Redhawk Caldera runner, runner

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Into the night, Coysevox stole away from her family— from their decree, and from her betrothal. Not once did she peer over her shoulder since abandoning Batiscan; and whatever rustling she heard that might be the pursuit of her unwanted fate, did not draw her eye, but rather sent her tearing forward each time.

Fire spewed from every heel and clouds of dust fought to settle again as she passed. Her pace bottomed and crested in all the time she spent in full-flee, but her body never ceased, and her desire to escape never left her.

In her sleep, too, her legs continued to flail. Desperate still to be free, even in her dreams.

---

Exhaustion and loneliness drove her to seek solace at the borders of a foreign pack.

The gilded harpy restrained herself at the first sign of canid scent-markers she came across, her eyes bulging in the absence of sunlight there on the caldera, and her breath quickening in anticipation for what she was doing.

Despite her indomitable spirit, it couldn't be helped that she craved company. Even if she might have pursuers. She felt no eagerness to be dishonest about that, but continuing on as such had become less and less viable as the days wore on her, dragging her down further into an abyss that almost made her miss home. And no wolf in their right might would accept another wolf with potentially dangerous baggage.

Anxiously shaking away the weight of her woes, she called for company into the dark sky, hoping it wasn't too late out, or the pack too far, to hear her.

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She resumed her perch, which afforded Towhee a wide, sweeping view of the northeastern borders, and loitered there well past nightfall as she pondered her recent conversation with her uncle. Without realizing it, she began to drowse, though something caused her to jerk awake. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and peered at the dark landscape as she yawned and stretched.

She hadn't heard the call, naturally, and she might not have spotted the interloper near the borders if not for the two spots of bright cobalt looming in the darkness. Towhee froze and squinted, then darted downhill. Remembering again what Elwood had discussed with her, she made her approach. Truthfully, there wasn't much she changed about that; she arrived with a severe look on her face, her head and tail held high and stiff.

"State your name and business," she barked in her peculiar cadence.

lol so Fin is in heat

Finley ran towards the sound of the call the moment it rang out over the Caldera. Her intention was to beat @Towhee there, considering what had happened at the girl's last border encounter. With her likely pregnancy, Fin was feeling keen on taking some additional warm bodies into the pack to help out with things while she was being a useless lump of a mother-to-be, and so she didn't want her goddaughter running off every wolf that came knocking as she was now known to do.

At least... she had been. Until she saw what stood upon her borders. The girl was young and freakin' flawless, her long, lean curves covered in gold. The open mind Finley had come to greet the stranger with had apparently gotten dropped along the way, for her hormones had a clear reach to snap hold of the reigns. She approached with all the cold authority of an alpha, her hackles prickling in blatant unfriendliness, matching her goddaughter in spite of how she and her mate were trying to curb that same behavior.

Fin came wordlessly to Towhee's side, sizing the other female up. As pretty as she was, she did look a little worse for wear which made the Blackthorn feel ever so slightly kinder towards her. If only she were missing an ear or her tail was torn off, Fin would be better able to control the instinct that told her this pretty stranger was a threat to the babies her body was telling her it was time to create.

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When the first thing to approach her was a child, Coysevox began to think she may be a bit delirious. "Je dois devenir fou," she muttered, her ears falling in question of her own sanity—

But the feeling was dispelled the moment she was given an authoritative posture to respond to; for surely a figment of her imagination would not act with such realism.

Red embarrassment flushed the tender flesh on the inside of her ears, and her tail curled in on itself as she acknowledged the speckled girl as her appraiser. She spoke oddly— though anything without a French accent may have seemed misplaced to the yearling from Quebec— but there was no mistaking what she wanted.

"Aye've come to..." she trailed as an adult came into view; a sterling queen whose gaze wanted no nonsense, and whose scent began to overwhelm her by the time she came to stand beside the pack's littlest guardian. Coysevox crouched a little lower.

"Mon nom, my name, is Coysevox. Aye've come to 'ave... asylum? Is zhis word? No? Home, yes, home! I might like zhis to be mine home."


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Before the stranger could make a reply, Towhee sensed a presence drawing nearer on her right side. Her brassy eyes flicked that way and she ascertained Finley's approach, noting the Alpha female's prickly demeanor as well as that peculiar aroma that gave the Xi sensory overload. Ignoring that particular distraction, the youth turned back to face their unwanted guest, carefully following the movements of her lips. Her face scrunched as if someone had fed her a lemon. She could hardly understand a word beyond the occasional "yes" or "no." She thought she caught "home" somewhere in there too but that was it.

Towhee shot the leader a bewildered, incredulous look and signed, -I didn't understand almost any of that. What did she say?- She paused, a question on the proverbial tip of her tongue. She decided she would go ahead and ask, since she could get away with being rude in sign language better than she could out loud. And though she had recently been lectured on her attitude, Finley looked none too pleased about this business either. -What's wrong with her mouth?-

Finley stared as the girl responded to the questions Towhee had posed with an uncertain tongue. Her brows furrowed thoughtfully. It reminded her a bit of her parents and the old language they would use from time to time when she was a kid. Fin barely remembered any of it these days except for a few words here or there. This seemed different, but as the stranger had only used a few of the strange words, Fin couldn't be completely sure. In any event, her gaze shifted down to her goddaughter as the girl signed questions to her. She grinned in spite of the shit mood she was in, chuckling softly before turning her attention back to the other wolf.

