Redhawk Caldera Elementary, my dear Watson

I'll be PPing mama in the background (unless she wants to join!). Anyone's welcome!

The sun would set soon and two of the pups were winding down after dinner, ready to go to bed soon. Wildfire was not one of them. For one reason or another, she was still buzzing with energy. Although the Alphas initially tried to coax her to calm down, it became clear it was futile. @Fox decided to take her on a walk outside to see if she couldn't tire out her overly energetic offspring. Wildfire was happy to spring after her fiery mother, eager to get back out into the fresh air.

The Alpha female led her daughter along the caldera's ridge, which afforded the puppy a view of both the sprawling wilderness off to her left and the blue caldera itself off to her right. "Coo coo coo coo!" Wildfire warbled as she trailed after Fox, who kept up a relatively swift pace (probably in the hopes of wearing out Wildfire faster). "Amma! Cooooo!" Her voice echoed back to her, causing the puppy to fall silent and prick her ears.

Something else caught her attention and the pup stopped to look at the spot between her paws. Oblivious, Fox continued trotting ahead. Wildfire stared down at the the thing moving around between her front feet. It was a bug, though unlike any she'd ever seen before. It was glowing. Well, its butt pulsed on and off weakly. Little did the month-old pup know she was looking at one of the season's earliest fireflies, which would be dead in minutes due to its premature flight.

Jaws was feeling restless, in a way that he could not explain, for a reason he did not know. With his gray jay riding along on his back, he attempted to work off some of the anxiousness through a brisk jog across the caldera's ridge, but he was not the only one out that evening. In the distance, two fiery pelts, set aglow by the sinking sun. There were only two wolves in the pack that had such striking pelts: Fox and her daughter, Wildfire, who was lagging behind her mother. Not feeling the most sociable, Jaws was about to change course and disappear into the forest, but he thought better of it. It would not look right if Fox were to see him abruptly run off, it would be too obvious that he had meant to avoid them.

So, the coywolf sucked it up and continued on, loping up behind Wildfire. As he neared, the gray jay jumped from his back to his head. "What did you find?" he softly asked the pup. His bird chirped but Jaws did not believe it was saying hi, as its little talons started to prick his skin as though agitated.

Slowly, the pulses slowed, then stopped. The puppy's head tilted to the side in wonder. Before she could think of what to do with the dead firefly—eat it, perhaps, or take it back home to her collection—a sound caught her attention. Wildfire glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see her mother, but instead saw the toothy face of the pack's dark Gamma. She sucked in a breath, which drew his scent into her little nose. Any anxiety she might have felt melted away, more or less, when she realized she recognized him.

Slowly turning to face him (and accidentally squashing the dead bug beneath a rear paw), Wildfire's mouth opened to say something when the bird suddenly hopped atop Jaws's head. It chirped, causing her ears to quiver, and the puppy blinked her golden eyes and asked, "Ooossa?" Curiosity burned in her gaze, which flicked sideways when she heard soft footfalls. It was her mother, who reclined nearby to observe. Wildfire's eyes shifted back to the gray jay, fixated upon him as she queried again, "Ossa?"

The black hybrid momentarily glanced to Fox, offering her a respectful nod in greeting, before looking back to her daughter. Wildfire's attention was not on Jaws this time; her focus was fixed on the gray jay atop his head. His bird had given him what he felt was a cold shoulder when he found him again after the last time the two were around Wildfire. By now the coywolf was convinced that his bird had a jealous nature, so he was curious to see how it would behave this time. So far it simply sat on his head, poking his skull with tiny talons, its suspicious gaze fixed on the pup.

"Bird," Jaws said to Wildfire, and this garnered him a rude peck from the gray jay, to which he winced slightly. "Jealous bird," he amended, receiving another peck and what he perceived to be an indignant chirp. The gray jay briefly puffed it's feathers, and then chattered away, saying unknown things in a variety of tweets and chirps. Jaws lowered his front quarters and then his head, to provide Wildfire with a better view of his feathered companion, who responded by gripping his head even tighter and widening its eyes. It was on the cusp of wanting to flee, but it remained, staring at Wildfire.

