Redhawk Caldera castle on a cloud

Joining thread! I'm writing while doubled over in pain because of a gluten allergy, so I'm sorry if this makes little to no sense.

It was raining when she arrived upon the scene, and the droplets clung to the top of her pristine pelt like flies on a donkey's ass, it was putrid. The only water the dainty thing would touch had to be very specific water; like the stuff from the nearby lake, which had piqued her interest. Dove had been quite happy to loiter at it's far eastern edge, but then the rain started... And her desire to stay dry outweighed her desire to be clean, at least for now. With a huff, she had moved on. The lake gave way to rocky terrain which she tried to navigate quickly (all the while mumbling obscenities under her breath). But she was unlucky - and not very skilled when it came to adventuring - so that by the time she decided to give up and simply plop herself down beneath a large tree, she was soaked and muddy.

o hay. I'm going to guess she's well enough outside RHC territory so Fox won't eat her on sight. ^__^

Restless was a good word for how Fox had been feeling as of late. She paced, and when she wasn't pacing, she was complaining, nagging, or otherwise being a nuisance. It was a good thing this would only last another moon, or the whole of the caldera might have thrown her out. Today, Fox had distanced herself from the heart of the home she and Peregrine had created, fulfilling her duties as a warden. Redhawk Caldera had lost many members as of late, and Fox wanted to have a keen eye on any loners who might be lingering, looking for a home.

A white speck grew larger as Fox trotted toward it (belling swinging from side to side) until she was close enough to make out the finer features of the ivory female. In her typical aloof manner, Fox approached, unaware that she was coming face to face with her littermate of old. She rarely thought of her siblings, especially now that Robin had been gone for months. "You there!" she called out, "You lookin' for a home?" Because the caldera was actively recruiting.

She settled beneath the tree with a look of absolute frustration upon her pointed face, and began to inspect her paws. They were streaky with brown, and even had a few bits of grass and forest debris stuck to them - which she promptly flicked off, with a little motion of one paw, then the next. Dove's face scrunched unhappily as she placed her paws side-by-side once more, but the expression vanished as soon as a voice caught her attention - it was familiar, how odd.

When she turned her head she saw a bulbous red thing approaching her, a thing which seemed disinterested in how foul the weather was. Dove sniffed haughtily at this - personal pride was everything to her - but in her moment of brief bitchiness, she caught something else familiar. A smell. She was on her feet in seconds flat, and chose to ignore the squish of mud between her toes as she approached the stranger. Could it be...?

"Fox?" Her voice brightly chimed, while her tail gave a tiny hopeful wag.

"No," Fox replied, "and yes. I mean. I'm not a fox, but I am Fox." She paused, then added, "Fox Redleaf-DiSarinno," for clarity. Why must her family's customs confuse others so? The Redleaf still had no clue that she was talking to her littermate, dull in the head as she was. She hadn't seen Dove in over a year, and there was no reason for her to think that she would come here. Robin (and Magpie) were the only blood family she'd ever come across in the Teekon Wilds. With the kids on the way, that was about to change drastically.

But guessing her name wasn't a particularly hard thing to do, and so Fox thought nothing of it. "What's your name?" This was still a recruiting mission, as far as the fiery Alpha was concerned. Unlike Dove, the rain didn't bother Fox one bit. She was used to it, and the sensation of water droplets on her back gave her some sense of relief from the worrying that her mind had been doing as of late.

Maybe she was wrong. It had been a while since she'd actually seen hide or hair of any sibling - but still, Dove could remember her sister's vibrancy; she was always the adventurous one. There were rumors that Fox had a pack of her own - a tale which filtered through Robin and down the line, until it had reached Dove's ears. But that couldn't be true! She was so young, and so... Uncultured. Not to say Dove was any better, of course.

But as soon as Fox stated her full name - Dove gasped. "Holy crap Fox, I knew you were dim but not that dim -" Her grey eyes were wide now, and the dainty girl stepped closer to the fatty who was clearly her dumb sister. "It's me, silly! Dove! Your sister? You do remember your sister, right?" But that was when something else hit her - Fox was fat. Not just fat. She was huge.

"Oh my god are you pregnant?!" She all but shrieked with glee at this, and then sucked in a great big breath. "Holy shit! Wait till I tell mom and dad."

Fox quirked a brow when the other girl began to tell her how dim she was. Well, it certainly wasn't earning her any pro-recruitment points! The mother-to-be was on the verge of putting her in her place when Dove blurted out her name. "You..." Fox began, but cut herself off. "Dove!" The two of them had grown up together, side-by-side, though Fox had not seen the sight of her littermate since she had struck out on her own, away from Crestwood. Her tail wagged excitedly back and forth, and it took her sister all of three seconds to notice her budding belly.

"Naw," she fibbed, "I just ate a lot." Fox was a terrible liar, though, and she broke her expression with a grin. "I'm totally preggo!" But when Dove mentioned Dad, Fox's expression suddenly turned dark. Magpie came to mind, and Fox had to stop herself from shit talking their father right then and there. "Dad is a hypocrite," Fox spat, her voice full of venom. She hoped beyond hope that their mother never found out about Magpie and her siblings. She would most certainly be crushed.

Giddy from the discovery that her sister was alive - and thriving, evidently, - Dove was distracted for a moment from Fox's response; but she did a bit of a double-take when her fiery sibling spoke ill of their father. She chuckled lightly, awkwardly, and her pale brow furrowed with brief concern. "Hypocrite? What.. What are you talking about?"

But the laughter died away quickly, because Fox's expression was quite serious, and Dove was perplexed by this. Mostly because, when word reached the Crestwoods of Fox's apparent Alphaship, it was all anyone wanted to talk about. All dad wanted to talk about, to anyone and everyone - boasting about his brilliant daughter, while pressuring Dove to get the hell out of dodge. The girl snorted and stated rather plainly, "You have a problem with dad now? How'd that happen." Maybe it was a side effect of being queen of her own domain, or something. Pfft.

