Heron Lake Plateau You bring an energy I've never felt before

It was about time that Fiadh went home, so that was exactly what she did.

Roaming the world was wonderful, but there were only so many mountains and valleys and lakes to see before they all just looked the same. There were only so many dudes to flirt with before they all looked and sounded the same, too. She was beginning to outgrow her need to establish herself as her own entity rather than just another Blackthorn, so she decided on her way back north to swing by the plateau, maybe hang a while. It would be good to see her sibs and her parents again, to run with her family.

That is, until she arrived at the plateau and began nosing around the borders. There was Towhee's scent, as she expected; there was Quixote's and Raven's and Tegan's as well. A faint hint here and there that might have been Cinder, but she couldn't be sure. She hadn't spent much time with her younger brothers and didn't know their individual scents very well. But Lucca? Clover? Eljay? Mom and dad? Those scents were all conspicuously absent. She went several yards along the border, searching for any sign of them, and found nothing. So after several minutes of this, Fiadh tilted her head back and howled, hoping to get some answers from another family member, and hoping with all her heart that the news wasn't bad.

*THIEFS*

While Fin's scent may no longer have riddled the Redhawk borders, she herself often did. It was growing more difficult to visit as much as she preferred what with the whole ballooning with babies thing, but the Blackthorn was nothing if not stubborn (and kind of an idiot), so she went right on making the trip. Pregnant, crippled, and lately built of equal parts hungry and grumpy, she refused to stop seeing her kids just because she was growing more of them.

Though to be fair, this would likely be her last trip. She was getting awful pregnant. And by that I mean fat.

In any event, the stars had apparently aligned for her on this trip because it dropped her right into the right place at the right time. At first, she thought it was Cinder, but the full-size tail gave that away. Then, she thought Tegan. Too dark for him, though. Clover? No, no mark. Eljay? No freckles. Liffey or Lagan? No orange or green eyes. It wasn't that she didn't immediately recognize her daughter, just that her mind was having a hard time believing it. Crazy huge amounts of joy often did that to her brain.

It caught up though, and then Fin was running. Kind of. Running in the way a limping old lady with an oversized belly was capable of, which was more akin to a walrus amboling on the shore than anything else. "Fiadh!" she called in an attempt to draw the girl's attention, and hopefully draw her so Fin could stop embarassing herself with forward motion.

Her howl drifted away on the wind, leaving Fiadh confident that in mere moments, one of Redhawk's stalwart guards would show up. They had always been a very territorial pack, Redhawks; she'd never known them to be tardy to the borders. Always excellent at that. She'd been proud to be part of such an attentive pack. But she waited and waited and waited some more; and no one showed up; no return howl, no Towhee tramping noisily toward her with her hawk wheeling above, no Tegan flinging insults. Nothing. The borders were a ghost town, and the longer Fiadh stood there alone, the more her hackles prickled with concern.

Where was everyone?

The one who finally came to meet her was one whose scent was absent from the borders, but that didn't matter at all when Fiadh turned around to the sound of her name and saw her doppelganger (or was it the other way around?) coming toward her. Mom! she shouted breathlessly, flinging herself forward to meet her mother with an attempted nudge to her cheek. Thank god, she thought fervently. Thank god they aren't gone for good. It begged the question of why Finley and Elwood and everyone else's scents were so faded here, but that wasn't at the forefront of her mind.

Instead she asked, what happened? I howled and no one came, is everyone okay?

Success! Fin saw her daughter turn and begin running to her, so she went ahead and dropped to her haunches, panting. She returned the nudge with a nuzzle and a kiss and took a moment to look her girl over. She didn't know where Fiadh had chosen to go on her little adventure away from home, but she seemed well enough. A little skinny perhaps, but otherwise unharmed. Just the way Fin liked to see her.

The question that was asked struck her as strange for only a moment before she remembered where it was likely coming from. She and Elwood had left for the Copse some time ago by now, and likely the wolves in the Redhawks ranks had been different when Fiadh had left them (Fin couldn't remember--she wasn't even sure who made up the pack at all these days, save for her children). "Everything is fine," Fin reassured her with a fond smile, "The Redhawks might just be distracted at the moment, and I'm sure Towhee's just off being deaf somewhere." Or banging the hell out of whatever man she could get her lady parts on, as was the actual case (not that Fin knew this).

"But you! Lookit you! Were you this big when you left? Did you get taller? I thought I made you promise you wouldn't get any taller when you were like a month old," she asked, snuffling at Fiadh's ear affectionately.

