Redhawk Caldera I'm an albatraoz [MFT]

Following one of their final and most intense lovemaking sessions (it had taken Peregrine a full twelve hours to sleep off the effects of it), Fox had brought up her concerns about their love life. With her heat cycle over, they would not be quite as rabid. As Fox's pregnancy progressed, they might not make love at all. Then the pups would come and parenting would take up a huge chunk of their time, with leadership taking up much of the rest. Would they ever have time to be intimate beyond this? Although he felt confident they would make time, the fact that his first relationship had ended over this exact issue definitely made him want to be much more proactive about it this time around.

Peregrine figured one way to ease his mate's mind (and his too, of course) would be to strongly encourage his pack mates to consider the Caretaker trade. Despite the general excitement for the Alpha pair's pups, nobody had sought to acquire their stripes in this field. Although he was glad they had a decent Healer, at least, he really wanted someone to specifically aspire to be a sitter. He would prefer a female, though he would be happy with anybody taking up the mantle.

He finished a patrol and climbed up the slope, then down again into the caldera's inner sanctum. He padded around the frozen lake there, mulling over a mental inventory of their pack members. Peregrine was thrilled to count no less than fifteen among them, which was pretty much max capacity. Who among them might make a good babysitter? He felt all of them could qualify, though he wasn't satisfied with merely thinking about it.

Pausing, the swarthy Alpha male howled a message to all of the caldera: "If anyone's interested in pursuing the Caretaker trade, come see me! I want to speak with you." His head then dropped and he scanned his immediate surroundings before continuing plodding 'round the icy tarn.

After Peregrine's talk with her a bit back when he suggested she become a Caretaker, Somnia had considered it. In the end, she had decided to do it. Even if she had to wait a while before being able to actively pursue it, it would have the added benefits of being able to hang around the future pups. So when the call went out, Somnia answered. Well, not verbally, but she showed up. That still counted as answering it.

"Yessir, Mr. Boss and future father!" She jokingly said in greeting as she walked up to Peregrine.

After a brief moment of considering, Tempest answered the call. She was only half surprised to see Somnia already there. She had been seeing a lot of the elegant fae recently. Perhaps, they were destined to be together, forever. She grinned at the thought as she moved beside Somnia, eyes trained on the Alpha. She was still scared that he would go on a random humping spree, but his time seemed to be over, she noted with relief.

"You called, Sir.Humpyne- I mean Peregrine." The words had slipped from her mouth, and she stood there for a few moments, stunned at herself. Had she just called the alpha, Sir. Humpyness?

Ash wasn't particularly doing anything beside decking out his latest pelts, and sanitizing the infimarys floors, walls, changing flowers, replacing the dried and dead lavender with freshly harvested pine bark, giving the dens a nice and...well,..piney foresty scent.
Good enough.
He also had his herby little noggin on where his little Som Som went, cause she hadn't crashed in we typical spot in his basement anymore, but with a head shake, he dismissed it.
Bruh, y'all's ain't married, nor glued together. The gals got a life, and her own crib. Lay off of her, and if you're doin the right kinda moves, she'll come to ya.
Well, makes sense..
Damn right it does.

Ash was burying the now deceased but once hibernating squirrel, a new cache a bit east of his den, when a golden bell tinkled in his golden head. Was that a call from Per? On Caretakers?
HELL YA LETS DO THIS.

The blonde teen was making his way, pathin lightning and debris, snow and hoppin over fallen trees. While hauling ass, he thought a bit.
Maybe I should tell him about Counselor? After all, I talked it over with his gal, Blue.
Good timing for it, too.
Totally works out, dude. Especially with the previous down you had with the head honcho, talkin bout stuffs.
Yea, and that's a shrink thing, it didn't feel too hot, neither. Maybe bein counselor is chill.
Dig it.

The hippie focused on the dark dude he had found to be a pretty cool cat since joinin the Dera, barking out a "Hey, made it man! Heard ya had a re-"
Ash's vibrant leafy irises landed on the babe next to him, and the dude tripped over his own fours, landing a gnarley face plant, and topping it off with a belly slide across the frozen ground.
Best was to impress the gal and the dude, bro. Show em those hardcore body slammin moves like jagger, and you'll make it to major leagues.

"Eh,..."

Shaking his now white and brownified body, the hippie got back to his fours. A sheepish look came to his face, but only loft and confidently cool words came out.

"Nailed it! Rad landing. Only needed a front flip to get a 10. Better luck next flop, amigos."

Other interested parties are welcome to hop in at any time. :)

He grew bored of walking, so Peregrine found a cozy spot parallel to but overlooking the lake and slung his belly to the cold ground. He folded his right foreleg underneath his chest and curled his plush tail around his left haunch. He kept his eyes, ears and nose peeled for any signs of approach. Surely someone in the ranks must be formally interested in looking after the Alphas' pups. They would be here sooner than they all knew it too.

They did not disappoint him. First came Somnia. As she came closer, Peregrine found himself wishing he could have more than two Betas. He would never think of demoting Finley, though he couldn't help but think Somnia deserved some sort of recognition too. She was at the top of the subordinate tiers, at least, which was certainly an honor. She had Peregrine's respect, which was an even greater one.

