Broken Antler Fen got a bottle of whatever.

The days of Spring were slipping steadily towards Summer and Finley had finally begun to find peace again.  Whether it was the brighter weather or the fact that she'd finally expelled all of her pent-up restlessness, the Blackthorn had no interest in determining.  The fact was that the "fever" was gone, and Fin could finally get back to being Fin.  Well.. The part of Fin that doesn't do crazy things.  No, that's not quite right... Maybe it's just the part of Fin that isn't so easily agitated and bitchy?  Yeah, that's more the one.  There really is no part of Fin that isn't crazy, if I'm being honest.

Moving on.

While Finley was not a Warden by trade, it was part of her duties as beta of the pack to partake in the periodic patrol.  She did well at it too for a little while, inspecting the areas that needed inspecting, peeing on the land where it needed some pee, etc. etc.  There was only so much of the mundane, repetitive task the feisty Blackthorn could take though before her attention started wandering and she began forgetting that she had a task to accomplish.  Usually it took about fifteen minutes.  Today it took ten.

Finley was outside of the Caldera's borders as she cantered steadily along, her gaze dancing about the flat plains for something of intrigue.  Eventually, her quest lead her to the top of a gentle downwards slope where off in the distance, she spied the fuzzy brown bodies of at least a dozen rabbits, milling about innocently in the tall grass.  Fin instantly ducked down close to the ground, a wicked grin flitting across her muzzle.  It seemed that she had stumbled upon a rather sizeable warren, and she had every intention of doing to it what any perfectly sane carnivore would do - Destroy it and eat ALL THE BABIES.

Luke, too, had spied the rabbits and had concealed his form below the topline of the grass. The wind was against his back and thus he was opposite the hidden female without knowing it, and the skittish herbivores' noses twitched and their ears swiveled, alerted but not yet alarmed. The blue-nosed wolf had already eaten, and thus did not eye the brown creatures with hunger, but rather with a devilish gleam. Just like the geese that day on the edge of the lake, Luke was looking for a chase, a game, and he before the rabbits could become so unnerved by the whiffs of his scent they were getting he rushed them, bursting out of cover a white blur.

Those closest to their warren holes disappeared down in them, but a few caught further out in the open fled with Luke on their heels, snapping and barking and bounding with joy. Little did he know he had disturbed the hunt of another with his game.

Fin had no idea that another wolf was onto the same quarry until the bluenosed bastard was suddenly burst I across the warrens, sending bunnies flying about. Her surprise caused her to hesitate, but only long enough for shock to turn to incredulity, and then right on to mischievous glee. It was swiftly apparent by the stranger's actions that he had little interest in actually nabbing a meal, and thus he turned from fun ruiner to fun partner in her mind.

With a laughing yip, Fin too broke cover and darted towards the fleeing rabbits, lunging right and left as they frantically changed directions and stumbled over themselves trying to escape the new, unexpected threat. While her snapping jaws could easily have ensnared at least one of the fluffy critters, she aimed to nip harmlessly at their little tails as they scampered about.

Fortunately, the other wolf was not disturbed by the interruption, and joined in on the fun that Luke was having. The blue-nosed wolf caught his first sight of her out of the corner of his eye when she, an achromatic blur, broke from her cover and gave chase of one of the scattering rabits. He threw her a delighted yip and flashed her a grin before locking his eyes back on the target fleeing ahead of him. As he pursued the rabbit, the small mammal abruptly changed directions, a typical strategy for out-maneuvering a predator, and it turned him right into the female's path. Another wolf might have collided with her, but Luke gracefully sailed over her back without ever breaking stride, and continued on the rabbit's tail, catching a couple hairs between his teeth before it located an escape hole and disappeared down into it. The white wolf pawed at the burrow entrance for a moment, before turning his gaze to the female to watch her pursuit.

Fin laughed aloud as the little bunnies leaped into their hidey holes. She too leaped against the openings to the critters' inner tunnelways, growling for a moment in frustration before she began to dig furiously at the entrance. By the time she began, her tail was wagging furiously and the laughter had returned to her eyes. When finally she took a few steps back from the entrance she'd been attacking, her ears whisked over to the alabaster stranger who had also found a home to attack and just happened to be watching her. With a grin, the beta bounced towards him with the thought that she could hell him tear into the warren to wreak some real havoc.

But then...

