Redhawk Caldera Pearly Showers

Birk understood very little of medicine and even less of, how the process of healing went. He had somehow thought that @Raven  was a magician of sorts and that by the swish of her paw (or in this case - use of her magical plant stuff) he would get well in no time. This had not happened. For the first few days it seemed that the chosen cure worked and then on the fourth it went quickly down-hill with him. The flesh in the open wounds had become black and putrid smelling and he himself felt so sick and nauseous at times that he had decided to distance himself from the rest of the pack for a while.

He had lurked near the borders, battling his illness and feeling generally too bad to see anyone eye to eye. And at one point it occurred to him that - hey, I might die too! And that it would be quite an ungraceful way for an ice-giant to go. Maybe this thought or some other kept him going, until one spring morning he woke up and felt just fine. He picked up and ate the medical stuff the healer had left for him, stretched and finally felt ready to go out in the world again. 

Birk still looked quite miserable - with his half-rotten ear-tips, the hairless spot on his tail and the rather lean and bony frame - but as he walked through the forest, sniffing and eagerly searching for morsels, he knew that from this point on everything was going to be fine.

Hope you don't mind the slight PP as I try to explore a new dynamic between my characters :)

"Liffey, come on," Fin said, exasperation obvious in her tone as she watched her daughter's retreating form, "You just have to be patient. We'll go, we just can't go right now!" They had been walking together for a while now. It was only in the past ten minutes or so that the argument had begun they'd become oblivious to where it was exactly they were going.

It was the same old argument that they'd had a few times now, and so the girl didn't stop when Finley did. Liffey did however slow enough to shoot a backwards glance at her mother. "Sure, mom. You just let me know when you can fit me into your busy schedule," the young Blackthorn snapped before turning and breaking into a run, leaving Fin to stand fuming in her wake.

"You're acting like a child  just as you're about to enter the adult ranks - you do realize that, don't you!" the alpha barked after her, making no move to follow, "I will make sure that even Orca is ranked higher than you if you keep this up!!" As her daughter disappeared, she let own a snarling huff and stomped her paws onto the ground in frustration. She couldn't figure out what was up with her sweet-tempered little girl lately, but she had a pack to run and four puppies running around causing all kinds of hell. And so she turned away to trudge back towards the rendezvous site, only to stop after taking only a few steps when her eyes landed on one of their newest recruits.

How fortunate.

Fin said nothing for a moment, just stared at him in obvious discomfort. He looked awful, but that actually made her feel a little better. It seemed to somehow even out the scales, at least in her flawed brain. "So... First impressions aren't usually all they're cracked up to be. Wouldn't you agree?" she offered with a flash of a grin.

So far Birk had found nothing much of importance, if you don't count a neat, little pile of old deer poop a morsel worth mentioning. He had scooped it up regardless, though it had tasted far from good, but would keep his stomach busy for a while. He then begun to dig at a spot, which held a promise of a long-forgotten stashed piece of carrion and this was, where the pack's alpha female Finley found him.

"Oh... hey..." he greeted her with a grin, muzzle and gums covered in mud. "I do hope not - though with my great looks, who knows?" he chuckled. "How are you today?"

Only after she spoke did she really take the time to take in the stranger's appearance. And dear god... This one had definitely gotten his approval stamp from Elwood, and fortunately so considering Fin wasn't exactly known for her ability to look past appearances. She somewhat knew this fellow's backstory - a friend of Raven's suffering from frostbite, but supposedly nothing contagious. Raven had been treating him and for a brief moment, she wondered if his current appearance was actually an improvement from when he'd shown up on their borders.

Fin felt the beginnings of pity stirring, but it got quiet once she opened her mouth to respond. "Oh, just basking in the joy of motherhood," she replied with an appreciative grin. She paused contemplatively before asking, "You didn't hear any of that.. did you? I mean, my kid shouting at me and me handling it with calm, sympathetic decorum?"

"I can't say I was paying attention," Birk apologized and shook his head. They probably had not been far off, but he had been so focused on sniffing for food, that he had zoned out almost everything else that had happened around him. Until Finley had come and spoken to him directly. 

