Guiding Light

"Well, that's a good thing. You're probably sturdier than you think," the hedgehog smirked, "Any cuts or scrapes we need to clean up?" She stood up straight again to await his response.

Flame was still working on her own scrapes for the time being and Aiden had yet to 'say' anything further.

Wolf looks over himself briefly.

"Probably... I did wash some of them off earlier. Then I got beaten up again." he replies.

"Hm..."

The hedgehog glanced back and forth at the two teens. "Yyyyeah, before wrappin' up anythin' much, you both oughta get a good bath," she pointed out, "If there's nothin' else I need to do for either of ya, I can go to the store and get Flame a brace while you guys get washed up."

"Honestly," Flame piped up, "A soak in the tub sounds amazing. Warm water might help all these sore spots." She rubbed her middle with one paw as she spoke.

"Well, you kids can duke it out over who gets which bathroom," the hedgehog pointed out. She looked back to Wolf. "Do you think you're good to get a bath? You got any fresh clothes?"

"I suppose a good washing wouldn't hurt... much. Depends on the bruising..." Wolf replies, "I'll just need directions. As for clothes..."

He glances around for his bag, eventually remembering that it was by the door.

"I'll just have to see if my belongings are still all together." he adds, "If my bag survived, I should have something else I can wear in there."

"Unless somethin' fell out and I didn't see it in our panic to get outta there, should be fine," Flame replied, slowly standing from the couch. She winced a little and huffed out a breath.

"You can have Mom's bathroom. All my stuff is already in the other one," she said, "I think I'm gonna go ahead and get on that, if you guys don't mind."

"You're good, I'll get him settled and then go to the store." The hedgehog glanced to her youngest son. "Aiden, you wanna go with me to the store?" she asked.

Aiden had stepped back to make way for Flame and he was staring at Wolf again. As the older hedgehog spoke, he looked up to her, then nodded in response to her question.

"Alright, go get you some shoes on then."

The black hedgehog looked to Wolf and Flame one more time, then turned and hurried off to his bedroom again.

Flame started off towards where she'd left the backpacks, going to grab hers.

Wolf follows Flame's example and stands from the couch after she's already started walking over to the door to retrieve her bag. He glances towards the younger hedgehog as he heads off and then Wolf makes his way over to pick up his own bag. He keeps out of Flame's path as he does this and once he has his bag in both paws, he glances over towards the older hedgehog, who he assumed was going to offer him directions on where to go now.

Flame was heading off towards the hallway Aiden had already gone into when the last door on the left opened and another quill-covered head poked out.

"Mom, you home?" the male voice called out.

The purple hedgehog was just starting to turn back towards the other corridor and she paused at the voice. Casting a glance that way, she merely replied, "Nope, just your imagination."

There was a bit of a pause as Flame and the other hedgehog met each other's gaze in the hallway. At a more reasonable tone, the new hedgehog asked, "Geez, Flame, what happened to you? D'you run off a cliff again?"

"Ha, ha, ha, Sparks, how about I toss you off one and we see if you turn out the same way?" Flame replied dryly as she passed him.

"None o' that, you two, or I'll throw you both!" their mother called out in warning. She looked back to Wolf. "This way," she urged, starting off down the corridor that seemed to lead to the back door.

Wolf looks in the direction of the new voice, catching sight briefly of the head of another hedgehog down that way. He takes note of Flame calling him 'Sparks' but doesn't have much chance to ponder if that was his name or just a nickname, before the older hedgehog cut them off.

Once she indicated that he should follow her, Wolf falls into step behind her.

The purple hedgehog passed the first two doors that were right across from each other, as well as the second door on the right, which was open and appeared to be a laundry room, judging by the washing machine and dryer, along with a couple of baskets filled with clothing. She instead went to the second door on the left, opening it and stepping into what one could only imagine was the master bedroom. Her flared out quills only just fit through the doorway with her.

Like much of the rest of the house, the room wasn't very decorated, bearing a television set against the left wall and a good-sized bed against the right. A small night table sat on each side of the bed. The room was fairly dark in colors and heavy curtains over the tall windows on either side of the bed prevented most of the light of the dreary day outside from coming into the room. The rest of the furniture mostly consisted of another couple of dressers in the room. On the right side of the wall across from them was an open door to a walk-in closet.

The hedgehog leading the way made her way right across the room to another door on the far wall. This one lead right into the master bathroom, which she flipped the light on for. The two sinks were both in front of a long mirror across the right wall. Another calendar was hanging on a nail on the wall across from them. The toilet was at the far end of the bathroom, separated off by a small bit of wall to offer some vague form of privacy from the sinks and the doorway. Right across from that was a bathtub with a sliding door.

