Redhawk Caldera we're the new face of failure.

I decided to give up and just embrace my fail writing.. Tagging @Peregrine :D O and this is backdated before Fox's naughty bits got frisky

Once upon a time, Finley was walking around her pack's territory. It was snowy and cold. There were birds in the trees and they made sounds. Fin ignored them because she was busy doing other things. Like sniffing around for food. Yes, she was hungry. Let's involve buffalo.

The beta was near the northern edges of the territory when she finally caught a scent that intrigued her. There were buffalo about, likely rummaging for food in the plains just outside of the Caldera's reach. Though she knew she had little hope of taking one down on her own, Fin cantered off to follow the invisible trail on the wind. If nothing else, she could at least chase them around for fun.

What a beautiful post. :')

It drove him crazy, waiting for his mate to come into heat and dealing with the emotional roller coaster that resulted as her behavior changed. To avoid going totally nuts today, Peregrine forced himself down the caldera's northern slope. When he hit bottom, he deliberated between hunting and patrolling. It was difficult to decide, when all he wanted to do was walk right back up and see if his mate was DTF yet...

Fortunately, a frosty wind blew in his face, making the decision for him and at least temporarily distracting him. With visions of buffaloes dancing in his head, he loped further away from the caldera. He soon spotted Finley in the distance and a wolfish grin broke out on his face as he ran to meet her.

"So, buffalo wings, huh? I like mine with bleu cheese. What about you?" he joked, nipping at the Beta female's ear when he reached her.

Thank you, thank you. I'm very proud of how far I've come x]

Fin glanced backwards and to the side as she heard the familiar sound of an approaching packmate. Her eyes eventually landed on Peregrine, which surprised her a little. It was no secret in the pack that Fox was close to her time. Even if the alpha female hadn't been showing signs, there was no mistaking her mate's recent antics. He'd been charging around the Caldera like a drug addict, stash empty and searching desperately for their dealer. Or like my dog who is just now randomly and inexplicably fascinated by what's behind the christmas tree and is about to knock it down trying to get back there OMG DOG.

Fin slowed a bit so that he could catch up, her ears twisting in his direction as he made a comment. A grin flickered onto her muzzle. "Ew, bleu cheese is disgunsting. Ranch all the way," she retorted even though she was clueless as to what buffalo wings or bleu cheese even was. Or ranch for that matter.

Peregrine looked at Finley with absolute disgust written on his face. "Oh hell no. We can't have that. It's bleu cheese or nothing," he retorted, lifting a paw to playfully punch her in the shoulder. "How could you desecrate perfectly good buffalo wings with something as nasty as ranch, Fin? I'm disappointed in your classless tastes. Next thing I know, you'll be telling me you prefer mild to medium..." He glared at her suspiciously.

He dropped the playful act in the next moment, his eyes setting forward in the direction of the herd of buffalo. Could the two of them have a chance? He glanced back at Finley, ascertaining her healing injuries. "You sure you up for this? Maybe we should hunt something slightly less huge, like... I don't know... ducks?"

Fin scoffed at his words, particularly at the accusation that she'd choose mild OR medium. "Puh-lease, try wildfire..." she retorted vehemently, only to hush herself immediately upon realizing simultaneously with Peregrine their proximity to the herd they'd been searching for.

The beta crouched slightly as she eyed the hulking beasts in the distance. Her breathing quickened along with her heartbeat, her breaths raising around her muzzle like puffs of smoke. Her ears swiveled as Peregrine spoke again. Her only response to his words was a slow turn of her head so that he could see the are you fucking serious right now? look on her face before she cantered off again, this time with her body a little closer to the ground.

As they cantered slowly toward the herd, Peregrine couldn't help but repeat that word in his head: Wildfire. It was at the top of the list when it came to names for the children he hoped to have with Fox someday soon. It could work for a boy or a girl, he figured, but there was something feminine about it to him. If he ended up naming one of their little girls that, he would be sure to tell her that he had named her for her beloved Aunt Finley's preferred flavor of wing sauce.

He didn't share these thoughts out loud. In fact, he mentally brushed his arm across the tabletop of his mind, sending all the cluttered thoughts there to the floor, then swept them under the ole brain rug. He focused now on the hunt. His nostrils flared and his whiskers quivered as he drank in the buffaloes' scent. They were formidable prey but Finley didn't seem deterred in the least, so he would follow her lead. Perhaps they could find a young, old or injured animal.

