Redhawk Caldera wind in the willows

Trade thread! Could be for Chronicler, if anyone wants to tell her stories, or it could be for Healer, if someone wants help... bathing...? Or something else!

Another evening arrived, the second since her introduction to the caldera. Tonight, Dove was lingering by the central lake and preening herself carefully via glassy reflection. It wasn't the same area where she had spoken to Peregrine, being a more accessible dip in the foliage, but it was nearby. Dove had found a segment of exposed shale which protruded neatly towards the lake's depths, and it was here where she reclined herself, the toes of her forelimbs and the dingy tip of her tail carefully dipped in the water. Winter may have been ebbing in to Spring a bit early - that, or she was far more at ease with the chill the water presented, for she did not withdraw her toes or stop staring at herself — at least, not until a sound broke the stillness from behind her, and she was spooked enough to withdraw; tucking her legs close, while her fur filled with nervous static.

Things were still up in the air with Finley and Elwood, as far as Fox knew, and she was curious to know how things would turn out in the end. Their spat reminded her of her relationship with Peregrine, oddly enough, although neither of them had ever used another lover to make the other one jealous. Lasher had been there, but never in a way that had torn them apart. If anything, Fox had torn them apart... not that she would ever admit to such a thing.

Knowing that the Beta duo would probably want some time to sort things out, Fox set about tracking down her sister. Well, the newest one, anyway. She wasn't terribly difficult to find, and Fox carried the quickly-growing children with ease. A part of her had thought that she would balloon up beyond recognition, but she'd somehow managed to hold the weight rather well. "Hey, sis!" she called out, breaking through the foliage. Dove looked positively frightened and Fox put on her best :/ face. "Sorry. Did I spook ya?"

When the familiar vibrancy of Fox's pelt met her eyes, Dove melted back in to her relaxed pose. It took a moment before her fur smoothed out again, but between Fox's statement and a low sigh from Dove, things settled back in to place. She laughed to herself - a little chuckle, and a little forced - before rolling backwards in the direction of her sister. A bit, yes. I thought I was alone.

Her paws were briefly in the air, water dripping from the toes to her wrists, where the fur absorbed the most of it, and then she was facing Fox. A mirror-image of the pose from before, except without the lake to dip her toes in to she simply crossed them. Dove briefly studied her sister's odd proportions and plastered a smirk upon her face as she did so. How are you feeling? You look fit to burst so I can only imagine.

“I thought I would feel worse, but I’m actually pretty excited about the whole thing.” Fox had thought that she would become an invalid once she was this close to birthing, but she'd managed to keep on her feet and socializing with everybody. Maybe she just had a body that was great for babes! It probably also helped that it wasn't the middle of summer, when she would have been hard-pressed to move due to the heat and humidity.

“I think once I got settled in the area, it occurred to me that I was just meant for this, y’know?” Her time in Swiftcurrent Creek had been spent sizing up every suitor she could get her paws on. For a brief moment, she thought of Haunter, and the slightest sad smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. There was nothing she could do for him now, though, and she had made her peace with his death.

The pale girl didn't really get it, but she gave an understanding nod regardless, smiling dumbly. What she had said to Peregrine was still true - seeing Fox with a big swinging belly was very, very strange to her. But if her sister was happy, that was all that mattered. It had yet to occur to Dove that she wouldn't be able to spread her wings (so to speak) while her sister was the center of attention; this was a seed that would plant itself later, likely when the children were finally born.

What does it.. Feel like? Wait, As soon as the question aired itself, Dove was scrunching her face and squirming like a worm upon the shale. I don't want to know. She stuck her tongue out and raspberried, as if that would help get the point across. In the next moment though, Dove was picturesque, re-crossing her paws.

Tell me how you found this place - and Peregrine! Where'd you get him?

Ignoring her sister's "I don't want to know," Fox replied without missing a beat. “A little like being nauseous for two turns of the moon.” That was really the worst of it. She had to eat smaller meals, and her belly had become tender to the touch, but for the most part, it wasn't bad at all. Besides, all the extra attention she was getting from her pack-mates was an added bonus. The real challenge would come when she was looking after a dozen little squirming bodies all trying their hardest to get into trouble.

“Now that,” Fox began, when Dove asked about Redhawk Caldera and Peregrine, “is a long story. But I’m always happy to spill the deets to a sister!” Settling onto her rump, Fox scratched at her ear before she began the tale.

