Sun Mote Copse sponsored by otters holding hands while they sleep.

So I know it hasn't actually been seen to happen IC'ly yet, but Fin was the greatest sister known to man, so of course this was not actually her first time visiting the home of her brother to check in on his new little family. It was always worth getting a glimpse of little @Nellie and beefy @Bronco, plus it was opportunity to try and goad @Niamh into being more of a pain in the ass for @Colt. But it also gave her a great opportunity to poke fun at him for his fancy new leadership role with the pack, once she had of course made it clear to him that she appreciated what he'd done in stepping up when the pack had needed him to. 

As for which intention she meant to focus on during her visit that particular day, she liked to just play it by ear. You know, figure out who her targets for harassment were before she settled on one plot or another. She paused outside of her brother's den and dropped the gift she'd brought on the ground at her paws, taking a moment to spit the pesky feathers the turkey wing had left in her teeth before calling attention to herself.

"Special delivery for some Blackthorns! Any Blackthorns home today?" she called, trying to peek into the den to see if she could spot a baby or two that she could convince to turn rogue and come out to see her.

Perfect. 

Mom was sleeping (as she usually was, all the time- such a bore!) and he was ready and raring to get out of the den. He knew that when Mom was asleep, they were supposed to stay in the den. He'd managed to get out a few times now, but had been met by strict reprimands by his inexperienced mother, who hadn't exactly learned how to have much in the way of patience or leniency. This didn't dissuade Bronco, who would happily suffer the consequences- even if it frightened him to be yelled at, and made him cry- for the chance to get outside and do whatever he wanted to do. He loathed being cooped up and told that he was supposed to stay in after he'd done someting bad...That was the worst punishment, and his mother seemed to know that. He'd already been punished once that morning for going out without permission, and had been grounded in response, though Niamh had more or less had to block the entrance completely with her big hindquarters while Nellie was allowed to play outside. 

Obviously, it hadn't had much of an effect on him. Sure, he'd yelled and screamed and tried to work his way past his mother when she'd grounded him, but it hadn't worked. Hours later, his mother had relented, and now she was napping. So when someone called out, he was quick to get to his feet and stumbled and tumbled toward the entrance of the den before his mother had even had a chance to come to. He ignored her completely as she suddenly barked at him- presumably to keep him from just running outside, but it fell on deaf ears. He emerged into the sunlight to see a wolf who had an Eljay sort of colour to them, but with feminine features. He smiled up at her and opened his mouth to greet her with a volley of puppy-speech- but before he could, he was promptly jailed by his mother, who placed one forefoot on either side of him, close enough together so that he couldn't move forward or back. She wasn't especially gentle- but with Bronco, she didn't need to be. To him, this was a game, so with a screeching peal of laughter he started biting at her forelegs so she would let him go and see who this new wolf was.

What a hell of a day. 

Bronco was already a handful- and he didn't take punishment well. Simply grabbing him and dragging him back to where he was supposed to be wasn't enough to teach him a lesson. She raised her voice, made a scary face, but it didn't seem to have much effect on him anymore. Once or twice, at first, loud words and a stern face had made him whimper and cry- but now, he didn't care. He seemed to know that even if she did that, no real harm would befall him. So she'd tried grounding him- making him stay in the den when Nellie was allowed outside, if he'd misbehaved. But it took every fibre of her limited patience to keep him blocked inside the den, as he wouldn't just listen to her verbal commands. He'd learned to bite, and had left little pinprick teeth marks on her tail as he'd tried to get out earlier. Fortunately, even he needed some downtime, so she'd eventually been given time to nap. 

It took her a moment or two to wake up when she heard Finley's voice. She sat up- but as soon as she opened her eyes and blinked a few times, she saw Bronco's brown back end beeline for the den's entrance. "Bronco Blackthorn you [i]get back here now!" She cried, but the kid kept going. Unfortunately for him, Niamh was quick to get to her feet, and sandwiched him between them just as he made his way out of the den. She blinked up at Finley, and managed an exhasperated smile as she sighed. "Sorry, Finley, he just-OUCH!" She said, lifting a foot as he managed to sink his little needle-teeth into her ankle. He hung on for a moment, before he let go and flopped a couple inches to the ground, picked himself up instantly and took advantage of his newfound freedom. "Little brute," She laughed, though a bit of self-consciousness showed. This was her son- the little menace. Her parenting prowess was on full display right now. "G'wan." She said, allowing the child a bit of freedom- though it was clear he was going to take it anyway. "This is Auntie Finley, Bronco," She said, in a calm voice that showed, still, the tiniest bit of strain. "That," She said to Finley, "Is Bronco, though I prolly should've named him 'the-death-of-me.'" She said with a genuine laugh.