"My daughter is deaf and your lips apparently are difficult to read," Fin explained, not caring much if the girl took offense to it, which she doubted she would - were you even allowed to be offended by the handicapped? "Where'd you come from to have that accent? And who are you?"

Stevie, have you been told recently how fantastic you are? CUZ U IS <3 There's at least one sentence in every post you write that just slays me!

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Though she was amused at first when she thought the girl wasn't truly prepared to accost visitors to the caldera, but as she began to gesticulate in bold confusion, Coy's own alarms began to ring on the situation.

Beryl eyes had grown wide with worry. Had she done something wrong, or worse...

—was this how wolves communicated this far outside of Quebec? Would she have to learn this "language"? Would she have to stop using her beautiful voice in favor of non-verbal signaling and pantomime? Sacré bleu!

Her fears were immediately assuaged by the grey matron's next words, however, and the true nature of Coysevox became apparent as she made a relieved noise before brightening immensely with her previously absent charm. She forgot her insecurities at having found herself on foreign turf, and began to let her tail wag in full-swing mode. It was clear no offense had been taken.

"Oh good! I 'ad t'ought for a moment I 'ad done somet'ing wrong," the French wolf bleated, fixing her tongue as best she could to imitate the preferred accent. "I come from Quebec— a river called Batiscan— maybe a place you 'ave heard of, no?"

"I leave for liberté.. er, freedom!— from my family." The truth came spilling from her lips without a second thought, either as if she had forgotten her intention to lie, or as if it simply wasn't in her to do so. "They wish me to be a-a wife... a trophy," she exclaimed, spitting on the ground to the left of her as she rebuked the term.

"They do not want me being me."

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When Finley didn't bother responding (other than to grin fiendishly), Towhee felt a momentary frustration, though she quickly deduced that it simply meant it wasn't worth bothering with a translation. Licking her lips and shifting her weight, the Xi returned her none too friendly leer to the stranger's face as another batch of difficult to decipher words poured from her mouth. This time, she caught a few more: "river," "family," "wife" and a few instances of "me" as well. It didn't do much to add context.

Shaking her head, Towhee simply retreated to a position slightly behind her godmother, standing there like a smaller bodyguard. Truth be told, she wasn't even that interested in the stranger, nor what she wanted. The Alpha female could deal with her. Towhee was happy to stand there, the strong and silent type, the hired muscle in case she was needed.

Y'all can skip me. Just tap me when it's about to wrap up. :)

omg u stop *blushblush* TY!! That makes me happy giggles ^^

Towhee seemed put out, but Finley was at a loss to understand why. It should have been obvious, but the alpha was fairly distracted what with the pretty french blonde all up in her business, threatening Fin by wanting to join her pack where she could be all pretty in front of her mate. Said pretty girl responded, obviously taking greater care to articulate. She glanced at Towhee to see if it was helping her goddaughter, but turned her attention back soon enough as hearing it herself was the greater priority. A quirk of her brow was the only response she gave to the question of whether or not she'd ever heard of Quebec and whatever river - an expression that narrowed into a thoughtful furrow of her brows as the stranger went on to explain the life she had escaped.

Finley prickled at further confirmation that this woman was indeed a trophy. She came very close to shouting ELWOOD IS MINE at her even though it would have made no sense to anyone, including at least 60% of herself. She held her tongue, though, and took a deep breath as her mind raced along whatever hormonally motivated tracks it was attempting to follow. "What does being you entail, exactly?" she asked, curious for reasons other than why she ought to have been. They were more along the lines of wanting to make sure her looks were all she had. If this bitch was hot and smart or talented? FFL (Fuck Fin's Life).

Towhee xD And today marks the last time I'll let myself be surprised at how fast Kat can make you love her characters!

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Nervous and intoxicated, Coysevox wavered into unfamiliar territory as several insecurities welled up in her mind. The child had stonewalled her. The Alpha, whose scent was somehow both exciting and oppressive, didn't seem warmed up to her either; though most of this could be attributed to timing, she also began to wonder if she was too different for these wolves— these lands.

She took a deep breath, and exhaled her feelings of inferiority.

"I just want to run an' hunt like the boys. I am faster then them all, and can even outlast them if I must! And I can catch anyt'ing, I know it," she boasted animatedly, blue eyes shining in bright naivety. "But my parents want me to be still, sit safe. Do not get dirty. Do not play too roughly. Fish quietly, like a good girl. Groom yourself over and over and over, like a pret-ty wife, and be ready to be mother." Her face had turned tragically unhappy, and she was arching herself submissively before the bittersweet queen.

