Redhawk Caldera Woes vs. whoas

I am mercilessly power-playing a bunch of characters in the background (Peregrine, Ferret, Gannet and @Gavriel). I was hoping that anyone who hadn't hopped into her other thread might nab this one! @Fox? @Finley? @Whip? @Jackrabbit? :)

It had rained all night, leaving puddles of various sizes all over the ground near the caldera's western border. Wildfire watched, grinning, as two of her little brothers frolicked in one of the larger pools. Peregrine sat next to her, keeping an eye on things even as the two of them conversed. There was still a lot of catching up to do and this was the last day before the yearling began the trip back, with one last stop-off before she and Gavriel landed back at Sleeping Dragon.

"Are you really not going to tell me her name?" Peregrine was teasing in her ear, giving her a fond side-eye. Wildfire swallowed and looked around, spotting Gavriel lurking nearby, possibly within earshot. She then canted her head toward her father and replied coyly, "Someday." She wondered how much her guardian might have overheard, if anything at all, and knew she would surely find out when they eventually made their way back to the taiga. "Just know that it's very new and I'm very happy."

"All right, all right," her father ceased and desisted, for now. Wildfire suspected he would probably badger her again before they said their final goodbyes, though for the moment, Ferret offered an effective distraction as he sent a wall of muddy water in their direction.

He had made it a habit of roaming in the vicinity of the rendezvous site, though as he emerged from sleep, he found the earth was not as dry as the previous night. To his enjoyment, the ground was covered in large puddles, and to the boy, this was the jackpot. He didn't like swimming so much, but he did like the water. His earliest memory of his family was the trip to the river, his fondest recollection of his mother. 

But this day, he had much more important things on his mind.

As he wandered, he made it a job of splashing in every puddle as he went, deeming it his civic duty to do so. By the time he neared the large group consisting of Peregrine, someone-that-looked-like-Fox-but-wasn't, The Ferret, Gannet, and another male he had never seen before. He burst from the pines, looking rather estranged, stopping right in the path of the lookalike Fox. The majority of him was doused in mud, though he had payed no mind to his appearance, nor the frenemny that also apparently had the same idea as him about the puddles.

"Who are you?" He shoved in the not-Fox's face, taking in a huge whiff of her scent, as his nose scrunched up as he tired to decipher who the heck this was. His tone was rather blunt, but he did not really care so much, rather, his own curiosity taking the bulk of his mannerisms.

Wildfire attempted to turn her face away from the wall of water, so most of it splattered her left shoulder. She cringed but laughed, peeking back over at a pleased-looking Ferret, whose expression quickly shifted when Peregrine veritably roared and sprang to tackle the little brute. The yearling watched with merry eyes, until her halfway turned position afforded her a view of a newcomer to the scene: a youngster with brown fur darkened by mud and damp. Clearly he had been puddle-jumping as well.

"I'm Wildfire, although you can call me Wifi," she replied, flinching and laughing as more water splashed against her. She sprang to her feet and moved away from where Peregrine, Ferret and even Gannet were now having a mud wrestling match. "Are you Whip or Jack?" she wondered. "Either way, I'm your older sister," she added, having taken note of the way Peregrine spoke of his recent foster pickup. Wildfire could tell that, despite his newness, he was already considered part of their family.

So his suspicions had been correct. Huh. This was not Fox, so he assumed this had to be one of their countless children. Why had he not considered that before? Perhaps, he was getting slow. But one thing he did notice was Wildfire's name. Well, it just wasn't weird. And he noted it out loud. "Your name is cool," His comment was laced with a hint of suspicion, as if he could not believe this was one of Peregrine's children since she did not have a weird name like the rest, though her nickname begged to differ.

But as the conversation went on, he braced himself, just waiting to be called or compared to Peter once again. But she did not. This surprised him, and it was clear within his features. But all at once, his nose scrunched up, a hint of distaste among his body language. "Whip?" She could not be serious. "It's Jack," He replied, though he felt oddly miffed the woman had though him to be Whip, the one with the weirdest name of them all. 

But the news of his woman being his.. his sister, was news to him. He knew he had been accepted into the Redhawk pack, but he did not know that meant into their family. Huh. His eyes flickered over to his family as the sploshed around in the mud, like children. Yes, this was his family. However ridiculous they were. "Cooool," He smiled back at the woman, awe clear on his face. He could not help the urge to flaunt it everywhere, that this girl here, yes, this one, was HIS sister. He could see it all now. They would go on adventures, hunt down cannibals and save orphans like him from all the bad guys of the Teekon. But that had him wondering, why had he not seen her before. She couldn't possibly have just arrived. Could she? "You're staying, right?" His tone seemed wary, unsure. His gaze shifted back to the others, resting particularly on Ferret. Now that he had an older sister, he didn't have to worry about the boy coming after him. His eyes snapped back to Wifi, meeting hers as if searching for something deep within.

