It was early noon and he had finished with his round of early patrols that morning. He wanted to get back to the main den with the pups and spend some more time with them now that they were bigger and able to romp around. After watching Lumi and Finn play together, he felt like maybe they could teach him a thing or two about playing with kids. It had been quite a long time since he played, but perhaps it would come naturally to him, too...he supposed there was only one way to find out.

He rounded the corner of the door and peeked in, grinning as he did so. "Hey kids, how about some play time?"

Whittaker would look up when his father appeared around the corner. his short little tail wagged in greeting, his body twisted to look at the king before he rolled to the front. did their father want to play? so far he had played with his siblings, and over the tired body of their mother as all five of them wrestled with each other. he guessed Mother was a bit weary from looking after all of them at once. he didn't spot the ivory form of Heloise either, making him assume that it was Acere's time with them now. the boy approached his father, tail swaying but not really with excitement. it was an acceptance but he wasn't a very hyperactive boy anyway.

it didn't make him less excited about playing though. he weaved around Acere's longer legs, pressing his body against his father's massive limbs before pulling away. his pinkish salmon eyes looked up at the man, blinking dolefully at him. "what can we play?" anything was fine with him truthfully. he deferred to his more decisive siblings, looking over his shoulder at them to silently question. they could all gang up on their father and tackle him. some of them were getting big and pretty soon they'd be almost as tall as Acere himself. but Whittaker still felt he wasn't ready for such height. he wanted to be a child a bit longer than some did.