Redhawk Caldera kick 'em in the nuts

Mother-daughter time with @Wildfire!

The firebirds had now survived five turns of the moon. And what a time it had been. Considering some of the horror stories Fox had heard in her lifetime, they were have a pretty easy go of it. Both Fox and Peregrine were not only alive, but kicking and closer than ever to one another. All too often, Fox heard of parents splitting up after (sometimes right after) their children were born. In their case, Fox couldn't imagine doing that. Nightjar, Raven, and Wildfire were all doing great with no signs of slowing down or becoming the utter mess that their half-siblings had been.

Peregrine had mentioned (or at least implied, on some level) that they should be careful about mentioning the next set of firebirds. Fox thought this preposterous, but after seeing how Junior and Saena had reacted, she couldn't really blame him. Perhaps it would be easier knowing that these siblings would be their full siblings. Fox couldn't imagine any of her children trying to kill future ones... but Peregrine had thought the same about Junior, so perhaps she was wrong in that. Nevertheless, she decided today was a good enough day to test the idea on her little Dhole. Once at the rendezvous site, she scoured the grassy area for her daughter.

Luckily for Fox, Wildfire was plopped right at the center of the clearing, staring off into space. She knew she should be doing other things, like tending her garden or playing with her brother and sister or visiting baby Elwood. There were a thousand things on her to-do list, really, but she couldn't keep her mind off him. Ever since meeting Ashton the other day, the child was absolutely and irrevocably smitten. She was still young—heck, this was her first real crush—so she didn't know all the nuances of love and romance, by any means. But she knew that she couldn't stop thinking about Ashton all day, every day.

Her mother's approach caused her to snap out of it for a second. She looked over at Fox, her amber eyes still glistening with tenderness for the golden hippie. Catching herself, she blinked, rearranged her face into a pleasant smile and thumped her dark tail against the ground. Wildfire then pushed herself into a sitting position, stretching out her neck to bump her smudged snout beneath the Alpha female's chin in a gesture of affectionate respect.

"Hey, mom, what're you up to?" she asked, a certain vagueness in her voice as Ashton's green-eyed mug floated in her mind's eye.

The flash of red was a sure sign of Wildfire, and the girl sat up to greet her ol' lady. Fox returned the gesture, preening her daughter's ear for a moment. "I was just lookin' for you," Fox replied, "Now that you and your brother and sister are getting older, I wanted to run an idea by you." Hopefully, framing it this way (like it was all up to Wifi and her siblings to decide) would help ease whatever discomfort her first litter might have about subsequent ones. Fox wanted them not only to accept their younger siblings, but also to be enthused about their arrival. She tried to dig deep into her memory banks and recall what her own parents did to create that sort of thinking.

"How do you like having little Elwood Junior around?" Fox asked. Her own children hadn't been that old when he'd been born, but he was definitely younger. It was about the closest thing her own children would have to a younger sibling until spring rolled around and nature kicked Fox's ovaries into gear. She wasn't entirely sure how much the firebirds had interacted with the Blackthorn boy, but she had to assume they'd at least come into contact with him a few times.

Her mother's tongue tickled her ear, causing her to recoil with a giggle. "Stop!" she begged, only half-serious. At least it had made her forget about Ashton momentarily. Her mother's leading question kept him out of her head too. Wildfire pursed her lips, curious about the query, then smiled. Her mother had pointed out that the Firebirds were getting older and she could only agree. She welcomed the idea of being consulted about things, even if she didn't understand where this was going yet.

"I love baby Elwood," she said, then shot Fox a conspiratorial look and lowered her voice to add, "even if he's a little boring sometimes." She felt a bit sheepish admitting that aloud, though she felt like she could tell her mother anything without being judged. "Why?" she asked next, intuiting that Fox wasn't asking just for the sake of it. She couldn't guess what her mom might ask next, though.

Fox could certainly understand Wifi's comment about Eljay being boring. "Believe it or not, you were boring once, too," Fox said with a grin. Granted, Wifi's boring phase had lasted a lot shorter, but it had been there. All pups started out as boring as ever... and some just took awhile before they got more interesting. Even Fox had been bored with the firebirds for the first couple of weeks... until Wildfire had taken it upon herself to scream at anything and everything. "Everybody's boring when they're born, because nothing has happened to them yet." Fox was a strong believer in nurture over nature. Everyone started out as a blank, boring slate. Anything that happened after that shaped them into the wolf they would become.

