Liffey was late. Her heart was hammering as she loped across the plains, her tongue out as she panted from exhaustion. She had promised Finley that no matter how far she went when she went out exploring that she would always be back in the pack lands by nightfall. As the sun dipped lower and lower across the horizon, the girl was quite certain that she wasn't going to make it no matter how fast she ran and she wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer.
Almost the moment she thought it, Liffey slowed to a stop and dropped to her haunches. Her head hung between her shoulders, her body shaking as she tried to catch her breath. She eyed the Caldera in the distance as her gut twisted with guilt. Her parents were going to be worried. And mad. And she was going to be so very grounded. She slumped onto her belly in the snow in acceptance of her fate. Tilting back her head, she gazed skyward to watch as the stars began to appear in the night sky and contented herself to stargaze for a bit while she regained her strength.
Jackrabbit lurked, in light of the feeling something awful had occurred. None had told him yet, but once again had the reaper followed him home. The moments when he didn’t know would be bliss, he would look back and think. This was one of these moments, and upon finding the small Redhawk girl, his thoughts drifted away from the impending feeling of doom that seemed to follow him.
He couldn’t deny he was somewhat worried for the girl; they were, after all, connected in some ways, he thought as he watched her lope at a distance. But he wouldn’t go out of his way for her out of pure compassion, no, instead he found it odd that one of Redhawk’s founding brood had seemed to slip away where there was nothing to slip away from. Afterall he knew about that Peter guy (sigh) and that little prick Ferret (mega-sigh) they had to be somewhat protective of their young now, right? Eventually, her running ceased and with some air of defeat, she slumps down; similar to the state he had found Wildfire in. “What’re you looking for?” Jackrabbit asked as he came up to sit beside the girl, looking between her and the sky, wondering what she could possibly be searching for in the great mass of darkness. It reminded him of the coast, a place he had loved prior to the wolves of Saltwinter abandoning him like… 3 weeks after he joined.
“Shouldn’t you be back home?” He turned to eye the female somewhat suspiciously. “If you’re trying to run away, trust me, sister, it’s not worth it. People out there are all kinds of sketchy,” He shuddered, recalling Saena, Maude, Charon , Ondine and pretty much everyone that he had pissed off or had pissed him off. It was only about a minute later did his eyes widen, realising that his earlier statement could possibly work against him, leading her to the conclusion he too could quite possibly be sketchy as well. Backpedalling, he insisted against the assumption with a shake of his head. “Not me of course, Perry was my dad too,” Jackrabbit nodded, as if the fact that his adopted father had been mega-cool in any way changed his own sketchy-ness. It only took a second later for his brow to furrow, however for in the lighting, it was hard to tell if they even shared a dad or not.
“Wait, who’s kid even are you?” He peered closer. There were so many. “Hmmm, nope, you look more like a Blackthorn,” He decided with a nod before refocusing to look into the beyond where the Caldera lay. For her sake, he hoped they gave her shit for being out so late. Truly, the rest of the world was ruthless as far as he had experienced; Redhawk had really been the only good place before everything blew up. “But really, I wouldn’t be running, unless you know where the good stuff is,” Should she begin to take off, he wouldn’t stop her. He had done so once, and it became the best and worst decision of his life.
Her ears swiveled as she heard the sound of someone approaching. As alarmed as she was, she remained lying on the ground as she whipped her head towards the noise. It took her seconds to recognize him and only a few more to settle her rapidly beating heart. This guy was okay. Wildfire liked him.
Liffey was quiet as he spoke, first asking what she was looking for before launching into another series of comments and inquiries. She parted her mouth to answer once or twice before giving up and just listening. She didn't mind his chattering - it was a bit endearing and reminded her of her twin. It was for that reason she knew how to be patient. She'd get to answer soon enough. They always ran out of breath at some point.
When the young wolf did stop, there was one question on her mind out of all that he'd said. "Uncle P was your dad?" she asked, confused. She'd never heard of a son named Jackrabbit before and she'd been far too young to remember him when he'd been a member of the Caldera.
The two spoke at length for a little while before Liffey decided to stand and begin the journey back home again, this time at a more reasonable pace. Jackrabbit disappeared in the opposite direction, but the girl's eyes were skyward again and she didn't notice where exactly it was that he'd gone.