Fin stopped very suddenly, a strange wave of dizziness and just plain weirdness sweeping over her. She stopped abruptly and stood still for a few seconds, staring at the ground. She squinted her eyes, trying to focus on a single blade of grass. Unfortunately, despite her efforts, the world spinning rapidly around her, and soon she was arching her back and tossing her cookies with all her might onto the innocent blades of grass at her feet.

Luke's tail beat back and forth enthusiastically as the gray female bounded towards him, but his grinning expression disappeared when she stopped suddenly, and within moments was throwing up. Concern furrowed his brows and pulled his lips into a taut line. Without hesitation he ran to her side and gently placed a blue-padded paw on her back, offering physical comfort as his gaze settled on her face. "You alright?" he asked softly, not having the foggiest idea why she might be vomiting, perhaps something she had eaten before or the mere exertion of chasing the fleeing rabbits. He did not know her, but his compassion extended to everyone and he was as genuinely concerned about her as he would be a dear friend.

Fin continued to heave after the contents of her stomach had been expelled. She barely registered the touch upon her black spine or the words on comfort the stranger offered. By the time it finally subsided, her throat felt raw and she felt rather certain that at least one of her ribs had cracked. She lifted a paw to wipe the foam from her mouth before she dropped to her haunches and straightened up.

"Fuckin'... fuck," she muttered breathlessly as she tilted her head back. After a moment she looked over at the stranger, intending to joke about why he hadn't greeted her by throwing up like she had, but she found herself immediately distracted, "Dude... Your nose is blue."

Luke's paw slipped from the gray female's back as she regained her composure and wiped the froth from her mouth. She looked to him and as soon as she did, she spotted the blue at the end of his muzzle. "It is!?" he exclaimed, feigning surprise as he crossed his eyes to attempt to peer at his own nose. "Dang, how'd that happen?" he grinned, looking warmly at the female as he shifted to stand more to her front than at her side, his tail wagging amiably. "I'm Luke. Luke Bluenose," he winked. "Are you ok?" his head tilted to the side, compassion softening his amused expression.

Fin laughed weakly at his reaction to her statement.  He was a funny dude, which she certainly appreciated though she probably would have enjoyed it more had she not just hurled all over the place.  Her eyes narrowed critically when he introduced himself as Luke Bluenose.  Was he serious?  That would be like her family name being "Blackspine" - it was just too obvious.

Though the beta still felt rather dizzy and the foul taste in her mouth was threatening to make her start puking again, she brushed off his concern with a shake of her head.  "Yeah, I must've spun too fast or something..." she answered, truly believing that was what had happened.  That or she was coming down with something, which was just... Absolutely not.  Fin didn't get sick.  You had to slow down when you were sick and this particular Blackthorn had no speed beneath lightning.

"I'm Fin Blackthorn," she said after a beat, remembering her manners.  Her gaze wandered to the pile of sick she'd left all over the ground and for a second, she felt the sting of guilt.  "God.. I just puked all over bunny land.  I actually feel kinda bad..."

Fortunately, it seemed his companion was fine, explaining that she believed she had spun too fast. It was easy enough to do, rabbits were swift creatures and they did not run a straight line. It was conceivable that one could become dizzy with the combination of sudden exertion and weaving around. Luke had never experienced nausea from chasing rabbits or any other prey, but he had vomited his dinner after running vigorously too soon after consuming a large meal. No wonder the body's inclination was more towards napping than running when the belly was full.

"Oh don't worry about that," Luke smiled. "The next rain will wash that right away. Besides," he paused, glancing around, "there's lots of other clover and the like around here to eat, they won't miss this one spot." A thought crossed his mind, and he shook his head with a warm chuckle. "Actually, an indiscriminate predator might even eat that," he gestured with a paw to the vomit. Luke had no interest in eating such thing, but he knew others who were decidedly less reserved about what constituted dinner.

short post is short

Fin pursed her lips thoughtfully as Luke reassured her.  She gave a shrug, supposing he was right.  Just like that, her guilt slipped away to amusement, particularly as he mentioned some animal finding a delicious dinner out of her vomit.  "That's true enough," she commented, more to herself than to him, "Perry's kids would be all about this I'll bet... Kids are so gross sometimes."