Finley's explanation was probably right, but it left Fiadh feeling a little worried. Were there really so few of them now that they were so easily distracted from their borders? She put it from her mind, resolving to agree with Finley. At least the bit about Towhee was definitely true. She smiled, saying nothing further on the subject. It wasn't like she could anyway, for Finley chose that exact moment to become the World's Most Embarrassing Mom.

I did my best! she protested, grinning and snapping her teeth playfully toward her dam's nose. But you couldn't expect me to stay small forever, couldn't bear losing to Teg and Lucca and Clo like that! Speaking of which, you all still live here, right? I couldn't smell anyone but Tegan. And Cinder, but let's be real, she was a crappy big sis and barely remembered that he existed.

Uh, mom of the year is more like it. Finley smiled at her daughter's quip, ever so proud that she'd raised her kids to be up to some clever back and forth. Or.. whatever it was Tegan did. The mention of Lucca caused a little ping in her heart, but with Fiadh's arrival, she was feeling more hopeful than usual that all of her kids may someday reappear again.

Fiadh brought the conversation back aorund to the emptiness of the borders, and this time Fin shelfed her excitement to actual provide the somewhat sobering answer. "Actually, we don't," she admitted, "Your dad, Clo and I moved to a nice little woods a few miles to the East that your cousin Wildfire claimed. We're sister packs with the Redhawks. Your brothers are here at the Plateau still. And Towhee. And Quixote and Raven and their kids. Your Uncle Colt and Eljay are at the Copse with us too. Oh! And so are your brand new nieces and nephews..."

Fin's eyes brightened as she looked at her daughter, eager for her to ask where the new nieces and nephews had come from and floor her with the news and Eljay's and Wildfire's mateship.

A lot of this news shocked Fiadh, who thought her parents would live and die as Redhawks. She thought she recognized the name Wildfire from back at the Caldera, but it was a long time ago and she scarcely remembered who that was. Just the wolf their entire pack had gone to war for, no biggie. What happened, Fi wondered, for her parents' allegiance to change? Raven was a good Alpha last she checked, and I don't remember if Quixote was a leader then or not, but he probably was too.

Who was Wildfire to them to trump their years of loyalty to that pack? A question for another time, perhaps, for Finley took that moment to drop the bomb of the century on her head. Or a bomb of the century, at least. It ranked up there. Nieces and nephews? she wondered, wracking her brain. It definitely wasn't her brother. Fiadh loved him dearly, but he was just too much of a mama's boy to attract any self-respecting woman, so that only left her sister. Unless some other long lost siblings were there, but Finley hadn't mentioned them if they were. Who did Clo hook up with? she asked, forgetting completely that Clover, like her, wasn't old enough for that.

Fin, being Fin, didn't notice the look of surprise and concern on her daughter's face as she rambled on. So, she just rambled on until she made it to the end. She laughed aloud when Fiadh guessed that the new parent was her sister, also forgetting that Clover wasn't old enough to actually breed.

"God, no one, I hope," Fin answered wryly, "It's not one of your sisters--it's one of your brothers. The oldest one." Her tail wagged excitedly as she said it. She'd wanted to make Fiadh keep guessing, just to see how long it took her to get to Eljay. But she was too excited by this to prolong the game.

barrel rolls tegan into this thread

but guess who WAS old enough to breed. barely. by a hair. literally the worst best of the bunch.

tegan had mostly avoided the call because he thought it was clover, and that's a big ol FUCK clover, dawg. but the scent of finley drew him in, and he couldn't ignore his ole mommerz. homeboy was harboring the secret that he had given up his flower, and if legends were true, he should be glowing right now. no one else had seemed to notice, and he wasn't one to kiss and tell... well, actually, that was a lie, but for sake of this thread tegan is pretending he'd a great secret keeper. if they were gonna notice anything, it was at least the big hunk of fur missing from his cheek. thanks phox, fucker.

when he arrived, though, it wasn't clover. and holy shit, that was kind of a shot. granted, tegan couldn't actually remember how the last few interactions with fiadh had gone. were they good? he seemed to talk a lot of shit to a lot of people and fiadh was always good at taking it and dishing it back (in a good way, clover was just fuckin rude). "yo!" he exclaimed, truly surprised. it showed with the prick of his ears, "you're back! what's good?" and to finley, tegan gave a happy little headbutt to the shoulder. cute.

