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SNOW! Petbe couldn't believe it. He'd been born in the snowy time of year, and here it was again! The young adolescent was strikingly more than joyous at the everlasting weather of the range his father was leading him to. Cold, but hey. Winter coats could grow back after all. With a wolf-grin and a bound, he was covered in fresh powder from nose to tailtip, soaking the outer edges of his fur and making his gold coat glisten more than ever.

Playful wasn't half of how one might describe Petbe. He was quite literally out of his mind with happiness. The poor small wolf practically had the jitters, like someone had injected him with caffiene and didn't know when to stop. His disposition left him more compact than average, but he was much tougher than he'd been as a puppy. Nearly constant motion left Petbe as a ball of hardened lean muscle. The golden wolf could leap over saplings in a single, hyperactive inspired bound.

Tongue lolling out to one side, he looked around frantically for company. Mind, like body, craved constant stimulation. Walk fast, talk fast, overtake the wind. And now since his body was tired, the mind was wailing at a thousand miles a second. The snow, why didn't the snow melt? It was late springtime. Where was dad? Petbe yipped, and the sound came back at him, bouncing off of tree and stone.

Where was everyone?

Petbe had hardly noticed his own winter coat was already mostly gone, and the bits of powder were pelting him in the biting wind. He was distracted by the moving sparkle waves the combination of the crystalline bits of ice and wind created together.

Spaaarkles.

He was completely zoned out on them by the time black and red wandered into his view, and it took a few lengthy seconds for the now violently shivering adolescent to realize this was a friend. Occam! The persistent black and crimson male was rapidly becoming a friend as far as Petbe was concerned. Well, as far as the golden pup in teen wolf body knew, Occam had always been a friend. From day one, when he had played with the tiny puppy instead of scolding him for bouncing.

"HeyaitsCOLD!" Petbe barked out, thin frame twitching side to side in further efforts to keep warm. It seemed as though a high altitude storm was whipping up, but he didn't worry.

Dad would be back in time to get him out of danger, as usual.

In the meantime, he leaped up and greeted Occam with a bounding tumble and an incoherent string of yips and short barks of happiness. So what if they'd only been apart briefly, he was still happy to have company. "Whatchadoin?"

Wow, even PETBE hadn't gotten a chance to have a word in edgewise at that one. Without missing a beat, he tried to go four different directions at once, gangly adolescent body teetering to the ground. Not a fraction of a second after quite literally splatting belly first to the ground, he was back on his feet and had them all moving the same way. From dead standstill to the top of a run, the golden wolf was off like he was rocket powered, sending a flurry of snowfall all around as he ran.

And he had to, because if he didn't Occam was going to eat him!

Because he was the Rabbit!

Indeed he was almost immediately warm from the sudden running, his shivvering gave way nearly to sweat as his oversized paws threw up clouds of ice all around him. Straight into the wind Petbe sailed, the young male might as well have grown wings. Through evergreens and over patches of frozen grass. Startled birds flew up all around, marking where the wolf had gone rather well.


Meanwhile, Aion had found a shelter to weather the storm, an outcrop protected on three sides. He set off creakily to find his son and Occam (to whom he was eternally grateful for looking after his ADHD only pup) and made an intercept course for the playful pair, his pace slow but steady. His own fur had always been thick, and though the cold might not do well for his joints, Aion convinced himself that he would manage.

Crick crick.

Snapping knees and wrists marked the pasage of Aion. Back at the shelter a few young birds waited for the three wolves to return, the spoils of raiding some killdeer nests on the rocks. Not much, but food was food. They could hunt more properly when this blasting storm died down.



"WHEEEEE!"

Petbe was flying against the wind, fur slicked down to his body. He knew Occam was still after him, and now he could smell his father on the wind before him. The golden pup kicked in the afterburners, and went hurtling full-throttle the last fraction of a mile toward Aion.

Who knows, maybe that kind of quickness would help him later in life. For now, everything was still a game and it would take a miracle to make him tired of it.

Gold impacted Grey in a sudden flying tumble of fur and legs. Old joints popped and a young voice yapped a happy, tail wagging greeting.



It was one of the few times that Aion was glad for a relatively soft impact on snow. Petbe had sent him flying practically end over end, and though he was scratched up a bit where his fur was thin, he was no worse for wear.

He'd just be moving quite a bit more slowly for the next few days. Occam and Petbe would have to catch tomorrow's dinner. He'd break it to the red and black wolf later. "Where's your friend?" the aged wolf groaned as he heaved to his feet again, a shining blur running circles around him as he did so.


"Hewasrightbehindme! Hey OCCAMwhereareyou!" The adolescent shouted at the top of his voice.

