Blacktail Deer Plateau Bangarang

Tagging: @Kisu @Pura

Life as an invalid was excruciatingly painful, though not in the ways Peregrine expected. Blue Willow's various remedies kept him relatively physically comfortable. It was the frustration and boredom that made it so difficult for him. He couldn't hunt, he couldn't patrol, he could hardly play with the pups... Peregrine was miserable. It didn't help that so much down time gave him way too much time to get lost inside his own head. He found it could be a very dreary, scary place when plumbed to these depths.

Presently, everyone had left him behind to go do something else with this lovely June morning. Hawkeye had taken the girls off for some girl time and Kisu had seized the opportunity to spend the morning with his son. Blue Willow had kept the convalescent Alpha male company for a while but even she needed to tend to other things, so here he lay, alone, feeling sorry for himself. He rested on his right flank, his broken foreleg held out stiffly, his back to the clearing. Just overhead, the leaves of a sycamore rustled and shadows danced over his sable pelt.

ooc: I am assuming he's right outside of the den?

Kisu kept his pace at a stroll to allow his blue-grey dappled son to keep up. He gave a signature sigh. He was enjoying time with his son, but he was bored out of his mind. Not much for naps, he pondered if one with his boy today would be as refreshing as it sounded.

The thought was shattered, though, as he neared the den; Peregrine was laying almost pathetically under a tree. Kisu stopped for a moment before continuing forward. "What has got you so down?" The multi-colored male asked the darker one.

Pura followed his father in silence. Kisu was a soft-spoken wolf, and his son appreciated that - there were no demands put on him to attempt difficult words or keep up a constant stream of chatter like that which flowed between Junior and her father. The freckled pup cataloged the pair's flowery exchanges carefully, separating swear-words from the rest. Swear words were his favourite. They had a forbidden taste, and he practiced them whenever he managed to steal a moment away from the other pups. Arse. That was a current favourite.

Kisu was relaxing company, but the day had grown long and they needed a change of pace - Pura in particular wanted food and a giant shit, in that order. As if summoned by the older wolf's sigh, their handicapped alpha appeared in their path - but he wasn't on his feet. The grey pup bounded ahead of Kisu, frowning deeply at his uncle. "Doo-pee?" he seconded, referring to Peregrine by his pet name despite knowing full well how to pronounce Peh-ru-green-nuh, thanks very much.

When Peregrine heard approaching footfalls, he lifted his head and watchfully scanned the forest. In only a minute's time, Kisu and Pura materialized and made their way over to him. The Alpha male managed a pained smile for them, though the other father's question earned him a bit of a grumpy stare.

"Um, the fact that my leg's snapped in half?" he replied dryly before turning his attention to the freckled pup. "'Sup, pal?" he questioned, grinning at Pura. Looking now between father and son, Peregrine asked either of them, "What's good? What're you all getting into?" He was veritably thirsty for some mental stimulation; if he had to live vicariously through them, so be it.

Kisu gave a sheepish look at Peregrine's first response, regretting that he'd asked. He looked down at his son, who had surprisingly gotten his eyes from the exact wolf he was named for: his grandfather.

He sighed. "Adventures," he answered. "Well. Mostly me trying to not be old while he is continuously young and bounding with energy. It's exhausting being an old dad. I could be a grandfather by now." Kisu plopped down next to Peregrine.

Pura followed the conversation with furrowed brows, but eventually deduced that Peregrine was unwell, not lazy. The pup's face brightened suddenly, and he opened his mouth to respond - a little gasp escaped, and he promptly shut it again. This went on for a few seconds, attempt after attempt, until "S-s-ick!" flew out of his mouth. "Yoooou sick!"

Kisu dropped to the ground, tried from the day's activities, but his son toddled off into a nearby bush as if he had just as much energy now as when the pair had woken up that morning. Some chewing, spitting, and deforestation later, the ash-grey pup appeared at Peregrine's side again, cheeks puffy and eyes eager. "....!" he explained, and promptly stooped to dribble a glistened, dark green paste onto Peregrine's good leg.

"I could be too," Peregrine pointed out as Kisu flopped down next to him, then paused and amended, "Okay... maybe not. But you're not that old, man. At least all four of your legs work!"

Speaking of which, he turned his attention upon the freckled boy and grinned at Pura's commendable effort to speak. "Yup. Well, my leg is sick. I broke the bone inside it," he explained. It was something he'd already explained to the pups but he was patient as ever, knowing it was hard for them to understand these things yet. "Big time ouchies."

Before he could add anything else, the furball toddled away. Peregrine lifted his brows and shot Kisu a questioning look. Before they could begin guessing what he was up to, Pura reappeared with... something stuffed in his mouth. His cheeks were puffed up like a gluttonous hamster's. This time, the Alpha male quirked a single brow.

