had passed since the incident, where thick-headed Ferret had broken his father's foot, and the runt of the litter had learned to say the first words ever. So proud and excited he was by the new-gained ability, that he had put aside all the other sounds ("eep"s, "wu-wu-wu"s, "aw-aw-aarh"s and "uh"s among the rest) he had used to communicate with people and was dead set on saying this, whenever the opportunity arised. 

A bit grumpy and sleepy "m-ah-ah-ah-ahtherfakin' she-ah-a-h-ah-tts" in the morning accompanied with mighty yawns. A happy and glorious, high-pitched squeal: "MATHERFAWKIN' SHEEET!", when he realized that something was going on. Or a sad and whimpery one "Ma-aw-aw-aw-aw-zer-faw-aw-awhen' aw-aw-aw-aw-she-aw-aw-aw-t", when one of the brothers had bit him or shoved him too hard. The phrase seemed so universal that Peter was never letting it go or have it unlearned. Despite the probably weird looks adults would give him.

Hahaha! Iris, just tagged you since I assumed Eljay would tell Elwood what happened. :)

Naturally, Elwood knew what had happened to Peregrine -- the grapevine around the caldera didn't seem to be very long. He had bitten his lip to stop from laughing when @Eljay told him; really, it was a serious injury and nothing to chuckle at. The Alpha male would be out of commission for quite some time, especially since the pack was lacking a medic. He wouldn't be able to hunt or patrol, which meant that Elwood would gladly shoulder some of the responsibility for his friend and leader.

He was passing by the den when he spotted little Peter digging busily outside. The sweep of the borders that he had planned could wait, at least long enough for him to visit with his nephew. As he approached, he heard Peter mumbling to himself and had to stifle a guffaw. "What did you just say...?" he asked, pausing near the pup.

From a cautious and shy kid in the beginning, Peter had grown into an "I love everybody" kind of person and his enthusiastic greetings weren't reserved just for his parents and siblings, but to anyone, who happened to be around and show just the tiniest bit of attention. Since he was small and quite adorable, there weren't many people, who could ignore him. 

Therefore Elwood's arrival was met with a happy grin first and then a second later with a happy squeal ("MATHERFAWKIN' SHEEET!") a mass of brown fur and odd bodily proportions crashed into his forepaws. Peter got to his hind feet, wrapping his forepaws around the adult's foot for balance and looked up, beaming.

"That's what I thought you said," Elwood said, biting back a laugh as Peter cursed at the top of his lungs and fiercely hugged his uncle's legs. The pup then looked up at him, his face wreathed in a grin that clearly demonstrated just how proud he was of himself.

Loosing a paw from Peter's grip, Elwood used it to ruffle the fur between the boy's ears. "I can't imagine where you learned that phrase," he teased; in reality, he was well aware. From Eljay's account of what had happened with Ferret and Peregrine, there hadn't been a single cuss word that the injured Alpha hadn't yelled -- and Elwood couldn't blame him.

Peter lost his balance and stumbled two steps backwards, when Elwood extracted his paw from his grip. "Ooomp," he sighed, plopping down on his but and closed his eyes, while his uncle ruffled the fur on his forehead. The paw was almost as big as the cub's head and the touch, though not threatening was not entirely comfortable, therefore, when the boy thought enough was enough, he got his head free, shot a toothy grin and tried to grab the paw between his jaws. That was just another thing he had learned, once his teeth had come out. Grabbing and chewing stuff could give immense amounts of pleasure.

Little Peter, while not as aggressive as his brother Ferret, made a bid for Elwood's foot as he withdrew it. The Beta found his toes suddenly caught between a set of sharp puppy teeth and winced. It was more uncomfortable than painful as the tiny fangs pressed into his fur, but he still emitted an overexaggerated, "Ouch!"

He gave a gentle tug, half-heartedly attempting to extract his paw from his nephew's grasp.

