Redhawk Caldera blake's got a new face.

Winter was making more and more of a statement upon the land with each passing day. And it was a damn good thing too because things sure looked bleak as hell without the snow to cover up the dry grass and empty trees. Fin sat quietly upon the ridge that stretched alongside her den, gazing out across the snowy hills that stretched along and down towards the Caldera. It was peaceful, quiet, and truly a lovely sight...

...And frickin' BORING AS HELL.

The beta allowed a frustrated growl to rumble free of her chest as she flopped over onto her side into the fluffy white snow, sending little clouds of crystal up into a flurry all around her. She laid still for a few minutes, then began to wriggle about to make a little cocoon in the snow that she could burrow into. A thought was in the Blackthorn's head that if she rolled over onto her back so that only her white belly and paws were exposed, she'd blend in perfectly. So then... no one would find her... and she could continue to be bored and go stir crazy on her own...

Fin flipped back over onto her belly with another growl, staring out across the snow with a little pout upon her face. "Noooo fun, noooo fun, staring at the snooowwww..." she sang softly to herself as she stared.

OOC: I tried to resist...really, I did...but Blake...and I wanted my 100th post. You'll be tired of me soon. :D

IC: With a squirrel grasped firmly in his jaws, Elwood crept carefully down from the upper heights of the caldera. His steps were slow and cautious, and he paused often; he didn't want to risk falling and injuring himself before winter could really start to take its toll. He was becoming more comfortable traveling up and down the mountainside with each passing day, but the fresh blanket of snow that seemed to fall every night posed a new challenge.

He followed a path that he hadn't explored just yet, hoping it would lead him back to the foothills. When he came to a fork in the road, however, he deliberated for a good minute before choosing which direction to take. And, unfortunately -- or would it turn out to be fortunate? -- it was the wrong trail. Instead, it led him towards a ridge, and he very nearly turned around.

But then he heard a familiar voice, and he paused. His ears pricked as he identified Finley, and a slow smile formed around the squirrel's fur. He continued a little further down the path, until he saw her laying in the snow and gazing out over the wintry landscape. Rather than put down his prize so he could say something, he chuffed through his nostrils, just loud enough to draw her attention to him as he approached.

Lol I don't mind! I don't think I can get sick of you :P ...I'M SICK OF YOU

Finley's ears pricked as she heard the sound of someone approaching, but she kept her head down and simply shifted her gaze to see who it was that was making noises at her. When Elwood came into view, Fin's tail started to beat gently against the snow as she whined a happy greeting. She remained laying down even as he came to stand near her, wanting to wait to see if the opportunity came up for her to show him her new invisibility trick.

"Thank god, entertainment, finally!" she said in relief as he came near enough to hear her. Her gaze was quick to land on the squirrel dangling from his mouth. "Look who's a little murderer," she added with a smirk as she turned back to peer at his face.

<3

OOC: You'll never get rid of me, na na na na boo boo!

IC: "You've been waiting for me, huh?" Elwood commented as he neared Finley's snowy perch. He dropped the squirrel into the powder next to her with a soft thump, then lowered himself onto his belly, mimicking her position. He propped himself up on his elbows, crossing his forepaws in front of him as he took a moment to gaze out over the landscape. This ridge had a nice view; he could see now why she was camped out here, despite her proclamations of boredom.

As for his murderous nature, he used his nose to nudge the squirrel toward her. "Twig's the name, and murder's the game," he quipped, offering her a bite of his quarry. He wasn't hungry at the moment, otherwise he likely would have devoured the small rodent in a few gulps. "You better watch out, princess; piss me off and you might be next," he added, giving her a pointed glance.

Fin gave her friend a smirk as he plopped down in the snow beside her. "Don't flatter yourself," she quipped back, "I'd have settled for the dead squirrel." She could at least have tossed it around for fun. Or had a nice pretend conversation with it! Not that she'd forfeited that much of her sanity to her boredom...

"Forgive me if I don't start shivering in fear every time you approach," Fin replied after rolling her eyes. "Besides, you wouldn't dare harm your beta, much less a princess," she lifted her head a bit to accentuate the statement. She wasn't used to pulling the rank card yet, but doing so in jest was a pretty good way to get some practice if she ever needed to do a real show.

Elwood's ears splayed out to the side as Finley claimed that she would have preferred the company of the dead squirrel to him. "If that's how you feel, then I can leave," he said with a sniff, pushing himself back up into a sitting position as though he was about to depart. He didn't go anywhere, though; despite the fact that a large percentage of their conversations were spent insulting each other, he did very much enjoy Finley's company.