"You have to stay," His tone turned hard, adamant on that fact. She couldn't leave now that he had just found out he had a sister. She was the only one who didn't look at him like he was Peter. She had to stay.

He seemed disgruntled about her question, which earned a little laugh from her. "Sorry, sorry," she said, not bothering to explain that she couldn't have known. He was just a puppy. "It's nice to meet you, Jack. And thanks for the compliment," she added, black tail waving.

His vehement request took her totally by surprise. Her brow furrowed and she glanced at Peregrine, who was busy attempting to drown Ferret in the puddle now while Gannet looked on with an inscrutable expression. They wouldn't be any help, so her amber eyes drifted back to Jack's face and she frowned apologetically.

"I don't actually live here. I'm only visiting. I have a whole life in my pack to the north." She paused, blinked. "But I'm a scout by trade, so it's in my job description to travel. I'll try to visit when I can." Though they'd only just met, she meant it sincerely. It was so good to catch up with the Redhawks, now including the youngest generation. "How come you want me to stay so bad? Am I really that cool?" Wildfire wondered teasingly.

Somehow, Fox had managed to miss Wildfire when she had come by to visit the caldera the past few days. Truth be told, she'd had horrible diarrhea and could barely make it four steps without shitting. After two days of hydrating and feeling miserable, Fox finally woke up feeling refreshed and had her first solid poop in what felt like forever. She turned around to sniff her much healthier-looking shit, grinned, and toddled off toward the rendezvous site.

"Dhole!" she greeted with tail wagging, grey eyes beaming, and in general good spirits. She didn't guess that her mini me was back her for good, and she assumed Peregrine had already told everybody that she'd been shitting herself day-in and day-out, hence her absence. "I see you met the newest recruit." Fox gave Jack a pointed grin. As for Peregrine, Ferret, and Gannet, she gave them each a brief greeting in the way of a glance and a smile before returning her attention to the other two children. (Yes, Perry counts as a child.)

Skipping @Jackrabbit to keep this moving... :)

Before the pup could answer her, someone shouted her name (well, one of them). The instant that familiar voice touched her ears, Wildfire felt a jolt of excitement spear through her. Flashing Jackrabbit a quick, apologetic look, she swiveled to face Fox. Her mother appeared to be in good spirits despite her recent illness. Wildfire couldn't help but pitch forward, burying her nose into the side of her mother's neck to draw in her smell (woods, rocks, puppies and thankfully very little feces mixed in there), then give her a wolfish version of a hug.

Stepping back, she included the pup with another glance and a little grin. "I did! He was just bullying me into staying here," Wildfire teased with a wink. It secretly pleased her that he had warmed to her so quickly and the Bandrona certainly didn't have any reason to differentiate him from her blood brothers, having just met all of them. "How are you feeling?" she added, looking back to Fox.

He did not like the answer he received. Like.. at all. He understood she could not stay, that she lived elsewhere. But he had hoped, they may get along. Yet, this seemed all too familiar. Perhaps her departure brought back too many memories of all he had said goodbye to before, or perhaps it was his own disappointment at himself for opening his heart to another group that would surely leave him in the dust; the two were unidentifiable to the boy. "All my siblings are gone," He mumbled to himself; no context, and shrugged, as if it was the most casual thing in the world. And for him, it was. He had recounted it what seemed a million times before. Wolves came and went, was all it was. Yet, perhaps his high expectations had come to easily. Perhaps he should not have so eagerly accepted Wifi as his sister, since she had no plans to stick around. They always did, it seemed, and he could not make  her out to be some sort of exception. With one last glance back to Wildfire, he shook his head. It had been a stupid idea in the first place. "Never mind," His feet shifted, instantly uncomfortable with the situation had landed himself in, and scowled. As Fox and Wildfire conversed, clearly moved on from his presence among them, he slipped away from the group as Peregrine and his biological sons pranced about in the mud. Stupid, they were. They were all just stupid. While his heart was not put into the words he thought, the rising anger at himself for giving into the idea of a permanent family clouded his love for the Redhawk's. He was not one of them, not really. Trudging away in the dirt, the boy isolated himself for the rest of the day, unable to speak a word without the fear of abandonment etching into his quivering tone. The boy was an overreacter, but he could not help it. Other feelings were at work in his mind, some that had kept him alert while others failed him. Yet, it was his fatal flaw and one of which, he had no interest in admitting. 

