Redhawk Caldera if i'm addicted to loving you.

Mommy's gonna powerplay you all now, just a leetle <3

Finley settled at the mouth of the den, strewn luxuriously in the few bits of sun the peeked at her through the evergreen boughs. She watched as her latest four little beasts toddled about in the small area she allowed them to roam in the sunlight. The pack had done well to keep her as fed as they could, and yet her belly still ached uncomfortably. She'd been informed of the scarcity of prey within the Caldera, and she was painfully awaare as well of the movements of the herds away from the vicinity of the pack entirely. And though another might have felt greedy or selfish at requiring dibs of what little food they still had, Fin knew that none of it was truly for her - it was all for Fee, Fi, Foh and Fum, as she had so recently begun to call them.

Fee had started it all of course. Being that the name "Fiadh" was literally pronounced "Fee", it had been an easy transition. Fin couldn't really say how she had decided each of the others were due their names. But when she'd looked at @Tegan, he'd just felt like a "Foh". And when she'd considered @Lucca, she'd thought him quite the "Fi". At the same token, @Clover was without a doubt a Fum. No one had ever been such a Fum, or so Fin believed. She grinned slightly as she watched the girl inspect a small patch of her namesake, almost feeling bad that in her exhaustion, she'd given her a boy's name. But, if Fum was not a Clover or a Fum, she was most definitely a Math at the very least.

The alpha rolled her shoulders as her jaws split into a wide yawn. She laid her head down on her paws lazily and shut her eyes, ignoring the hungry croak in her belly and the incessant worry in her head that told her she should be fretting over the food shortage, not lazing about watching her kids be silly.

Hope you don't mind me stealing this thread :)

The lack of food in their packlands was becoming a problem, one that deeply concerned Raven. Her concern wasn't for herself -- though her belly was so painfully empty that it almost growled louder than she did now -- but more for Finley, who needed extra nourishment beyond the normal amount so that she could produce milk to feed her puppies. The medic was all too aware of what could happen if the famine persisted for too much longer: Aunt Flea's milk could dry up, and those precious puppies would weaken and starve.

Something deeply maternal steeled inside of her. She wouldn't let that happen. She had been busy since dawn, collecting brambly arms from blackberry bushes that were heavy with ripe, swollen berries. It was late in the season so many of them were buggy and overripe, but it didn't matter. It was food. As tempting as it was to indulge herself and quiet her hungry belly, Raven did not eat a single berry.

Instead, she searched out the alpha female and found her, somewhat predictably, in a quiet patch of shade trees not far from the den. Raven approached her aunt with a grin, her tail waving affectionately, before setting down the few berry-laden branches she carried near Finley. "I brought you some berries," she said somewhat lamely, wishing it was a big deer haunch or fat raccoon instead. "It's not much, but it's something." Settling down beside the alpha, her eyes followed the movements of the rambunctious little pups as they scampered about in the broken shards of golden sunshine. Almost involuntarily, a huge grin danced on her lips as she watched them, the love in her heart so great she felt it might burst.

Not at all!

Fin watched as Fum began to roll around in the clover, her ears perking to attention when a bumblebee came buzzing along. It landed on a white bud a few feet from where her daughter was wriggling about on the ground. It was a safe enough distance that Finley wouldn't worry. She knew a little bee sting wasn't life threatening by any means, but she still didn't like to see her kids get hurt.

The bee began to move again, but Finley was distracted then by Raven's appearance. She smiled as the caretaker came nearer and dropped the branches at her paws. Fin had never been much for anything besides meat. She remembered fondly trying to help Peregrine find alternative food sources one Fall day. They'd eaten pumpkins. It was terrible, but sating enough. And still, with prey being as scarce as it was lately, Fin wasn't about to turn her nose at anything that could help her provide food to her pups.

"Thanks, Ray," Fin said as she pulled a branch towards her and began to pick off the dark, purple fruit. She'd eaten about three of them when Fi came bouncing up. The boy smushed his nose into a berry on one of the untouched branches, smearing juice all over his nose. She quirked a brow as he sneezed twice, then began running his tongue eagerly over his snout. Fin watched him thoughtfully. "You ever heard of a wolf pup being weaned using fruit?" she asked.

