Redhawk Caldera departures

Fox hadn't seen Sassafras in months, so she assumed the girl had left them. It was a shame, really, but there wasn't much to be done about it. Finley had either left them or died. That, too, was a depressing notion, and it made Fox avoid Elwood at all costs since she had given up hope shortly after Peregrine's death. She had lost two of her best friends in such a short amount of time, and Fox wasn't exactly coping very well. She had kicked Shrike out of the pack, and if it hadn't been for the backlash she would most certainly receive, she would have put Kaizer beside her. Even though they'd done the nasty, she didn't consider him her mate. How could she? She didn't even know if he was worthy of the title.

The sole Redhawk alpha slumped down under a tree, trying to avoid the light, freezing rain that was currently falling from the sky. With her ears slicked back against her head, Fox began to groom her front feet. It was partly from boredom, partly to seek some kind of comfort. She hadn't felt close to anyone since Peregrine's death, and she didn't really know if she wanted to.

Whip had tried not to withdraw in the wake of his father's passing, yet he found himself falling into old habits. Nowadays, he spent more hours sleeping then he did awake. In his dreams, Whip could see his family together. Dad, and even Peter, still felt so real. In his sleep, Whip made memories -- but they were fraudulent, all of them. And they faded so fast after Whip would awaken. Sometimes, he would wake up sobbing, as if he knew that he was only fooling himself in this foolish endeavor. Yet still, he embraced the sweet, comforting lies that his dreams offered him.

The boy had just risen from yet another dream that he could no longer remember. For a few minutes, he kept his eyes shut in the hopes that he could will himself back into the world he had created, but Whip soon found that to be wishful thinking. Slowly, he bid his scarred limbs to move. Whip hoisted himself up on shaky legs and he pulled himself from the hole that he called home for the night. His blurry vision then fell on his mother who rested a short distance away.

His steps were slow, but Whip steadily made his way to his mother's side. "Hey," he mumbled as he settled to his haunches beside her.

With the abandonment of Fox's heat, came too the abandonment of her exclusive attention to Kaizer. Though not nearly as vivid as before, he still felt much the same, and his want to possess her -- or at least her trust and respect -- remained as surely as he did within the caldera. She had stopped seeking him, but that didn't mean he was done trying to impress her. It wasn't love as much as it was ambition. Relationships should be advantageous, not emotional, in his opinion; and it was unlikely for him to stray too soon from this mentality he'd been instilled with since childhood.

Knowing the alpha female was a voracious creature -- soon to be more so with his seed buried inside her -- he hunted more than he did  anything else. On today's menu was raccoon, a fat scavenger pawing among the dirt and nettles for old berries fallen at the base of shedding pine. Kaizer was crouched silently some yards back, eyeing his quarry and judging the distance between them, the strength he would need to apply to close said distance, and the precise spot on which he would bury his teeth.

A minute later the struggle was finished, and he was toting the grey bandit on his search for Fox. By the time he found her, she was with one of her sons; the more solemn one, though he had seen none of that upon their initial "meeting." Kaizer stood back, dropping the catch at his feet and reclining to watch them both with a curious cant of his head. Either of you hungry?

She heard him long before she spotted him, and Fox stopped mid-lick to greet him with a bump to his muzzle from her own. Whip had been quiet and avoidant since Peregrine’s death, though she certainly could not blame him. His father had died, and nothing was going to make that better any time soon. The pack, the family, they needed time to heal. ”Hey, Whip,” she finally managed, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. Asking him how he was doing seemed like a moot point, and she wasn’t really sure how to start the conversation beyond that.

Fox was about to ask what he thought of having new siblings in the coming months, but Kaizer arrived, and she didn’t want to make things any more complicated than they needed to be. He had brought them a fat raccoon, and Fox pushed herself up to take it from him and put it in front of Whip. She wasn’t sure if he was hungry, but she wanted to offer it to him, first.