"See anything promising?" he queried as they came close enough to count the beasts and scan them for details. For the time-being, the buffaloes either hadn't seen the two approaching wolves or had decided not to consider them a threat, for not a single one of them seemed to react to their encroaching presence.

*powerplays the crap out of Perry* bahahahahaha

The buffalo didn't seem all too fussed about the presence of the pair of wolves so near to where they grazed. Likely they didn't see them as much of a threat, particularly because Peregrine and Fin weren't fully in hunting mode yet. That would come once they'd picked out their victim. Once that happened, the herd might start behaving a little differently towards them.

Fin meandered towards the herd, arcing her path to manuever in a circle around them. Her eyes darted across the different specimens, looking for a weakness amongst them. It seemed to be an annoyingly healthy bunch. If there was a weak spot to be found, they were definitely very good at hiding it from the hunters.

The wolves continued to meander around the herd for a while, testing their limits to see how close they could get, trying to get a whiff of different potentials to see if there was any sickness upon them. After a while, Fin finally paused with a frown, her eyes set upon a yearling who had stayed awful close to its mother's side the entire time they had been moving about the herd. She motioned towards it with her muzzle to draw Peregrine's attention to it as well, hoping silently he might come to the same conclusion as she; that such a nervous young animal might be easy to spook into doing something fatally stupid that they could take advantage of.

He deserves it!

They loped 'round and 'round the herd, trying to spot any weaknesses. If there were any, they were not readily obvious. Although physically fine—he had the typical stamina of any wild, long-legged wolf—he eventually grew weary and frustrated with the lack of obvious targets. With animals so huge, they simply couldn't risk attempting to hunt one in perfect shape. No, they needed to find a weak, young or sick buffalo amid the group, else the nearly master Gamekeeper would be forced to call off Finley's hunt.

Then she struck gold—sort of. Peregrine paused and huffed out a quiet breath when his Beta signaled, drawing his attention to the clingy yearling. His ears pulled backward and his eyes narrowed as he studied the young buffalo. He shook his head at Finley after a moment or two and tried to convey his response with his eyes and body language. I don't think it's a good idea. The mother will kick our asses. To him, it just wasn't worth the risk.

Peregrine studied the buffalo she'd pointed out to him, but did not agree with her notion to give chase to it. Fin gave a little frown as he shook his head and turned back to continue watching it. Yes, there was risk to be evaluated there. The mother was definitely a sturdy woman in her prime, and considering how needy her child was, it could be assumed that she was a domineering mother that would not let her calf go without a fight. But that just made Finley want it even more.

Deciding it was either this or they abandoned the hunt altogether, Fin lowered her head as she looked back at Peregrine and gave him the saddest little face she could muster, complete with droopy ears, sad, round eyes and a pouty lower lip. It was her only hope, and she was fully aware that there was a 50/50 chance he'd just smash her head into the snow and move on.

Finley pouted at him. Although he found it amusing and stuck his tongue out at her, he wasn't going to play games over something like this. Hunting was his job (well, one of them) and another was keeping his pack members safe and not leading them into overly risky situations. He didn't want to see his bear fighting Beta hurt before she even had a chance to properly heal from her last round of injuries.

"If you can think of a way to distract her and separate them, I'll change my mind," he said quietly. Maybe if one of them could incite the mother to give chase, the other could go after the calf. But he would wait to hear whether Finley could come up with a plan. She was a Gamekeeper too, after all.

Wanna roll to see if Fin's plot worked? :D

Peregrine didn't need to worry about leading them into harm's way. Finley had every intention of doing that for them, only in her version of the story, it was more like fun's way. Her little escapades usually didn't end with injury (please avoid looking at the large gashes across her back when reading this). She was good at what she did, and Finley had a sneaking suspicion that Peregrine would be perfectly good at it as well.

The corner's of Fin's lips turned up as Peregrine acquiesced to her request. Think of a way to distract her and separate them? Psh, simple. No better way of doing that then with a hungry wolf!

With a devious grin, Finley took off towards the mother buffalo, weaving in and out of the rest of her herd as she went. The mother turned to face her as she charged, so thrown off by Finley's bold attack that she froze and allowed Fin the opportunity she was looking for. Finley leaped straight at the buffalo's face and dug her teeth into a flaring nostril. She spun as she landed and wrenched at the buffalo's head with all of her might. The beast ...loud-buffalo-noised at her, but before it could swing its head to throw her off, Fin had released her hold and had bolted, hoping that the angry mother would be quick at her heels, thus giving Peregrine the opening he needed.