He wrapped his tail around his paws instead, feeling the snow chilling his lower body even after only a few moments. He glanced down at his companion as she quipped that not only was she the Beta, but she was a princess -- thus, he wouldn't dare touch a hair on her head with ill intentions. With a chuckle, he thought of his play fight with Somnia; she, too, had taken on a royal disposition, but he -- as the long-suffering servant -- had tried to seek revenge by pushing her into the frozen lake. Briefly, he peered over the edge of the ridge, noting the degree of the slope in case he decided to push Finley down it later.

"No, I wouldn't dare harm the prettiest princess of the caldera," he commented after a pause, smirking at his friend.

Elwood played obediently along with the game, even though he'd made a motion as though to abandon her to her boredom. She almost made a patheticly desperate plea for him to remain before her sensibility caught up to her and she realized he wasn't going anywhere. Her sanity couldn't afford for him to depart. She'd probably start tearing her own fur out, or worse.

Their conversation continued, and though the turn it took was not a sharp one, the words that came from his mouth caused a funny little spasm in her chest, which she decided to not read too much into for worry that it might cause her to have to kill the platinum male and she did rather enjoy their banter. Fin gave him a pleased little smile partnered with a happy wag of her tail. "Good, I've taught you well, mine pupil," she replied with a smirk.

And then, quite suddenly, she barked out, "Hey! Look what I can do!" She waited not even half a second for Elwood to reply before she rolled over onto her back to expose her white underbelly and attempt to do her camouflague trick for him, tucking her white paws and legs over her and stretching her neck out so that her frey face was hidden against the snow and only her throat and chin appeared. "It's like, where'd Fin go, right!?" she barked excitedly, her fluffy tail wagging swiftly instead of staying still so as to better hide the shades of grey upon it.

Abruptly, after praising him -- or was she praising herself, by taking the credit for teaching him? -- Finley flipped herself over. Elwood's eyes widened as he watched her squirm in the snow, wondering what, exactly, she was trying to do. Her intentions became clear, however, as she exposed her pale belly to the sky. By doing so, she effectively hid the darker colors of her pelt, leaving only white to be seen.

Of course, it was still easy to tell where the wolf ended and the snow began, but Finley seemed so pleased with herself that -- as usual -- Elwood had to play along. With an alarmed expression on his face, he got to his feet and looked sharply left, then right, then left again. "Wha -- Finley! Where did you go?!" he said, pawing at the powder next to her as though he couldn't see her. "I'm going to be in so much trouble if Peregrine finds out I lost his Beta!" he wailed, hopping away from her and pretending to frantically search.

Fin giggled quietly as Elwood began his little monologue. She lifted her muzzle up a bit from the snow to peek at him, watching as he darted around trying to "find" her. She decided to let him flail about for a little while before she made her move. After all, it was quite amusing listening to him panic about what Peregrine would do to him. Especially because she figured at that point if anything happened to her, the alpha's response would probably more or less be a resigned "fuck it."

The Blackthorn waited for Elwood to venture nearer to her supine form before she whirled back onto her belly, reaching out with both paws to land upon his forepaw. "Gotcha!" she barked mirthfully, as though he truly had lost her, "You silly billy, I've been here the whole time!"

She left him hanging for a few moments, and Elwood hammed it up the whole time. He scuffled about in the soft powder, occasionally thrusting his nose into the cold particles but mostly digging with his paws. The Gamma meandered a few feet away from her, then turned and retraced his steps, until he was comically close to her "hidden" body.

When Finley finally jumped out at him, flipping over and grabbing his foot with her forepaws, he acted surprised and relieved. "Oh, thank goodness! I really thought I had lost you," he said, using his other paw to swipe at his brow. "That was a pretty good trick, you know. I wonder if I can do it," added, lowering himself to the ground and then rolling onto his back. His underside wasn't as pale as Finley's, so he remained a light grey smudge against the snow, but that didn't stop him from popping his head up to ask, "How do I look? Can you see me?"

Fin snickered at Elwood's reaction, successfully sniffling up a noseful of the light powder that had been dredged up into the air from their shuffling. She pushed herself up onto her haunches just in time to sneeze. Sniffling a bit, she turned her attention to her companion as he flung himself onto the ground and rolled onto his back, attempting to hide as she had. The beta hopped up onto all fours then and began to circle him as though making sure to inspect from all angles.

"I'll give you points for effort," she said after a moment, pausing at his head and pointing her muzzle down at him, "But overall... I hate to say it, but I think we've found yet another thing that I'm just way better at than you." The beta's tone suggested sympathetic disappointment at acknowledging the harsh truth, but in her eyes danced Finley's characteristic jovial deviousness.

