Paradise Falls thanks for showing me around last night

There was no grand fanfare when Caiaphas discovered the world beyond his mother's side and his brother's dominant presence in the den. No summoning call sent out to let everyone know that the Valle children had emerged. It was just a simple fact of life now.

His mother laid not too far from the mouth of the den in the glow of evening light. While the children weren't left alone, they were not being immediately fussed over for once. So he dared to stand out in the open as his eyes tried to make out the world in their still developing way. Finer details were still lost on him, but the light of evening out here was far different from dark den depths.

The peace would likely be momentary at best, but it existed all the same for now.

Like Adelard, Towser kept to a strict agenda that had him busy - and, yet, not busy at all. He was involved enough to know the whereabouts of his pack mates and, by now, most knew where to find him. His little sleeping spot by a fallen log was hard to miss now that he had spruced it up a bit. The handiwork of hollowing out the inner part of the trunk had been abandoned. No wolf, he knew now, could do what a woodpecker could. So, he had cleaned up the clearing around it and made a nest of leaves as a sleeping spot. When he came and went, he walked in the same spots so that a path was now clearly visible.

As it was, he finished pulling some wayward weeds and then began his end-of-day patrol. He passed by the communal den. Then Hazelnut's den. Then, after a rather lackadaisical loop around the open areas of the pack lands, he ended up at Isla's den.

Lumbering paws froze as he saw a pup out in the open. His head tipped to one side. Had he been that small at one point? Was it that time already for the little ones to be out? A quick jab at the air with his nose told him the new mother was nearby if not settled down in her burrow. He licked his nose as his fur stood on end, still staring at the miniature wolf. The corners of his mouth pulled back before easing up. If he was going to be a good pack mate, he ought to do what anyone would do when it came to the newest members of the pack.

"Hello there," he addressed, tone warm and soft as not to startle those new ears. "Did Mum say you could be out here?"

         

these bad omens, I look right through them that's what you do when you love somebody

TOWSER

The voice was warm, vibrant like sunlight on his face. This was a tone he had heard uttered in the den before. No, not for him. Yet he knew warmth in a distant kind of way. Only it had come close now from someone he did not know. If his mother might have been concerned about a visitor, she did not show it.

Mmmm, He hummed in response. A very grand thing, didn't you know? He had just uttered the secrets to the universe and no one would hear them or remember them. Mmphf. This was more of a disgruntled sound than before.

His next target, on his bumbling path, was this large man's feet.

The cub hummed in reply. Twice. Even if the little thing sounded displeased... like he understood what his older pack mate had said. A smile finally found Towser's anxious features. He sat, watching as the cub approached his off-white paws. Of course, he had known he wouldn't get a real answer. This litter was still not ready for its rendezvous site yet. Too young and much too small.

"Well," he decided then he would do most of the talking for the two of them, "if your Mum doesn't mind, I can watch ya for a bit."

He slowly lifted the targeted paw and let it hover over the boy's head. Can't get this one now, can ya? "Quite the hunter, aren't you? Could use more like you with that sort of drive an' all."

         

these bad omens, I look right through them that's what you do when you love somebody

TOWSER

Brother was absent and mother wasn't correcting him, had not corraled him back into his proper place. With growing perplexion came mounting frustration, Constantin's small face scrunching to show it all until he could no longer take the waiting. With a sharp yip he burst from stillness to barrel out into the open, after where Cai had vanished to.

It was bright and blurred his vision, causing him to stumble but not fall. A low gurgle was his growl of discontent, a low and steady bubbling within his chest. It took time to adjust, but when he was confident enough of his senses again, he started forward once more.

Caiaphas was a rusting smudge in his sibling's vision, and Tin was drawn directly to him like a heatseeking missile. He would press himself right up against Cai's side, gnashing milkteeth and burbling with his own barrage of wordless declarations at the far larger creature. Fearlessly standing with his brother against whatever it was that was happening. It didnt matter. They were a pair. Constantin had decided it.

He was preoccupied by the giant. Suddenly he had felt like David, the one who might fell something so much larger than life. He tried his best to reach, reach, reach. Yet it would be too grand of a height for him.

Maybe on his umpteenth attempt he would have landed it. They would never know.

The pressure of Tin against his side was familiar, but Caiaphas could not decide what had upset his brother. There was so much space, surely he did not fuss for that. Did he fuss for mother? Did he fuss for this new playmate? It was enough to still any further 'hunting' attempts as he stared blankly. Big baby eyes only looked at the large figure as if to say well?