Firefly Glen Bass Me Baby

anyone but would love to steal one of the tagged >.> or all..

She was on a mission.

She was tired of being passive. She hunted for the one person she knew might be able to help her. Toad looked for @Meerkat where the girl — wait, woman oh wow oh wow — could often be found with her brother @Bronco. Meerkat had been right. If she wanted a husband, she needed to get out there and look for a damn husband.

Their pack, however, was quite flush full of young boys that weren't exactly interested in Toad, or so she assumed. From her experience with Bronco, whom she absolutely adored, she knew that friendships were easy enough, but there was that extra spark she was missing. She needed to figure out 1) how to get that spark, and 2) where to find men who might see it.

As Toad reached the site, she chuffed, far more assertively than her usual mode of conduct. Meerkat? I need your help!

With both Fennec and Kaertok located, she had no particular reason to leave the glen again. Anyway, she wanted to stay close in case Bronco needed her or anyone from the caldera paid a visit with news. But she still found she needed some time and space to think, especially after the events of the past few days. There were plenty of quiet locales around the glen, she just needed to find the perfect thinking spot.

She hadn't gone far when Toad's familiar voice called her by name. Meerkat's ears pricked at the next few words. "Toad?" she replied, scooting toward the sound of her voice and quickly finding her. "What's the matter?"

lol at everybody freaking out about donovan, meanwhile toad be like...

Perhaps it was because everyone in the pack was young, and she didn't quite fit in. Maybe it was because she didn't really like Fennec, and didn't bother to try to look for her at all even though they were family. Or maybe it was just a new stage in Toad's life where she was deciding to put herself and her own needs before others, since she had done the opposite for her entire existence.

Whatever the reason, Toad missed any potential worries Meerkat might have. She should have started with a simple 'hi how are you', but instead, she strode up to Meerkat with a super serious face and said, I need help finding a husband.

The response threw her, though only for a moment. A smile began spreading across her face and Meerkat huffed a laugh even as she playfully scolded, "I thought something was wrong!" She moved closer to Toad to playfully thump her on the shoulder, giving herself the space of a few breaths to calm the slight uptick in her heart rate.

"You know I'm always happy to help," Meerkat said a moment later, "but I'm not sure I'm particularly qualified at matchmaking. I mean, I tried and failed with you and Bronco, technically." She grinned, then paused thoughtfully and said, "But I am older now and I have a little bit of personal experience, kind of... so maybe I can give it a whirl."

It is wrong! She declared, though there was clearly a joking tone in her voice as she bumped Meerkat back. Clearly, this was a priority. Meerkat was right; she couldn't just wait for some random prince charming to wander on up to her, especially since all the prince charmings in the pack were just boys to her.

The sandy little lady went on to admit she really wasn't qualified, but Toad just shook her head in refusal of such an answer. Meerkat went on to admit that maybe she could do it now that she was a little bit older, and Toad nodded profusely. I believe in you!

Rather abruptly, Toad sat down forcefully, practically slamming her butt onto the ground, curling her tail around herself. Now, she began, clicking her tongue. I want a husband who is kind, and at least two years old, and um, oh and tall. Toad had prepared a list. She looked at Meerkat as though she was expecting her to take notes.

She sort of hoped Toad would pick up on the hint and ask her about her own experience. Instead, she took a seat and began orating her ideal features in a husband. Meerkat's eyebrows lifted, though not in offense. She couldn't help but think of her silly conversation with Bronco back in the day, when she'd quite specifically described Atlas. Toad's list was much more sensible, of course, because she was actually looking.

And she was actually really happy that her friend was taking her advice from that cold and rainy night. Laughing lightly, Meerkat nodded as she said, "Two plus, tall and kind. Got it. I think I can work with that." To be honest, though, no one immediately sprang to mind. Most of the wolves she knew didn't fit the age minimum. "It might be slim pickings here in the glen but there's a lot of world out there and I'm sure plenty of suitable husbands..."