OMG, I'm so grumpy today. Let's see if it affects my posts, lol...

He watched her with bright yellow eyes, tracking her with his gaze as she studiously circled him. It was hard to keep his tail from stirring, but in order to fully blend with the snow, he forced it to remain still. Once she had completed her full assessment, she returned to his head and peered down at him. From his point of view, she was upside down, but he couldn't help but think that she was just as pretty as she was right side up.

Elwood was disappointed, however, to hear that he hadn't quite passed the test. He was close, but no cigar! Yet again, Finley had trumped him, though he didn't exactly mine. Feigning a sad face by thrusting out his lower lip, the Gamma pouted and simultaneously rolled over, supporting himself on his elbows once more. "You know, I think I just need to accept my fate," he drawled with a shrug of his shoulders. "I should have known that it would be impossible to beat Finley Bearface at anything." He huffed, heaving an overdramatic sigh.

Elwood sighed in resignation to the truth she'd told him. For a moment, she actually felt a little sorry for him, until she remembered that it was just a game and he probably wasn't truly disappointed. A smile crept across her "bearface" as he sighed like a petulant pup. With a single porcelain paw, she batted gently at the tip of his muzzle and gave him a grin.

"Cheer up! I'm sure you're good at other stuff that I'm not," Fin reassured him, "For instance.... Are you a good swimmer? Are you good at finding pinecones? How many acorns can you fit in your mouth? Can you jump high?" She canted her head, waiting for his response so that she could immediately tell him she was really fantastic as those things as well.

"Actually, you've just named my top qualities," Elwood retorted promptly, his tail thumping the snow behind him as he prepared to elaborate. "I am an excellent swimmer. Faster than a shark. I have a knack for finding pinecones; my other nickname -- besides Twig -- is Pinecone Finder, after all. My record for acorns in the mouth is 457 -- no one has even come close to challenging me yet. And," he said, pausing both for dramatic effect and to draw in a breath of air, "I can jump to the top of the caldera in a single bound."

He smirked, wiggling his brows at her once he finished his spiel. "I know, I know -- you're impressed, aren't you? Didn't know you would become friends with such a talented -- and might I add, handsome -- wolf, did you?" As usual, the bantering came easily, and though he had only known Finley for a short time, he felt as though he was conversing with an old friend.

Some of what her companion went on to say, she didn't find particularly hard to believe. Good swimmer? Yeah, sure. It was kind of hard to be bad at swimming, wasn't it? Good at finding pinecones? Again... yeah alright, though she was rather skeptical that he'd ever done the mundane task so earnestly that he'd gotten a nickname from it. Then again, he was a little quirky; maybe finding pinecones had been an obsession when he was a kid.

Four hundred and fifty-seven acorns? Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to imagine what a massive pile of nuts that would be, and she couldn't help but think that he'd probably choke and die on them at 50 let alone make it over 400. Which actually gave her a good idea for an immature crack she could make at him once he stopped showing off.

Jumping to the top of the Caldera in a single bound? Now that one she knew was too absurd to be true, which gave her reason to doubt all of his claims. And while she could think of plenty of ways that she could tease him in that moment, including a challenge for him to show just how many nuts he could choke on, she decided on something less obvious. "Pinecone Finder?" she repeated, quirking a brow with a smirk upon her muzzle, "Someone didn't stretch any creative brain muscles on that one, huh?"

Very gently she leaned down to poke the tip of her nose against the tip of his, unable to help herself since... well, it was right there. After a second she backed up and trotted back over to the little nook in the snow she'd dug out for herself to sit and wrap her plush tail around her cold toes, her attention returning to her friend once she'd settled in.

LET'S DO THIS. *breaks out the wine*

She was skeptical, of course, and he could hardly look at her with a straight face. Every word out of his mouth had been a ridiculous lie, all formulated with one purpose: to make her laugh. Finley wasn't cracking up like he hoped she would, but he was pleased enough when she poked fun at the nickname he had given himself. It hadn't been his best stroke of comical genius, that was for sure.

"Okay, yeah, that was pretty bad," he admitted, laughing as he spoke. "I can't always be on point!" Elwood rolled his eyes, and just as the words left his mouth, Finley loomed closer to his face. He was surprised by her proximity and his expression sobered suddenly as she lightly tapped her nose against his. His eyes met her -- and nearly crossed in the process -- and then, just as quickly as she had closed the gap between them, she was retreating again. She returned to her spot in the snow, and he gazed at her quietly for a moment.