They "why" came next (as Fox suspected it would), and Fox let out her breath. "Dud and I will have more kids someday," she replied, not skirting around the issue. "I want you and your siblings to help take care of them when that day comes..." The Redhawk queen tried to gauge her daughter's reaction. "Even if they're boring," she added with a wink, because they would most certainly start out dull as rocks.

Her mother informed her that she had been boring. Everyone was boring at first, according to her. Although Wildfire could certainly believe this, she shook her head and refuted, "Nu uh! You're boring!" She grinned and batted at her mother. She didn't mean that, of course. Her entire family (and that included the entire pack) was a pretty cool bunch.

And it sounded like they would be growing in the future. Wildfire had never really contemplated the idea of younger siblings, just like she hadn't really thought about being an adult until just recently. The idea struck her as strange for a split second and her face went blank. Then it processed. By the time her mother mentioned helping to rear the new pups, Wildfire's face had broken into another, even broader grin.

"Cool!" she replied. "I'd like that. When will they get here? Are they in your belly now?" she guessed, amber gaze dropping to the Alpha female's flat stomach before lifting curiously to her dam's face again.

For a split-second, Fox worried that she had managed to raise a Junior (yes, that's totally a thing now). However, Dhole was quick to point out that the prospect of new siblings was "cool," and began asking how soon they would get here. Fox chuckled, relief washing out her expression for a few seconds before she was able to respond. "They won't be here for awhile," she explained, "Not until it gets cold... and then starts getting warm again." Even if she were able, Fox couldn't imagine bringing children into the world in the middle of winter. It was highly irresponsible, and she wouldn't allow it (from herself or other mothers in Redhawk Caldera).

Fox realized that she hadn't had "the talk," with Wildfire. Then again, did she need to? Weren't these things instinctual? Fox couldn't recall ever hearing exactly what went where or how. It had just happened with Peregrine, and she had never questioned any of it. Perhaps she would allow Wildfire and her siblings the same freedom, provided they didn't ask about it first. Considering Dhole already knew that pups grew in the belly (which she must've learned from watching Finley's pregnancy), she at least knew a little bit about where babies came from.

Fox said they wouldn't be here for quite a while yet. The concept was still too new for Wildfire to feel either disappointment or relief. She just nodded in acceptance of the timeline. In the next instant, a bunch of questions crowded her brain (still keeping thoughts of Ashton at bay).

"How does it happen? I mean, how do you know when it's time? Does your belly just start growing one day and then you eventually push them out of your bellybutton?" Wildfire felt like much more of a grownup lately (since her adventure following the storm, actually) but this little series of questions showed her true naïveté on these matters.

Can't wait to see Wifi's reaction, lol.

Well, so much for that thought. Wildfire began to shoot off questions, one after another, until she was practically out of breath. "Not quite," Fox replied, even though she wanted to say, "Not at all!" Even though Wildfire and her siblings looked like adults, they were still children at heart (and mind). She could have gone with the tried and true "when two wolves love each other very much," but Fox wasn't enough of a romantic to put it that way. Instead, she went with the plain jane approach of telling it exactly as it was.

"Basically, your body will tell you exactly when it's ready to have children. It's kind of how your body tells you when you're hungry or tired, but a whole lot more intense. Guys will start trying to hump you left and right, but if you've already got a guy, he'll make sure nobody else gets to hump you. You'll end up getting humped a lot for about a week, then, if things went the right way, you'll poop out some babies after the moon turns around twice. Well, not poop them out, but it's pretty close to that. It's also not terribly pleasant to give birth, but the reward is alright, I guess." Fox said this last bit with a wicked grin.

Fox began to explain and Wildfire listened attentively. Her eyes widened slightly, her ears drawing backward when her mother mentioned humping. She didn't quite understand what that had to do with puppies, though her mother went on to explain that the pups would arrive within two months of these strange acts. It was a lot to digest, particularly this idea that a mother wolf excreted her offspring.

Naturally, Wildfire thought of all this in the context of her own parents and litter mates. "So... dad humped you? And we... came out of your butt?" she asked in a quiet, incredulous voice, somewhere between bemused and horrified at this knowledge. That would explain why pups came into the world wet and sticky, a fact which she recollected from her prior conversation with Aunt Finley. Wildfire's face scrunched. "That's really... weird," was all she could really say about the entire thing.

