Redhawk Caldera save it for later

After narrowly escaping Fern (again), Cyclone eventually dawdled her way to Redhawk Caldera, where Finley supposedly lived. She honestly didn't know much about her sister. The only memories she had were faint flickers from her childhood. Still, she figured getting out here on her own (well, kinda) was better than spending her whole life at home. Besides, she'd wrecked things with the last pack, so she didn't have much of a choice.

Cyclone meandered near the borders, and sure enough, there was the telltale scent of @Finley. That ol' scalawag. Grinning, Cyclone threw her head back and called for her long lost sister. She had no idea whether or not she'd stick around, but she figured she was in the neighborhood, so she might as well see how things were going here.

Colt was chilling near the borders, avoiding responsibility and contemplating going for a run outside the bounds, when someone gave a howl for Finley.  A female someone.  Remembering his talk with Qui, Colt gave a little grin.  Mayhaps this was a cute little trick who hadn't realized his sister no longer ruled the roost.  In any event, she didn't sound like pack, and they could use some fresh prospects around here of her type.

But when he drew close enough to see her color, he stopped, shocked.  "No fuckin way.  Cy!?". He hadn't seen much of his younger sis in his brief stint with the Blackthorn crowd, but her look was definite enough that he could place her.  That was why she'd sounded slightly familiar.

Too surprised to be disappointed, he jogged to get closer.  "The hell are you doing here!?"

It was not Finley, but Colt who appeared from within the pack's depths. She stared, slack-jawed for a split second before clicking her teeth together. This was just too weird. "I could ask you the same thing!" she replied flippantly. Like Finley, she did not remember too much about Colt except his name and appearance. Suddenly, Cyclone wasn't too sure she wanted a gang of her older siblings lording over her all the time. Maybe if it had just been cool ol' Finley, she could've handled it. But with Fern likely on her tail and Colt already here, she didn't think she'd be able to have nearly as much fun as she had planned to.

"Finley is here, right?" she asked, looking over Colt's shoulder, expecting her older sister to come galloping toward them any moment now. "Fern is like, right on my ass all the time, so I figure she'll be here in a hot second telling me not to hit on my brother or something. She is so dull." Come to think of it, Colt was looking rather dapper these days. He was wearing those extra years pretty dang well.

"She is. Practically begged me to join up and help her out, who am I to say no?"  Because that's how it had gone. One hundred percent.  He gave her what approximated to a noble look, clearly full of it, then eyed her again.

"Fuck, Fern too?  Is the whole clan moving?"  He didn't mind the idea of more family around but the pack had few enough non-relatives as it was.  Even confirmed bachelors needed some fun.  He grinned at the idea of Fern trying to keep Cyclone in check.  If he and Finley had had that, life would have been immeasurably less fun.  Or maybe moreso.  "You seem fairly adept at evading your parole officer," he joked, looking around.  "Though no offense, little sis... family's not exactly my type."  He winked, confident enough to not at all be squicked out by the idea of his sister hitting on him.

Cyclone wasn't actually hitting on her brother. (Right?) She smirked at him, then wondered if she actually wanted to stay here. Sure, there was security in family, but she'd just spent the past few days trying to outrun and outsmart her way away from Fern. Maybe she needed to be on her own for awhile. Actually, that was sounding better and better with each passing moment.

"Can you just... tell Fern to back off?" she asked, cocking her head to one side and putting on her Serious™️ face for a moment. "I wanna go off and do stuff on my own, y'know? I'm not a pup anymore." Cyclone would be three years old in just a few short months, and she didn't want Fern fixing all her mistakes for her. "I mean if she swings by here. And maybe tell Finley I said hello." Cy didn't remember much about her, but she had heard plenty of stories about the wild child.

Fin didn't know the voice that called for her, though she recognized there was some familiarity for her in it. She quirked a brow at this and stared in confusion at the distant stranger she could not actually see yet. In the end, curiosity brought her off of her lazy bum and nudging @Raven's fussing self away. She might be about to explode from puppies in the next couple of weeks, but she wouldn't let a thing like that stop her from seeing who had come a-knocking at her door.

