Redhawk Caldera Achillea millefolium

For Elwood Jr. / Lowercase El.

He wasn't supposed to be up and about, but who was going to try and stop him? Njal hadn't seen many individuals during his waking hours, and he hadn't been wholly coherent for most of them anyway. But having forgone chewing up some herbs (and instead half-burying them when nobody was looking) he was awake. The pain wasn't numbing his senses, but rather, making him more aware - it was the perfect time to try and stretch his legs. It hadn't been long since his return to the caldera, a few days maybe. Not nearly long enough for his cracked leg to heal at all; not to mention his dislocated hip, which throbbed with constant pain.

The pain kept him lucid, but not sane.

Njal pulled his front-half up first, wobbled a bit, and then slouched back down. He tried pulling his hind-side up next, balancing all his weight on his good leg, and then lost his balance -- and luckily, landed more on his belly than either of his limbs. He was breathing heavily by the end of his first attempts, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he took in great heaving breaths. If he had been younger when the storm hit - maybe he'd have gotten away from that tree. Or better yet, he'd be better by now! With a huff, Njal settled back in to the rut in the dirt which his body had so far been occupying.

pping @Finley to have taken him here, let me know if anything needs to be changed, mom <3

His mother seemed to be disappointed that he was such a scaredy cat: and so she decided to take him out that day, to wherever, so that she could start building some bear-wrestling mentality. Jay didn't understand it very well, but he didn't object. The entire journey here, he had kept himself glued tightly to his mother. The outside world scared him a lot, and the only reason that it was manageable was because his moomy was here with him, right by his side, so that he dared go out and about at all, with her comforting scent and bravery right at hand.

They were visiting the wounded Njal, because he'd be around for sure (and after little Jay's unfortunate run-in with Sebastian, it had become evident he needed to meet other individuals outside of his family and that of the Alpha pair). Ever so carefully the pup approached, until he heard sounds, at which point he pressed himself to the ground briefly, startled. With an encouraging yet somewhat impatient nudge to the butt from his mother, the pup got up and moved forward again. His mother stayed behind, nodding (and possibly rolling her eyes) when he looked over his shoulder briefly, and so it was alone, with a terrifying couple of meters between him and his mother, that the pup approached Njal.

The pup stared at the laying wolf with his big, bashful eyes and said: "Hubbo."

Njal had just woken up from an impromptu nap when he spotted Finley. A part of his mind told him he was dreaming - and another told him that isn't Finley, that's your daughter - but either way, it made no sense. And as he gradually blinked in to the waking world, as he rubbed his eyes against one of his sprawled forelimbs, something else came in to view. Yes, it was Finley, but it was also a little bundle of fluff that seemed to like hiding behind his mother's legs. When the child finally got enough nerve to creep forward, Njal was properly awake; he glanced from Finley to the little tyke, and back again, in time to see her roll her eyes.

The old man gave a little chuff of a greeting to the kid, trying not to spook him, and then Elwood Jr. plopped down in front of Njal's face and stared up at him. His eyes were so big, and so shiny... And for a moment, Njal was lost in them. Until the sudden greeting - "Hubbo," - which made a smile form upon the old wolf's face.

"Hubbo there," Njal imitated, sort of, and lazily placed his head down upon the soil so the child did not have to strain himself. "Who're you?" He asked coyly, and gave a tiny side-glance to Finley; his expression was filled with amusement, pride, and maybe a little regret. Seeing the little bundle of fat and fur shouldn't have hurt so much - but maybe it was just his hip acting up.

There was a funny look on Jay's face when Njal replied with 'hubbo'. Most adults didn't speak like that. He lifted his head in surprise, then looked back at his mother as though she would be able to explain what it meant, or as if he expected her to look surprised, too. Finley wasn't actually paying attention to him, so little Jay wasn't sure what to think. He looked back at Njal, who asked him about who he was. That was a question that little Jay could answer!

With a proud and excited look on his little face, little Jay said: "I!" Because in his mind, that was his name -- or, well, the one that others wanted him to use when he was referring to himself. They wanted him to say "I am hungry" or "I like walks" or things like that (not that he said any of that yet, for verbs and sentences weren't the pup's forte as of yet). He understood that 'I' was the word for himself. His name was a far more fluid concept that he did not grasp entirely yet, because everyone called him something different.

He waited expectantly then to see how the adult would react. Finley decided to keep out of things, because she wanted lil' Jay to do things on his own and because Iris doesn't know what name Finley would use to introduce the little squirt if she did.

"You, yes." Njal retorted without missing a beat. His nose itched so he wiggled it, and then suddenly let out a sneeze - trying to twist his head away in time so that Eljay wouldn't get covered in slobber and snot. When he looked back, he was bleary-eyed. "Whoops. Sorry about that..." Njal had briefly forgotten he wasn't talking to an adult, and had to reconsider how he did things.

