Redhawk Caldera Thanks for all those wide-eyed nights

His leg hurt, yet at least he could retreat to the far side of the rendezvous site to escape the rough-and-tumble pups for a while. Peregrine sprawled behind a screen of trees and shrubs, keeping weight off his broken forelimb and just enjoying some peace and quiet for a while. He tipped his head upward to bask in the warm April sunshine, the right one popping open as the distant sounds of a raucous play fight drifted his way on the breeze. Still the Alpha male didn't budge.

He let his mind wander. He thought of @Shrike, a new recruit Fox had mentioned to him. He was apparently a relative of some sort. Peregrine was curious, of course, and hoped to seek the guy out eventually. But between the four pups, his broken leg and his occasional bouts of LPSS (Lazy Piece of Shit Syndrome™), it probably wasn't going to happen anytime soon... unless the dude randomly showed up here, of course.

"Dude!" she barked as she approached, "You got your ass kicked by a puppy!"

Finley had been excited to hear they'd received the go ahead from their alphas to make some babies. It quite honestly rivaled the hilarity of the fact that one of said alphas had gotten his leg snapped in half by his own two-month old son, but at the end of the day: humor had won out. Some part of her knew that she should approach him as a humble, grateful beta for the kindness he had granted her and her ailing relationship with her family. But come on. He'd been crippled by a puppy.

The beta slouched beside him unceremoniously, oblivious to what the writers knew; that he had been thinking of some distant relative and hoping luck would bring the fellow here for a meet and greet. Instead, the request of Peregrine's brain waves brought Finley, and in the typical Blackthorn fashion, she found herself utterly incapable of treating him with any semblance of respect.

"The other kids didn't see it, did they?" she asked conspiratorially, "Cause you know.. it's kind of foreboding, isn't it? You have four kids and you have four legs. Maybe they popped out of Fox and called dibs on each of them. This could just be the beginning." She gave him a comically exaggerated frown and scooted a smidge away from him upon realizing she had inadvertently plopped down within striking range of the cripple. Lol cripple.

He didn't really expect his thoughts to summon his long lost relative, so Finley's loud arrival didn't perturb him. He rolled his eyes as she poked fun at him, letting her have her fun at his expense. It was pretty funny and he knew it. Peregrine was actually pretty lucky. Without wolves like Finley, this break would be a lot less funny and a lot more problematic. But he had a solid little pack that would look after him in his time of need, even if it came at the cost of being made fun of mercilessly.

"Are you done?" he asked with mock archness, pausing emphatically before adding a fond, "Go fuck yourself, Finley." That made his thoughts drift to the Beta pair's upcoming offspring. Of course, she wouldn't accomplish much if she only had fun with herself. "Better idea: have Elwood do it instead. And make some female spawn this time so I can finally replace your stupid ass."

Fin snickered at his snooty regard of her and giggled when he went as far as to tell her to fuck herself. She'd always enjoyed the easy friendship they'd had from the very beginning. Her aloofness towards authority had gotten her into trouble with many wolves she'd encountered in the past and it had always been quite the annoyance. It wasn't that she had a problem with authority; she simply tended to not pay it much mind most of the time. His acceptance of her attitude had been a great comfort, and she'd rewarded it with her attentive regard of of the hierarchy in times when it actually mattered.

"Psh, I will never let on the secrets of my greatness to the next generation, not even the spawn of my own lady bits," Fin replied, obviously missing the point of his comment, but aiming more to get a reaction from the mention of her 'lady bits' than anything else, "Plus, you've put too much testosterone in this pack. I'd need to have like 30 little women to combat it. At this point it's better to just add to the boy band."

Peregrine smirked playfully in response to, well, everything Finley said. Her remark about testosterone was totally true. It was crazy that they'd ended up with four boys. He had no particular preference, though it would actually be nice to have a little girl (or two or three or four...) added into the mix. Although, how funny would it be if the Blackthorns had an identical litter of four sons? It might be anarchy... unless, of course, they all ended up like Eljay. Now that wouldn't be so bad.

"No," he decided aloud, speaking in a drawl, "it's girls or bust. If you pop out any penis-havers, I'm eating them. Or castrating them, at least." He paused, mulling. "Besides, you gotta provide some girlfriends for the Firebirds, so they'll stay here and one day take over this pack and shit, keep our legacy strong." And now that he thought about it, he rather liked the idea of formally blending the Redhawk and Blackthorn families through marriage. Maybe they could even arrange it, ehehe...