"So..." he began, licking his lips thoughtfully. "Tell me something about yourself. I mean something serious," he clarified. It was time to actually get to know Finley Blackthorn, beyond the teasing and the jokes.

SO EXCITED i may have done some pregaming already oops x:

Fin wriggled her toes beneath her tail, enjoying the peculiar feeling of wedging her tail fur between them. She cast her gaze over to Elwood to spot the odd expression that was swiftly fleeting from his face. It gave her pause, and for a moment she almost began to wonder about... Nope. Gone. Not there. Never happened.

The Blackthorn canted her head gently at his question, a smirk twisting across her muzzle. She nibbled gently on her bottom lip thoughtfully, uncertain of how to respond. Actually tell him something serious? Would that really be any fun? "I don't know..." Fin said after a minute, "I really can't think of anything serious... God, what does that say about me?" She frowned at her paws, actually wondering what was up with that.

O FINE ILL USE THE RIGHT ACCOUNT

I have some catching up to do!

Elwood raised his brows as Finley hesitated to answer his question. She hemmed and hawed for a moment, then insisted that she didn't have anything "serious" to share with him. A good thing and a bad thing, all rolled into one -- she certainly had a great sense of humor, but was she using it as some sort of facade? Maybe a barrier to keep others from getting too close...

Luckily, Elwood wasn't the Dr. Phil type, so he didn't dwell on those introspective thoughts for too long. Instead, he offered her a few suggestions. "Well, I mean, something like...where are you from? How did you end up with the caldera? What was your family like?" You know, the boring, generic small talk they seemed to have completely skipped over. He was sure they could find a way to make such a menial topic more interesting; he just wanted to know her.

Hurry up yoself!

Psh. That so totally wasn't the case, Elwood's narrator. What are you a wizard? Had her companion been the psychologist type and asked, she likely would have just up and walked away right then. She wasn't one to deal with her emotions, as evidenced by the grotesque scar across her back. Better to battle with bears than her own heart.

Elwood was kind enough to give the struggling Blackthorn some suggestions, which was definitely helpful. Fin truly did have a difficult time with regular, serious conversations. Was it because she didn't think she was an interesting enough person without the reckless antics and the wit? PRY NOT, STOP IT WIZARD. "Oh, that sort of crap," Fin replied with a smirk. She eased herself down onto her belly, leaning slightly onto her side as she wrapped herself into a tight half circle. "Welp... I was born in a far off land called Montana to the biggest frickin' family the world has ever known. I can't even tell you how many siblings I have 'cause my mom has probably popped out like forty more since I left." It would've been nice if she were kidding, but that actually was not the case.

"I left when I was around a year old. Giant families get kind of crowded," she continued, "I wandered from pack to pack, place to place for a long time then ended up in Blacktail Deer Plateau, which is where Peregrine led before he and Fox decided to come here. I came with them." Fin paused to think then of the day she'd left, the look on his face as she'd walked... She shook her head lightly to brush it away. She was past that now. Returning her gaze to Elwood, she canted her head with a smirk. "That more what you had in mind?"

*gulps wine while reading FinFinn thread*

Finally, she started to open up, answering his questions with ease. She was matter-of-fact when she spoke, though her words were still tinged with classic Finley humor. Elwood briefly imagined a litter of forty pups swarming around their mother, the poor she-wolf waving a white flag. It sounded like Finley's mom preferred to have plenty of children underfoot, so the surrender probably wasn't accurate; though if Elwood was in charge of so many kids, he certainly would have been hollering for help.

His ears perked up as she mentioned that she had come from Blacktail Deer Plateau with Fox and Peregrine. This was information that he hadn't been privy to before, and his curiosity was piqued. He waited until she had concluded her speech -- with a snarky comment, of course -- then pressed for more information. "Yes, that's exactly what I was looking for. Now I can write my novel -- oh, didn't I tell you that it's going to be a biography of your life?" he teased, before backtracking to address her history with the plateau. "So what made you decide to go with Peregrine and Fox?" he asked, a purely innocent question. Had he been around during that transition, he would have followed them as well.

Elwood seemed pleased with her answers, expressing it with one of those smart ass remarks she was growing rather fond of. She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head, her shoulders still shaking from the laughter she had tried to keep quiet. He was a humorous fellow.. And handsome... A dangerous combination that rarely ended well for those boys who were foolish enough to tango with the Blackthorn.

