Redhawk Caldera i was normal three cats ago

Covering some behind the scenes stuff that you all can reference if you are so inclined. Open to anyone! Set outside the den.

He was growing like a weed, and was probably about as irritating as one too. He had been nippy from birth; at first it was just him exploring his world, but then he realized that he could make noses, paws and tails move out of his damn way if he harried them with his gums and natal tooth. So it became a routine, and his first response to anything he didn't like, which was quite a bit, because the boy was fussy about being handled and liked his space. He was most content when he was eating, which he did in great quantities, but without packing on puppy fat. No, as he grew, he was starting to take on a distinct streamlined look, long and leggy, but with comically oversized paws.

If he was a pest before now things were about to get worse. His milk teeth had come in, and now he had other tiny fangs to keep his first tooth company. He had been the first to walk and his legs had strengthened quite a bit.... but he was still clumsy. Except now it was more pronounced because he had discovered that besides walking, he could also make little wee hops. This thrilled him, and so the afternoon found him bounding around his family outside the den like a tiny billy goat, and it also found him rolling and flailing as he toppled over and lost his balance time and time again. But undeterred, he continued to romp, pouncing his siblings heads, nipping at them, and otherwise getting high off bugging them. Even his mother, who sat nearby, was not spared his attacks.

Speaking of bugs. Spring had arrived, and with it had come a beetle. The little bandit shifted his targetting from one of his brother's rumps to the blackish brownish thing. With the devil in his eyes he dove for it. He missed with the first lunge, ending up with a mouthful of dirt, which only spurred him to try several more times before he finally hit his mark. But the wiggling legs against his tongue and mouth at first surprised him, and he spat it back out and smacked his paw down on it.

Eljay loved the pups. If he could, he wanted to spend all his time there. Not only because it made him feel sort of useful in a way, but also because lately, he had wanted to get away from mommy and daddy more. It wasn't 'cause he didn't love them, but whenever he was around Uncle Peregrine he seemed more encouraged to get better at stuff, and mommy and daddy sometimes said things that made him feel worse when he was insecure. Not that he blamed them for it, of course; he was the one at fault, but it didn't change the fact that he — guiltily so, and he'd never admit it to a soul because of that — felt more at ease around Uncle P than his own parents at the moment.

The pups were super cute too of course, and so it didn't make anyone wonder much, Eljay supposed, that he spent more time there at present than with his own parents. After he had checked the direct surroundings of the puppy den for danger, Eljay made his way towards the den where he saw a super adorable lil' Bandit play outside. Eljay knew that he wasn't really called Bandit, but he used it as a sort of pet name. And maybe it'd stick.

Since the parents were of course protective, Eljay hadn't gotten to interact with the pups much yet, usually just hangin' about uselessly, but he saw his chance now. He looked around for Uncle P and Aunt Fox, but didn't see them. Maybe they were sleeping. He would've wished to have asked their permission before approaching and felt scared to, but hoped that it was okay for him to interact directly with the pups now. Uncle P and Aunt Fox didn't seem to share his fear of the pups becoming like him, at least... Eljay quietly approached and waited a wolf's length away from lil' Bandit, and he lowered his body to the ground entirely and murmured softly, "Hi lil' Bandit, you practising your hunting?"

He was focused on the beetle. He stamped his paw on it several more times before he put both his paws together and bounced on the bug with them as if he was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The beetle was fairly resilient, and even that did not cause all wriggling to stop. It was almost frustrating. So the boy lurched forward again, seizing the bug so firmly he crushed it between his little teeth, and as the flailing legs stopped flailing, he had his first taste of what it meant to be a predator, a hunter.

His tail fanned the air rapidly as he relished in this accomplishment, and he followed up by parading around with the squashed beetle in his mouth. But his celebration was cut short, as someone to him, and the boy whirled to see Eljay. He canted his head, and then tried his best to mime the sounds. He could not form words, but what he did form was similar inflections as he gurgled and growled around the squashed beetle. Tasting the flesh, he was prompted to swallow.

Now he was bereft of the feeling of power he had while holding that bug, and he sought it again as he charged boldly for the beta's son.

"Aw, you're so cute," Eljay oggled over lil' Bandit as he made gurgly sounds. "Well done, lil' Bandit!" His tail waved tentatively as he approached, though he stayed at a fair distance, afraid to get too close because he still wasn't too sure how close Uncle P and Aunt Fox would want him to get. He hoped that soon he could watch the pups all by himself, but this was good practise. Eljay wasn't too sure he'd be good enough at taking care of the pups, but he would surely give it his best!

While he was daydreaming about his furthering in the taking care of the pups, Eljay didn't realise that lil' Bandit had already eaten his prey and was busying himself with his next target: Eljay. Actually, Eljay didn't notice anything at all until lil' Bandit had already charged him and bounded into him; luckily he wasn't quite big and heavy enough to topple Eljay over just yet though, but it did give Eljay a scare when he suddenly felt his personal space invaded and he jumped up a little in surprise.

