Blacktail Deer Plateau Brothers under the sun

In a perfect world, Peregrine's brothers would've been happy for him and come running to celebrate the end of his bachelorhood. In a perfect world, Tyrannus wouldn't have run them all out of the pack without warning. In a perfect world, Peregrine and Atticus wouldn't have fallen for the same woman. In a perfect world, they would all be back home in Flightless Falcons, none the wiser to Hawkeye and her plateau, all happily living out their days in the middle ranks, palling around between themselves and Osprey...

This new world was certainly bittersweet. When they came—he was so relieved that they came—Peregrine could sense the tension, uncertainty and unhappiness in his brothers' body language. Over his other subordinates, he would rule confidently, always keeping them in their places. With Atticus and Crete, however, Peregrine would always be their brother first, their leader second. Seeing them slowly and reluctantly walk up to him broke his heart and he vowed then and there to spend as much time as they needed showing them that he would never treat them the way Tyrannus had.

"Thanks for coming, guys," Peregrine said, walking nearer to his brothers. He kept his head even with his back and his tail dropped, the tip wiggling uncertainly as he approached them and bumped each of their cheeks with his nose. He could feel the negative vibes emanating off them in waves. He couldn't blame them. "I'm not retarded and neither are you two. This changes things. Everything's changed since we came here." Tyrannus had forced their hand in that. "But I wanted to tell you, verbatim, while looking you in the eye"—and he did, his gaze flicking between the two of them—"that I love you and respect you and will treat you no differently than before. You will always be my bros and... I just wanted you both to know I'll do the best by you, that's all. I'm not going to be anything like Tyranus."

With a sigh, he then looked squarely into Atticus's face in particular. "And, Att... man, I'm so sorry. I'm a giant piece of asscrust. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm a total acking fusshole but I hope that, someday, you'll forgive me..."