When the beta arrived, it was to see her brother and a stranger standing facing each other, apparently conversing. She paused and blinked at them, noting right off the bat that she could trace a perfect long, black line from the tip of Colt's tail right on down to the tip of the other female's. Now that was something she hadn't seen since she was many years younger... Fuck, like many years. That's an irritating revelation.

"Tell her yourself," Fin quipped as she waddled up to the pair, still not recognizing her younger sister. The girl was without a doubt a Blackthorn, but whether it was a sibling, a cousin, or even her fiendish brother's bastard, she had no idea.

He was surprised Fern was hovering honestly; but there was a reason Colt had never had kids.  His motto was to let others do what they wanted and deal with the mistakes, and if Cyclone wanted to have a little fun, whose to say she shouldn't?  Big brother protectiveness wasn't something Colt had much of when it came to sleeping around; he'd done enough of it himself to know the fun of it.

"I think I can manage that, if I see her." He said, though chances were good she'd just ignore him and keep on keepin on.

Then Finley's voice sounded, and colt stepped aside, an involuntary grin breaking out as he watched her waddle up.  He had no earthly clue why she'd choose to look like that, but thank nature he was a dude.

BAM!

The woman in question wasn't far behind her sister. Well, far enough that she didn't hear a lick of what they were talking about; but she recognized Neasa's silhouette and saw she was with a couple of others. Hot on her tail was @Quixote - although maybe Fern had managed to lose him in the process of hiking between the woodland and the Caldera? Who knows!

In typical Feidhelm fashion she came barrelling out of somewhere with the intent to stick herself between Neasa and the obviously masculine figure of another wolf - and from her mouth came the stern command, Hey! Back off my sister! I don't care how graphic her invitation sounds, she's not allowed to gangba -- oh, Fern couldn't finish her thought. She recognized Colt first, then saw the woman nearby with the raised tail and all the 'tude, who she assumed was Finley.

Her eyes darted between each wolf present as she commented, Uh, hey fam.

Keeping up with her was a bit more of a chore than he'd been hoping, especially once they discovered that Neasa/Cyclone/whatever was headed the same way.  Quixote, though, was in no real rush, as he fully expected them to come to a screeching halt right at the borders.  Which they did, apparently.

He popped into view while the screaming was going on and he caught most of it, chuckling to himself.  Was the younger one that irrational that big sis had to come protect her from the world?  Or was she the crazy one?  Whatever.  If they stuck around, he assumed it'd be easy enough to figure out.  Quixote continued forward at a casual pace, When you said 'little sister,' I was kind of expecting her to be like... Really young and troublesome or something. Guess it's just the latter?  Though as he said his smirk was directed to Cyclone herself.  He wasn't being too terribly serious.  But, one would note he said this well out of reach of either of them since the elder seemed like she might be the type to be a little bitey.  Maybe she was just verbally pointed, but he wasn't gonna take the chance and look a fool in front of both Colt and Finley.

He bobbed his head to Finley as he wandered across the border.  He passed considerably closer to Colt, saying in a bemused but quiet tone, And you did want more sisters here, right?  Of course, a reference to their last conversation. He technically didn't have a problem with more of their family showing up.  The real question was if Colt was gonna scare 'em off or not before Quixote had even a chance to find out if they were fully irrational.

Quixote wasn't sure if he was gonna stick around too long or not, it kind of depended on how the conversation was going, but he was definitely the fifth wheel here. He'd excuse himself if it was suggested or just seemed like the best idea at the time.

A (rather round) graying wolf approached them, and Cyclone squinted her eyes. But it was the stripe that really gave it away. "Finley!" Cyclone chirped, but a less-appealing sibling was quick to approach, planting herself right in the middle of everything. Then came a black wolf who clearly wasn't family, but he was pretty cute. When he referred to her as "troublesome," Cyclone was immediately offended, flashing disapproving grey eyes in his direction.

