Heron Lake Plateau I can't deny

Set directly after this

Colt was quiet as he left their meeting with Elwood, thinking hard on what went down.  He hadn't thought their request unreasonable, but it had been shut down hard.  He wondered what would have happened if his sister had been there... maybe it would have been shut down even harder.  Ugh.

He wasn't the most responsible wolf, sure.  But he'd been making a hell of an effort here the last few weeks, as had Quixote.  They were two bomb dudes and the way Elwood had dismissed them didn't gel well with the Blackthorn.

"That went terribly," he said, turning towards @Quixote with a frown once they'd receded well from Elwood's earshot.  "What the hell even was that?"

Why was there always a problem?  Why couldn't he just have a good day, a good future?

Forget deafness as a problem, they're blind, he mused. They helped raise her, right?  They gotta see her as some perfect child that can do no wrong.  I don't know how they didn't see that she does lack the diplomatic finesse to not have things blow up in our faces... It's not like Elwood was up there at the front line with her trying to help talk the idiots off a cliff.  It wasn't like the parents were the only ones allowed to care for kids.  Pass that torch someone else they trusted so Elwood could do his damn job.

They may be nice people, but just... I think they've forgotten about the rest of us.  He didn't know what to do about it.  And certainly in the next few days he might end up being really conflicted about it.

He nodded as Quixote spoke, not disagreeing on any of it.  "Wasn't like I was asking to throw her under the bus.  Did he really hate leading so much he had to drop it on her?"  He could almost feel bad for Towhee honestly.  It wasn't her fault she was deaf; but it made her unsuited to leading solo entirely in his eyes, and he imagined it was a nightmare trying to lead a pack you were unable to effectively communicate with.

"Shit, I'm in the family and I think it's insane."  He imagined it was worse for Quixote, who wasn't family and therefore was even more kicked in the face by the obvious nepotism.  "Sorry bro.  You feeling anything else or gonna ride this out?"  He was interested on how Quixote was going to react with all this, mostly because he himself hadn't decided.  Maybe it wasn't the end of the world... maybe they could make do with a subpar leader.  He loved Fin's kids and wanted to hang more with them, much as a few of them twisted his tail sometimes (lookin at you Tegan, uncle dolt indeed).  But he couldn't shake the feeling that this interaction didn't bode well for him.

Quixote shrugged, I think they just wanna retire and play with their kids, honestly -- probably realized if they just let Towhee do it on her own, then we'd really be doomed.  Hell, might be better to dump the whole lot and put someone else in if that's the case.  Someone else gets that project.  No rebellions for the guy with like one friend, thanks.  Even if he became some sort of epic warrior wolf ninja wizard and defeated them all in rank challenges at once with a single pounce, he was pretty sure that just since he was a stranger, nobody would listen to him.  And he didn't want to deal with that anyway.  He was used to shutting up and dealing with the stupidity.

I dunno.  Like I want them to prove me wrong.  You know I was open to giving Towhee a chance, but I'm pretty sure she blew it -- they all did.  I'd hope he and Finley'd go talk about it and realize that maybe they need to do more?  Maybe that would be a wake up call and he was just too shocked about it to realize we were telling the truth in the moment?  The whole thing seemed to inspire Quixote to just regret the whole thing.  Why did he believe? Why did he try?  That or we'd have to talk directly to Towhee and I don't wanna trust my chances on it.  As if he was gonna.

His final response was low, borderline mournful, I just want everything to work out for once.  The writing was on the wall, but he was hoping it was chalk, not spray paint.  He didn't want to uproot himself again, even though now the weather was getting better.

Colt mulled over what he said, his tail twitching thoughtfully.  Quixote was younger than him by a long shot, but he had a similar, done-a-lot-of-shit-and-kinda-over-it air to him.  Which Colt found to be kinda a bummer, not gonna lie, though he was glad it made them birds of a feather in situations like this.  At least he had a good five years of stupidity before he'd ended up in this boat.  He was probably right; they wanted to be parents, and didn't seem to much care if the kids they had respected the head honcho.  Because from what Colt had seen these past few times?  That was definitely not the case.

But he had pull here.  Not a lot; he wasn't an idiot, he knew Finley could have him out on his ass in a heartbeat.  But that heartbeat might be a little slower for him than it would be for Quixote, because she knew her stupid brother, he hoped, well enough to know that he (usually) meant very little harm.  And he was a little on the fence about the whole thing anywho, so if he did get the boot, decision made?  Not a great prospect, but he'd moved on before.  He was sure he'd do it again.

"I can talk to her," he said after a beat, the suggestion coming fairly easily despite what it implied.  "I agree; I want them to prove me wrong.  But maybe we were stupid going to Elwood anyway and expecting him to handle it."  He felt a little guilty saying it; he really did like Elwood.  But he got the feeling the guy was a nice one... he didn't have that Blackthorn tough-love aspect.  Towhee should probably know what was going on.  "I don't have to mention you."  He added, noting that Quixote had said he didn't trust his own chances.  He'd hate to get his pal kicked out on his ass too if things went south.

