At the base of Redhawk Caldera.
Since making her way to the base of their new home, Fox had not dared to travel back up. Her rib still ached, and her ankle often felt as if it were being pinched from the inside, but at least she could move. Her daily routine went something like this: wake up, eat some of the plants either Blue Willow or Finley had brought her, squat on the borders, convince somebody to fetch her some food, take an afternoon nap, squat on the borders some more, before finally finding a cushy spot to lay down and sleep until the sun rose once more.
Having just woken up from her nap, she was ready for more marking. The process was long and tedious, but necessary if they wished for other wolves to respect their claim. Already, Fox was beginning to smell their pledges more strongly. Fitz, Finley, and Robin were all great additions to their little team, and Fox knew that they all had the same goal and purpose. It was the first time in a long time that she had felt unified with her brethren, blood related or otherwise.
This was quickly written and therefore slightly awful but I wanted to steal this thread. <3
There were new scents. Now, it wasn’t that Siv wasn’t still new to the Teekon area as a whole, but she wasn’t so new that she didn’t notice the scent of markings. She had spent some time trailing the outside of the Caldera for the better part of her day. Her pace was kept to a lazy trot, and her salmon-colored tongue lolled from her mouth. The majority of the markings were new, but the coywolf female had yet to come across any actual bodies. This caused her to imagine that the entire pack was to be claimed by an army of ghost-wolves who would inflict havoc on the surrounding areas. And Siv couldn’t possibly pass on an opportunity like that.
Suddenly, the bright blue eyes of the honey-hued girl fell on a figure just ahead of her. Eyes wide, Siv waited for the vengeful spirits to come and steal this crimson wolf to the underworld. When nothing seemed to happen, the coywolf frowned thoughtfully and tilted her head to the side. Watching for a moment longer, Siv noted that this richly-colored stranger was actually marking the borders. Drawing slightly closer, though not close enough to alarm the woman ahead of her, Siv chuffed softly, “so you’re the one marking the borders!”
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Fox bristled as soon as the other spoke, though when she realized that the other girl was not posing in a threatening manner, the hair on her back smoothed back down. Fox licked her lips, a calming signal both to herself and the stranger, and then spoke. "Yes," she replied, pausing before adding, "Though I'm not the only one." Testing the air with her wet, black nose, Fox realized this was not merely a curious wolf. This was a curious wolf without the scent of others on her. A loner and a potential recruit.
Thankful that she had taken some of Blue's herbs rather than Finely's, she took a moment to scrutinize the stranger's features. She was taller than Fox, though just as slender, and her eyes were a bright shade of blue. Her coat looked like a duller version of Fox's own. "Are you looking for a place to call home?" Fox asked, not wishing to dance around the issues. She was more of a no-nonsense kinda gal.
Siv squinted at the sight of the bristling hairs along the stranger’s back and her rusty ears flattened to her narrow skull. It seemed to smoothen out upon realizing that Siv was hardly a threat to anyone, really. The coywolf girl shook behind her with some trepidation. A wolfish grin slowly working its way to her slim muzzle. It was confirmed that the female was marking the territory, also that there were others involved in the process. Siv’s eyes widened just slightly, her gaze wandering in hopes to catch sight of any others. Giving up after several seconds of only managing to make herself look paranoid, the female dipped her head to the woman before her.
“Are you looking for a place to call home?”
The question hung in the air for a moment longer than may have been appropriate. “Shucks! You don’t beat around the bush do ya?” she chimed up with a small laugh trailing the end of her words. Drawing her tongue across her lips in another moment of thought, her blue gaze settled on the face of the she-wolf in front of her, indecision crawling through her gut. “Well, y’know, I don’t have a home so it’d be nice to… I mean it might be swell to have…” she was babbling.
“Yeah, you bet I am,” Siv finally chimed up, ears flipping forward.
