Redhawk Caldera beneath with me

attn @Elwood @Finley heuueue

Tiger had seen less and less of her sister. The last she'd seen of her was with the puppies, but Tiger sought ought some good ol' one-on-one time. With all of the drama that had occurred, caring big sis moved toward the densite of her brother in law and Finley, both involved in the scuffle. Fin had been able to fill her in plenty on why everything that had occurred did, but now she wanted to check out Elwood and Finley to assess if any damage was really made. She'd been so caught up in Wildfire she'd morphed into the shittiest sister, ever.

So with that in mind, Tiger moved nearer and nearer to their humble abode... and... and was that blood she smelled? A bit of panic overtook her as she came nearer to the den, dizzy with the idea that she'd let either parties bleed any amount from the scuffle which naturally, her mind jumped to. Was she going crazy?

Oh you nosy sister!

Elwood and Finley had effectively become recluses in the days following their own personal tragedy. The whole atmosphere of the caldera had changed that day, so their absences likely were not noticed outright. They spent the majority of the daylight hours curled up together in their burrow, usually not talking; there wasn't much to be said. They just needed one another.

Eventually, Finley decided that she was ready for some air, and while Elwood offered to accompany her, she insisted that she needed some alone time. He couldn't argue with her; how could he? He simply watched with sad eyes as she departed, heading out of the territory and into the free land to the north.

He did leave the den for a short while, only because his stomach was twisting with hunger, but when he returned with a full belly he was surprised to see that there was a visitor lingering outside their door. The Beta stiffened, his mind whirling. He and Finley had decided not to share the death of their children with anyone else; no one had even been aware of Finley's pregnancy, and it was something that they felt they needed to deal with alone. Concern was already etched onto Tiger's face, but Elwood wiped his expression clean, trying to appear as neutral as possible as he approached. "Hey, Tiger," he said, giving a weak wave of his tail. Surely any odd behavior would be dismissed as a lingering effect from Junior's slaughter.

She has noooo idea *_*_*_

"Tree!" she greeted, glad to see the (palefaced) male, tail waving, even under the difficult circumstances. He seemed sad, but wasn't that to be expected? How well had he known the girl? She didn't get to talk too much with Elwood about it, but then again, she hadn't come here to talk about that. Not right away, anyways. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, where is Fin? You okay? Why do I smell blood?" Sniff, sniff... it seemed thicker, more concentrated, here. No doubt if Fin had been hurt she'd have sucked it up in the den; she was the sort. She grimaced.

"Elwood, is Finley okay? She'd never tell me, I know she wouldn't, she always wants to be so strong. But if she's hurt, I gotta take care of her." Tiger had no idea the extent of it. She was speaking of course of the battle; she had no idea what literal grave she was pawing at here. But she looked intently at her brother-in-law, clearly observing him with astute eyes that had seen a lie or two in their time. Of course, if Elwood said, "Yeah, all is well," she'd take him at his word. She had no reason not to. Finley had seemed fine at the time after the battle, but she had been so caught up in the slashed throat of Wifi... had she missed something? 

Her greeting was relatively cheerful, but she then focused on something else entirely. The smell of blood still hung heavily in the air around the den; it was enough to make Elwood feel sick to his stomach, but Finley hadn't let him clean it. She continued to punish herself, even though he tried to convince her otherwise.

But now, looking her sister in the face, Elwood's tongue felt heavy. He couldn't tell her what had happened, as much as he wanted to. Tiger would be nothing but helpful, he knew -- but Finley had made him swear. They had both promised to each other that this was a secret to keep to themselves, and he wouldn't let her down.

So he shook his head, trying to appear nonchalant as he stepped away from the burrow, gesturing to Tiger as though he wanted to take a walk. He had to get her away from there. "Oh, no, yeah -- we're both fine," he said, carefully trying to evaluate his speech. He didn't want to seem too careless. "Finley ended up with a couple of good scratches after the...the fight. But we took care of it; cleaned her up and sent her on her way. She wanted to go do some scouting to stretch out her sore muscles." Was his fib believable? Lying was certainly not one of Elwood's strong suits, but maybe Tiger didn't know him well enough to see through his thin veil.

Tiger frowned. She knew she had let something slip. "Fuck," she snarls, shaking her head, "the fuck kind of sister am I?" She did not know the extent of it, but already, a few scratches caused her head to spin. "I'll come around again later with some herbs and stuff to help any pain or whatever, dunno if she's feeling anything now but... you know, infections and stuff..." She frowns deeply. Hell no would Fin get infected. Not if she could help it. She had sucked enough to not be there and see what was in front of her face; Tiger would suck no further than that.