"Bird," Jaws said. Without even realizing she was doing it, Wildfire's lips pursed and she slowly emulated him. "B-b-b..." The series of chirps and squawks caused her to freeze, listening. Her ears tipped backward, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the bird's voice. It was an interesting sound and not wholly unfamiliar, either. She had heard birds chirp before, usually in the mornings, just never so close by.

"B-b-brrr," the little puppy tried again when the jay finally fell silent, blowing a little raspberry there at the end. She smiled, proud of herself, and glanced at her mother with her black tail waving in the air. She then faced Jaws and the bird again. "Dee, dee!" she cried now, batting a paw at the air. "Heeeee... hi!" The last word popped out with startling clarity.

Jaws ears pricked with interest, his gaze trained intently on Wildfire, who was on the verge of saying 'bird', but the word did not quite come out. She, did however, perfectly form a different word: 'hi'. Jaws grinned, casting a did you hear that? look at Fox.

Meanwhile, his gray jay had remained rooted to his head, but Jaws had a different plan for his jealous bird. He slowly, stealthily raised a paw. The bird's attention remained fixated on Wildfire, never noticing the encroaching paw, and in one swift but gentle swipe Jaws scooped the bird off his skull and had it on the ground, gingerly barring it from flying by holding its tail. But the bird, eyes bulging, did not try to fly, instead it shrunk back against Jaws' foreleg. The coywolf reached down touched its head with his nose, reassuring it though he was inwardly grinning, thinking payback!. Jaws gave Wildfire a soft look. "Be gentle," he murmured, doubting she understood the words but might pick up on the sentiment.

All of a sudden, Jaws swiped a paw at the bird, pinning it to the ground by its tail feathers. Wildfire straightened, then craned her nose toward the jay, sniffing in its direction. She looked inquisitively at the Gamma, who seemed to be all right with her approach, then smiled at the bird. "Dee! Hi!" she said in a rather breathy manner. Her heart was thrumming in her chest, as she was both excited and uncertain about getting nearer to the bird, despite its small size.

Taking her cue from the adults as always, Wildfire closed the short distance between herself and the trapped avian. She didn't really understand Jaws's soft command, nor did she have total control over her own strength yet. So without further adieu, she raised a paw and popped the gray jay right on the head, rather too roughly. Fortunately for the poor bird, she immediately giggled and took a step back, somehow anticipating that it would do something crazy in response to her playful bap.

Jaws could not help but laugh when Wildfire clapped the bird across the head. The gray jay let out a shriek and made the jump to take off and fly, but he was still held by his tail and promptly hit the ground in a very unceremonious way, landing flat on his belly and beak, momentarily dazed. Although he was amused at first, getting a little revenge on his bird for pecking him twice, Jaws felt guilty in that moment, and reached down to coax his bird back to its feet gently with his muzzle. It let out a pitiful chirp, which stirred the coywolf to even more guilt, so he took his paw off the bird's tail.

But the gray jay did not fly off, instead it turned to face Wildfire again, and this time it gave her a piece of its mind, chirping and squawking as he took a few steps toward her, but its newfound courage was very fleeting. Suddenly, as if remembering that it was afraid of others, the gray jay shuffled back and huddled against Jaws' foreleg again. The coywolf looked at it with a quizzical look, surprised it did not fly off as its method of staying by Jaws' leg hardly helped it last time. Yet stay it did, beady black eyes on Wildfire.

The bird tried to make an escape, though Jaws's paw kept it anchored to the earth. It crash landed, causing a little gasp to tumble from the pup's mouth. She swallowed as she watched the Gamma release the bewildered jay, who then turned on her and began screeching at her much the way the pup had screamed at everyone as a newborn. Wildfire's ears fell backward and she backpedaled several steps. The two creatures did not share the same language, though the puppy somehow knew she was being chastised.

After a moment, the jay's cries ceased and it huddled beneath Jaws. Wildfire decided to do the same, only with her mother. Shooting the bird an offended look, she scurried over and clung to Fox's leg. Nonetheless, her golden eyes remained on the bird. She was still quite curious about it and wanted to befriend it, though there was no a strong thread of apprehension woven in there now. All its screaming made her very uncomfortable.

