Blacktail Deer Plateau shiver my timbers (join)

I'd kind of prefer it if this stays between Perry and Kraken for now, I want to delay all the Maury moments for now... if things start going sour, though, I might want to pull Atticus in. <__>

His dark paws beat down upon the thawing earth, pace quick and relentless—fueled more by the dark male's youth than his less-than-grown strength and stamina. Adrenaline was on his side, pushing the boy further than his limits. He would not be made captive again, no matter how pretty the she-wolf... and though Kraken could appreciate the female form at his age, he didn't yet understand why. Neither did he understand exactly what they planned on doing with him once he came of age.

Being nothing more than a whelp himself, the charm of the sirens held little sway over the young seaman; rather than feeling lucky that a bunch of she-wolves wanted to shiver his timbers (when he would finally have timber to speak of), Kraken simply knew them as thieves of his freedom. Living within the rigid culture of the sirens, Kraken found himself missing the chaos and wild nature of Tortuga. It was actually his intention to return there, even if his mother couldn't tell the difference between her sprogs and rocks, but being as young as he was, the boy soon found himself lost.

Well, that, and because he was focusing more on leaving the crazy witches far, far behind him rather than where he was actually going.

All along the coast he ran, pausing as he neared a place on the shore filled with crew-scent—but ultimately deciding that it would be too easy for the sirens to find him there (never mind that they had likely stopped pursuing him days ago). No, to be safe, he would either need to find Tortuga... or turn inland, and find solace amongst landlubbers. And being that his birthplace was likely days in the opposite direction, where he would need to pass by the Aegean Cove once again, Kraken chose the latter.

He continued to run until he caught wind of the first inland pack, slowing to a stop several meters from the rocky base of a plateau.

The Alpha male tore himself away from Hawkeye and the pups long enough to perform a cursory patrol. As he walked along the borders, he mused about the fact that Ty had ended up a girl instead of a boy. He supposed he did feel a vague sense of... it wasn't disappointment, exactly, because he was thrilled to have his daughters. It was a strange sense of loss, as if he'd known his son, only he'd never actually existed in the first place...

"That's what you get for trying to be a psychic," he said to himself with a quiet laugh when the sound of footfalls gave him pause. Pricking his ears, he gazed along the line of the plateau just in time to watch a dark, youthful figure race to the borders. His head cocked as he caught the young stranger's scent. It was a male. Well, here's my boy now, Peregrine joked to himself.

Trotting down the slope to meet the young male, Peregrine assumed a dominant posture. He gave the stranger a hard, curious look as he asked, "Who or what are you running from, young man?" Perhaps because of his recent status as a new father, there was a softness to his voice that simply hadn't ever been there before. As he continued to regard the youngster, he suddenly reminded Peregrine so much of Atticus when he was younger.

Kraken's sudden stop had everything to do with the crew-scent along the plateau's wall, but though the warning kept him from venturing into claimed territory, the boy continued to shift uneasily. If he was met by no crew wolf that could aid him—a Captain or First Mate, perhaps—the boy would need to move on until he found someplace that could give him shelter. As luck would have it, however, a wolf was making his way down the slope of the plateau; the purpose in the male's gait told Kraken that it was to greet him.

As the other approach, Kraken's young body shrank into a more docile posture, though he remained somewhat tense. He didn't exactly fear his potential pursuers, but he didn't want to be in their grasp once again. "Ahoy," he greeted the other, stormy eyes focused squarely on the other's toes. "I escaped th' sirens," he explained, the last word falling to a harsh whisper—as though they would be summoned if he spoke it too loud. "I reckon I lost them days ago, but ye can't be too careful," Kraken added hastily, lest the dark male believe he had brought danger to his crew's borders.

"Me name's Kraken," the boy continued respectfully, "I be crewless."

Peregrine listened, though he wasn't entirely sure he'd heard right. "The who?" was his first question and the second was simply, "'Crewless'?" He didn't like feeling stupid, though based on the boy's speech, he figured it was just a bit of a language barrier.

Although the youngster was sitting submissively, Peregrine could see the tension in every line of his black body. "Kraken," the Alpha male said authoritatively, "tell me who's after you and why. Are you in danger?"

His nostrils flared and his ears thrust upward as his dusky blue-green eyes lifted over the boy's head to scan their surroundings. He'd said these sirens might be days behind him, yet Peregrine studied the backdrop vigilantly and, when he found nothing and his gaze returned to the young male, he felt a protective instinct surging within him despite himself.

"Ah," Kraken began cautiously, a bit suspicious that the older male wasn't chasing him off but silently thankful. "Sea witches," he explained, "she-wolves that live in coves, drawin' men away from their crews—er, packs—'n keepin' them captive 'til they have use fer them." The fact that Peregrine hadn't heard of the creatures comforted the boy, and he allowed himself to relax slightly. Perhaps he had put enough distance between himself and the Aegean Cove. In his juvenile naivety, Kraken didn't yet understand that less explanation was sometimes more, and felt that his story wasn't yet complete. After a pause, he rambled on with an openness and honesty that could only come from youth.