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Fox realized that this was the first time she'd had this conversation since she had lived at the creek. At the plateau, she'd let the other leaders shoulder the responsibility. It felt surprisingly good to be back at it again, and it made the control freak in Fox feel much, much better. Knowing each and every member in the pack was something she could boast back when she had led Swiftcurrent, but never at the plateau. Perhaps some of that was her own fault, but she had attempted to get to know them as best as possible. She'd just been miserable at doing so.
"I'm Fox, and my mate is Peregrine. We are settling here with a few others. What can you offer, skill-wise?" Fox knew that simply talking of skills and actually proving them were two different things, but she knew that they could always figure out the proving part later.
The darker female introduced herself as Fox, which was rather befitting. Siv glanced over her with a curious expression, noting how the female actually looked very much like a fox. The female then mentioned that her mate Peregrine and she were settling in the area with a few others. The coywolf wondered if this Peregrine fellow looked at all like a predatory bird, or if it was prerequisite to look like what your name suggested. Furrowing her brows slightly, wondering if she looked at all like a Siv, she nearly missed the second half of Fox’s question.
“I’m Siv,” she first introduced, “Siv Savoy.” Then on to the subject of skills that she could offer to the pack, she peered thoughtfully to the distance, as though it would help her come up with particular skills that would benefit a large group of wolves. “Well, let’s see… I’ve got a knack for hunting. These spindly legs aren’t good for much else,” she remarked, lifting her leg up in demonstration. An attempt at a joke. Joking could have been her real talent, but she doubted that Fox would be interested in something like that. “I’m like a genius at fishing too. I’ve spent a lot of time around the water,” she added with a quick nod.
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Fox actually did enjoy jokes. It was probably Finley that really brought that out in her, but she let her lips curl when Siv motioned to her spidery, slender legs. Her name was something amusing, too, if only because Fox could see her calling Siv by her full name rather than just "Siv." They had hunting pretty well covered, but another wolf who was skilled was never a bad thing. It was the latter skill—the fishing—that really caught Fox's attention. She wasn't sure if the caldera actually had any fish in it, but she assumed that it did. And if not, there was a huge lake nearby that most certainly had plenty of fish.
"We could use a fisher..." Fox mused aloud, pondering for a moment. She was fairly certain that Peregrine wouldn't mind learning, provided he didn't already know how. She'd never seen him fish, but he did boast about being a gamekeeper, so perhaps he already knew how. "Why don't you come along and help me mark the borders then?" Fox said, taking a step forward (wincing as she did so) to brush against Siv and claim her for the caldera. "This is Redhawk Caldera. The caldera—the lake—part is actually at the tippy-top of the mountain. It's why the top looks chopped off. Be careful of the icy slopes, though. It's why I'm walking with a limp."
There was a smile! That was good. The curling of the red-furred Fox at least brought some form of repose to Siv. She breathed a sigh of relief and her stringy muscles managed to relax slightly. It was when the Alpha female remarked that their pack could very well be in need of a fisher that Siv’s ears shot forward with excitement. That was it; that was the defining moment for the young coywolf. She had spent a great deal of her life in search of her father, and while she was still an adolescent, there had always been a need for something greater. The Caldera was an opportunity for her to grow into her own being.
Fox offered an invitation to mark the borders. Siv felt her heart skip a little at the thought of it. “Oh, shucks, yeah I’d love to,” Siv responded with a quick nod of her narrow skull and a wide, toothy grin. She felt the brush of Fox’s rusty pelt against her own and was suddenly aware of how fast her heart was racing. That was it, though; she was going to be a member of… her ears twisted in the direction of Fox, listening to her introduction of the pack lands.
Redhawk Caldera; Siv beamed at her new leader with wide eyes. “Redhawk Caldera? What a kickass name,” she remarked excitedly. Siv then followed with her eyes to where the top of the mountain did appear to be severed and frowned. Glancing back towards Fox, she winced at the sight of her limp. “Ouch! It didn’t scuff you up too badly did it?” the coywolf inquired carefully.