Regardless of whether or not she was cleaned up, Tiger was her big sister. And while Elwood was her boothang, and Tiger respected him all the things, she hoped that he could respect that; she wanted to help, and confirm all was well. Nothing was fishy to Tiger. She trusted Elwood; he'd never lied to her before, so she didn't even take that into consideration. Tiger sniffs at him, too... "I should look at you too, y'get any cuts or scrapes or anything...?"

Tiger's reaction was more vehement than Elwood could have anticipated, and he shook his head quickly, moving to reassure her. "No, no, don't beat yourself up. There was a lot going on that day, and to be honest, neither one of us noticed until we got back to the den that night," he said, the lies rolling off his tongue more freely now. It had been that evening that they had found something was wrong, but it hadn't been any flesh wounds from the fight.

"I'll make sure she touches base with you soon," he fibbed earnestly, knowing all the while that Finley would balk at the idea. She certainly wouldn't want Tiger poking and prodding at her body. The pale Blackthorn seemed to calm a bit, turning her attention to Elwood. He gave his head another shake to indicate that he hadn't sustained any injuries. "No, I managed to make it out without any damage," he said. He had been in and out of the battle quickly, and had only hit Junior with his shoulder. He had avoided any of the flying teeth and claws.

Eager to keep the conversation moving along in a natural way, he then asked, "You sound like you're making a lot of progress towards becoming a healer. Sebastian mentioned to me that you were studying. That's awesome -- we really need a good one." Truthfully, Finley probably needed her sister's expertise more than ever -- but that wasn't something they were willing to address just yet.

"No, I'm just coming," she responds, snorting, "Like hell she'll touch base with me. You know her as well as I do, Elwood," her brows rose, sure that the fact that her sibling was a stubborn ass must have slipped his mind in the chaos. His words did little to make her feel better, but she sighed. "I should have noticed, though. I'm supposed to be a healer. Real great start." Huff. But she wouldn't give up so easily. The world needed batman Tiger.

She nodded at his words. Yup, no blood on him to be smelled or scratches to be seen. As he mentioned Sebastian, she grinned. "Did he?" Her tail waved, pleased he recalled their convo. "I'm working on it, but well, as you can tell by my lack of knowing my own sister was hurt, don't put much stock in me yet." She grit her teeth. 

In that moment, Elwood could have sworn he was talking to Finley instead of Tiger. The older sister certainly had traces of Finley's personality -- it was already clear that she was vibrant and imaginative, but she also appeared to be determined, dedicated, and perhaps even easily frustrated. Although her vexation was evident, Elwood had to stifle the smallest hint of a grin as he noticed the similarities. He swallowed a chuckle and then nodded his head, showing that he agreed with her. "Yeah, you're right. Don't know why I even suggested that -- we both know how stubborn she is," he said.

He felt bad that Tiger continued to berate herself for neglecting to notice Finley's wounds. He was tempted to spill the beans right then and there, but couldn't bear the thought of breaking Fin's trust -- even if it was for her own benefit. Arguing with Tiger and trying to convince her that it wasn't her fault would get him nowhere, so he let it go for now, instead focusing on the brief mention of Sebastian.

"Yeah," he replied, "we were talking about trades and he said you guys might work together some. He's a nice guy." By this point, he was grasping at straws to get Tiger to stop fixating on her sister's injuries; he didn't even know that Sebastian had a crush on Tiger, but he was desperate to keep his secret hidden.

Tiger was glad Elwood was on the same page now. Tiger was all for authority and respecting it, but she'd become a damn anarchist in matters pertaining her sister. But given he had appeased her in the one sole thing she would ever needed appeasing in, the tiger became a complacent, chilled-out wolf again. 

Even willing to stop talking about the matter that seemed to be a thorn in his side. He was probably pissed at her, but passively, for being shitty to his mate and her sister... that she could understand, because she was pissed at herself. She hoped her own persistence in getting down to business would let him know she meant well, she was just a thoughtless idiot. Won't happen again. 

But then he spoke of Sebastian again, the two of them blissfully unaware of his affections toward her. "Yeah, I told him I'd teach him what I knew. It'd be cool to have more than one Healer around, just in case." As the other day had proved, you never knew what could happen. 

"You can never have enough medics," Elwood agreed. He wholeheartedly believed that statement, too. Ashton had been a great healer and had been extremely beneficial to the pack -- until he disappeared abruptly. He had left the caldera in the lurch, so to speak, since there hadn't been any other wolves trained in medicine. So he was especially glad that both Tiger and Sebastian were interested in the trade.

Motioning for Tiger to continue walking with him, Elwood asked conversationally, "Do you need any help collecting herbs or anything? I know jack squat about medicine, but if you tell me what to look for, I can help you gather what you need." It was another excuse to keep Finley out of Tiger's mind -- at least for now -- and he honestly did want to help his sister-in-law.

When she agreed, they set off together, Tiger eagerly describing various plants to Elwood as they each scoured the ground with their eyes and noses.