Redhawk Caldera The hanging tree

Some of the quotes in this post are from a comic by Mr. Lovenstein.

Peregrine felt he was doing a halfway decent job at keeping busy and doing everything he could to keep the caldera thriving. Occasionally, he found himself sinking into a funk. When that happened during today's early patrol, he thought, Think of something that makes you happy! Naturally, he pictured his mate with a dozen pups suckling at her belly. His lips curved. Then an idea struck him. Rather than just focus on this one snapshot of their future, he would role play!

"What's that? You want to go hunting with daddy? Well! None of your older siblings really seemed that interested in being a hunter, so I really appreciate your interest, kiddo. What should we hunt, huh?" Peregrine paused, waiting for his invisible pup's answer. "Squirrel! That'll be a fun challenge. Come on, then!"

The Alpha male kicked up his heels and began loping toward a nearby grove of trees, one of the ones where he kept a stockpile as a matter of fact. He often spotted squirrels here, though he had yet to attempt hunting any. Perhaps because of this, they did not hide when Peregrine appeared. The two that he spotted did scurry higher into the trees but made no attempt to conceal themselves. One chattered at him noisily and the other sat up in the crook of a branch and turned an acorn over and over in its tiny paws.

"Here we have the humble squirrel, firebird," Peregrine said in his best David Attenborough impression. His dusky jade eyes fixed on the calmer of the two bushy-tailed rodents. "It lives in trees while eating the tree's babies." He paused. "Look at that sick fuck."

MINE MINE MINE

She missed him. As much as it pissed her off, she missed his stupid face and his stupid smile and his stupid stupidness. And MAN did it piss her off. She wanted to rage around the Caldera and throw rocks and rip out trees and awaken the dormant volcano that had created the whole place--No no, BECOME the volcano! YES, BE THE VOLCANO YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORL.D.

But. She was a wolf. And not a volcano. And not nearly strong enough to throw trees around, although maybe she could manage a rock or two. And so, Finley did what any temperamental female would do--she stomped around and grumbled.

The den Peregrine had set her up in was one that was not too far from the borders, so even in her gimpy state, she reached them before a full hour(s) had passed. An intriguing sound touched her ears when finally she looked out across the plains that surrounded their home--a sound that reminded her very much of her alpha's. Fin turned, curious, and began to follow her ears.

When she found Peregrine, he was in the middle of..... Yeah, she didn't even know. She crept up around him, searching for his face with canted head and quirked brow. "Perry...?" Fin said gently, curiosity lilting her voice.

I spilled honey on my keyboard a few days ago and it is seriously the worst.

He heard footfalls and turned. Whether he continued the act or pretended like he was up to nothing depended entirely on his audience. When he saw his trusty Beta female approaching, Peregrine's face split into a wide grin. He turned to fully face her, tail waving.

"Finley! How nice of you to join us. I was just showing little Firebird here a bit about hunting squirrels. Say hello, Firebird," Peregrine said, making a motion as if he was patting the head of a pup seated by his leg. "Aunt Finley here is the mastermind behind your name, you know. She's also a badass bearfighter!"

He beamed down at the invisible puppy, then looked up at Finley and muttered out of the corner of his mouth like some demented ventriloquist, "I'm just pretending. You know, for practice? Do not—I repeat—do not be alarmed." Because he had taken a hit to the head recently. But this has nothing to do with that, he was pretty sure...

Fin could only stare at Peregrine with a single quirked brow as he spoke to her. And also to his invisible friends. She had heard a rumor once that one of his daughters kept imaginary friends, so maybe she was just getting to witness the tree the apple had fallen from. In any event, it was a very unusual experience.

Her gaze switched from her alpha's face to the space beside him that he seemed to think some sort of being was occupying and then back again as he whispered to her. She didn't say anything for a moment, then very slowly and carefully parted her lips to address the issue. "Yeah, no... This is normal," Fin replied slowly, "No worries."

"Oh, shut up," Peregrine said more loudly. "Don't act like you're not a freak too!" he shouted. Of course, it was all in good fun. "Run along, Firebird," he added to his invisible offspring. "I don't want you to be subjected to your evil aunt's evil negging."

After the puppy presumably left the scene, Peregrine asked, "How are you feeling? I know you're still healing and all that and it will be a while until you work yourself back up to bears... but wanna rustle some squirrels' jimmies with me?" he questioned invitingly, tail sweeping the air as he tipped his head subtly toward the two buck-toothed rodents in the treetops behind him.

"Well I certainly never--" Fin started, only to stop before reaching said that since Peregrine was telling his little.. what were they, his children? to run along. Because she was negging. Whatever that meant.

