Redhawk Caldera i've been watching your kindness keep

tagging @Delight for visibility & awareness that mona has gone scouting for a bit <3 maybe a wild @Finley if possible (timelines allowing derp @ me)

choosing a trade was not difficult — it was in her build and blood that mona seek out her roving ways. 
she was new to tindome, but it did not stop the mayfair from stubbornly setting out across the snow at a trot that devoured the miles. soon she was beyond any scent of the king elk's forest; soon mountains reared impassively before the girl. but mona was undeterred, and found ice-slick footpaths though the stone reaches.
it was slow and arduous going — several times she almost fell to her death, clutching at the rock by torn nails and swearing under her breath. the base of jagged mountains soon spread into a snowy fen, and here mona rested, having mustered enough energy only for the kill of a hapless rabbit.
the journey only hardened what muscle there was beneath her red pelt — when the scent of a pack entered her senses, mona's body had slimmed further, bones threatening to jut now. she was stupid, stupid for attempting this, especially in fucking winter, but she'd arrived. to her knowledge, tindome was the only pack in what she knew to be tuktu. perhaps knowing there were others a few days' trek away would interest delight.
at dawn, mona stepped delicately to the border, groomed her chestruff, and howled to herald her arrival, as dad — casmir — had taught her to do. murkwater eyes swept the snowy reaches of the caldera; the mayfair suspected she would be in for a wait.

sorry for the wait! just needed to see how some things played out IC first :)

Fin shut her eyes tighter as the call sang out over the Caldera. She recognized the summons, but had absolutely zero desire to attend whoever it was. She didn't know the voice, so she didn't know the wolf. Strangers had caused her nothing but trouble lately, and she was feeling very pessimistic that this one would be any different. For the first time in her life, Finley was beginning to think that Peregrine and Fox had been on the right track with being so deeply suspicious of outsiders. The outside world seemed a harsh and awful place, full of villains and bitches. She wanted nothing to do with any of them anymore. Nothing to do with any of it. Everything could just go fuck the fuck off.

Aaaaaand tantrum over.

The alpha strode towards the stranger with a slow and limping gait. It occurred to her that being anywhere near the borders was probably an idiotic thing to do when she was recovering from her injury still. But walking at all was idiotic really, so why stop now. Her eyes narrowed as she came across the girl and recognized nothing at all familiar about her. She was just another stranger, probably come to beg for a place to stay because her toes were cold. Fin stopped a dozen or so feet in front of her and simply fixed her gaze upon her, remaining silent but for the question in her expectant expression.

no problem!

as she waited primly alongside the borders, mona found her thoughts traveling to nathaniel, with a little flare of heat that warmed her redfurred face. yet, ironically enough, just when the mayfair girl would have settled to let her imagination run wild, a woman appeared near the borders. despite her limp, the wolfess' beauty was clear, a dazzling creature of charcoal and soft lines — mona swallowed nervously and tried to pause the anxious flexing of her small red paws.
"hello," mona began, hoping desperately her nerve would not fail her now. "i ... what is this place called? i'm looking for information about someone who might have lived here, long ago."
a sudden and odd fear gripped her; mona glanced at the ground for a long moment before lifting her gaze back to the woman who waited for answers. "lasher mayfair. i'm his daughter, mona." his daughter. what an odd thing to say; and guilt followed as the faces of rowan and casmir swam before her mind's eye.

The girl was nervous. Were she in a better mood, Fin might have felt bad for making her feel that way, but she was not and so she did not. She quirked a brow at the question, but held her tongue as it seemed the youngster wasn't entirely done speaking yet. And it was good that she had waited, for she would not have wanted to miss the words that came next from her ginger maw.

"Lasher?" Fin repeated, her second brow raising to match the other as recognition came upon her. She had not thought of Lasher Mayfair in a long time. Instantly, she was transported back to her earlier years in Blacktail Deer Plateau when she'd spent her days running around like an irresponsible, careless buffoon. She smiled.

"I haven't heard that name in a while..." she said thoughtfully as she considered the yearling, "You're his daughter you said?" Did she know that Lasher had daughters? She couldn't remember. She definitely hadn't known about this one, though. Hell, she had no idea what had ever even happened to him. I don't think, anyway....

perhaps a wiser girl would have taken one look at the leader's face and turned tail, but mona held fast, nervous as she was. her reward was dawning comprehension in the other's pretty eyes, followed by a smile that softened the tension limning the woman's features. mona let out her breath in a small sigh and returned her own small grin.
so! she'd known lasher. instantly the scarlet girl was awhirl with questions, but kept them to herself, her paws pushing a little against the snow. "yeah. uh, i actually just sort of ... recently found out?" the nuro blurted. "but ... but he's dead. and i don't know anything about him, so i've just ... been looking for wolves who might have known him. it isn't a great plan," mona added, a little ruefully.