Clover sprinted around wildly, as wildly as her little legs could carry her anyway. She was pounced by Tegan and kicked him off of her before zig-zagging around and flopping to the earth, rolling around and claiming her namesake (unknowingly). When her other brother made moves toward there mother, Clover bounded in that direction with a waving tail. She pushed herself in and nosed what their mother had just eaten. After seeing Lucca do it, Clover did not hesitate. She took one for herself and chewed, and her face scrunched up. Though it was sweet, Clover decidedly preferred the taste of meat.

You get #100!

Raven grinned with approval as her aunt began to eat. To her, blackberries were an incredibly delicious treat, but that was probably because she was quite accustomed to having mouthfuls of foul-tasting, rather disgusting plants and stems in the course of her medical duties. Even poop tasted better than some of those plant juices did. Berries, to her, were awesome. But to a wolf whose tastes were accustomed to meat and little else, they probably left a lot to be desired. Still, they were nutritious, and she was glad to see Finley eat some. The pups seemed curious about them, and Raven smiled at their reactions.

Finley asked about weaning pups on fruit, and while Raven very much doubted it was possible, she shrugged and replied, "No, but if this famine doesn't break soon, I guess we'll find out if it's possible or not." Concern was etched in the lines of her face as she watched the littles ones play and poke around.  She couldn't understand why game had suddenly become so scarce at the peak of summer. It had never happened before -- at least in her relatively short life, anyway.  She watched little Clover's tiny nose crinkle as she tasted the tart sweetness of a berry, and she giggled, leaning forward to lightly swipe a little berry residue from the pup's cheek with her tongue.  "I wish I could understand why it's summer and there's no game," she commented idly.  "It's not like we eat that much."

yaaay! You get.... 1687 :D 300 years prior to my date of birth :o

Fin quirked a brow as Clover joined the mix, a smile slowly slipping across her muzzle. It seemed that little Fum would not be outdone by her brother. She snapped up a berry without hesitation. Her expression, however, informed Fin rather quickly that she was not at all pleased by this vegan alternative. She looked at Raven as the younger female leaned forward to clean the even younger female's face. A prickle of protective jealousy swelled in her chest, but she had learned with Firebirds 3.0 not to act on that particular instinct. It was perfectly natural for pups to have a secondary mother figure - wet nurse in the case of the firebirds. Raven did it out of kindness and love, not an attempt to steal Fin's babies from her.

The alpha grinned at her goddaughter's commentary about the famine. "We eat more than you think," she commented, watching as Lucca hopped over to his sister, apparently now intent upon smushing his face into her face, "Besides, our pack is frickin' huge these days. If I had this many neighbors that could eat me, I'd be packing my bags and moving on to less crowded pastures too."

No sooner than she had eaten did Raven clean up after her mess, and immediately after, Lucca smashed his face into her own. Clover, made indignant by this, screeched like a howler monkey and launched at him. She'd show him! She'd make him rue the day his stinky-butt headbutted her! And then, their wrestling match began. She'd already forgotten the gross taste of berries.

As she finished cleaning Clover's face, Raven noticed Finley eyeing her and she felt a moment of uncertainty. Was she overstepping boundaries she knew nothing about? Though she had sort of mothered a litter herself when her siblings were babies, nobody had ever taught her the whole "mom thing". She filed this moment away in her mind to ponder later when she was alone with her thoughts. And in the meantime, she sat back on her haunches, putting a subtle, small distance between herself and Clover.

"Yeah, I see your point," she said to Finley's words a moment later, shrugging her assent to the alpha's words. This was why Finley was a better alpha than Raven could ever hope to be: her aunt could see the whole forest, whereas Raven generally only saw trees. With a suddenness that almost startled her, Clover and Lucca fell into a screeching brawl over a crime of berries smashed into the face. Siblings liked to heckle one another, and this bunch was no different. She grinned quietly, watching them with avid affection and interest and thinking back on the days when she, Nightjar, and Wildfire had similarly ribbed each other.

Fin didn't notice Raven's brief discomfort or subtle shift away from her kids. She'd forgotten the moment already, her mind instead consumed by thoughts of this damned famine. She was certain it was their numbers that had caused it, and there was no easy solution for that. Well, on the surface it was simple as hell - cut some people loose. Then you got into bonds and emotions and morals, and that made the situation feel far more impossible.

Fortunately, Clover and Lucca provided a nice distraction. Fin refocused on them as they tussled, grinning. "My money's on Clover," she said, glancing at Raven, "You in a betting mood?"

