Sun Mote Copse the family man

@Weejay and @Elfie were growing by the day. Eljay was enjoying every moment of being a father. He was perhaps a little more defensive when it came to outside threats than @Wildfire was, always protecting them. Eljay remembered well his first forays into the outside world and how terrifying it could be, so he wanted to protect his children to the best of his efforts. The thoughts of them growing up and ever even leaving the Copse were terrifying. But until that day were many many other days, and Eljay just wanted his children to grow up feeling happy and confident about themselves and the world around them. Little did he know, protecting them from literally every thing that might scare them a little bit was not the best way to go about doing that.

While Wiffle was out for a little bit, Eljay stayed with the pups at the tree den. He loved it; spending days here just being a father was his favourite thing. Having to leave to hunt or greet at the borders or do anything else than being here with his family was his least favourite thing.

Eljay lay on his stomach as he watched as Elfie and Weejay lay in a bundle in the sun just outside the den, snoozing gently... For now.

Weejay's world was growing bigger by the day. Before where she blindly trundled around the den, she now strode with purpose. Of course, her limbs were chunky and her strides not very long, so more than once she was seized by a watchful parent and placed back in the den. Everything caught the inquisitive girl's attention: fissures in rocks were yipped at, bugs were sniffed (and sometimes snuffed, RIP) and chased, plants were chewed and pounced on, and of course, Elfie's ears and tail were constantly nommed.

Today after a hearty scuffle with her brother where Elfie won, the two of them fell asleep in a patch of sunlight alongside their father. Weejay powernapped for twenty minutes before she wound back up, powerwalking around the perimeter of the den mouth with her nose to the ground and her ears flopping this way and that as she took in the new sights and sounds the perimeter had to offer. Looking up, the girl's eyes settled on a bumble-bee, which was drowsily hovering above a patch of clover. It made the most curious noise, and Weejay drifted towards it with her mouth slightly parted. "Oooo!" She chirruped, and then lowered her chest and wriggled her bum, about to pounce on the bee, patch and all.

As Weejay pounced around the outside, Eljay smiled as he watched her, keeping a close eye on all the things that she was doing to make sure that it was all child-proofed things. So far, things seemed relatively safe and the father watched her with a smile, until she set her eyes on the bumblebee. Eljay gasped under his breath, looking to make sure that Elfie was still asleep and wouldn't be snatched away as he went off to rescue his daughter, and then quickly got to his feet.

No Weejay, look out! he called out, panic catching his throat as he dashed towards Weejay and The Threat. Eljay intended to throw himself between Weejay and the bumblebee so that she wouldn't reach it. What he didn't realise however was that while he totally focussed on Weejay, the bee had buzzed down to a flower, so he would either step on the bee or Weejay's poor snout, bee included, if she managed to be quick enough to get to the bee despite daddy's warnings.

proud to raise the next generation to be a bunch of weenie nerds, hehehe :p

I could not decide, so rolled for it! Bee gets trampled, RIP :(

Weejay was fascinated by this bumblebee. The way it levitated, the grinding buzz buzz it made as it hovered from patch to patch. She was determined to sniff this bug too, and was just about there before she was met with the panicked cry of her father. She froze in time for him to cast her aside, but in the process Buzz-Buzz was trampled underfoot and forgotten.

Unperturbed by the jostling manner in which she had easily been swept aside (and unaware of what fate Eljay had spared her from) Weejay sat upright after tumbling, her bright eyes on her father. Mistaking his pushing for a game, she barked ("YIP!") impudently at his muzzle, and then lunged overachievingly for whatever she could reach.

Weejay at least stopped in her tracks so that she didn't accidentally touch, swallow, eat, inhale, or otherwise do anything harmful to the bumblebee. Eljay was relieved for that but still made sure to step between Weejay and the bee. Speaking of which, where did the bee go?

Tears sprang to Eljay's eyes when he felt a sharp pain under his foot. He let out a high-pitched, sharp squeak much like a pup might if they got hurt and lifted his paw up high in pain. As he looked at the ground he saw the squashed bee on the ground. If it hadn't been dead, it might've buzzed on, but as things were the weight of his paw had been too much. Weejay seemed super excited in the meantime, looking as if this was all a game, and Eljay swallowed his pain and decided to try and play along with the game to save her from childhood traumas as she pounced on him, though his paw still smarted.

Little Whisky Jack had much to learn about life, especially about bumblebees and inflicting her father pain. She did not realize Eljay was in pain, but then he squeaked -- it was exactly the same noise that Elfie made when she bit him too hard. Her long ears fell immediately, and a look of concern pooled in her features.

Young as she was, she was not too young to understand someone (or something) was in pain. She stopped playing immediately and cooed with worry, inching towards her father in a submissive pose. Her tail curled around her belly as she sniffed him, quivering still in alarm for the noise he had uttered.

Even though Eljay tried to hide it, Weejay saw through his facade immediately and dropped her game. Oh, no, it's okay, it's, Eljay blinked away the tears, I'm fine - it's fine. He sobbed away the worst of the pain as Weejay inched towards him all submissive-like and crouched low to boop her nose with his, a strained smile on his face. It's just a bumble-bee, its tail does ouch. Not that he expected her to understand just yet. Eljay just didn't want her to think that it was anything bad. Well, it was bad in a painful kind of way, but that it was nothing life-threatening or to worry about at her young age.

Her father was wounded, and Weejay's concern showed as she wriggled towards him. For a second their noses touched before the girl supplanted a series of fierce little kisses; he would be okay if she kissed it all away, right?

Sensing he was not quite fully healed from whatever had hurt him, Weejay pulled away and stood alert, her long ears flopping as she looked this way and that for the assailant with a little protective growl. Little did she know (or remember, tbh) Buzz-Buzz was dead underfoot, and no longer able to sting Daddy.

Oh, you're so sweet, Eljay mumbled as Weejay kissed at him and he smiled softly at his daughter. She then vigilantly stood guard, and Eljay decided that they should do something else instead. Something with less bees. Let's go see if Elfie wants to play, shall we? Eljay nudged Weejay and started to walk back to the den, though there was a limp in his step from the bee sting.

Encouraged by her father’s brave show of face, Weejay rose and padded after him obediently. Every now and then she would hear a distinct ‘bzzt’ — during these moments she would pause and snap her head, her ears flopping. Seeing nothing, the girl grinned widely at her father and then bounded forward to close the gap. Soon she would forget all about her daddy’s hurt foot (sry dad), and all about Buzz-Buzz.. especially if Elfie became involved.

i'll archive this! <3

Weejay eagerly agreed to the plan of searching for Elfie. Luckily Weejay seemed a resilient little ball of fur who soon forgot about Eljay's sore foot, especially once they had found Elfie. Eljay eventually forgot about his pain too, though he hoped that Weejay had learned a valuable lesson about the dangers of the outdoors.