Redhawk Caldera Exes and ohs

The sky was dark and broody, like it was cooking up a mean evening storm, and Pantaleimon watched it while the wind tugged at his fur. The end of summer and the coming of fall made Pan feel melancholic. They'd had a good summer -- a great summer -- and Pantaleimon knew he should be really happy. Even the news of more firebirds made Pan happy. But he knew that as much as he considered the pups to be his own, not only were they not, they probably wouldn't see him as a sort of second father, either. Pantaleimon sometimes dreamed that because he spent so much time with them, the next batch of pups would secretly consider him a father too. Sometimes, in his dreams he'd be lovingly grooming one of them, a little bundle of fur, and its first word would be "mama", as it looked up into Pantaleimon's eyes.

These were silly dreams, and Pantaleimon knew it. He looked at the darkening skies with a frown on his face and set the thoughts aside. He would unlikely ever be a real father. Shaking his head, Pantaleimon set off along the borders of Redhawk Caldera when he spotted a dark figure in the distance. He quickened his pace to catch up, and called "Perry, hey!" out to his lover while he caught up and nosed Perry's cheek, nipping his ear. Pan was glad that at least the dark month of Perry's terrible injury and Pan's poisoning was done and over with. That was something to be thankful for, but somehow it didn't quell any of the turmoil in Pan's heart.