Heron Lake Plateau Discussing conspiracies and prison facilities
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Ooc — Jennifer
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#1
All Welcome 
The sun was on a downward arc, and after the drizzles earlier in the day, it was nice to see some light even though it wasn't going to be long-lasting.  Quixote had headed to the lake to try to catch another shorebird, but he hadn't counted on how the rain had expanded the squishy mud from just a foot or two to be significantly farther than he'd been thinking.  Well, that nixed that idea -- no way he was gonna be able to creep up close enough to be able to catch one if he was making gross, comic-style sound effects every time he took a step.

Sigh.  He turned away and dropped his head to sweep for signs of deer.  There had to be a lot that came through here, right?  It was an ideal territory for them -- grass to graze, water to drink, blah blah -- so maybe just by keeping his eyes out he'd be able to find something that they could go and fill the cache with once he'd figured out who all might be good to drag along.  He wasn't going to be able to take one down all by himself -- fawn, sure, but an adult would likely be way too uncooperative for Quixote to try to be awesome on his own.  First thing was first, though: planning.
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#2
Talk-to-Raven was still on Eljay's to-do list but he hadn't really gotten to it. Adjusting to this new territory had taken up a lot of his time and energy and taking care of Cinder and Tywyll had too. Then there were the tensions that Towhee stepping down had brought mommy and daddy, and, well, between handling all of that -- his own emotions, everyone else's emotions, caring for his baby sibs -- Eljay hadn't really had much time to spend discovering the territory or, you know, talking to Raven. Who was now also his new Alpha.

Her words (or looks, rather) the day he had spoken to her in an honest heart-to-heart (or something like it) last weren't forgotten. He'd gone back to Drageda after those words but it was among others those haunting thoughts, the look on her face, the indifference she had shown.. Did she still feel the same? Was everything cool now that he was a part of Redhawk Cald-- the Redhawks (whatever that meant, nowadays) again? Eljay wasn't too sure...

As he tracked round the territory looking for something to eat, his paws squish-squishing the mud beneath his paws in gentle steps, he noticed another in the distance. Eljay's gut wrenched together as he realised it was his other new Alpha, who'd also seen him fail miserably at Blackfeather Woods, and whom Eljay didn't really know at all aside from that. Eljay wasn't too sure why Quixote'd been Towhee's other choice for Alpha (well, he assumed she'd picked them, anyway, since she was still Beta now) but he didn't question her decisions.

"Uh, hey," said Eljay as he trotted towards his new Alpha. He was glad at least that this one could hear what he was saying so that he could better announce his presence. Less awkward that way. His body posture was submissive as he approached, head unmistakably lower than shoulder level and tail drooped against his hocks.
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#3
A patch of grass parted into a small square of clear mud, where a hoofed track lay perfectly centered in the gap.  So, there were deer around, he just hadn't run across 'em.  He tilted his head, wondering what the track was trying to tell him beyond the obvious.  Seemed a little old, maybe from last night or something.  But where did it go?

While he was thinking, Eljay called out.  Honestly, Quixote had almost forgotten Eljay existed -- it wasn't his job (until recently) to remember every wolf in the pack, so he'd put no extra effort into remembering those that might be avoiding him.  In the heat of the fight, Quixote had considered the guy a kid, but now, without that context it was clear that they were basically the same age, give or take, which just seemed... Weird. They were obviously very different wolves.

Either way, between his own vague memories and Eljay's submission, he was easily no threat and no expected trouble.  Quixote was a fairly casual sort -- partially because of his lack of knowing what kind of alpha he actually was -- and so his posture wasn't particularly overbearing but he was alert, his head raised fairly high as he looked Eljay's way, Hey.  Been a while.  Yeah, Quixote was just so good at conversations.  He didn't know if they really had anything in common other than existing in the same pack and being at the same fight.  So what else could he say?  Just be like, 'Yo, sup?' or something?  Uhhh.  Maybe.  Up to anything?
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#4
Eljay was struggling with much the same things as his new Alpha was, not really sure what else to say except 'hi' or 'what's up'. He merely nodded in nervous response when Quixote said that it'd been a while. Eljay shuffled his weight among his paws and smiled sheepishly while he sorted out what to say next. Luckily Quixote was the one to first say something else and ask him a question. He might not have been up to much and couldn't really share all of it -- 'talk to Raven' was on his secret to-do list, not really an out in the open kind of agenda point -- but at least there was something to talk about.