I like short posts XD

Luke's ears flicked noticeably at the mention of Perry. As he was not a terribly vigilant wolf like some, he had not noticed until just now that this gray and white female carried the scents of the Caldera on her, a definite packmate of his swarthy companion. "Oh!" he said, grinning. "I know Perry." his tail waved. It seemed he was running into a lot of folks that had some relation to Peregrine, be it his sister, his daughter, and now this packmate.

Fin was just starting to wonder if the pair of them could go hide somewhere and lull the bunnies into a sense of safety so that they'd come back out when he distracted her with a sudden exclamation. She turned her slate head back towards him curiously, wondering at him even a moment or two after he announced that he knew Perry. Who was Perry? Stupid of her, really, since she was the one that had said the name in the first place and he was something akin to an older brother to her. Fortunately, the lapse of intelligence was over quickly enough and excitement flooded her face.

"You know Perry?" she replied happily, "My Perry? How do you know my Perry!"

"I'm assuming there's only one Perry," he laughed, his tail wagging. How uncanny would it be for there to be two Peregrine's around in the same local area, or even a Perry and a Peregrine who just happens to use the former as a nickname. It could happen, but that this gray female also carried the scent of the Caldera on her made it highly unlikely she was talking about a different wolf than he. "I met him by Big Salmon Lake one day," Luke shared, omitting the part about him having just visited him at the Caldera. Mostly because Kris has no idea of the outcome of that, and Luke would not go around blathering about it anyway.

Fin smirked at his response.  She had actually never come across a Perry besides Peregrine, which she did wonder at a bit.  Truth be told, she'd met more than one other Fin.  This wasn't even her first Luke, though it was her first Luke-with-a-blue-nose.  For a second, she let herself go ahead and reminisce about the first Luke.  Heheh... Were it not for her fur, then second Luke would have been quite aware of the reddish tinge that rose to her cheeks while thinking back on the first Luke.  She caught herself before she began to giggle at least and quickly refocused her attention on the current Luke.


"Did he do anything douchebaggy?  He has a habit of doing that - I apologize on his behalf if so," Fin replied promptly with a matter-of-fact nod of her head, "Oooh!  Even better!  Did he mention how sexy his beta is?  And how much he wishes his wife weren't in the way so that he could totally hit that but his beta's like 'no it'd be so weird' and he's totally bummed about it?  The beta's name is 'Elwood' if that rings any bells."  Finley gave him a cheeky grin, totally aware that he probably didn't get the joke, but it amused her nonetheless.

That Peregrine had a 'douchebag' streak in him was not known to Luke, for he and Peregrine had struck an instant connection, one of friendship and mutual attraction. He knew his daughter had some deep seated bitterness toward him, but that was all. As for the second part of her spirited ramble, the blue-nosed wolf was not privy to any inside jokes concerning one named Elwood, but he grinned, because he was aware that the black Alpha had a taste for men, but he did not allude to this nor share that he too might find the beta sexy if he saw him.

"He must have forgot to mention it to me," Luke chuckled with a swish of his tail. "Tell me more," he invited with an attentive look and warm smile. He found the gray female amusing, and hoped she would continue talking.

The blue-nosed wolf's response was a bit of a disappointment for he failed to play along with her.  Fin didn't dwell too long on it though, for he quickly invited her to share more shit talk about their mutual friend.  And that was something she was all too eager to do, as she knew quite well that Peregrine would not have hesitated to do the same to her.


"Ohhhh the things I could tell you," Fin stated dramatically, her eyes flickering with mischief that was echoed in the grin upon her muzzle, "Well first off, he was born with two tails and no gonads.  His mama had to nip off the second tail.  Sadly, there was no hope for the gonads.  We're all afraid to tell him that his wife's pups are actually the kids of some rando 'cause he doesn't realize no balls means no babies.  So, obviously, he's kind of a 'tard too."

"You don't say!" Luke exclaimed as she began, and he leaned forward with wide eyes and a grinning mouth, matching her dramatic tone with this dramatic pose and expression. It was apparent to him immediately that she was ever bit as fun loving as him, and that this was a game in good humor. His tail thumped along with her as she revealed that the handsome Peregrine had been born with two tails and no testicles, and apparently a more simple minded that his charming personality would have suggested. "No way!" Luke said at length in a sort of whispered but loud voice, raising a forepaw to his mouth (sort of). When she had finished up, he threw her a random question. "I don't believe it. But the more important thing is... did he at least mentioned me?"