Well, there was one more thing she could think to say: "I don't think I ever want to do that." She liked children, as much as someone her age could, and could see herself wanting to be a mother one day. She just found the process entirely too weird to comprehend right now. Besides, it sounded like it required the male (though she still didn't understand the specifics) and she knew she didn't have a connection with anybody like her mom did with her dad.

Except... Ashton. Once more, his handsome hippie face found its way into her head. And then she found herself imagining him humping her, which made her feel very peculiar indeed. She banished that thought, essentially decapitating him in her mind and focusing back on his face. He had such pleasant features, his fur golden like wheat and his eyes the color of grass after sunset.

"Basically, yeah," Fox replied. It was a bit more involved than that… and they didn't quite come out the butt, but they may as well have. "It is really weird," she added when Wifi commented on how weird it was. Wildfire went on to say that she didn't think she'd ever want to do that. "That’s ok," Fox replied, "You don’t gotta if you don’t wanna. And even if you wanna, you gotta make sure you’re in a good place before you start thinking about kids." Fox had made sure she was in the best possible situation before settling down with Peregrine and making her first batch of pup-muffins.

Wildfire got a bit of a dazed and glazed in the eyes, and Fox leaned into her vision. "You okay there?" she asked, rotating her head to one side. Hopefully she hadn't scared her off with something she'd said. Or worse, scarred her for life. Hopefully that wasn't the case, because if it was, Peregrine was not going to be happy with her.

Vaguely, she wondered what Fox meant by a good place. But her daydreaming was taking over at long last. The corners of her lips twitched into a dorky little smile as she pictured Ashton's face. Her amber eyes glazed, though they focused sharply again when her mother leaned into her sight line and asked if she was okay. A little snort burst from her and Wildfire dropped her eyes to her toes in sheepish embarrassment.

She peeked upward after a moment. She could tell her mom anything, right? "I think..." she began, wondering how to phrase it. Wildfire felt her heart throb and her throat tighten at the mere thought of Ashton and she knew, "I'm in love."

Fox gave Wildfire a peculiar look as she seemed to stay off in her own little world for a moment longer. Just as Fox was about to open her mouth again, Wifi responded. The relatively new mother had to use every ounce of decency to hold back the laughter that threatened to bubble up from her throat into the air. She couldn't, however, hide the grin that pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"Are you now?" Fox asked, "Well, who’s the lucky dude?" Although, considering her parents' taste, it could very well be a lady. Both of her parents had a liking for both in their own way. Fox tried to figure out who Wifi might have a liking for, but since she couldn't think of anybody right away, she would allow her daughter to reveal it on her own terms.

She bit her lip, feeling suddenly shy about revealing the identity of her crush. Fox was smiling at her but would she still be smiling if her daughter admitted she was over the moon for Ashton? She assumed her parents liked him, if he was part of the pack, especially a prodigal one. Or did that mean they didn't like him as much? Her insides clenched nervously, though eventually her mother's indulgent smile—coupled with a sudden need to share—caused her tongue to start moving.

"Ashton," she admitted, her cheeks heating as she looked down at her paws, then up at her dam again to gauge Fox's reaction.

Dhole seemed hesitant to reveal who she was secretly admiring, and again, Fox was about to open her mouth when Wifi finally spoke up. Ashton. Huh, well, that was a choice Fox hadn't really expected. Did Wildfire even really know him? Could one be in love with somebody they didn't even really know? Perhaps a better word would have been "smitten," but maybe Wifi's vocabulary didn't include that word. Fox hadn't actually planned on what she was going to say, so she just went with the first thing that came to mind.

"What do you like about him?" Fox asked, unsure if her daughter would even be willing to betray that bit of information. Once upon a time, Fox had been smitten with somebody with no real reason. In fact, that same wolf brought a trespasser into her home, and later joined Redhawk Caldera, though she hadn't seen him since before the storm. Where was Njal, anyway?

The question her mother posed was an easy one to answer. "He's handsome," she gushed, a dreamy light entering her warm amber eyes. "I like the way he talks. Dad called him a hippie. Is that how hippies talk?" But before Fox could answer, Wildfire continued. "He's really nice too. He called me a hot hawk and a doll." The young girl almost swooned.

