Redhawk Caldera Every week has a weekend

Yet again, the caldera's ranks were nearly full. Elwood wasn't sure of the exact number of wolves that now resided in their territory, but he knew that the recent additions over the last few weeks meant that he needed to increase his efforts as a gamekeeper. All of the newbies were able-bodied individuals who would surely help to put food on the table; however, this didn't stop him from hunting more frequently.

And, with the firebirds growing by the day, there needed to be more meat in the caches. He had stopped by the Alphas' den briefly, poking his head in to say hello to his nieces and nephew, and then had ventured down towards the borders. His destination was the rabbit warren that he and Somnia had feasted from some months ago, and which Magpie had also taken advantage of. By now, the hares should have fallen back into a false sense of security -- which would allow the Beta the opportunity to snag two or three by the time he was finished.

As he strode purposefully towards the extensive underground burrow, he kept his eyes and ears alert; if he came across any other packmates, he would invite them to accompany him. The sun warmed his back, signifying that it was midday, and he knew he had plenty of time to carefully flush the rabbits from their home.

*barges in*

After Elwood had come and gone, Fox had realized that she wanted to get out and stretch her legs. It had been too long since she had spent any time with her second Beta. Once she had ensured that Peregrine was fine watching over the children—when wasn't he fine with that arrangement, really?—Fox gave each of her not-so-little kids a kiss on their cheeks and hurdled herself in the direction that Elwood had gone. For most, such a tracking task would have been easy, but for Fox, it was a different story. She had never been particularly good at any of the actions that led to a meal. It was part of the reason she and Peregrine made such a great couple.

A journey of backtracking, wrong turns, and missteps finally brought her to Elwood, who looked to be staring intently at... well, something or another. Fox, dumb enough not to know any better, waltzed up to him and (in her loudest voice) bellowed, "Hey, Twig! Whatcha doin?!" Fox did not realize that she'd destroyed his chance at rabbit hunting.

:D

By the time Fox reached Elwood, he was, indeed, observing what he could see of the rabbit warren. There wasn't a lot of movement, which he judged was a good thing. Hopefully, that meant the rabbits were inside; there was a chance that they weren't home, but he reasoned that there had to be at least one or two in there. He was just beginning to plan the best method to begin flushing them out when there was a shout from behind, loud enough to startle his hackles into their full upright position.

He whirled around, the fur along his spine smoothing as his eyes landed on Fox. In his peripheral vision, he could see one lanky hare making a beeline for the trees in the distance, having broken cover from one of the entrances further away from where Elwood stood. He shrugged; a younger Elwood might've been annoyed at the disturbance, but now he was just happy and surprised to see that Fox had chased him down.

"Hey! You escaped the firebirds for a little while?" he replied with a jovial wave of his tail, turning to face her. "I was just about to do a little hunting, but I'd rather hang out with you," he added cheerfully -- although if Fox wanted to help him, he wouldn't be opposed.

"I did! Been trying to wean them off these milk duds, y’know?" If she wasn't around to provide them with milk, they would eventually get hungry and learn to eat more (regurgitated) meat. Fox was enthusiastically looking forward to the day when she would no longer have to be around every day to supplement their adult food with her boob juice. Spring was in the air, and Fox had just been itching to get out and enjoy the nice weather without having to worry about which kid was getting into something that would hurt them.

"You wanna walk to this cave I found the other day?" she asked, "I’m pretty sure it hooks up with another one I found when we first got here, and who doesn’t love a little spelunking?" Assuming (rightly or wrongly) that Elwood would agree, Fox began to head in the direction of the cave entrance. She did not intend to go to deep into it, but she'd been on her way home when she'd come across it the first time. "How’re things with Finley? You treating my lady like the queen she is?"

The mention of milk duds made Elwood chuckle; he had quickly gotten used to the way Peregrine and Fox casually referred to her pregnancy. He could imagine that she was eager for the babies to start eating meat, both for their own independence as well as her own. "I know what you mean," he quipped, although they both knew that he really didn't. Males could sympathize all they wanted to, but would never truly experience pregnancy like their mates.