Eljay?! Fiadh asked, narrowing her eyes incredulously. Impossible. Eljay was like a preschool kid in the body of an adult wolf. Mentally he was younger than Fiadh and her siblings, and that was pretty bad, because she still felt like a child almost a hundred percent of the time. She loved her brother, honest to god, but he was kind of... well, he was kind of slow. Definitely not a cool kid. Maybe a role model for young kids, but once they got past the kid stage, Eljay was kind of just weird. Who would let him...? Someone equally messed up, she guessed.

Tegan's arrival brought a wide grin to her muzzle as she said, hey, shitbreath, what's new? There had been a little tension between them before she left, if she remembered correctly, but... actually, she probably wasn't remembering correctly. A lot had gone on at that time, it was hard to say. Oh well, she had other things on her mind, like did you know someone actually let Eljay bang them, what the fuck right?

Oops, sorry mom. Your first son was kind of a loser though, could you blame Fiadh for being utterly shocked?

Finley smiled at her daughter's reaction. It was just as amusing as she'd expected it would be. She'd had doubts herself over the likelihood of Eljay ever finding a mate and fathering children, though for different reasons than Fiadh. Fin had always known that there was someone out there that would be perfect for Eljay--someone that could see past all of his flaws and find the good-hearted, loyal wolf beneath. Her only fear had been that her son would never find the courage to share his feelings or make a move when he did meet that person. But, he'd pulled it off. He'd bagged a Redhawk.

Before she could respond, an interruption came in the form of another son. Finley smiled bigly when she saw Tegan striding towards them with his usual swagger. She'd learned he had come home, or at least I assume she did at some point because otherwise her behavior in this thread has been a little off. She hadn't realized he'd fully recovered from his Bat trauma. At least, he appeared to have recovered. He was definitely more himself than she'd seen him in a while.

"Hello bubby," Fin cooed as he greeted her, shooting him a grin before she looked to her daughter. "Not just anyone--Wildfire Redhawk," she clarified with a proud smirk.

tegan stuck out a paw and affectionately shoved fiadh, grinning wildly. regardless of whatever went down, if anything because tegan genuinely couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his sister, he was happy to see her because she was, in a few words: not clover. big ole FUCK clover, amiright? ha. and then, to finley, tegan offered a little bobble of his head and a few whacky tail wags. 

"skraight fax," muttered tegan under his breathe, nodding to show that this meant he agreed with fiadh's bewilderment at the situation. he added, to further confirm that the situation was crazy, "shits mad whack. i figured he'd die a virgin." he glanced at finley apologetically. "no offense, the rest of us are cool, but i figured eljay would just end up adopting out a whole herd of antelopes as kids. or something." ah, he could see it now...

he glanced to fiadh to gather her opinion of wildfire red hawk. as if it was anything to gloat about. as far as tegan was concerned, she birthed that fuckin asshole of a daughter -- both of them, actually -- and tegan was pretty certain he didn't care anything for her. especially after being framed at the firebirds borders.

Yeah, for real, Fiadh agreed, chortling at the mental image of Eljay tending to a bunch of bandy-legged antelope kids. Somehow it suited him much more than being an actual dad to actual wolf pups did in her eyes, but she dared not to say as much in front of mom. Finley seemed real proud of her eldest son for some reason, even though the name she tossed out failed to register with Fiadh for a good twenty seconds before it clicked into place.

Right. Wildfire. The least known and least accomplished of all the Redhawks as far as Fiadh was concerned. While Towhee was busy being a Beta, Raven was busy being an Alpha, and Screech was busy making himself into the most notorious wolf in the wilds, Wildfire had been doing... what, exactly? The only Redhawk less impressive than her was Phox, because he ran off like a wimp during the war. Anyway, wasn't she the lesbian? How did that even work? Mom, said Fiadh, arching a brow. I know you're proud of him but bagging the least of the Redhawks isn't that big a deal. If it had been Towhee then that would have been something to freak out over. Little did she know Wildfire was Finley's undisputed favourite. That changed things. Well, and the fact Wildfire had done a lot more than Fiadh even knew about.

Anyway, happy for him. Can't say I ever expected him to have any, but good for him. She meant it. Eljay was as uncool as they came, much as she loved his weirdo butt, but he loved kids and he deserved the chance to fuck up have some of his own. What's new with you guys? she wondered, her gaze landing first on Tegan.

Fin wasn't offended by the insults her kids were throwing at Eljay. She probably should've been, or she at least should've told them to shut their damn insolent mouths. But she did the whole motherhood thing a little different, and instead just smirked at their comments and tried not to laugh. At the end of the day, she knew that her kids would be kids. They would take turns hating each other and being BFFs, they would tease each other, they would mock, they would bully. But they were still all there for each other, and that was what mattered.