“I joined a pack called Swiftcurrent Creek shortly after I left home. I met Perry pretty soon after that… when I peed on his pack’s borders. As you can imagine, he wasn’t terribly pleased. And he was already hitched to some other bitch.” But Fox wasn't about to go into detail with that part of Perry's life. “Anyway, the Alpha of Swiftcurrent drowned herself, and I became the new head honcho. Peregrine and I were frenemies, I guess. We happened to run into one another a few times, but it was nothing serious. Then one day he just blurts out that he’s going to leave his lady. I still don’t even know why he told me.” Probably because he was in the presence of an irresistably sexy lady.

“Neither one of us were going to leave our post, though. He was the Alpha of Blacktail Deer Plateau, and I was heading up the creek, still. Some shit went down a month or two later—that’s a whole other story—and Perry took me in as Beta of the plateau. We did the deed, and that pretty much sealed the deal.” Truth be told, Fox had done it for less than moral reasons. She'd owed him a debt, and that had been an easy way to pay it.

“Nobody at the plateau ever really took to me, though. I never felt like it was my home. I told Perry, and we found this place together.” And Fox had no intentions of ever leaving Redhawk Caldera. It, and the wolves who lived here, were everything to her.

Dove made a little gesture as if she were trying to cover her own ears - but then Fox moved on, beyond that little anecdotal comment about being nauseated all the time, and focused on what the pale girl really wanted to hear. The tale was pretty quick, and through it all Dove's attention was solely upon her sibling; with the occasional widening of her eyes or half-muttered really - which became a gasp of holy shit as Fox reached the point about Peregrine leaving his former wife. It sounded so melodramatic even with Fox's calm manner in telling it.

By the end it felt as if she had been witness to some kind of fairy tale, or a romance novel.

And then you hunkered down, got yourself loaded up with babies and... I found you! Dove appended, squeezing herself in to the story at the tail end. It was sort of incredible that Fox had been through so much. Good thing too. Imagine having to raise all those little squibs on your own - I mean, not totally alone, since you have him, but without family. Dove's head shook softly, as if this concept was the most heinous of them all. I wonder how many of them will look like Peregrine! We'll have to name them Thing One and Thing Two just because they'll be so similar.

“That’s the short of it!” Fox replied when Dove added her own little ditty to the tale. When Dove said something about having to raise the kids without family, Fox tilted her head to one side. Finley and Elwood were family. So was Somnia. And there was Magpie, too. “Did I mention we have a half sister living here, too?” she asked, failing to recall if she had mentioned that little bit to Dove when she'd first come around. “Robin was here for a little while… and before that the plateau, but she skulked off again. She is so flighty!” Fox knew that Peregrine was miffed by the whole thing, but Fox couldn't bring herself to hate her sister too much.

There were other tales she wanted to tell Dove. Her brief fling with Haunter, the drama with The Sunspire, the various cougars she had managed to fend off, the way all of Peregrine's children hated her, Lasher, and so on and so forth. But the two had plenty of time, especially if Dove planned on sticking around for good (as she'd promised).

Half-sister? Well, she had mentioned Dad had a sort of... Illegitimate brood, some kind of fling, but that was days ago; the topic had almost slipped from Dove's mind entirely. The mention of this secret sibling caught her attention though, and the pale girl promptly adjusted her posture — glossing over the bit about Robin, who was ultimately far too much like her namesake for Dove to be even a little surprised. I thought - well, you mentioned dad doing the deed when I got here, but I didn't know you had actually found one of them.

What would dad say in this situation? Or mom? The kid was probably still a secret and that... That unsettled Dove considerably. How old are they? She quipped as smoothly as she could — wondering if maybe it was too late to do the right thing, for their father's sake.[/color]

“Magpie found me,” Fox clarified, giving a name to their half-sister in the process. “She’s… young,” Fox added, having never kept track of those things too closely. “I think she was still under a year when I first met her last year. But she can hunt on her own now, which means she must’ve hit that mark.” Fox was, as usual, completely unaware that Dove might be considering to do something less than savory to their new found relative.

“She’s kinda… my responsibility, I guess. It’s a long story, but before I even knew she was related, I put her in some pretty bad shit. Basically got her kidnapped, and I feel responsible for her. Perry doesn't like it, exactly, but I think he's coming around to the idea of having her here.” In fact, Fox knew that if Perry had his way, Magpie wouldn't be here at all. He would've kicked her to the curb the first time she had abandoned them, and he never would have let her come back.