"I was born in Tortuga. I lived wit' me mom 'n a pair 'o sisters. Me mom was crap. Skull, me sister, died when we were still nursin' 'n she didn't even care," all of this was said very matter-of-factly, Kraken's stormy blue eyes wide with earnest. "I was goin' to show mom that me 'n Bones be somethin' to be proud 'o, goin' to hunt 'n brin' back a wildcat or somethin', but th' sirens got me." It didn't occur to Kraken that his story might not be entirely believable to a landlubber, but it was true and his tone rang with the clear sound of sincerity. "Didn't like that much. I was supposed to fish fer them while they all pranced around seashells 'n sang 'bout th' ocean 'n th' moon. If I did somethin' they didn't like or got too close to th' borders they'd attack. When I saw me chance, I ran."

Suddenly aware that he'd been talking for sometime without letting the older male get a word in edgewise, Kraken lowered his ears in embarrassment and shrank slightly back, just in case he needed to start running again.

As Kraken explained, comprehension dawned on Peregrine and he muttered to himself, "The sirens..." He remembered a similar pack back in Seahawk Valley, though he presently couldn't recall its name. He'd never had anything to do with it, seeing as the she-wolves there shunned males as some sort of fodder. Although Peregrine enjoyed powerful women, he naturally didn't particularly approve of the sirens' ways.

Nor did he like knowing that Kraken had been essentially held captive by their ilk. "Well," Peregrine said when the youth finished, "good." He paused, then asked, "Are you all right? How long have you been on the lam? And how old are you, Kraken?"

He didn't really try to resist the fatherly instincts roiling within him, though Peregrine stopped short of wanting to take the boy in as his own or anything of the sort. He simply felt the urge to protect him, particularly from these women who'd maltreat him because of his gender, and Kraken appeared to be old enough to actually contribute in some ways. If Peregrine did give in to the urge to open his home to the boy, he would make sure Kraken pulled his weight, as a matter of fact.

After giving the youngster a chance to answer his previous questions, the Alpha male posed a few more. "Do you have any skills, kid, besides evidently being very scrappy and fast on your feet? And if I were to take you into my my ranks—onto my 'crew,' as it were—would you pledge your loyalty? And make a point of repaying me for giving you a home?" He knew that a child could change his mind at any time, so Peregrine wouldn't put too much stock into any pledges. All the same, he wanted to know of Kraken's particular intentions in this situation.

To Kraken's surprise, the landlubbing male seemed to know exactly who (and what) the sirens were after his explanation. A cold lance of icy fear seemed to cut into the boy's gut again—perhaps they would find him here after all. The older wolf didn't seem concerned, however, beyond the juvenile's general well-being. Kraken tried to force himself to remain calm, and his pretending gave way to truth as he exercised it.

"I be fine, just a wee famished," he assured the male, "I left th' sirens four nightfall ago, 'n left Tortuga a pair 'o moons before that." It was a roundabout way of explaining his timeline, but Kraken didn't have the strongest grasp of time quite yet. "Me mom had us at th' tail-end 'o summer," he continued to answer the older male's questions.

Kraken knew he could return to Tortuga, not if it meant drawing close to the Aegean Cove's borders again, and he didn't think landlubbing crews would want to provide him an escort. His mother hadn't gone looking for him after his capture, either, so he wasn't too keen on returning to that particular life. He was sure would return someday, when he was older, to check in on Bones.

"I be an expert fisher, but I can also hunt small prey like rabbits 'n turtles," he shared earnestly. He was still too young to be able to take larger game down on his own, but that should be obvious. "Ye'd have me loyalty fer life, cap'n," Kraken continued seriously, "A wolf 'o Tortuga always repays his debts, 'n I'll owe ye me life."

Peregrine raised a brow at the boy's sweeping offer of nothing short of his life. He said nothing in response, though he nodded to acknowledge Kraken's earnest pledge of fealty. He liked the sound of his skills and would train him as a Gamekeeper if and when he had the chance.

"All right then, let's get some food in you. I have young puppies, so I can't look after you directly, nor can I spend the time training you right now. Stick close to the plateau and get to know your new pack mates. I'll come find you when I have some free time. I'd like to play on your skills and make a Gamekeeper—a hunter—out of you. Sound good?" the Alpha male queried, looking into the young boy's dark face and marveling again at the likeness to Atticus.

Being so youthful, it was unlikely that Kraken truly understood the weight his oath carried. A lifetime of loyalty, especially in repayment to a life saved, was not uncommon in the tales Kraken had grown up hearing. It hardly ever ended with a bad result, and so it was easy for the juvenile to promise it with sincerity.

"I can take care 'o meself, mostly," Kraken told the older male, in attempt to reassure him. "Aye, if that's what ye'd like 'o me," he answered with a wag of his tail as the male looked closely at him, puffing his chest slightly with pride at the sort of awestruck look he was being given.

"I would," the Alpha male confirmed with a faint smile. Briefly, Peregrine wondered if he was making a mistake taking on a strange youngster when the plateau already had its own pups to support. He felt a bolt of anxiety. It passed quickly when he regarded the young man, who looked scrappy and self-sufficient. Hopefully he would prove himself as much. If not—if Kraken turned out to be a burden—then Peregrine would make the best decision for his family's well-being.

Motioning for Kraken to follow him, Peregrine turned and began to lope up the slope, pausing to dip into a nearby cache to give the boy something to eat. Once he finished off the small meal, Peregrine told the juvenile to look after himself, then headed back to his den to report this newest young recruit to his mate.