This is pretty much the exact thought procession I just had...

Fin frowned at Peregrine's insistence that she provide only girls to the future of the pack. It did make sense; four boys would obviously need four girls to take as mates. And that would be rather convenient if she could just supply those right here. They could all grow up together and fall in love and then make new babies together... At which point, they would need to start looking outside of the pack for mates. Incest was super not okay in Finley's book.

"That would be interesting, wouldn't it? Our families combined" Fin commented thoughtfully before continuing with a snicker, "The world is not prepared..." A moment later, she was talking again as the ideas continued to come to her mind. "They could be little Blackthorn-Redhawks. Or Redhawk-Blackthorns... Or Redthorns! OH MY GOSH, or Blackhawks? How bad ass would that be?" Her excitement had grown with each thought she'd voiced, but it was clearly the prospect of future Blackhawks that got her the most worked up. It was a pretty sweet surname. Fin had always been fond of being a Blackthorn,  but she was suddenly feeling quite okay with idea of her future spawn not sharing it with her - willing they took up a surname as BAMF as Blackhawk.

Peregrine remained silent and smirking throughout Finley's stream of consciousness. He had to admit that Blackhawk was a pretty sweet surname. It was as favorable as the idea of the two families coming together in and of itself. He idly wondered if, a few years from now, this place would be known by a different name altogether: Blackhawk Caldera.

"Pretty fuckin' badass," he agreed before suddenly announcing, "Man, I'm hungry." He paused, looking around almost idly. "Yeah, I could really use something to eat right about now. I might perish if I don't find sustenance soon. Then Fox would be a widow and the Firebirds would be orphans and stuff. That might be pretty bad..." But was Finley picking up what he was lying down?

For a moment, Finley was a little too carried away by the idea she had proposed. She even went as far as to consider requiring one of her daughters (if she had any at all) to couple with one of the Firebird boys. Had roles been reversed, there would have been hell to pay for the notion that her own parents could dictate who or what she did for the rest of her life. But her parents would never have picked a partner for her like the prospective mates for her own little girl. After all, her imaginary daughter would be growing up side-by-side with all four of the Redhawks pups. It was simply logical that she would end up with one. So what was the harm of implanting in her head early on that one of the four was her only option?

Peregrine seemed intrigued by the surname she proposed, but he was also far too quick to dismiss it for a new conversation topic. Finley was not so dumb as to notice what he was trying to do here. She pursed her lips thoughtfully at him before giving a slight shrug. "I'd take care of Fox if you snuffed it," she replied nonchalantly, "And it's just plain stupid to think that my son would ever let anything happen to your kids, whether you're around or not." Which was a fact. Eljay was more devoted to those little cretins than anything else in his life. Except her of course, but she was special.

She assured him that his mate and children would be in good hands after his death. Although Finley was joking, Peregrine paused to consider that on a serious note. In the event anything ever happened to him (and/or Fox), he had no doubt the Blackthorns would take care of his family and carry on the legacy of Redhawk Caldera. He had never really contemplated it before—despite all the ailments he'd weathered in his time, he still felt somehow invincible to things like actual death—but now that he did, he felt weirdly relieved. He supposed they'd made a good choice on godparents (were they godparents to Firebirds 2.0?).

But back to more less serious matters: Peregrine blinked and suddenly slumped over, moaning. "OK," he whispered in simple acceptance of his fate. "Tell them I love them. And that you stood by while I died. And didn't even perform last rites. So who knows where my immortal soul is bound to go." He paused, then let out a breath and fell still. RIP in peace.

Finley remained placid during her friend's (last) words. She gave a nod here or there, agreeing to perform all of his final wishes including the ones that made her out to be the bitch that sent him carelessly off to hell. His performance was a solid one, but she wasn't about to give out any Oscars for it. All it warranted from the sole member of the audience was an eye roll and an exaggerated struggle to action.

"You are so dramatic," Fin said as she got to her paws, "And for the record, I could dowse you in all the holy water and have the pope himself come here to suck your balls and you would still be going to Hell, of your own merits." Roles reversed, she would too, for that matter. But that was a fact she left out as she turned and trotted off into the Caldera to find the useless cripple a bite to eat. Because she loved his whiney ass, in spite of the whiney part.