Heron Lake Plateau Let's give this bad boy a test run.

There was shifting among the Redhawks as some changed their positions, moving closer to family or towards the tension simmering between Towhee and Titmouse. And another wolf joined Titmouse's small band, making their count three. Elwood listened tensely to the exchange between the siblings; the last thing he wanted was another fight, but Towhee seemed to be ready to use whatever means necessary to force her brother and his companions away from the plateau.

Titmouse's response wasn't much better, as he offered his own perception of the options available. Elwood's ears swiveled as Quixote attempted to sway Titmouse's opinion, and Colt muttered his dissent in the background. Inwardly, he somewhat agreed with his brother-in-law -- but there was also a part of him that wondered if there was some sort of compromise to be made with Titmouse and company. He remained standing protectively near Finley, Tywyll, and Cinder, but he opened his mouth to begin to negotiate--

Only to be interrupted by Clover's brazen move as she flung herself at Titmouse. He stiffened, torn between breaking up the fight between his daughter and nephew or continuing to guard his youngest children -- and ultimately stayed put with gritted teeth. Since when had their family become such a mess?

There was really way too much going on for Fiadh to split her attention evenly, so she focused on the primary source of conflict: Towhee and Titmouse. Admittedly, the young Blackthorn didn't remember Screech at all from the Caldera. Something about him was vaguely familiar, but with his missing eye, he just looked like some kind of gnarly bad guy out to contest them. This set a fire in the girl's breast; she'd been denied an opportunity to fight for her family and pack before, but look! Now one was staring her in the face and she was raring to go.

"Yeah!" she agreed readily with Clover, shooting Colt a somewhat narrow glance over her shoulder. "Don't be such a coward, uncle Colt! We can take them!" After all, there were only three wolves. Ignoring skill, age, experience and size—because honestly, statistics, who cared about that?—Fiadh felt certain that she, Clover and Lucca could take them out themselves.

Which they would. Of course. They fought side-by-side. So when Clover gave her war cry and leaped forward, Fiadh bared her teeth, shouted, "we're gonna kick your asses, dickwads! No one fucks with us!" and sprang right after her sister for the very same wolf. Out of necessity, she was on Screech's bad side, but that wasn't a conscious decision. Clover had taken the other so it only made sense for them to gang up by going opposite ways. She lunged for Screech's face, indicating just how poor a fighter she actually was with her choice of target.

Who goes for the face? The face can defend itself, you idiot, go for the legs.

Emotions had become a thing recently, more difficult emotions. He could hear the voices around him and specifically tuned into Towhee's, a voice he had come to recognize and pay attention to. Then came growling and shouting and loud cries that sounded angry and for all of Tywyll's bravery and enthusiasm he stood up, still wobbly and sort of clumsy and ran toward his father, pressing his body underneath the larger one and hiding.

Then came the realization that if he was scared, surely Cinder was too and he hesitantly peeked back out and wobbled back over to his brother, sitting beside him and uttering one single high pitched and shaky growl of warning. Whatever was going on here, his brother was to be left alone.

Ironically, the one voice in the entire crowd that Raven agreed with was Colt's. Her anxiety ratcheted up by the second as tensions rose to a crescendo, but her fear and nervousness quickly flashed to anger when Towhee threatened to kill Titmouse. Over my dead fucking body, the black healer thought. She was not a fighter and never had been, but as far as she was concerned, Titmouse was one of hers and she would lay down her own life to protect his. As far as this Redhawk was concerned, loyalty to family went a lot further than loyalty to a stupid fucking hill of dirt. A soft growl had begun to churn in her chest as she eyed Towhee warily from where she stood off to the side and slightly behind the alpha. She was in the midst of contemplating what she would actually do if it came to that when suddenly, two of Finley and Elwood's kids took it upon themselves to cast the first stones in this very fragile metaphorical glass house.

They were children, and they didn't know what they were doing. A fleeting glance at their parents showed Elwood torn between intervening and remaining with his youngest, so Raven made the split decision to go into momrage mode and handle it for him. Like a flashing shadow she threw herself in front of Screech, blocking their charge, and rumbled a warning growl at the duo. "Get back," she hissed, amber eyes flashing malevolently at them. "You guys need to chill with the ass-kicking for like five minutes, omg." The move was intended to protect them just as much as it was to protect Screech -- she would not stand by and watch these babies that she'd helped raise get torn half to pieces over this ridiculous standoff. Flashing Towhee a sort-of-apologetic-but-not-quite-because-if-you-kill-your-brother-I-will-break-my-foot-off-in-your-ass glance for getting in the way, she made herself as large as she could and did her best to buffet and herd the unruly juveniles away from the two leaders.

