Bearclaw Valley For some birthday or some Christmas that has come and gone

"Nuuu!" called the chubby marshmallow of a pup as he toddled out of the den with erect ears and bright eyes. His tail swished to and fro as he stopped, adjusted to the bright light of outdoors, and then lurched into a jiggling trot. The black-masked youth had proven to be quite the adventurer, often going farther from the den than she ought to, so Lucas knew she could be anywhere. He would not leave the confines of his well-marked boundaries without adult supervision, obedient and eager to please as he was, but if she was anywhere within it, he would find her.

And if she wasn't in the pups' little chunk of territory, then he would simply wait until she came back. There was a feeling of wrongness that he associated with @Nunataq's every foray beyond their established boundaries, a sense that she should get into big trouble because she wasn't following the rules, but he wasn't privy to any reprimands she received on the daily for it, if any. "Nuuu!" he called again, hurrying his chubby little ass past the flowers that he often visited every day and past the dirt patch where he liked to find worms to snack on.