Redhawk Caldera slip and slide

Intended for @Jaws, though anybody can hop in.

Eventually, Fox had to get up and out of the den. She was loathe to do so, but she was parched, and the pups insisted on pushing on her bladder. They squirmed and squeaked when she picked herself up, rolling them around with her nose until they were all close enough to one another to keep themselves warm. Peregrine was there as well, and Fox had no reservations about having him protect the pups while she made a quick beeline to the caldera and back.

Blinking in the twighlight (for she'd giving birth in the afternoon), Fox made it roughly twenty paces before she squatted and let loose the longest stream of piss she could ever remember. For a moment, she wondered if the babes had somehow messed up her insides, and she was really leaking some other bodily fluid. Eventually, though, she was done, and Fox scratched her back feet on the ground to mark her place. She felt remarkably better, although it was clear that her body was definitely worn from giving birth to the four little ones.

Her sides had flattened, but her chest and belly were still full of milk. Her boobies (teehee) swung from side to side as she quickly trotted to the lake and began lapping up the water. It tasted like liquid life. Cool, fresh, and clean. Her throat immediately began to feel better, as well as the rest of her.

It was Jaws' first time to the center of the pack's territory, to its namesake the caldera. As he paced along the shore he absently wondered if the waterbody held any fish, but he could not see any in the deepening dark. Fish were perhaps Jaws' most preferred food, and he had a number of tricks to use to catch them. He would make it a point to return to the caldera and thoroughly scout it for fishing purposes, but for now his attention moved to the red ghost making her way to the lake edge. It was Fox, perhaps her first time out of the den since the arrival of her pups. Jaws was slightly surprised to see her but could hardly think she'd stay in the den forever.

Jaws waited and watched, but she was unaccompanied. Quietly he made his way to her, unsure if it would be appropriate - of course these days he found himself unsure often. He just was not used to pack life and not at all confident in the protocol. But he had not met his Alpha female yet, and figured she was likely to be too busy here on out.

As he neared, he bowed his low, and issued a soft question. "Do you need anything?" You think Jaws would learn to simply say hello someday.

A somewhat unfamiliar voice caused Fox's ears to turn backward. She continued drinking for a moment, then lifted her head and licked her lips. This was... damn, she was terrible with names. He had been at the meeting a day or two prior (what day was it?) and she had seen him there, but they had yet to have any truly meaningful conversations. Had he even introduced himself during the team building game? If he had, she'd forgotten.

"A new body, for starters," she joked. "I knew it was going to be painful, but goddamn." Fox still felt like her insides had been ripped right out of her.

Jaws chuckled at the Alpha's joke; both his leaders had a good sense of humor, something the the coywolf, who had a jester side himself, took great comfort in. It was easier to transition into pack life (read: social life) when he could, at least to some degree, be himself around them. "I'll keep my eyes open for any bodies," he said with a grin a wink. "You never know when one might wander by." His joke was not out of character, but had she not been Peregrine's mate he would more than likely have made a flirtatious quip about how she looks ravishing as she is; such was his typical manner around females.

"I'm Jaws, by the way," he added, assuming she might have forgot with so much on the go, and having only seen him at the gathering she called earlier.

"Jaws. Right," she repeated, having heard somewhere that repeating a name would help her to recall it later. It didn't always work, but she had gotten better about calling wolves by their correct names. Only after a pause did she realize that his teeth stuck out of his mouth. She must have missed that detail entirely at the aforementioned meeting, and Fox wondered if he usually got comments on them. Uninterested in giving feedback on something so irrelevant, Fox moved on to other things.

"Was it you who brought by the rodents?" she asked. Fox had been sleeping at the time, though she recalled Peregrine mentioning something or another about Jaws bringing food to the den. She'd eaten one of them already, even though it was hard to stomach much of anything. Fox glanced back to the den, instinct threatening to pull her away from the pleasant conversation and back to the four-legged potatoes.

Without a pack or his mother around to teach him, Jaws had learned from any animal that was around him; specifically adopting techniques for hunting rodents from cats, coyotes and foxes. Although mice, voles, shrews and the like were small, they were plentiful and found almost anywhere. They also were not hard to hunt with the right skill set, and it so it did not require a large expenditure of energy to gather enough for a meal.

Jaws nodded with a soft smile. "A conveniently bite-sized meal," he joked. Although Peregrine had expressed gratitude for his offering, Jaws still felt unsure not knowing if Fox had approved. Rodents tasted fine and were nutritionally sound, but they were just not standard wolf fare and he knew it; thus his response was light and playful, as if it to put a positive spin on something that might otherwise be viewed as a negative. "If you have any requests, I'll be glad to hear them."

“Thanks for bringin’ ‘em by,” she replied, “Every little bit helps.” Then, as Jaws spoke again, Fox tipped her ears forward. Requests? For a moment, she wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, then she realized he must have meant particular meats. Pondering this for a moment, she tried to think if there was anything in particular that she wished to dine on. Or she could mess with him and try to get something impossible...

“You know what would be downright amazing?” she asked rhetorically, “A big, plump badger.” Fox said this with the utmost seriousness in her voice, hoping he would see her inner self laughing her little tushie off. Badgers were notoriously mean, and she had always avoided them for that reason. Still, a challenge was a challenge, right?

Jaws tipped his muzzle in a 'you're welcome' gesture when she thanked him for the rodents. He felt considerably less unsure knowing that his atypical offerring was accepted. It meant that he could continue about his business, putting his skills to use without having to rely solely on hunting in groups, and that would be fine.

"Badger, eh?" the coywolf repeated with a devious grin. He was certain she meant it in jest, but he was intrigued now. Although Jaws had become a masterful hunter out of need, he enjoyed it, too. He had encountered badgers before but never had hunted one, and now with the thought in his head, he wanted to. However, he was not about to let Fox know he had accepted her challenge, lest she tell him not to go ahead with it. "Can't say I ever ate one. I prefer fish."

Last post for me! :)

"If you catch two badgers," Fox replied, "you can try it." She was, of course, insinuating that he would have to catch one for herself before he considered catching one for his own curiosity. Fox had eaten more than enough fish back in Swiftcurrent Creek, but since moving away, she'd mostly eaten whatever Peregrine brought her. It was terribly convenient to be mates with the caldera's primary hunter.

Glancing back to the den momentarily, Fox returned her gaze to Jaws. "I should be getting back. It was good to meet you, Jaws... and I'll keep an eye out for that badger." Eager to return to her family, Fox didn't hesitate to trot off back to the den, her milk duds swinging awkwardly all the way home.

With the mention of two badgers, suddenly the challenge was taken up a notch. If his first hunt was successful there was no doubt Jaws would be going back for the second. Food was food, he was not picky about his prey so long as he kept his belly full (and now the pack's as well). If he could add badger to the menu, all the better for everyone.

"Of course." Jaws nodded. "Take care." As Fox took her leave so did Jaws, opting to explore the caldera's shores a bit more before he would return to the business of tending the cache's and watching the borders.