Redhawk Caldera my boot-scootin' baby.

The firebirds were... Okay, Fin wasn't sure how old they were, she doesn't really notice stuff, okay?  They were getting bigger and more wolf-shaped, which was all that really mattered to her.  As much as she loved them, each day passed and she found that she loved them even more.  While she knew it was wrong to play favorites... she definitely had them.  But for propriety's sake, she tried not to mention them internally, and thus I won't either.  Anyway.

The fact of the matter is that it was about damn time that Fox got out of that den full of screaming, needy little babies (Peregrine included) and had some fun.  Which was exactly why Fin arrived early that afternoon to peek into the darkness eagerly at her BFF's sleepy face, hoping that @Fox would soon wake up enough to dart of the that place and run away with her (cause god knows the second Aunt Finley leaves them, everyone's gonna start crying - have fun Perry).

It was true that Fox had shirked her duties as a friend in order to fulfill her duties as a mother. Balance was something she'd had difficulty with every since they'd turned her world upside down, and she sincerely longed for the day when she would no longer have to worry about them being scooped up by some evil predator. She knew that day was getting closer and closer, and she also had a pretty good feeling that she'd still be somewhat of a helicopter parent.

Still, when Finley came knocking barking at her door, Fox gave a cursory glance to Peregrine (who nodded) and then darted out from her prison home to greet her BFF by crashing her nose right into her face upon her exit. It was a miracle they didn't both get bloody noses right then and there. "Fuck!" Fox yelped, snorting. "Well, if that isn't a greeting to remember, I don't know what is. What are we getting up to today?" Surely Finley had something in mind.

Fox was quick on the uptake, just as Fin had hoped she'd be.  She had barely any time to give an excited cheer before her friend was suddenly crashing right into her.  "Arghh why!" Fin cried out just as the alpha was shrieking her own expletive.  She stumbled backwards and away, lifting a paw to rub her face while she gave her BFF a good-natured glare.


It didn't take the feisty Blackthorn long to recover once Fox brought back to her mind the reason for her visit.  She gave her coat a good shake before she replied.  "Ohhh, I have some ideas..." Fin replied with a devious grin.  She parted her lips to respond, but was distracted almost immediately when a tiny face peeked out at them from the mouth of the den.  Suddenly, two more curious little heads popped up, their bleary eyes blinking and trying to focus on the commotion outside.  Which meant..

"Shit, run for it, mama!" Fin cried out nipping at Fox's shoulder before she turned in the direction of the borders and darted off - fully anticipating that her friend would be right behind her.

Three little blips were soon at her feet, and Fox looked down at them with admiration. She was this close to getting sucked back in and reverting to mommy mode when Finley shouted and nipped her shoulder. Fox snapped out of her maternal instincts, shouted a, "I’ll be back, kids!" to her family, and then leapt after her friend. She wasn't sure when she would be back, but Fox couldn't imagine herself staying away from her little fam for more than a few hours. Besides, the kids would need to eat by then, and she couldn't imagine leaving Perry with screaming, hungry kids. She loved him too much to torture him.

Fox remained hot on Finley's heels, though she allowed the Beta to lead. She wasn't sure where Finley was taking her, but she knew she'd be in for some kind of a treat. Wherever Finley went, adventure was sure to follow.

It certainly never hurt to start a good afternoon of mischief with a warm-up run, which is essentially what the alpha and beta did once they were united.  When finally, they came to the borders of the Caldera where the land smoothed out to a flat, grassy surface, Fin slowed to a stop.  Her tongue was lolling happy out of her mouth across her molars on the right of her jaw.  It was with this whimsical face that she turned to look at her BFF, happy as hell that she had finally broken her free of her matronly prison.


"Welcome to world again, babe!" Fin barked, prancing about her friend in a merry circle before spinning in spot to face her once more, "I am not gonna lie - I really didn't have any particular plans for the day besides to get you away from the little booby-suckers.  So!  Whatever you want to do, I'm in.  Just say the word.  We can hunt, we can fight, we can make love - I am your slave, my queen."  To prove her loyalty (and also that she was thoroughly kidding), Fin gave her alpha an overly exaggerated, grandiose bow.

