Redhawk Caldera curiosity kill the baby

North of the Caldera, in the flatlands, not on Caldera property. I'm going to say Pura can be spied from afar. :)

It had taken some asking around and a little bit of time, but Pura eventually figured out where Fox and Peregrine had set up shop. The distant territory reminded him of the Plateau; it was vast, flat, and easily defensible, swathed in a cloak of mixed greenery.

He watched from afar, well beyond the outer ringer of scents. The area to the north of the stocky, dead volcano was flat, and he would no doubt be spotted eventually. He sat with his back to the wind, feeling it ruffle his thick, freckled ruff. His reasons for seeking out the Caldera weren't entirely clear to him, and he had no knowledge of the goings-on between the two packs apart from a few scattered words from his sister, which he hadn't fully understood. Was telling someone to 'go suck his own dick' the same as asking them to go away, or some kind of homoerotic invitation? Pura wasn't certain.

*hogs all your threads*

Apart from some occasional and brief encounters with his pack mates, Peregrine was trying to stay far away from everybody until he could get the smell under control. He hoped that Ashton et al would locate some tomatoes soon so he could roll in them. For now, he could only bide his time and keep busy with patrolling and hunting.

He was doing a little bit of both this morning when he spotted a large shape moving just beyond the borders. Peregrine stopped, sniffed and froze. Pura! he wanted to scream, yet he had no idea how he would be received by his seemingly autistic son. Also, he had vowed to keep his distance from the plateau wolves...

In the end, a father could not pass up an opportunity to see and speak to his child. "Pura!" he called after all, trotting toward him. "Holy shit, I forgot how huge you were. What are you up to, buddy...?" he questioned, stopping some distance away so as not to infringe on Pura's personal space, in case he shared his sisters' opinion of the Redleaf-DiSarinno.

In the end, it was Peregrine that spied him. Pura watched his adopted father approach, hollering his name. He barely reacted when the smell hit him squarely in the face, and in that moment became properly the only wolf to flare his nostrils and inhale the strong scent of skunk that accompanied the approaching Alpha.

"Holy shit, I forgot how huge you were. What are you up to, buddy...?"

"You smell different," the youth informed his step-dad, taking a few more experimental whiffs of Peregrine's toxic aura. It stung his nose, but wasn't entirely unpleasant - just concentrated. There was another scent upon him, masked by the first but still detectable. Pura stood up and took a few steps forward, eyes narrowed and nose working hard to separate the two. It was a wet, musky smell - faint, and more enticing for it.

After his conversation (yes, an actual interchange of sentences) with Saēna, Pura had spent a long time pondering the departure of Peregrine and his mate, trying to feel what his sister was feeling. For someone that couldn't really feel, that was difficult. Facing Peregrine himself did not make things any clearer. He looked the same and spoke in the same low, casual tone that didn't grate on Pura's ears. After a long stretch of silence, the freckled titan simply answered that he was "Visiting you. I have a question."

In his surprise and excitement, Peregrine had entirely forgotten his, er, personal problem. He only remembered when Pura reacted to the scent, then commented on it. The Alpha made an oh shit! face and backed up a few steps before shooting the freckled giant an apologetic smile. Pura's lack of dramatic reaction heartened him and earned a pleased sigh.

"Sorry about that. I was sprayed by a skunk. I was so excited to see you, I forgot..." Peregrine said, glad Pura hadn't met him with blatant negativity, as Junior or Saena might have done. "Shoot," he added, then realized Pura may not understand and clarified, "Ask away, bud. I'll answer any questions you have for me. It's good to see you," he added, a sort of forlorn undertone in his deep voice.

Judging by Peregrine's reaction, not everyone enjoyed his new life choice scent. The change in his face was obvious enough that even Pura could tell that he wasn't particularly proud of it. The freckled boy shrugged, offering a practiced but still strangely shaped smile. "It doesn't smell bad," he assured the stinky Alpha, widening his nasal passages and inhaling deeply by way of proof. "Just strong."

'Shoot' wasn't a new one, but he appreciated Peregrine's efforts to clarify. Pura studied the looming Caldera for a moment, formulating the question in his mind. Half-hatched plans and clashing impressions moved past each other in the darkness, reaching out for purchase. Among them, obscured by depth, swam Saēna's acerbic judgment of Fox and Peregrine's choices. Pura let them glide past. "I want to be Alpha," he told Peregrine firmly and without hesitation. "How do I do it?"

The Alpha chuckled, appreciating Pura's lack of offense over the smell. "I've smelled worse farts," he said companionably, knowing the juvenile could relate. Peregrine winked, then slipped a bit closer, seeing as the scent didn't bother Pura like it did others.

His question took Peregrine by surprise. Before responding, he thought it over a moment and decided to ask a couple questions of his own. "Before I can answer that, do you want to be Alpha of the plateau? Or just an Alpha in general?"

"The Plateau," he answered. The scent intensified, but Pura did not flinch.

According to Saēna, Peregrine was no longer on speaking terms with the Plateau's leadership, and would have no logical reason to inform Dante of the boy's ambitions. If he did - so what? It was natural for young males to covet the throne, and he was still young enough for it to be taken as mere posturing. But it wasn't. Ambition had begun to take hold, settling into Pura's very bones. He gazed unblinkingly at Peregrine, awaiting his advice.