"What—?" he began to say when Pura vomited a mouthful of green ooze on his good leg. Peregrine blinked. Then a light bulb went on over his head and he questioned Pura, "Did Aunt Willow show you how to do that...?"

Kisu laughed and then made a mock angry face. "Maybe now is my chance to rule the pack and have babies and grandbabies everywhere!" Kisu was not one to express humor very often, but this was one of those rare moments.

He watched his son move himself to a bush close by. When the boy turned around, his cheeks were swollen like a squirrel. Kisu almost went after his son, but wanted to watch what he would do. The male's cheek twitched when the grey-ish pup let green drool spill onto Peregrine's leg. It was the wrong leg to "fix", but Kisu was surprised how bright his son was.

Kisu twitched as if to follow his son into the brush, but curiosity stayed him. Both adults watched what happened next in confused silence. Peregrine graciously allowed himself to be 'healed' by frothy dribble, which the pup administered with the utmost care, failing to understand that he had picked the wrong leg. He gently smeared the mess into the alpha's fur with the tip of his nose, concentrating so hard that the alpha's question settled in a mental waiting room.

Healing complete, the grey whelp looked up from his worked and gazed vacantly up at his patient."Blue-blu?" he 'repeated' dumbly, and was about to turn to Kisu for inspiration when a delayed understanding brightened his metallic eyes.

"Y-yah, Blue-blu! H-h-h..." Pura's brows knitted together and he breathed a long, huffing sigh - less out of exasperation and more because it helped force the words out. "H-heal. Blue-Blu heal wi..with leaf." Boom. Pura's tail began to wag ferociously behind him. Blue Willow had never officially passed on her skills, but Pura was an observant little boy. Patrolling and healing where his favorite tasks to copy, though some leaves were best left un-chewed - like nettles. Definitely nettles.

Pura didn't answer right away, though the boy's reticence did not surprise him, considering the boy was rather busy. When he did finally finish his task and consider the Alpha's question, he didn't seem to comprehend right away, though Peregrine practically saw the light bulb appear over young Pura's head. He excitedly stammered out a response, his slow, stilted articulation earning a fond glance from Peregrine.

"Wow, I'm impressed, Pura. Thanks, pal," he said, reaching out his slathered good paw to ruffle the boy's fuzzy head affectionately. "Maybe Aunt Willow could make you her apprentice and you could become a Healer. Would you like that, little dude?"

Kisu smiled proudly at the words his small son spoke. He knew that the boy had trouble speaking, and, as his father, he was greatly concerned; but, he knew that it would only take time before the boy spoke normally.

Mixed feelings rose in him when he realized that his son would most likely become a Healer. Every male in his family had always been a Warrior. Robur Aqua wasn't officially one, but he had lived on his own so long that fighting was necessary. Kisu quietly wondered if the grey boy he trained his eyes on now would be soft due to his desired choice of life.

Peregrine then asked Pura Virtúte if he would like Blue Willow to train him as a Healer. Kisu held back a sigh. At least if he became a Healer, he would be best at what he did. Virtútes always excelled at what they did. And, apparently, he took after his grandmother. The mother that died giving birth to Kisu and his brother Inazuma.

Whatever disappointment Kisu felt was entirely absent from his face, and his son was just pleased to be doing things. Pura beamed up at the reclining adults, seemingly engaged, but Peregrine's thanks and subsequent question was met with a long moment of blankness. Eventually, the request for a response timed out. If Pura had processed the question at all, it didn't show, but he gave an enthusiastic bark and brushed past his dad, nose pressed against the ground. A passing scent had caught his attention, and the boy was easily distracted from social situations. He followed his nose with a strange, mildly concerning intensity, and disappeared into the surrounding brush.

Exiting Pura!

Edit on 7/21: Since this has been hanging out for about three weeks, I'm going to edit my post and conclude the thread.

He'd been so grateful for the boy's company that when Pura toddled away, Peregrine looked after him unhappily. He then looked down at his leg, his lips twitching at the sight of the sticky green goop drying there. He would have to wash it off now that Pura wasn't looking, though he didn't mind letting it alone a few moments longer.

Turning to Kisu, desperate for some mental stimulation, Peregrine begged, "Tell me something interesting. I'm seriously dying, not being able to be up and about. Is anything interesting happening around here? What about you? How are you doing...?" he pressed, looking shrewdly at Kisu's face.

He listened raptly as Kisu offered various bits and pieces of the goings-on around the pack lands, hanging on the male's every word. Nothing was too minor or unimportant; he wanted to hear about it all and every last detail, to boot. Kisu humored him but eventually he ran out of topics and Peregrine, only mildly satiated, left his subordinate alone and took an opportunity to catch some Zs. Because rest did a body good, right?