Jackrabbit trudged off, and Fox rolled her eyes. "He's a bit dramatic," she said in a lowered voice, "but he'll get over it." If he didn't... well, Fox would have a talking-to with him later. For now, she returned her attention to Dhole, who'd asked how she was doing. She could only assume that her daughter was talking about Peter's death. "I'm hanging in there, like I do," she replied with a half-hearted smile.

"Things are good... where you are?" Fox knew Wifi was no longer at the plateau, but she couldn't recall where she had gone after that. She had felt so out of the loop lately (which is 100% her player's fault).

Wildfire bit her lip when Jackrabbit mumbled a few words, then made an abrupt exit. She hadn't meant to offend him or make him feel bad. She looked imploringly to Fox, who seemed rather dismissive about his reaction. Despite her assurances, Wildfire peered in the direction Jack had gone, wondering if she could nab him again before she left for Sleeping Dragon, clear the air and make sure he understood that she was his sister and he was her brother, no matter the time or distance or blood type.

For now, she retrained her attention upon her much beloved dam. "Yes, I'm living pretty far north now, in a pack called Sleeping Dragon. It's on a volcano too, only a little less extinct, I think." Wildfire chuffed a laugh. Her amber eyes then sparkled. "And, yeah, things are good. I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Her voice lowered a little as if not to be overheard. Or maybe it was a bit of shyness. "I met somebody. A woman." She nibbled at her lip again, awaiting Fox's reaction.

When Dhole revealed that she wanted to talk about something, Fox's ears pricked forward. She wondered if her wayward daughter was planning on coming back home. Perhaps she had met a boy. Perhaps she was pregnant (wait, no, she was too young for that). Maybe Wildfire was going to really strike out on her own and try and form her own pack. That would not have been a surprise to Fox, who had always assumed that was everybody's eventual goal. Wifi was driven, smart, and certainly capable of such things, even at her young age.

Instead, her daughter revealed that she had met someone. A woman, no less. Fox's lips pulled into a smirk, remembering the few ladies she'd been drawn to, and the one she'd had a few steamy encounters with. "She's good to you?" was Fox's first question, leaning in and hoping that the answer was yes. Otherwise, she'd have to march up north and rip this woman a new one.

She wasn't actually sure what she expected in way of reaction, so likely anything out of Fox's mouth would have taken her at least somewhat by surprise. But this simple question caused her insides to feel warm and gooey. "Yes," she said softly but immediately. Something about the query made her think of Floki and the events leading to their breakup. Her parents still didn't know about Goober and, if Wildfire had her way, they never would. "Floki and I broke it off and I went north. You could sort of say she rescued me, in a way. I'm happy." And wasn't that exactly what every parent wanted to hear about his or her child?

Wildfire paused, then embellished: "It's still new. It took me a while to even realize I had a crush, since I'd never really looked at another woman before." She bit her lip a little shyly, glancing up at Fox's face, those familiar gray eyes reassuring to her. "But I'm hoping to build a future with her, even have a family." If the yearling knew about her mother's feelings about bastards, they didn't even occur to her just now as she freely gushed about Thuringwethil.

Floki? Who was that again? Fox could barely recall the name, so she swept away the thought and didn't pay much attention at all. While Fox wasn't one to "break things off" with a mate, she was glad that her daughter had found happiness. Hadn't Peregrine broken things off with Lasher? Briefly, Fox wondered how Lasher was doing, but didn't give it too much thought. Her mate's dark lover had never forgiven her for... for what? She couldn't recall. Piss poor memory, Fox had.

When Wifi mentioned family, Fox's ears pushed forward. She hadn't even considered the possibility of Dhole having children. Or any of her kids, honestly. The thought seemed strange. Then again, she was getting to be that age... and Fox knew that the instinct would be strong. But with a woman... how would that... "Oh." A look of realization flickered across her face. Would that mean... bastards? But they would be raised by a pair committed to one another, wouldn't they? "She would raise them with you?" asked Fox, scrutiny not hidden from her voice.

Fox looked a little taken aback and Wildfire could practically see the cogs turning behind her gray eyes. Wildfire felt a little heat in her cheeks. "Yes," she replied a little hesitantly, reacting to the strange tone of her mother's voice. "We haven't discussed the... logistics," she admitted. It was still new, after all, still secret. "We haven't been involved for very long yet. But that's what I'm hoping for, eventually."

The yearling glanced off to the side, in the direction Jack had gone, then slowly turned to face Fox again. "She's actually the Alpha of the pack. And I'm a leader now too. Life," Wildfire said, a thoughtful look in her amber eyes and a musing tone in her own voice, "sort of took me in some unexpected directions. But I'm happy. Really happy, actually."

