Great Bear Wilderness i am the clown with the tear-away face.

Once upon a time, there had been a Fin and a Finn.

They'd spent perhaps twenty minutes together once, and yet when they had been parted, they had both walked away and missed one another. When weeks later, Finn had ended up standing beside Fin at a pack meeting, Fin had felt a happy stirring in her heart that she'd immediately masked as being totally freaked out and irritated. And weeks after that, when they chased the stars together and fallen asleep together as they danced overhead, that same stirring had been there, this time masked as part of the dream she'd fallen into when it began as they'd snuggled close to one another. Finally, another couple of weeks went by, and they'd met again. This time, Finn had saved her from her worst fear, and the stirring was so intense it had seemed like it would burst free from her chest. So, she'd turned it into excited play and had run away.

Finally, there was there last encounter. When Fin's dearest friend announced that he and his mate were leaving to start a new adventure. Adventure; it was something she and Finn had always shared a love of. And yet, as Fin had stepped up to join them, Finn had looked away and denounced her friends, had denounced her. The stirring was there still, but this time being crushed beneath a disappointment turned anger that she hadn't understood at the time. But as the days went on since then, the look on his face had begun to haunt her more and more. And with it, it grew harder and harder for her to put a different label upon the stirring of emotions that crept into her head and her heart over and over again as his olive eyes trespassed upon her thoughts over, and over, and over again.

So, Finley tried new means of escaping. Into work, into play, into all sorts of things--both food and bad for her. Today, it was something she couldn't quite decide the nature of--whether it was good or bad. She knew who could tell her though, and she had tossed her head back to send a call up onto the wind for him to join her, hoping greatly that it would reach him in this place she had found herself.

This, eerie, eerie place at the far edge of Lake Rodney (had they really named it that?) where a cluster of dark elms towered towards the brilliant moon that shone overhead. A thick mist covered the lake and seeped in between the dark trunks of the trees, giving Finley the feeling of claustrophobia as it tightened around her throat and crept into her lungs. The ground was thick with low-lying shrubbery and a peculiar sort of fungi she had never seen before. It was this patch of mushrooms that caused her to call for her alpha, for once he had mentioned something like this. And thus, he was the only one on this dark night that could come and explain to her what this bizarre feeling was that had started creeping over her from the moment she'd swallowed her first bite.

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RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - October 14, 2014

When Finley's howl rang out from the distant short of Lake Rodney, Peregrine paused in his step and stood there a moment, reluctant to leave the caldera. He glanced over his shoulder, pondering. Fox had already bedded down for the night and he had intended to join her shortly. Now he peered off toward the lake, not that he could make it out in the dark, save for an understated shimmer. Eventually, his paws began to move and he found himself trotting forward to respond to his faithful Gamma's summons.

When, at length, he arrived in a dark and spooky wood and found Finley, Peregrine paused. Was she twitching? Were her eyes overly bright, her pupils overly large? He squinted at her. Then, like the weird fog wrapped like wool around the surrounding tree roots, comprehension dawned on Peregrine, a chill crawling up the ladder of his spine.

"You... you brought me here to murder me for all the times I was a dick to you, didn't you?"

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Finley - October 14, 2014

The time that passed between her call and the alpha's arrival was a tediously long one that disappeared in a matter of seconds in the Blackthorn's mind. With it, unfortunately, also disappeared the memory of the action at all. So when Peregrine crept up on her, she spun with a sharp jolt and stared, wide-eyed at him. The instinct to cast down her gaze was within her still, though she responded to it in slow motion as it was drowned by her crawling/racing mind as it tried to come up with an answer to his question.

Was she going to kill him? She didn't think so... But what had she called him here for again? She couldn't remember, but he was her alpha so maybe he was right in his hypothesis... "Yes.................?" Fin replied verrrrryyyy slowly, the inflection that signified that it was a question only being tacked on in the last second. She blinked stupidly at him for a minute then, wondering why his eyes were so very, very glowy and swirly, and why the trees were reaching down to try and eat him, and why the mist was turning into a cluster of tiny little mice that were all waving hello to her, when suddenly her brain made a wild attempt at making sense.

"PEREGRINE," Fin barked suddenly, "I think.. I think I'm doing that thing you said. With the.. And the... The balls. I'm falling down 'cause.. balls...? I blame THEM." She finished her statement with a sharp jab of her muzzle toward the fungi she had been munching upon. Her gaze suddenly fixated itself on them and she whispered softly to no one in particular... "The balls are falling..."

