Heron Lake Plateau i would swim the deepest, sharkiest oceans to be with you.

Fin tucked herself closer to @Elwood's side as she watched the sun rising over the Plateau. It had been a while since Bat's disappearance and things didn't look good. She knew hope was slim that the girl had survived, but she was a mother, so she preferred to try and cling to optimism, hard as it was to do so. It wasn't working very well - her latest sleepless night being case and point.

She lied beside her mate for another five minutes before she could take it no more. There was too much on her mind and she needed to unleash it on him. Gently, she leaned over to sniffle at his ear, hoping to wake him. "Hey... you awake yet?" she whispered hopefully, her tail starting to wag a little.

Elwood was worried about Bat, too, and it had kept him up the last couple of nights. But tonight, exhaustion had won over and he had finally fallen asleep, at least for a short while. It wasn't a very deep sleep, so when Finley shifted next to him, he started to stir, even before her nose brushed his ear and she asked if he was awake.

He opened one eye and peered at her in the early morning light, his own tail thumping the ground behind him. "Yeah, are you?" he teased, although it was clear that she had been up for some time.

It was a testament to the seriousness of her mood that she didn't answer his question with her usual level of sarcasm or sillyness. Instead, she offered a weak smile as she lifted her head and looked at him. "Yeah, a little bit," she said, then admitted in a smaller voice, "Can't sleep."

There were a lot of moments in their relationship that consisted of silliness and laughter. This didn't seem to be one of them, though. Elwood could tell from Finley's tone of voice that something was on her mind, even though she didn't exactly say that. So this was his cue to shelve his playfulness and be a little more serious.

"What's up?" he asked, nudging her cheek gently in encouragement and empathy.

Fin had never been one to beat around the bush, and today was no exception. Her mind was too focused on her current thoughts to even attempt to casually bring the conversation around to what she wanted, so she just looked at her mate and went for it, "I think we should go to the Copse with Wildfire."

There were many reasons she'd come to the conclusion, but she at least wasn't going to just spew them all over Elwood until he'd been given a minute to digest her declaration for himself. She knew him well enough to know that he was not as quick on the uptake as she was, simply because he preferred to think things through where she just ran with her whims. So, she watched him for a moment, awaiting her cue to continue with as much patience as she could muster.

It didn't take any more urging from Elwood; Finley was quick to explain what was on her mind. And when she came out and said it, Elwood wasn't exactly surprised. He had been thinking about it too, ever since Wildfire first hatched her plans for the Firebirds and suggested that her godparents would be welcome to join her. His thoughts on the subject were not quite so straightforward, though; he had been back and forth between the reasons they should stay and the reasons they should go. On one hand, he didn't like the idea of abandoning Peregrine and Fox's original pack, in a way. But on the other -- they wouldn't really be abandoning it at all. Firebirds was meant to be an extension of Redhawks, and why not help Wildfire continue the legacy while Raven and Quixote held down the fort here?

He nodded slowly, chewing at his lower lip for a moment before replying. "I'll do whatever makes you happy," he said, and he wasn't being facetious; when it came down to it, he knew he would be content on the plateau or in the copse, as long as he was with family -- and he would be surrounded by it in both locations. Although he didn't outright say it, his expression beckoned Finley to share her reasons for wanting to move.

Fin watched her mate as he put his thinking face on, growing more and more eager by the second. It really didn't take him very long to respond, but she felt about ready to burst when he finally spoke. She opened her mouth to flood him with her reasoning, but paused before little more than a squeak escaped her throat. She shut her mouth and blinked at him in surprise.

"That's it?" she said, canting her head, "I had like.. this whole speech worked out to convince you. I actually thought it through for once and I had all these reasons and these arguments all prepared and what - you're just gonna let me have my way?" It was absurd of her, and yet she pouted a little at him, completely missing her cue to go ahead and share those reasons in her surprise and subsequent dismay.

The blatant surprise on Finley's face made Elwood smile. He also realized, in that moment, just how much their relationship had evolved over time. They were on the same wavelength without even really trying; there wasn't a need for Finley to have to convince him to move to the copse, but he still wanted to hear what she had to say -- especially if she had expected to have to argue her point.

"That's it," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders, then added, "but tell me anyway. Pretend I just told you no, absolutely not."

"That's much better, thank you," Fin replied, smiling at her mate as he convinced her to laugh at herself for being such a dumb. It wasn't like she'd wanted to argue or for this to be difficult at all really. The explanation of her reasons was more to ease her own guilty conscience than anything else, though it was also quite important to her to make sure that she and Elwood were in agreement on the matter as well. So.

"Well, I'm going to start with the selfish reasons and work my way up to the ones we would actually share with the public," Fin announced, deeming it better to end on an altruistic note, "First, I hate this place. It's wet and it's muddy and it's cold and I just don't like it. And, I'm a cripple, and let me tell you, it's real damn hard to get yourself unstuck from mud when you've got a bum hip."

"Second, and kind of along the same lines... What happened to Bat freaks me out. And I know it didn't happen here, but there's still so many areas here where it could happen. The kids are all old enough now to be smart enough to stay safe, but what if we have more little ones? Most of the wet areas around here, you don't even notice until you're standing in it. I just.. I don't like it. I never really saw it before Bat, but now I can't unsee it and I don't like it."

"Finally, I just feel like it's time to give the kids some space to grow up and figure things out on their own, without us hovering," she finished, her most altruistic reason being the one she liked the least. She liked her kids depending on her. She liked being there for them. The idea of not being where Tegan could come sneak into their den to sleep, or where where Cinder could entice her into bouncing around with him hurt her heart. But then she looked at Liffey with a family and a pack and a life all her own, and Towhee trying to bust out of the mold Fin was always trying to smash her into. Maybe it was better for them to not have their parents so close at hand so they could all learn to be their own selves.