At the question asked, Eljay said: "Been watching the pups earlier." After a brief pause he added, "And looking for something to eat.." Eljay trailed off there and glanced around. He had never really been good at hunting small game so Eljay hoped Quixote wouldn't suggest anything of the sorts. He wasn't really looking to fail openly in front of his new Alpha, considering their first meeting had not really been the best either. Eljay would rather hunt alone, or gather some more wolves to hunt something a bit bigger.
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#5
Gotta love when both parties are awkward as hell at that whole being social thing.  Well, not a job going away any time soon, he said, with a slight smirk and a gaze that wandered well away from Eljay.  Quixote didn't know if Eljay knew about Raven being pregnant, but he was still too awkward about it to mention it directly to someone he didn't know well.  If they couldn't figure it out by his indirect comments, he didn't know what to do.  Not to mention, he didn't know if Raven was going to place any restrictions on who would get to come see their kids when they were young -- who was he kidding? Quixote would probably end up being the more paranoid one.  Not knowing was a continuing theme, as he didn't know what other people thought about their upcoming pups either -- well, other than Towhee.  Did the rest of the pack think they were foolish?  Did they not care?  Were they happy for Raven?  Certainly they didn't care about his opinion.  He was still some stranger to most of them.

At least hunting didn't come with so much baggage.  It was something that would have to be done, no matter what was happening.  Been kind of doing similar, he said, dipping his nose to point at the track, since we need to build up the caches and stuff.  That was one of the things that wasn't going to easily recover from the move -- it wasn't like like they could've carried the caches at the Caldera with them.  Seen any good options?  Hm.  Was there anything he'd stored away?  Uhh.  Probably not.  Most of what he'd caught recently had been small stuff that had gone directly to Raven or fed himself.
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#6
Eljay blinked, catching the hidden meaning behind Quixote's words -- it showed by the startled and puzzled expression on his face -- but not really sure who he meant. He quickly sifted through all the options but Eljay couldn't fathom who else would be pregnant, considering there were no couples besides his parents that he knew of. He opened his mouth, then shut it, then after a brief pause he awkwardly choked out an "Oh...?" where he'd intended to ask 'are there more pups expected?'. He just hoped Quixote understood what his question meant and was willing to answer it.

Eljay thought on the next question. He had only gone out to search for some food recently, hadn't really done much scouting yet, so he merely shook his head and waited first to see if Quixote'd answer his questions about who else (well, indirectly, anyway), then if the Alpha had any ideas on what to hunt himself.
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#7
One of the problems with baiting that metaphorical trap was that then he had to answer it.  Either way, it seemed Eljay hadn't heard the news yet -- but it wasn't like it was a secret or something that could be hidden in the first place, so there wasn't much reason to avoid saying anything entirely.  Besides, they were alphas now, and as they'd discussed, they could pretty much do whatever they wanted these days.  Since it seemed like Quixote had almost turned Eljay into a fish with that comment, he had to wonder what he'd think of the news.  Yeah, uh.  Raven and I are expecting a litter, AKA the motivation behind the newish alpha making an attempt at being responsible in the first place.  The fact it had even happened at all still obviously amused him, as he'd come to accept that life and luck hated him about the time it had all started -- but now he had Raven. 