The hedgehog stopped and turned back towards Wolf. "Alright, here you go," she stated, "I'll grab you a couple o' towels in a sec. You need anythin' special? Rubber ducks and the like?" The smirk across her muzzle implied she was poking fun at him, but she awaited a response regardless.

Wolf glances around as he follows the hedgehog through one of the hallways and into a bedroom and then its attached bathroom, quietly noting where things are. He looks over at the hedgehog when she asks him about getting any accessories. He shakes his head slightly.

"No, thank you." he replies, "Just the essentials should do."

The hedgehog gave a nod. "I'll be back with your towels in a sec then," she replied, stepping forward to move past Wolf and back towards the door. "Just use whatever soap you want, it's all about the same," she added as she made her way back across her room.

Wolf turns and watches her go. Shortly after she exited the bathroom, he looks around again for several moments then moves over to the bathtub. He grabs hold of the sliding door on it, shifting it back and forth a couple of times, just testing to see how it moved. He then leaves it open so he would be able to access the tub itself. He looks around to see what soaps and shampoos they might have in there and he starts to pick them up one at a time to sniff them. It wouldn't do him much good to wash up with one of these if it ended up being something he didn't want to smell like afterwards.

It was only about a minute later that the hedgehog returned to find Wolf sniffing at one of the bottles of shampoo from the bathtub. She smirked slightly, taking the two towels in her paws and setting them on the counter between the sinks.

"Alright, here ya go," she said, "I'm gonna head to the store with Aiden to get some stuff so I'll be back soon. When you're done, you can probably just hang out in the livin' room. Flame'll probably be a while, but the other kids are around."

Wolf turns and glances back towards the hedgehog, while still holding the bottle of shampoo in his paws. He tilts his head slightly.

"Other kids?" he repeats, "How many others?"

"Three," she replied, "Flame's older brothers and her little sister."

She glanced back over her shoulder as Aiden entered the bedroom, now wearing tennis shoes and looking to his mother expectantly. She smiled to him, then looked back to Wolf.

"You'll meet 'em all eventually, I'm sure."

"Is there anything I need to be prepared for?" he asks her.

The hedgehog crossed her arms in front of her. "Now what fun would it be if I told you that?" she replied smugly, "I think I'll just let you wonder what kinda crazies you might bump into out there instead."

With that, she began to step back towards the bathroom door. "I think you'll all get along just fine anyway," she added.

"Considering what you saw today, you can expect that there is some pretty bad stuff I can imagine meeting." Wolf replies.

"Well, if you expect that any of my teenagers are workin' for shady wolf-hunting organizations, you've got another thing comin'," the hedgehog pointed out, "There are rules in this house, despite what Flame might like to say."

She continued on out of the bathroom and placed one paw against the door to shut it. "Worry 'bout that later, though. Get cleaned up and I'll be back in a little bit."

C.S.O. wrote:"Considering what you saw today, you can expect that there is some pretty bad stuff I can imagine meeting." Wolf replies.

hey you better back off from my fucking girl or I'll tear you to bits *snarls and shows fangs, unsheathing my jade sword of darkness*

Wolf just nods back to the hedgehog. Once she was gone and closed the door he then turns his attention back towards the shower so that he can finish picking out what he was going to use to clean himself up with. Once that was taken care of, he gets the shower running and gets ready to get in.

The purple hedgehog took a moment to dust herself off after her own tangle with the coyote from earlier before going and joining Aiden. The pair made a round through the rest of the house, checking in on the other teens so they would know where they were going. Flame was just getting into the other shower as the two dark-furred hedgehogs left the house. The eldest elected to head outside and then teleport away from there.

For the time being, the house was relatively silent.

Wolf proceeds with his shower. Once he's finished about fifteen minutes later, he gets out and begins drying himself off, as well as going through his backpack and pulling out a clean set of clothes to wear.

It's about another fifteen minutes before he's dry and dressed. He packs up his things into his backpack and gathers up his used towels. Then he moves over to the bathroom door and opens it up slowly, so that he can peek out into the next room.

The bedroom was currently empty, the door leading back out into the hall left open as well. Voices, however, could be heard from elsewhere in the house, out towards the main area.

Wolf glances around the room briefly. He moves back into the bathroom and hangs up the towels wherever he can find space for them. He then slowly makes his way out of the bathroom, turning off the light in the process, and taking his pack with him.

He makes his way over to the bedroom door, leading into the hallway. He pauses to listen at the door and then opens it slowly to glance out into the hallway to see if anyone is there and where.