Redhawk Caldera return to the fire

@Finley / @Summer — Let me know if I need to revise. I'm assuming some things to help explain the timeline. I left it open so Fin could either be returning with her, or she could have returned already. Just saw you've been posting, herp! Backdating this to Feb 4th-ish?

Magpie hadn't intended to be away from the caldera for so long; not desiring to break Fox's goodwill or trust. She had meant it when she said that she would return. But the trip there had taken longer than she had anticipated— the fault of both weather and distance— and when she had arrived, it wouldn't have been fair to disappear from Summer so quickly. She had spent several days in the mountains, far outside the borders of the Sunspire, but they had met often. When she closed her eyes, she could still smell his fur, see his golden eyes. For a while, it was like the old days— or what those days could have been, had she not been held captive.

But eventually, she grew anxious— Fox was pregnant with thousands of squirming nieces and nephews (at least the way she told it), and Magpie didn't know when they would be expected. Somehow, she thought her fiery sister would be incredibly angry if she missed greeting them as they entered the world. And so she and Summer parted, Magpie making the long journey back to the caldera. She was weary, but she was home.

Excuse mistakes. Writing this on my phone while in a car lol.
___

Every day that Magpie was away was another day Fox worried that her half sister would not return. Still, Finley was with her and would, at the very least, keep the girl safe and sound. Unless she managed to slip away, of course. But that wouldn't happen. Fox had lost Magpie more times than she cared to admit, and she simply couldn't let it happen again. With her belly swaying, Fox made her way out for the daily patrol. Just because she was pregnant didn't mean she couldn't still be active.

Lo and behold, Magpie was standing there. Without thinking twice, Fox darted toward her, tongue lolling and a smile present on her face. "You're back!" Fox beamed, eyes bright with joy.

Magpie hadn't been the best traveling companion, and so Finley had gone her own way after they crossed back into Redhawk's borders— she was glad for the reprieve, loathing every minute her independence had been taken from her. She was under the illusion that she'd have more of it here, though the reality was that she'd likely be under more scrupulous gaze in the caldera. Still— when Fox was suddenly there, Magpie couldn't help but grin. Whatever doubts she had about returning, leaving Summer behind, were shattered as her pregnant sister waddled close. Sister! Family! I'm a fucking aunt!

"I told you that I would," she responded happily. "I'm working on that whole 'being responsible' thing."

Excuse mistakes. Writing this while drunk lol.
___

Fox (figuratively) bit her tongue, wanting to mention that not everybody did as they said they would. Magpie was back, and that was what really mattered. And now... now what? There was so much to share between the two of them, that Fox didn't even really know where to start. Did Magpie even want to know about her father's half of the family? Would it be beneficial in any way, shape, or form? In just a short time, they would be joined by yet another sister, Dove, though neither Fox nor Magpie had any way of knowing that just now.

“Are you… staying?” she asked tentatively. If she had gone to The Sunspire, did that mean she intended to stay there? Had she come back for good, or just to make an appearance?

Magpie felt her heart get just slightly deflated at Fox's question— why was everyone so hung up on the past? Wolves changed, especially puppies. She was a yearling now, so clearly beyond the flightiness of her youth. "Yes", she stressed, drawing close to nose her sister's shoulder affectionately. "You're having babies— I wouldn't be a very good sister if I wasn't here for that." It was hard leaving Summer behind; one of the hardest things she had done. But family was more important. She arrogantly believed that was a mark of maturity in her, that she'd give up a hot dude to help look after ugly squirming puppies. Wait— what was she doing here, again?

"How are things?" she questioned abruptly, attempting to derail that train of thought. A sinking feeling was suddenly hot in the pit of her stomach, as she realized Fox would likely tell her news of Peregrine. Did he still hate her? Was she even welcome here, or had Fox changed her mind? Had Peregrine even returned? That thought her made her angry. Fuck men. They were so emotional and irrational— if Peregrine had abandoned Fox, the yearling would hunt him the fuck down and drag him back here like a kitten.

Magpie had worked herself into a silent, seething rage... but she waited for her sister's answer, the only hint of her runaway thoughts a slight darkening of her gaze.

Fox grinned widely when Magpie assured her that she would be staying. She could only hope that the girl would stick to that promise. Fox was pretty dang sure that Peregrine wouldn't stand for the duo-colored sister to leave and return again... even with his mate's bullheadedness. As to whether or not being here made her a good sister or not... well, Fox wasn't really sure. What did make a good sister? Finley was about as close as it got around here, seeing as none of Fox's other blood sisters were currently here. That would change in a day or two, but there was no way the fiery Alpha could know that right now.

"It's all good," Fox assured Magpie, "It might take him a while to forgive, but he's a big ol' softie deep down." At least, he had been as much with Fox. And what if Atticus had come to their doorstep? Wouldn't Peregrine have let him back without batting an eye? Didn't he have another brother who had left, too? Fox doubted he would have turned any of his siblings away, so how could he expect her to do anything differently?