Fox then requested his companionship to explore a cave and Elwood readily agreed. He wasn't a professional cave-diver by any means, but he did enjoy disappearing beneath the caldera's surface every once in a while. Close quarters and dank tunnels didn't bother him like they did Peregrine, though he didn't realize the extent of his friend's anxiety. "Yeah, let's do it!" he said, a bounce in his step as he started to follow Fox.

Conversation came easily between them, and he grinned as Finley's name came up almost immediately. "Well, she won't really let me treat her like a queen -- she won't even let me call her my mate -- but I'm doing my best," he joked with a swish of his tail. "Truthfully, though, things are going well, and I think we're both happy," he then added in a more serious tone.

Conversations with both Elwood and Finley had always been easy. The two of them were phenomenal friends, and they happened to be excellent co-leaders as well. Sometimes, Fox wondered if she and Peregrine were going to use up all their good luck. But she didn't want to jinx it, so Fox kept her lips sealed on the matter. Good wolves came and went, but the best ones stuck around. Fox sincerely considered Elwood and Finley the latter variety.

Elwood's quick and easy acceptance to go spelunking was welcomed with a wide grin on Fox's part. She replied with a, "Huh," when Elwood mentioned that Finley wouldn't allow El to call her his mate (man, that's a confusing load of words). She wondered why her friend was giving Elwood the ol' run-around, and she'd certainly have to have a talk with her. It was so obvious that Finley and Elwood would be 2getha 4eva.

"Oh, here it is!" Fox exclaimed, tail beating happily back and forth as she sprinted the last dozen yards to the opening. It smelled of moss and dampness, but that didn't deter the young Alpha. "C'mon!" And with that, Fox's head disappeared into the darkness, followed quickly by her torso and tail.

Fox didn't give much feedback after Elwood's explanation of his odd relationship with Finley. He reckoned that the Alpha female had heard Finley's side of it -- "girl talk," and all that. For a moment, he considered pressing her for more information, but quickly decided against it. As interesting as things were with Finley, they had managed to find their comfort level and he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it. He had long since accepted that Finley Blackthorn moved at her own pace and there would be no rushing her along.

Soon enough, though, the red and silver pair reached their destination and Fox dashed ahead excitedly. Elwood's ears pricked and his tail lifted to wave over his haunches as he accelerated to a trot, closing the distance even as his friend disappeared into the shadows. "Hey, wait up!" he called, and then he was ducking his head as he slipped through the entrance.

It was cool and dark inside the tunnel, and the smell of loam was strong and potent around him. The Beta paused for a moment, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the lower levels of light, and then he squinted ahead to spot the bright flash of Fox's tail ahead of him.

As the cool shade of the cave enveloped her, Fox felt a chill run down her back. The cave was not as large as she had expected, but it was a decent size. It cut through the mountain, and the only source of light was the entrance from where they had come. The coolness of the shadow was a relief from the hot heat of the outdoors, and Fox found herself enjoying it. As her eyes continued to adjust to the dimmer lighting, she gave the place a cursory look-around. The cave probably went about twenty wolf-lengths back, and it spanned roughly five wolf-lengths across. It was oval-shaped, and Fox didn't notice the smell of anything living here.

"I’m gonna have to bring the kids here," she whispered, in awe of the space. Speaking any louder would have sent her voice echoing back from all sides, anyway. Fox ventured to the furthest recess of the den, and once there, she realized that there were an assortment of skulls. Somebody's collection, apparently, though they hadn't been here in a long time. "Creepy," she said, loud enough that her voice bounced off the cave walls. "Spooooooooooky!" she said, even louder to enhance the effect. "Some great acoustics in here, eh?"