"Wildfire is far from the least of the Redhawks," Fin corrected without elaborating on why that was, "What's more important is they've been friends since they were kids and I think he's always had a thing for her, so it gets all the awws going. And more important than even that--I now get to say my kid landed the hawk, which makes me sound super cool, right?" She knew she didn't, but it amused her to be a dork and watch her babies cringe over it.

It also amused her to say things like, "Well, your dad banged some kids into me again," in response to being asked what was up. Again, to see them cringe. Yeah, Finley did motherhood different.

second to last, tegan elaborated for his mother with a smooth nod before revealing who the worst actually was, screech. duh. no one could be screech, even in this stupid metaphorical game. 

tegan continued listening anyway, pausing and staring at finley as she spoke a lot of nonsense that didn't strike tegan as cool. nope, not even a little bit, sorry mom. he made no comment, directly, he just nodded with a wry smile and attempted to exchange a look with faith. and then finley made a gross ass comment about being pregnant. or -- had she given birth already? tegan took a moment to crane his neck to get a better look at her. oh, yep, fat. 


but hey, as gross as it was, two could play at the cringe game. wylin out, mom, glad you let dad get his dick wet again, he commented rather dryly, a disappointed (in himself) look upon his face. and then to fiadh, tegan said, oh same ole same ole. everyone left and now it's just me and towhee and some randos. yup. that's all.

Like Tegan, Fiadh listened to their mom's spiel and nodded along with a sympathetic expression. The best of the Redhawks was Towhee, of course, followed very closely by Raven. Next in line was any Redhawk who died, followed by all the Redhawks who left. Wildfire had left first, putting her solidly in the bottom three as far as Fiadh was concerned. But her brother reminded her of Screech, dead last of the Redhawks, and she screwed up her nose. Right. That guy. Forgot about him, she admitted. Does he count if he was disowned?

But then she screwed her nose up even more, glancing between mother and brother before saying, uh, ew, gross. She was no stranger to dudes getting their dicks wet, but even so, hearing it about her mom and dad was just grody. The only good thing about anything either of you just said is new sibs. New sibs that, like the last batch, she wouldn't really be around for, but what else was new? She was a wanderer at heart and found her calling on the wide open road.

Tegan's news was less than stellar, too. It wasn't like she could judge; she'd left, although she had made sure to let everyone know first. She supposed that made her one of the least of the Blackthorns, but she'd long come to terms with the fact that her brother and sister were the top picks for best Blackthorn, and it no longer bothered her. Same ol' same, she agreed. Guess maybe that's why no one else came to say hi. It's not like Tow could hear me, everyone else probably has no idea who I am. Ah, well. Such was life. What about Mr. Stick Up His Ass? And Rave?

Fin rolled her eyes at her kids, who apparently were sadly uneducated about Redhawk awesomeness. She was biased, of course, towards Wildfire since she had belonged to Fin from the very beginning and they'd always shared a special bond. But she allowed them their opinions, knowing they too had formed special bonds with some Redhawks over others as she had. They did at least all agree that Towhee ranked pretty high up there and that Titmouse was dead last, anyway.

At Tegan's response to her lewd comment, Finley reacted as all good mothers do when their sex life is painted in such vivid color by their children and gave a snort of appreciative laughter. "I raised you right, kid," Fin commented, shooting her daughter a mildly apologetic grin as she expressed the reaction Fin had originally been expecting from them both. She felt a glimmer of hope that Fiadh might be sticking around when she mentioned her excitement about getting a few new siblings, but she didn't voice it as the conversation moved ahead to Tegan and then Fiadh.

"They're still here," Fin answered, sliding right past the stick-up-his-ass title she knew probably belonged to Quixote, "I expect we'll be getting news that Raven's pregnant again any day now. 'Tis the season for baby-making and I'm betting they're both ready to get to work, if they haven't done so already."

Fin hung around with them for the remainder of the afternoon, catching up and learning more about where her daughter had been and where she was headed next. She was, of course, disappointed to learn that Fiadh wouldn't be staying, but she couldn't fault the girl for it. Fin herself had once upon a time left home to see the world. At least her daughter had the decency to stop in from time to time to say hello, which is something she'd never done for her own parents. Though to be fair, hers were probably pretty okay with that. It just went to show that Fin was pretty good at this mom thing, and looking at the pair of them that day, she was confident she'd done at least a couple of things right.