Her expression grew thoughtful. If Toad did find someone outside the pack, would she move? Or would he move? Meerkat wasn't a huge fan of the former option, though maybe if they found someone in one of the sister packs, then at least she wouldn't go far. She probably should've thought of Moonspear first, yet her heart carried her to Redhawk Caldera and she let out a little gasp.

"I actually have another older brother... oh, but," Meerkat said, brow furrowing, "he's probably not quite old enough. He's the same age as Bronco and Fennec. Ummm, hmmm, who else?" She tipped her head skyward, lifting a paw to stroke thoughtfully at her chin.

Meerkat laughed, which brought a bright smile to Toad's features. She agreed that there was a big wide world, and nodded her head that there must be plenty of husband-material types out there. So far, Toad hadn't really met any of them. Most of the people she had run into were women and girls outside of their Glen, which was why she'd come to Meerkat for help. The sandy counsellor seemed to know just about everyone.

Toad racked her brain, trying to think of who might be in Moonspear that wasn't already paired off, but once more all she could think of were women. This was going to be harder than she thought. You have another brother? Since when? Toad interrupted, curious how that was possible. To her knowledge, Meerkat was Towhee's daughter, and Towhee was Toad's niece technically. They had a whole weird family web of marriages and kids from different partners. Toad wondered if there was someone adopted into the family she didn't know about.

She knew it was a rhetorical question, though Meerkat laughed and explained, "He's Fen's litter mate. They were born to my dad, Phox, and his mate... oh, shit, I forget her name," she admitted with a small grimace, "but she died not long after they were born. So my mom, Towhee, raised them with him." And though Toad hadn't asked, it seemed relevant to add, "Bronco's my Neema's son with her deceased mate, Colt." Well, at least she'd remembered one of the late mates' names... "He has a litter mate too: Nellie. I just met her recently, she was off traveling. They're all two... ish." And not one of them was her sibling, technically, but Meerkat didn't bother mentioning that, as they were her brothers and sisters in every way that actually mattered.

"Anyway," she said in the next breath, "his name is Figment but everyone calls him Fig. He's pretty tall, dark and handsome. And he's kind with a capital 'K.' But I don't think he meets your age requirement," Meerkat repeated, frowning thoughtfully.

As Meerkat started to divulge information about the family, Toad realized that she had completely forgotten to tell her about the visit to Redhawk Caldera. She's been so excited about what she'd learned from Phox that her mind was spinning as though she was drunk, and apparently had clean forgotten to talk to her little niece about it.

But, Toad listened, bouncing on her toes like she had something important to say, because she did. She scrunched her brow and looked upward, sorting out all the names in her mind. She went on, mentioned the name Figment, and then Toad erupted into booming, ridiculous laughter.

It took her a very long moment to recover, and she had to wipe a stray tear from her eye while she started breathing normally again. I forgot to tell you, she giggled rather moronically. Figment is my nephew, well my great nephew, actually, she fought back a snort. Your dad, Phox, he's my nephew. My sister was his mom! There was still the question of why Phox was considered Meerkat's father when it was Towhee who had birthed her. Toad was relatively certain that the two hadn't conceived a litter, else she would have thought it should be secret, but it wasn't the first time Meerkat had referred to her uncle as her father, either.

Toad's loud laughter caught her by surprise, leaving Meerkat staring at her in inquisitive wonder. Her friendly quickly explained: Figment was actually her great nephew, through Phox, who was her standard issue nephew. "My sister was his mom!" she declared enthusiastically and Meerkat's eyes widened as she processed this information. Phox's mom was also Towhee's mom, thus her own grandmother. If memory served, she had been called Fox too.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Hey, that means we're related too! You're my aunt... great aunt? I mean, of course, that makes total sense, since you're great and all," Meerkat quipped cheekily. Funny to think, this meant she was on the hunt for her own future great uncle.

Toad snorted at the joke, nodding profusely, her tail wiggling wildly behind her in great circular sweeps. Right, I think the piece I wasn't connecting was that your Neema is Niamh, she chuckled, scrunching her brow a bit while grinning as she tried to make sure she had everything in place. Toad didn't understand who Meerkat's father was, but decided to leave this question alone, mildly afraid to know the answer. She wondered silently if Meerkat had been part of an unplanned litter.