As his vision cleared, Elwood took in the cavern around him. It turned out to be more of a cave than a tunnel, and it came to a dead end rather than continuing on into the mountain. But it was large enough to let the two wolves venture inside with a bit of freedom, although it certainly wasn't the biggest space that Elwood had explored.

He followed Fox slowly, his eyes roving over the rocky walls and ceiling. Her voice echoed back to him and he laughed, his own chuckles bouncing in a similar manner. The words "creepy" and "spooky" reached Elwood's ears and drew his attention, so he padded towards her, his brows lifting as he spotted the pile of skulls.

"What the..." he breathed; it was a peculiar display, and he wondered who -- or what -- had created this collection. "Spooky is right," he agreed as an unbidden shiver raced down his spine. He poked at the bones with a forepaw, causing some of them to come tumbling down with a clatter. As a skull rolled to a stop at his feet, Elwood backed up, staring down at the eyeless sockets looking up at him.

Elwood seemed far more perturbed than Fox, who didn't believe in superstition or the like. When he touched one trinket, a dozen others fell to the ground, causing quite a loud crash that continued to echo off the walls of the small chamber. "Well, if this was somebody's collection, they're probably not going to be too happy about that," Fox said with a frown. "In fact, I'm pretty sure they'll come find you and take your head, too!" This last bit she said with glee in her voice. She didn't mean it, of course. Elwood was one of her good friends. Still, she couldn't help but heckle him.

"You should bring Finley around here sometime. I'll bet she'd love this weird creepy stuff," Fox added. If there was one think she knew of the Blackthorn, it was that that girl loved danger and all the things that went along with it. When the dust settled and the echoes had stopped, Fox's eyes settled on one particularly odd looking skull. One of the eyes was completely covered by a weird growth. Not only that, but the antlers were also quite strange. They were prickly all over, sprouting out with little twigs in all directions.

"I'm bringing this one back for the kids," Fox declared. "You should bring one back for Fin!"

Elwood laughed, though the sound was uneasy. "Great, I probably just unleashed all kinds of bad karma," he quipped, though there was a tiny piece of him that did worry about his luck from here on out. He wasn't a particularly superstitious wolf, nor did he believe in "bad juju" or the like. He was usually far too logical for those type of thoughts, but something about this eerie cavern made his heart beat a little faster...

He had to agree with her that this would be the sort of adventure that Finley would have loved. The silver Beta made a mental note to bring her back to this very location, but until then, he was tempted to follow Fox's lead and take one of the skulls with him. He watched as she gestured towards one with an obscured eye, then started to look around for his selection.

After a few seconds of indecisiveness, he chose a small skull that looked as though it had been weathered for many years. Its surface was smooth and almost shiny, save for a crack that ran right down the middle. Gingerly, he picked it up in his mouth and turned toward Fox. "H'okay," he said, the single word strangely muffled by the bone.

Feel free to write one more post here, or just have it archived!

Now that they each had their treasures, they could take them back to their respective families. But who was Fox kidding? At this point, most of the long-standing members of the caldera were family, for all intents and purposes. Finley and Elwood were the godparents of her own children, and it was they who had been here since nearly the beginning. As far as Fox was concerned, both of them were honorary family members of her own. And she couldn't have thought of anything sweeter.

When she finally did arrive back at the den, Fox let the three little ones investigate the strange skull. Perhaps they would even take it to the future rendezvous site, once things were settled there. In any case, it would be a nice piece of home decor.

Elwood wasn't opposed when Fox started to lead the way back out of the tunnel. It wasn't his favorite cavern; he much preferred the icy skating rink deep in the mountain's belly. Now that the weather had warmed up, it was more like a hidden lake, and he made a mental note as they exited that he needed to venture back down there. He had only visited once since winter's end, and that was when he was looking for Somnia with Peregrine and Finley.

With his creepy prize grasped gingerly in his jaws, he made his way back to the den he shared with Finley. He was glad to leave the spooky tunnel behind; it was giving him the willies.