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RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - October 14, 2014

Despite his joke and the inherent silliness of the situation, Finley's erratic behavior did give him some concern. He opened his mouth to ask if she'd eaten anything strange lately — between his personal experiences and Fox's recent dabbling, he figured he knew a drugged wolf when he saw one — but before he could say a word, she barked his name loudly, then began ranting about the balls.

Startled, he stared at her, then began choking back a laugh. "Onto your face?" he asked with a snicker. "I hope you don't have testephobia, Finley. Do you know what that is?" Peregrine met her eyes. Her pupils were huge and dark. "The fear of balls flying into your face." Too bad she was probably too far gone to comprehend his toilet humor or find it funny.

More calmly, he said, "I think you were going for tripping balls, Fin. What did you eat?" Because it wasn't a matter of if she'd ingested something questionable but what.

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Finley - October 14, 2014

Finley peered at him as he babbled on about balls and testes and faces, wondering vaguely what this had to do with anything. She did begin to giggle when he mentioned tripping balls, for this somehow struck her as humorous even though it was said with the most serious tone.

"Your BUTT," Fin responded immediately when asked what she'd had to eat. She erupted into a fit of laughter that nearly caused her to fall over, but she somehow managed to stay up right as it passed. The Blackthorn planted herself upon her haunches, giving Peregrine her sweetest, most innocent face as she gestured with a paw towards the mushrooms.

"They tasted like your butt," Fin said matter-of-factly, smiling coyly as she attempted to surpress another round of giggling. And then, quite abruptly, her mood changed to utter seriousness, her eyes widening again. "I feel like... air..." she informed him, canting her head slightly, "It isn't right, butt. It isn't right." Peregrine's name apparently now was Butt.

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RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - October 14, 2014

Peregrine tried not to laugh at Finley's juvenile outburst, yet his lips twitched upward all the same. She motioned toward some mushrooms and he nodded knowledgeably, then squinted at her thoughtfully as he asked, "Question one: what made you decide to come into this creepy ass forest and devour some 'shrooms? Question two: how do you know what my ass tastes like? Have you been licking it in my sleep or something?"

"You'll be fine," he assured her when the Gamma suddenly grew sober and a little wistful. "I'll stay with you until... you come down. I can't promise I won't make fun of and/or give you a hard time while we wait, though," he added with a cheeky grin.

Making true on his word, Peregrine shouted, "Fin, look!" and thrust a foreleg toward their collective right. When she presumably jerked her head in that direction, he switched his tail against her haunch with enough force to sting, then cried, "There's something on your butt!"

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Finley - October 17, 2014

Finley canted her head slightly at his reassurance that she would be fine, and that he'd wait with her while she.. whatevered. For a moment, she just stared at him, wondering if he really didn't know what she was doing out here. How could he not know? She'd told him hadn't she? Of course, she distinctly remembered him walking up to her just now and herself saying 'Good evening, Peregrine. Welcome to this forest. I was searching for prey and or other delicious foods for our pack. Would you like to assist me? I already have found these delectable fungi. Please do give them a try--'

Her completely imaginary memory was cut short but his sudden cries. Before she had time to react, she felt a sharp pain upon her rear that caused her to yelp. Terror seized her in the same instant, and suddenly the Blackthorn bolted for her life, straight towards the heart of the misty ~~haunted~~ woods.

Fin had no idea how long she'd run for when suddenly tripped and fell. Her body flew foreward and skidded into the dense underbrush that coated the forest floor, disappearing beneath it. Her eyes fluttered open to see the stalks of grasses and shrubbery before her face, their leaves tangled in a web over her head. For a moment, she was thoroughly convinced that she had been teleported into another world. And then in the next, she realized with another stab of fear that something far, far worse had happened to her.

"Oh my god..." Fin whined softly before shrieking, "I'm a MOUSE!""

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RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - October 22, 2014

He didn't expect Finley to bolt like that. Peregrine blinked, then ran to catch up with her. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it), she stumbled and fell before she went very far. He paused above her, assessing her for any damage. When she squeaked, he knew she wasn't hurt. Her outburst made him chortle under his breath.

"Yes, yes, you are," he agreed from somewhere behind her, making his voice as loud and booming as he could manage. "You better stay very still or I might accidentally step on you..." he warned even as Peregrine lowered his muzzle and nipped at her ribs in the hopes of tickling her. Because messing with Finley was his favorite sport.