With the way Dhole spoke of her future children, it didn't sound as though they would be bastards at all. They would have two parents. Maybe one of their parents wouldn't be biological, but then again, Fox considered Jackrabbit her own, and he wasn't related by blood. She felt the same way about Bones, wherever that girl was. In any case, Fox hoped the Wifi would find the family she was looking for.

Fox's ears perked up when Dhole mentioned that her crush (mate?) was the alpha of the pack where they currently lived. It seemed as though the apple didn't fall far from the tree after all. While the Redhawk didn't have a single clue how the rest of her first litter was doing, she was glad to hear that Wifi was moving up in the world. "I'm so glad to hear that, Dhole," she said, and she meant it from the bottom of her heart. The mother stepped forward to give Wifi a wolfish embrace, licking the top of her head as she did so.

Wildfire's insides warmed when her mother embraced her. She leaned into the kiss and nibbled fondly at the side of her dam's neck. When they withdrew a moment later, she was smiling hugely. She hadn't really expected anything less but her parents' acceptance and blessing of her relationship and future plans meant so much to her.

"Maybe I'll name one of them after you," she quipped, black tail waving. "I know you and dad don't travel much but it would mean so much to me if one day you came to Sleeping Dragon and visited with us. I'd love for you to meet my partner... and your grandchildren." Her amber eyes glimmered. "Maybe if you and dad have more kids too"—she tipped her head curiously—"we could even get together, have a multi-generational play date?"

Somebody named after her? Now that fed right into Fox's ego, and her tail beat back and forth quickly against the open air. The thought of naming one of her own children after her had always seemed a bit too obvious, even if Wildfire would have been the perfect child for it. They were nearly identical, and on more than one occasion, they'd been mistaken for one another. In the right light, they could be siblings. Of course, Fox was a couple of years older and was rougher around the edges, but she had a feeling that Dhole would get there one day (if she was anything like her parents).

Fox nearly choked on her own saliva when Dhole mentioned "grandchildren." It was hard to believe that was a possibility next year. Idly, Fox wondered if Nightjar or Raven had settled down with anybody. She sure hoped that if they hadn't, they had at least found somewhere to call home. And if they ever wanted to come back, she knew she'd let them do so with open arms (paws?). "If we have kids?" Fox retorted playfully, "I think you mean when we do." The Redhawk clan wasn't about to stop growing. "I'm pretty sure we could make a trip up there for you. Maybe in a few months when the current batch of Redhawks is a little older. Hell, we'll bring them along!"

It took her by surprise when Fox suggested a visit to Sleeping Dragon a few months from now. Wildfire wouldn't be able to bear any offspring until next spring (or late winter at the very earliest), by her calculations. But she would most definitely not turn her mother or siblings away if they wanted to visit her new home. The idea thrilled her, actually. She couldn't help but wonder if any of the boys would follow in her footsteps and become a scout or even a ranger. Maybe they could take turns making road trips to see each other.

"I'd love that." By then, maybe she and Thuringwethil would be more official too. Wildfire could only hope. "It's a long trip but if you go directly north then cut a little west between the river and the mountains, then turn east when you reach the coast, it's really a very scenic route." It was the one she and Gavriel had taken when attempting to flee from the swarm of locusts but she saw no reason to mention that particular horror element. "When do you think you'll be able to make the trip, exactly?"

Fox knew that her next litter wouldn't be born for quite some time (if history planned to repeat itself), but she wouldn't mind visiting Wildfire without the next batch in tow. They wouldn't even be fit to travel that far for another year or so, anyway. The current kiddos, however... they'd be ready to go great distances in no time. Perhaps it would be good to take a couple (or all four) of them with her. A familial expedition! Perry could come along and keep the kids from getting too wild, too.

"I'm not sure about exactly," Fox confessed, "But once the kids are a little bit older and more able to travel that far." They could probably go pretty far right now, but Fox didn't want to risk it. Not only that, but she'd want to make sure everything was a-ok on the home front before she left it.

The Bandrona nodded. She understood that her mother couldn't necessarily nail down a particular date and it wasn't like she kept a calendar anyway. "I'm already looking forward to it," she announced with a grin before a bout of raucous laughter stole her attention. She smiled at the sight of Peregrine mud wrestling with Ferret, though her eyes widened slightly at how rough they played.

Wildfire knew she should fetch Gavriel and get going soon, yet she was very reluctant to leave this familiar scene what felt like so soon. "Can we just hang out here a bit?" she asked in an almost dreamy sort of voice. She and Fox didn't even have to carry a conversation (though one was certainly welcome). She loved her life at Drageda but Wildfire wanted to just stay here a while and soak up some of the Redhawk awesomeness.