The direction of the track he found pointed away from the lakeside, and his eyes followed a vague guess at the owner's trail off into the distance.  It looks like some deer came through here.  Haven't spotted them, but if it's their routine, they'd be a good target to gather a group for later.  To make sure all the pups survived, even if he was mostly thinking about his own.  Unless of course that earlier news really freaks Eljay out or something which would in turn interrupt Quixote's babbling about prey, in which case feel free to skip all that.
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#8
"Oh," Eljay said, eyes widened in surprise at the news Quixote shared. He was fairly quick to recover though (in Eljay standards) so it only took a few seconds of surprised standing there like a derp before he continued. "You're... I didn't know you were, uhm..." He hadn't even known they were mates, let alone expecting a litter. Eljay smiled awkwardly and said: "I'm studying to become a -- uh, person who helps with delivering pups into the world safely, so uhm, I'll do what I can to help. I should seek out Raven soon..." He trailed off with a frown on his face as he thought of his weird relations with Raven right now -- or rather, ever since he'd returned. He wondered if she felt the same tension or if in her mind, maybe everything was fine. Raven'd taught him most of what he knew about herbs to help with the pup-delivering and all that, but she couldn't really do her own delivering so maybe she would allow him to help. he didn't count much on it, though, so for now Eljay would just be happy if he were allowed to bring her herbs that'd help her, at all.

Eljay nodded distractedly at the news Quixote shared in regards to their hunt. "Oh, yeah, deer. We could scout it out, if you like." Then they could see if they could gather others after, if it was an easy enough target in there, or hold a hunt later on with the pack.
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#9
The word that Quixote initially filled the blank with was 'together,' and chuckled briefly at that pause -- at least until his brain caught up.  Oh yeah, he should maybe talk to Raven about that too, shouldn't he?  With the promotion and then just.. Getting used to everything, basically, the fact that they'd left their status kind of a question mark had pretty well been left on the back burner.  It was pretty easy to assume things now, as he finally figured what might have been the correct word to put in that gap, and to a certain point Quixote had been assuming too -- his inner dialog would happily say things he wouldn't dare to out loud.  Honestly, he felt a little guilty about it, so figuring out how to solve that err was something that was going on his list with an expected completion date of, '???'

There was also another issue brought forward.  What did he mean?  Like Eljay in the den when the pups were being born?  Quixote wasn't sure he liked the idea, but at the same time, the kid seemed pretty harmless and in the end the choice would almost certainly be Raven's.  Quixote did his best to disguise his low level suspicion as just being uncertain and thoughtful, replying with a nod, Yeah, probably a good idea.  I dunno exactly how long she's got before they arrive, but probably less time than's already passed.  Which was a pretty accurate assessment.  Probably.  The alpha was totally not into nitty gritty medical stuff.

You know what?  Some other topic would totally be more comfortable, wouldn't it?  Good thing that deer track was there!  Tracking them down would be good.  Looks like they maybe went to the lake and headed back over there?  He pointed sort of northeast.  Maybe the deer had hidden in the thicket thing with all the birds?  He dropped his head to start to pick up the scent from the obvious mark that had been left.
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#10
Eljay nodded, glad that Quixote wasn't stumbling over his awkwardness too much (or at least not showing it). "Maybe she could use some help gathering herbs in the last weeks to help her and the pups, too," he mumbled, though it seemed as if he was mostly making a mental note to ask her about that rather than making actual conversation. In conclusion... "Yeah, I'll talk to her about it," he unnecessarily reiterated and smiled sheepishly to conclude. They then moved onto the subject of the deer, and Eljay listened attentively.

Eljay totally felt the awkwardness he had brought and also plunged right into the subject of the hunting. He followed where Quixote was pointing and nodded. "Wanna check it out to see where they're at now?" Eljay asked and, should Quixote agree, he'd be on his way to follow the deer tracks.
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#11
At this point he just nodded when Eljay confirmed he was going to talk to Raven.  Quixote didn't know a thing about herbs in general, let alone what'd be good for expecting and new mothers.  At least someone likely did but still.  Eljay seemed to be talking more to himself anyway.

Anyway, the deer.  The simple thing that came with no baggage, just occasional antlers.  Sounds good to me.  Let's go.  And so they headed off in that direction.  For the first part it'd be easy enough to follow along just by the hoofprints along the lakeside where the earth kept good records for them.  It would only be when they were well past the lake's highest brim that they'd have to follow the scent trail, and even that shouldn't be hard for the pair of them.  Were you the one who lead a hunt like.. Uh.  Before the move some time?  Quixote obviously didn't participate -- he was off doing something else but no idea what at the time.
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#12
Eljay nodded and he followed alongside Quixote. At first they were just following the prints in the mud, and hopefully that'd lead them there, or at least most of the way there. Eljay enjoyed tracking by scent, but maybe not so much when he was also trying to impress his Alpha. Hoof tracks were more reliable for that.