I STINKO. NO MORE DELAYS FRUM ME

 

Her brother was atop of her for a moment, but the shifty Clover found her way out and soon was on top of him. Unfortunately her size was not that great—she was perhaps the runt of this litter—but her spirit? She'd never give up! Lucca bested her for another moment, but Clover did not give up, once again kicking out from beneath him with a growl. She wrestled atop him again, and simply lay there. Her brother, for the time, was still. The little gladiator looked up with a grin at her family.

She grinned at her aunt, watching the pups wrestle about in the grass. Lucca put up a good fight, and he was certainly bigger than Clover. But that little girl was a feisty hellion with enough sass and stubbornness to resist an entire pack -- let alone one little boy -- and she simply wouldn't stay still long enough for her brother to gain the upper hand. "I think if I bet on anyone but Clover, I'm going to be in debt," she commented lightly in reply to Finley's question.

Switching subjects abruptly, she asked, "Aunt Flea, do you think I'll ever find a mate of my own?" It wasn't that she really had any desire for puppies -- her youngest siblings had nearly wiped out any parental ambitions she might have had -- but she was a little lonely. She would be coming into her third spring soon, and she'd never even had so much as a boyfriend.

Fin watched the battle with amusement shining in her eyes. These four were the most energetic kids she'd ever had, by far. While they were certainly a handful 95% of the time, she had enough help from the pack that she rarely felt overwhelmed by them. Plus, she had been a wild, energtic kid as well, and so she appreciated their antics. The fact that they would probably show interest in the same hobbies she developed as she grew older was something she was also painfully aware of, but that was future Fin's problem, and that girl could totally handle it.

Lucca wasn't moving, and it was beginning to occur to her that she ought to remove the wriggling puppy from his back to make sure he was still breathing when Raven's question threw her off guard. Her attention snapped to her goddaughter in surprise. This was not a topic the girl had ever brought up with her before, though Fin had always sort of wondered about it. She was a talented, friendly, and very pretty female. There was no reason she wouldn't find a mate for herself if she actually wanted one. And that was the thing - Fin had always assumed she didn't want one.

"I'm sure you would if you tried," Fin answered, reaching absently to prod Lucca in the bum to get him moving again, "Do you want one?" She began to shuffle through the contact list in her mind, identifying all of the eligible bachelors that she could and would totally set Raven up with.

U GUYS CAN SKIP ME, clover is now frolicking w her siblings!

 
Her brother stopped squirming, but proved he was alive when Clover let out a stinky toot. He wriggled out and escaped, and Clover yapped and raced after him. Another brother intercepted her, tackling her, but Clover got back up again and began to assault him. The two romped around their family, Clover not really learning from her mistakes and continuing to attempt to ram her brother over time after time. Fortunately, given their collective lack of balance at this age, each sibling (even despite her small size) was susceptible to her headbutt against their bodies. When they toppled, she giggled.

For a long time, Raven hadn't paid even the slightest bit of attention to the opposite sex. Sure, she'd fancied a few particularly handsome males, but nothing had ever come of it. Her energy had always been devoted 100% to her work. The hours she could have spent flirting with boys were instead spent learning everything she could about plants and their medicinal uses, testing them on herself (and sometimes suffering the unpleasant consequences), and asking questions of others. As a result, she was an exceptionally talented healer...but a very single female.

As she grew older, she was coming to realize that there was more to life than work. Loneliness was something she'd grown accustomed to at a very young age, so she was no stranger to it at all. But there was definitely something missing from her life, and when she watched Finley and Elwood together, she realized that it was the easy, comfortable companionship they shared that she was lacking. And she wanted that. Aunt Flea asked her that very question, though, and suddenly she felt like a little girl again. Feeling herself blush a little, she replied with an awkward shrug, "Kind of...yeah, I guess so. I feel lonely. I'm almost three...why hasn't anybody shown any interest in me? Am I not pretty enough?" Next to her more vibrantly colored and patterned siblings, she considered herself drab and dull in comparison.

The look on Raven's face made Finley smile knowingly. As uncomfortable as the girl seemed with the idea, Fin could surmise the answer to her question before the words even passed her dark lips. She admitted to being somewhat interested in finding herself a mate, but expressed doubt in her own ability to attain one. She had to suppress a laugh at the girl's fears, knowing full well that Raven would not taken kindly to being laughed at right now, even if Fin was only laughing at how silly the idea of her not being pretty enough to find a mate was.

