Heron Lake Plateau Driving through the dark, far as we can go.
Sun Mote Copse
Master
4,956 Posts
Ooc — Kat
Master Guardian
Master Tactician
Master Warrior
Offline
#1
All Welcome 
Want it, @Fire? :D

Now that she was back in the fold (and had been seen by Dr. Raven, M.D.), Towhee intended to resume her post by the Alpha pair's den. First, though, she wanted to stop by The Roost, fetch something to eat for herself and X and just take it easy for a few hours. Although they had been confined to a tiny ledge for the better part of a day, the experience and the journey back had taken a lot out of her and the Beta badly needed a break, especially if she wanted to be sharp enough for guard duty.

She plodded toward the lake, X gently clutching the furs nearer to her hips to avoid aggravating the incidental wounds he'd inflicted between her shoulder blades. A great yawn stole over her, causing a shudder from nose to tail, and Towhee spontaneously paused beside a growth of wildflowers to pluck some and take them with her to place on Orca's grave.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)
a determination so powerful it could turn the sky storm black
683 Posts
Ooc — Athena
Offline
#2


Raven had been mentoring Ceara in a number of things before the birth of her children.  For the most part it had been about plants and a little bit about children but when Ceara had asked about Towhee, Raven didn't mind teaching her a little bit of ptero, too.  Which was awesome because let's face it — Towhee was really cool.  Like, really cool.  She had created an entire language from the ground up and befriended a hawk and that was all Ceara needed to know.

She had been on her way to scout out a spot for her second garden — two would maximize the amount and type of plants she could grow — when she crossed paths with the Redhawk beta, and she casually headed over.

-Hey,- she signs as soon as she's caught Towhee's attention, before she turned her attention to the flowers.  Carnations, she remarked, motioning towards the spread of wildflowers, and mums.

Sun Mote Copse
Master
4,956 Posts
Ooc — Kat
Master Guardian
Master Tactician
Master Warrior
Offline
#3
A slight poke from X guided Towhee's attention sideways to apprehend a familiar figure gliding toward her. Towhee blinked at the unexpected sign, then managed a weary half-smile. -Hi,- she signed back, favoring her bad leg, then paused when Ceara's lips moved.

-I'm taking them to my sister's grave,- the Beta rejoined without thinking, then caught herself. She paused and lowered the spray of wildflowers to the ground to repeat herself out loud. "I'm taking them to my sister's grave. Do you know ptero pretty well...?" Any number of wolves might have introduced her to the language, which seemed to be spreading lately.

Once upon a time, she might've disliked outsiders knowing and using the secret language (while also, hypocritically, resenting them for being unable to communicate with her properly). But she knew Ceara had aided her sister and, besides, somewhere along the line, Towhee had removed the proverbial stick from her sphincter when it came to outsiders. She was still rather cagey, slow to befriend and slower to trust. But wolves like Niamh had walked into her life and shattered her schemas, just as much as characters like Screech proved that blood sometimes meant worse than nothing.

None of these thoughts crossed her mind at present. She simply looked at Ceara with a tired but genuinely curious expression on her scarred face.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)
a determination so powerful it could turn the sky storm black
683 Posts
Ooc — Athena
Offline
#4

No, she admitted, drawing her face down in slight embarrassment.  I don't know much other than 'hi'.  But I'm trying.  She gave a roll of her shoulders.  I uh, those are good flowers for her.  Perhaps it was rude to comment on Towhee's selection of flowers, but.. I mean, they smell nice and they're pretty.  But they're symbolic, too.

She dipped her head, cast her gaze in the direction Towhee had been walking, and then returned to face her fully again.  Do you want to go alone, or would you like me to walk with you?

Sun Mote Copse
Master
4,956 Posts
Ooc — Kat
Master Guardian
Master Tactician
Master Warrior
Offline
#5
Ceara seemed self-conscious as she admitted she didn't know it well at all. Towhee opened her mouth to tell her it was all right and that she'd be happy to teach her some, when the Epsilon pointed out the identifications for the flowers. The Beta's eyes dropped, causing her to miss the mention of symbolism, but lifted again at Ceara's query.

"You can walk with us," she said after a brief deliberation. She didn't necessarily want to sleep so much as just rest a while, so maybe a conversation—in beginner's ptero or otherwise—might be nice. Besides, she liked the idea of others taking the time to stop by Orca's resting place. Towhee knew her sister was dead and gone, yet she appreciated the gesture all the same.

Plucking up the bouquet again, Towhee led the way to the water's edge. It surprised her a little when X lifted off her back, flapping his way to the little islet. She supposed it was such a short trip that his messed-up feathers didn't present too much of a problem for it. She was right behind him, wading into the water and paddling across, straining her neck to keep the flowers dry. She just assumed Ceara was following too, though Towhee didn't bother looking.

When she reached dry land, she hoisted herself out of the water and gave a shake. Now she did turn to see if Ceara was ready to join her on the short walk to the grave site.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)
a determination so powerful it could turn the sky storm black
683 Posts
Ooc — Athena
Offline
#6

Towhee seemed to give pause to Ceara's question, but she was grateful when the Beta settled on her answer.  While she didn't want to butt in on her time to grieve, she didn't feel like she'd gotten to know Towhee very well (which if she knew anything about Towhee, would not have been surprising).  

With a delicate bouquet in her mouth, Towhee's only method of conversation would be Ptero.  Ceara dreaded it if only because she didn't want to look stupid or inconsiderate, and learning another language was not high on her priority list (and she wasn't very good at it, to boot).

But it looked like they'd be trudging through an entire body of water anyway.  She laughed, paused at the water's edge and followed Towhee through, and as she reached dry land she gave a short nod to Towhee, signing what she thought was -go- and speaking ahead, because she didn't know the full thing and she wasn't like, commanding Towhee to go.

