(( for
@Charon especially! Slight assumption that Charon is already there to get the ball rolling <3 I can edit if need be! ))
He'd been expecting it for a while, and that expectation was a weight of slight unease in his stomach. Gannet wasn't a wolf easily bothered, but even this couldn't fail to cause him to falter a bit. Eventually, the alphas of the spear were going to visit, and if he understood it correctly, it was their child that had died on the borders that day. Despite his belief in his own actions, he knew it likely they saw him a trespasser and a problem, and his own current helplessness didn't help the situation.
Now the time had finally come, and Gannet simply watched the alpha male carefully. He would allow Charon first words, of course, but he couldn't do him the respect of standing yet. So instead he sunk low, submissive as he could, hoping that they didnt deem him too much a liability or waste to keep.
For the first days Charon had let his daughters take care of the Redhawk wolf. He knew that if he would be left alone with him he would only tear him apart piece by piece and he didn't want that weight upon his conscience. Besides, he was also left with the grief of his daughter's death, one that manifested itself largely in anger. Days later Charon finally felt ready to face one of the Redhawks that was responsible in some way for his daughter's death. He was pretty sure it was wolf number one that had killed Galaxy, but this one had defended him and helped him get away for it; an equally unforgivable act.
The wolf remained crouched as he approached -- a smart thing to do -- and Charon's own body language mirrored it in dominance, tail curled over his back, hackles raised and an angry expression on his face. "Did you know of the plot to kill Galaxy?" he started to ask. Hydra had told him the wolf's name, he was pretty sure, but Charon had already forgotten. "And who are you? What is your relation to Redhawk Caldera?"
"Gannet," he answered, easiest first. The rest he paused... what did he mean, relation? "They're my family," he finally continued after a moment, glancing up.
A plot to kill her? Why would they want to do that? Finley and Elwood would never, and he still wasn't convinced Titmouse did. But these wolves seemed determined that this was the case, and it seemed now they even pinned Redhawk as a possible culprit. "There's no plot." He said, somewhat firmly, sure. At least that much he knew one hundred percent. He barely heard word of Moonspear back home; if it was Blackfeather maybe. But not them.
she Lurk. don't wait up for me in post order bc idk what she'll be here yet :p
Amekaze had been nearby enough and followed Charon from a little ways back because she wanted to see this play out. Neither of them had put any effort towards the resident wounded Redhawk, although now it was time they get their answers--or attempt to, at the least. Nothing was going to change Galaxy's death, or even her overall outlook towards those of the Caldera, but she did want to hear this yearling attempt to explain himself to her harsh mate.
She would provide no buffer to the situation. The boy--
Gannet--was at Charon's mercy. She arrived just as they engaged, and hung back to listen, unflinching. There was ire in her cold stare. She would never trust a Redhawk.
No plot or not, supposedly, she still wanted to know why they were here where Galaxy had so happened to perish.. and who that other fleeing wolf had been (and the one she wished they'd got their grip on too). They
had to know how suspicious this was in a time when tensions were already drawn so tight.
"Old Alphas or new?" Charon asked. He didn't really know the new boss round, truly, but he knew that he was just as big a prick as Peregrine had been, so it didn't matter much to him. He didn't even know if the old or new Alpha pair was related to each other in any way, though the new guy didn't look like Peregrine or Fox much. Then again, neither did Dhole.
There was no plot, to which Charon snorted. Redhawks were very chaotic so it didn't surprise him much, really, if it were just a lone Redhawk idiot who'd killed her on a whim. Unreliable bastards. It seemed unfair they were trying to root out Blackfeather Woods when the real problem was right on their doorstep — Redhawk Caldera. "What's the name of the wolf that killed her?" he demanded, stepping close with teeth bared in warning he had better answer -- and correctly, too.