“You should meet her sometime. I think it’d be good if she knew she had more family here.”

Whatever Fox felt like she had done to their pseudo-sibling or whatever, Dove found it especially strange that her sister - her real, full-blooded sister - defended little Magpie's existence. Sure, it hadn't been their fault that the little beast was born, but there were rules. Rules passed down for generations. For the first time since coming to the caldera, Dove felt herself aligned with Peregrine over her own sibling, and that was a bit disconcerting.

“You should meet her sometime. I think it’d be good if she knew she had more family here.” Fox added - to which Dove huffed softly, as if the very idea was abhorrent (and it kind of was). She isn't my family. She stated in response, nonchalant in her tone. And she isn't yours either. Her tone became light, but chiding, as if Dove were scolding her sister for showing such compassion. But she fell silent in the next moment.

Fox's brow creased. Partly in confusion, but mostly in anger. “She doesn’t have to be your family,” Fox shot back, “But she is mine. Every wolf here is my family. Dad fucked up, and he never should have done that to Mom or Magpie's mom. Just because his fuck up resulted in children doesn’t mean that I should treat Magpie like any less of a wolf. Bastards are only the product of their parents’ stupidity.” The Alpha could nearly taste bile in her mouth. What had happened to Dove? Fox had never taken their parents traditions to mean that wolves not related by blood couldn't be family.

“If you’re going to be a bitch to her, you should probably just fucking leave.” Fox would not take kindly to others telling her what to do—blood relative or not. Bones hadn't been her blood family either, and Fox had never understood why she gave a shit about Atticus or her mother on any level. Both had abandoned her before she was old enough to fend for herself. Magpie had been in much the same position. “She was family before I learned we shared a father,” Fox added, swishing her tail.

As soon as Fox released her anger upon her sister, the girl recoiled; her head went back and then down, with her ears flitting backwards against her creamy head, becoming submissive out of surprise more than anything else. They had argued before, as children, and Fox had always been the more aggressive sort; however, this was different. Now the argument was between an Alpha and a subordinate, and their differing views could lead to Dove's excommunication if she took it too far — thankfully she conceded.

But the threat of being kicked out was still very real, and this is what shocked Dove the most. She wanted to protest against the very concept - You're my family more than her's, she wanted to shout, - but Dove was no fool. Raising her voice to Fox again would be pushing beyond the limit. Okay, okay! I get it. She muttered hastily. Half-sister good, full sister less good, understood boss ma'am.

I guess I'll need to meet her and decide for myself. Dove added, her voice grim at first, but lilting with false cheer, as if the idea of meeting this half-sister was really so grand. Whatever had occurred between Fox and Magpie to ingratiate them to one another was another story, and one that Dove wasn't entirely interested in right now. After a moment of thought, the girl commented with one last question: You wouldn't really kick me out.. Just for believing what we were both taught, would you?

Fox didn't back down even when Dove recoiled. She wanted to make it very clear that nobody would be treating anybody like shit just because of somebody else's stupid mistake. ("Oops! I mistakenly had sex with a wolf who wasn't my mate!" said nobody ever.) “Just treat her as you would any other pack-mate,” Fox said, an edge still lingering on her voice. Really, why was there any reason to treat her like anything else? As far as Dove was concerned, Magpie really was just another pack-mate, especially if she had no intentions of acknowledging their blood relation.

“We weren’t taught to kill adults,” she reminded Dove, “Only pups that were unwisely brought into the world.” To some, that might seem even more cruel, but to Fox, it was instinct. “Dad should have taken care of Magpie and her siblings immediately after they were born. He lost his chance to keep his mistake a secret.” Of course, Fox did not plan on admitting her opinion on this to Magpie. Her half-sister had been appalled that anybody would want to end the life of a child.

She hadn't exactly answered the question in a direct manner, but she had answered truthfully.

Dove could not see their half-sister as just any other packmate; her mere existence threw up red flags. Still, she wasn't about to ignore what Fox said. She wasn't going to outright refuse Magpie her seat at the proverbial table, since she was family, even if Dove didn't want to accept her. In a roundabout way Fox did answer the question - and with a gradual nod, the dainty sister accepted it.

And with that, she pushed beyond to another topic. Enough about the black sheep of the family.