His mother greeted him in the same fashion that he had prior; emotionless and drained. Though he settled beside her, Whip did not look at his mother directly. He couldn't. Instead, his gaze settled firmly on his forelegs and the pink, ribbon scars that traveled their length. A silence, prison wall thick, settled between them as neither Whip, nor Fox knew what to say. The silent spell, however, was broken by the arrival of another. A wolf of brown and dusty grey, who carried with him a gift.

He was familiar. He had been the wolf who had attacked Gannet at the border -- or atleast, that's what Whip had thought. He looked to his mother, hoping to gauge a reaction. She made no move of aggression, which left Whip puzzled. Nevertheless, he was much to empty to fight, so he accepted the gift his mother placed in front of him without complaint. However, both the stranger and the raccoon he had brought went ignored for now.

Kaizer felt very suddenly as if he had interrupted something between the two wolves. With the raccoon dropped, and his tongue lolling, he was better able to pick up how similar their individual scents were— and it made sense to him that they would be related in some way. His tail dusted the ground as he remained reclined there, watching Fox come forward to posses his gift, before offering it to the tan adolescent. Inwardly he felt miffed about the gesture. The boy was old enough to hunt for himself, and he wasn't potentially carrying his pups, but it wasn't his place to dictate what she did with what he brought her, so the Bluesummer wolf only fidgeted slightly, pulling his ears back as neither of them seemed immediately interested in the raccoon.

"Would you two like to bond alone, or make it a threesome?" he asked in an astonishingly innocent fashion, not even meaning it as a poorly placed joke. Kaizer wasn't a joker— at least, not on purpose.

He didn't go for the food as she expected him to, but he didn't outright refuse, either. Fox sighed, then began licking his ear, head, and face. Kaizer spoke, and she looked to him. "I don't mind," she replied, then looked to Whip to gauge his reaction to the idea. Her relationship with Kaizer was a complicated one, and she still wasn't sure what he thought of her... or what his eventual plan was. To be perfectly honest, Fox wasn't sure what she thought of Kaizer... or what her eventual plan for him was. Maybe he could earn her trust and make his way through the ranks.

Whip is sad and likes to take his anger out on others :p

Had Whip been something of a jokester, perhaps he would have burst out laughing at the double meaning of Kaizer's question. Unfortunatly for all others involved, Whip wasn't much one for laughter, or humor in general. For now he stayed silent with eyes trained full bore on Kaizer. While his mother was receptive to bonding with this outsider, Whip was not. Turning to his mother, Whip whispered, "I don't want to talk to him." He hoped that she wouldn't make him.

He turned his glare back to Kaizer and the adolescent continued to watch.

The pace of Kaizer's tail picked up as he at first thought he would be welcomed by the pair. Her son had seemed indifferent at first, but then suddenly he looked revolted at the thought, and he leaned in to whisper to his mother like a toddler. His ears pressed forward to catch the mumble, and he chuckled at the antisocial comment that only served to make the boy appear weaker even than what his scrappy appearance conjured. "Next time you don't want to do something, try not to whine to your mother about it first. You're a man now, best you start acting like one," he said flippantly, turning on his heel as he began to lay down the tracks that would lead to his own demise.

He wasn't interested in dealing with over-aged babies at that time, so for now he quickly left them to their own friendly devices; in the process showing him how a real man deals with his problems: he runs away and goes for a drink.

Gonna wrap this up, since Fox and Kaizer ded now. RIP in peace.

Fox furrowed her brow at Whip, a little disappointed that he wasn't willing to give Kaizer a chance. Even if things never progressed with him, Kaizer was a pack mate, and a helpful one. There was no reason for Whip to be such a little shit about it. Nevertheless, Kaizer's comment was worse, and Fox rolled her eyes in his direction when he sauntered off like a big hurt baby. Even if he might have been the father to some of her children, he certainly wasn't Whip's father.

Relaxing once Kaizer was out of the picture, she returned to grooming Whip in peaceful, comfortable silence.