"And when I'm around him," she went on after a short pause, "it feels like there's a bunch of butterflies in my stomach. He makes me nervous but happy at the same time. That's what love feels like, right?" She wasn't sure she was using the right word, though she knew a lot about romance just from watching her parents sap on one another all the time.

Dhole spouted off several reasons why she was in "love" with Ashton. He was handsome. He talked like a real charmer. And there were the butterflies. "You’re twitter-pated," Fox replied, breaking the news to Wildfire as if it were some kind of medical diagnosis. She shook her head and chuckled softly. "Your secret is safe with me, don’t worry," Fox added, wanting Dhole to know she wouldn't go spouting off this news to everybody in the pack. She would, of course, mention it to Peregrine, who would surely think it was a hoot and a half.

"Love is a bit… different, I think. But being twitter-pated is definitely the first sign." Fox had certainly been twitter-pated with Peregrine far before she should have been. He'd been with Hawkeye then, with kids in tow, and it hadn't exactly been fair to anybody for Fox to go crushing on him when he was in that situation. At least it had worked out in the end; Wifi was evidence of that.

Her mother informed her that she was twitterpated rather than in love. Seeing as she was no expert, she accepted this with a nod. "Twitterpated," she repeated, finding the word a little amusing. It somehow matched up with the idea of butterflies fluttering around in her belly. "Oh... thanks," she added when Fox told her she would keep it a secret. Wildfire hadn't really thought of that, though she was glad her mother wouldn't go telling everyone, particularly Ashton himself. She wasn't ready for that yet.

If being twitterpated was the first sign, "What's the second sign? How many signs are between being twitterpated and being in love?" Wildfire wondered. If she felt this strongly about Ashton now, what would true love feel like? It would be intense, she predicted. But there was another question more important than those two or any other. "Do... you think he might love me too? Or whatever?" What was the verb form of twitterpated?

"Well," Fox replied, shifting her weight from one side to the other. "You're a little young for him." If Ashton was in love with her adolescent daughter that would be… odd. And a little bit lot bit creepy. "Not to say you’ll always be too young for him." Fox couldn't really get mad for the age difference. Past a certain point (see: sexual maturity), it was just meaningless numbers. Fox had courted males of all ages, provided they could give her children when she was old enough to do so. Peregrine had managed to lock her down, and he was two years her senior.

"As for when you know you’re in love…" she trailed off, "sometimes it’s hard to tell." It was unlike the advice she'd gotten—"you'll just know"—because it had taken her a long time to realize her own feelings for Peregrine. And even longer for her to admit them out loud, to him.

Wildfire licked her lips and tried to hide her disappointment when Fox told her that Ashton was too old for her. But her ears fell and she slouched a little, feeling crestfallen. In the next breath, the Alpha female assured her this wouldn't always be the case. When exactly would it change? When you're an adult, probably, she thought to herself. She had never been in a huge hurry to grow up, though all of a sudden she found herself eagerly looking forward to the moon's ninth cycle.

The youngster's brows furrowed thoughtfully at her mother's rather ambiguous reply about love. All she could think to say was, "Oh." This whole conversation gave her a lot of food for thought. She would have to sneak away somewhere and really think over all of it. In the meantime, it seemed the topic had come to a close there.

"Hey," she piped up, thinking back on the subject of younger siblings, "will me and NJ and Rave be adults yet when the new puppies come?" Wildfire wondered.

"How else would you help out with your new brothers and sisters?" Fox asked, licking the top of Wifi's head. Sure, puppies could be of some help to other puppies… but Fox preferred that her first litter be grown before the next one arrived. It would be most helpful if they were fully-functioning adults by the time their siblings arrived into this world. "I want to make sure you and your siblings are completely adultified before I think about having puppies," Fox reassured Dhole.

"C'mon, let's go round up your siblings and find Dud. I'm sure he's hankering for food just as much as I am." Without further ado, Fox trotted off, glancing backward to make sure Wifi was hot on her trail.

To answer her mother's question, Wildfire replied, "I help with Elwood Jr!" Technically speaking, that wasn't true. She didn't feed or bathe or babysit him like an adult she-wolf might. Well, it was still a good introduction to puppy rearing. By the time the second batch of Firebirds came along, she would be well prepared for the event.

Fox told her to come along to fetch something to eat. There was never a time when the youth wasn't hungry, so she trotted after her mother, mouth already watering at the thought of their upcoming repast... and, perhaps, the image of Ashton's face that popped back into her mind's eye.