Kodi: My Dad was always...I mean...
Yukon: Dad was definitely the softy of the family, just like Shackles over here...
Kodi: Hey cut it with the nicknames on this thing! I don't need anyone calling me Shackles on base...unless you want the world to know just why you got the nickname “Dipper”...
Yukon: Shut up dingus! Geeze...alright fine...truce for this question?
Kodi: *Sighs* Truce.
Yukon: Good.
Kodi: Dad's always been a surprisingly warm mammal. I mean, you take one look at him in his full military regalia and you'd probably cross the street just to avoid passing too close to him. But despite his training and discipline, he was always a warm, cuddly Dad.
Yukon: Always made time to read us bedtime stories. Always was the one to pick us up and kiss our boo-boos.
Kodi: And he was always there to talk to about...well, anything. At least when he wasn't at work, and he did everything within his power to give us the best puphood he possibly could.
Yukon: At least when it came to what he could control...
Kodi: Dad was in the North Mammalian Alliance military for pretty much our entire puphood. *sighs* And when they had to move him, he had to go....which meant...we had to go too...
Yukon: It always hurt him when he had to force us all to move... every time.
Kodi: Sometimes he'd cry. Sometimes we'd cry...most of the time we'd all cry. But we really couldn't do anything about it. I mean...Dad had an important job, and he had to keep food on the table...but it still didn't make it any easier...especially during our early teenage years...when Mom left.
Yukon: I suppose that's the one, good thing about us moving around so much. We never stuck in one place long enough for too many of the local wolf families to catch wind of what Mom did to Dad.
Kodi: We're half-blood pups. We tend to lean more into our Norwolff heritage cause it's the more forgiving culture, but neither Native Wolves nor Norwulves have a very...high view of breaking a tithe. And naturally when local families found out about us...they'd usually tell their pups not to hang around with us. That we were...'tainted'.
Yukon: That was the only time I'd ever seen Dad be...really stoic. Really cold. Not to us...but...just generally. You could always see the pain behind his eyes, especially when anyone talked about Aluetia.
Kodi: Yewk, c'mon...at least call her Mom.
Yukon: If she had actually been a mom to us, I would.
Kodi: *Sigh*
Yukon: It took Dad a few years to thaw after she left, but eventually he got back to his old self...well, for the most part.
Kodi: I'm ashamed to admit I didn't make things any easier on Dad during that time...While he was holding everything in about Mom, I was lashing out a lot. *Shakes head* Getting into fights at school, fights with Yewk, even a few fights with Dad. I just remember...telling him how much I hated him for making us move around so much, and how it was his fault Mom left...and he just...he just took it.
Yukon: I remember that fight...Gods...what a nightmare.
Kodi: He just listened. Never raised a paw to slap some respect into me...by the end of it...I was...we both just broke down huggin' and cryin'...I guess he knew I needed to vent, and he just...let me. Even then I knew better. Mom didn't leave because of Dad, or his job. She left because...she wasn't...she didn't know how to be a Mom.
Yukon: *Giggles* I remember peeking into the kitchen after you guys started crying and just...running over and joining the cry huddle.
Kodi: *Chuckles* I can still remember your mascara getting' all over my fur thanks to that. Couldn't get that stain out for a month. Pft, you and your goth phase.
Yukon: Hey! You had your way of coping, and I had mine. Mine was just more...fashionable.
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