Redhawk Caldera Play place

@Allure? @Pups? @Anybody?

Was there anything cuter than a six-week-old pup? Peregrine grinned as he watched Ferret, Gannet, Whip and Peter gamboling around the little yard in front of the Alpha pair's den. Within a matter of weeks, they would need to relocate the litter to the rendezvous site. He looked forward to the move, since the den was getting quite cramped with four growing boys stuffed into it. He missed the pack's heart, the gently rolling hillock that afforded an amazing view of the lake. He was sure his sons would love it there.

But it would have to wait a while longer. For now, the Alpha stepped away from the doorway where he had been hovering and came to stand in the middle of the pups' play area, wondering what they would do with his presence there. Would they run laps around him? Would they try to gang up on him and take him down? Would they ignore him completely? Peregrine held his breath as he waited to find out.

Ferret bit, smacked, headbutted and jumped on his brothers whenever he could do so, primarily when they were not looking. This was his game. He did not play nice and gentle wrestling was not for him. Yet he was not dominant, per se. He simply liked to make them bark, squeal, run away or swat back at him. He liked the reactions and he liked the attention, but he had the attention span of a goldfish so as soon as their father showed up he disengaged from the brother brawl to charge at him. Rawring loudly, he made to headbutt Peregrine, not anticipating just how much thicker and harder his father's legs were compared to the relatively squishiness of his littermates.

Fittingly, it was the largest firstborn that came toward him first. "Come at me, bro!" the Alpha shouted as Ferret approached. He glanced over his son's shoulder, watching as the other three went in the other direction, perhaps glad to be rid of the eldest's assaults for once. Peregrine's lips twitched. He couldn't help but think of Junior, though he quickly set fire to said train of thought and sent it sailing over a cliff. Ferret was going to be nothing like her.

He needn't have worried about getting hung up on said thoughts, as Ferret's headbutt was effectively distracting. "Damn, son," Peregrine barked, lifting the rammed leg into the air and letting it dangle as if broken. "Your head is fucking hard. I think you broke it," he teased, hobbling in a circle on three legs and whimpering dramatically to see how the puppy would react.

Ferret's head crashed into his father's leg without any restraint, and he was promptly sat back on his ass with the recoil. Yet he was not disoriented and did not make indication that he had felt any pain, instead taking to laughter as his father hopped out and whimpered theatrically. But even this was short lived. The little bandit got back on his feet, grinning toothily, and immediately charged for the other leg, seeking to repeat his first success and expecting and even more amusing charade from his father (but he totally thought it was real).

Ferret reacted by going after his other foreleg, the little brute! Peregrine braced himself for the second attack, intending to lift his leg clear like a matador teasing a charging bull with a red cape. The pup foiled this plan by being too quick for his old man and his head made contact with the Alpha's partially crooked leg. He heard a sickening snap! about two seconds before the stabbing pain shot up his leg.

"MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" Peregrine bellowed. This time, it wasn't just for show. The little bonehead had actually broken his fucking leg.

Success! Sort of. Before he could form more than a single note of a giggle, the bandit was taken aback by the severe shift in his father's demeanor, and the darker hair along his spine rose like a palisade as he backpedalled several paces. Offense caused the flesh across his muzzle to wrinkle, and for his lips to draw upward and reveal the tips of his fangs as his ears pricked forward. The meaning of the words were lost on him but he understood the tone just fine, and growled at Peregrine.

How dare his father suddenly be mad at him, you know.

Eljay knew that lil' Bandit could be a tough boy, but he had never seen him actually hurt anyone. His puppy teeth were yet tiny and while he was growing rapidly, he'd never left Eljay with more than a sore leg from a thousand tiny needle-like teeth puncturing it. Eljay was just on his way to Aunt Fox and Uncle P's den when he heard his uncle swear out loud. The fond smile that had been on Eljay's face instantly washed off and with a worried, alarmed look on his face he rushed on over to see Peregrine's leg looking not-good-at-all, and lil' Bandit stood there growling.