Actually, interesting thing I found out, too, she mentioned, pausing only to wiggle a bit in place. Wraen and Maia are our extended cousins, I think, technically, my... nieces in-law, here she squinted really hard, reconstructing the family tree in her mind. If Peregrine was their uncle, then that would mean she was their aunt by marriage only. Anyway, they're starting a new pack down south past the Caldera. Isn't that cool?!

Toad admitted the disconnect between Niamh's two monikers and Meerkat nodded in understanding. She couldn't read minds, of course, but this whole conversation reminded her of her recent forays and spontaneously crossing paths with Kaertok. Her lips parted to share the whole story with her friend when Toad burst out with another set of interesting familial facts.

Her mouth clapped shut, then opened again to say, "I heard about that! I don't know any details though." She just remembered Towhee briefly mentioning Maia's incident and a fun conversation with Wraen. "I should definitely pay them a visit, do you remember exactly where they're settling?" Because if her mom had mentioned it, she failed to recall it now.

"By the way," she added after a pause, "I just recently met the guy who's probably my biological father. I actually found him right after finding Fennec. How nuts is that? Maybe I should change careers." Meerkat laughed, wondering if there was even a relevant trade. It kinda fell in line with hunting and tracking, though there was no way she'd ever pursue that particular specialty.

The Broken Antler Fen thataway — we could always head out together, Toad tossed her head to the southwest with a smile. She left out the bit that Maia had mentioned about putting it less close to Moonspear because relations weren't exactly as awesome as they were with the Caldera. She meant to visit both cousins again soon, if for no other reason than to have more chats about dragons. They had also shared some positive comments about Meerkat herself, so what better way to meet back up than to present full-on adult Meerkat!

Then, the girl young woman let out her own family bombshell, solving the great mystery of her fatherdom while Toad's tail wagged enthusiastically and a big "O" was fixed on her face. If the O could have been double in size, it would have been, since Toad had no idea that Fennec had been found.

Wowow, she stammered. Who is he? Where's Fennec? Is she okay? That's so great, how? By that point Toad was in a half bow as though wanting to play, which was further evidence of her bubbling over enthusiasm that would have made her a terrible spy.

I vote we fade this and have another to visit at BAF! What say you? :D

News usually spread fast around the pack, as well as to the sister packs, though Toad hadn't heard the bit about Fennec, it seemed. Although Meerkat would love to describe to somebody what it was like meeting her father for the first time mere days after reaching adulthood, she was all too happy to report about her older sister. Add Toad's obvious enthusiasm into the mix and she smilingly divulged the details.

"She's at the caldera now, resting up and healing. She fell into a canyon. She was hurt, though not badly," Meerkat shared, unaware that her sister's condition had deteriorated since drop-off. "I found her by pure chance, my—Kaertok too." No, she wasn't going to call him "dad," that was reserved for Phox alone.

Toad seemed to be bursting with energy, so rather than get into the story, she suggested, "Want to take a walk while I tell you about it?" and jerked a foreleg. As she did so, she recalled how she'd intended to find somewhere private and quiet to think. Her lips twitched. She could still do that later, if she needed. But she found that airing her thoughts to a willing ear was a pretty good way of hashing them out too.

Yesss

Toad wanted to know everything. Apparently, Fennec had been injured after falling into a canyon. That of course begged the question: why was she at the canyon? Toad had her suspicions, but didn't bother voicing them. Even though she found Fennec to be a rather grating personality, she had always hoped that she was right about her leaving of her own accord because the alternative was potentially horrific. It was good to hear that she was safe, at least.

That's so crazy, she said, rather in disbelief that young Meerkat had been able to find both her sister and her biological father within a similar time frame.

Toad bounced on her toes as her niece offered a walk, and she nodded swiftly, shuffling forward. Tell me everything, she said. The two walked off then, and Meerkat talked to her about finding her family. Toad inhaled the information, wondering if it might make a good tale one day.