Lowering his head again (and giving a sniffle), he watched the boy for a moment. "Nice to meet you." Njal slid one of his long forelimbs out as if to shake the kid's paw, and seemed to realize a moment later that his arm was actually longer than the pup was; so instead he improvised, and booped the boy on his nose. Before the kid could do much of anything, Njal motioned with his dusty nose towards Finley. "That your mum over there?" He knew it was, but the question might get the child talking.

The pup jumped a little as Njal sneezed, his eyes widening. He stared at the adult, as though he was either wondering what had happened to him (he'd never heard a sneeze THAT big before!) or if he was worried and wondering if the adult was actually doing alright. Soon it turned out that Njal was alright, and little Jay giggled under his breath before he repeated: "woops!" with a brief burst of gigglish excitement, before he seemed to fall back into his introverted and bashful self.


"Moomy," said little Jay when Njal asked about his mother, confirmating the suspicions that he was being accompanied by, indeed, his mother.

A short silence followed, until the pup realised that he should say something in return to what Njal had said to him earlier. "Naysameetoo," little Jay tried to repeat after a moment of silence, because he knew that this was some sort of form of being polite to others.

lmao. I can't believe I left a half-written post here. I'm so tired. :c Sorry if this is random.

He couldn't remember his own children being like this. Eljay was simultaneously active and shy - he was probably too young to have a conversation with, but it was cute that he was trying. Njal smiled as the boy spoke, but couldn't think of what to do next. Maera had been his most lively child and yet, it was only because the others... Were gone. Njal found himself lingering in the quiet. He thought about what his sons would be like now; maybe Jokull would be like him. Maera was probably still alive, maybe even living with Tuwawi... 

His eyes got a bit misty (he'd blame the herbal remedies that Ashton always dropped off), but he blinked and turned his head, trying to clear his thoughts before the child, or his mother, took notice. The old man licked his lips and took a deep breath, turning back towards the boy with a tired smile on his face, before promptly plopping his head down next to Eljay.

"You're so big! I bet you'll be bigger than me one day," Njal muttered, and reached out one of his paws next to the boy as if to compare. "See? You're already bigger than my big fat feet." Maybe he'd grow up to be like his mother and fight bears, but from what Njal had seen of the child so far, he didn't have the spine to chase after anything bigger than a beetle.

not random at all :3 and lmao DON'T MENTION THE BEETLES TO ELJAY, TOO SOON MAN, TOO SOON

Jay noticed Njal's demeanor changing, although he did not actively do so. He just felt more tense and withdrawn himself, feeling a little overloaded with all that was coming at him. To him, this felt very sudden, because while he did notice Njal's expression briefly, the pup did not link it to how he was feeling, himself. It was mostly subconsciously that he picked up the emotions brought forth by the heavy thoughts of his adult companion.

Jay did not say anything about Njal's sad look, because he was young, but mostly because he was shy and uncertain what to do with or about it, so he left it be.

When Njal started to talk again, little Jay easily forgot about the sad moment and his tail wiggled briefly as he looked at Njal. When the paw was placed next to him, little Jay carefully reached out his own paw and put it on top of Njal's. He looked instantly to the adult to make sure that he was not doing anything wrong, and watched his own smaller paw on top of the bigger paw. He didn't really consider or think much about growing up yet, small and living on instinct for the moment, although it might look as though he was thinking of that considering he stared thoughtfully at the two paws.

him th

Sorry for the wait, I legit have no idea what to do next in this thread.

The pup plopped his paw upon Njal's bigger one, and the old man smiled down at him. Eventually that paw would be too big for the kid to weild, but the rest would catch up. It got him thinking about his own kids again - but that was something he quickly curtailed. No more sad thoughts or sad faces in front of the little one. But, he couldn't prevent a big yawn from reaching out of his mouth. For a moment his jaws were big and wide, giving Eljay a nice view of his big teeth. When his mouth shut, he groggily slouched down so his head was on his paws. "Okay little one, I think it's.. Nap time."

no prob, we can finish here <3 thanks for the thread ^^

At the opening of teeth, the pup flattened himself to the ground instinctively, before he realised that nothing was actually wrong and it was just a yawn. He'd just never seen a yawn that big!

It wasn't often that it was an adult who decided it was naptime before Elwood Junior did: usually he was tired quick from doing new things, and this was definitely a new thing. "Otay," he agreed when Njal said it was time for a nap. He shuffled his feet uncertainly as he tried to think of how to say bye-bye and mumbled "uhm, uhm.." before his mother came to rescue him from uncertainty's clutch, saying good bye to Njal and taking the pup back home again, where he'd curl up and fall asleep. After all, it was nap time.