Elwood let out a lound sound, making Peter cringe and let go of his paw immediately. With ears drawn back, tail tapping behind him, he looked up apologetically. Usually Ferret was the one to make adults scream and up until now it had not occurred to him that he was capable of doing this too. A superpower that he also beheld and... did not quite like it. 

When he thought that the appropriate time for being sorry had passed, he got to his feet and play-bowed at his uncle and barked: "Wrufff!" 

When the boy shrunk back and released Elwood's paw, the adult almost felt bad. It was evident in Peter's expression that he was sorry. "It's okay," Elwood said, giving the boy a smile. "All better." While the group of firebirds as a whole were rambunctious, they weren't all quite as reckless as Ferret seemed to be. Peter appeared to have a decent grasp on cause and effect -- if I bite my uncle's toe, he yelps -- and right versus wrong -- I'm sorry that I bit him!

But the moment was fleeting, as they always were for such young pups, and soon Peter was ready to play once more. His miniature growl was met with a rumble from Elwood as the bigger wolf lowered himself to his belly, then he scooted backwards and away from Peter, enticing the youth to follow him.

When Elwood returned the growl with a mightier and deeper one of his own, Peter's expression changed to one of "You are so cool!" and his mouth formed a little "o", while he stared at his uncle in a total awe. Enticed by the older wolf's retreat, Peter, puffed his chest and charged forward on stiff legs, losing his footing at least once (and stumbling ungracefully), but otherwise pretending to be the ultimate Big Bad Wolf. He stopped right in front of his opponent, kept the stance for just a little longer and then pounced at the big black thing, which was a nose, hovering above his head.

Puppies were often predictable, and Elwood was pleased when Peter pursued him as he had hoped. He continued to slink backward, his movements slow and careful as he watched the pup chase him. The boy had summoned all of his fierceness and made a valiant effort, despite a few times when he tripped on his own feet.

Then, as Elwood paused, Peter gathered his little haunches beneath himself and gave a mighty leap. His small paws batted Elwood's nose, drawing a guffaw of laughter from the adult. Elwood placed his chin atop his forepaws, content to let his nephew assault his snout -- at least briefly.

Peter had not expected that his move would be a success - the most he had dared to hope had been to bat at the nose. But his uncle knew just the right way to make kids happy. Rather than having his snout out of the reach, he lowered it to Peter's eye level. 

He let out a happy squeal and pressed both of his paws against the nose - when nothing happened, he moved on to mouth the side of the muzzle and move upwards, until his nose was "face to face" with Elwood's left cheek. There he gave a lick and opened his mouth as wide as he could, trying to grab his cheek whole, without realizing that it was more likely for him unhinge his jaw than to achieve, what he was trying to do.

Elwood's patience was unlimited when it came to youngsters. Finley also often fell into this category; it was hard for her to ruffle his feathers, and maybe it was because she had some of the same childish mischief that puppies possessed. He didn't move a muscle save for his eyes as he watched Peter's progress from his nose to his cheek. It was kind of hard to look at the boy from such a close angle, but he soon closed his lids in silent laughter as his face was effectively nommed.

He wasn't quite sure what Peter's goal was, but he waited for a long moment before posing the question. "Whatcha doing there, bud?" he asked, moving his lips as little as possible as the boy continued to gum his jowl.

What Peter did not know then, but, what would be known as one of his strong personality traits in the future, was his determination. Even though the effort to get the whole of Elwood's cheek in his mouth was quite useless to anyone, who used logic, the little boy didn't give a damn about the last one. It somehow felt important to have the "taste" of the whole, therefore he tried to open his mouth as wide as possible and try and try again to grab hold of the desired spot on his uncle's cheek. 

When he spoke, Peter paused a little, leaned backwards to eye him with furrowed brow and then let out a loud bark at Elwood's face, expressing his discontentment with the situation. Do something!

There was a short pause in which Elwood's cheek felt relief from the pup's small teeth, and then Peter issued a bark that was clearly a demand, despite its wordlessness. Elwood laughed and reached out to pat the boy on the head with a large grey paw, then stood.