"What's her name?" he asked, thinking that it was high time he got as much information about his fellow packmates as possible.

He hadn't heard them. For a brief moment, Finley felt relieved. She didn't need a newcomer listening in on her family drama and making decisions about the entire pack based on it. Unfortunately, it was replaced very quickly by disappointment that he hadn't heard them. She could have used the sympathy.

"Liffey," Fin replied with a sigh, "She and her brother are almost nine months. Just a few more weeks now and they'll be adults by all standards but my own." She rolled her shoulders and relished in the crackle she heard in her bones. "Don't worry - Only Lagan at this point will be any competition for rank." She would bury that girl. Omega wouldn't be low enough if that pup didn't get her act together.

"Yeah, tough time, I can imagine," Birk replied and could not help but feel a little amused by the dainty alpha and the way she talked about her children. One of those rare, entertaining people you would rather watch, how they walked through life and dealt with their problems, than interefere. 

"Well, my parents never liked me much after I had learned to say full sentences," he reminisced, twisting the truth just a little bit to make it sound more fitting to the occasion. "So, I guess that we all come to a point in life, when we are pains to the ones who have suffered pains of birth for us and raised us. Anyway... Lagan is your son, right?"

In spite of her annoyance at her daughter, Fin found herself snorting with laughter at her packmate's wit. She felt compelled to argue that she had never been such a pain to her own parents, but something held that comment back. It may have been self-awareness, but more likely it was respect to the fact that he was pushing the conversation forward. Truth be told, both scenarios were equally unlikely given the Blackthorn's personality.

In either case, Fin nodded. "Yes, he and Liffey are twins actually," she said conversationally, "Just their eye color is different, otherwise you'd never be able to tell them apart just looking at them. Now once they started talking, you'd know in an instant. My son would say something sweet and funny. Liffey would say something that makes you want to bite her nose. At least, when I'm the one talking to her."

"Sounds like a perfectly normal family life to me," Birk said, now laughing about Finley's last words about having a proper conversation between her and her daughter. "I mean, where I come from - torn and eaten ears, for example, were a sign of a conversation gone very well," once again he made truth just a tad bit more exciting than it really was. "The only reason I have been able to keep my handsome face was that I could not only talk much, but run fast too," this was not far from truth.

"Elwood mentioned that you have another son - Eljay, right? What is the fellow like?" he asked, not telling that in the myriad of gray wolves in Redhawk caldera he had difficult time telling one apart from the other.

Finley rolled her eyes as Birk commented that hers sounded like a normal family, but the smirk on her face told of her good-natured amusement. She thought of Fox and Peregrine and their kids. Had they ever experienced so much difficulty? I mean sure, Peregrine's one daughter had tried to murder the other once. And he'd had a number of them die. But to her knowledge, none of them had been assholes. Well.. Ferret had tried to kill him...

Birk might have a point.

"Yeah, Jay is my firstborn," Fin replied, considering his question for a moment before answering the rest. "Eljay is a sweetheart as well. Very loving, very gentle. He's great with the pups and actually played midwife for me during my second birth." Her chin tilted upwards slightly as she spoke of him. Sure, he had his problems and was not as skilled in the manner many of their kind were, but he excelled at the skills he did have. Even if not everyone could always see the value, Fin could always see it clearly.

"One don't see the gentle kind that often these days," Birk replied, curious about the guy in question and having an inkling that he might like him too. He put Eljay's name on his mental people-to-meet-list. Maybe they could become friends even - having a buddy that you could meet every day and that way not forget his name, would be awesome.

"I spoke with Elwood the other day and he asked me about trades," he went on with the conversation. "I did not have a set answer of, what I wanted to do, therefore just out of interest - do you have a trade and what exactly you do... with it?"

Finley eyed the man thoughtfully as he spoke. He was very different from many of the wolves she'd run with in the past. She could only imagine what Fox would have said about this fellow with his grizzly appearance and genial words. He reminded her a little of Sebastian and was struck briefly with the idea that she should go see him. He had a mate now, and hadn't she been pregnant? He was probably a dad these days, and she could only imagine what that sight would be like.