Lasher's daughter. Fin could see it now that the girl had revealed their relationship, mostly in her eyes. They were the same shade as her old friend's had been, and she had yet to meet another with a color like them. She wondered how many kids the old guy had now. The fact that he had any at all was a little surprising, considering who he'd been sticking it to back when she'd first met him. Apparently was just the kinda guy who could stick it anywhere. Oh, Lasher...

Her smile fell as Mona continued on to announce what she had learned about her father - that he was dead. Fin's ears slid back as melancholy grabbed at her heart. She supposed she might have guessed. He was how old when she had known him, and she was how old now? Ugh, best not think about the latter question. Still, it took her by surprise and saddened her. "I'm sorry to hear that he's gone... he was a good guy," she said with a frown, "It's a shame you never got to know him." She paused, considering the girl again before dropping suddenly to her haunches and taking a breath.

"What do you want to know?" she asked, "I can't say I'm the Lasher expert, but I did know him for some time."

belatedly, mona realized she'd never gotten the other's name, but it ceased to matter when the smile on the wolfess' pretty silver face faded. again the girl felt the confused churn of grief, and frustration — of lasher she knew so little, but clearly he had not left his mark on only a few wolves in the teekon. perhaps if rowan and dad — casmir — mona shoved away that mess, the one she'd yet to unsnarl, and focused on the caldera leader.
"that's ... that's what i keep hearing," the yearling rejoined with a wan curve of her lips. she too settled to sit and studied the moon-glow woman for a long moment before dropping her gaze to the snow with a sigh. "anything. i ... just anything. i barely even know what he looked like, except that i've got ... i've got his eyes, i guess." please, not now, she hissed inside her head to the tears that were threatening the back of her gaze.

Seemed Lasher's daughter was in the market for any information whatsoever about her father. She'd learned a little, it seemed. But only a very little if the only thing she even knew of his appearance was that she shared his eye color. "Well, appearance-wise, he was tall and thin with dark fur and yeah, eyes just like yours," she told her, "He was always very kind to me. Very polite, very caring. He always laughed at my stupid jokes, which is definitely saying something for his generosity." She chuckled at her own joke then looked expectantly at Mona to see if she had inherited the same quality from her father.

"He lived here for a little while, actually, though I first met him when I joined a pack at Blacktail Deer Plateau, North and East of here," she continued, frowning thoughtfully in an attempt to come up with some additional bits of information, "He went back there after we settled here and he and my best friend ended their relationship, and then I think... he eventually went North... I can't really remember. I lost track of him after that. He saved my life once. And umm... Yeah." She finished and looked at Mona again, expecting questions or requests to expand on some of the things she had mentioned so briefly.

the information the silvery woman provided was more than mona had expected, and her eyes widened as the caldera she-wolf went on. wild as ever, the girl's imagination began to provide rough etchings of what perhaps lasher had appeared as in life; tall, thin, the woman had said. dark fur. her eyes — or his eyes, passed down to mona. that was more accurate, the mayfair decided.
when the alpha paused to glance at the girl, the pause and subsequent chuckle reminded mona she had been holding her breath. the air escaped into the tail end of a titter that burned mona's cheeks with embarassment under her red fur. but the humour in the other's eyes told her it was probably fine. probably.
blacktail deer plateau. north and east. best friend, relationship. he saved my life. the girl realized she was staring at the caldera wolf again, and cleared her throat, composing herself. her mind was awhirl with so many curious things, but we know if mona was a sim, one of her traits would be hopeless romantic. and so, because she was thus designed, mona brightened and she leaned forward excitedly. "your best friend dated my dad?"

Of all the things the girl picked up on, it was the relationship between Peregrine and Lasher that she took to first. Fin found this odd, but didn't question it. She looked so darn cute and excited. If the most boring part of the story intrigued her the most, then so be it. Boring, of course, because Fin herself really hadn't been involved. except as witness.