"Oh no! What happened?!" Eljay said, feeling panic rising up. "Bad lil' Bandit, bad!" he squeaked in the pup's direction, his voice high-pitched and alarmed. Though he was nowhere near looking like the reprimanding adult to set lil' Bandit straight, he did move over to him. Eljay hoped that he would be so busy with Uncle P that he wouldn't notice Eljay sneaking up and tried to grab Ferret by the scruff, hoping to drag him away from Uncle P at least, and maybe calm him a little (though he hadn't a clue how just yet!).

Though still smaller than the rest of the litter, Peter was keeping up with the group, joining games and following around his siblings and not minding at all, when they used him as a metaphorical punch-bag, when he was always the one to lose the fights and be rolled around the dirt. 

That day they were playing around with their father watching them as usual and until Ferret had detached himself from the group and decided to attack their dad, Peter hadn't paid much attention to the parent. However, when the dad began talking, the boy imediately drew closer, seating himself a little distance away, listening curiously to the unusual sounds he made. Something within his brain was clicking and ticking and making connections - and now and then one would find him focusing on the movements of the lips of the others and him attempting to repeat it. 

The only problem was that the words and phrases always came in a flow. Until today, when the grand thing happened. The fact that the air between Ferret and Peregrine had changed from playful to aggressive, was totally missed by Peter. Because his mind registered those two, distinct words, he got to his feet and, while leaping towards his dad, he squealed proudly and happily: "MATERFAKIN' SHEEEETTT!!!"

His first words.

Peregrine didn't particularly notice Ferret's growl, Eljay's arrival or Peter's mimicry (the latter of which would have amused him greatly in other circumstances). He was too busy hopping around on three feet, his broken paw dangling in the air, still swearing a blue streak. "Son of a fucking bitch! You little shit! You broke my fuckin' leg! Fuck!" There went all of his hopes for the Father of the Year award...

Before long, the Alpha's cussing changed over to inarticulate gasps and hisses. His mind cleared enough to acknowledge his nephew, Ferret and Peter. "Eljay, don't," Peregrine gritted out when he realized Eljay was attempting to reprimand Ferret. A minute ago, Peregrine might have whacked the pup himself in his anger, yet he was already cooling enough to say, "He didn't do it on purpose. He doesn't even know what he did."

Rocking back onto his haunches, Peregrine examined his leg. There was no exposed bone or anything like that but it wasn't just a sprain; he couldn't even rotate it without severe agony. It was probably just a hairline fracture but it hurt like a bitch and it would keep him off his feet (one of them at least) for at least a few weeks. The father swore under his breath, wishing there was a medic in the pack who could bind the leg or, at the very least, give him some good painkillers.

"This is gonna make hunting a bitch," he mumbled dourly, giving Ferret a bit of a hairy eyeball. "Joke's on you. Now you're all gonna starve." Of course that wasn't true. There were other able-bodied hunters who could help provide for them. But Peregrine was feeling a little bitter, especially since he couldn't properly blame the whelp. He was only six weeks old, for crying out loud.

Though it was almost too late, Ferret did notice Eljay sneaking up on him and ducked out of his grasp just as his teeth grazed the fur of his scruff. Miffed by all the anger directed at him and that Eljay tried to grab him (oh how he loathed to be picked up or otherwise handled), the bandit aimed a sourly, cat-like swat at Eljay's nose before shooting his father a glare and stalking off. He only got a few paces before he whipped around, stuck his tongue out at the whole lot of them, and then crashed through the brush to find someone or something else to play with.

When Uncle P told him not to grab Ferret, Eljay instantly stopped and watched as lil' Bandit turned away from him. He avoided getting swatted, and looked at the pup with a frown. When Peter showed up and mimicked Uncle P's curse Eljay bit his lip, but he decided to focus on the main points first. Eljay looked at the pups, which for now seemed contained — neither of them was running off anywhere — ad the turned to Uncle P.

"What happened? I mean — he doesn't bite that hard yet does he?" Well, apparently he did, Eljay thought sourly to himself, correcting himself inwardly. "I don't know what to do," Eljay admitted in an unsure squeak, hoping that Uncle P, though he was in pain, at least was in a state of mind to give him some sort of pointer, like he always did when situations were getting out of hand.

