Heron Lake Plateau Life don't go quite like you planned it

Well, then.  In the case of loose ends, there was one left to tie up.... @Finley.  He had been back a few days, but hadn't yet dropped by to see how his sister took the news of his return.  If she even knew? He didn't know.

"Frog?" He called as he stood near the den, peering at the entrance.  "You in there, Fin? Or did you ragequit the place completely?"  Ok, that was a little on the nose.  But he said it with his usual shit-eating grin in place, so if she came out, maybe she wouldn't snap his nose off without a little humor.

”Fuck you, you piece of fucking shit,” were the words Fin immediately shouted out of the mouth of the den in response to her brother’s summons. It took about .362 seconds for her to realize that her young sons were curled up at her side and now blinking owlishly at her, likely fascinated by her foul language. She cringed at her faux pas before attempting to CYA. ”I mean.. okay fine. Just don’t tell daddy what mommy said, alright? I’ll let you stay up late if you keep mommy’s secret,” she whispered to them before giving them each a kiss on the forehead and creeping out of the den to face her stupid faced brother and shout more profanity at him.

She’d heard that he’d come back. In spite of her misgivings about Quixote’s leadership, this had won him a ton of points in her book. But that didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t going to kick Colt’s ass for leaving in the first place. ”What the damn hell, you ass,” she hissed at him the moment she was fully out in the sunlight and thus considered herself out of earshot of her boy’s (she’s totally not), ”What the fuck took you so long to come see me? Are you seriously still scared that I’ll kick your ass? I mean, I totally can and I’m like 99% certain that I’m about to, but still.”

Such language, and in front of the children even!! Hah, all the better.  With Fin, he'd learned, cussing right off the bat meant less than anger.  It was the silence you had to watch for.

"Hey hey, a guy's got stuff.  And you aren't exactly out and about." He said as she surfaced, then continued in her beration.  Scared? Of her? As if (ok a little).  "Things have been a little off the rails around here anyway.  The hell, I was gone for a couple weeks and you all turn everything upside down?!"  She was one to talk.  Anyone needed an ass kicking, it was her.  He wasn't Towhee's biggest fan (ayo) but he had some beef with Fin on the whole thing.  "And takes an ass to know one.  What the hell, Fin?" He didn't lose his smile, though.  He wasn't one to not speak his mind, but any feedback he gave was one hundred percent well-meant.  He wasn't about to go on the outs with his sis, not with everything else goin on.

Colt’s response made the old bitterness flare, except “old” wasn’t exactly that accurate. She’d come a long way in letting go of her bad feelings over the situation, but she wasn’t out of the water yet. She gave her brother a wry smirk at his words, then rolled her eyes dramatically before offering some semblance of an explanation.

”Well you know how I get bored," she replied with a smirk, "Besides, something about this situation must look rightside up to you at least, considering you decided to grace us with your presence once again." Fin watched him, waiting for an explanation. It was more likely that she would get another slap of wit and sarcasm, but she could deal with that too. It was good to have the son of a bitch home.

Colt nodded, grin growing more cocky if that was possible. "Here I am, enjoying lone bachelor retirement, and along comes Quixote begging me to come back.  Who am I to turn down a friend like that?  So I caved."  An exaggeration and not entirely true,  but it was his way.  He dropped it some, however, after.  "It's good to be back."  He'd had no direction to really where he wanted to go next... this was the only place around he'd found really worth bein in.

"Glad you got somethin you wanted outta it to," he said, remembering their conversation.  No way she wasn't a little glad about handing the reins over... reins he couldn't have pictured her even holding before seeing it himself.  "I guess now you're the one the head honcho is pissed at, not me."  He prodded at her with his nose, enjoying the turnaround in the communication breakdowns.

Finley watched her brother expectantly, her humor and joy over seeing him beginning to ebb as the drama of the situation began to resurface. It bothered her on some level that Quixote had been able to bring Colt back when she had failed to do so. Actually, it bothered her on multiple levels. One, she didn't have a ton of faith in the newly made alpha male and this kind of rubbed the fact that she was wrong to think that way in her face. Two, why the fuck did Colt deem his plea more worthy of giving into than hers?