"It’s good to be back!" Fox admitted with glee. It wasn't as if Fox had actually gone anywhere, but she had felt... distanced. So much of her time and energy had gone into raising her three little babes that she'd shut off the rest of the world. Fox could scarcely recognize half of the wolves that resided on the Caldera, and that was a damn shame. What kind of leader was she if she barely knew her constituents? They were the heart and lungs of the pack, they were what kept it going, and she'd have to get back in touch with them if she ever hoped to retain her position of authority.

"Make love?" Fox said, wiggling a brow. Peregrine had mentioned Grimm a couple of times now, though the dark girl had been more or less MIA since the birth of the children. However, Fox knew that Finley was decidedly not into girl-on-girl action, after testing those waters some months ago. "I vote we get ourselves into a bit of trouble. I haven’t done that in ages."

Fin smiled along with her friend as she confessed her excitement for being free of the den.  As much as Finley enjoyed being a godmother, there was only so much of the baby talk and little kid games she could handle before she needed her grown up time.  She could only imagine how Fox must have felt considering she'd been with them almost non-stop for the past month.  Or two.  How old were those things again?  Gah, time is hard.


Fin gave Fox her best bedroom eyes, a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she grinned.  She was definitely not into the whole lady lovin' thing, but it was fun to joke about.  Her tail began to flail about when Fox suggested they get into trouble.  A devious grin slipped quickly across her muzzle.  "Your wish is my command," she said, "What'll it be?  Wanna go find a bear to pester?  Or maybe a cougar to wrassle?  Or we could do the usual go jumping into giant holes, or go hunt some game that's waaaaay too big for us to handle."  Fin was up for whatever, and while she didn't actually know where to find any cougars or bears, she already had her eyes on a couple of big holes she wanted to explore, and it wasn't too hard to come up with some hoofed prey that could tear them to pieces if they weren't careful.

"Hmmm..." Fox trailed off, trying to decide which of the options called to her the most. "Have you ever had honey?" she asked. Fox remembered a single time when she was younger when she'd licked some off of her father's snout... though he'd come back with a dozen stings. The shit was like some kind of crazy sweet drug. "If there's one thing I know about honey," she said, "It's that the reward is pretty damn good." Fox didn't know how to go about finding a bee's nest, nor did she know if they'd even be able to find one, but the thought was too good to pass up.

"I think when my dad found one, it had just fallen to the ground. Those bees were pissed, but I'll be damned if that honey isn't the best thing my tongue has ever tasted." Meat was good, but honey was a different kind of good. One worth finding again. And maybe, just maybe, her own children would get to lick the honey off their mother's snout and develop the same sense of adventure that she had.

Fin listened intently as Fox debated her options, wondering what she would come up with.  There were so many exciting and terrible things that they could do!  The beta's mind was simply bursting with them and she had no doubt that her frequent-partner-in-crime's brain was going just as swirly as hers.


Her interest was piqued when Fox asked her about honey.  Her brows furrowed with curiosity and she shook her head slightly to indicate that she hadn't.  Her eyes widened slowly as her friend went on to describe the incredible taste and the risky endeavor it was to try and procure some.  "Angry bees?
Fin asked, quirking a brow, "You want to go piss off some bees so that we can eat their food?"  It was a rather canine summary, but regardless... "I am so in!!  There's that pretty big copse of evergreens nearby, you wanna head that way and see what we can find?"

"Let’s do it!" Fox exclaimed, ready to take on the challenge. She would let Finley lead the way, continuing to jabber on as she went. At first, she contemplated asking about Elwood, but in the end, she left that subject to rest. If Finley wanted to bring him up, Fox would let her friend do it on her own time. "Have you been keeping up with our new recruits? Got any dirt you want to share?" Fox asked in lieu of talk of boys. They had plenty that came and went, though Fox had been cooped up with the kids for so long she had a hard time keeping track of them.

She had met Sebastian who seemed... well, a little off. And there was Jaws, who seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders. But there were others floating around that Fox hadn't made any meaningful contact with. Perhaps Finley had been more social with them.

Fin happily took the lead when Fox agreed to checking out the location she'd suggested.  They set off at a quick pace, but it was leisurely enough that the pair could still carry on some conversation.  She felt like it had been ages since the two of them had gotten a chance to talk without the little booby ninjas squalling about something or other and stealing away their attention.  


