The moment we've all been waiting for

As he had suspected he would, he hadn't left Ikigai's side since the day their pups were born. The furthest he would go was down the path to the pack's store of supplies to get more food or another blanket if one of their little daredevils decided that their blanket was their new chew toy. He was absolutely infatuated with them. Three pups–a large litter for his family–and all of them absolutely stunning. There was so much of their mother in their appearance with white bases and dark markings and he was absolutely thrilled. Ikigai was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on so of course he had hoped that their children would take after her. Whether or not their personalities turned out to be more shaped by one of them or the other was yet to be seen, but they were growing into their own individuals with every passing day. Now all he could wish was that time would slow down so they would stop growing so fast.

Still, he couldn't deny that they were getting restless being cooped up in their den–no matter how spacious it was–and he'd eventually have to relent and allow them to go out and see the world for themselves. The weather was lovely this day with warm sun and just enough breeze blowing through to keep it cool and not too chilly so he had fully run out of excuses to deny them their first trip out into the world. With Ikigai's help he loaded the pups up into a set of connected baskets that she draped over his back with Damira and Darika on one side and Dominus on the other. After a stern warning to not try and jump out of the baskets before they got where they were going, he walked out of their cave and down the winding mountain path, making sure not to hurry both so they could take in the view and so that he wouldn't jostle them around too much. Only once they got down into the grassy valley near the island's lake did he lower himself down onto his stomach so that Ikigai could remove each pup out of their basket and onto the grass. "Stay close, you three," he warned, a little smile tugging at his lips. "If I can't see you then you've gone too far."

"Deimos & Ikigai"