Redhawk Caldera I see fire

I'm caffeinated and kind of bored, if anyone wants to spree.

Dove had finally worked up the courage to meet her little nieces and nephews, not knowing how many there were really; the area had been all hustle-and-bustle since their arrival, and Dove was still kind of perplexed by the fact that her sibling had kids. It wasn't that weird, actually. Yet with thoughts of Jaws looming in the back of her mind, she had been distracted. She was headed for the den with a neatly collected pile of flowers clutched in her teeth - completely unaware of the tragedy which had struck the little family in the day or so before. What had her mind in a tizzy was her conversation with Jaws - or rather, the little tiff they had shared - and the threat that he posed. So focused upon the problem that the boy posed, Dove overshot her route to the den, and ended up... Somewhere else. And when she came upon an ancient looking tree, she just stopped and stared at it - "Wait, what?" That wasn't there before.

With two successful hunts under his belt -- plus the pack hunt led by Somnia -- Elwood was feeling quite confident in his abilities. Jaws and Peregrine, respectively, had helped him bring down two deer. The meat, bones, and innards from the animals would provide for the pack for days to come, and the majority of both carcasses had been cached. He was tired and satisfied, so he decided to take the day off from hunting -- or anything else productive.

He was, of course, still saddened by the recent loss of Derp, but hunting with Peregrine had helped to ease that feeling. Unfortunately, it was the circle of life; the runt hadn't been meant to live longer than a week, perhaps. But there were three other pups to care for, and it was the living firebirds that were on his mind that day.

He was meandering along a well-worn path when he spotted a familiar figure ahead. Dove was standing with a bunch of flowers in her mouth, looking a bit confused. Though they had perhaps gotten off on the wrong foot, he held no ill will towards Fox's sister, so it was with a friendly wave of his tail that he approached. "Lost?" he called out, a smile playing on his lips. Fox wanted everyone to get along, so there was no reason they couldn't be friends, right?

The tree was quite wide. In fact, if she were to try and navigate around it, she couldn't; it must have been very old. The roots spread out underneath her feet and dug in to the soil. They might have spanned across the entire territory for all she knew - it was a big tree.

When Elwood popped up behind her, Dove's jaws clenched around the bundle of flowers and the claws at the ends of her toes dug in to the dirt; but seeing that it was only him, she was quick to cool her jets. "I guess I am, yeah." The girl admitted sheepishly, while turning to face him.

"I was going to bring Fox some flowers." It was a simple task, but apparently she didn't know the territory nearly as well as she hoped. The words tumbled from her with a slight lisp because of the flowers in her mouth. "But I guess I got distracted and walked too far."

3/18: Adding a conclusion since Dove is now a PPC! If she is readopted and that player wants to continue this thread, I'll be happy to revive it. :)

She seemed to be a little startled by his sudden appearance, but otherwise showed no sign of annoyance with his presence. That was good; he hadn't been sure if she had formed a negative opinion of him after he removed himself so abruptly from the situation with Somnia. Elwood paused a few feet from his packmate, his gaze falling on the bouquet of flowers in Dove's mouth. When she spoke, her words were somewhat muffled due to the foliage, but he was still able to understand her.

At the mention that she was bringing them to Fox, Elwood's ears drooped slightly. "That's nice of you. I'm sure she'll appreciate it, after Derp..." His voice trailed off and he averted his eyes. It wasn't uncommon for the runt of a litter to pass away, but he still felt sad for the new parents.

Inadvertently, he became the first to tell the young aunt that her nephew had died. Feeling awkward and wishing to give her some alone time to leave, he quickly excused himself and departed.