Redhawk Caldera Ease my worried mind

I'd love it if one of the new puppies joined! @Benjamin @Nova @Ivy

In the days following the sudden influx of wolves, Orca had stayed close to the rendezvous site. Though she didn't view the outsiders with as much disdain as her sister, she was still a little wary of them. She simply didn't know anything about them, and while she trusted her godparents, she wasn't ready to make nice just yet.

But as the days wore on and their scents became more and more common, Orca's worry was replaced with curiosity. Where had these wolves come from? She knew their former pack had been called Broken Antler Fen, but she knew nothing about them or their previous home. What kind of trades did they have? And, most importantly, what did they like to do?

She finally ventured away from the rendezvous site, tracking the scent of one of the new youths. She wasn't sure who it was she was following, but she meandered along with her nose to the ground, tail curled over her back as she padded across the uneven terrain.

He had been quite busy ever since their move - he had even been busy before that, but now he was confident enough to show it. His fatty limbs had turned into fairly muscled legs and he had lost a lot of puppy weight. Now, when he looked at his reflection in the water, he could almost admit that he was pretty handsome. This alone put a confident air about him.

With this air he sped through the Caldera, blue eyes glowing determinedly. His tongue lolled out of his mouth, droplets of sweat lost in his movement and the wind. Life wasn't half that bad, even if he had to eat less and retain this godly shape.

Suddenly, the path she was following was criss-crossed by another scent. Orca paused and when she looked down at the earth she saw the fresh indentations of pawprints, indicating that someone had passed by recently and at a decent speed. The soil had been churned up in the wolf's wake. She changed course and began to trot briskly along, eyes scanning her surroundings for her quarry.

As she rounded the base of the caldera and the terrain leveled out before her, she spotted one of the new youths. It was the boy; he was tall and his coat was pale, and he was running like his life depended on it. Orca watched for a moment, then threw caution to the wind and loped after him, her shorter legs moving quickly to propel her towards him. She wasn't able to catch up with him -- not yet, anyway -- but that didn't stop her from enjoying the chase.

[table width=80%][tr][td]The rushing of wind was enough to make him oblivious to the fact he had a peculiar little stalker. He sprinted still; running at what he thought to be the speed he needed for him to lift up and fly away. Of course, he didn't have the wings his precious birds had, nor the hollow bones of one. He was simply a wolf, and as he realised that again he slowed to an abrupt stop. Of course, now he could hear her; how she rushed through the caldera behind him as if she had something very important to tell him. He hoped she wouldn't crash into him.[/tr][/td][/table]

*sneaks in*

When Orca got up to leave the rendezvous site, Phox wasn't far behind. Although he normally tailed Towhee around everywhere, it wasn't as though he ignored his other sister. (Sidebar: Where had Titmouse gone? He'd heard the adults murmuring about him, but nobody had given him a clear answer.) He spotted one of the newcomers racing up ahead, and it looked like Orca was chasing him. Hopefully she wasn't going to attack him. That's what he thought Towhee would do if one of the "outsiders" had been running.

Phox made a beeline for the lighter wolf, wonder if this was one of Sebastian's children. The only one he could remember was Odette. Unfortunately, the light wolf stopped suddenly, and Phox wasn't able to veer away quickly enough, which meant he was now tumbling right into the butt of a stranger.

For a few seconds, Orca lost herself in the feeling of running. She enjoyed the wind breezing past her cheeks and the feel of the dirt under her paws. She grinned happily, though her expression changed to one of mild confusion when the lighter-colored pup suddenly cruised to a halt. She, too, began to slow her pace, now preparing herself for the social requirements of talking to him.

But as she neared the boy, someone zoomed past her. She slammed on the brakes and blinked, recognizing Phox's dusty pelt, and she opened her mouth to call out to him -- but not before he bumped right into Sebastian's son. Orca winced visibly as the two youths collided, trotting swiftly towards them. "You guys okay?" she asked as she approached.

[table width=80%][tr][td]Instead of the young girl crashing into his brutish form, it was a younger boy that fell victim to Benjamin's sculpted buttocks. Given that Benjamin was large and stable, he remained standing even as he was pushed forward and nearly trembled over his own feet. It hardly hurt and he quickly turned to see if the dusted boy had hurt himself with their crash. Ben made a mental note never to push on the breaks like that again, finding that this happening again could result in some pretty bad ouchies.

