Candy couldn't help the rush of adrenaline he got from the news that his mate was expecting, he couldn't hold his yips of joy as he excitedly rushed his mate and smothered her in kisses. Her comment about his being scrawny completely went over his head as he yipped and jumped with happiness, his now swirling thoughts pouring from his muzzle as he yammered on "that's wonderful! I'm going to be a father! A father! And you're going to be a mom! Oh I've got so many plans, you can teach them to hunt and I'll teach them to swim and they'll grow up to be just as gorgeous as the both of us! Just think a mix of your looks and mine, they'll be unbelievably beautiful! Every fox will swoon as soon as they see them! We're going to have the best kits in the world and everyone else is going to be jealous every time they see us!" He was so excited he'd completely forgotten about his injured tail as he was far too busy fantasizing about their future kits to think about injuries.

Crimson was happy but soon her burst of energy ran out and she walked away from the two who were still playing. She walked over to the river which she could smell in the air, she could also smell Candy and Nori close by. She walked up to the river and bent down a bit and lapped up the cold water, her front paws got a bit wet. She sat down under a shady tree and started picking out all the twigs and leaves that her fur had collected while she was playing. It was nice here, she loved being alone with her thoughts especially because her stress went while not having to order her skulkmates around.

-

Crimson looked around at the beautiful sight she had, trees surrounding her, a beautiful river infront of her, why would she ever want to leave? Her thoughts brought her back to another issue, Chestnut had mentioned a possible lone fox just outside their border. If it was a trader it didn't really matter aslong as they didn't step over the territory line but if it wasn't and it was a fox from the desert or ice skulk then she would have to start border patrols.

-

Actually, she muttered under her breath maybe that would be a good idea even if it wasn't a different skulk they may as well up their game incase any other creatures stumbled near them. It's not like they didn't have a border patrol it was more of a casual thing, there weren't really any specific foxes went. She should go and tell Arrow, maybe they could sort out which foxes together? She got up and started walking back, Candy and Nori were close but where she didn't know.

Nori giggles."even if they're just half you, they'll be the most gorgeous foxes in the neighborhood. You'll be a great father." Nori leans into a mate, working his shoulder. " We could get you to Nightshade." I left my nose at scent of nowhere fox. Crimson? If she listening. She glances every which way. No. She's a good leader. She wouldn't listen in.

(ignore how long that took, I have no clue what cactus fruit looks like.)

I truck long, looking for fruit. I see a cactus and poke it. A spine stabs my snout and I recoil back. Ouch. I still go up and grab the piece of limb anyway. Find a hollowish rock and put it in front of sable. I squish the fruit after pulling up the signs. Then watery stream pours out. I did my nose in it, immediately making it feel better. Is definitely the right kind.

(ERP, 1st person. I'm too lazy to change it right now.

Nightshade paused and poked her head out of the den that she had been working on. Emerging from it and sniffing the air she could smell three foxes which made her anxiously but also was there something else? She recongized it but couldn't pin point where.

She went back into into her den she was digging and checked on her herbs. Still safe.

"Might as well add a third exit. Death, blood and skulks about", muttered the brown and white vixen before pausing, "wait a minute. I recongize that smell. The question is do I warn the foxes wandering about?".

Candy calmed his excitement when Nori mentioned nightshade. He's stilled when the nearby scent of Crimson floated threw the air wondering if the fox was tailing him again. His fur stood on end a bit as he started to get anxious, if Nori was pregnant he really had to be more careful about drawing suspicion. He sighed and shook out his fur again, wincing as the pain of his tail reminded him he was in fact injured. He gave his mate a sweet lick and pressed against her side trying to calm his own anxiety before he nodded and said "you're right, let's go find nightshade and we should probably try to catch something before we get there, traders and farmers don't usually like giving away goods and services for nothing."

~

He let his mate take the lead as he followed a few steps behind, scenting the air to see if Crimson really was following them like he suspected. There was something in the air that set his fur on end and caused a pit in his stomach but he couldn't place the smell so he said nothing about it and just kept an extra vigilant eye on their surroundings. He wasn't the best fighter but if anyone or anything tried to harm his mate he'd do whatever he needed to do to protect her.

Crimson got back to the camp when it started raining and saw Arrow and trotted over. "Hey Arrow! We need to talk about border patrols" Crimson walked over to her den which was out of the way and was quiet so they could talk, it was also out of the rain so they could focus. They needed regular border patrols as it seemed other foxes were getting to close for her liking. She suddenly realised that Chestnut wasn't back yet, he was probably sleeping in a burrow somewhere or was to busy hunting and had lost track of time.

He was probably heading back now because of the rain.

Firestorm watched Crimson walk away and wondered what it was. But he was distracted from his pondering by Arrow's playful crouch. He responded with a crouch of his own, a playful shake of his tail, and a little swat of his paw.

Nori-F-melinistic grey-Expecting forest mother-M: Candy, Nightshade (indirect)

Nori sniffs the air just raindrop splat on her nose. "Eugherg"(cry of indignation) "I should go hunt for something to trade with. Before you argue, the prey will be able to smell the blood on your tail." She says to Candy. Before letting him answer, Nori bounds off.