The fact that Colt was willing to take one for the team did make Quixote a bit concerned, and he looked up suddenly.  What happened if he pissed her off enough to toss her out of the pack?  That'd leave Quixote all alone, from his perspective.  And it'd certainly be more dangerous for him to stay.  But where would either of them go after?  They certainly were two birds of a feather in many ways -- or at least two closely related species that could only be told apart by a minor difference in wing stripes or something.  Quixote was honestly not sure how tolerable things would be without him around for their complaint sessions and generally just having someone he could talk to where he didn't feel pressured to wear a mask or hold his tongue.  Either way, Colt really did have a much better chance of not getting the boot due to his family -- not to mention having far more inside sources to speak up for him and hopefully bring him back into the fold if it came to that.  But first, regarding Elwood,  I mean it is his job as beta to help out the alpha, it's not like it as a big stretch... 

Quixote was still wishing that he hadn't mentioned speaking to her in the first place.  More ways for it to go wrong kept popping up in his mind like rabid gophers, Yeah, I'm pretty sure it being both of us straight up would probably end up doing more harm than good -- too threatening or whatever.  But you don't have to leave me out entirely.  I mean if you're able to get her to realize there's a problem, volunteer me to help out with stuff or whatever.  I might be garbage at it too, but... A short pause as he, like in the conversation with Elwood shifted subjects again, explaining it in a far sharper tone than the perplexed one he'd used with the beta, But you know how I mentioned I was gonna go get us some more women to chat with?  Told her I'd been trying to do some recruiting and she looked at me like I had three heads.  Dunno if she just hates outsiders or she hates help.  In other words be careful, for both their sakes.

And then there was the fact he just couldn't shake the thought of the worst case scenario, What if she flips out on you? Do you have a plan?  Of course he was concerned for the well-being of his friend, not to mention his own if he was going to spend any amount of time in the resulting scorched and smoking crater of a pack after.

heuheu

Colt shook his head as Quixote spoke, more and more convinced he just needed to talk to her directly.  "Probably both," he replied to the final statement, unimpressed.  Who didn't want to bolster numbers? Maybe if she'd been more open to the idea they wouldn't have been run out of the last spot.

"Not really, but I don't know that plans will do much good.  Just gotta hope my charm holds out," he said with a small grin.  "Don't  worry, I'll test the waters before I bring you up.  No use both of us crashing and burning."  He had no idea how apt that description would end up being.

*brandishes staplegun*

Quixote sighed, Still don't like the idea much, even if I said it.  Feel free to bail on it if you come to your senses, but I hope you're able to talk some sense into her.  Good luck, you'll need it.

He tried to smile at his next statement but his lips didn't move past a line, Honestly, not sure what it'll be like here if you piss her off.  Guess if she completely loses it, maybe someone'll do something.  He tried to find a little bit of positive in it, but it didn't seem likely.  At least not the way Elwood seemed to react.  Could she go smash logic and reason and get away with it? Quixote would always expect the worst.

If she kicks you, gimme a howl when you figure out what's next?  They could at least conspire then to see if there was a way to get him back into the pack or where'd be the next stop would be.

"Yeah.  I'm more worried what Fin will do to me if that happens.  Believe it or not, aside from this, I like this place a lot," he replied, looking around with a hint more trepidation before shrugging it off.  It was going to be fine, so long as he kept his head on and figured out what he wanted to say.  Neither of which he would actually do, of course.

"That I can definitely do, though we'll see how far her bird chases me first." Colt responded with a bit of a grin, though part of that was the internal follow up.  If the hawk was still around and tailed him, soon as he was out of the pack, it was free game for a meal.  He knew truthfully he couldn't do that, he wasn't that big of an ass.  But just the mental image brought a spot of amusement along.

Guess we can pretty much wrap thissun?  Then we can have Qui explaining all the stuff Colt missed soon, heh.

The bad part of having family around, huh?  Finley had never seemed too crazy to him, but the betas were pretty tame in comparison to their offspring, Towhee, Colt, the other two sisters...  Basically everyone. Quixote didn't know if he was on that tier of chill, but maybe Sebastian was, wherever he disappeared off to.  Beyond that, he wasn't sure.  Maybe he really did need to meet more people.  Are you gonna head out now, or think it over?  Hopefully Colt wasn't signing a death warrant or something in the process.  It was just a little talk about important things and making the pack nice.  But hell, Quixote believed that his friend had half a chance.  Certainly wouldn't go too badly.  Right?

But oh, it would.

sounds good, fading!!

"I'll think it over a bit.  See what I want to say, all that." Really he wouldn't, but it was his intention now.  What would end up happening was he'd try to think of things, decide it wasn't worth the effort, take a nap, and then head over.  Good job.

"See you after," he said with a wink, turning to go.  He made light of it, but it was true either way.  Even if he was kicked, he'd definitely at least hit up Qui to say goodbye.