His comment was immediately acknowledged by a small child, a scrawny little thing who regarded him with a stink eye and a threat, and Redshank responded in kind with a louder snarl. She seemed ready to bring it, as was Redshank, but he remained rooted to the spot as he awaited on Screech. What his friend did would dictate his own actions (if his hair trigger temper didn’t give out first, that was). He eyed the wolves who had gathered, judging each one. There were a few that looked as if had seen their fair share of fights, but many were still quite young. A small whine caught his attention, and the boy’s eyes slowly trailed down to the pair of tiny pups at a grey woman’s feet. A single ear twitched as he stared, deliberating on a terrible plan for a single moment, before the apparent leader of the group’s voice rang out loudly and stole his focus.

He noticed then that they had an ally. A pale-furred girl had come up on Screech’s other side, and Redshank cast her a brief, thankful look before turning back to the opposing dark woman. He did not know of her and Screech’s relationship, but he already hated her and the threats against their life had him bristling. His ear angled towards his friend as he spoke, backing up his words with a roll of his shoulders, ready to take down any who dare to come at them (despite the obvious skew of numbers in the Redhawk’s favour). This place was theirs, they were here first. Another spoke then, a stocky male who wanted, it seemed, to deescalate the situation. As he swung his head in their direction, Redshank gave a snort. He’d fight an entire army with Screech if it meant they’d get their way. He gave the one-eyed boy a gentle bump against his shoulder, letting him know silently that he had his back.

Suddenly push came to shove as that irritating grey-clad girl gave a holler and launched herself at Screech. A second, ever so slightly larger girl echoed her statement and the tension between the two groups broke into a chorus of snarls and blur of movement. A dark figure raced to place herself between the attacking party and Screech, and Redshank dashed forward with his own battle cry. He aimed to throw the entirety of his — laughably small — weight into the intervening woman, attempting to knock her off balance and, with her, the two girls behind her.

Same guidelines: "I plan to start the next round in 3-4 days. Post order's open. :)"

Towhee didn't realize she was bluffing until her brother called her on it. Somehow, she simply hadn't expected him to be so foolhardy and obstinate; it honestly hadn't occurred to her that he and his friends might actually stand their ground despite the overwhelming odds. And before she could process the situation fully, Quixote inserted himself right in the middle of it. The young Alpha blinked but did not otherwise react, her orange eyes naturally zeroing in on his lips as he spoke.

He corroborated her threat, or at least that's how Towhee interpreted it. She shot a venomous look at Screech. "Listen to him," she snapped. "Don't be a mor—" Before she could get out the rest of the words, the scene seemed to explode around her. Clover and Fiadh made a rush on Screech reminiscent of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, then Raven attempted to fling herself in between, and then one of Screech's henchman tossed himself into the mix too.

Every one of the mercenary's instincts told her to leap into the fray too, to defend both her younger and older sisters. But she found herself twisting her neck around to check on the pups, still safely tucked behind Elwood, Finley and Eljay toward the rear of the group. That was a relief, though as soon as Towhee faced the melee right beneath her own nose, a bellow was ripping its way up and out of her throat.

"THERE ARE BABIES HERE, YOU ASSHATS!" But they probably wouldn't hear her, or heed her (honestly hypocritical) words. Despite her threat just seconds ago, Towhee decided the best thing she could do was just try to chase away Screech and co. after all. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT!" she thundered, channeling her little sisters' Jurassic Park vibe by going full on pachycephalosaurus in the general direction of Screech and Redshank.

As the chaos unfolded, Colt was torn between also hovering back and protecting the pups and trying to end this as quick as possible.  When Towhee screamed, he gave a small frustrated snarl.  Couldn't have thought on that little fact before she made big words, could she?  But there was no going back now, and Elwood and Finley had the pups covered.  Best he could do would be charging the front and making the other wolves' odds seem as bad as possible.

