Redhawk Caldera green-eyed monster

Getting back into the Grimm swing of things with one thread only, so I shouldn't fall behind..!

The weeks passed her by. Trudged, to be specific, because Grimm had gone and gotten herself smitten by the only truly unavailable wolf in the entire pack. With the scent of skunk long gone, Peregrine was once more a god. She kept her distance from him for fear of blurting it out, and watched Fox with mounting jealousy. The red mother didn't so much balloon as 'fill out a little bit', carrying her pregnancy weight with a enviable dignity.

Grimm did her duties and watched the lovers approach the end of the pregnancy with green eyes and a black heart. Presently, she was burying stock in one of the outlying caches near the very edge of the forest, where sparse trunks blended into the vast plains to the north.

HI THERE!

When Elwood came across Grimm's scent, he perked up considerably. He hadn't seen her since the first time that they met, and had started to worry that she had gone the way of Mikael and Ashton. Luckily, that wasn't the case, so he eagerly sought her out.

"Grimm!" he called as she came into view, his tail swinging behind her. He didn't know her well, but that could be remedied quickly. Striding towards the Delta, he queried, "How've you been?" She looked as though she had been busily digging at one of the community caches, and he moved close enough to peer over her shoulder at the food she was adding to their collection.

A familiar voice called her name. Grimm cast a glance over her shoulder to confirm that she wasn't about to be ambushed, and rushed to wrap up her digging before turning to grin at the wolf that had joined her. It was Elwood, of course - Beta and (presumably) Caldera veteran. They hadn't interacted much since a brief patrol of the borders, and her bitter heart welcomed the distraction.

"Why hey there, handsome!" she woofed, surprising herself by adopting the lewd, forward character that her brief spate as a fake call-girl had birthed. And why not? Peregrine was out of bounds, and Elwood sounded pleased to see her. "You know - wandering around, sassing the natives. How's it hanging up there on the Beta perch?"

Elwood, too, was surprised by Grimm's chipper greeting, but it wasn't unwelcome. He took a step back, allowing a more comfortable space for them to talk, and grinned. He wasn't used to such compliments -- Finley certainly wouldn't ever admit that he was handsome! -- and it boosted his ego a bit.

"Sassing the natives, eh?" he quipped. "Hope you're not getting into too much trouble. I wouldn't want to have to send a bad report to Peregrine," he continued with a teasing lilt to his voice, unaware of just how appropriate his comment was since Grimm fancied the Alpha male.

The cheeky compliment had the desired effect. Elwood's kind face brightened, and so did Grimm's previously surly face, shedding its Peregrine-related gloom in favour if an open-mouthed grin that mirrored her Beta's. "Nothing illegal," she promised, tail tapping gently against her white hind leg. "And look!" she gestured excitedly at the recently buried stock. "I'm totally making up for bad behaviour with mad butchering skills. You can tell him I'm contributing like a bi-atch and generally being fabulous." If only. "So - has she popped yet? Fox, I mean. Unless you and Finely..?" God, she hoped not - that left precious few singletons left to pine after once Peregrine had finally left her mind.

He laughed; Grimm was a bright and bubbly character, much like the other females in the pack. Truthfully, they were all fairly good-natured -- at least with each other. Outsiders usually brought out a different side of a caldera wolf. "I'll make sure to pass that message along, you fabulous biatch," Elwood assured her, though his grin faded slightly at the mention of Finley in that capacity. Things between them had been normal as of late -- or at least as "normal" as their friendship ever got. He felt like they were moving in a circle, each carefully calculating the other's moves without wanting to reveal their own feelings. It was getting a little silly.

"Me and Finley? Definitely not," he replied emphatically, though he quickly moved on to answer Grimm's question about Fox. "But Fox should be due in the next couple of weeks." He was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the firebirds, and while he didn't know Fox's exact due date, she was starting to show a few signs of more advanced pregnancy.

Definitely not, Elwood responded with an exaggerated firmness in his voice. That was a yes, then - she would have taken him less seriously if he had insisted that the rank demanded that they copulate friskily at least twice a day and double that on Sundays. It did a number on Grimm's mood, but she suppressed the swell of jealousy and redirected the energy elsewhere. Her expression adopted a certain playful coyness. "So.." she drawled, giving him hooded eyes, "Want to do something stupid, to celebrate those lil' tykes being so imminent?"

Elwood quirked a brow at Grimm's proposition. Something stupid? He couldn't imagine what she might have up her sleeve, but he was getting used to such situations. Finley threw him for a loop more often than not, and while had had grown up being something of a "stick in the mud," he was beginning to learn to throw caution to the wind...occasionally.

"Absolutely," he replied with little to no hesitation, his brows arching upward with curiosity.