"Ray, you are plenty pretty enough to find a mate," she answered, "You just haven't really been exposed to any males outside of our family. I have no doubt that if you showed that you were receptive to it, you'd find some boys looking your way." One thing she knew about boys was that they liked it when girls were open to their advances. It was likely that men had been interested in her in the past, but she had been so disinterested that she hadn't noticed. Boys definitely didn't like to not be noticed.

Raven had so much love and respect for Finley. The elder female was nearly on the same pedestal that Raven's own mother had occupied, in the medic's eyes. So when Finley assured her that she was pretty enough to attract a mate, she took some comfort in those words. She still felt that she'd gotten the short end of the stick where looks were concerned. I mean, really. Look at freaking Wildfire, she thought to herself a little bitterly, wishing that she could've gotten even just a little of that brilliantly gorgeous coloring. She thought of the beautiful silver Blackthorn girls, and Towhee's interestingly calico-like markings, and she felt like the boring girl in the back of the classroom.

She shook her head, making an effort to push all of that out of her thoughts for now. "How did you and Uncle Elwood get together?" she asked, suddenly curious how the Caldera's alpha pair had become a pair. Perhaps Finley's own experience could offer her some insights on exactly how one showed they were receptive to boys' attention.

Fin was thoughtful as she looked at Raven. She had always sort of hoped that one day, one of hers and one of Peregrine's and Fox's would get together and truly make the Blackthorns and Redhawks one family. Perhaps Raven was her opportunity to make that happen... But Lagan was a little young, not to mention gay. And Eljay wasn't with the pack anymore, though she did wonder if he would ever find a mate for himself anyway. In all honesty, she had always thought that her dream would be made true by Gannet and Liffey one day. That one was also not likely to happen now though, so she considered that it might be time to let go of that particular dream.

Not that she was giving up on Raven, though. She was definitely going to try to set her up with Sebastian. But apparently it wasn't time to share that particular plan, as Raven posed a question about how she had ended up with Elwood. Fin gave a brief laugh at the question before shaking her head, "Not easily. Good god, not easy at all," she answered, smiling at the memory, "It took us quite a while to figure out that we had feelings for each other. During which time, I broke some other guy's heart, your uncle hooked up with some other chick and I tried to drive him out of the pack for it, and then your dad had to yell at both of us until we realized we were in love, and even then it was a while before we finally committed to being mates."

Ah, good times.

"And that's the condensed version," she added after a moment. There had been so many more significant moments along the path of their courtship - most of which were probably more appropriate to tell your niece about. But Fin wasn't one to hide ugliness, and in all honesty, it was rather amusing in retrospect. At least she hadn't told Raven about the miscarriage that had lead to her and @Elwood officially becoming mates, like srsly Kim what have we done to these two. "The best romances are not easy to find, and they're not even easy to be in all the time," Fin said, a soft smile curling upon her lips, "But they are still.. the best."

Haha, Finley and I hope for the same things. I've always wanted to see a Blackthorn and a Redhawk (*AHEM* nudges Raven) end up together. What an awesome pair they'd make!

Raven giggled as Finley told her story, humorous even in its brevity. They'd always seemed like such a solid couple, one of those pairs that seemed so perfect and timeless than it was hard to imagine a world in which they were not a singular unit. The idea of Aunt Flea trying to chase Uncle El out of the pack was very amusing to picture, and Raven lingered on that one with a grin. Finley's words were true, though. Raven knew that romance wasn't easy. The few times she'd attempted to flirt had mostly failed, much to her supreme chagrin, and she really couldn't imagine what it would be like to have that kind of interest returned. If the simple act of flirting was so difficult to do properly, how on earth could she hope to have a chance in the Real Romance Department?

The more she thought about it, the more hopeless she felt. There weren't even any really eligible bachelors in the pack. Sure, there was Sebastian, and he was definitely handsome (and a healer, which was perfect)...but she barely knew him. He scarcely paid her any attention at all when they crossed paths. All the rest of the males in the pack were either siblings or too young. Unless a miracle happened, she'd have to leave the pack to find a mate and that just didn't really appeal to her very much. She sighed and commented a little wistfully, "Maybe I'll get my chance someday." Rising to her feet, she stretched and looked out to where the pups frolicked and romped. "I'd better get going. There's still some stuff I'd like to get done before dark. Thanks, Aunt Flea." She gave the silvery she-wolf a warm grin and a nuzzle on her cheek before turning to head back to her badger den, with lots of new things to think about on the way.