Redhawk Caldera don't you ever tame your demons -- always keep them on a leash

@Fox - OUTRIDER threadv1

It was nearly duskfall when Caiaphas broke through the shadowed bosk and into the yawning expanse of the lake. To the west the entire horizon was blackened and scorched with simmering red clawing the skyline -- and the byzantine lake brilliant and coruscating reflected the redness with such crimson alacrity it was sharp and painful for the eye to behold. The stillness of it overwhelming. In the distance, thrumming cicadas threw their call across the tranquil water.

She swung wide around the rocky bank and slithered down the damp steppes, gracefully sinking as the mud departed from its hold on the ascension and went clumsily down. She had spent the entire day traveling this far in her search for pack knowledge -- and wearily she dropped into the shallows with a plop that shattered the tranquility of the lake and sent angry ripples off into the black depths.

Title: Hozier - Arsonist's Lullaby

Updating to present-day! Also, I still miss Suttree. I swear I'm going to reincarnate him one of these days.

With her front paw nearly done healing, Fox was feeling the best yet since they had arrived at Redhawk Caldera. They had a small, but strong, following, and she had no doubt that they would make it through the winter without a hitch. Her thoughts often lingered on her future children, plotting and planning how she would raise them. She wanted to instill the same values as her own parents did, but she also knew that Peregrine's input was just as important. Knowing that forced her to swallow her pride a bit more than usual, but she knew that his happiness was linked to her own.

Presently, the young leader was rounding one of the now familiar bends on the outer reaches of her new home. On the northern edge lay a lake, and she spotted a dark-faced figure on the edge of it. Curiosity activated, Fox glanced at the caldera only a moment before moving in, her limp still slightly evident in her stride. As she neared, she realized that this was not just any wolf, but one of Aktaie's sea-witches. She vaguely recalled Junior saying something about them being terrible, but considering Fox hadn't had any bad run-ins with them, she had no reason to immediately dislike the black-headed creature.

“What’s a sea wolf doing all the way out here?” Fox asked.

[size=xx-large]DO IT!!!![/size]

She sat in the shallows for now, satisfied by her progress. Soon the day would be done and the sun would fade and she would have to find a place to bed for the night -- but for now, she idled.

The afternoon was peace, and the water warm enough -- and everything seemed so tranquil that Caiaphas nearly would have dozed off were it not for the approach of another. Wearily she wiped her rheum-ridden eyes with a sopping paw and stood half upright in an exhaust-ridden recumbent position. Her narrow muzzle canted to the side as a brilliant red wolf met her -- there was an audible and obvious limp to her gait. Despite this weakness, Caiaphas surmised the wolf was not one she would want to trifle with -- and while she was small as wolves went, she was nearly bigger than Caiaphas.

She remained neutral, though she was painfully aware from the wolf's scent that she was fairly close to a newly established territory. "What makes you think I am a sea-wolf?" She questioned smoothly, her expression innocuous and indeterminable. "What hurt you?"

“You smell of that other sea wolf,” Fox replied plainly, not bothering with names. They were hard enough for her to remember, as she didn't often put the time into storing them in a fashion she could recall. Besides, unless she planned on calling forth a sea wolf in the future, she had no need of their names. Only that they belonged on the coast and were not likely to be recruits to her cause.

“I fell,” she added, when the dual-toned female asked how she had gotten her limp. The limp was less pronounced, now, but it was still there, and all it took was a keen eye to notice it. Fox knew her side got worse as the day wore on, but she was always careful to protect it from any outside harm. The last thing she wanted was to prolong the healing process.

Her expression did not falter -- and as fatigued as she was from the trek she was not yet exhausted enough to miss the disinterest in the female's voice as she explained her reason for calling Caiaphas a sea-wolf. Half of her wished to press the issue forwards and extract from her a name -- but intuitively, she wondered if Fox had even cared enough to commit it to memory. Something about the mein of the fiery female commanded attention -- and it also lead Caiaphas to believe the rowdy and minute creature did not fastidiously remember details unless they interested her.

"There is only one type of sea-wolf." She replied equally as plainly, her gaze falling on the injured limb without sympathy. She did not consider the wolves of Stavanger to be sea-wolves -- they were neither seafaring nor were they coastal in breed. They hunted in their tidy little woods and did not rightly observe the ocean for the immense deity it was. She could assume then, that Fox had likely met one of her own -- but if it had not gotten back to her, perhaps it was not important. "You fell?" She asked dryly, her muzzle canted to the side. "Are you sure someone did not push you?"

Fox, being a simple creature, wasn't exactly sure what the stranger was getting at, but she also wasn't curious enough to ask. The fiery Alpha was a straight-forward talker and an even more straight-forward listener. That is, she ignored anything she did not understand unless she felt it was important to her in some way. Whether or not the stranger was affiliated with the sea wenches Junior had joined up with or not made little difference to the way Fox would treat her.