"Okay then. Come and get me!" he teased, taking a few sweeping strides that led him away from Peter. His tail dangled behind him, swaying between his hocks like a tempting target as he glanced over his shoulder.

When Elwood moved away, Peter's first instinct was to follow him right away. After all he was not done with trying to get the older wolf's cheek in his mouth. And that waving tail seemed a very tempting target too - had he been as fast thinking and acting as Ferret, he would have grabbed a hold on it and tried to either destroy it or rip it in pieces right away. But this was not, how Peter operated. Slow he may be, but occasionally smart too.

Instead of running after, he simply sat down and regarded his uncle with a sly smile, as if saying: "What can you do about THIS?!!!"

Confident that Peter would follow him, Elwood swung his head back around to face forward, counting his steps as he went. When he reached the double digits and still hadn't felt the tell-tale pinch of a set of little teeth on his tail, he slowed and then stopped, turning a full circle to look behind him.

He blinked, surprised to find that the miniature Redhawk had plunked himself down in the grass and was simply watching his uncle, his lips twisted into a smirk. Elwood grinned. "You little sneak!" he called, trotting back towards Peter. "Fine, then I'll chase you," he decided, giving a gentle pounce just feet from where the boy sat, his paws harmlessly flattening the plantlife.

"Ow!" Peter squealed, rolling on his back, when his uncle pounced in his direction. He lied there for a bit with his stubby tail tapping against the ground and his eyes searching Elwood's face. Then the rules of the game hit him, and he quickly got to his feet and scurried away, making three big leaps away and then turning around and lying on the ground again, just waiting for the adult to make the next move.

The boy gave a preemptive shout although Elwood's paws didn't touch him. Elwood gazed down into his nephew's face, watching as the boy processed the sensory input and social cues so that he could understand the nature of the game. When he did, he scrambled to his feet, trotting away before flopping to the ground again and looking at Elwood expectantly.

The Beta waited a few seconds, then began his approach. This time, he slung his belly low to the ground and crept towards Peter, as though he was hunting and trying to remain discreet.

Peter being Peter, he did not read his unlce's next move correctly. That the equation: someone crouching + looking directly at you + coming your way = RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. Insted the boy was amazed by, how huge the other wolf's head was and even leaned forwards to see it better. 

When he had come within inches from the boy, he barked excitedly at the face with his tail wagging happily behind him. Look, how cool you are!!!

As Elwood drew nearer to Peter, he could see the anticipation building on his nephew's face. By the time he was close enough to reach out and touch the boy, his face was wreathed in smiles and he even gave a happy bark. His warm puppy breath washed over Elwood's muzzle and the adult wrinkled his nose playfully.

"Well, now what?" he asked, flopping onto his haunches and looking expectantly down at the child.

Though Peter was naturally too young to understand, what the adult had said, he did seem to be spending some time contemplating about the next move. You could tell that by looking at his puzzled expression and creased brow. Then he exhaled loudly: "A-a-a-aheww..." Got to his feet and with his tail still wiggling, he leaped around his uncle, plopping on his belly, when he had reached the hind side of him in the second round.

I thought it would be a good time to end this one; we'll have to have an updated thread now that Peter is a little older! :) You can post once more or archive!

The pup romped around Elwood once or twice, then flopped to the ground next to him. As though Peter had said something intelligible, Elwood nodded, furrowing his brow like he was deep in thought. "You don't say," he said, his tail tip tapping the ground behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Fox beckoning to Peter; perhaps for a nap or maybe a snack. He reached down to give the boy a gentle nudge with his snout and said, "See ya later, pal."

Though feeling a little disappointed that the game was over, Peter didn't even think to disobey Fox. She had the unmistakeable authority and he was the obedient child. Therefore he threw a playful snap at his uncle's snout, when he tried to nudge him, and then without a second glance back dashed back to his mom. Thinking that a fine meal right now would be just in time.