Redhawk Caldera Oh baby, why did you run away?

Nightjar was up just after the sun, racing back and forth in the den and likely disturbing every single inhabitant in it with his attempts to force them to wrestle with him. His fascination with play fighting had begun about a week ago when he and Raven had gotten into a bit of a good-natured scuffle, and ever since, he'd been trying to fight everything that moved... good-naturedly, of course. He was no bully, but he did make some poor decisions about who to engage. Just the day before, he'd been dragged away from an ill-tempered muskrat that had found its unfortunate way up to the caldera to become his latest opponent. Thankfully for him, he hadn't landed a hit before he was spotted, for the muskrat surely would have left him hurting.

Without waiting for anyone to come supervise him, the boy rushed out of the den. Peregrine was very quick to follow him and make sure he didn't run off anywhere, but would be relieved to see Nightjar standing nearby, staring out at his bright surroundings. Part of him yearned to turn around and rush his father and start yet another wrestling match, but another part of him was raring at the opportunity to fight someone else.

Without waiting for his father to occupy him with some activity or other, he sucked in a huge breath and hollered, "Ann Fuhlee!" as if he could somehow compel @Finley to come to him whenever he wanted her to.

The firebirds were growing like little weeds as the days passed by towards Summer in the Caldera.  Fin could never stop marveling over how big they were getting.  So well could she remember the days when they were just tiny little meatballs, squirming around, blind and deaf, loosing their bowels and stomach contents at will.  Truth be told, they still did that now, but they at least were trained up enough to do so outside of the den and not all over themselves, so the clean up was far more minimal.  But anyway, I digress.

Fin was actually already on her way to the Redleaf-Disarinno den with a gift for the family when a tiny, but plenty loud, voice reached her ears.  She paused for a moment, canting her head as she listened to the childish butchering of her name upon the wind.  A smile spread swiftly across her muzzle as recognition came to her, and with quickened steps she ran the rest of the way to the alphas' home to spy little Nightjar standing there with his father.  With a muffled woof as her greeting, she trotted up to the pair and dropped her gift - the lower half of a deer's back leg, complete with hoof and scraps of hide and meat - onto the ground for them.

"Sup lil' Ninja?" Fin said, directing her attention to the little boy who had called out for her after giving Peregrine a non-verbal greeting.

For a short while, nothing happened. Finley didn't magically appear like she seemed to often do. After shooting a questioning look back at Peregrine, who tried to hide his amusement, Nightjar almost gave up. His ears wilted and he turned back toward the den, hoping his dad would at least engage him in a quick wrestling match, but then the sound of paws made him whirl around again, and there she was!

"Ann Fuhlee!!" he exclaimed, completely ignoring the deer leg she'd brought in favour of her presence. Her nickname for him was a new one that he definitely enjoyed, even though he had no idea what a ninja was, or how unlike a ninja he would be. "Figh'!" he demanded, prancing on the spot for a moment before dropping his chest to the ground.

Unlike normal instances of play, where Nightjar would typically bound off in the opposite direction, this time he bristled and growled and lashed his tail. If it wasn't so damn adorable, it would be frightening. He was far from frightening, but his intent was definitely clear: he wanted a play fight, a real one, complete with bruises and bumps!

A broad smile stretched across Finley's muzzle at the greeting she received from her godson. It was replaced quickly by a smirk as her brows furrowed in amused curiosity. Had he really called her there so that he could fight her? The thought made her shoulders shake with laughter, which she quickly suppressed so as not to insult the little warrior. Considering the fact that fighting was one of her favorite pastimes, she certainly didn't want to discourage the little man from whatever fletchling aspirations he may have.

So, Fin sank into a bow herself before the boy, her tail lashing through the air. "Ohhhh, my beloved Ninja," she teased with a smirk, "do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into? Picking a fight with moi? Bearfighter extraordinaire?"

Finley obliged him, albeit with a spoken warning. Nightjar pricked his right ear, listening intently and trying to decipher the meaning of all she said, but some of the words were much too large. Still, he latched onto these words in particular, intrigued by them and, without knowing their meaning, he boldly proclaimed, "yeah! Burr-figh'in extra dinner!" In other words, he wasn't afraid!

To prove his mettle, the boy began the fight by rushing toward Finley. There was nothing at all subtle about it. Tactics would never be his forte, and he would always be a forthright fighter, possibly predictable but also unstoppable. Finley's head was low enough for the fast-growing Nightjar to reach her brow, so that was where he aimed his wide open jaws. He would never intentionally hurt his aunt, but scrapes bruises didn't count as hurting, right?

The little wolf cottoned onto a few of the words Fin had said, which brought a broad smile to her face.  She really wasn't any good at the baby talk in the first place, but it worked out because one of her favorite things about the little firebirds was how they naively butchered whatever she said.  It really gave her little incentive to try and speak to them on their level when they so excitedly shouted things like "extra dinner" just before charging into battle.