From the safety of her mother's shadow, Wildfire stuck her tongue out at the loudmouthed jay. It was a gesture borne partially of indignation but it was more playful than anything. As soon as she sucked it back into her mouth, she blinked, wondering if the bird would return the favor.

The bird did not return Wildfire's gesture (it probably could not) so it just stared. For the moment it made no more sounds, did not fluff its feathers, or do any of the other things it often did. Jaws could see Wildfire was still very curious and wanted to play, despite having been pushed back a bit by the bird's brazen display. So he bent down and used his muzzle to gently urge the bird forward, who backpedaled before making a hop and landing on the top of Jaws' nose. As its tiny talons gripped his the sensitive flesh he winced, feeling his eyes begin to water. He tried to displace it again with his paw but it then just hopped to his paw, before finding his muzzle again as he put the paw back down. With a huff Jaws walked forward himself, the bird stubbornly perched on his snout.

As the coywolf neared the pup, he felt the gray jay's talons grip harder, and then its nerves finally activated the flight response. With a series of chirps the bird fled, off into the trees, and disappeared completely. Jaws sighed. "Sorry, Wildfire," he said, "Maybe I can get him to play another day."

The jay did not seem amused in the least. It was soon clinging to Jaws's face, only to take flight and disappear. The pup's head jerked as she followed its upward trajectory, golden eyes blinking as the bird disappeared into the dusk. She stared in that direction for a solid ten seconds, then her gaze shifted to the underside of her mother's chin before at last dropping back to the hybrid's dark face.

"Dee...? Go?" Wildfire asked in an inquisitive voice. She felt her mother lick her ears (probably in response to her valiant attempt at speech) but her eyes did not waver from the black male's toothy face.

For a few moments, Jaws looked softly upon the pup in silence, before he answered her back in a mimic of what he thought she was trying to say. "Bird go," he said, shaking his head gently. He, too, was disappointed that the gray jay had left. It was entertaining to see it react to Wildfire, and to see her so curious and eager to get to know it better. But to the bird's credit, it had come a long ways from the days it would disappear high into the branches at the mere sight of another wolf coming their way. Jaws speculated that there may come a time when he would be able to encourage it to trust the pup a bit more. "Bird thinks you want to eat it," he chuckled, wondering if this encounter would hurt or help the jealousy the gray jay seemed to be forming.

Jaws confirmed that the bird was gone and the child frowned. Something about the male's chuckle caused her lips to twitch, though, and she let out a soft giggle. "Tit?" she asked, simply trying to mimic him. She hadn't understood the whole sentence itself. If she had—and if she'd been able to speak properly—Wildfire would have enthusiastically ensured everyone that she definitely didn't want to eat the gray jay. She just wanted to befriend it!

Alas, it wasn't meant to be for now. With a sigh, the pup sank against her mother's leg. Fox, sensing that the little diversion had worked in tiring out the energetic youth, licked her ears again and coaxed her onto her feet. "Let's head back," she said and Wildfire reacted to the motion of her dam's body more than to the words, rising and following the Alpha female as she began to retreat toward the den. "Night, Jaws."

As they passed Jaws, Wildfire grinned up at him and waved her black tail. "B'dee!" she said to him. She then scurried after her mother, bumping into Fox's heels as they trotted slowly through the dark air. When they reached the den, its dark mouth swallowed them, their bright red coats vanishing like the flame of a snuffed candle.

Jaws grinned at the pup's tit response, the word of course meaning something to him that the pup would not yet understand. Despite his hesitance to have this visit, he could not deny that he felt better, somehow less restless, now that he had had it. But it was drawing to a close, and as Fox gathered her daughter and the pair walked past him bid them both good night with a bow of his head. "Sleep well." To Wildfire specifically though he returned her wave with a short one of his own as he gazed down at her.

The coywolf then returned to his own den at an easy walk, no longer feeling like he had to jog for the anxiety had gone from him. When he reached his den, the gray jay was there, sitting on the log and looking a bit sulky. Jaws gave it a gentle poke before he crawled beneath the log, and the bird soon followed, forgoing the hole it usually slept in to rest by Jaws' leg. He curled his neck around it and the pair drifted into sleep.