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In the back of her mind, Fox was wondering if Siv would meld well with the other members of the pack. Based on their short conversation and the way she spoke, Fox had a good feeling that she and Finley would get along—wait for it—swimmingly. Get it? Because Siv likes fishing! Hilarious, right? Peregrine tended to be likeable to everybody he met (sans the sea wench who had stolen his daughter away). Fox couldn't see any reason why Fitz would dislike the sprightly Savoy, and she couldn't think of a single wolf that Robin hadn't taken a liking to. The young leader was convinced she'd made a good—albeit quick—judgement on this one.
"I'm doped up," Fox admitted, "That's why I'm able to walk around. I think I sprained my ankle, but it hasn't been hurting quite as much the past few days. It's the rib that's really killing me. Can't get comfortable no matter what." Having Peregrine to lean against did help, but Fox always awoke with an ache and went straight for her stash of herbs left by Blue and Finley.
Siv could not entirely sympathize with Fox when it came to the woman’s injury. The young Savoy had never endured such a pain in her life; she’d lived fairly luckily. When she listened to Fox speak about the pain of it, however, Siv could not help but to wince empathetically. She may not have understood what it meant to feel something of that sort, but she could certainly feel sorry that Fox had to brave the experience. If only she was a better herbalist than she was a fisher, she may have been more help to the Alpha female. Alas, Siv was still young and she had room to grow. Perhaps the pack would allow her to do such things.
“That’s rough,” she remarked in a quiet voice. “You’re not going to have… like, long-term disability are ya?” Because that was certainly something that frightened Siv. Health and well-being was something that was crucial to the life of a lone wolf. The coywolf did not understand that living under a pack meant having a support system. It wasn’t Old Yeller; when one got sick or injured, they didn’t take them out back to leave them sleeping with the fishes. The more she thought about it, though, the more distressed it made her.
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If it wasn't already painfully obvious, I like Siv. :o
"I'm sure I'll get over it," Fox replied with confidence. She didn't know this, of course, but considering she was pretty sure she would have died already if she was going to, she could learn to live with pain if that was the worst of it. Over the past week, Fox had learned quickly how to conceal her pain for the most part. The last thing she wanted was for some stranger to try and take advantage of her injury. What she did not know was that this had caused Junior and Saena to believe that she was exaggerating her injury.
Turning, Fox began limping along the base of the caldera. Unlike humans, they had no bureaucracy to draw lines in the sand to say who owned what. Instead, wolves left their smell along a wide berth to ensure that everybody know where they had staked their claim. It could be smelled from up to a mile away, and it took a real idiot to ignore it. Fox was thankful that Siv had not. Fox limped along, letting them fall into an easy silence, though she would welcome any conversation that Siv offered.
<33 I love Fox. Can’t wait to have more threads with these two.
Siv could almost taste the confidence that leaked through Fox’s response. She could not help but to feel very impressed by the ability to overcome something so well. In fact, she was halfway transfixed by it. Her blue eyes locked on the profile of the injured Alpha and her jaw parted slightly. After a few moments of gawking, the honey-hued wolf shook her head, letting her ears flap against her skull and offered a dazzled, “you’re cool.” She could already feel pride for a pack that she had only just been offered a place in.
The Savoy girl trailed after Fox with slow steps, following closely behind the rusty-colored female. In their silence, she could not help but allow her eyes to wander the territory. It was rugged, but not unpleasant, and Siv could see how it could very easily offer a vast number of things to do. “What do you think it’ll be like when it snows up here?” Siv had always enjoyed the snow, but she was wondering if it would prove to be treacherous during the winter months. Certainly, if it was only autumn and Fox had already injured herself.
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She gave Siv a bewildered, confused look when the compliment was given, but shook it off just as quickly. Fox did not wish to alienate her pledges, a mistake she'd made in the past during her time in Swiftcurrent Creek. That felt like aeons ago, and Fox had grown much since she had been thrown into leadership at such a young age. Not to say that she wasn't still young, of course. Hell, she hadn't even come into her first season. Soon, she thought, that would be different.