Luke made for a very good audience.  He smiled when he should, laughed at just the right moments and contorted his face into the most colorful of expressions.  She was almost just as entertained by telling him stories as he was hearing them.  Almost.  She had to assume he was having a way better time than her considering how awesome and funny she was.


Finley paused in her laughter at the question the stranger posed.  Did Peregrine mention him?  "Uhhh... No, not that I remember," she replied with a shrug as her curiosity took hold of her and she gave him a sly look, "Why?  Do you also suffer from no-gonads?"

Luke gasped loudly, eyes wide, a perfect charade of utter disbelief and surprise. "What!" he barked, furrowing his brows now, pretending that the fact he had not been mentioned to her and the very idea of not him not having gonads was the most blasphemous thing he had ever heard. "Nonsense!" he huffed, turning his nose into the air like the sort of spoiled king folks love to loathe. His display was so dramatic, however, that it was clear he was merely having fun with her. "I have blue balls," he declared defiantly. "I also have a blue nose. I am outraged that he did not spread the word of me." Luke lashed his tail, pursing his lips as he peered at the female for her reaction. But these purse lips quivered and shifted, as he fought to control his laughter, and struggled to maintain this haughty expression.

Luke's response quickly wiped away whatever suspicion had been forming in Finley's rather slow mind.  She laughed aloud as he huffed and hawed at the outrage of Peregrine not sharing with his entire pack that he'd encountered a white wolf with blue extremities.  "Oh my gosh oh my gosh," she replied, smiling like a fiend and her tail wagging frantically at her haunches, "So many.. blue balls... Peregrine and balls... You showing off balls... blue balls.. jokes... brain exploding..."  To prove the hilarity-induced meltdown of her brain, she sank slowly onto her belly, then slowly rolled down onto one shoulder and dropped her head upon the soft grass.

Luke laughed, and his tail wagged so hard it shook his haunches. He followed suit and sank to his belly as well, but instead of stopping when one shoulder brushed the grass, he continued until he had rolled completely onto his back. "I don't really have blue balls," he chuckled, but in this position, with his feet exposed to the sky, it was evident that not only was his nose blue, but his pads, and also his tongue, which lolled slightly. Of course, she could also confirm for herself that indeed, his dangly bits were not blue. "But since I came here, I've been asked twice if I did. Peregrine, actually, was the first."

Finley grinned as Luke slid to the ground beside her.  She turned to aim herself more directly towards him by hopping with her back legs and sliding her upper half across the grass until she was looking right at his face.  She likely looked like a total moron, but she could not have cared less.  Being Finley it wouldn't have mattered to her in the first place, but also since Luke was looking just as silly, it made it even less of a concern how she looked herself.


"HA!" she replied with a laugh and an awkward shake of her head (which was really just a couple of lifts of her muzzle away from the ground it was lying parallel to), "That sounds like Peregrine.  He does have quite the fascination with testicles.  I hope he didn't like.. hit on you or anything.  He has a tendency of........ gayness."  Which Fin didn't necessarily disapprove of, but she would definitely have judged him for going all gay balls at straight men.

Luke laughed with her. It was no surprise to him to hear about Peregrine's tendency of 'gayness'. But Luke was not one to kiss and tell and so he did not speak of it. "I don't mind the questions," he said. It was true, he fielded most questions, however personal, with hardly a bat of an eye. He was not exactly the most guarded wolf to begin with and had no shame at all. "I can hardly blame the wolves who are curious, and besides," he grinned devilishly. "I take it as a compliment if they are wondering about my balls." He laughed again.

Wanna wrap this baby up? :)

It was just after she'd finished commenting that the world quite suddenly began to shift again.  It wasn't as dramatic as it had been, but it was enough to make her stomach boil irritably.  She laid her rump down softly with the rest of her, rolling onto her belly as she listened to his laughter.  A wry smile slipped across her muzzle at his response.  "I like your take-what-you-can-get attitude towards testicular commentary," she said with an appreciative chuckle.

Her expression shifted just a moment later as her stomach made another loud complaint.  She shut her eyes against it, not wanting to throw up yet again for her new friend.  After a few seconds, it passed, and she lifted her eyelids to set them upon Luke's face.  "Hey.. can I be a pain in the ass and ask if you could walk me home?" she asked, her ears slipping back, "We don't need to hold hands and skip or anything.. I just don't want to pass out and be eaten by ducks or something."