And then he seemed to return to normal, which only caused Fin some more concern. She smiled despite herself though and laughed with a twitch of her shoulders. "Uh, Peregrine? My darling contusion-face?" she chastised fondly with a shake of her head, "What the fuck are 'jimmies'?" She had no intention of 'rustling' them until she had any idea what they were. And for some reason, she suspected they had something to do with testicles. She could've been wrong though.

The swarthy Redleaf-DiSarinno blinked at her term of endearment. Wouldn't that suit Fox a lot better? Finley wanted to know what jimmies were, exactly, before jumping on-board to rustle any. Her inquiry elicited an airy cackle from Peregrine.

"I don't know. It's just another way of saying 'do you want to fuck those squirrels up'? Well? Do ya?" he pressed. "Or have you turned into a giant weenie since that last bear clobbered you?" he taunted playfully, suddenly dipping forward into a playful, come-at-me bow.

As Fin listened, she imagined that this was probably what Peregrine had felt like when she'd stumbled across her high on mushrooms. He had stuck by her when that had happened, so Finley intended to do the same for him. Besides, the stories he'd told her of what she'd done the next morning were quite amusing. Shecouldn't miss an opportunity to watch him in his antics, for now that she thought of it, she was quite convinced that mushrooms were the problem here.

"Do I look like a giant weenie to you, dude?" Fin quipped back, watching him drop into a bow, "You some kinda fool? Some kinda dude-fool?" She couldn't help but smile, fully expecting that he would get that she was mocking Ashton a little in her choice of monikers.

"You do look a bit like a giant penis," Peregrine retorted with a squint, his lips pressing together to hold in the laugh threatening to burst out from inside him. Her next query broke the dam, though, and he guffawed very loudly. He didn't actually make the connection between the word dude and Ashton, though the term dude-fool really tickled his funny bone.

"I am a dude-fool but what does that have to do with anything? Come at me, you giant walking meat popsicle!" He wiggled his bum in the air, his black tail waving like a giant crow's feather.

Fin scrunched up her face in displeasure at his response. "Yeah, I walked right into that one..." she quipped back quickly. Who actually asks their nemesis if they look like genitalia? Especially one tripping on shrooms or balls or... Damn, she really needed to work on getting that straight.

She took a few steps back from him, tempted to respond to his playful antagonizing with a bow of her own. She knew it would hurt, though. And as much as she would've enjoyed a good romp, she knew it probably wouldn't end too well for her. Especially if Peregrine weren't as in charge of actions as he usually was and could easily play too rough without realizing it. "You ain't worth my time, little dude-fool!" she barked back at him, growling playfully, "Besides, you promised me some damn jimmies and now I needs some damn jimmies!"

Finley didn't show any obvious signs of reluctance, though Peregrine eventually cottoned onto the fact that she might not want to get rough-and-tumble in her current state. Obviously, he didn't want to risk further injuring his Beta. But he couldn't just let her get away with rejecting his invitation to play!

"Fine then, we'll beat the shit out of some squirrels instead of each other," he rejoined with a playful sneer. "Come on, penisface. We need to find another grove," he added, for the nut-loving rodents here had disappeared, presumably frightened away by the wolfish banter taking place below them.

Casting her a glance, Peregrine licked his chops and swiveled, leading the way out of the trees and running along the caldera's base in search of another prime spot to hunt their buck-toothed, tree-dwelling, bushy-tailed neighbors.

Fin cast her gaze up at the limbs of the nearby trees, even as Peregrine joined her. "Fine, vaginahead, you lead the way," she quipped back with a smirk as she turned to follow in his footsteps, "But just so you know, the Finegrine Death Match is only postponed until I'm not a cripple anymore."

She picked up her pace to keep up with him as they took a quick jog over the frosted grounds. As they approached the little patch of trees, she slowed and put her senses to work, attempting to locate a little jimmy that was rip for picking.

He laughed and glanced over his shoulder when she mentioned making a rain check for their so-called death match. "You better believe it!" he agreed with her, his tail punctuating his words with a predatory lash. "I can't wait to make you a cripple again as soon as you're done being a cripple now!" he added with a hoot.

Soon enough, they came upon another copse of trees growing out of the mountain's base. Peregrine slowed and motioned for Finley to do the same. Adopting a stealthy demeanor, he slunk nearer, ears rotating and nose wriggling as he tried to detect any sign of squirrels.

At her alpha's comment, Fin had to resist the temptation to latch her jaws onto his tail and pull, starting the "death match" right then and there. If she was doomed to be crippled forever, she figured she might as well not even bother healing. But, not too soon was she distracted as they slowed and stalked forward towards the trees.