Ha! She caught one! Fin's tail began to wag quickly as it appeared she was actually going to get formally introduced this time to one of the new family recruits. But then, Niamh appeared and went full-on grumpy mom-mode--a look Fin recognized very well. Not from herself, of course--she was a damn angel. But she was getting some real feelings of nostalgia as the exchange reminded her of her own mother. Only difference was Eithne had been a veritable tank, whereas Niamh was just hostile. 

Either way, it all made her smile. "Don't sweat it, Legs. What you have on your paws right there is a Blackthorn. And my best advice for these creatures is to let them run wild with the crazy now and just pray they'll use it all up before they're big enough to do some real damage," Fin advised her as she slid into a play bow, preparing to meet her nephew properly.

Nellie was snuggled up against the den wall, taking a well earned nap just like Mother, tongue out and all. Her legs would sometimes twitch as she dreamed, but she was rudely awakened by her family. With sleepy eyes and a big yawn did she rise, following behind Mother to poke her head outside and see what was going on. Another wolf was there, and from what she could tell (which wasn't a lot) they knew Mother.

Of course her brother was being a handful again, but she had to admit; the situation was curious enough to warrant such behavior. She tipped her head up to look at Mother, quietly asking permission to explore this new face.

 

Ahah! He'd bitten hard enough to cause his mother pain, and he held on as long as he could to her ankle, as she lifted it, before he let got and flopped to the ground. This meant, though, that he was free so he quickly ambled away from her so that she couldn't just grab him again- though it wasn't out of character for her to simply grab him by the ruff or the tail or by whatever she could grab and haul him back where she wanted him. For now, though, it seemed like he was actually being allowed to do what he wanted- and that was to investigate this new wolf-

Waitaminute.

She'd brought something. Something with feathers- which Bronco absolutely loved. His mother had had pretty feathers in the den which she'd considered to be decorations, but Bronco only assumed that they were toys. He generally got punished for playing with them, and eventually, he woke up one day and all the feathers were gone. He failed to make the connection to the fact that his mother had been the one to gather them up and dispose of them, and simply assumed that feathers did that. Sure, feathers could migrate. If coconuts could, why not feathers?

A play bow was something that Bronco understood fully- but he was far too preoccupied with the wing she'd brought. Still, it was there, close to her- and he wanted it. His tail waved, and he pounced forward a few steps before he grabbed onto it, sank into his own playbow, and growled back at his auntie, as though daring her to try and take it from him.

Niamh felt incredibly grateful that she wasn't being judged too harshly- if at all- for her poor parenting skills, and the way Bronco defied her commands. She laughed and shook her head at Finley's explanation, and she was right- these were Blackthorns, and that was something she'd have to get used to. She hadn't thought of running the kids until they were too tired to misbehave, though, so her ears perked at that idea. "I'll have to try that- while they're still small enough for me to be able to tire them out," She said. 

She heard a quiet little yawn, and looked down to see her little daughter, sleepy-eyed and sweet, standing beside her, looking up as though to see if she, too, was allowed to come out of the den. She chuckled and nuzzled Nellie's shoulders, planting a kiss on top of her head. "This sweet little gem," Way to not pick favourites, Niamh, "Is Nellie. Go on- this is your Auntie Finley," She said, giving her daughter a gentle nudge so she knew she was encouraged to greet her family.

Finley grinned as her nephew spotted the turkey wing and went barrelling towards it, just as she had planned. He was definitely a good one, and would make a formidable opponent for her. Better yet, for her brother. She was very hopeful she could get this one at least wound up enough that he would still be in the terrorizing things mood by the time Colt returned. She did not have the same hope for the second one she was introduced to, which seemed to be the more polite, reserved one.