She did not want to go back. "I am not ready for such devoir— I don't care for it. And all I want is to prove is I.. I am not just somet'ing to own," the girl finished with quiet indigence.

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Fin frowned as the other female went on to explain herself and her past. It was a sob story about wanting a dick but not having one - or so the alpha astutely decided about two seconds in. She glanced at Towhee, wondering if the pup was having anymore luck at reading the stranger's unfamiliar lips but found her looking about as sullen as she often was when meeting strangers. And so her gaze shifted back to the apparent reluctant princess asking for shelter in the Caldera.

She wanted to say no. It was part instinct to not want a competing female around while she was in heat, but also part Finley not wanting a competing female around period. This one said she didn't want the things Fin worried she'd take from her, but that didn't exactly mean much to her. The hardest part of it all was in some other facet of her mind, she kinda liked this kid. There was fire to her that made her wistful for the Finley of old who had once given her own family's expectations a very similar middle finger. She wasn't sold on that part of her yet, though, so she still found a way to tell it to shut the hell up for a second.

"So what I got from that is that you run fast," Fin replied with a deadpan expression, "And you don't obey authority."

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The girl, meant to be a prize— known by all she ever met by the River— was far out of her element dealing with the wolves of the caldera. She didn't truly expect mom-wolf with the dangling tits of litters-past to relate very much to her, but even the child seemed highly disinterested; a major blow to the French runner's ego.

"I did not get to do much else," she said in a small voice through stiffened lips, her head lowering in anticipatory dejection. "I am not having Authority problem, madame, I swear this. It is my parents wanting me to be... breeding stock, I am not happy with."

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Sorry for the wait! Silly life

Fin had expected the girl to respond with anger and childish indignity. It would have given the alpha exactly the excuse she'd been looking for to turn her away. Instead, she only wilted like a delicate little flower. Her response spoke more of the girl she'd presented herself to be - it was full of humility with an undertone of stubborn confidence that spoke of the strong spirit she held within.

Fucken hell.

"Fine," Finley responded, not looking @Towhee (lol) as she knew exactly what expression she'd see on her goddaughter's face, "You're in. You will not be breeding stock here. Breeding is my right alone, so don't even think about even smiling at my mate or any other male in my ranks." Unless it was Eljay... Oooooo, Fin liked that idea. But that completely negated her speech, so that could wait.

"I lead this pack with my mate, Elwood. Most of those within the pack are family, so you will be an outsider to many. Work hard, earn your keep, earn our trust, and you earn your place in my family," she finished. Fin was not one to sugar-coat this for her, especially since she was still bitter about having to let her in at all. Logic versus hormones was a terribly uncomfortable fight that never had any winners. But anyway... "Do you have any questions?" she asked.

There was no rush! <3

Fine.

Coysevox cringed at first, having expected rejection, but as the word itself registered meaning— and the dominant woman continued on to establish her "no smiling at males" ground rule— the girl perked up with the knowledge she'd been accepted. Her tail began to wag fiercely, and she nodded with breakneck enthusiasm. She wanted to dive into her new alpha's chest, but she somehow felt like the gesture wouldn't be appreciated in her current state. She restrained her excitement, taking to a forcibly attentive scrunch as she listened to the tasks set before her.

Well, it wasn't the welcome wagon she was hoping for, but at least she wouldn't be completely alone anymore. Although, Coy didn't yet realize that the brand of an "outsider" was often not much better than that of a loner; and if the icy reception here was an indicator of how it would be here for her for a while, then she would soon find out if she preferred that life to simply being alone. "Merci, merci— thank you," she said in quiet gramercy, unwilling to do anything to swell the reluctance with which she was already being accepted. A feeling of resentment she would try to shake off in the coming weeks.

She shook her head. "No questions, madame. I am sure I can find my bearings."

When Finley welcomed the Frenchwoman into their ranks, Towhee fought the urge to roll her eyes. She badly wanted to leave, yet she remained in case her godmother needed her. She did slowly climb onto her feet, everything about her body language conveying testy impatience. A strange word ("breeding") kept passing back and forth between the two she-wolves, one Towhee would have to ask Finley about later.

For now, she kept her silence. When the newcomer declared she could find her own way around the caldera, the youth looked to the Alpha female, awaiting a signal of dismissal, then began to creep around the borders. It was late and she was honestly pretty tired but she was here, so she may as well finish up a midnight patrol.

I'll wrap this one up :)

Fin could feel Towhee's eyes on her as the newbie spoke nonsense gibberish thanked her. She nodded to the girl to excuse her, then suddenly stopped when she realized (or rather, I realized) she'd never said her own name. "I'm Finley, by the way," she offered, quietly judging her for not asking even though she'd forgotten all about that part herself, "This is Towhee. Now, go be useful."

Only then did she turned to Towhee. She chuffed gently to the girl to request her to follow before setting off along the path her young charge had been making along the borders. She felt no need to explain herself to the little guardian, but she did like to spend a little time with her to drag her back out of the sour mood this encounter had surely put her in.