"As I was saying, I'm here to drop off Fern, and then I'm gonna go live my own life. I'm sure y'all are great, but I need to get out and do stuff on my own." Cyclone glanced at Finley, then Colt, then rested her narrowed gaze on Fern, wondering what her helicopter sibling would think of this decision.

Fin noted the grin on her brother's face and stuck her tongue out at him as she planted herself at his side. She plopped down onto her haunches and looked at the girl for a moment before she heard her name called brightly by her. Sibling. Definitely a sibling, but what one? "Hey! ...You!" she replied, trying to match her probably-sister's enthusiasm, even as she was leaning towards Colt to ask him out of the corner of her mouth who the fuck this was.

But before she could get a single mumbled word out, more were arriving. One she knew, and one with a stripe that warned her she should know this one too. Finley quirked a brow as the new pair arrived, looking curiously at Quixote. Quietly, she leaned to Colt again, but chose a different question to mutter to him, "Who told Quixote where to find the Blackthorn mini-mart?" And then, Blackthorn number four was shouting, pausing, and greeting them a bit more calmly.

Fin looked from one Blackthorn sister to the other as Quixote and then sister number one spoke. Finally, she shook her head. "Uh, nope. These sisters seem like they might be defective," she said, answering Quixote, "You should probably return them. I bet they'd give you a full refund." She glanced at the one that had shouted about gang-banging once more before adding, "Well. Store credit, at least."

Did y'all know this is my 300th Fin thread? woooooo! Old lady!

Well this spiraled into a clusterfuck fast.  Oh, god, no, not that kind.  Maybe for Qui, but ugh.  Anyway, soon after Finley arrived, Fern came charging in with Quixote hot on her heels.  Probably in both senses, considering the conversation he and Colt had had previously.  Personally this he was fine with; he wasn't particularly possessive of his sister's' love lives, not that any of them would tolerate him being that way anyway.

"Any more defective than Sisters normally are?" He said softly, and he knew Finley would hear it from her proximity right beside her.  Then, helpfully, he spoke more directly.  "Fern and Cyclone."  

He sighed theatrically at a number of the going conversation points.  The women of their family really were a mess, maybe Quixote should watch a bit where he goes barking.  "I know I said excitement, but this variety wasn't really what I meant.  Fern, what gives?  I thought our batch was all about spreading the stripe around?"  He grinned and slapped his own with his tail for illustration, curious on why Cyclone came with leash in tow.

Quixote's comment earned him a small but pointed look, but he might've missed it as he moved on to stand over by Colt and talk with him. Whatever. They were all here now and Fern wasn't about to let anyone talk smack about her — although most of it was silly, what Fern was most interested in was Neasa's statement about leaving. The young woman huffed and puffed at this, her attention zero-ing in on Neasa for the time being.

Leaving? Hell no! I didn't track you through the wilderness just so you could say hello and then high-tail it out of here! She couldn't help but bristle at the thought of being abandoned here at the Caldera, not after that monumental journey. You wanted to find Finley, well here she is! I only stopped you from boinkin' all the strays in these wilds so you wouldn't show up pregnant. That'd just be rude. Okay, there was a little bit of humor in Fern's voice now, but she was entirely serious, and a little annoyed at her younger sister's comments.

And adding in Colt's two cents didn't help either. Oh, stuff it, Colt. What are you even doing here? She narrowed her eyes at him and huffed again. If you're on team ess-tee-dee then maybe you should've been the one to escort Neasa. But I guess you were too busy gettin' busy yourself. Ugh, family.

As far as he could tell, the sisters were both ridiculous and couldn't seem to take someone pointing out their folly -- or at least not with the full audience here.  How unfortunate.  He was honestly curious if either of them would end up staying or if Cyclone was going to continue to lead Fern on a wild goose chase across the landscape.

Hey I'm just the delivery boy here!  Well, for one of them.  -- Though if in the future you guys want me to tell siblings that you were eaten by a monster of your choice instead, I can always try that.  No guarantees it'll work, though.  He shrugged.  The most logical thing had been to bring them here, it wasn't his fault they were bananas.  Quixote would claim no responsibility in this nonsense!