No one seemed to have noticed Peter's first attempt in talking, which made his enthusiasm die a little, because... usually, when people talked, made sounds... they looked at you? His attention was drawn to the Ferret, who seemed to be upset with something and his first instinct was to go after him, but the resolve to do so came a second too late, because the brother was gone by the time he had got to his feet. 

Peter felt that it might be a good time for a cuddle and for some reason the Great Big Shadow called Dad was in a sort of unsettling mood, therefore he ambled towards Eljay, who he knew would not say "no" and seemed less frightening. "Materfakin' sheet..." he crooned, balancing on his hind feet, while the forepaws were pressed against his friend's side and he had arched his neck as far up as he could to nuzzle Eljay's muzzle.

When Ferret glared at him and stuck out his tongue, Peregrine sneered. When he turned and frolicked away, the black wolf muttered under his breath. His attention then shifted to Eljay when the young man started asking questions about the situation. He shook his head, feeling a little bit of shameful heat creeping underneath his skin. It was mostly funny—or it would be, once it didn't hurt so damn much—but still a little embarrassing to admit a pup had gotten the best of him.

"He didn't bite me, he rammed me, the little fuckbucket," Peregrine replied, squinting in the direction Ferret had gone. "There's nothing you can do," he added with a light shrug, easing back onto his haunches and watching as Peter approached and began batting at Elwood Jr. "I don't think it's a particularly nasty break, so it probably doesn't even need to be set. It'll heal on its own." Or so he hoped. He grimaced.

Eljay looked on helplessly as lil' Bandit crashed away and departed their presence, looking sad and confused. He soon collected himself though, finding it hard not to wear his emotions on his sleeve but not wanting to further burden his uncle with the feelings the situation brought up in himself. Uncle P confirmed that there wasn't a thing Eljay could do, and Eljay battled his emotions in his head while he nodded.

"I just —" he began, but was distracted by little Peter's sudden reaching out. The affectionately placed words were a little strange but after all that had just happened and how he had wrongly tried to keep lil' Bandit away from Uncle P in case he'd do more damage, Eljay felt a little scared to reprimand Peter for it (besides, he was also scared to scare away the pup). He reached his head down a little, making it easier for Peter to nuzzle, and let his tongue roll out to lick the top of Peter's head; there wasn't a terrible feeling in the world that puppies and friends couldn't fix.

Peter was comforted by Eljay's touch and he arranged himself so that he was now sitting comfortably between the yearling's forepaws and, when the cub looked up, his muzzle almost touched the other's chest. He felt pretty safe and good being there and briefly forgetting his newly learned combination of words, he began looking around and observing the area, waiting for the adults to decide, when it would be time to move elsewhere and do something else.

"The best thing I can do," he spoke up after a few moments of (painful) silence, "is rest and take my weight off it. So I'm gonna go lie down in the den. I'd really appreciate it if you could round up that little bastard fuck, make sure he doesn't run off or anything. And keep an eye on the others. I'll call Fox too," Peregrine added, in case Eljay felt overwhelmed at the prospect of babysitting four rowdy pups all by himself, especially now that one had proved himself capable of causing grave bodily harm.

True to his word, the Alpha sent up a short howl to Fox to inform her that she was needed at the den site. He did not mention his injury, not particularly wanting to broadcast it right this very moment. Wincing and cursing under his breath, Peregrine shot his nephew a grateful glance, then made his way into the den. If any of the pups tried to follow him, he would growl to warn them away. They might have looked adorable a few minutes ago, yet right now the Alpha quite frankly needed a break from them (pun not intended...).

"Uhm, okay," Eljay said and he nodded a couple of times. He wanted to wish well onto Uncle P but he wasn't sure what to say, really — and so he decided to just get to fixing what Uncle P had asked of him. Eljay looked torn for a moment as Uncle P went to rest and he needed to both look out for the other pups and find lil' Bandit — how could he divide himself? It seemed dangerous to bring three pups tagging along while he looked for the one other.

Luckily soon Fox arrived to relieve Eljay from his misery. Eljay was relieved to find that Fox offered to find lil' Bandit while he watched the other pups, so that he wouldn't be faced with the terrible monster that had the power to break legs with his head — he rather stayed with Peter and the others, feeling more comfortable there.

my last post!