I'm fine. Ben answered in a worried yet pretty calm, low voice - for his age, that was. How 'bout you, friend? She asked the other male then, truly feeling guilty for the event.[/tr][/td][/table]

Phox, after doing a somersault, came to a halt, got back on his feet, then sneezed five times in rapid succession. Once that was done, he gave both his sister and the creamy stranger a dazed look, then smiled sheepishly. "Oops," he said, grinning. "I'm ok. What's your name? Are you one-a Sebastian's kids?" Phox, still young, sometimes lacked social grace, but maybe this abrupt change of conversation would work out just fine.

Sebastian had said that his kids would probably be friends with him. Or something to that effect. Maybe this was the one who knew about stars and stuff! Phox couldn't actually remember which of the kids that was.

Phox seemed to take the brunt of the collision; his forward motion propelled him tip-over-tail, and when he righted himself, he did so with a series of sneezes. He seemed to be just fine, and so did the other boy. Orca's tail waved; she was relieved, although she knew that Raven would have been there in a heartbeat had there been any broken bones to mend.

She glanced at the older boy, studying his handsome face as Phox asked his name. "I'm Orca," she piped up, even before he had a chance to respond. "And this is my brother, Phox."

Benjamin watched with droopy yet concerned eyes how the other boy recovered from the slight accident, his tail unsurely flopping through the air as an ungraceful seal. Before he could voice his gratefulness about the boy being alright, he was bombarded (at least, it felt like it) with questions of who he was. The slow man tipped his head before he could make sense of the sentences that had come so suddenly. Benjamin - or, Ben. He replied in a low, warm tone. Sebastian is my dad. He said with a nod.

It was then that his first stalker spoke, introducing the pair. How fun! More sibling bonds! Benjamin loved his family dearly, otherwise he wouldn't have cleaned mother's den out and replaced the hard, moist bedding with soft moss back home. Home... He still missed it. Hullo. He greeted with a small smile.

Keeping this moving! :)

"Nice to meet you, Ben," Orca replied, choosing the shorter of the two offered names. Phox had been correct in his assumption that Ben was one of Sebastian's children. While her sister hadn't taken kindly to the new wolves that had suddenly filled their ranks, Orca saw their potential as new playmates and friends.

"Where were you running to?" she asked conversationally, tilting her head as she spoke. She had been a little disappointed when he had cut their chase short, although she supposed it was beneficial to now be able to put a name to his face.

Oh, so it was one of Sebastian's children! These were supposed to be his friends, right? Seb had said something like that. Or maybe just that they were open to the idea of being friends. In any case, Phox was optimistic about having more wolves his age around. With little regard to Ben's body language -- like his mother, Phox would be bad at reading that -- Phox was overly jubilant and nearly vibrated with excitement.

"Can we run with you?!" he proposed, thinking this would be a great first thing to do together. "What if we all raced?"

Orca seemed nice - not as hyper as her brother. He then wondered; did they have any more siblings? Why were they so thrilled to see him running? It was something he had been doing for a while, and so it was rather surprising to hear someone acknowledge it. However, he could not answer her question. I dunno. He answered with an apologetic look. His eyes then shot to Phox who came with quite a nice idea... If Ben was not a total stranger to doing things with anyone but his father.

I dunno - we could, I mean, if you really wanna... He answered unsurely.

Her brother's excitement was contagious, and Orca felt herself filling up with the same bubbly feeling. She was glad that someone else wanted to be friends with the "outsiders," because she just didn't have the same mistrust that Towhee did. Benjamin seemed not to have a certain destination in mind -- maybe because he wasn't too familiar with the caldera's landscape, Orca guessed -- and was a little unsure about running with the pair of siblings. But she felt confidence they could convince him to join them.

"I want to!" she chirped, black tail swishing back and forth behind her. She knew that both boys would likely be much faster than her, due to her shorter legs, but she was still game to give it a try. Hoping to encourage Ben, she trotted a few paces away. "Ready...set..." she counted down, looking to one of her companions to say the last word.

