Lost Creek Hollow this group happens to have a multi-year plan.

cmere babies! @Breccan @Deshyr @Eshe @Tiarnach @Aengus @Sionnach <333 Thread title inspired by the training webinar I'm currently ignoring :D

Liffey was thrumming with excitement as they finally arrived. Slipping into the shade of the Hollow felt like shedding the heartbreak and anxiety of the past week. The pain remained, of course, but it paled now in comparison to how desperately happy she was to be so close to getting to see her kids again. She didn't have any notion of how they would feel regarding the decision she and @Rannoch had made, but it didn't matter just yet. She just wanted to see their faces.

With her mate in tow (and struggling to keep up with the excited, nimble mother), Liffey cantered swiftly across the Hollow towards home without a single stop along the way. Her heart was fit to burst by the time her gaze landed on the den, and she couldn't help but let out a short howl of summons to let her kids know she was there. She slowed to a stop just outside where she could allow herself to be tackled by puppies and grown up puppies, assuming they were in a tackle-mood.

While Liffey sprinted ahead, Rannoch trailed behind, trying his best to keep up with his spry wife. Although excited to children, Rannoch felt a sense of dread in regards to their return; he was not looking forward to his conversation with Terance. There would be consequences for his decision to leave Lost Creek Hollow, and Rannoch was well aware that there was a good chance that he'd lose a dear friend. He wasn't prepared to live his life without Terance. 

"Kids!" Rannoch called once he had made it to Liffey's side; he had to neglect his negative thoughts actively. "Your parents are home! Come out and give us some love!" Despite his pent-up feelings, Rannoch's voice was genuine. He was excited to see their children, despite everything else he was feeling.

oh, sionnach would give them something alright. a piece of her mind, which had been steadfastly made in the eternity in which her parents' had abandoned her. yup, she had puh-lenty of time in the eons she had been abandoned to decide that if her parents ever came crawling back, she would disown them (don't worry, she'll also forget in a week this ever happened). living up to the frostfur in her family name, sionnach deigned only to rotate a single ear as the excited howl of her mother came, followed by the joyous voice of her father.

nope, not having it.

sionnach stifled her instinct, which told her she should be over the moon to see her parents again. she went so far as to scooch her butt over and firmly sit on her traitor tail, which had a mind of its own and was ostensibly wagging in spite of her most spiteful efforts.

she sniffed in disdain, eyeballing her parents the way one might spare a glance towards a criminal. keeping her little nose tilted up in superiority, sionnach spoke in an astoundingly icy tone for a puppy: "gannet is my new mommy and daddy now," she announced with a cold shutter of her long lashes, rising on her stumpy legs and turning her back to her (poor and saintly) parents.

abandonment did not look good on aengus. it most certainly was not his shade. still, when the sounds of their parent’s voices rang through the air, the young bull could not help but to feel his heart skip with happiness. it had been a while since they’d been around, and he had gotten really tired of sionnach acting like a fucking queen when she was really just some common crumpet. she’d learn eventually, but until then… aengus followed sionnach out the den and into the open where their parents stood. he lifted his head upward and wagged his tail at first.
 
when sionnach announced that some dude named gannet was her new mom and dad, her brother’s muzzle crinkled in stupid delight and he snickered underneath his breath. damn, though… if sionnach got herself a new set of parents in one swoop, aengus had to figure out how to top that. he drew his head up proudly and bounced forward with furrowed brows.
 
“an’ i’m my own mom and dad!” aengus barked. “that means i get to pick my bed time! yeah!” take that, common crumpet.

At the time of Liffey's howl, Breccan was in between babysitting shifts but was near the den. His ears perked when he heard his mother's voice and he moved swiftly to intercept her, arriving just as she did. Rannoch was right behind her, and his little siblings were greeting their parents. Well, kind of. He bit his lip at the cheeky proclamations of Sionnach and Aengus, hiding a smile as he approached and touched his nose briefly to Liffey's cheek, then brushed shoulders with Rannoch.

Stepping back, he asked, "How was your trip?" He could feel the excitement radiating from them, although he had no idea what they were about to share with their family.

In stark contrast to her younger siblings (well, to Sionnach and Aengus at least), the older two Frostfur kids were positively delighted that their parents had returned. Like the good, responsible, grateful children that they were. Deshyr had been some distance from the den, but at Liffey's call she immediately set off a dead sprint towards it.