Grimm stared at him. ".. uhm.. oh, really?" she asked, gulping down a decidedly un-sexy gob of saliva that had suddenly flooded her lower jaw. Get it together, get it together. "Well..." she began, turning her burnished stare to her front paw, which traced invisible circles in the hard, unyielding ground. "Have you ever, you know, done it? For real." Growing up with a seemingly endless supply for brothers, Grimm had certainly 'played around' - but it was never real, and always performed in mockery of the true act.

She replied with some confusion and hesitation, which caused Elwood to backtrack in his mind. Hadn't she just suggested that she wanted to do something stupid? But now she was acting all dodgy and...WAIT.

She wanted to do that?!

His assumption was confirmed in the next instant, when she asked if he had ever "done it for real." Now it was Elwood's turn to look dumbfounded, and he blinked. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he shuffled his feet, wishing that he could come up with some elaborate story about his sexcapades. Sadly, however, he had none. "Oh, uh, I didn't know you meant...well, no, I haven't," he finished lamely, feeling any confidence that he had mustered up begin to fade.

Grimm's confidence had suffered as hard a fall as Elwood's had. They were fumbling teenagers, inexperienced and so totally awkward that humans in a 2000 mile radius were cringing without realizing why.

Still, the idea of being rejected spurred Grimm on. She hooked her gaze into Elwood's face. ".. well... do you want to? Everyone else is - probably even Finley!" she chided, mustering a grin. What was the big deal, anyway?

Elwood probably wouldn't have taken Grimm's proposition seriously, until she said the magic words.

"Everyone else is -- probably even Finley!"

This was something he hadn't stopped to consider before. What if Finley was involved with someone else? Or if she at least had someone that she was boinking? A rush of emotions flooded the young male -- jealousy was followed quickly by anger, and then replaced by curiosity. There really was nothing to stop him from engaging with Grimm...

Flippantly -- and probably a little too nonchalantly -- he replied, "Sure, why not!" But then, he froze; now he had to actually do things.

Nailed it. The phrase, anyway, not the guy - Grimm watched the same monster that laid claim to her own mind rise in Elwood's, making grabby hands at his heart. On some level, it was satisfying to see the feeling plague someone else. She stepped forward, emboldened by his enthusiastic acceptance. She knew the steps - in a close-knit family, copulation was not always done in private. Talk told her that Fox and Peregrine made a habit of mating in the open, so what, exactly, was the big deal? Grimm raised her tail as an invitation, fanning it to and fro above her thighs. It was up to Elwood to take up his position and get biz started.

Elwood was running out of time. What had started as an innocent interaction was quickly dive-bombing into something he had never anticipated, and wasn't sure if he was ready for. Physically, yes -- it was something that was natural for a wolf of his age. But mentally...?

Before he could come up with some kind of excuse to get himself out of this hole he had dug, Grimm indicated that she was serious. Her previous anxiety seemed to have been put to the side, as she teased him with her tail. His eyes were drawn to her rump, and with his heart hammering in his chest, he put his legs into motion.

He sidled up to her, trying to wipe his mind blank and let his instincts take over. That's all this was, anyway -- no strings attached, right? He continuously reminded himself of this as he ran his nose down the length of her body, from her shoulder to her withers, allowing his side to press against hers. He then pivoted and positioned himself behind her, waiting for another signal from her before he...forced himself to continue.

*sneaks in*

Finley hadn't been home for too long at that point. Only a couple of days ago, she'd been trudging back across the borders to the Caldera with her young captive in tow. Well, captive probably was the wrong word for it. Magpie had come willingly, albeit a little forlornly. It was understandable considering coming here had meant leaving behind a wolf she professed to be in love with. It wasn't something Fin personally sympathized with considering she thought it was super stupid of her to fall in love at all, but she could understand.

When finally the beta felt well-rested, she emerged to find a perfectly normal day had befallen the Caldera. She stretched her limbs like a cat and opened her mouth wide in the most delightful yawn she'd ever yawned. She began then to think about her day. What would she do first? A visit to Peregrine and Fox was likely in order, just to touch base and make sure they didn't have any extra beta duties waiting for her. But that made her think of Elwood, and suddenly that seemed like a far better idea. I mean, obviously it was more important for the beta to check in with her co-beta before their superiors, yes? Yes. It was decided. To Elwood!

But eventually, the wolf she found was... not Elwood. It couldn't be. Could it? Her eyes set upon the ashen male as he spoke with the black female. And then she turned. And then.. he... Fin stood, frozen and wide-eyed, staring unabashedly at what was happening just beyond the brush where she was hidden, thinking over and over again that this couldn't be happening.. it couldn't be happening...

To Grimm's surprise and mild horror, Elwood did as he was bid. Her eyes widened as he passed her, dutifully attending to her spine and rear. The primal rush of physical excitement mixed with dread. Grimm was not the sentimental type, hardened by a crass and open family, but even she could sense that throwing away this single opportunity at a First Time was ill-advised.