Tempest bobbed into sight shortly after Somnia. Peregrine liked her too but found he had trouble taking her seriously. When she greeted him by a silly nickname, he cracked a smile that did not reach his eyes. He was amused but, at the same time, he wasn't. He deliberated whether he would want someone like her watching his children. Could he trust her to be a mature adult about it or was she too accident-prone? Perhaps that touch of silliness was just what a sitter needed?

Speaking of silliness, Ashton arrived in style. Peregrine shook his head at the young Healer, though he smiled, the expression more genuine than the one he had given Tempest. He would have to tackle the same mental issues with him as with her; neither one was a very serious sort and while he knew that play was a crucial part of a pup's upbringing, he also needed the potential Caretaker(s) to be responsible adults.

"Hey, guys, thanks for coming. So you're all interested in the Caretaker role, huh? Well, I'd like to hear your experiences in the field so far. Ladies first. Som, you start." He did not sit up, though he trained his dusky jade eyes on her so that she knew she had his full and undivided attention.

I did edit it a little, but it was little grammar and typo type things.

Tempest arrived shortly after Somnia. She gave her a small smile in greeting. Then Ashton made his entrance, tumbling and skidding into the meeting. She couldn't help but stifle a laugh at him, and quickly reposition herself so that she sat beside him, close enough that their fur brushed against each other.

Peregrine then got right down to business, and chose her first. Past experience was needed? Somnia might as well be out of it right now, but it couldn't be harmful to at least try. "The thing is... I don't actually have past experience... But I do have common sense! If I'm a Caretaker, I'll have to keep the pups from killing each other, keep them from hurting themselves whether it be eating weird things, or keeping them away from ridges on the caldera when they're old enough to leave the den, and I'll also have to keep them entertained. And the key to it would be creatively thought up games were you're manipulating them to behave themselves when they think it's just a fun little game! A little discipline might help too, but that would be up to you and Fox. The babysitter is in no way allowed to harm the children!" Those were the basics, right?

No past experience whatsoever.... Shouldn't she just walk out right now?

Tempest thought for a few minutes after Somnia finished talking. She looked up at Peregrine, noting how the smile he had given her did not reach his eyes. "Peregrine, I know I seem like an accident-prone stranger to you, and that if I were you I would not want me within 10 feet of your children. But I promise you, if you can place your trust in me, I will show you I can be trusted."

She ducked her head, slightly embarrassed by her sudden speech, and lay in a submissive posture at his feet. She stayed there for a couple minutes before getting up and moving to stand beside Somnia, head lowered.

Ash nuzzled his gal's cheek after he finished reorganizing his body, and gave no hesitance in his own answer.
As many times as he had been around in Aspen, caring for everyone else's kids, no wonder how he was still one, himself. Throwin touchdowns with his face, trippin over his own feet over seein his pretty girl, doin the worm infront of audiences....
He was so kid.

"Let me start it by sayin I've been roundin little dudes and dudettes since I was one, myself. Plus, all the experience gives you the major lesson Mother Nature's hot no problem teaching...everything's a learnin experience. There's no such thing of 'knowing everything about everything'. Not only that, every kids different, so with that, ya gotta tweak your own med to fix that sickness."

It's not a sickness, dude.
Bro. Metaphors exist, too.
..so? I knew that.

"I'm not claimin to be top class baby class, but I have had a year of being surrounded by nothin but little ones, so I got quite a bit of nogs on the matter. And from the reviews, I've got nothin but chill words by the top dogs on the job."

Just like his medical satisfactions, Ash had nothing bad on him from kids. Considering he too, was a doctor, if the little 'mano's got hurt or sniffles, he could treat them, without th blink of an eye. They favored him so much more for his awesomeness, and just on his tab alone, it was a bubble of happiness when he made another smile.
Whether it was a parent or a pup.

After he finished his fun little 'sell yourself' speech, he laid his golden tassel over Somnia's stone chiseled soft banner, awaiting the review of the head honcho.

Somnia explained that she didn't have any actual experience, though Peregrine definitely wouldn't cross her off the list just because of that. She brought up some valid points. He nodded his head to acknowledge her, then shifted his attention to Tempest. It was like she had read his mind. Her reply was briefer than the other female's. Finally, he looked at Ashton, who seemed to be the only one here to have actually interacted with pups on a regular basis. Based solely on their initial replies, he liked Ashton for it, with Somnia coming in at a close second. Tempest wasn't in the running yet.

Focusing on her for a moment, Peregrine said, "I actually don't know you very well. We need to work on that. In the meantime, how do you intend to earn my trust? You will have to earn it first," he said honestly and, he thought, fairly. "The other two have already done that, so they have an edge on you. But just because you're a goofball doesn't mean I won't consider you, not at all."