If he thought squashing tiny beetle felt good, imagine his triumph and delight at seeing a bigger wolf startled by his charge. The pup's tail shot up over his back and he lifted his muzzle, peacocking now in front of this lesser being as he advanced forward a few more steps. He bore the biggest, shit-eatingest grin that was possible on his little face. Then, with a sound akin to a "rah!", he leaped forward, pouncing clumsily onto one of Eljay's paws and sinking his wee but fierce teeth into a toe.

Sorry Eljay, Ferret is a little shit >_>:

haha, he is still at the age where it's cute. this reminds me of people with poorly raised puppies. >_> "AW HE'S SO CUTE N FEROCIOUS WHEN HE BITES ME AND JUMPS AT ME" years later, not so cute 8)

Eljay giggled when he saw lil' Bandit posture like he was some tough fierce warrior wolf. "Oh, you're so fierce, lil' Bandit, I'm so scared," he said, his tail wagging to betray that he wasn't scared at all. Lil' Bandit was only tiny, after all, so he didn't fear for his life much. Eljay giggled again as a ferocious 'rah' came from the little puppy's mouth and he jumped at Eljay. Though the bites stung a little, they weren't really strong enough yet to do any damage, and so Eljay wasn't too bothered. He considered telling lil' Bandit not to attack and bite him, but then he thought of how mommy and daddy had said that the pups needed to play lots so that they would get strong and big, and Eljay didn't want to take that from the pup.

"Oh, no, you've got me now!" Eljay said and he 'fell' to the ground into a big heap of giggles while lil' Bandit's little teeth were trying their darnest to inflict damage. Though the little bites were puncturing, they weren't near strong enough to truly inflict damage on Eljay just yet.

Oh yes. I got so mad at people for getting mad at me for trying to train my pup not to jump on them, because they'd be like "oh he's fine he's cute leave him alone" and it's like listen, no, it won't be cute when he's 60 lbs. lol.

Lil' Bandit missed the giggles, and the jest altogether. In his mind, he had wrestled that wolf to the ground. He was mighty, and his bite was so fierce it would cause his adversaries to topple over immediately. He continued to nip, bite, chew and growl at Eljay, toes, legs, soft squishy belly, whatever he was able to reach. It did not take long for the older wolf's tail to become his object of fixation, and the boy latched and proceeded to tug backwards in jerky movements, seemingly convinced that he was powerful enough he could drag Eljay around with him.

The nips to his chest made Eljay giggle, for though they would eventually become painful they were but puppyish nips now and they didn't hurt much. Eljay rolled onto his back and continued to giggle while lil' Bandit bantered all over him. "You are soooo cute, lil' Bandit! I love you!" he squeaked through the giggles, feeling happy.

Then the pup's interest seemed to be taken by his tail, and though the tugging hurt a little, it wasn't by much and so Eljay easily took it for the pup's amusement. Yet he could hardly play-pretend to be tugged along, so unfortunately for lil' Bandit, he wasn't going anywhere. Eljay wagged his tail so that it was moving left to right, offering another challenge for lil' Bandit.

The moving tail emboldened him, and he intensified his efforts. His growls turned into exciteable, but muffled, barks as he continued to fight with this wolf, determined to drag it across the ground to be buried into some hole, or something. He was not entirely sure what his end game was, only that he wanted to flaunt his betterness by toting Eljay around like a prize or prisoner.

Yet, he was but a boy, and his attention span when not augmented with extreme stubborness was limited. He abruptly abandoned the tail, peered briefly at Eljay, and then turned and with his nose to the ground started to walk a seemingly aimless trail.

For a while, lil' Bandit remained fixated on his tail, but then the assault of bites and yips suddenly stopped. Eljay looked around and when he didn't see lil' Bandit anywhere, he panicked. "Bandit!" he called out in high-pitched panic and he leaped to his feet to look around. Eljay breathed a sigh of relief when he saw lil' Bandit bantering somewhere, looking like he had found something.

Eljay didn't wait to see what trail lil' Bandit was following. Instead he quickly moved to the pup's side and awkwardly tried scooping his up in his mouth. It took a while before he found the right place to hold lil' Bandit, especially because (aside from his lack of experience) the pup presumably wouldn't come easily and without a fight. It seemed like a good moment to bring him back to the den before he really did wander off.

I pped a bit to bring this thread to a close, hope that's ok! :D Last post for me.

Bandit did not like to be picked up, and squirmed and growled and fussed as soon as Eljay even tried to do so. But fierce as he believed himself to be, and as much as he tried to nip at the older wolf's face, he was but a wee thing compared to Eljay and against his will he was carted off toward the den. Interrupted from following the interesting the scent trail, the pup huffed, glowered at Eljay, and then stormed into the den and plunked his butt down in a far corner where he continued to glare out of the gloom. Well, at least for a minute, then he flopped down and figured a nap was in order.

Luckily Eljay quickly managed to catch up to lil' Bandit and he scooped the pup up and brought him back to the den. "No more running off," Eljay told lil' Bandit, but before he could even finish his sentence the pup had already run away from him and settled himself somewhere inside of the den. Eljay felt his stomach churn a little as he really wanted the pups to like him, but he also wanted to be a responsible pup-sitter! He sighed lightly as he watched lil' Bandit, and then Eljay settled himself in front of the den where he would make sure none of the pups would escape for the moment, or at least until Uncle P came around.