Gannet wasn't sure what Charon meant by old alphas vs new; it didn't occur to him that the Moonspear alpha may refer to his parents, they had been gone so long in his eyes. The second part, however, he did respond to. Still down, his ears tipped sideways, flattening. "He didn't." The threat in Charon's voice was clear, but Gannet spoke what he believed to be true, and he wasn't willing to compromise on that. Titmouse wasn't a killer. It made no sense. Redhawk Caldera didn't want a fight, and he wasn't going to say anything to indicate otherwise.
The lack of answer to his question wasn’t unnoticed. Charon was convinced that Gannet was purposely leaving out information, only further solidifying his thoughts Redhawk had planned this all. Eyes narrowed at the shitty answer. ”Stop avoiding my questions,” he warned. ”Who is he?!” Gannet knew exactly who Charon was speaking of, he knew, and he wouldn’t let him walk all over him. Charon was willing and prepared to chew out his face if he had to to get that point across.
Perhaps the other wolf didn't understand his answer. Gannet's ears flattened further at Charon's impatience. "My brother." He answered, then raised his head. "He didn't kill her." There wasn't aggression in his tone, but rather calm explanation. He wasn't avoiding, though he did not defend against the accusation. Why refute what clearly wasn't true?
His brother. His brother had done this. Charon ignored that he said that he hadn't killed Galaxy and snarled angrily. "Stop lying! My daughter who's a medic confirmed it." Lyra had said it was not true that Galaxy hadn't died from a wolf, and all of this was just too coincidental to Charon. The only thing that was keeping him in his boots and not tearing at Gannet's face right now was the fact that Gannet stayed rather calm in the situation.
"Look," said Charon, forcing himself to calm a bit, though it might seem a bit eerie how quickly he went from angry to calculated. "We're letting you get better here, 'til you can walk again. We're doing you a favour. Could've killed you in your brother's stead, but we didn't. Just answer the questions, please — if not because you want to help us, then out of gratitude for our hospitality." He breathed deep, taking a short pause and then looked at Gannet and asked: "What is your brother's name, and where is he?" Redhawk Caldera was the most logical thing. Charon thought maybe they should invade it when the Caldera was out at Blackfeather Woods, find the kid, kill him.
Gannet's shoulders instinctively tensed as Charon snarled, but he remained silent. It was pointless to argue now. Why should Charon believe him any more than he believed them?
His ears tentatively lifted when Charon seemed to calm, and he sensed the shift as well as heard it. He didn't like the words that Charon used, though. It had been their decision to let him live; he did not owe them loyalty for something he hadn't asked for, grateful as he was about it. His loyalty was for his family.
He saw no harm in again answering honestly, though, because he had no betrayal to give. "Titmouse. I don't know where he is." He was a good runner, and Gannet hoped he ran far and fast.
Charon kept the tension on and she only watched, sharply honed in on the yearling just in case. She'd gladly be present for the moment of his end, should it escalated there suddenly--so far, though, it did not. He did keep it just difficult enough, in some simple way. Ame was certain that he should be grateful for no fresh wounds, not yet.
When he gave a name, her eyes narrowed and she would not be forgetting it. Titmouse. He didn't know where he was either.. which was disappointing, but not surprising based on how he'd vanished. Coordinates on him would have just made it too easy. Nevertheless, this was a step in a good direction and Ame saw this as an appropriate enough segue for what she wanted to see him attempt to explain. Deep, deep down there was an old deja vu about this, and she slid up closer to Charon's side menacingly. She glared sternly at the silver eyed boy and looked terribly poised for something worse somehow. "Why was he here?" she asked. "Why were you here?"
The name was instantly committed to memory as it was said. Titmouse. What a ridiculous name. No wonder he'd resorted to doing ridiculous things. Before Charon knew it Amekaze was suddenly in their midst. He didn't realise that she was there all along but looked at her as she now demanded to know more. Solid questions, and Charon looked at Gannet to see if he would reply to satisfaction. He was glad enough to have gotten the name, and he would get a description from his daughters later. For now he pointedly kept staring at Gannet, remaining silent in the wake of Ame's questions and waited for the answers.