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Finley - October 25, 2014

Fin began to squirm forward on her belly, her mind immediately telling her that she needed some grain or she would die. She was quickly distracted from this thought by the sound of a giant somewhere behind her. She froze immediately, not even daring to blink lest she give away her location and be smashed into oblivion by the giant's paws. She was fairly convinced that it was her mousey fate to die there in that patch of leaves when she felt the tickling at her sides--the tickle of death.

The Blackthorn yelped and flailed wildly to escape, succeeding only in rolling onto her back and making the sport all the more easy for Peregrine. She began to bark with laughter despite herself, tears streaming from her eyes as she begged, "No! Please! I don't wanna die, I wanna.. Not die! Not DIE!" Somehow in her flailing, she found herself back on her feet, and she darted away from her attacker only to turn back to try and catch a glimpse at him.

Finley skidded to a stop as her eyes shot open wide with surprise. "PEREGRINE!" she barked at him, "Oh my god. How did you get small too??" She leaped towards him to close the distance between the two, leaning forward to whisper once she was within reach. "Don't move... there's a..." And then she stopped completely, quite unceremoniously. She leaned back and looked around, ears perked but not in fear or worry. Just casually, as though not a thing had just happened, except suddenly her attention was stolen by Peregrine who was looking at her weird... Almost like she had just been talking......... What was he doing that for?

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RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - October 28, 2014

Peregrine was having a hard time keeping up with Finley's trip, though it kept him entertained, at least. When she exclaimed at his smallness, he pouted at her playfully. "Me? Small? I'm —" She cut him off with another cry, causing him to glance around slyly. Yet there was nothing and now Finley looked rather calm and complacent again.

"You're like a hyperactive pup and a hormonal lady all rolled into one," Peregrine mused. "Terrifying." Speaking of which, he looked around himself again, once more noticing this place's innate spookiness. He wondered what it would look like in daylight. Would it be just as foggy and creepy or was it more of a bright, enchanted forest in the daytime?

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Finley - October 30, 2014

Fin watched her alpha curiously as he responded to her, even though she wasn't quite certain what it was he was responding to since she was pretty certain she hadn't said anything. What she really picked up on was when he said the word "terrifying", for it was as if he had said it in order to summon what was about to happen next.

From behind Peregrine, a shadow suddenly leaped out of the brush and fell back down into it, like a dolphin leaping out of the water. Fin stared, wide eyed at the point beyond his shoulder, her jaw dropping open. For a moment, she said nothing until finally... "I know I'm like...... different right now," she said slowly, not peeling her eyes from that spot, "But something definitely did a thing over there..."

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RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - November 02, 2014

Peregrine couldn't know what Finley was seeing but her observation happened to come no more than two seconds after he absently released a silent fart into the night air. So when she seemed to be staring behind him, clearly envisioning something, he stood there pondering over whether these magical mushrooms had given his pack mate some sort of X-ray vision. Fart-ray vision? he mused silently.

"What exactly did you see?" he pressed her curiously.

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Finley - November 03, 2014

"I saw..." Fin started, only to stop as a putrid scent stung her knows. She winced slightly with distaste, blinking rapidly before her gaze shot accusingly to Peregrine's face. "D'you mind??" she snapped at him, taking a few steps back. She shook her head irritably as it began to swim even more.

A rustle in the bushes nearby drew her attention back, but the Blackthorn was coming down from her trip and was quite ready to be done with this whole thing. With a pathetic whine, she lowered her front half to the ground and covered her muzzle with her arms, eyes shut tight, tail still hanging up in the air with her bum. "Can we just... Can I... I wanna go sleep," she muttered beneath the weight of her paws. She peeked an eye open to blink up at her friend, "Can I come cuddle with you and Fox?" The world was just too swirly, and Fin didn't trust that she would swirl away with it unless she had two bodies to wedge herself between and keep her in place.

RE: i am the clown with the tear-away face. - Peregrine Redhawk - November 03, 2014

His ears fell back and he laughed a bit uneasily, amused but unnerved by Finley's new ability. "My bad," he said to her, then watched her carefully. Unless he was mistaken, the noxious smell seemed to have the same effect on her as smelling salts, bringing her around from her mushroom-induced stupor.

A lopsided smirk met Finley's request. "Sure, we can pass that by Fox. Come on, dumbass," Peregrine said, his voice thick with exasperated affection. For a second, he entertained thoughts of a threesome. He'd never considered another female lover before. Yet it was like thinking about boning his sister.

Laughing at himself, Peregrine gave Finley's ass an entirely platonic slap and said, "Let's get a move on!" before brushing past her and beginning to trot, leading her back in the direction of the caldera. For once, he didn't intend to run off and leave her behind.