Truth be told, she didn't actually start with her most selfish reason, which was just that she wanted to. Wildfire was so chill and so gracious and kind, and Fin was just damn old. The drama their current leadership got up to was just exhausting. It didn't feel like she really was or even could retire with being in such close proximity to it all and feeling guilty like she needed to insert herself into helping them work it out. She didn't actually do that most of the time, but still, the guilt over her inaction was aggravating. She thought fondly of Sun Spark and how he'd spent his last days just meandering around Blacktail Deer Plateau, telling stories and enjoying the company of his loved ones. She wanted that for herself and for Elwood, but she didn't see that happening at this Plateau.

He listened attentively as she detailed her thoughts one by one and found that he agreed with each of them on some level. He didn't share the same hatred of the plateau that Finley and Eljay and others did, but she raised some good points about the landscape. In general, Elwood felt pretty neutral about the territory itself; Fin's opinions were important to him, though, and he thought that they were perfectly valid, especially when she mentioned Bat's recent demise. There was danger everywhere, truthfully, but once something like this happened, it was hard to look around and feel any amount of safety.

Her last reason brought a bittersweet smile to his lips. Finley and Elwood had grown up just like their children; they were no longer as overprotective as they had been with Eljay, and they were both okay with letting their sons and daughters make decisions for themselves. It was good, but part of him still hated to see it happen. Secretly, he wanted to keep all of his children close by for eternity; of course, he knew that couldn't be the case. However, Wildfire's pack provided the perfect opportunity for Tegan, Clover, and the others to experience a taste of independence with their parents just a short hike away.

"I love you," he said, which might have seemed out of the blue, but he really felt it was an appropriate response to what she had said. "And I agree with all of that. You have a lot of good points," he added.

Finley had already anticipated Elwood's response to her eloquently laid out reasoning. There would be acknowledgement, maybe a comment or two about how he agreed with this point or that point, and then confirmation that he was onboard with her suggestion. But, he surprised her with his first. She tilted her head at him, smirking and giving a soft chuckle. She hadn't realized her rambling monologue would earn her a random I love you, but she definitely appreciated it. She appreciated it too when he proceeded to perform as she had anticipated, just like a good Elwood. She reached and tapped his nose with hers - the Finwood symbol for I love you more (or I love you too, or I love you, or you're so hot, wanna bang? just depending on the situation).

"I'm glad you agree," she said, smiling. She paused then, wondering if he had been thinking anything along those lines himself. But when she opened her mouth, it wasn't to ask - it was to be a smart ass. "Right then, I'm gonng head over to the Copse. You tell the kids and meet me there in a couple hours, kay?" she said, her muzzle splitting into an innocent, toothy grin.

He knew she was kidding, but he still reached out to place a paw on her shoulder as though stopping her from getting up and leaving. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I think they'd take the news better if it came from their dearest mother," he teased in kind, but his mind was beginning to turn even as the words left his lips. How would the kids take the news? Would they decide to stay, or would Elwood and Finley have to convince them?

"What do you think they'll say?" he asked. "The kids, I mean. Think they'll be as independent as we want them to be?" Eljay would be the hardest to convince, even though he was the oldest. Tegan and Clover would probably be fine; they were both pretty autonomous, anyway. And he wasn't sure about Tywyll and Cinder, just because they were still relatively young.

Elwood reacted just about the way she had expected. She wagged her tail as he tried to put the responsibility back onto her shoulders, shaking her head to deny his allegations. She was pretty sure if she was the one to tell them, she would make a real mess of it. She'd probably panic and end up telling them they were all too unattractive to live with anymore or something equally absurd and random.

"Oh gosh.. I don't know if I want to think about what they're gonna say," Fin answered honestly, her muzzle twisting into a frown, "Probably half of them will cry and the other half will yell. Though Clover might actually cheer, so there's that." She grinned over that, even though she didn't particularly think it was true. Clover might only like Fin half of the time, but she always loved her daddy. They all always loved their daddy. What kind of bullshit is this that they didn't always like her very much?

Little did they know, it would be Clover throwing the wrenches when it came time to announce their plans -- but we'll see how that all plays out in the end. For now, Elwood nodded, agreeing with Finley's predictions. Tears and screaming seemed about par for the course for the Blackthorn family; if there was something that all of their children had in common, it was that they wore their emotions on their sleeves. Not all of them were as sensitive as Eljay, but they certainly had no problem expressing their emotions loudly and boldly (especially if it involved cuss words).

"Hmmm," was his only contribution, accompanied by a yawn. It was still incredibly early; he stole a glance at the skyline as he snuggled down next to Finley, wondering if he could catch another hour or two of sleep before rousing for the day.

Elwood didn't really give her much of a response, except to show her some sleepy signs. She peered at him through squinted eyes, knowing this game very well. He was tired still, but didn't want to be impolite and just go back to sleep on her. Partially because he was a gentleman, but also kind of because he knew what it was like when she was angry.

He was such a sweetums. 

Smiling to herself, she reached to plant a kiss upon his cheek before settling in against him once more. She didn't really think she would manage to sleep at all, but she did like being near to her mate, so she was willing to lay around for a while longer while he rested up enough to play with her again. Fin squirmed a bit (a lot) to make herself comfortable until she was pretty much spooning him with her muzzle tucked up right alongside of Elwood's, knowing it was probably obnoxious, but being perfectly okay with that fact.

She closed her eyes, grinning, focusing on the present where she was cozy and happy and not the future where she was breaking the hearts of her children and abandoning them for a pretty forest with floaty, glowy things. That was future Fin's problem. Present Fin was gonna keep on snugglin'.

smushing an ending on here <3