"How was your trip?" Fox asked, unaware that Magpie and Finley had gotten along like oil and water.

I realized that Magpie would have no idea that Peregrine had left completely for those few days, so we'll just say her crazy imagination got the best of her, lol...

Her half-sister and superior only grinned in response, but Magpie saw no deeper meaning in the lack of spoken response— she'd be hurt, of course, if she knew that Fox believed she really shouldn't exist at all, or that a non-blood wolf held more meaning to her than even a half-sister. Most of the yearling's siblings were only so by half, and the Corvidae had stressed the importance of familial bond. It was that bond that strengthened packs, made them cohesive— the caldera was about to show Magpie how important that fact truly was.

She relaxed, the anger flooding from her form, as Fox confirmed that everything was fine. Her sister seemed to instinctually understand that Magpie was asking mostly about Peregrine, for she assured her that he was really a big softy and forgiveness would come. If they had decided that she shouldn't stay, Fox would have already told her to back off— so Magpie assumed it was smooth sailing from here on out.

"I'm glad," she responded, the relief clear in her voice. "I didn't mean to cause such a mess, honest," but perhaps Fox already knew that from experience. After a beat, the fiery woman asked about Magpie's own time away, and the yearling said a bit lamely, "Um... it was okay. Finley is kind of weird, but it was nice having company on the way there." No mention of the multiple Regina George incidents between them, but even with them, Magpie had to admit that she would have been miserable without someone to share the journey with. "And I think Summer probably hates me, now, but... it's more important that I'm here," she shrugged. Even with all her feelings for him, the choice was easy; family was above all else.

Fox knew entirely too much about causing messes. Magpie had been on the receiving end of one such mess, and it was the primary reason Fox felt responsible for her, even if she was an adult now. When Magpie described Finley as "weird," a crooked grin washed over her face. That was a pretty accurate description for her future children's godmother, though it only touched the surface of the multi-faceted Beta. The quip about Summer was interesting, though Fox knew nothing of him or what his relation to Magpie was. If Fox had been told, she'd since forgotten.

“Who’s he, again?” she asked. Fox assumed that was the wolf that Magpie had gone to see at The Sunspire. But beyond that, she couldn't recall anything. Was he somehow associated with Jace and/or Ferdie? Did either of them even live there anymore? Fox hadn't heard anything about the rival pack for what seemed like ages. In fact, the only thing she'd heard (through the grapevine) was that Tytonidae, Peregrine's daughter, had moved there.

"He's about my age," the yearling explained readily, "and he was there when... you know. Summer's the only one that was nice to me." Well, the Sunspire wolves had all been nice, but sickeningly so. Summer was the only one that respected her free will. He was a lot of things, actually, and was arguably her best friend to boot. She felt another pang of guilt for leaving, but; she couldn't abandon Fox again. Magpie owed her family, and had a lot of work to do to make things up to them. Besides, if she left again, she'd probably never be able to see her half-sister for the rest of her life.

"How are you doing?" she wondered, analyzing her sister. Her pregnancy was much more obvious now, and Magpie called back to her time amongst the Corvidae. Puppies were a constant fixture in their culture; despite her time away, the yearling had learned a lot about pregnancy.

Hope you don't mind the vague fade... let's have a more recent one, yes?!

"Huh," was the only response Fox was able to utter when Magpie explained who Summer was. It mattered little in the grand scheme of things, so long as he wasn't somebody like Ferdie's child or anything horrendous like that. Perhaps some might have picked up on the fact that Summer and Magpie could've been a thing, but Fox was oblivious to it. Likely due to the fact that Magpie still seemed like a child in Fox's eyes. At least young enough not to be thinking about hooking up with a dude.

"Pretty damn good," Fox replied with a light chuckle and a motion to her pooching belly. Of course, there were downsides to pregnancy, but Fox had felt few of them. Her pregnancy had been downright easy compared to some of the horror stories she'd heard about. Sure, she'd been queasy from time to time, and she couldn't eat as much, but she hadn't had any weird food cravings and she'd been able to sleep pretty comfortably. There were still a couple weeks to go, of course.

"C’mon, lemme show you where the den is!" she beamed, giving her sister's shoulder a nudge.

No worries, this one is pretty stale! I plan on starting a bunch of new threads for Mags tonight. :)

"Good," Magpie said with a grin. She was well versed in certain aspects of pregnancy— not all of the disgusting details, of course, but her time with the Corvidae had given her cursory knowledge. The amount of half-siblings she had was endless, and even Treepie was preparing to nurture a litter of her own. "I bet you'll have them shortly after the new moon," she commented, taking a closer look at her flame-colored sibling as she was led to the den.

They fell into a mundane but pleasant discussion as they walked, and Magpie felt herself relax for the first time in a long while. Perhaps life in the Caldera wouldn't be so bad after all. Perhaps the drama of her arrival had died off, and life would be once more carefree. The yearling lingered for a while at the Alpha pair's den site, before the weariness of her journey finally got the best of her and she excused herself to find a place to sleep.