"I have two, actually," Fin answered, "I'm a mercenary and scout. Truth be told, I do very little scouting anymore. I haven't really since I had kids, but I used to love going out and exploring the neutral lands, meeting new wolves, all that good stuff. These days I do more of the mercenary work, guardian borders and such."

"Is there anything in particular you like to do?" she asked, "Interests? Hobbies? Mine are running around and getting into trouble, so the work I do for the pack fits rather comfortably. Doing something you like I think makes you that much better at your trade, and as such, much more valuable to the pack. And I do so like valuable subordinates." She gave him a grin.

"Being able to talk someone's ears off, probably, does not count towards trades, I guess..." Birk chuckled and fell silent, digging deep in his mind and soul in order to find something that he could classify as a particularly useful talent. The only conclusion he came to was that he was not particularly good at anything and at the same time he could do a little bit of everything. 

"I could simply be a "useful man" for time being," he declared eventually. "I mean, I have not had much experience in trade area, maybe tagging along knowledgable people for a while might help find me, what I would like to do with my life?"

Fin considered Birk's comments thoughtfully. "Actually, it could," she replied, smirking slightly as her gaze flickered between his face and damaged ears, "If you can say helpful things, you might make a good counselor. Or if bullshit's more your speed, chronicler could be better." Of course, part of chronicle-ing dealt with history and facts and not so much bullshit. But Fin didn't bother to expand - he'd decide what he wanted on his own.

She gave him an encouraging nod at his idea to follow those with trades around. "Well, you're welcome to watch me beat shit up anytime you want," Fin commented lightly, "Both of my sons like caring for the puppies, so you could go to work with them for a day as well. And if I'm not mistaken, you may already have a bit of a taste of what it's like to be a healer from watching Raven."

"Okay, whenever you are up to shit-beating give me a shout. I will be there," Birk chuckled, but meant it in earnest. He liked Finley and thought it would be fun to spend a day, whatching her deal with duties the trades required. 

"Yeah, well, I don't think I would make a good healer. There probably is a solid logic behind everything Raven does, but to me it still looks like witch-craft. You know - muttering some incantations, sprinkling some magic dust and - wham - making things happen. Or in her case - get better," he said. While he did not know yet, where he would end up with trades, he was very certain now that healer would not be one of them.

Fin grinned at his eagerness to join her in a fight one day. She wondered if there was a way to actually arrange an attack so he could really see her in action. The best thing to do would be for the pair of them to spar, but at the moment he looked like Towhee could take him down. Which was a bad example since Towhee could probably take Elwood down... Orca was better. He looked like Orca could take him down. Maybe after he healed up a bit. Or maybe she could find a coyote or something to pick a fight with for his entertainment.

"No, I think you're onto something there with the witchcraft," the alpha commented, "I mean come on - her name is Raven. It's a pretty good witch's name, if you ask me."

"A good name for a smart person too. Some top-god Asgard had two ravens as his companions," Birk agreed. Now and then his parents would share a story about their ancestors and the beings they had once believed in, but the harsh world up North had taught them that no deity was going to save your ass, when were slowly dying from starvation. Or were attacked by a bear. In that world all men were for themselves, gods had no place there. 

"Speaking of her I just remembered that I have to stop by to get my daily dose of magic stuff," he got to his feet, suddenly recalling the arrangement he had made with Raven earlier. "Would you mind, if I went now and we continued this conversation another time?"

I'll go ahead and wrap this up! :)

Fin canted her head slightly at Birk's comment about Asgard and gods and ravens. She was not familiar with mythology or religion of any kind. Her parents had told the legends of their old gods, but she had never considered these as anything more than stories. Even if the Blackthorns had presented the characters in these tales as real, the message had gone completely over Finley's head.

She didn't comment, though. She chuckled gently and offered him a smile as he stood and excused himself. "Please, feel free," Fin told him, "Can't have you dropping dead on me before I've gotten any use out of you, after all. Take care, Birk." She too stood and closed the gap between them, offering him a friendly nudge before turning to continue on her way. Perhaps she'd hunt down Liffey for round two... But more likely, she'd go for a nice, stress-relieving hunt.