Redhawk Caldera honing the skills

siblings, family, pack members, anyone? :D

Eljay was always happy to spend time with his siblings, and he was near them almost as much, if not as much, as daddy was, always hanging about. Today he'd gone for a quick hunting trip through the territories but he hadn't had much luck. It did make him think that maybe the pups needed lessons in hunting soon. They were yet tiny, but they were starting to walk which meant that it was the perfect time to allow them to hone their hunting instincts.

He wondered if @Lagan or Liffey were around as he returned to the den empty-handed (though he'd welcome Lucy for a lesson too, even if they'd spent time playfighting together just recently). Seeing no sign of the children, Eljay started his search around the clearing for a bug or another object that didn't move too much for them to practise on once they'd wake up or come out of the den.

Big bro!

Lagan had recently been playing out in the clearing when he's noticed his big brother coming. The little silver boy slunk into the bushes, attempting to hide, though his wriggly tail couldn't contain itself. He watched through his little eyes, which were beginning to show the faintest hints of an apple green color, light and pale as they were. He giggled, unable to contain how funny it was to watch his big bro looking for him. He was right here the whole time! That was some good comedy stuff! Finally Tiarnach couldn't hold himself back any further and he sprang from the long grass surrounding the clearing!

Lagan fumbled around as he tackled Eljay, obviously he wasn't strong enough to push him over. Egl! He squeaked happily. What he'd learned of speaking so far was minimal, but he could try!

Eljay was searching around the bushes in hopes of finding something good to hunt before the pups would emerge from the den, unaware that he was being watched. "Ah," he mumbled to himself when he found a caterpillar. He felt a little sad sacrificing it to his siblings, though, and so he moved on. Next thing he found was a stick, but just as he went to pick up the funny-shaped stick at the edge of the clearing, he was attacked by a wild Tiarnach.

His heart jumped to his troat as he was assaulted, eyes widening in surprise and a short moment of panic. Yet soon he recognised his brother's eager voice to indicate that it was a game. "Where'd you come from, silly!" Eljay said, putting up a smile so that he wouldn't distress Lagan. "Egl indeed... Wanna play?"

Eljay looked rather spooked for a moment, which made Lagan step back. Had he done something wrong? Confused Lagan sat back on his rump, staring wide eyed up at big brother Egl. However when Eljay smiled and mentioned, 'play?', a huge toothless smile came to little boy's face. Dahhh! He roared, the little lion threw himself at Eljay's stomach, nibbling and pulling tufts at his brother's fur. He looked up to see if Eljay was responding, when something caught his eye. It was wriggling on the ground in the distance, much like his other siblings when they slept.

Is at? He said, looking up at his brother, sitting back on his bum and staring nervously at the caterpillar. He'd never seen anything like it. Ithy? Uthy? He asked cautiously, wondering if someone has somehow shrunken his sisters.

As Lagan nipped at his stomach, Eljay giggled with laughter over the ticklish feeling the nips gave him. He nearly toppled over from the tickles, but just as he thought he could handle no more puppytickles Lagan got distracted by something else.

He seemed concerned with the caterpillar on the ground. "Oh..." Eljay said, a little uncertain, because he hadn't intended for the pups to find it. "Well, uhm, it's a caterpillar. But that's probably a bit long word for you, huh, buddy?" Lagan seemed upset over the caterpillar and Eljay was quick to rush to his side to gently nose his cheek in comforting gesture. "There, there.. it's alright. it won't hurt you."

i nearly wrote caterpie there. :')

Haha same Pokemon go is interfering with my life ;')

Lagan was still a bit worried about caterpie, but looking up at Eljay he trusted his big bro wouldn't let it get him. Eljay got close to Lagan, promising to take care of him. The newest Blackthorn boy nuzzle his brother back, but glanced one last time nervously over his brother's shoulder. After the comforting was over, Lagan stepped back and sat down in front of his brother. He no longer wanted to play fight, for the caterpillar had put him at unease. He looked up at Eljay blankly, front legs resting on his small tummy. 

He wasn't sure what he wanted to do now, so he waited. Surely Eljay would know what to do, it seemed the bigger wolves knew everything. While he waited, Lagan stuck out his tongue, quickly becoming enticed by it, trying to look at it out of the corners of his eyes. It was small, wriggly and fleshy, kind of like the caterpillar! Ook! He screamed at Eljay, showing off his little tongue.

Eljay remembered vaguely how afraid he'd been of all sorts of bugs; the locust plague had been absolutely terrifying to him because of it, but that wasn't where it had started. He'd always been afraid of bugs, as long as he remembered. He didn't realise he might be imprinting his own fears onto his brother, and enabling his brother's fears, by being so protective and comforting in the face of a relatively not-very-dangerous situation. Yet for the moment he was simply content to have made his brother feel a bit better again. He looked much happier again.

It wasn't long before the no-longer-so-playful Lagan got distracted by his own tongue. Eljay giggled as he looked at the tongue as per instructed and said, "Oh, Lagan, you're so silly!", his words accompanied by a giggle. Eljay stuck out his own tongue at Lagan and repeated: "Ook!" while he wiggled his tongue around, staring at it, cross-eyed, at the tip of nis nose.

Lagan was elated when Eljay looked at his tongue, and responded in a happy voice. Lagan giggled, shaking his head back and forth to watch his tongue wiggle. Then Eljay copied him, even saying Ook too. Lagan stopped his own wiggling to watch Eljay, his big brother's tongue was so long and big. And it was going all over the place. And Lagan wanted to catch it! He hopped forwards mouth open trying to grab the long tongue in his own mouth. However he fell a bit short and ended up on his bum. 