In fact, he plopped himself off to the side and took a moment to give his ear a good scratch.  He did try to give Colt and Finley a look that asked, 'Is this normal for them?'

Approximately seventeen different conversations were happening at this point, none of which Cyclone was interested in. She had found Finley, and she hadn't been overwhelmed by some familial bond, so she was gonna high-tail it out of here. Fern could be as pissed off as she wanted to, but Cyclone didn't give two shits. She wanted to go out into the world and "find herself"... whatever that meant. Somehow, having family along for the ride didn't seem like such a great idea after all.

Cy rolled her eyes as dramatically as possible and decided the best course of action was to simply walk away. Fern could go ahead and follow her, but that wasn't going to stop Cyclone from trying to lose her every step of the way. Maybe if Fern hadn't followed her here, she would have stayed... and maybe Finley wouldn't have been such a bad sister to follow, but all that flew out the window the minute all the Blackthorns were shouting over one another. Cyclone just knew there had to be something out in that big wide world for her.

Fucken Colt. She glared sidelong at her brother for his quip about sisters, wondering why exactly she was still letting him stay here. But that thought reminded her that she did let him stay here, which meant she could get him back later. Happy to have something to look forward to, she looked back at her sisters as they began to squabble. Fern and Cyclone. Cyclone didn't get much of her attention except for the pleased little smirk she shared at hearing the girl had wanted to come find her. She did like being popular.

Fern though. That batch of Blackthorns had been her first experience with puppies. She'd really, really hated it back then. They got so much more attention than she did... It was why she and Colt had hit the road. Wouldn't that be a fun anecdote once they all settled the fuck down?

Fin cast her gaze to Quixote and grinned, "It won't. They're my blood, after all.". She enjoyed this side of him a lot more than the dutiful tactician she'd taken to war with her. If keeping these crazies around meant he'd remain this easy-spirited, then she might consider taking them. Or just the one. Apparently. Because next thing she knew, Cyclone was spinning and walking away without a good bye. That seemed about right.

Fin looked around at those still gathered in the beat of silence that followed, a smile spreading across her face. "Man! Family reunions, am I right?" she nudged Colt hard with her shoulder before looking at Fern helpfully, "You know if she did get pregnant, that'd slow her down enough for you to actually catch her. It's hard to run with a giant belly in your way." She prodded her own giant belly with a paw to illustrate.

Well... "you aren't wrong there.  Can I help it the ladies got good taste?" He said, though let his own conversation fade at that point.  He saw Cyclone leaving and did feel a touch of disappointment; it woulda been cool to have her stick around.  But she needed to get out and make mistakes outside the family eye, he got that.  He'd had that, and now had made his move to be back in it.

He winced a bit at Finley's shove, but grinned in response.  If their family was anything different a) they wouldn't have let him stick around nearly so long and b) he wouldn't love them nearly as much.  Which was not something he was gonna say right here.  C'mon.

There was a lot going on, but Fern only had her attention trained on Cyclone, and after her quip the girl rolled her eyes and made to leave. So be it — Fern watches her slip out of the hubub and huffs to herself, clearly annoyed but not doing any more chasing. There was no point in guarding her any further when so many Blackthorns populated these wilds (or so it seemed). Let Neasa do her thing and ruin her life, it wasn't Fern's problem anymore.

The rest of the din slowly died down (and it helped they were no longer shouting at one another); so Fern took a second to take stock of the faces. She finally looked over Finley - in time to see her patting her belly - and moseyed closer. Looks like my intel was right, at least. You're so pregnant. Gross. But, again, to each their own.

Well, he wasn't sure what else to suggest if they weren't going to be easily waylaid by Finley being "dead."  So if any more showed up, he guessed he was kind of obligated to bring them over here if he found 'em.

And with that, Cyclone was gone.  Lived up to her name, as far as he could tell -- she showed up, caused a bit of chaos, then left.  It was unfortunate in a sense that he hadn't had a chance to figure out what she was actually like, but perhaps with family around there wasn't a chance of that happening.  He watched her exit with a mildly surprised, Huh.  Was Fern gonna follow her and they'd just continue on their crazy way?  Had he just caught them both on a bad day?