A nervous jitter stirred in his stomach as Quixote mentioned the hunt before the move. He thought back to Redhawk Caldera with a pang in his heart, wishing that he still lived there -- home -- rather than this stinky mud hole. "Uh, yeah, I did... The pup hunt you mean, right?" Eljay smiled nervously as he hoped Quixote hadn't heard too many details about it. It was obviously that it had failed but Eljay hoped his new Alpha hadn't quite heard just how terrible it had gone.
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#13
Was it a pup hunt?  Maybe, unless there was another he forgot.  Uhh. I think so?  Like I remember one existing but that's about it.  What was he doing at the time?  Something else, that was about all he could remember.  It was just a fuzzy memory, and he hadn't heard what had happened with it.  Is that something you'd be interested in doing more of or nah?  Either's fine, but one way or another, we probably need to get bigger things in the caches.  Or at least they were going to need it if he was going to be able to spend time with his new family instead of spending a huge chunk of the day trying to run down small prey.  Right now there were just so many jobs he was trying to juggle that it'd probably come back to bite him -- and it would.

For now, though, the ground sloped gently upward and the hoof tracks became less and less visible.  Scent time.  The small herd seemed to be continuing in the same general direction.  Regardless of whether or not Eljay wanted to lead hunts in the future, Quixote was pretty sure he'd at least give it a go on his own -- even if he distantly wished he'd dragged his brother along to deal with it instead.
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#14
Quixote didn't remember a lot of details about the pup hunt, which was good -- because it didn't make Eljay look like a total idiot -- but also not good -- because Eljay felt as if he was lying by not telling his new Alpha all about the failures of that hunt. He shifted his gaze nervously when Quixote asked if he'd be interested in organising things like that more often and admitted finally in stumbled words: "Oh, uhm... Well, I'm not very good at it. I mean — The pup hunt didn't go very well. I'm good at hunting big things but maybe not so much at leading." He wished he was better at it but things were as they were, and as things were he did not feel confident enough to lead more hunts presently; and would not take initiative for such unless directly prompted to by his Alphas.

Eljay frowned as the hoof tracks became less visible because they were going to higher ground. Quixote caught the scent trail pretty quickly it seemed so Eljay just followed for now, while keeping his eyes open to see if the herd'd arrive on the horizon any time soon.
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#15
From the sound of it, maybe it was good that he'd skipped out on the pups' hunt.  Though he mused that if they were as crazy in a hunt as they were in a squabble, it was probably doomed to start with.  He did wonder if maybe they'd learned by now, or if they still needed more training so they could pretend to be actual adults.  Who freakin' knew.  It was also unfortunate that Eljay wasn't totally stoked to take the job off Quixote, though.  Boo.  Okay. Well, if you change your mind or run into someone who would, let me know.  Leading hunts isn't my thing, either-- but eh, whatever, I guess it's just another thing I gotta deal with now.  Honestly, he wasn't really sure if he'd ever be completely sold on doing responsible leader things.  But he'd try.  Maybe.

Quixote started to veer off to the side, but only went a couple of yards before he stopped, slightly confused before realizing, Oh, one doubled back I guess?  Either way, the deer hadn't continued in that direction.  From where Eljay was it had probably been obvious that the majority of the herd had just kept plodding along -- Qui had obviously been mostly focused on whichever deer had been on the edge.  He looked over to see if he'd be able to just jump back to the main track easily.
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#16
Eljay felt a little guilty for saying no when Quixote said that it wasn't his thing either, but he didn't offer it anyway. He figured that it would be better to have someone who maybe didn't like doing it but was good at it do it, for the better of the pack, than someone who just wasn't that good at telling others what to do. That's where Eljay thought the problems lay most. Even after one of them had gotten hurt and Eljay had shouted them to stop they wouldn't stop -- clearly he just wasn't that interesting to listen to.

"Okay, I'll keep it in mind," said Eljay, though he didn't know anyone. Maybe daddy..? But Eljay didn't want to suggest anyone he wasn't a hundred percent sure wanted this, too, so he figured he'd ask daddy later or something.