When it came to new recruits, Fin actually hadn't met too many of them yet.  There was one though that came to mind, however... "Well, it seems you're not the only one collecting sisters," the beta replied with a smirk, "My sister, Tiger, showed up the other day!  Elwood found her, coincidentally enough.  She's pretty alright, a little weird and a total spaz but she's way better than some of my other siblings."  The fact that she too was weird and spastic was lost upon Fin.  In her own eyes, she was perfectly normal - except for the fact that she was sooo much cooler and more fun than a lot of wolves, of course.

The news that Finley's sister had gone and joined up with the rest of the caldera was interesting. Fox realized in that moment that she didn't really know much about Finley's life before the two had met on the plateau. Then again, how much did Finley really know about Fox's life before the plateau? She must've known that Fox had come from Swiftcurrent Creek, but it wasn't like Fox talked often of her previous homes. They were in the past, and it wasn't too terribly often that Fox brought it up (unless somebody asked or prompted a story).

"Oh, you mean like better than you," Fox said with a silly grin. She couldn't possibly imagine Tiger being more awesome than Finley, but Fox was also extremely biased. Fox continued to let Finley lead them toward the trees that might be filled with bees, enjoying their casual banter along the way.

Fin threw her friend a look of feigned indignence.  "Better than me?" she scoffed, "How dare you even think such a thing!"  She turned her nose up then, which was fortunate because just as she did, she happened to realize that they had made it to their destination.  And not only that, but there was actually a beehive right above their heads!


RP world is so full of conveniences like that.

"Oh look," Fin said as she came to an abrupt halt, "Bees."  The beta's ears pricked as the buzzing of the little insects began to tickle them.  Expectantly, she turned her muzzle back towards Fox, looking to her for the next move.

Oh you. P.S. I am a party pooper.

Fox giggled like a little girl at Finley's mock-rage. Thankfully the two were close enough that such things didn't offend them when coming from the other one. Not a moment too soon, Finley pointed out that they had walked right under a beehive. And when the beta looked to Fox for direction, the girl shrugged. "Doesn’t do us much good up there," she replied, "and I don’t think I can jump quite that high." Fox was pretty sure she couldn't even jump half as high as that hive was, to be completely honest.

"Shall we move on?" she asked. Fox really didn't think they would actually be able to find a fallen beehive as her father had, but the thought was something that got her out and about, so she tried to keep her hopes up and her senses alert for any such thing.

Not on my watch!!  This is the last happy thread we get to have with them for a while lol

Fin stared eagerly up at the beehive, fully expected her partner in crime to be just as all about climbing up there and destroying it as she was.  What came was rather a disappointment.  Instead of launching into a series of suggestions as to how they could get to the beehive, she shrugged it off by pointing out their physical limitations and suggesting that they move on.  Finley turned towards her friend with a shocked and incredulous gaping mouth/frowny face.


"You're just gonna give up?" she asked, "Just like that?  Without even trying to jump for it?  Or trying to climb onto my shoulders and jump from there?  Or trying to climb the tree?  Or howling so loud that the entire branch shakes and the hive comes tumbling down?"  Her tail began to wag as the ideas poured from her mouth - partly in excitement, but also with amusement.

"Well..." Fox trailed off. That was exactly what she had intended to do. Instant gratification was more Fox's style, and thinking outside the box was definitely not. "So which one do we try first?" she asked, since Finley seemed dead-determined to get that beehive from way up high. Fox still wasn't sure that it was possible (realist that she was), and Finley was obviously the brains in this situation. The Redleaf had never been particularly bright, after all.

"Wait a second," Fox said, pushing herself in front of Finley. "Do you actually think that any of those plans will work?" Her face was warped into a silly grin, sure that either answer would be amusing enough. Finley never ceased to humor her, and it was a large part of the reason the two ladies got along so well.

Fox at first seemed reluctant to partake in any of Fin's suggestions, but it wore off soon enough once she realized there was no fighting her friend's determination.  Finley gave her a grin, appreciative of the fact that she knew there was no resisting.  Another thought popped into her head that they might be able to knock it down with a super long stick, and so she began to look around at limbs scattered about the ground.  Fox's questions quickly brought her attention back, and Fin responded with a smirk.  "Uh, no, not likely," she replied, "But why should that mean we don't try?"