She arrived via bursting through the bushes with a loud cry of, "YOU'RE BACK!!" before draping her long forelegs over her mother's back jubilantly, tail a blur behind her. She beamed first towards Liffey, and then turned expectantly to Rannoch as Breccan asked them about their trip, completely unaware of the bombshell they were about to drop.

just wanna keep this moving! missing family, feel free to pop in still whenever :D

Well, their reunion didn't quite go as anticipated. Liffey didn't know whether to laugh or cry over Sionnach's and Aengus's grumpy declarations. She went with neither, instead looking to her older children and giving them each an affectionate embrace. An idea came to her then, so she held Deshyr tight a bit longer and glanced over at them.

"Well, I guess only Deshyr and Breccan get any mommy and daddy hugs, and they sure look like they're enjoying them," she commented innocently, hoping the rest would catch onto the game.

Rannoch hadn't anticipated Sionnach and Aengus' greetings, and he looked to his youngest with genuine surprise. Before he could say anything to them, Breccan and Deshyr (the NICE CHILDREN) approached in a much friendlier manner than their siblings had; it was so good to see their smiling faces. Briefly, he wondered where @Tiarnach and @Eshe were, but he assumed they were napping, unbothered by the uproar just outside the family den. 

Smirking at Liffey remark, Rannoch nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah, they're getting the best hugs in town—better than any other mommies and daddies out there," he added with a wave of his tail. Then, as he didn't want to ignore Breccan's question, Rannoch replied, "It was... interesting. We'll talk soon." His voice was quiet and only intended for his eldest children; Rannoch didn't want to tarnish this moment by jumping right into the news they had to share.

sionnach's spine was coolly turned away, sharp as the ridge of a tack. the only thing that blew the cover of her feigned indifference of her parent's arrival was the jealous squint she gave both her older siblings as they galloped by and greeted their abandon-mongering parents like spineless little labradors. enjoy your abandonment issues, dicks.
 
sionnach huffed mightily; it really was incredibly difficult being the only frostfur that stuck to her values, but it wasn't her fault that her siblings had all the constitution of a wilted oak leaf.

well, except for aengus. he was alright, in this specific moment, if only because their causes were momentarily united. sionnach unfurled from her sitting position with the most dramatic sigh she could muster and then began to slink away. she was fully intending to ignore her parents, but she was not a wolf that could let someone else get away with the last word, and she fell for their taunts in a way they maybe did not anticipate.

whipping her head around, her eyes alight with insulted flame, sionnach's furious gaze raked across the four adults and she spat a huffy "ganney hugs better," before roughly tilting her nose skyward and marching off.

damn, those hugs did look like a lot of fun. aengus almost broke and raced toward them so that he could get a piece of the attention that his older siblings were soaking up. it wasn’t until sionnach turned her nose to the air and mentioned that gannet hugged better than they did that he froze in his steps. the plump little boy turned his head back and forth from his parents to his sister, who was moving to step away from them. deciding that he didn’t want to be beat out of the independence race by his lumpy sibling, aengus turned to run after her.
 
“hey!! not better than meee!” the little bull called to her indignantly. as if he were trying to demonstrate this truth, aengus rose up so that he teetered on his back legs and aimed to tackle sionnach to the ground. he’d show her what a good fucking hug looked like! he could be the king of hugs.

Deshyr was just as happy to see their parents, and Breccan snorted with laughter as Rannoch and Liffey tried to use that against their little siblings in order to entice them to greet them more warmly. He stepped back a bit and turned to watch Sionnach and Aengus; they wouldn't be easily persuaded, though. Sionnach started to make a dramatic exit, after claiming that Gannet's hugs were superior to those of her parents, and Aengus lobbed himself at her in what looked like it was supposed to be a hug (but more resembled a wrestling move).

Even as he watched the antics of his younger brother and sister, Breccan's brows raised in response to Rannoch's lowered voice. "It was interesting," his father said, and he tilted his head questioningly, trusting that the details would be shared soon enough.

Her little ones were, as usual, determined to be difficult. Liffey shook her head fondly as Aengus lumbered after his sister. She was quickly losing their attention, so she stepped away from Deshyr and drew them back with a stern call. Once they had all gathered (this time Eshe and Tiarnach included), she and Rannoch broke the news of their intentions to their children.

Liffey was surprised by the reactions they received, but in the end, they were unswayed by the protests of their sons and daughters. One day, they would perhaps understand why their parents had made the decision to move. One day, they might understand how important it was that family come first above all else. For today, though, they would be children, and Rannoch and Liffey would do what they had to do.

Slapping an end on this'un <3