When she bent to take a few laps of water, her ears swiveled backward to listen to the sea wolf's question. She stepped back from the water, licked her lips, and spoke. “If somebody had pushed me,” she replied, “they would be dead. I mistook an ice ledge for stone. A mistake I will avoid in the future.” Fox blamed that on inexperience and being eager to explore the caldera. What was done was done, and she had no reason to go fretting on about what she could have done differently.

Impetuous would be a word Caiaphas would have dictated to this one -- strong, resilient -- fiery. She watched her silently and the manner in which she issued a rebuke to Caiaphas' inquiry elicited a faint smile of amusement from the dual-toned hybrid.

"But you got hurt -- how would you kill them, bludgeon them to death with your injured limb?" The jest was made in good humor, though Caiaphas wondered if it would be received just as well. She turned her head to the side and tilted her strong and thin muzzle, as if seeing Fox in a new light. "Why are you wandering on that thing? Should it not rest?" While in truth she was ultimately unconcerned and unsympathetic to Fox's injury, she knew trauma took time to heal -- and concussion on a limb was never a pleasant thing.

I am legit enjoying this thread. :)

The corners of Fox's lips tugged upward slightly, though she did not laugh or chuckle at the stranger's jest. “I never said I’d be the one to kill the offender,” Fox replied darkly. She had a rather strong feeling that if Peregrine knew who the hypothetical assailant was, he would rip them to shreds in a matter of moments. If he did not, he would find out. Fox knew that she would do the same for him. They were bound by nature, and to see harm come to her mate intentionally would have driven her into a murderous rage. Nothing would be able to stop her until she had killed the one who had harmed her beloved.

“Rest is for the wicked,” Fox replied, then considered for a moment that she could quite easily be considered wicked by Peregrine's children, “And resting has never been my cup of tea. Besides, I have a pack to protect from those who linger near.” And while this particular stranger was doing nothing to hint that she would befell harm to the caldera, Fox had learned not to be too careful. She was close enough to catch Fox's attention, so Fox paid attention.

me too!! i need 2 learn to play nice characters god

Her bemusement did not diffuse -- not even when Fox's retort was delivered with familiar darkness. Nor did Caiaphas miss the slight upward tilt of the stranger's jowls. This emboldened her.

Her eyes flickered from the compromised limb to the petite wolf's robust features -- and in a way, Caiaphas was reminded of a fisher cat rather than a fox. She had met many fox and many fishers and there was not one thing in the world so adorably deceitful as a weasel about to render its quarry to shreds.

She was not put off by Fox's comment either -- she did not think they were surrounded and it showed in the casual manner in which she skulked. "Rest is for the dead too," She trilled delightedly -- darkly -- her little yellow eyes alight. "Would your pack kill for you?" She asked softly, her head tilted to the side as if concerned.

If rest was for the dead, then Fox wanted no part of it. Perhaps a weaker wolf would have resolved to die rather than heal, but Fox was no weakling. She had proven than more than once. To the sea witch's question, Fox replied, “Yes. Wouldn’t yours?” Was that not the purpose of a pack? To protect its pledges and ensure that they thrived? Not only would they, but Fox had seen her pack kill for her on multiple occasions. Perhaps it had not been this pack, but she felt the same sense of camaraderie here that she had in the creek during those times. The cougar, coyotes, and Tortuga wolves had been foolish to tempt the Swiftcurrent bunch. Idly, Fox wondered if they had ever done the same for Bazi.

Fox wondered what this one's relationship was to the leader that she had met before. Aktaie, was it? She did not ask, though, preferring silence to idle chitchat. And yet, she knew she could not—would not—leave this stranger to linger here while she resumed her patrol. No, she would wait until this one departed before moving on, knowing that it would be more secure that way. Besides, there were plenty of other redhawk wolves keeping their borders safe elsewhere.

holy poop your EXP just skyrocketed ROFL. i'm gonna wrap this up - if you'd like more threads so you can reach 1000 posts just let me know :)

Fox met Caiaphas' unusual question with an unusual amount of conviction: slyly Caiaphas watched for any sign of doubt across her fiery countenance but none came. Caiaphas was not of the same conviction -- at least not wholly -- and in some sad way a knowing smile seemed to taper across her muzzle in a brief and shortlived simper.

"Oh, there are many that would kill for me. And many more that would kill for what we have." She lifted her muzzle as if signifying the weight behind her words. To an outsider they may have seemed nonsensical but there was nothing Caiaphas knew with more depth and certainty than the predacious nature of wolves.

She rose then, the water falling freely from her lanky body and the dampness behind her fur exacerbating the evidence of starvation that wrought her frame. She made no motion to signify her departure -- instead the wet poltroon slithered away from the impetuous and strong-willed female back towards the Sound.

Thanks for the thread! I feel like they could be friends if the situation were different. :B

If Fox had half an eye for detail, she would have noticed the way in which the sea witch smiled. Instead, she merely blinked and watched as Caiaphas faded into the scenery, leaving behind no trace of her existence aside from the lingering scent of sea salt. Confident that the stranger would not return, Fox continued her march along the outskirts of her home, seeking out loiterers and chasing them off as needed. She did not think of the sea wench again.