What if there were more of them?  Screech hadn't said this was their full number, and if more support came from behind or the sides, they were pretty fucked.  "This lake better damn well be worth it," he cursed before leaping towards Redshank in an attempt to assist Raven.

edit - feel free to pp him in the fray to move things along! He's gonna try and spur Redshank into running

At first, Towhee's words didn't even register with Fin. She heard the declaration in it, heard the threat, but she didn't really grasp the intensity of it. She heard Quixote's voice chime in quickly, and Titmouse's as well. But then there was Colt, and Fiadh, and Clover, and suddenly, movement. She tensed as the bodies of her children and ...well, Redshank, since technically she considered every other party over there hers... converged in a tussle of snarls and enraged shouting.

For a split second, she was torn between rushing to protect her older kids or her younger. She did nothing more than shout "GIRLS!" at Fiadh and Clover before, her attention snapped to Tywyll as he ducked for cover with Elwood, and her decision was made. With a thrust of her muzzle, Fin crowded Cinder against his brother and took a protective stance beside her mate, aiming to cover any potential openings. She scanned the area for any other incoming enemies, thinking that if Titmouse was bold enough to stand his ground against an entire pack, then surely he must have more than just the pair at his sides now.

When Colt moved to join, Fin felt a flood of relief. Her brother was a jack ass, but she knew that he could protect her kids from themselves. So she stood her ground, hackles raised and eyes watchful for any sign of danger to her smallest of pups and praying that this complete stupidity (solely on Titmouse's part, in her mind) would end quickly.

for once, tegan did exactly as he was told to do and didn't move. it wasn't cause he wanted to obey, but clover and fiadh and lucca had made fun of him the whole way here and he was fuckin tired of it, so he was not gonna back them up. instead, ears pressed to his head, he slunk back to finley-- who had the babies-- to see if he could help with that, cause he wasn't mad at his mom. 

towhee using his signature word 'asshat' really rubbed him sideways too. cause, what the fuck, man? how you gonna be a total douchewagon and then run off and keep using his slang like that? god damn.

Niamh hadn't noticed the contingent of wolves around her age until the first- a female with grey fur and a darker dorsal stripe made a challenge and darted forward, followed soon thereafter by another who looked to be the same age, who also seemed too high on confidence, and a bit low on know-how. Lowering her head and hunching her shoulders, Niamh prepared to launch herself forward when a dark wolf from the Caldera side did just that, placing herself between the two young females and Screech. Her ears flicked back in confusion, and she growled softly when Redshank then decided to take on the dark female- the one who'd just moved in to protect Screech. 

Another wolf made a lunge for Redshank, who'd made the wrong move anyway, in Niamh's opinion. In an effort to strengthen Raven's protective move, Niamh moved forward, glaring toward Clover and Fiadh, ready to fend them off should they bypass the first obstacle. She gave Raven a sideways glance- just to assure her that she wasn't going to make any offensive moves. She simply wanted to strengthen the blockade between the Caldera wolves and Screech. 

Niamh was attentive enough to hear Towhee's shouts and make out the word babies just before the alpha charged Screech. Niamh looked past the vanguard of wolves then, to see a pair of older wolves with a couple youngsters tucked protectively between them. She found it slightly ironic, then, that the alpha would first threaten to slaughter three wolves in front of those very children, and then criticize her own packmates for starting a fight. "Hypocritical much," she grunted to herself, casting a glare toward Towhee. She shouldn't have brought children into a conflict. She shouldn't have threatened to kill three wolves in front of them...But clearly she did want them to be safe, as did Niamh. 

There wasn't much she could do for Screech then, and she held her position more or less alongside Raven. This fight was foolish, they were outnumbered, even if she did feel like she could take on Clover or Fiadh. "This is pointless," She heaved, frustration getting the better of her, and she glanced to Raven once again in case she changed her mind and decided to turn on her. She bristled and held her ground, waiting to see what Screech would do- knowing full well that soon enough, she'd become a target too. If he fought, she would fight whoever came in her direction too. But until then, she held her ground and eyed the crowd, keeping one ear turned toward Screech should he call out a retreat.

There was too much happening at once.

Towhee lost her shit; the kids she mentioned went straight for him and it was Raven who cut them off, then Redshank lunged for her. Screech half snarled, half commanded that he STOP! And shoved his friend aside. Thus, Screech met the teeth of Colt as the older male came to Ravens defense. 

It was, to be blunt, a fucking mess.

Screech was knocked back but braced himself hastily in order to avoid being bowled over, but that's all it took - he knew there was no winning, so with a frustrated snarl he slurred, Fucking... FUCK. Come on guys - we can't stop them. It sucked major balls but Screech wasn't about to fight a bunch of kids for a bit of land. He was pissed, but he would rather live to see another day - and hoped his friends would follow his lead on this no matter how stupid the situation was.