Quixote strayed from the scent track that Eljay was following and for a moment Eljay thought maybe he had smelled wrong. He was about to follow his Alpha -- he probably knew better, anyway -- but then his Alpha doubled back, too, so Eljay stayed his path and nodded sheepishly when Quixote said one must have doubled back. "Uhm, I guess," he said and then went on to follow the trail of the main herd.
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#17
He let Eljay take point s they moved along, and after that mistake, Quixote put more his focus on trying to keep on the scent and not get distracted heading off onto a false trail.  He did his best to try to figure out how many were in the herd just from the scent and the occasional hoofprint.  It had never really been his job before, so he was sort of playing it by ear and would see how close he was to reality when they spotted the potential prey.  Because of this, he didn't really say much more for a period of time.

They weren't that far from the herd now, so say the dice gods.  They came around a particularly thick clump of brush and the herd appeared before them, slowly working their way northeast still.  There we go, he said quietly, not that they were close enough to be much of a threat to the deer from here.  There were about six adults he could see, some fawns, with one big ol' stag following along.  That guy was going to be a problem whenever they hunted them.  Quixote's pace slowed.  What do you think?   Open ended, yes, he was partially curious what Eljay's methods might be when a hunt actually happened.
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#18
Finally they found the herd, and Eljay's eyes quietly sought each creature to try and figure out what their best target would be for a hunt and what problems they might run into. Eljay didn't see many weak targets right off the bat, except for the fawns, but the fawns would be dangerous to hunt because the mothers would defend them fiercely. It might be easier to go for one of the mothers, should one get limpy..

As Quixote asked for his thoughts he tried to put them into words: "The stag is a problem. There are a few fawns, but the mothers all seem in good condition so it's a risk going for them as we'd need to fight not just the fawn but the mother too. It seems safest to figure if any of the adult does do not have a fawn. Or hope by the time we run to hunt, one of them is in a less healthier condition."
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#19
Eljay's analysis seemed pretty much on point, near as Quixote could tell.  He still had pretty much no idea how he'd go and wrangle a proper hunt, but it was always good to hear the opinions of others and make sure that he was at least thinking on the right track.  After all, most of his hunts had been solo for small prey, or ran by someone else.  Not his forte, but he probably had to learn, one way or another.  Eventually.

Yeah.  I'm wondering if this is their routine path.  If it is, keeping an eye on 'em in case one gets into trouble would probably be the best and easiest. I guess as the fawns grow, we can always try to split them from their parents if nobody comes down with an obvious case of looking delicious.  He grinned slightly.  Maybe the stag'll do us a favor and off himself -- give us all a free meal.  As if, but a wolf could dream.
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#20
Eljay nodded at everything Quixote said. He grinned at the last statement, figuring that odds weren't very big. "Yeah.." he agreed thoughtfully as he stared at the herd and contemplated. "Well, looking forward to hunt soon." Eljay wasn't sure if his Alpha wanted any more of him that day, so he waited as he said this half-goodbye for some form of permission to leave, or a request to do some more for Quixote.
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#21
Things were pretty much winding down to their natural conclusion.  There was always something about that which made things a little awkward.  Probably Quixote being super awkward in general.  Either way, he looked over to Eljay, If you spot any more herds or anything that might be good like that, let me know.  Gotta make sure we have a bunch of food for everyone.  It's not like we've got a shortage of members.  And that number was only gonna grow.  Good thing they didn't have neighbors -- that'd cause a hell of a lot of problems.   For now, think I'm gonna go patrol a bit before it gets dark.  And assuming he wasn't stopped, with that he dipped his head and wandered off towards the edges of the territory.
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#22
Eljay nodded at Quixote's question. At first it seemed as if he would continue the conversation a bit more, but then Quixote seemed to sense that Eljay was trying to shift into a natural conclusion. He nodded at his Alpha as he said he would do some patrolling. "See you later," said Eljay with a soft smile and a dip of his head. When Quixote made his way to the borders, Eljay started making his way into the depths of the territory to spend some time with Tywyll and Cinder.