Nova Peak rendezvous

@Whittier @Swift @Pasha -- babies come out to play? AW for anyone, though!

Bazi’s decision to move the pups had been one of instinct, though the cinnamon wolf had felt the coldness of it when she had simply done so without him – or even informing him. He said nothing of it – instead, he remained in awe at how quickly ten weeks had surpassed them.. and how much his pups had grown in that time.
 
The day itself was cooler, though the sun glinted from the sky to signify it was indeed a summer day. The breeze swept past stronger than average, but it would only refresh the wolf as he brought himself to the new rendezvous site. Dropping the dead rabbit to the ground, he uttered a low bark, attempting to lure his children to him. The meat was a fresh kill – and soon, they would be of an age to accompany the adults on pack hunts and begin to learn from that.

For once, Swift was not out and about with his nose in the greenery. He was in the center of their new residence, and was doing nothing at all. When his father returned, he rose to meet him with a wagging tail, a happy little boy instead of the oft-seen grumpy old man. He padded close, initially intending to greet Scimitar with a lick to the muzzle, but he could not pass the fresh rabbit. With a bark he pounced on the slain prey, covering it with his body as best he could. He grabbed an ear and began to chew, eyes shifting between his siblings and his father. This was his rabbit now.

The cinnamon wolf settled back on his haunches after greeting his pale son, his eyes drawing to how the boy handled the prey. He was quick to lay claim – and thus far, his siblings did not seem keen on challenging him for it. While he would not allow any of his children to starve, he also was not one to step in between the pecking orders his pups seemed to set amongst themselves – and as long as their interludes remained safe, he made no plans to interfere.
 
“Swift,” he greeted, his eyes focusing once more upon the boy as he pulled at an ear. “What is that?”

whoops i knew there was a thread i wanted to reply to but i lost it and the tag notification

From within the den, Pasha was even slower to stir than normal. The move to a new den had come without question, as he would have happily followed his mother to the ends of the earth if it meant anything at all. But the change in locales brought the usual feelings that accompanied a move — he had been restless through the night, and once the few fingers of growing daylight had come about, he had finally fallen asleep from sheer lack of energy.

And he slept fitfully from there out, nestled comfortably with his siblings without question.

That was until the rumbling summon of his father stirred him, and the sound of one of his siblings escaping from the den. It was enough to spur him to awake, blearily peeking around at his surroundings with a sense of disorientation. The remaining tendrils of a soon forgotten dream peeled themselves away as he brought himself to his belly, rising slowly with a yawn.

And with his best face put on, Pasha bounded out towards the bright daylight to an entirely different scene altogether, catching the tail end of his father's question to Swift. Whatever it was beneath his brother, Pasha couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. It was something though, and the fluffy white tail of the rabbit poked out from beneath one of Swift's hind feet.

Curiously, Pasha closed in quietly in some attempt to sneak up to what his brother had, and pulled at the snow white tail. Whatever it was, it smelled good, and spurned a response that Pasha did not question even in the slightest.

His father spoke to him. The ear was still in his mouth as his jaws worked it between his teeth. He did not turn his head, but he did turn his gaze, regarding his father almost suspiciously. Swift had yet to speak his first word nor even babble, so his answer came in the form of him hunching more closely over the rabbit and growling as he shook his head. With the ear still grasped in his mouth, he was like a gator attempting to tear meat from the body of a wildebeest. This? This was prey, and it was his.

Then Pasha came along. The pale pup watched him shrewdly, and when he drew near to tug at the fluffy white tail, Swift aim a paw at his brother's snout with growl.

Mine.

Swift refused to respond – or did not know how. Whittier was the more talkative of the bunch, followed by Pasha and Allure,, but their pale son had yet to speak his first words, and Scimitar was beginning to worry for him.
 
His body language was clear though – the ivory boy had claimed the rabbit. As Pasha came forward, the dark agouti wolf prowled to his side, greeting his son with a gentle nudge, waiting to see what he would do with his brothers actions and the scent of the rabbit. “Can you tell me what that is, Pasha?” They were growing far too fast, and he wanted them to know everything.

Swift battered his nose for a moment, and Pasha sneezed in response. But it was fleeting, and if not for the question that his father posed to him he would have been all over his pale sibling in an instant. Squabbling was no doubt part of their daily routine, as all siblings were wont to do so.