So he tried again, the little baby bunny hopped up, neck outstretched trying to reach his prize. His big brother was very entertaining, and he liked spending time with him. Not everyone had an awesome tongue like Eljay!

"Oogieoogieoogie!" Eljay said between chirrupy giggles as Lagan made a grab for his tongue. He didn't manage to reach it (luckily) and when he tried again Eljay was prepared and slipped his tongue into his mouth again. He put on a fake worried face as he brought out, "Oh no, where'd it go?" And looked over his shoulder to the left and the right with a puzzled look.

Lagan giggled for all he was worth while Eljay played with him. Spending this quality time with his bro was awesome, he wished Liffey and Lucy were fun like Eljay. He continued to miss Eljay's tongue, but that didn't stop him from trying. After his last leap, the tongue was gone. At first he chuckled, it was still fun. But when he saw Eljay's face, his smile dropped. Had he eaten the tongue? Where was it! Worry filled him as he began to search. Staying clear of the caterpillar, Lagan searched the whole clearing. Finally returning to his big brother, he sat and began to whimper.

He looked down sadly at his tummy, then back up at Eljay. Eeted. He sniffled as if admitting he'd done something horrible. He looked down, feeling very guilty.

breaking my heart here <3

Eljay giggled as he watched Lagan search the entire clearing for his tongue, unable to find it anywhere. The boy had a serious look on his face as though he really thought he would find his big bro's tongue just laying around somewhere. Eventually he returned and Eljay put up his serious frowny face again in this game of play-pretend as his brother returned to him.

Yet when he saw the genuine sad look on Lagan's face, his expression really fell and as he admitted that he had eaten the tongue, Eljay was quick to nose him on the forehead and said, "Oh, no, no, no Lagan, look, it's still here! I was just playing!" And he stuck out his tongue to show his brother that he hadn't really made his tongue go missing for good.

<3

At first it seemed that Eljay had found Lagan's worry funny, which confused the boy. What could possibly be funny about losing your tongue? A very guilty Lagan sat back down, explaining what he'd done. He was about to start crying, when his big brother nuzzles into him, saying that he hadn't. It had been hidden in Eljay's mouth the whole time! He burst out laughing when the tongue dropped out of Eljay's mouth, flopping around all wiggly like. Lagan rolled over onto his side, giggling like crazy as he watched his brother. 

Tong ith k? He asked, just to be sure that tongue was indeed ok. Even if it hadn't been eaten, it could be damaged somehow.

"Yep, look, it's all fine," said Eljay and he poked his tongue out further to show his little brother that it was still in one piece. His tail wagged cheerfully to show that things were fine and make his little brother feel at ease again, hopefully with the moment of terror quickly forgotten.

Lagan gave a quick sigh of relief, glad to know that Eljay could sniff once again. But he would make sure never to go for the nose ever again. He was quite fond of attacking various body parts, but the nose was off limits. Little Tiarnach was learning new things every day! Eljay seemed happy once more, Lagan watched his big brother's tail swishing back and forth. Turning to see if he could do the same, the boy twisted his head to watch his own tail, giggling as it swirled around in a frenzy. Ook ook! He barked at Eljay, hoping for his brother to see this new awesome thing!

As his little brother turned to look at his own tail and his eyes widened in excitement, Eljay giggled eagerly — he loved watching his brother look at the world through eyes of marvel. "oooo, so pretty!" Eljay cooed at Lagan, his own tail whirring back and forth (Eljay didn't realise this himself, for it was a subconscious effect) in uncontained excitement.

The overjoyed pup let out a high pitched chirp of sorts, when his big brother complimented his tail. He thought it was pretty too, but when he noticed Eljay's tail, his jaws dropped. It was so big, and fluffy. Why hadn't he seen it before? Did papa have one? And mommy? Green eyes as wide as the moon, Lagan zoomed towards Eljay's tail, zig zagging in between his legs to reach it. He batted a paw at it playfully, long puppy tongue lolling out of his mouth. You 'ot uh good un! He said happily, eyes moving with the tail, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Oh!" Eljay chirped in surprise when Lagan stopped oggling over his own tail but raced towards Eljay's instead. He turned his head and ears perked forward towards Lagan's excitement. He'd apparently never noticed before that everyone else had tails, too — Eljay couldn't help but giggle at that.

"Yeah, I got one too! And guess who else got some tails! Did you ever look at... mommy and daddy?" Eljay said it with a gasp, as if he was sharing secret information that was also an epiphany.

What!? Mommy and pops had tails too! No, it must be a lie. Lagan would've noticed before if they did! Eyes and mouth wide with shock, Lagan shook his head. Nuh uh! I wanna thee! He stated, for he was very sure that his parents did not have tails. And if they did, were they pretty and silvery grey like him and his big brother's? Or were they a different color? Were they little tails like his? Or giant poofy ones like Eljay's? He looked up straight into Eljay's eyes, and gave him an excited look. With that he raced off into the Blackthorn den, to further the investigation. 

Last post for me <3

"You don't believe me, huh?" Eljay said, laughing because it was funny to think that Lagan hadn't a clue that everyone had tails all along. "Let's go check!" And with an excited, slow bounce in his step Eljay got into motion and galopped to the den to wake their parents.