Fin cast her gaze up towards the branches overhead as they walked, her other senses working eagerly to find a target. It didn't seem to her that there were any squirrels within reach, unless either her or Peregrine learned how to climb trees in the next few minutes.

Something else did suddenly grab her attention and she paused, snapping her head swiftly to their left until her muzzle was pointing directly at the slowly waddling form of a muskrat a couple dozen yards away. The beta turned to grab Peregrine's attention by nipping at whatever part of his body was nearest to her--which just so happened to be his bum lols--before crouching even further and stalking towards the chubby overgrown rat.

I was thinkin' we could wrap up this one in a few more posts and have a more updated one. ARE YOU DOWN? :D

Sadly, there didn't seem to be many, if any, squirrels in this particular cluster of trees. Peregrine's lips fell into a disappointed line and he was turning to exchange a glance with his hunting partner when he felt something pinch his ass. He jumped, eyebrow quirking as he swung around. Evidently, Finley had bitten his butt. What the what?

He followed her gaze. Oh... The corners of his mouth twitched upward as he happily changed course. Since Finley had spotted the muskrat, he let her take the lead. Peregrine stalked behind her, acting as the Beta female's larger shadow.

SO DOWN

Peregrine allowed Fin to take the lead, and the silver mockingbird wasted no time. Their quarry was rather dumb, being out in the open and so far away from its preferred habitat. Without a river to slip into for a quick escape, hunting it would be simple. Like plucking an apple off a tree.

She crouched low when she'd closed the distance a sufficient amount. Fin wriggled like a little snake, waiting for just the right moment before she darted forward and snapped her jaws lethally across the rodent's spine. It was still squealing by the time she turned to face Peregrine, a wide grin to be seen past its flailing limbs.

"Wanna ead itsth head?" she asked behind the mouthful of fuzz.

If y'wanna, you can hop into my open thread here in RHC, or start one especially for us?! :)

Perhaps it made them inhumane to treat the muskrat so cruelly, yet they weren't humans, so what did Peregrine care? He didn't even think of offering mercy to their prey when Finley offered its head to him. Without a word, he bounded forward and clamped his jaws around the critter's skull. The Alpha male then yanked, beheading the muskrat and causing blood to splash on the cold ground. Something red, wet and stringy dangled from the hole left in the stumpy body.

Grinning foolishly, Peregrine held his prize in his mouth and pranced in a circle. He then paused and a sickening crunch filled the air even as his mouth filled with warm blood and brain matter. He savored the flavor, then chewed and swallowed. He smacked his lips with satisfaction when he was done.

Feeling playful, the Alpha lunged forward and tried to snatch the muskrat's dangling tail from Finley. He managed to grab and severe it, then slapped her face with it. Peregrine imagined it felt like being smacked with a big, cold worm. That's what it felt like in his mouth anyway as he turned and raced away, teasing and daring Finley to give chase.

rofl let's see how morbid we can make this. Feel free to fade and I'll start us a new one!

Peregrine leapt forward and tore the muskrat's head out with a squealching crunch. Fin braced herself as he did so, digging her teeth even further into the wriggling body so that she wouldn't be pulled away with it, blood spilling into her mouth and smearing across her muzzle. Even as the alpha chomped and devoured the animal's head, it's limbs continued to flail, completely unaware that its head was gone.

Before she could do any eating of her own, Peregrine was darting forward again, ripping off the tail and then smacking her in the face with it. She yipped in surprise, dropping the carcass to the ground and spinning to watch him prance away. With a playful growl, she snatched up the still writhing body by the scruff of its mangled neck. Aiming all four of its twitching paws at Peregrine, she raced towards him, hoping with the right angle, she could make it slap him right back in his own face. It would be a battle of body versus severed tail, only in Fin's case, she didn't even need to do the actual hitting.

He looked over his shoulder and made a tiny "eek!" noise, his legs pumping even faster and his laughter fading into the wind. He wasn't the fastest runner, however, so Finley caught up to him. Peregrine glanced sideways just in time to get a face full of flailing muskrat claws. It surprised him so much that his jaw involuntarily fell open, dropping the weird, rubbery tail.

Peregrine flashed the Beta a playful grin, then gave a girlish cry when she brandished the beheaded body at him again. Tucking his tail between his legs, he led her on a heart-pounding chase around the caldera before the two of them fell into exhausted heaps and took turns tearing off and chewing chunks of muskrat meat—when they weren't too busy spitting tufts of slobbery fur at one another, of course.