Petbe's lungs were burning from the rapid intake of freezing air, and for the first time ever, he looked tired. So after completing the sudden inversion of his father, he flopped over, tongue lolling, great clouds of breath coming forth from his maw. The small male looked like someone had slpatted him into the ground. His stomach rumbled.


Aion looked from Petbe to Occam with a quizzical expression, and decided that some things were just better left unasked. Though he had little luck as far as bringing large game down, there were a couple of feathers still clinging, wet, to one side of his muzzle. He smirked at Occam, still mildly wondering why in the hell the two were both completely out of breath, but nodded at the question. "Not much, but an old wolf can't let his family starve."

With that he turned tail and followed his own tracks back to the cavelike shelter, and settled into the lee against the wind. It was just far back enough into the earth to be warm, the deepest part of the shallow cavern was technically below the frostline. It would be much more comfortable than barreling against a brewing storm.

And he had a growing family to share it with, which made him smile in a way that he hadn't in a long time.


Petbe peeled himself from the ground and was off like a shot again, though notably less exubarant than the first time. He was winded, actually winded, and ended up floundering slightly not foar from entering the shelter where six barely feathered hatchlings were waiting, the results of raiding two nests.

Aion was old and creaky, and he'd done the best he could in the cold, but he wasn't hurt that Occam didn't partake. He had -almost- rejected the food altogether, but now would not have been the time for it. Nourishment was necessary. Quickly, as though to get it over with, he downed one of the small birds without much if any chewing. Tomorrow, he'd teach the pup, and then he could busy himself with things that were less fast paced.


Petbe followed suit with a bird and rolled up against Occam, tongue still lolling out to the side. He was so -tired-, and -hot-. Even in spite of the biting cold. Though it was several degrees warmer on the stone and out of the wind. "You.. Make.. A.. GoodWolf.. Occam!" the gold youngster panted out, still wriggling and twitching in spite of himself. Had he not been so tired, he might have said something a little more... intelligent. As it was, Petbe wasn't the brightest adolescent, though he did have a spark of it somewhere. If you managed to decipher his speech.


"There are other wolves here somewhere," Aion stated matter-of-factly, deep, dry old voice creaking like old trees in the wind. "We'll find them when the cold dies, and invite them in or kick them to the green."

Aion didn't seem to mind being stretched out against in the least. In truth, he often found himself needing a little extra warmth at night. He would be much happier when they had a deep den, beneath the frostline where the earth would stay a comfortable fifty degrees or so. With a lupine smile, the gray crossed his forepaws and lay his head on them, muzzle pointed slightly toward Occam. It signified many things, first that he was too tired to continue conversation, second that he didn't mind being used as a warmer, and third that he would be there in case of trouble. Aching joints in cold didn't prohibit short lunges in emergency, and Aion's jaw was in perfect working order if it was needed.

Which it probably wouldn't be. The place was largely barren along the sides of the mountain, and whatever others lived here were higher up. With the evergreens and the aspens.


Petbe tried hard to follow suit and settle, but even in a restul state he was twitchy. He couldn't help it. The bulk of it, for the moment, was excitement at being someplace new. "Okiieeyeah," the golden youngling agreed with a vigorous jerky nod of his head, lacking just a little of the usual vigor. That or it was just weighed down.

Mint eyes were threatening to close as well, even if tailtip refused to settle. Happiness and hyperactivity. That was Petbe. Nothing at all would change that, probably.


((Winding it down for the 'day' so Occam and Aion can go exploring 'tomorrow', if you don't mind. xD ))

Aion had been locked in a dream - but the light quickly roused him out of it. The rumbling ceased even though his flicking paws didn't. For now, his twitching was because of the brink of wakeness, and slowly the old male was clicking his strained joints into action. It wasn't long before he was flexing his legs as well as paws, and groggily his old gray eyes opened, milky eyes blurring his vision for a moment until he blinked them clear. Petbe, he knew, would be out for quite some time yet.

Silently the gray opened his maw in a broad yawn, showing off his still sharp teeth. One of the things that still worked well on him.

A glance revealed Occam to be awake, and his son, as was to be expected, to be dead to the world. Softly his broad ears swished, and Aion motioned for the black and red to follow. His body clicked and creaked in protest to the first movements of the day, but that quickly eased. One cold night had been all it really took to start growing in the thick undercoat he needed, and while it was still biting cold, he felt better for the even little bit of extra fluff.

Once outside their makeshift shelter, Aion turned to his friend. "Lets go see who's up here while that one's still asleep. Hopefully it will be quick. If not, I'm sure Petbe's imagination will help him entertain himself." With a quick grin at his own joke, he started up the slope to the peaks of the mountain. From here it wasn't far, they were already well over halfway up their chosen lands, but the last stretch wouldn't be easy. Thankfully the snow wasn't so deep anymore as to obscure the path. The winds of the night had blown a large part of it down or off the mountain.