Redhawk Caldera on the wings of a flea

:)

His moping ended the moment Towhee came home. Not only was she back, she said she was better than ever. After fussing over her a while, Caracal found he believed her. She really did seem a lot healthier than a few weeks ago. He was so happy, he could cry. And he did, hiding his hot face against his mother's neck as he clung to her.

After that, there were no more tears. Actually, he went around smiling like an idiot. Today was no different, except that simply frolicking about with a stupid grin on his face wasn't enough. He was bursting with positive energy and it manifested in a case of the The Zoomies™, his little red feet kicking up scattered leaves as he rocketed around the rim of the caldera.

Sphyra loathed to admit it, but she kinda missed having Tierra around. It didn't sound like she planned to return any time soon. A part of Sphyra thought to herself that of course Tierra'd return; she'd walked off before, and she had always come back. But she'd gotten lost as well, and this time, it seemed like it wasn't about seeking attention or being a drama queen. For some reason Tierra seemed intent on setting out on her own, and Sphyra did not understand why. Boys weren't really a thing for Sphyra, so why would her sister care so much about them?

Still, in the end they always returned, and Sphyra decided that she would just get over her sister leaving for now, and then hopefully she'd come back eventually. No use crying over it like a little Crackle.

Speaking of, Caracal was zooming around the edges of the Caldera for absolutely no reason at all. Sphyra wasn't very well-versed in fun, as it seemed everything was an athletic exercise of some sorts for her, but her brother compensated well. How on earth being near this could unlock any sort of boy-interest in Tierra was a mystery to Sphyrapicus. What're you doing? Sphyra called out to him, though she was pretty sure that the answer would be something along the lines of having fun. At least there was no longer pee involved in having fun these days.

When he heard someone call out to him, Caracal whipped his head toward the sound of her voice without slowing, much less stopping. "Zooming!" he hollered in reply, uncertain whether it was Tierra or Sphyra. With a whoop of laughter, he faced forward again, running straight ahead for a hundred yards or so before pivoting suddenly and rocketing back toward his sister.

He hardly slowed now, just enough to nip playfully at Sphyra's—yeah, he was 92% sure it was her—ruff before digging in his heels and picking up speed again. In case that wasn't enough to entice her, he flung his tail in the air, exposing the white underside like a flag that screamed, "Come and get me!"

The only appropriate response to Caracal's response was, really, an eye roll. Sphyra watched him as he zoomed towards her. If she knew that he wasn't entirely sure whether she was Sapsucker or herself she might've been insulted, considering she thought she was nothing like her sibling.

Even though 'zooming' recklessly without a purpose wasn't exactly Sphyra's idea of fun, her instincts were ruffled by the nip to her ruff and without thought, she immediately sprang into action. Of course, she was a bit slower coming into motion than her brother. And, while she had likely more stamina than him from her rigorous training, he had more experience going really fast pointlessly, so she knew catching up to him might prove a challenge.

A little squeak escaped him when he glanced over his shoulder to see Sphyra charging after him. Now he tucked his tail between his legs even as he picked up the pace, his tongue lolling from his mouth in a wolfish grin. Chances were he was going to get absolutely clobbered by his sister, though he would definitely give her a run for her money first!

Without warning, he darted for the nearby slope, gravity and velocity handshaking to give him a burst of breakneck speed. As a matter of fact, Caracal felt a little like he was losing control of it, though he resisted the urge to dig his heels into the ground. Instead, he continued careening down the hillside, letting out a whoop of laughter as he went.

Sphyra followed after her 'zooming' brother, setting in the pursuit. She seemed to be gaining on him a little bit at least when suddenly, he took a turn and headed for a slope. Sphyra knew that he would need to show some wicked control to master that slope, and at the speed he was going... well, let's just say that if anyone would've asked her, she would've said 'yeah, I saw that coming' when Caracal went flailing down the slope.

His laughter showed that he was not hurting himself, at least. Sphyra watched from the top and then started heading down in a straight line, with controlled motions; at the bottom, it would all depend on Caracal's mood whether the chase would start again or if the game would change into something else.

He somehow reached the bottom of the slope without killing himself. He let out another shout of laughter at his success and whipped his head to look over his shoulder. Was Sphyra still giving chase? Was she catching up to him?

He saw her beeline down the hillside, her momentum a lot more controlled than his. Grinning, Caracal faced forward and picked up speed again. His tongue flopped from his mouth like a juicy piece of meat.

Of course, disaster would strike once he hit even ground. He didn't even know what caused it, just that one second he was galloping along the foot of the caldera and the next, he had pitched forward with such force that he flipped and landed hard on his back.

The wind knocked out of him and he made a choking, gasping sound as he tried to breathe. Jerking and twitching, he flopped over onto his side. This had happened to him a few times before—thanks to the twins who were always roughhousing so, well, roughly—but it sucked so badly every time.

As if it wasn't bad enough that he couldn't frickin' breathe, Caracal couldn't help but notice a sharp sting in his right paw and looked down to see one of his toenails had been ripped out by the root.

Before Sphyra reached the bottom of the hill, Caracal was already running again. Typical. She was far from tired though, and she followed with determination.

It wasn't long before Caracal suddenly flopped over. Had he tripped or something? Sphyra hadn't been able to see what happened to him precisely — it looked to her like he just decided to defy gravity for a split second and that it didn't end well for him — and initially, it looked pretty comical. But when she came closer saw that he was in pain, and there was some blood coming from one of his toes. Oh shit, Sphyra said, though not sounding too worried. Guess I should hold back on the pounce, huh? She jokingly feinted as though she would still pounce at him, but held herself back, knowing that he needed a moment to recover at the very least.

Sphyra's face appeared, hovering over him with a look of vague concern. Caracal groaned, kicking his three good legs feebly. At his sister's quip and subsequent feint, he mustered up enough air to wheeze, "Just do it. Finish me. Put me out of my misery." He flung his bleeding paw across his eyes as he prepared for his doom.