"Yeah, Peregrine," she confirmed before elaborating, "Perry was alpha of the Plateau when I got there. He and Lasher were already involved before I got there, so I'm not totally sure how it all came to be. But yeah, they were doing really well, but I think things got a little too complicated for him when they added Perry's lady mate to the mix. We four moved here to start the pack and Lasher stuck around for a little while. I can't really say for sure though why he ended things, but next thing I knew, he was heading back to the Plateau and Peregrine and Fox were just two instead of three."

mona had prepared herself for a long-winded tale of bitter romance, but the silver woman was succinct and matter-of-fact, offering no truly titillating detail except that lasher had not been partial to one sex. mona decided she would rather not inquire into that; she smiled gratefully after the caldera wolf had finished. "i'll have to go to the plateau next, if only to see the place," mona mused. fox, peregrine. "my mom told me that ... some of our extended family weren't happy that my brother and i were born. sort of a ... illegitimate ... thing, i guess," the mayfair finished with sheer grace.
a pause, and then "he saved your life? will you ... tell me about that?" hopefully the other was not growing weary of her questions; mona would immediately cease.

It didn't occur to her to wonder how the girl would feel about learning of her father's unconventional (to some) choice in partners. Fin had never thought anything of it. She didn't personally see the draw in being with your own gender, but it had never done her any harm, so why bother caring. No, she was trying to determine whether or not the fact that the story didn't have that much of a happy ending would bother her. And she was shortly pleased to see that it didn't really.

She was interested to hear what Mona had to share about what she knew of her own family. Apparently she was part of an "illegitimate" litter - another concept that had little meaning to the Blackthorn. She looked the girl up and down briefly before giving a short quip in response to that one, "You look pretty legit to me." And then she let that one go.

When she asked for one of Fin's good stories, the leader was pleased. She liked talking about herself, though that unfortunately didn't make her any more talented a storyteller. "Well, once upon a time, I was going through something of a mid-life crisis," one of many... "And I decided to, ah.. vent my frustrations, by harassing a bear cub. Fun fact: Mama bears don't appreciate that." She paused to give Mona a significant look, as though fucking-with-bears-is-a-terrible-idea would somehow be a new revelation to the girl.

"So I got myself in some deep shit and probably would've gotten my ass murdered if your dad hadn't shown up when he did. We managed to fend off the bear and make an escape, but I was really badly injured and ended up passing out from blood loss. He carried me back to the Plateau and let me recover there before Peregrine's little bitch kid threw me out and sent me packing back to the Caldera. That kid was a mess," she finished, thinking back on all of that. Hadn't she been like, gnawing on her own arms at that time too? Or had that been the other bitch kid... She couldn't remember. It wasn't an important part of the story anyway.

the woman gave mona a look-over, confirming her with words that made the girl simper with delight. it was one thing to be known by your family; quite another to be validated by a stranger who had happened to know your long-lost dad. of course, mona had long since stopped thinking of the silver she-wolf as a stranger, even though she still didn't know the caldera dweller's name. the girl decided it was unimportant for now.
unable to keep the delight from her expression, the small mayfair listened intently to the story, eyes widening when the mention of bears was made, and the dynamic between mother bears and their cubs. she'd known that, of course; it made the older wolfess no less interesting, even shocking.
and to hear how her dad had been so valiant; mona was thrumming with happiness now, only slightly distracted by the way 'bitch kid' was tossed out. it sounded like another story she wanted to know. "that's badass," mona breathed for now, her gaze transfixed on the shimmery sorta-stranger she hadn't thought would turn out to be this sort of wild creature. "why did the mess kid throw you out?" she blurted in the next breath.

This kid made for an excellent audience. Fin felt herself sitting a little taller as she fed off of Mona's admiration. She needed more kids like this around, and suddenly wondered if the girl had a pack. She'd like to steal her and have her follow her around, laughing at all of her jokes and singing praise for all of the awesome things she did. Only, she didn't do too many awesome things anymore. Unless breast feeding counted.

"Oh, she was all bent out of shape because they let me stay with them when I wasn't part of the pack," Fin answered, "Plus the fact that she was Peregrine's daughter and when I was injured, he came to see me and not her, even though she was injured too. She actually went a lot nuts, probably from fever. She tried to jump off a cliff and I had to stop her. Then she thanks me by throwing my ass out."

She shrugged it off. She'd only been bothered by it at the time because she hadn't been fully ready to make the trip back to the Caldera yet. And Blue Willow was just so friendly and accomodating... like a doting grandmother, daily providing the wolf-equivelant of fresh baked cookies. She could've used that for a while longer.

mona's lips parted as she listened to the woman's colorful language; her own imagination began to run wild, painting in the sketch she already had of what her father's lover — ugh — might have looked like. the caldera wolf seemed unperturbed; the mayfair gathered it had happened some time ago, but must have been drastic to carry in memory all these years.
"she sounds like hot garbage," the red girl rejoined, trying on the phrase for size. unfortunately for her, mona had mistakenly assumed the mess-kid was still alive. "why didn't peregrine talk to her?" that had been the woman's best friend — the nuro assumed that at one time she had known the wild girl as a child.
presently, mona realized that the pair of them had strayed from her original reason for coming, and her ears fell back with a brief chagrin. glancing into the pretty gaze of the older she-wolf, the girl stropped her paws against the snow. "i don't think i got your name; i might have missed it. i'm sorry." as she waited for a rejoinder, mona could not halt the rove of her murkwater eyes over the land to the silver creature's back, and curiosity sparked in her.