So... She started, feeling a bit awkward after the stern tone in their conversation thus far, and... Then her voice faded. Dove didn't really know where to go from here; she wasn't used to being talked down to in such a manner, but more importantly, she had no further questions for Fox. And she wasn't exactly interested in hearing about her sister's burstin' belly - hells no, ew! - which meant it was time to push the abort button (on the conversation, not the litter, oh god what have I done).

Dove left off with a trailing "so..." that made Fox want to curl her lip. For once, she refrained. She wanted things to be as turmoil-free as possible when her kids came into this world, and she wasn't going to be the one to fuck that up. Fox considered asking how things were going back in Crestwood, but she decided any talk of their birthplace probably wasn't going to do anybody any good.

"What did you think of Perry?" Fox asked, curious to know her sister's opinion on what was now her brother-in-law. Even if Dove outright hated him, it wasn't like Fox was going to drop him. They were bonded for life, and Fox took that kind of stuff terribly seriously.

What do you think of Perry? Fox queried next, likely trying to break the awkward silence which Dove felt pressing in at every corner; but the question itself just made her want to clam up further. If Dove told the truth then Fox would no doubt be more pissed at her. If she lied, well, she'd always been the best liar out of the entire family (as far as she knew), but Dove was against lying to her own family. There had to be a way around this.

The girl shrugged, trying to be nonchalant despite the frustration within her, and the tension that catalyzed it. I met him quite briefly. He's.. — Crude, obnoxious, self-gratifying — Charming. A dull smile flit across her face, which could have made it clear to Fox that her sister was holding back, if she was astute enough to notice. To move on from this topic as well, Dove muttered, You're going to have some good lookin' kids.

Fox furrowed her brow. “Charming?” she repeated, wondering if Dove was simply being sarcastic. “That’s probably the last word I’d use to describe him,” Fox mused with a grin. (Sorry, Perry!) But Dove's second comment made Fox's grin turn into a genuine smile. Peregrine was a hunk, that much couldn't be denied. Why he'd wanted to get with a rough-and-tumble torn-up girl like herself was beyond her. Maybe his idea of beauty was more entwined with how often they banged.

“I hope you get to be a part of their life,” Fox said, licking Dove's cheek. Fox knew from seeing children raised in the past that it really did take a village pack. She fully intended on surrounding her children with all the wolves that would nourish their minds and bodies and inspire them to be upstanding adults one day. Their success was mandatory.

When Fox licked her across the muzzle, Dove felt the last of the tension give way. She could not stay nervous around her family. And the glee expressed by her sister was contagious; Dove had only seen Fox in such a good mood a few times in their life, and it was rarely over a boy. That had been her territory. With a smile upon her own face, she gave a nod and said, Of course I'll be there for you, and for them. I wouldn't miss seeing Mama Fox.

What if the kids were all born bright red?! How did colors work anyway? Dove expected that most of the kids would look like Peregrine just because he was so big and dark - but what if they ended up being mutants or something? Big bodies, tiny fox-legs, and neon pelts? And I know we have the tradition of naming them later, when they're bigger and stuff, but... Have you thought about it? Names? Her tail-tip wagged lightly against the stone; What if they all look just like you, would you have to name them all "Fox"?

Wrap up? Trying to finish pre-puppy threads. :)

It seemed even Dove was persistent about knowing their names before they even know how many there would be (one dozen, if you must know), their genders, or even what they looked like. “Naw,” Fox replied, “And if they all ended up looking like me, I’d not only be surprised, but I’d also just let Peregrine name them once I ran out of good ones.” She could name one Cardinal, if that happened. And maybe... well, surely there were other red (or somewhat red) animals. Salmon? Weren't they more pink? Fox couldn't quite recall. Lobster would make an amusing name. She withheld the names, though, refusing to get ahead of herself.

“I was thinking about taking a walk down to Lake Rodney. You want to come with?” It would be a nice, relaxing walk, and likely one of Fox's last trips outside of Redhawk Caldera before her children greeted the world. It would give the sisters ample time to bond with one another, something they definitely needed after being apart for so long.

Fading here or at your post~

Her answer about names was to be expected; their parents hadn't been particularly inventive, and it wouldn't surprise her too much if Fox did name her kids "Fox One" (through twelve).

When asked about the lake, Dove's ears twitched and she looked absolutely aglow with interest. Another lake? A bigger lake? Her tail wagged as she stood up, bopping Fox on the shoulder. "Alright! Lead the way."