Nevertheless, she was not going to be the one that chickened out. Grimm widened her stance, tail held aloft, defiance in her eyes as she glanced back down her own spine at the wolf that would mount her. What're you waiting for? it said - shitshitshitshitshit, said the other 98% of her brain, conscious and not.

lol vague

This was it. This was really it -- it was happening. Elwood felt a rush of adrenaline and excitement, but it was coupled with guilt. He tried his best to brush it aside, focusing on the pretty she-wolf in front of him. She was ready; she looked back at him, daring him to make his next move.

So he did.

Carefully, he mounted her, his mind racing. How was he supposed to know what to do? What if things went wrong? What if...?

Despite his mind's best effort to thwart his actions, things fell into place, and soon it was happening. There was no turning back now -- no excuses to be made. And had he seen Finley hidden nearby, her copper eyes sharply focused on her packmates, his heart likely would have stopped. He would have suffered a heart attack on the spot, leaving poor Grimm bewildered and unsatisfied.

But he didn't see her.

Fin didn't know what to do, what to think, how to feel. Luckily, she didn't need to actually know any of these things in order to act. The moment she saw him mount her, her actions were decided for her by instinct - an instinct to protect what was hers. With a roar of rage, she burst forth from her hiding spot and charged forward, directly towards Grimm and her stupid vagina.

Or, that was what she was supposed to do. That was what her furious, angry mind told her to do. It was what her painfully breaking heart was begging for her to do. But, she did none of these things. She just stood there, watching as Elwood climbed up onto the female's back and began to thrust against her.

The world began to spin, and suddenly Finley couldn't see through the tears that leaped into her eyes, nor could she breathe past the lump in her throat. Wordlessly, she turned away and swallowed the sob in her throat. It was all too much, it was all too familiar. As she watched, it was almost as if Elwood became.. him. Bile rose in her throat and she turned away, running, running, running, until she had left the Caldera, had left Elwood, had left everything as far behind as she possibly could.

omg i can't

It happened. Like, for real.

Before she knew what was happening, Grimm had joined the ranks of the sexually experienced, staring ahead of her in blank-faced shock whilst the man of honour attended to her needs in the rear. Mother Nature smoothed over the extreme awkwardness of the situation as best she could, sending the two furiously pumping newbies on a fast-track to climax just so that the process would end already, Jesus H. Christ. Grimm welcomed the sensation with a decidedly unladylike string of profanities that ended in a loud, duck-like honking noise of such volume and strangeness that it would surely draw pack-mates from the opposite end of the mountain to witness the spectacle.

She, too, was oblivious to Finley's presence and subsequent tear-stained flight from the Caldera.

As quickly as it had begun, it was all over. And while Grimm expressed her feelings quite profoundly, Elwood was much more quiet. His whole body seemed to tingle, and when it was over, he felt exhausted. Unceremoniously, he dismounted from Grimm, his legs feeling rubbery as he caught his breath.

Now what? he thought, sneaking a glance at her. She wasn't just "her" -- she was his first. And surprisingly, he didn't feel anything different when he looked at her. Strangely enough, his first thought was of Finley -- and oh, if he knew the irony of the situation, as she fled the scene -- but he pushed her out of his mind.

Unable to think of anything clever to say to Grimm -- somehow, "High five, bro!" didn't seem appropriate -- he flashed her a closed-lip smile. It was fairly obvious that she had enjoyed it, and he felt a surge of pride. He had made her shout expletives for the whole world to hear.

If only there was one set of ears that hadn't heard it all.

The usual 30 minutes spent attached was not to be - a rare act of kindness from the gods. Grimm was part-way through a flustered recovery when Elwood eased off her, and took a moment or two further before turning stiffly around to meet his uncertain little smile. 'High five, bro' did not seem appropriate, no. Or? She gazed at him, her very first lover - a kind, gentle wolf, but by no means the flame of her heart. If she squinted, did he look a little bit like Peregrine?

"Awesome," Grimm leered through puffing breaths (might as well have been a 'high five, bro'), as though they had just defied death in some manly and exciting manner - not boned furiously in the middle of the day. "So.. I guess see you later," she finished, flattening one ear. He was the one that was supposed to troop off, right? Grimm did not fancy moving quickly, and certainly not without inspecting the tender area for damage first (something she wasn't about to do in front of Elwood).

So, thank you for a simultaneously great and traumatizing thread. <3

He couldn't help but grin as she proclaimed that their experience was awesome. Elwood agreed -- at least for now. In the days and weeks to come, he would likely regret it. But for now...he was blissfully unaware and euphoric.

"Yeah, I'll catch you later," he said, surprised when his voice sounded hoarse. For a moment, he thought about planting a kiss on her cheek before leaving, but wisely decided against it. So instead he smiled awkwardly, then slunk away, feeling quite pleased with himself.