Whitebark Stream and it’s getting so hard tryna to cope

the blackbird continued with his exploration and allowed the wolves behind him to dissolve into an afterthought. his childlike curiousity grew to wonder, suddenly striking him with awe as he marveled at the world around him. though he had thoroughly explored the area around the den, this was something akin to a dream!

his universe was growing faster than alsek could have hoped. his heart swelled with excitement upon hearing each chitter, each chirp, that the woodland had to offer. he wondered what might make such strange sounds, and after turning his head upward to investigate the brewing storm, alsek was pleased to have his question answered.

another blackbird, just like this father: friend?

Tags for reference  :)

To rear his own brood was an absolute joy and he hated to part from them for any length if time, but Artyom's duty did not lie only with them. As sole leader of Whitebark since Dawn had stepped down to turn focus on the upbringing if their children, he felt the strain of it. To act as Alpha entirely on his own was not something his parents had prepared him for and, with the disappearance of pack-mates meaning less hunters to feed their collective young, he was beginning to entertain the idea of promoting another to aid him.

But who?

Minnow would've been his heart's choice. She was young, yes, but she was his niece through Dawn - but could she handle the pressure? Had her mind been more stable, perhaps, but the notion had vanished completely when she had. Artyom had looked for her, naturally, but it was difficult to source a young she-wolf who didn't want to be found.

Still, his heart ached for the pale yearling and he couldn't shake the sinking feeling that he'd failed her. It was the way of yearlings, he supposed, to disperse from a place unsuited to them - he only wished she could've reached out to him first so that he might wish her well.

Having delivered a meal to @Kaori and checking that all was well with her little family, Artyom dropped by to see @Kavik and Grezig. He wagged his tail in the adults' direction as he arrived, though it was the tiny explorer who caught his attention. The dark boy was a handful, at times an escape artist, but he was just as wonderful as all of Whitebark's other cubs. "Who's this?" Artyom asked as he drew nearer, keen to express interest in the child's newest discovery.

residual anxiety about his packmates still lingered, but alsek was more confident now than he had been before. moving to the rendevouz site allowed him to familiarize himself with their scents; he matched artyom to spice and tureed around to greet him.

mmm, alsek thought aloud, thig-inga chub. he looked at the blackbird, then back to artyom, and shrugged his shoulders. thig-inga chub was an unfortunate name for anyone, but he didn't make the rules.

Thig-inga Chub. Okay, that was... unusual. Artyom's smile brightened and he beamed down at the boy with an amused, toothy smile. "Ah, yes," he crooned, "that is a fine name for your little blackbird."

Artyom lowered his haunches to the ground and lifted his stare, earthen eyes finding the dark-feathered songbird as it called out to its mate. "Perhaps if we wait long enough, he will come down to the ground to say hello." 

language, an interesting thing. b'ack-bird, he whispered to himself. was that the proper name for these strange, flying things? alsek looked over at artyom, half-expecting him to explain, but turned away just as quickly. 

'n, hm, alsek wondered quietly, say hello? oh, wouldn't that be exciting! he hoped that artyom was right, and that their friend really might come down to greet them. to encourage the bird, he called to it with sing-song voice: hello!

of course, this startled the bird and he flew to another branch, still heard but now out of sight. alsek's ears fell back with sudden disappointment while he fought to hold in his tears.

Alsek seemed to be a little too impatient to wait, and Artyom felt his excitement intensify. He saw it in the stormy hues of his wide eyes and, not a moment later, the cub pointed his muzzle in the songbird's direction to bellow an enthusiastic greeting.

Not surprisingly, the feathered creature was started by the little one's high-pitched voice, and vacated his branche to perch among the leaves of another. "It's alright," he crooned with a fond smile, and sank to his belly to reach out with his snout in a comforting nudge to Alsek's raven shoulder. "We must be patient with small reatures - they are made easily frightened by the littlest of things."

easily frightened, not unlike alsek himself. he wanted to apologize but feared that spooking the birds again would send them out of earshot, too. he looked to artyom for permission, then whispered, sorry, bird.

how? he asked artyom, how, the flap'fingsgo, where b'ackbird? the child moved his body to mimic the bird's movement, particularly curious about the creature's wings. another call came, and he awakwardly "flew" in its direction.