"Is food!" Pasha exclaimed instead of acting, though the moment those words were out of his mouth he was actively trying to push Swift loose of the rabbit. If only he could just get another chance to grab at it...

He thought he had succeeded in defending his rabbit from his brother, but there was only a moment's lapse until Pasha returned and started to push against him. The white pup growled, hunkering down over the rabbit even more. With his legs splayed apart, he steadied himself against the pushes, and was able to push back against his brother. He was, at least for now, determined not to relinquish his prize.

The thought had occurred to him to bring moe than one – yet the gift brought forward exactly what he wanted to see in his children.. the stirrings of instinct, and dominance. Pasha aimed for the rabbit, answering his questions, but his focus solely upon his brother. Swift, however, remained silent as ever – his grip upon the dead creature impressive.
 
The scuffle would be the start of what how they would be raised – to know how to spar. While it was not his goal to have his children fight over food.. he would certainly see to it that they were prepared for when they might be in a similar situation.. but much more serious.

Swift already had the advantage of the situation, the rabbit so very carefully tucked beneath him in some form or fashion. Pasha huffed as his attempts were failing. He couldn't make his brother move in a flash, but he could antagonize him all the same. He climbed atop of him, stepping awkwardly and proceeding to nudge at his brother's neck, every time his muzzle working like a sharp but dull prod. Anything that would give him that opportunity, something that would work out a gleaming sliver of hope that he could get a grip on the hare.

He held on to the rabbit for a while, until such a time that his patience for withstanding his brother's incessant poking and prodding (not to mention the weight of him on his back) had worn out. With a huffy growl he let go of his grip and stood up from the rabbit, shoving his siblings off of him and taking several paces away where he fell back on his rump with a scowl directed toward Pasha. Fine, take it!

Scimitar kept watch on the antics of his children, noting that Pasha’s actions weren’t aggressive or assertive, but certainly persistent. Swift finally gave in, and the man laid himself down to the ground, stretching his forepaws outward as his gaze drifted between the two. He would still not interfere, but if Pasha had won the round officially, it was likely the man would nudge his ivory son toward one of the caches and help him dig it up.
 
They would continue to grow in to the hierarchy as they got older – all he desired was for his children to continue to love one another throughout their discoveries.

Triumphantly, Pasha seized the hare from where Swift left it. A moment of gloating came to the youth and he shook the hare about. It left just as quickly as it came, especially when he realized that Swift was not interested in taking it back. It left the young Frostfur in a state of bewilderment — he did not think it would have been so easy to aggravate his brother into getting what he wanted. His gaze wandered from Swift to his father, uncertain just what to do next.

He could eat it, sure, the temptation was there. Very so often he had to regain his grip on the hare just to shuffle it around to a more comfortable hold. It seemed like an eternity, but may have not been more than half a minute before Pasha came to a decision from his thoughtful crossroads. He bounded towards Swift and smacked him with the hare, the intent to entice his brother into evening their playing field.

It was either that, or he was just trying to rub it in now.

last post for me; get this old thing wrapped up lol

He watched his brother as he gloated over the rabbit, and then seemed a bit confused that the smallest Frostfur was showing no interest in it. Swift felt a flicker of his own triumph in that, as if he had won some sort of meta-game. Pasha may have gotten the hare but perhaps he did not get the satisfaction he had thought would come with it. It seemed not, for he gathered the rabbit in his jaws and bounded toward Swift.

The boy stiffened, eyeing his brother suspiciously but not moving. Not expecting what came next, he made to duck as Pasha swung the hare toward him, but his response was not quick enough and he was taken across the face. But rather than snarl and snap as would be expected of him, he merely stared hard before rising to his paws, turning his back to his brother, and loping away. In this way, he felt satisfied that though he had lost the prize, he had won in another way.

Pasha, in his youthful eager, gloated the rabbit to his brother, and Scimitar watched, curious if Swift would retaliate. Instead, the ivory boy stalked off -- leaving behind a more perplexed Pasha. A small smile pulled at his lips, and raising up to his paws, the wolf stalked forward, nudging his son. "Let's go show your mother," he offered, and without waiting, put his nose to the ground and began to scent out where Bazi might be.
 
After placing Pasha with his mother to goad over his rabbit, the wolf would steal away to find yet another, and this time present it to his other son -- hoping to coax him from his mood.

One day, the hierarchy would be instinctual. For now, they were still very much puppies.