She frowned, but was distracted from venting her annoyance by the latter of his comments. A smirk found its way to her lips again. "You're selling Towhee pretty damn short if you think she only has the capacity to be mad at one asshole at a time," Fin quipped wryly, "And Tow and I are good now. Or.. getting better, at least. She knows I'm not happy about her stepping down, but I assured her that I'll get over it. No point in fighting for those who don't want to fight for themselves..." Yeah, she was still bitter... But working on it!

He shook his head as she mentioned Towhee.  "Pretty sure she still isn't a fan.  I was talking about the new ones."  He said.  Her words hit a barb into him as well, but it wasn't a new one, so he didn't let it show through his jaunty facade.  He shouldn't have been surprised she still would back Towhee over him... she'd done it before, her and Elwood.  He was actually fairly sure her mate still held his words against him.

"Seein as it let me come back, can't say I agree.  But I'll say her not wanting the job makes sense.  She made a smart move... Raven's quite the wolf."  His tone held no joking as he said this last bit, and it was a rare compliment from him, a sincere one.  She had exactly what he thought a leader needed... it was a bit of a shame Finley didn't seem to see it.  He had always been the smarter one, hadn't he?

Fin frowned at his words. The new ones? What was he talking about? Her brows furrowed as she looked at him, but she said nothing. He continued, and it was those words that she focused on. "I agree," she said, though her expression seemed to suggest she may have been the opposite, "I don't know though. Raven has a lot of great qualities, but an alpha? I love her to death, but I don't know if that's a title that suits her." She had never balked at being candid before about her opinions, and so she didn't now. There wasn't much she felt compelled to not share with her brother. Misgivings about her goddaughter's leadership didn't even register to her as something to keep to herself.

"Though I am okay with some of the new regime's choices," she added, in a softer voice. She eyed Colt then, waiting for acknowledgement to show on his face before she bashed the moment with a hammer, "Even though I'm pretty sure you'll change my mind about that in about thirty minutes to an hour."

Colt laughed, outright, no holds back.... he couldn't help it.  "You think it suited you better?" He asked after a minute, trying (and somewhat failing) at composing himself.  Oh man, that was rich.

"I love you sis, but you and me, we aren't exactly leadership material.  You're lucky as hell you had Elwood.... there's a reason I wouldn't take the job if you begged me."  He still looked skeptically at her, knowing full well his words would probably piss her off but still feeling like she was doing Raven a disservice by selling her short.  If Colt could fix that, well.... pissing Frog off wasn't much new.

"Raven's the type you go to when you got a problem.  We're the type that cause the problems.  I'm not sayin you should think she's better than Towhee..." though Colt definitely believed it, "but you gotta at least agree she's as, if not moreso, suited as you."

And there he probably went, changing her mind already.  New record? He appreciated the sentiment, though... it was good to know, despite her previous actions and her words, that she was glad to have him back.  He didn't necessarily think otherwise... but she hadn't exactly argued for him to stay before either.  So while he did laugh, there was a note of affection there.... one that might at least offset some of the insult (was it insult though?) he was dishing out.

"No worries there - no one in their right mind would beg you to take that mantle," she sniped back, a little more sharply than she'd intended. Fin would never claim to have been the greatest alpha the world had ever seen, but she could've done worse. Mostly everyone was still alive, anyway.

His continued comments brought a smirk back to her lips, though it faltered at his last again. "We'll see," she replied, putting an end to that line of conversation. Finley knew when there was a point in continuing the fight and when there wasn't. She had no proof that Raven wasn't going to cut it as an alpha - it was just a feeling she had. So, there was no point in discussing it further, especially since it would just end in them trying to shove each others faces into the dirt.

"Well anyway, anything interesting happen out there?" Fin prompted, glancing back to see Tywyll and Cinder creeping out to see what was going on. She grinned at them both and settled onto her haunches, ready for a little bit of storytime with a few of her favorite boys.