A lot happened all at once. Eljay wasn't sure what exactly was going on but he stayed close to Tywyll and Cinder, wanting to make sure that they were safe at least. He hoped that nobody would get hurt, and felt nervous as he stayed with his youngest siblings and mommy and daddy. Mommy and daddy seemed to have things covered fairly well but Eljay stayed on the other side of mommy to make sure that no one would get past them; should anyone come for mommy and daddy and the pups he would at least be able to catch them before they'd get here and try to throw himself between them as best he could. Hopefully it would not be necessary. Eljay waited nervously, following mommy and daddy's lead should anything happen and keeping a close eye on his baby siblings.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the flaxen coat of Niamh come up beside him, but she wasn't assisting in taking down the Redhawk. Instead, it almost seemed as if she was helping the darker woman, and Redshank turned away from his target for a split second to be certain of her sudden (supposed) betrayal. He hadn't considered the tactic of defence — he never did, really — and did not realise what the girl was trying to do. All the boy saw was Niamh aiding the enemy.

Twisting to catch a glimpse of Screech, Redshank almost called out to him before suddenly he was bowled over the very boy he was looking for. Had they both suddenly lost their fucking minds and switched sides? He tumbled into the water-logged earth with a yelping growl, glancing up just in time to see a tawny man snap at his friend. He was just about to scramble back to his feet and throw himself into the fray once more before Screech's shrieking voice rang out over the chaos, rivalling the Alpha's own roaring demands just moments before.

While Redshank had conveniently ignored hers, he could not disregard his friends', but that didn't mean he was happy with the decision. "We can't just...!" he started but caught a glimpse of the rest of the wolves behind the current attacking ones and the fire in his gut waned ever so slightly. For once, common sense overrode his bull-headedness. "Fuck!" he snarled, flipping onto his feet to follow Screech and Niamh out of the territory.

Nothing could beat the Blackthorns!

Well, except Raven, who was suddenly in their way. Fiadh dug her paws into the wet ground and slid-stumbled her way into the healer's side, but came to a stop short of bowling right over the Redhawk medic. She pinned back her ears and peered over Raven's shoulder at the fray, then shrunk down when Towhee bellowed somewhere behind them. God. Everything was just going to shit, wasn't it?

Was this what a war was? She wasn't sure she wanted to be part of one if it was just a bunch of wolves yelling at each other and flipping out. She wanted to kick asses, not be lectured. Raven wasn't letting her or Clover go anywhere near the strangers, and suddenly they gave up and started to leave. The triumph felt bittersweet; she glanced sidelong at her sister as if to ask, why'd they stop us? Of course, she was oblivious to all the tension that rippled through the full-fledged adults gathered. She didn't realize how many of them disagreed with Towhee's, and their, more aggressive approach. She was hopped up on the adrenaline rush of oh my god FINALLY that came with feeling like she could help in a fight for once and settled down on her haunches, snarling in the general direction of the fleeing squatters.

Quixote was keen to stay out of the fight for now, and it seemed what minor squabbles there were didn't even involve much teeth when you got right down to it.  In fact, they broke up pretty promptly after Towhee charged in.  If folks wanted to chase the rest of the people off, sure, have fun, but he wasn't going to.

As the trio started to leave, Quixote was left just with one question as he quickly walked among those remaining in place, looking them over briefly, Everyone ok then?  Honestly, he'd felt rather useless through the whole thing -- not attacked, not in the center of the collision, and then suddenly it was over.  All that was pretty much left to do was check on the participants.

Well, that and think about just how awful that whole thing was.  What the hell was that little intro by Towhee?  Did she want another fight?  Oh well, water under the bridge now.  He'd rant at Colt about it later, as per usual.

She didn't manage to impact anyone, which was probably for the best (mostly for her skull). Towhee couldn't hear the cries for retreat, but when she lifted her head, she saw Screech and his two cohorts making a run for it. She liked to think her charge had something to do with it, though she couldn't be sure. She stood there, breathing heavily, battling with herself: chase them or just let them go? (Trying to kill them was a fool's errand, of course.)

In the end, she couldn't deny her protective instincts. She was a mercenary, for crying out loud, and a master guardian in particular. She must defend their (incredibly controversial) claim. A quick glance told her that everyone was okay, so the Alpha took off after the fleeing wolves to make sure they left the territory and stayed out.