"Yeah, she was, but it's all good now. She came to the Caldera to visit a few years ago and attacked one of her baby siblings, so we ripped off her head," Fin answered simply, as though telling a nice bedtime story a la Brothers Grimm (the original tellings..) She considered the question posed, but couldn't really come up with a reason. She shrugged, unconcerned really. She hadn't been around to see Junior grow from bouncing baby girl to murderous psycho. She'd only ever seen her grow from disturbed teenager to murderous psycho, so as far as she knew, Junior had just always been a little bitch kid. And now she was a dead one.

"Finley Blackthorn," she answered to the last, glad for a question she could actually answer. Plus her name just sounded so cool - cooler now that she had spent some time reminiscing about how awesome she was. She fixed the girl with a curious look then. "Where is it you're from? Do you have a pack nearby?" she asked.

the silvered woman proceeded to quite nonchalantly horrify and titillate mona's darker imagination with her next sentence. mona goggled a bit at her, finally finding the good sense to snap her mouth shut and splay her ears in shame at her puppyish reaction to what was surely sensationalism. was it? had they truly ripped off a garbage girl's head here?
swallowing, mona gave a lackluster chuckle. "i won't make an enemy of you, finley blackthorn." the mayfair rolled the surname on her tongue, enjoying its pointed edges so much she almost missed finley's duo of queries.
"outside these wilds. i was born here though, in silver creek," the mayfair revealed, gesturing with her crimson muzzle in the direction of the hinterlands. "and i'm from tindome there, too. in king elk forest."

Finley smiled at the girl, liking her more and more immensely with each passing second. She didn't know of a Silver Creek and was curious about that. She thought she knew every inch of the Wilds, but assumed shortly that it might be a place she simply knew by another name. She was disappointed to hear that the girl had a pack already, but she saw no reason for that to stop her from giving her another option.

"If you ask me, you should start saying you're part of Redhawk Caldera instead," she suggested with a grin, "Rolls off the tongue nicer, and I do believe Redhawk is more fitting for you than King Elk or... whatever that weird word was you said first." Fin names her children absurd things like Mathghamhain and Taoiseach, but Tindómë was too much for her.

fade after another round? i loveeddd this and i want them to meet again cryyy <3

mona found her cheeks lighting with a slow grin when finley invited her rather directly to be part of the caldera. there was of course a part of the girl quite tempted, for the land at the silver woman's back was beautiful, glimmering with details mona ached to explore until she had learned all she might know.
but suddenly she ached for the glowing forest and its proudly antlered king. it did not stop the little mayfair from offering finley a truly genuine smile, one edged with laughter and wistfulness. "mona of the redhawks," she murmured gently, her druidfather eyes trained on the feisty blackthorn. "i sort of like it."

yasss I hope Mona can find them in HLP ;__;

As Mona spoke her new name, Finley decided she rather liked it too. She grinned and gave an encouraging nod. "It suits you," she replied, "And look at your coat? You already match." Not many in the Caldera these days could boast a coat that was red like the feathers of their mascot. Fox and Wildfire were the only two, but they were both gone. Towhee had some streaks of it, but she definitely had nothing on Mona.

"I won't make you decide today, but know that the door is open if you do decide to join us," she said, "Lasher was a good man, and a good friend. We need more of his sort around here." And if she was going to devote the remainder of her life to caring for one old friend's kids (two, actually), she may as well add the kids of another to the mix.

i bet she can! <3 aaand fade

finley addressed mona not as a yearling, but as a potential member of her own pack. beneath the delight of being spoken to in a manner that felt quite validating indeed, mona's smile unfurled. the silver blackthorn was the kindest she had come across in her travels yet, but more remained to be seen. "thank you. i want ... i want to learn more about him. the coast. donnelaith is ... was ... there."
surely finley would understand; mona was grateful for the gentle nature of the she-wolf, knowing her momentary lapse in wordliness would not be of offense. "it was nice to meet you. very nice," the mayfair child said softly, gathering herself to her paws. "i'm going to head back home. but i think i will see you again."
flashing the wolfess a lingering smile that brightened her features, mona turned and set off toward tindome, warmed through by the interaction.