Sure! I rolled here and it's gonna be successful. :)

Peregrine watched Finley with an expression somewhere between shock and begrudging admiration. He didn't have time to react otherwise. He needed to seize the narrow window of opportunity, lest Finley risk getting hurt for no reason at all. As she sank her teeth into the mother buffalo's face, he bolted into the herd, aiming directly for the calf.

It saw him coming and bleated fearfully, which caused Peregrine to glance frantically at the mother. Who knew what she might do to Finley when she heard her child crying out for her? Peregrine decided he only had once choice: he had to be just as daring and forward as his fellow hunter. Ignoring the surrounding buffalo, he leaped for the calf's throat, latching onto it and dragging it down with the force of his body weight.

Luckily, the other beasts scattered rather than surrounded him, as was a well-known defense mechanism for buffaloes. Perhaps they saw a lost cause or weren't sure what to do because the mother wasn't there to lead the standoff. In any case, Peregrine wrestled the calf into the dirty snow and tore its throat open, then sprang clear and barked for Finley to do the same.

Peregrine then ran away from the herd, hoping his Beta was in tow. He wasn't going to stand there and tempt fate. Just because they hadn't attacked yet didn't mean they wouldn't do so eventually—especially the mother. The baby was done for and they would just have to wait on the sidelines for it to die and the mother and the rest of the herd to move on. Then they could feed on the spoils of their kill.

Woohoo!

The enraged beast took the bait and stormed off after the bold and reckless beta. Fin probably should have been worried or even experienced the briefest moment of panic, but she felt only joy and triumph as its hot breath upon the tip of her tail. She put on an extra burst of speed to increase the distance between the two of them, but not so much that the buffalo lost interest in trying to trample her to death.

Fin could hear the other buffalo of the herd beginning to thunder off in separate directions. She kept her course straight and true, deliberately leading the mother buffalo as far away from her calf as she could. Between the pounding of hundreds of hooves, she couldn't hear the scuffle between Peregrine and their target, but she did hear the sharp bark that told her the game was at an end.

Fin took a sharp turn and began to dart swiftly in and out of the stampeding buffalo, effectively losing her attacker in the crowd. Somewhere behind her, it was turning away and heading back to find her calf bleeding out where she'd so stupidly left it. Fin and Peregrine would be well away from them though, lurking in the distance, waiting for the poor woman to finally abandon her child's carcass.

Fin and Peregrine finally slowed to a stop as they neared the hillock where they'd first begun their hunt. Laughter and mischief were alight on the beta's features as she breathlessly searched her friend's face for the same triumphant glee. "That enough of a distraction?" she asked between laughing gasps.

"I don't know whether to bow down in admiration of your mad skills or kick you in the taco for taking such a risky approach," Peregrine had to admit. "You really are fucking reckless, did you know that? I mean, I guess I didn't realize the scope and breadth of it until seeing it firsthand..." He was marveling in a way that was neither fully good nor fully bad.

Realizing he was harping on her a bit, Peregrine ceased and desisted. He squinted into the distance, watching and waiting for the buffalo herd to disperse. It might be a while, so he dropped to his haunches, panting, then slumped forward onto his belly. He might even catch a few winks to pass the time.

We can prolly fade here? <3

Fin found it rather difficult to keep from smirking as Peregrine went on with his compliment/reprimand hybrid. Her gaze turned innocently skyward as she gave a little nod in response to his question about whether or not she was aware of her reckless tendencies. The problem with Fin was that although she was fully aware of how reckless she was, she had yet to figure out that that was actually a flaw in her character instead of a big super bonus.

"You do remember when I was mauled by a bear, right?" she asked with a quirk of her brow, unable to help herself as she settled down beside him, "That didn't happen because I asked it to go pick flowers with me." She nestled herself against her alpha's side to share their warmth against the cold. While the herd would probably be off rather soon, there was one of their still living number who would remain behind. If she knew grumpy moms, this one wouldn't be leaving her child for a long while. Resting her head upon her alabaster paws, she heaved a heavy sigh as the battle against her overactive impatience set in.

Works for me! :) <3

As Finley settled in beside him, Peregrine let his chin drift to his paws. He rolled his eyes. "You know why I like you, Fin? Dealing with you is, like, the best practice ever for when the pups get here," he remarked. His tail thumped once to show he was teasing, then the Alpha male let his eyes close. When he woke up, they would feast on fresh buffalo wings dipped in wildfire sauce (my mouth is now watering).