Fin lowered her head to "brace" for impact.  She knew the little wolf pup likely wouldn't do much damage to her, but that didn't mean she wanted to give him an easy fight.  As he nipped at her face, she moved her head from side to side to dodge.  She opened her own jaws wide and moved them towards his head and body, not intending to bite down or anything, but just to set his little heart racing thus making him all the more excited by the game.

Finley definitely didn't disappoint. Nightjar naturally expected an easy fight, mostly because he was obviously the better of the two. Finley was no contest! Sure, she fought bears and trekked up and down the entire Caldera every day, but he was Nightjar, best warrior who ever lived! He could best her with both eyes closed and three paws tied behind his back.

She was good, though. Very good. She expertly dodged each of his attacks, which came in surprising succession but were painfully predictable. Nightjar didn't know that not varying his attacks would cause him to lose, so again and again he aimed to nip her brow, and again and again Finley ducked out of his way. She did it more easily the more times he did it, but his powers of observation weren't exactly sharp, so he didn't notice.

Soon, she countered him. She loomed her larger head over his own and spliced open her jaws, revealing sharp teeth and a splotchy wolf tongue. It had the intended effect—Nightjar's heart beat wildly as he scrambled to escape. He barely made it, but he did, slow and clumsy as he was. Barely even a foot away, he turned to face his godmother again with his fur on end from the brief spike of fear and adrenaline.

Nightjar's hasty escape brought a laugh to Finley's lips.  Her vicious snarly face quickly became one of joy as she panted, tilting her head to one side to peer at the nervous little wolf.  "Okay, Ninja, here's your first lesson--" she began, crawling on her belly a couple inches nearer to him, "More often than not, when you fight a bad guy, they're going to fight back.  You can move out of the way to dodge them, but if you run away scared when they come at you, you're never going to win the fight."

It was likely terrible advice.  He was what - a foot tall?  Probably not the best age to encourage to face his enemies instead of running away.  But Fin had no concept of such as she instructed the mini-warrior, which is why she lifted herself up slightly and gave him another menacing little growl.  "Now come at me, buddy!" she encouraged him with a wag of her tail and a playful narrowing of her eyes.

With his fur still standing on end, Nightjar nodded sagely, even though he didn't really get it. What was he supposed to do, outscare his opponent? He was much too small for that! Then again, Nightjar wasn't the type of wolf who didn't believe in himself, so even if it seemed like a bad idea at first, he knew he would follow Finley's advice even if it got him killed. Let's be honest, it probably would if he had to fight anyone before his first birthday.

Finley encouraged him to come again, and like before, Nightjar charged without any forethought. As it turned out, thinking about anything wasn't exactly his forte. It would become less so the older he got. There was no point wasting time thinking when you could be doing, which was his creed from now and forever. Again he came on with widely parted jaws, making exactly the same attack he'd made the first time and proving that he was lacking in the creativity and variability departments.

Nightjar dutifully heeded his Aunt's words, as terrible of an idea it was to do so.  But, that was the risk of learning to fight from Aunt Fuh-lee.  Hopefully someone would step in to set the boy straight before he went barreling straight at rabid coyote or a super pissed off wolverine (though for the record, Finley had done both of those things as a child and had managed to survive, though her babysitter had definitely lost a couple chunks of fur).


Finley grinned as the little Redleaf came running at her.  It was an obvious move that she could easily have avoided, but that was a lesson for next time.  Right now it was more important that he be confident, so Fin merely turned her head a little so that he would crash into her shoulder - at which point she would proceed to tumble over as though Nightjar had successfully bulldozed right over her.

This time, miraculously, Nightjar's incredibly predictable attack hit its mark. Well, it missed by a little bit seeing as he was going for her head, but the young pup's ego inflated 1000 times anyway. It was especially so because Finley, being the compliant godmother she was, put on the theatrics enough to convince him that he was strong enough to shove her right off her feet!

This was, of course, completely impossible, but Nightjar was so young that "impossible" was hardly even a concept to him.

He was about to leap on her and "finish her" without really finishing her when Peregrine called his name. The boy's good ear propped up to listen while the bad one flopped uselessly to the side. He considered disobeying for a grand total of half a second, thought better of it, and bounded away from Finley in the direction of the Alpha. As it turned out, Peregrine was summoning him inside because his sisters were now awake and they all needed a decent breakfast, so Nightjar never did get to win his battle against Finley.

However, he would never forget it, and would defeat her one day, just to prove he could.

Fin flopped over when Nightjar barreled into her with a fabricated cry of remorse for her defeat.  She expected then to feel the razor sharp sting of tiny puppy teeth upon her limbs then, but she was saved by a call from Peregrine.  The boy abandoned her unceremoniously, leaving Fin to twist upon the ground to smirk at his retreating form.  She rolled onto her paws then and headed out, planning to seek out Elwood to get some sympathy from him for her terrible defeat.