Fox wasn't entirely sure how her sister would take the news... but she felt it better that she get everything out in the open before she even considered taking Dove on as another member of the caldera. “Dad has bastards. He tried to kill them, or maybe their mother, but they survived. He never told any of us… you know he'd be shunned if he had.” Fox would have done the same, and now she did. If her father ever came knocking, she would chase him off (if she managed to recognize him). It didn't change the way Fox felt about bastard children, but it did change the way she felt about her father in a big way.

She let the news sink in then asked, “Are you here for good, or are you just passing through?” Robin had been the latter, even if she had masqueraded as the former time and time again. Honestly, Fox wasn't sure what to expect with Dove. She'd always been daintier than her other siblings, but that was about all Fox could remember about her white as snow sister.

As the news hit her, Dove said nothing. Her ears lanced back against her head as a brief disruption to her thoughts, and her brow furrowed even further, but such things melted away - because she believed, perhaps wrongly, that their father was within his rights. It was the rule he had passed on to his children after all. Bastards had to die. It was cruel maybe, but Dove did not see the problem with it. She opened her mouth and prepared to speak, but Fox went on to ask a question, and so she paused.

"I suppose I could stay." She drawled, shunting thoughts of their father away for the time being. The concern upon her features faded, and was swiftly replaced by a gleeful glint as she sized up her balloon of a sister. "I mean, someone has to be around to teach your little grubs some manners, right?" From what she recalled of their time as children, Fox had been the rambunctious sort - and Dove suspected her behavior would hardly change just because she was wedded and bedded.

"Ooh, and you must tell me all about your boytoy -" She added hastily, prior to leaning in close to mutter, "Clearly there ain't anything wrong with the important bits." A tiny snicker broke through the coy grin that rested upon Dove's face. It had been ages since Dove could gossip with her sisters about anything and there was a lot they had to catch up on.

Had she been able to hear Dove's thoughts, Fox would have explained that it was the fact that their father had lied and tried to hide his shame. He had every right to kill the bastards (though Fox would never admit as much to Magpie), but the fact that he had been so cowardly that he had not admitted his shame was unthinkable. He was an honorable man no more in Fox's eyes. But the conversation had moved on, and Fox was quick to put past family matters to rest in light of recent ones.

“Well…” Fox drawled, once her sister had finished speaking, “If you want to stay, you’d better be sure you’re going to follow through. Or at least let me know when you’re leaving. We’ve had way too many abandon ship, and I’d rather not smear your name unless this is really what you want.” As for teaching the kids manners... well, they had that covered well enough. What with Finley, Somnia, Elwood, and their two natural parents, the Firebirds were sure to have plenty of guardians to keep them in line.

When Fox began to speak of Peregrine, her expression immediately changed to one of love and devotion. Nothing, not even the worst of fights, could break them apart. This had been proven again and again. “Peregrine is… well, he is great. I mean, he’s not perfect, but neither am I. I do love him, and he loves me. We’re making babies together!” Fox sighed dreamily, thinking of the years to come.

Laughter bubbled up from the plushy white depths of Dove - bright with glee at the unabashed glow about her sister. "Peregrine, eh? Its good to see you so happy, sis." The girl's laughter faded as she spoke, but the sentiment remained. Her eyes shimmered despite their lackluster hue, and Dove's tail batted to and fro.

But, back to business.

Dove turned abruptly solemn, as if she were really thinking about the choice ahead of her. Stay here, live (presumably) in the lap of luxury while menfolk doted upon her? Real men, and not just siblings and cousins, or mom and dad harping on her to go get a real job? Surely as the Alpha's sister she'd have some leeway.

"I'll stay on one condition..." Her tongue flicked out across her lips, and as it drew slowly back in to her mouth, a firm line set itself upon her face. She looked oh so serious - but the words that came next were hardly that. "...You gotta introduce me to your beau! And," (Okay, so she couldn't count, or was a bit greedy, but whatever.) "Introduce me to your fine male subjects. Come on, spill - how many pretty boys do you have roosting here in your little nest?"

Surely there were enough to, ahem, pass around.

I'mma title you up! We can wrap up with your next post if you'd like. :)

If she could have, Fox would have tapped her chin with a finger as she drudged up the names of any eligible bachelors. “Elwood’s taken. Ashton and Fitz left. Amon died. I think Theseus is still around, though!” Was that really all the boys they had here? It seemed like so few compared to the buttload of courting males Fox had in Swiftcurrent Creek. Now that she had her ~one true love~ she barely paid any attention to the ratio of boys to girls.

“I’m sure that, with your pretty little face, they’ll come running in no time,” Fox said with a wink. While Fox had never been pretty (by any means), Dove had always had an elegant grace about her. Maybe she got that from their mother's side. “C’mon, lemme get you some food, and we can get you cleaned up. Can’t have that be Perry’s first impression of you!”

Yay! I am excite. This was fun.

As Fox rattled off name after name, Dove's ears gave a perfunctory twitch of her ears; they bobbed with each new name - and flickered back briefly, each time her sister mentioned how out of bounds they were. Especially the dead one - yeesh.

The mention of food - and the bath, specifically - perked Dove's spirits and she clucked happily at the suggestion. Ahh, she was going to love it here! Take that, outside world, you weren't so scary now! "Oh god, I must look dreadful - yes, please, please, lets find one of your little boys and have them give me a bath -" Her eyes flashed mischievously at this, and as Dove was led further in to the territory, she continued to heckle and question her dear sister about the menfolk of the area.