Ben seemed super unsure about the whole thing, but Phox continued to give him encouraging looks. It would be so much fun! Phox was convinced it would be, anyway, and that was all that mattered. For a split second, Phox wondered why Ben was so timid, but that was quickly forgotten once Orca started to ready them for the race. Phox's muscles tensed, and he looked to his two competitors.

"GO!" he blurted, then dug his nails into the turf below and sped off as fast as he could. There was no real "end" to this race, but it wasn't even really about that anyway.

His ears lowered slightly the more they seemed to encourage him, but he wasn't a quitter. If they wanted him to run with them, so be it, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to win this race. If he proved to be good at it, they might want to go again or something. He raised and got ready as the two siblings counted down, kinda, and sped after them almost as fast as he could.

Phox wasted no time in announcing the official start of the race with both his voice and his actions. He shouted the word "go" and took off running. Orca gave an excited yip as she leaped forward behind him, almost forgetting about Ben as she galloped along.

But after a few strides she remembered that there were three competitors in this race, and threw a glance over her shoulder at Benjamin. She barked a note of encouragement, then accelerated, although she likely wouldn't be able to catch the speedier Phox.

I rolled in #tabletop for the results, but feel free to do whatever!

Phox, with all his gusto, managed to burn out all the steam long before anybody else was tired. He faltered, slowing his pace as he watched the other two keep up their steady gallop. He was panting heavily, but he was also smiling. Even though he hadn't won the race (looked like Orca was about to claim that title). Exhausted, Phox flopped on the ground, hoping that would qualify as his... disqualification.

"I think I ran too hard!" he shouted between labored panting. Even now, laying on his side, he felt like his chest was going to explode.

He had been last for a small while, But Phox seemed to burn out like a candle and it wasn't long before even Ben passed him. He shot a glance over his shoulder, hoping he was alright while continuing the race. It was obvious Orca would beat him, he was not doing his best after all, but Benjamin didn't mind. Where was the finish line anyway?

Orcaaa? Where is the finish line?! He decided to shout, already slowing his pace.

While Orca hadn't thought it possible to catch up to her lankier brother, she was pleasantly surprised when he started to slow his pace against his will. It seemed that he had run too hard too fast; while her shorter legs were beginning to feel the ache of exertion and her own breath was growing ragged, she still felt like she could keep running. Eventually, he shifted gears and slowed down, and Orca let out a whoop as she loped past him.

She would have kept running, but Ben called out from behind her. She hadn't planned a stopping point, but now that he and Phox were both losing interest, she yelled, "Right here!" With that, she skidded to a halt, then pivoted to quickly draw a mark in the dirt with her paw. Grinning broadly, she ambled back towards her brother and friend, panting but happy.

Last one from me; thanks you two for the thread!

Phox continued to lay sprawled out on the ground, being quite a bit more dramatic than he needed to be. The others appeared to have stopped, and Orca was declared the official winner. Orca soon came back over, and Phox grinned up at her happily. Even though he was the closest to Towhee, Orca would always hold a special place in his heart.

"I think I'm gonna take a nap right here," he announced. He kept his eyes open long enough to see wether or not the others were going to join, but it wouldn't be long before he was snoozing and snoring the afternoon away.

When the finish line was drawn, he quickly touched it before running back to Phox. He was panting slightly himself, though he wasn't nearly tired enough to simply fall over. Oh dear, was he alright? Surely he would be - taking a nap was something comfortable and Ben could never do it whenever he had a boo-boo. Are you sure you're okay? He asked, always the caretaker in these situations. I can... I can fix up something for you to make you feel better? His offer had been voiced so softly that he was sure it wouldn't have been heard. Yawning slightly, the ground seemed a lot more comfortable than before...

Orca, should we take his lead? He questioned softly, glancing at the slumbering form of her brother.

"Good idea," replied Orca between pants as she slowly caught her breath. She flopped down near her brother, glancing up at Benjamin and inviting him to do the same. They were all tired, and even if they didn't all fall asleep like Phox, it would still do their growing bodies some good to get some rest.

She hadn't heard Ben's whispered offer, but she closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against the grass.