Gannet flinched when another wolf materialized to join the interrogation, and he began to feel edgy. He couldn't rise; couldn't defend himself if they decided to attack. Showing aggression right now would only make things worse, but he had to fight down the instinct to attempt to intimidate them into backing off. Something that would certainly end horribly for him.
"I don know," he said, with an edge of frustration. It had been so long since he'd left home, he wasn't sure why Tit would be out here. Perhaps the same reason he was. "I.... to see Liffey."
If it weren't for the state of his leg, she couldn't say for sure she'd have him this long. While she liked the answers, for he was giving them up more than thin air ever would, she didn't feel like she needed him. He could be a valuable bargaining piece.. should they need it in the greater scheme of what was to come, or he could simply be a liability on their behalf. Ame couldn't see clearly which way this could go yet, but she was determined to push it in Moonspear's favor always.
At least so far, Redhawk was too busy with their Blackfeather problem to raise hell about this one. Moonspear had sent word, though. There was little reason to by now. He was tended to, kept warm, fed, safe.. somewhat, she had to think as she loomed over him, dark and menacing. Maybe they accepted that easily enough because maybe the leadership left behind after Fox were a touch more sensible, but still, she was guarded about it thanks to old transgressions and not very generous herself. "So you two were not coming here together?" she asked, just to confirm what went implied enough. Having arrived on the scene after so many others had not left her a very good understanding of who had been where when. "And you saw nothing of what happened?" Ame had seen Galaxy afterward.. none of it was obvious, but there had been something. How it had been done and why a Redhawk had gone hauling it out of there afterward was what bothered her more.
Ame continued the persecution. To be truthful Charon didn't believe jack shit that Gannet said since he had already said so many things that weren't true but he committed his information to memory anyway, just in the off chance that he wasn't lying right now. It was curious that he was somehow friends with Liffey, Charon thought to himself, but didn't think much more of it.
Ame went on to ask if he had come here separately and had seen nothing. Charon thought of so many questions but they were no use to ask. He'd answer all of them the same, tell him that he knew nothing of the assassination of Galaxy, tell them that he had nothing to do with it. What was the use of asking again? He'd only keep denying. He considered mauling the boy up some but then if it turned out he had nothing to do with it all, it would only work in their disadvantage. Charon wondered idly if that was why Ame had intervened, afraid he would take impulsive action.
They continued to push, and while Gannet understood why, the situation was starting to strain his normal high humor. He could tell they didn't believe him, and it made him reluctant to even bother answering. Rarely did he get frustrated, but when he did, he couldn't hide it. Even on a bad day, Gannet's face was an open book.
"Just you chasing him," he replied to the second. He'd already answered the first, he thought, so he didn't give another. He hadn't seen anything else.
Nothing was really going anywhere too quickly. These were still answers, but were literally the most bare minimum that she felt comfortable with considering such. Her eyes were still narrow and ears fanning back, vaguely annoyed but still, could that really be all there was? She glanced towards Charon with a small sigh and an irritated tail-lash. Her interest in him was waning. They had some new pieces, but nothing groundbreaking. Still.. this wasn't over quite yet.
"You are Fox's son, yes?" Ame asked, returning her sights to Gannet, although she knew he was; she wasn't exactly prepared to wait for him to say otherwise. He had to be. She wanted the confirmation though. The bird-themed name, the sterling eyes, the simpleton head.. "She stirred an awful lot of shit for me in her day. Your father, too." Although to a much lesser extent, she still would hang it over him if she could--not that she expected it to seem to sink in much considering what she thought of their intelligence.