When Pura answered, Peregrine wondered what had prompted his son's ambition. His lips parted and he wanted to ask all about the plateau and was going on there to make the boy's personality change in this way. He then closed his mouth and the muscles in his jaws visibly clenched. It was none of his business anymore and he wanted to distance himself from it. The one exception seemed to be his children, so he decided to ask about the girls, but not before answering Pura's inquiry.

"Well, you could earn it fairly by contributing to the pack, earning a trade, working your way up and all that. In time, Dante will step down for one reason or another and you could prepare for that day. Or," he continued, eyes fixing on Pura's freckled face, "you could try to usurp him, if you really think you're more fit to be the plateau's leader. If you do that when you're too young, the wolves may not accept your leadership. Hell, they might not accept it anyway if you overthrow him, assuming they like him. Do you remember how some wolves didn't like it when Blue Willow stepped down and Fox became Alpha?"

He didn't want to lose Pura's attention or confuse him, so he paused there and asked, "So, what makes you want to be Alpha, Pura?"

Peregrine delivered, and Pura thought hard on his words. None of the current residents of the Plateau really knew him, and he wasn't exactly quick to make friends. With members coming and going every week, Pura's slow tactics were not enough. But his sister would help. Together, they would rise to the throne - she would charm, and he would murder. It filled the boy with utter calm to see his future stretched out before him.

The first question was swiftly followed by a second, and it was this one that Pura focused on. "I should be Alpha," he answered simply. "Saēna too."

Out of his four children, Peregrine would have chosen Junior for this kind of ambition. When Pura mentioned Saena, he wondered if she knew about her litter mate's sudden lust for power and his inclusion of her in his schemes. And what did Junior (poor self-harming Junior) and Tytonidae think of this plan? Although Peregrine considered them all his children, his two dark daughters could claim they alone were heirs from the plateau's founder's bloodline.

"Do you think of it as a birthright?" he wondered lightly. "What about Junior and Ty?" he added. He hoped it would segue into a news update on all four of his estranged children. He wasn't stupid enough to assume that part would change, although Pura's visit and openness gave him hope that all was not lost.

"Do you think of it as a birthright?", Peregrine asked. "Yes," his son responded flatly and without pause. He could not recall ever hearing the word before, but presumed it was a good a fit as any to describe what he was feeling. He had goals, and a plan - for the first time in his life.

Pura shifted his weight, marveling at the unrelenting strength of Peregrine's scent. It was as though his very skin had been set to work manufacturing the skunk's odour. The question about Peregrine's true-born daughters did not receive so prompt a response. Both girls were gone. Pura was privy to the location of Junior, but no-one had seen or heard from Ty in a long time. "They're exploring," he semi-lied. At least it suggested they might both still be alive. In a rare (if somewhat robotic) show of compassion, he added, "They're fine, don't worry."

He deserved that much. It wasn't Peregrine's fault that a red witch had squirreled him away to her sex mountain.

The two words were innocuous enough, as were the four additional ones meant to reassure him. Peregrine licked his lips, eyes meeting Pura's. It sounded like Tytonidae and Junior were no longer living at the plateau, which made sense for the latter, not so much the former. If they were together, that was good. Pura's words seemed to imply as much. He decided to trust the freckled leviathan. Peregrine wasn't even sure Pura was capable of saying untruths.

"I trust you," he replied, squashing the impulse to ask a thousand more questions. All four of his offspring seemed to be doing okay; that was all that mattered. Beyond that, it was none of his business. "Back to the Alpha thing—I would be careful about mentioning your... vision to anyone. It could be considered a betrayal. Just be careful, son. I'm here if you have any other questions or need help, with this or anything. Okay?"

Tytonidae might drop by one day (assuming her co-traveler didn't prevent it) but Junior and Saena surely never wanted anything to do with him ever again. So Ty and Pura would be the exceptions to the rule against fraternizing with plateau wolves. Peregrine was happy with that. His tail stirred lightly, though he stopped when it fanned his stench, making it worse. He grimaced, then exchanged a bemused, apologetic look with his boy.

"Only to Saēna," Pura promised. He understood that flouting his ambitions without proper backup would get him killed - Dante was fair, but certain things fell to an older kind of law. The kind you knew before you could see, or hear. "I'm going now," the boy announced. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it would be wise to approach Peregrine in his current state, but eventually took a few steps forward and bumped the tip of his nose against his adoptive father's cheek in a show of.. well, something.

Then he turned, and plodded in the direction of home without looking back.

Peregrine nodded to say, That's good. In the next moment, Pura announced his departure and promptly began walking away, but not before giving his father a nudge. As he watched his overgrown son lumber back toward the plateau, a smile slowly crept over his face. Even though Pura was somehow different than other wolves, Peregrine loved him no less. He was happy to still have his favor and hoped the boy would come to him again, whether for advice or just to spend some time.

Only after the freckled giant became a speck in the distance, then disappeared altogether, did the Alpha male eventually turn away to resume his lonely, smelly tasks.