Blacktail Deer Plateau bend and break

Thanks for the chance to make some incredible character developments. :3

She announced that she was leaving and her body language expressed her discomfort. Peregrine felt bad, intuiting that he was the cause of it. He assumed a stony expression and stepped back another step. He nodded to acknowledge the wisdom of her decision to depart. He actually thought it was a good idea, although there was part of him that really didn't want her to go.

"Take care, Lil' Weenie," he said, reverting back to the nickname. He suddenly thought, I sound like her older brother or something. Maybe if I give her a noogie, it'll break the tension. His mental voice paused, then redacted. Bad idea. And what would Hawkeye do if she witnessed that... or any of today's behavior toward Fox?

She was gone and he turned back to his small, thankfully mostly nonverbal witness. "I love your mother," Peregrine said aloud when he reached her, albeit more to himself than to her. "Let's head back to see her, see mommy," he added, this time talking to her directly and using the title (mommy) that he knew she'd understand.

Junior did; she jumped up and began trotting away from the ledge. Smiling ruefully, Peregrine loped after her.