An ear swiveled backward when Siv spoke again, asking what the winter would be like. "Cold," Fox replied with the hint of a grin on her face. An asshole remark, but a true one. "We will be well-protected from others," she added, this time her tone was less snarky. Fox saw no flaw in their plans to move here, of course. To her, this was one of the many black and white issues in her life. And while she still wished she could have left the plateau with a mildly better reputation, she did know that her life there would have been drastically different (and much less satisfying).
A soft chuckle slipped past Siv’s lips at the blunt remark that was left behind by Fox. Her brows lifted upwards as she glanced towards the rusty-furred female. She then mentioned that they would be protected from others within the boundaries of the caldera. This comment would not have normally bothered Siv, but the silence that followed the statement was enough to allow the young coywolf to ponder what could warrant a need for safety from others. The Savoy girl was new to the Teekon Wilds and therefore, she knew very little about the packs that were scattered throughout the area or even their standings with each other. It was odd for her to understand that she was walking in to this pack blindly. Impulsive by nature, but not foolish, Siv decided to keep quiet about the final remark that was left by Fox.
They trailed further along the base of the caldera. Occasionally, Siv would pause to help in the branding of the borders, marking the territory as that of Redhawk. Her mind seemed to buzz with further questions, however, and while she did not want to be overbearing to Fox, she very rarely could keep her mouth shut. “How many others are there in the pack? Any kids? I love kids… they’re a hoot,” she prompted.
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Quickly, Fox did a mental count of how many they had. “Six,” she reported, “and you make seven.” Hearing the numbers aloud made it feel even more real. Seven was nothing to scoff at, and each one of them was tied closely to either Peregrine or Fox. The second question, though, was far more exciting for Fox, who had been preparing for the birth of her children for a long, long time. Even before she'd known who the father would be.
“Not yet,” she said, “but when the time comes, Peregrine and I will have children.” They had talked at length about the future of their children, and it was a large part of the reason they had moved here. Without the tensions at the plateau, they were free to raise their children without prejudice from Perry's former children or others who had disliked Fox.
Seven whole wolves! It seemed like a lot for someone who had lived most of her life with only herself. She had good recollections of her mother, and that was oftentimes the best part of thinking back on her memories. When it came to the companionship of other wolves, however, she realized that she had never really been in the company of her own kind for very long. It was saddening to consider, but she knew how the truth could hurt. There was no doubt in her mind, that with leadership like Fox, the caldera would find more members to fill the ranks… in time.
On the subject of pups, all of the melancholy that had plagued the Savoy girl seemed to vanish. She listened with an intense expression as Fox explained that they did not have any children within the pack at the current time, but she remarked that – when the time came – she and Peregrine would be expecting pups. Siv’s tail began to do circles behind her as she imagined the little ones running around. “Boy-o, that’ll be neat,” she barked softly.
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Poop jokes. Also, you can fade out with your next post if you'd like!
Fox grinned, giddy at the thought of having children. The mere thought of it brought a pit of warmth to her stomach. On second thought, she was fairly sure that warmth was nothing more than her intestines telling her to take a dump.
“You go on ahead?” she said, pointing forward,
“I’m going to hang back for a little while.” Fox didn't feel the need to explain, figuring Siv Savoy would assume Fox just wanted to rest her injured side. In reality, Fox was about to unleash a particularly massive load, and she wasn't particularly keen on being watched this time around.
Besides, it would give her some space to think of things. Once Siv was out of sight, of course. And then, when Fox caught back up with her, they could continue talking of what was to come and getting to know one another. Fox's stomach gurgled again, and she glanced at Siv.
We will definitely have to thread again soon!
Truth be told, she was eager to explore a bit on her own. She liked the presence of Fox, and she did not mind at all drilling her with constant questions. When the invitation to scout ahead arose, however, Siv’s expression seemed to light up. Her tail flagged behind her and she nodded her head to the rusty-coated woman. There was a moment of worry for her injured side, but Siv assumed that she would be able to care for herself. The coywolf bobbed her head downwards and flattened her ears to her narrow skull before darting off ahead of Fox and leaving her to her own personal business.
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