Just as the words left her mouth, the Blackthorn spotted a potential spear over Fox's shoulder.  "Aha!" she barked, bouncing past her friend to step over to it.  She brushed a few old leaves away from it with her nose before clasping her jaws tightly around one end and lifting it into the air.  It was about a foot or two longer than she was from nose to tail, and heavy enough that she staggered slightly at the unexpected weight.  She tilted her head to point the stick straight up towards the high branches of the trees before turning to Fox with an eager, smiling face and a wagging tail.  She wasn't completely certain what her plan was from there for the hive was still just out of her reach, but they were at least on their way to doing.. something that wouldn't end in either of them being whapped on the head with a giant stick.

Fox gave Finley a pointed look, but it lasted only as long as the gap between her reply and her exclamation. That was quickly followed by Finley picking up a rather unwieldy-looking stick and very nearly whacking Fox in the head with it. "Careful!" Fox barked, ducking just in time to avoid a rather nasty blow to the head. It seemed that this plan wasn't working out particularly well, anyhow. There was a good bit of space between the end of the stick and the hive, which meant that either the hive would have to come down (not likely) or the stick would have to go up (also not that likely).

"Can you jump?" Fox asked. The stick was pretty big, and as much as she loved Finley, she'd be lying if she said she thought this was a good idea. Then again, few of Finley's ideas would be considered "good ideas" by the majority of intelligent individuals. A rustling behind her caused Fox to whirl around, and wouldn't you know it, there was a rather large cougar suddenly staring straight at the two wolves. Fox stood perfectly still, though the hair along her hackles raised to its full potential.

Fin merely cackled when Fox reminded her to be careful.  Had she wanted to be careful, they probably wouldn't be attempting to attack a beehive in the first place.  What fun would a girls' day out be without a little recklessness?


Finley nodded in response to Fox's question, making the stick wobble precariously.  She was staring up at the beehive again, preparing for launch when she saw her friend spin out of the corner of her eye.  Instantly, she looked away to peer at the bushes just as the cougar emerged and her eyes went wide in surprise.  Without a second thought, Fin dropped the stick at her paws and leaped forward to stand right at the side of her alpha, hackles raised as a devilish glean came to her eyes.  She had no idea what it was going through Fox's mind, but at that moment the beta was thinking of just how grand it was to have found something way more exciting than a bunch of bees.

A younger Fox, devoid of children, might have jumped at the cougar with all of her might. An older Fox, with three lovely children, did nothing of the sort. Instead, Fox began to back away from the cat, very very slowly, making eye contact with the feline every step of the way. She did not want it to come for her (or Finley, for that matter), and so the best choice was to... "Run!" Fox whispered an instant before turning herself away from the beast and high-tailing it out of there as fast as her little red feet would carry her.

She didn't look back to see if the cat (or Finley) was following her. Fox just sped along, dodging trees, roots, and underbrush as quickly as she could. She ran for a good twenty to thirty minutes before she allowed her feet to collect and came to a stop. Only then did she look behind her to see if Finley (and/or the cougar) had followed. She seemed to have lost the cat... but Finley was nowhere to be found. "Finley!" she called out, "Finley, where are you?!"

last post for meee <3

Finley tensed her muscles, ready to spring for the cougar right as her friend whispered an urgent command and then shot off in the opposite direction.  The beta froze momentarily, not even certain what had just happened since it appeared that Fox was gone, but Mister Cougar remained without a fiery red wolf at its neck.  Fortunately, the Blackthorn did manage to spin and tear off after her alpha a few moments before the cat had grown sick of the stare down and attacked.


Fin caught up to her friend about a minute or so after she heard Fox's voice calling frantically to her.  She slowed to a leisurely trot just before coming into view and kept right on going past her friend at the same pace, casting her a smirk as she went.  "We so could've taken it, y'know," she informed Fox with a tone full of mirth.  Finley was fully confident that her words were true, though she also would've happily admitted that they likely wouldn't have gotten away without a few injuries themselves.  But ah well.  The beta was just happy to have gotten some excitement in for the day, and she now was content to do whatever Fox wanted for the rest of the day, even if that meant being boring and heading back home to poke at babies.

Finley reappeared, and Fox breathed a sigh of relief. "Just because we could, doesn't mean we should," Fox replied with a smile and a shake of her head. She had kids to think about... and speaking of... Fox felt her maternal instincts kicking in, drawing her back to the den. Sure, it wasn't as exciting as fighting cougars or swinging sticks at beehives, but the kids were important... or something like that. Fox led them back at a slow pace, happy to catch her breath on the way and chit-chat about boys or whatever.