Redhawk Caldera so let's piss off the neighbors.

Finley felt ornery. And it was very confusing for her because while ornery in itself was not at all strange for the feisty Blackthorn, ornery this particular time of year could be a sign of some other event. It was that event that was causing her to be hyper aware of her emotions, and consider this particular orneriness as a potential clue to something else. What did this mean? Was this an exponential amount of orneriness? Was this the amount of orneriness that should cause her to barricade herself and her mate in their den and drive out any visitors such as their own son? Or was this the kind of ornery where she should try to make BFFs with a porcupine, fail, and contentedly give up after successfully avoiding the mutilation of the other half of her face?

Ugh. Self-awareness was too difficult. Finley needed herself some @Elwood.

It was the safest thing to do (lol do), because if this behavior did mean that she was heading into her heat, then she needed to be making the most of it. She and Elwood had decided to expand their family, and both Eljay and the alpha pair had given their blessings. Who was she to disappoint them all by not reproducing? No one. Probably. How does that work.. Oh who cares. Where is Finley right now.

Her search for Elwood took her away from the rendezvous site, which was again bustling with puppies and family since the Firebirds had been relocated from the whelping down. Fin suspected that her mate was off hunting to provide for the little ones (their own not-so-little included), and so she ventured towards the evergreen forest towards the east of the territory where she and her mate had raised Eljay for the first few weeks after his birth. She wasn't sure why she was headed in that direction. Half of the time during her search, this uncertainty equated to not being sure why she thought she might find him there. The other half of the time, she was uncertain because she was so spaced in the brain that she couldn't remember what she was doing at all.

But. Uh. Oh, a tree!

Fin came to a stop amidst the cool shade of the evergreens, glancing about herself in the empty void between knowing what she was doing but not, and not at all knowing what she was doing. After a moment, she tilted back her head and sent a howl to the air for her mate, hoping to attract him there if he was around. She knew well enough (oddly enough) that it could take him some time to find her, especially if he wasn't anywhere near the wood, and so she distracted herself by sniffing at the nearby trees, seeking out the scent trail of a squirrel she could be obnoxious at until he arrived.