Fin made a quick grab at the wing to give Bronco something to do, missing it on purpose so she could then turn her attention over to Nellie. "Well hello little princess," she greeted, her ears falling back to make herself seem less imposing, "Seems like you let your brother inherit all the deviousness, didja?"

Hah! He'd managed to get it away from her- missing the fact, entirely, that she'd missed the grab on purpose. He gave the wing a couple jerks to pull it away from Finley, but she'd chosen, then, to focus on little Nellie, who'd politely poked her head out of the den and had waited for Mom to give her her blessing to greet their Auntie. He watched Finley for a moment, and then looked over at his sister, as though trying to select a target out of both of them. Mom was boring- so he calculated which would get the biggest reaction- tackling his sister, or going after Finley. 

In the end, Finley was closer and she was distracted- or so he thought- so he snuck over as quickly as he could and before his mother could say anything, the little rapscallion dove to grab and bite down on Finley's ankle, with the intention of biting as hard as he could if he managed to catch her before she could lift her foot.

If wolves purred, she'd be doing it as mother introduced and caressed her. She still didn't understand a word of what the adults were talking about, but she wasn't pushed back into the den. In fact, she was encouraged to get out and her wide puppy eyes stared up at the stranger that was waiting to meet her. She grinned, raising a paw to gently plop it on Finley's face if she could reach it, all while her pesky brother was waiting for his own turn to "play" with their aunt.

Fin was amused by how very different the pair of pups seemed to be. One quiet and sweet, the other loud and rebellious. She leaned her muzzle out to graciously accept the tiny golden paw on her nose, her tongue flicking briefly out to tickle a little elbow. She pulled gently away again though, just in time to accept her nephew's attack.

With a yip, Finley dropped onto her belly and rolled to her side. She didn't tug her ankle away from the boy, instead pretending as though she was helpless in his clutches. "Ahhh he got me! He got me paw, me only paw!" she cried as she rolled. After a moment, she stopped quite abruptly and looked at Bronco as though something had just occurred to her. "Oh wait, I have three more!" she said with a budding smile, then reached with one of those prod at his little belly, attempting to tickle him with her stubby claws.

Nellie seemed to beam as she was praised, meanwhile, her little rebel of a son had decided to latch onto Finley's foot, and while Niamh probably would have screeched at him had he chosen to bite her, she held her tongue and let Finley handle it. Rather than getting snappy with him, though, she went into play mode and flopped down, which seemed to appease Colt's little lookalike something fierce. Niamh rolled her eyes and chuckled, reaching down to nudge Nellie gently. 

"G'wan, my childspawn- git your Auntie!" She encouraged dryly, relaxing a bit now and laughing as she watched her kids make a fuss out of Finley, who made it seem so natural to engage with someone else's kids.

Hah! He got her! He growled- a bubbling, high pitched noise that wasn't particularly threatening- and shook his head from side to side, still holding onto Finley's paw. He couldn't exactly hear what she'd said over the noises he was making- but when she paused suddenly, he perked his ears and looked up at her with surprise, his mouth softening on her foot for a moment. Three more? What? The joke went over his head, and he tilted his head to the side for a moment- but that cost him dearly, as Finley reached out to jab at his chubby midsection. 

He barked with laughter, releasing her foot for a moment, and teetered sideways, trying to avoid being tickled again, even though he did like it. Encouraged by his mom, though, he awkwardly bounded toward Finley again, snapping his litle mouth shut over and over again like a fish gawping for breath as he attacked whatever part of her legs and feet he could get.

Fin smiled as her niece and nephew came at her in tandum. They were cute little critters. Not quite as adorable as the ones Fin herself had created, but they would do. She lamented momentarily that she wasn't as young and spry as she once was. Oh, the things she could've taught them were she just a few years younger. She definitely owed Colt a few punches, and teaching his kids how to be little assholes and get themselves into trouble would be a pretty entertaining way to do it.

But ah well, she would just have to be creative and come up something else to do to screw with her brother. For now, Fin was content to play with her niece and nephew as best as she could until they were all too worn out to continue.