Redhawk Caldera Going late night, who needs a fantasy?

After her excursion, it didn't take Tierra long to bounce back, though she had lost the angst hatred of this place she'd picked up previously. As a result, she was (marginally) nicer to both @Caracal and @Sphyra - at least, some of the time. Siblings were always going to sibling.

Sphyyyyyrrraaaaa. HEY, DUMB BUTT!!! Tierra hollered. She'd found something super cool and her sister was going to be jealous as hell. Where was she?

She frowned, looking around. Mom was probably the easiest one to find right now but she was kind of a bummer and Tierra didn't feel like sitting inside on a gorgeous day like this. Not when there was sun to be had and water to swim in and.... yes!!!

Her eyes locked on the squirrel just as it's head tipped up and saw her. She took off at just about the same instant it did, and while she probably wouldn't catch it, she let out a loud WHOOP as she tore wildly in its wake.

With everything going on around here lately, Towhee seemed to have good days and bad days. Caracal kept close to her a lot of the time, offering food and fellowship per Bridget's suggestions. He couldn't be sure any of it made a difference, though looking after his mother gave him a sense of purpose.

Today seemed to be a good day. Towhee left early to patrol. Caracal waved as she left, then tried to decide what to do with himself now. He supposed he could go check out all these newcomers (old...comers?), see what the fuss was all about. He sat beneath the dogwood tree atop Hobbit Hill as he contemplated.

One of the twins' voices suddenly broke the thoughtful silence and the boy rolled his eyes. Jumping to his feet, he bounded down the hill toward the sound of Tierra's voice. Caracal froze the instant he saw the squirrel, remaining still as a statue as his sister went for it.

Despite himself, Caracal shouted, "GET HIM, TIERRA!!! FINISH HIM!!!"

Like Sphyrapicus had predicted, her dramatic sister had returned to the fold once more. A part of Sphyra's life was simply wolves leaving and wolves coming back. It was just what life was like. Reyes hadn't really returned, but Sphyra knew she could visit him whenever she wanted to, so that was fine. She thought she should probably visit him sometime soon. It did seem that Sapsucker was a little less nasty and self-centered after her latest escapade, though Sphyra couldn't fathom why. Maybe she finally decided to grow up.

Hey, dumb butt! Well, at least a little bit.

Sphyra came trotting in Sapsucker's direction, as she'd been training nearby. What's up, nerd? Just as she came into view Sphyra called this out to Sapsucker, but before her sister could respond she bounded after a squirrel. Sphyra felt her instincts roar at her to join in, and after a very short split second where she was intrigued to see if Sapsucker could catch it on her own, Sphyra bounded towards her sister and the squirrel with teeth bared, hoping to surprise it since it was running away from Sapsucker.

I'M TRYING!!! Unfortunately, screaming about it wasn't exactly helpful, and as Sphyra appeared in front of her, Tierra pulled up and stopped abruptly with a sharp, whiny yell.

SPEARA, I HAD IT!!

She definitely did not. Sphyra had a way better chance of cutting it off than she'd had of actually catching up to it before it disappeared into one of the nearby trees. In fact, her sister had probably just saved her the embarassment of about running headlong into one of them.

He laughed at her reply, falling quiet and cheering her on in his head for all of three seconds before a wild Sphyra appeared. She gave chase too, resulting in Tierra braking abruptly and then shouting at her twin as the squirrel presumably bounded away to safety.

Caracal's ears fell backward. Oh boy, were they going to start screaming at each other now? He'd used up all his bandwidth looking after Towhee lately, so he didn't think he could deal with his sisters' nonsense right now.

His enthusiasm from a moment ago now evaporated, he spun on a red heel and ran back uphill. Once there, he paused to see if a fight had broken out or if maybe the two would move past it to combine forces and conquer the squirrels together.

If not for her sister's screeches, Sphyra might've caught the squirrel considering she was coming in for a surprise attack from the other side. As it were, teeth snapped shut just inches from the squirrel's tail as she was distracted by Tierra's indignation. The game was stopped immediately. Sphyra glanced at Caracal, who looked like he was about to nope the heck out of here, before looking back at the indignant Tierra.

You don't own all the squirrels, y'know, she said, sounding annoyed. 'Sides, I was just helping you out. You don't have to do everything on your own. Might be more successful if you accepted a little help. Sphyra looked coldly at Tierra, het words clearly a play on dominance even though she also believed them to be true. All she tried to do was join in on some fun, but Tierra always had to squash it right away.

Fading, as discussed!

From his distant vantage point, Caracal couldn't make out the words Sphyra said to Tierra. It boded well that she wasn't screaming, though. He still held his breath. Out of the two of them, Tierra was definitely the one particularly prone to raising her voice. But her twin must've said something right, as the shouting match seemed to have come to an end.

His head cocked when the pair of them eventually moved off in tandem, their movements effortlessly synchronized. He raised a paw, wondering if he could come along if everyone was going to get along, then put his foot back on the ground. It might've been fun to join his sisters on a hunt, if that's still what they were doing, but Caracal sensed that he should just leave them t(w)o it.