"Well, they were my best friends at the Plateau," Fin replied slowly, "And without them I... didn't really have much to stay for. So I joined them." His face whispered in her thoughts again, but she shoved it aside. Clearly whatever had been there truly hadn't been worth staying for since it hadn't been worth it to him to leave. "Besides, who would say no to getting to settle and explore a whole new territory? On top of that, one that used to be a volcano? Come on. I mean, that's just plain bad ass," she added after a second or two. She eyed him then, vaguely wondering when her interview would be over and she could spin the tables and start writing down his memoirs.

Wine is kicking in, weird post ahead!

If Elwood was going to tango with Finley, he would need to take some dance lessons first -- he had at least two left feet, and was sure to misstep more than once. But, unlike her, he had no prior romantic interests...there was no one haunting his thoughts, popping up at the most inconvenient times. He was young and completely naive when it came to love, so despite the affection he felt for her, Elwood was fairly oblivious to...well, any of the implications that would probably have been apparent to any onlookers.

Anyway...he listened attentively as Finley explained how she had come to the caldera, flexing his toes thoughtfully. He hadn't seen her interact with Peregrine or Fox, so he hadn't realized how close he was with either of them, but what she said made sense; they wouldn't have selected her as their Beta if there wasn't a decent level of trust between the three. "I think you made a good choice," he said, half-joking and half-genuine. Had she stayed at the plateau, he never would have met her. And, she was totally right; who could resist living somewhere as cool as Redhawk Caldera? "Not only is our territory bad ass, but all the leaders are, too," he quipped, winking at her. "I can only hope that the bad-assery will rub off on me someday."

weird posts ftw! RANDOM STORY: It took me like five years to figure out what FTW stood for. I always used to read it as "fuck the what" x_X

Elwood didn't press her about her story, which Fin was thankful for because she took it to mean he didn't suspect any sort of dramatic past with any of the wolves of the Plateau. Cause there was not one. Finley was very good at denial. After all, she was an expert liar. She could even completely fool herself. What better testament to her prowess was there than that?

Fin laughed as he shared his hopes for getting to glean some of their bad-assery from them. "It's true, we are pretty bad ass," she mused aloud with a jesting smirk, "Although honestly, I bet Fox and I could run this joint pretty well on our own. Peregrine is really just extra baggage. I'm pretty sure Fox only keeps him around for the baby-making." It was no secret that their alphas were eagerly awaiting the conception of their first litter. Fin personally couldn't imagine Fox trapped in her den with a bunch of leeches sucking at her bits all day. Firstly because Fox was like Fin--far too much of a go-getter to sit idle for too long. And secondly... That was just a gross mental image.

"What about you?" Fin asked suddenly, narrowing her eyes playfully at her greyscale companion, "How about you spill all of your dark secrets, make all my truth-telling worthwhile?"

HAHA, I like "fuck the what" and am now going to refer to it as such!

He laughed as Finley confided that she and Fox were the true leaders of the caldera. Surely Peregrine would disagree, but maybe to appease the females he would have gone along with it. Girl power, and all that. Truthfully, Fox and Finley were both strong, independent, and active women (here, he thought of their tangles with a cougar and a bear, respectively), and were great leaders. There was no doubt in his mind that they really would be capable of running the pack alone.

"Well, baby-making is all us guys are good for," Elwood said, nodding sagely as though this were the truth. It wouldn't be long before the Alpha pair was expecting their first litter together, and, in fact, Elwood had discussed this very topic with Peregrine just a day or two ago. Stretching his legs out in front of him, the Gamma rolled onto his side, sinking into the cold snow as Finley turned the tables on him and asked to hear about his deepest, darkest secrets.

To be honest, there were none. Elwood hadn't lived a particularly exciting life up to this point. He thought for a moment, trying to come up with anything that was even mildly interesting. He wasn't sure if Finley really cared, but he started to fill her in anyway. "I wound up here because I was looking for my twin sister. She ran away, and I tried to follow her...I never did find her. I don't know if I will, but...I'm glad I'm here, in the meantime," he said, meaning that he was happy to have found his way to Redhawk Caldera. But he was also glad to presently be in Finley's company.

fuck the what for the win!!

Fin laughed, but gave a nod of agreement. Considering the one serious relationship she'd ever had, she would have to full-heartedly agree that the only purpose for men was their extra appendage. They did tend to be rather amusing as well. As long as they didn't get to be too amusing... Then they were dangerous and needed to be murdered dead.

A wind swept up that caused a flurry of snow to swept across her face. She shook her head lightly, blinking the frost out of her eyes as Elwood told his own story. At his conclusion, Fin felt a cold touch her that wasn't completely related to the snow, and she furrowed her brows as she looked at him. "What do you mean, 'in the meantime'?" she asked softly. Was he planning on leaving them when the wilds defrosted?