"Okay..." he said in the next moment, addressing all three at once. "Now that I have a picture of where you stand on experience, I can start working with each of you to get you up to speed. In the meantime, I have a project. I want each of you to come up with a game—you can invent it from scratch or base it off one you already know—and host a pack playtime. Bonus points if it's educational. I will encourage the rest of the members to participate so we can all be judges of your skills. I want you to do this by the end of January. Like I said, I'll be supplementing this with other stuff. Fox will help too, of course. But I figure it's a start."

Somnia got a small confidence boost when Perry acknowledged her with a head nod. Perhaps she wasn't out of the competition after all. It made her even more confident, and even proud, when Peregrine said that she had earned his trust. She couldn't help but smile a little. It really meant a lot to her.

When Perry announced that they would have to come up with a game, the gears in her mind started running. A few different fleeting ideas ran through before the more organized side came through. "Any rules to it? It seems to be that we're each on our own, I see that part, but what about the other stuff. Intended age group? A game to entertain a younger aged pup might not necessarily entertain an older pup. Would we be able to choose our age group, or will you choose it for us?" There was another thing on her mind about the game, but that thing she would let slip past the questioning. She had to have a few tricks up her sleeve, did she not?

At the same time, it was that very trick that made her question whether she wanted to aim for going first, or last. If she went first, the credit for the idea would be on her, and it would be likely that the others could use the same principal. If she went last, they wouldn't get the chance to use it unless they thought of it themselves. On a related note, if she went first, she would be setting the standards for everyone else. If she went last, she would be beating someone else's standards. But if she went first, no one could come up with an idea she had and use it before her.

Mental conclusion reached, she would try to go first. Somnia would just have to make sure the standard she set for others was very high.

Tempest was already thinking about her ideas for a game. She nodded when she heard Somnia speak. "Will it be a game that includes all members of the Caldera?" she asked. That would make it more challenging, in opinion.

(I will edit this later to add more detail.)

Ash was floored by the darkies challenge. A game? A game for aaaalll the Hawks?
THIS WAS GONNA BE THE BEST TIME OF HIS LITTLE GREEN LIFE.
A furious fan of tail wags sparked a flurry of snowstorms behind him and Som, making it snow on the golden teen and the greyscale girl.

"I. Dig. This."

Ashton turned to Somnia, then to Tempest, who he had yet to into himself to, speakin.

"Maybe, if we can rad it out to where it's puppyish, but something anyone could enjoy,something simple, maybe it wouldn't need a specific age. If anything, that bombs all maturity, so all tha Dera dudes and dudettes can rock out, and not be self conscious about makin a pear of themselves, because everybody's gonna be doin the pear. Makes it easier to put it in the pups perspective. "

The Doctors psychology trainings threw him wave after wave of gnarley games, goofy things that had potential to thrill a cool cat.
Nailed it, indeed.
But first commercial break from the macho man.

They had questions, of course they did. To Somnia, he answered, "No rules beyond what I've stated already. The demographic is up to you. That's part of the challenge: coming up with something entirely from scratch. It wouldn't be a test of your skills if I gave you too much guidance." Turning to Tempest, he said, "Yes, well, the idea is that they'll be your guinea pigs. Like I said, I'll encourage everyone to participate. You can't pull it off unless our members cooperate, after all."

Out of the three of them, Ashton seemed the most enthusiastic and the least worried about the parameters. Peregrine chuckled at his reaction. He knew all three of them would do something different and interesting. Probably Ashton would come up with something entirely off the wall. He already looked forward to all three play sessions.

"You have about a month to prepare and execute. It's up to you if you want to bounce ideas off one another or work entirely alone. If you have any questions or concerns, I'm happy to field them anytime. On that note... get to it. Good luck and, most importantly: have fun!" With a sparkle in his eye, Peregrine turned and walked away, leaving the three would-be Caretakers to get down to business.

Ashton's tail sent up snow. Everywhere else was safe, except for where Somnia and him sat. That could be addressed later she decided when Ashton and Peregrine started talking. Ashton explained how it could be something a bit childish as well as mature. Then, he started talking about pears to back it up. Since when did pears relate to anything in this conversation? Peregrine brought things a bit back on topic, and answered her question. No guidelines whatsoever besides what he already stated. She could work with that.

Somnia watched Perry leave the three. They could help each other out in the beginning, or work entirely solo. Solo was always easier for many reasons. No one could steal your ideas, you got all the credit, no arguing about what worked and what didn't, and having full control of it, without needing to incorporate someone's input besides your own. Solo for the win, which meant no need to stay around any longer to be influenced by the other two competitors.

"My game will be more awesomer than yours. So much more awesomer to the point where you'll have to give up your crown of awesometasticness to me." Somnia playfully warned Ashton quietly, so Tempest couldn't hear. A devious smirk accompanied the words, as well as a competitive glint in her eyes. She couldn't let him keep his crown that easily after their last encounter. That wouldn't have been any fun.

"Well, I'll be off now!" Somnia announced to Tempest and Ashton as she got to her feet. She rubbed her cheek against Ashton's in parting. Then, she walked out of Ashton's snowstorm with snowflakes peppering the gray part of her pelt. Somnia continued on her way, and left the two wolves at the location. They could work together all they wanted, but Somnia was determined to best them.