Sun Mote Copse
Master
4,956 Posts
Ooc — Kat
Master Guardian
Master Tactician
Master Warrior
Offline
#7
Ceara gestured in a clear, "Let's go," and Towhee swiveled, leading the way toward the center of the island. As she walked into the copse of trees, her orange eyes lifted, searching for X. It wasn't hard to spot him, considering he was flapping both wings rather violently, causing the bough he clutched to swing a bit. His beak was opening and closing. Towhee turned to Ceara but didn't even have to ask; she saw the signs and understood that he was raising quite the racket.

The bunch of flowers dropped from her maw as Towhee sprang forward, beelining toward Orca's grave just in time to catch a massive turkey vulture dragging her sister's partially unearthed and decaying body from the ground by one of her hind legs. The Beta unleashed an ungodly screech, which startled the bird into dropping the paw. But apparently the noise—and the sight of the she-wolf rushing forward—wasn't quite enough to deter the scavenger.

It stood up tall and beat its wings as if daring Towhee to complete her attack, a threat which the mercenary heeded and immediately discarded. Although the bird's bare, ugly head ducked to clip at her ear, she didn't stop or even slow. She sank her teeth into its breast and began to shake it, though the bird was surprisingly heavy. It pounded against her with its wings and brought up its talons, which raked dangerously close to her neck, forcing Towhee to let go and spring backward.

Fortunately, the vulture reconsidered its find and rose into the air, quickly disappearing into the sky. Towhee watched it for a moment, chest heaving and torn ear bleeding, then dropped her eyes to Orca's dessicated corpse. It looked and smelled nightmarish. She swallowed thickly, averting her eyes even as she began to dig at the shallow grave to deepen it.

Abruptly, she remembered that she was not alone. The Beta jerked and looked over her shoulder to see what had become of Ceara during the brief battle.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)
a determination so powerful it could turn the sky storm black
683 Posts
Ooc — Athena
Offline
#8

I never got around to responding to this because every time I tried I either went "holy fuck" or just kept laughing.

Oh hey, cool, she didn't fuck everything up.  X was above them, kind of beating his wings and screaming and as Towhee turned to give her a look, she couldn't help but let the thin line of her lips tremble into a nervous laugh.  While Towhee understood X and his behaviour, it was foriegn to Ceara....

So when Towhee launched into action, she took a second to do a "wait what" before she followed closely behind.  And ha ha ha hoo boy holy shit was she not ready for the sight she came back to.  There was Towhee's sister, zombified, being dragged from the earth by another very hungry bird.

If you haven't caught on, Ceara.. really doesn't like birds.

She attempted to help where she could, barking and causing a ruckus to deter the bird from her dead fucking packmate ?!?!?! and as it flew off, her eyes went to the bleeding tatter of Towhee's hear, and her breath stilled.

Tenderly, she moved close to Orca's grave and helped to dig it deeper.  She had it in her mind to find deadly plants and bury them here, plant them on the grave so it couldn't be bothered.. but she'd let Towhee speak first.

Sun Mote Copse
Master
4,956 Posts
Ooc — Kat
Master Guardian
Master Tactician
Master Warrior
Offline
#9
Ceara looked a little shell-shocked. Towhee said nothing as the she-wolf slowly made her way closer and then joined in the digging efforts. Soon it was deeper than before and the Beta was able to nudge her sister's dried, shriveled corpse back into the grave and shovel the soil back over her. She managed to avoid looking too directly at Orca's body and felt an immense relief when she was back underground.

She murmured a quiet, "Thank you," to Ceara but wasn't sure what else to say. She was a little numb on the inside, though her torn ear was really beginning to sting. "I should go see Rave... hate to bother her again though," she muttered out loud.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)
a determination so powerful it could turn the sky storm black
683 Posts
Ooc — Athena
Offline
#10




Well, that was weird and also kind of really fucking gross and she was hopeful that they'd never have to experience that together again (although, did this mean they'd like, bonded in some sort of weird battle-like 'we've both seen some weird shit' kind of way?).

Of course.  You're welcome.  There wasn't anything else she could say and the words caught in her throat a bit as she grappled with what was appropriate.  Raven has been teaching me a little bit.. if you want, I can take a look?  She did smell blood but at least from where she was standing it didn't seem to be awfully bad.

Sun Mote Copse
Master
4,956 Posts
Ooc — Kat
Master Guardian
Master Tactician
Master Warrior
Offline
#11
Ceara offered to take a look. Towhee hesitated. She trusted Raven implicitly, this particular wolf not so much. No offense, she thought to herself, but she'd been raised by Raven and hardly knew Ceara at all. Her lips pursed and she decided, nonetheless, to take her up on it. She really didn't want to keep pestering the Alpha female about all her bumps and bruises. Raven had enough on her plate already.

"Sure, if you don't mind. It could probably use a cleaning. How's it look?" she queried, shifting closer to Ceara and then bending her head toward the would-be medic.

It wasn't too dire a wound and it didn't take long for Ceara to tend to it. She offered to do more than simply wash it, though Towhee shook her head (carefully). She meant no offense to the helpful Epsilon, but she would prefer Raven take a look before she considered any further medical treatment.

"Thanks again," the Beta said to Ceara before saying, "I'm gonna go pick up those flowers." Whether or not the other she-wolf tagged along was, of course, up to her. But Towhee didn't pause for more than a second or two before roving back to where she'd dropped the wildflowers. Gingerly, she plucked them off the ground and carried them to rest beside Orca's freshly re-dug grave. When the last was collected and deposited, she then lowered herself down beside her sister's final resting place and closed her eyes.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)