Or maybe Finley and Colt were the sane ones and he should avoid anyone with a stripe.  That was still on the table.  Either way, his first attempt to go recruit himself a girlfriend wasn't gonna look awful if she left too.  He just hoped he'd find some reasonable options before Colt was ready to join him so Quixote could have a chance to show off a little bit.

He was apparently going to otherwise keep quiet and let the siblings chatter between each other before he decided if he should just head off.

Fin was pleased when Fern didn't leave immediately in pursuit of their younger, more ah.. energetic sister. She was interested to learn more about what their parents were up to these days, as well as how many more siblings she might potentially run into out in the world. Or run into on her borders, as apparently the Caldera was considered quite the destination retreat these days, for the Blackthorn clan at least.

"Yes, I am quite full of babies at the moment," she confirmed, as though that was at all necessary, "This is actually my fourth litter. Trying to give mom a run for her money, though I have no idea how many she's up to. How long ago did you guys leave home?"

Fern didn't like children, but she had endured for the sake of her parents. They were always popping out new generations and since they came from a wanderlusting stock, it was rare that any would stick around; so it fell to Fern to be responsible and to pick up their slack. She looked upon Finley's rotund belly with as much interest as she might gaze upon her mother's, which is to say.. She didn't care much.

Finley's question made her shrug and then her eyes squinted as she did some quick (probably wrong) math: A few weeks, maybe longer. Neasa was obsessed, but maybe she was just using you as an excuse to leave mum. You know mum, always growin' the family, another glance at that belly and Fern redirected her thoughts, realizing that she didn't have any motivation to stay in these wilds now that Neasa had reached her goal. She wasn't about to linger just to cow her sister's efforts to get laid and if she'd wanted to be a babysitter, she'd have stayed home.

I'm gonna go take a piss and get some food. I might head back this way after - mind if I pop back in? She flashed them her best smile, but was already on the move.

Colt didn't add anything as they continued, but when she mentioned popping back by, he flashed a smile.  It wasn't his call to make, but he was sure Finley would agree, and he would enjoy that.  It would be good to catch up, even with the less fun and more serious half of the duo.  Sometimes fun wasn't all it was cracked up to be anyway.

He was getting old, wasn't he? Shit.

Poof, there went another Blackthorn into the ether.  He watched her go, just as befuddled as he was at Cyclone leaving.  Apparently having family in the area wasn't enough reason to just commit to stick around right now, which he could kind of understand but from what he could see, it wasn't like they hated each other or anything.  So... Do you guys consider that a normal interaction?  If she comes back I'm not dealing with her -- when I ran into her she acted like I was the primary suspect in a crime or something, no thanks.  This was very much not how his family had been, but he was pretty sure they weren't exactly normal either.  Just a different variety of freak.

Hadn't expected recruiting to go this way.  It was said somewhere between kind of a whine and poking fun at himself.  Quixote did get to his feet, stretching idly since it seemed things were pretty much over here unless they wanted to stay and chat.  He yawned, Guess I'll just have to try again.  You know.  After a nap, and reevaluating his life choices.

Ima wrap this up for us :)

Fern responded to her question, but then was quick to excuse herself. "Sure thing," Fin answered, hoping that she actually would come back, though something told her this was the last she'd see of her little sibling. Blackthorns were awesome company, but flaky as hell. Apparently they didn't get dependable until they were about five or six, or so she was guessing considering Colt's current age and surprising stability. She nodded as her sister departed, then looked to Quixote as he spoke to them.

Fin nodded to his first question - yep, that was pretty much how it always went. She smirked as he told them of Fern's initial regard of him, which always seemed about right. "I'm sure you'll do better next time, big guy," Fin replied as she stood to return to the rendezvous site and take a nap of her own, "Just try to steer clear of the ones with black stripes down their backs. They'll just get you into some shit." She shared a smirk with Colt before heading out, happy to have them follow her if they chose, but mostly just wanting to lay her big belly back down on comfy ground again.