Redhawk Caldera i return with pudding!

same here for the skipping, but it looks you already got the message <3

Eljay watched them for a while, contemplating joining in. But the longer he watched them, the less it seemed like it was an option to join in. At first when he started to watch he was smiling, thinking fondly of how they were all one big family and how his brother and sister were playing and how mommy had survived the birth after all and she was home and all was fine. But the longer he watched them, the less he felt a part of it all. The more he realised that they were growing up and they were both turning into useful individuals of the pack. Wolves to whom he felt he'd contributed little, except anxiety and uncertainty because he had been around them a lot when they were little, and who already seemed to outgrow him now.

They were better at playing, at hunting, and he knew they even looked after the pups sometimes. The latter was the only thing he clung onto, the only thing that he felt he could do well, but now it felt he might not even be needed for that. He wondered what they thought of him. Did they feel the same? He was not so sure. He liked that they were happy, but he wished that he was there playing with them.

But he wasn't. And they were having so much fun together that he didn't want to intrude on that, either. Well, it was just silly thoughts, he decided, and he shouldn't be having them. For a moment he even went back to contemplating joining in the game. He got up, even, took a step towards them. But then he saw Liffey hit and slap the rock back to Lagan and he froze, watching it soar and watching the smiles on their faces.

And he turned back around, to his old place. But what if they'd think he wanted to join the game and they'd feel obligated to offer him a spot in it, because they saw that he got up, only to return to where he'd been laying before? But the ground was warmer here... Even though he wanted to lay down in his old spot, Eljay ended up walking a bit further and settling down near the pups, his movements awkward and statue-like as he lay down and tried not to be noticed. And yet, to go completely unnoticed was what he was afraid of at the same time.

After laying down he felt like a big dummy, but the feeling would pass, he knew. It usually did.