I think this will be my last post, personally, and this can serve as the final round. I'll keep the thread up for another week either way. :)

Fuck! she growled as she barreled into Raven, but soon, Raven wasn't there, there was another wolf—Redshank—and as she went to snap at his face there was suddenly Tit there, and she couldn't believe her luck! Whether or not she grabbed anything she didn't really know for sure, this was fucking cool, and oh, Uncle Colt! Hell fuckin' yeah—

But it was over as quickly as it began. Tit called off the battle and ran and Clover instinctively felt the need to chase, but no one else did and so she stayed rooted and looked to Fiadh as she looked at her. When she noted Towhee's movement, she grinned ear to ear at her littermate before Clover turned to follow and assist. Clearly, she and Fiadh were badass fighters and had helped win. She bet Towhee felt pretty shitty over not inviting them to the Blackfeather battle but, well, at least now her big sis knew that they could kick ass. There was plenty of pep in her step as she kept to Towhee's hip, thrilled with the outcome.

Everything happened so fast that, later, Raven wouldn't recall it all in very accurate detail. She did manage to successful block the girls' attack, that much she knew for sure. But then a body was barreling into her, someone -- she thought Colt, maybe? -- was charging toward her to assist, the girls were yelling and snarling, Screech was cursing, someone (she thought the dude that had maybe barreled into her) went tumbling to the side, and Towhee was initiating a charge. She regained her footing, having stumbled and very nearly gone down, and stood up straight to watch the events unfold. Screech and his band had turn tail and run -- a sight that left her with mixed feelings -- and Towhee was driving them out with the help of a few packmates, including Clover. Raven did not take up the pursuit, but remained with her packmates and hoped that nobody got killed in the chase. Quixote asked if everyone was okay and she nodded to him, a little breathless but otherwise fine. What a mess this had all turned out to be.

Fiadh needed no further urging. The moment that Towhee and Clover took off running toward the small band of opposing wolves, Fiadh was right behind them, streaking past Raven with determined bounds. She wasn't quite as fiery as her smaller sister most of the time, but she had her moments. Now was definitely one of those.

Elwood felt at a loss over the behavior of his older children. They were acting defensively, in an effort to protect their pack and family, but their reckless choices could have landed them in big trouble. Luckily, after a skirmish that had his teeth on edge, Towhee screamed at Titmouse and his comrades to leave -- and they did, their frustration evident despite their departure.

As a small group of Redhawks chased away their assailants, Elwood remained with Finley, Eljay, and the two children.

Screech jumped in front of the one going for Raven, and unable to pull up, Colt ended up striking the boy instead.  It was a shallow one, but he pulled back immediately, defensively ready to keep any of them from passing around.

He was hesitant to go full offensive, and luckily for them, that wasn't necessary.  Screech called the retreat and the rest followed, Colt watching them go somewhat reluctantly.  He'd been the one to tell Titmouse to go make his own way after all; it felt a little hypocritical now.  Without a word he turned, passing back by Finley and off for a walk and to check out their apparent new digs.

So everyone did seem ok.  Good.  He sighed.  Something needed to be done.  Why were they getting into fights like this?  Why?  It shouldn't happen.  I'll check around for any others lurking about once they're done chasing 'em off.  He moved to sniff around where those wolves had been standing, to commit their scents to memory.  If they came wandering through again, he was going to be sure to know who they were so they couldn't get up to trouble.  And then, eventually, he did as he said he would, but found nothing interesting.

Fin's heart was hammering, even after Titmouse and his hooligans ran off with part of the pack at their heels. She sucked in a breath to calm herself, glancing down at her boys to make sure that they were alright even though she was well aware that no one had even come near to touching them. She needed to look at them in that moment to reassure herself, and then she looked at her mate to settle the matter entirely. They were safe. It was okay. For now.

With Towhee gone, Finley stepped forward to fill the gap. She nodded at Quixote, thinking it quite a good idea. She glanced around at whoever was left and said, "Take two others with you. The rest of you get to marking the borders. Apparently we need them more than we knew," she instructed, giving Elwood a glance to let him know that she anticipated he would go with one of those parties and that it was okay by her. Turning then, she looked at Eljay.

"Come help me find a den and get the boys settled," she said, offering him a smile. She reached down to lift Cinder gently in her jaws once again and, assuming Eljay nabbed Tywyll, she set off to find somewhere safe make their own.