"Too much trouble follows when Redhawks start lurking around my own, and I will tolerate no more. You are lucky.. especially that the leg is all they got to," she gestured, leaving a foreboding pause to remind him to be thankful for his life, every second of it. She only didn't kill him because she didn't want the Redhawk backlash right now, and he might continue to be more valuable alive. "Although that could always change." she quipped and turned, brushing against Charon with the maneuver. She was tired of looking at the Redhawk, and returning the lead of the situation to her mate with that. She had new facts to ruminate on and no patience left. He was free to do as he pleased, or save him for another time and leave with her.
Many options flashed through Charon's mind as he watched Ame interact with the boy. They could slowly tear him apart, kill him, spread his intestines all over Redhawk Caldera's borders as a warning not to mess with their children again. They could keep him as a thrall, sort of an eye for an eye, for they'd never see their son again, but it was risky for what would happen if Gannet would simply run off? They'd need some means of keeping him here but crippling him for the rest of his life made him a lot less useful to their pack too.
Although that could always change and the brush of fur made him snap to attention, ears perked forward towards Gannet. He bared his teeth in a warning to back up his mate's words. She had said pretty much all he wanted to — Gannet was lucky to be alive and they could not guarantee it stayed to just the leg depending on how things would go. Narrowed eyes remained on Gannet, hackles pricked and demanding submission even though it was clear that Gannet was already in the submissive position. Charon was almost daring Gannet to say anything more, a single smart-ass remark, anything, for he felt he had the facts lined up pretty well already and wouldn't mind blowing off some steam.
Gannet was generally a submissive and easygoing creature, and the lead title was one that was likely destined never to grace his head. At least not in the foreseeable future. He was rarely offended and even more rarely angered. But this situation had his fur on edge already, so when Amekaze began to speak ill of his parents, he gritted his teeth silently, careful to keep his gaze on the ground.
They didn't know his pack, he reminded himself, not like he did. Just as he didn't know them. With Hydra, and with Liffy, he could almost forget. But this encounter had made it blazingly clear that he wasn't supposed to be here; they didn't want him, and he, in that instant, wanted nothing more than to run home.
The threat hung hung on the air between them; he knew they would make good on it if they wished. He couldn't stop them. He could only silently will that the rest of his pack stay far away from these wolves and not come looking for him. He did not think they would, if they hadn't yet, but suddenly he worried. And he resolved to make a request of Hydra next time he saw her; maybe she, as his friend, would understand.
In this instance, however, he had the foresight to keep his mouth shut.
thats it for me!
He said nothing more, and as such, without the kindling to burn over, she would pick and pry at it no further. Charon punctuated her point with a show of his teeth, which was good, so she believed that was all that was necessary to help it all sink in. From the interrogation to her warning, it was up to him what he took with him at the end of the day. Although she hoped that if and when he made it back to his fellows as the Caldera, healed, that he would remember her unforgiving coldness towards such Redhawks, and that they would all be wise enough to leave her alone here. Gannet may receive all the treatment he could need, and kept among them with a shelter and meal in his belly, but these were not typical times--and neither was he was he a typical sort of prisoner, if calling him such was even proper. Knowing that this could very well be the last shred of generosity towards their lot she may have in her, she didn't intend to push the issue unnecessarily.
A piece of her waited for Charon to finish looming over the yearling (half curious if he may lash) and thoroughly ingraining the fear of the Spear into him. She had already concluded her matters here however; everything beyond this was just to see what may happen, but even that waned. With that, she moved off slowly. When all was said and done, and she was out of sight, she slid away for the higher slopes.
yesss <3 her last here too
He was smart enough to say and do nothing more in the end, though Charon thought to see a spark of defiance in his eyes. He kept looming over Gannet a moment longer to make him see how smart it would be to keep his mouth shut, teeth bared and body language screaming dominance. Then he turned away with a curt move of his head and with the growl fading away in his throat Charon started to leave. He didn't look around as he left, though was prepared for any sort of commotion to happen should it. Nothing more happened and he left the prisoner be for now, though his head still stewed with all that happened and questions that he could've and should've asked.