Wolf RPG

He knew what his first stop would be as soon as @Sphyra had brought news of the caldera dispersing. Brecheliant may never have been his own home, but it was home to family and allies alike. If Towhee wasn’t there, he would go further, but part of him hoped that he wouldn’t have to. He worried about his youngest children, too. Vesper had been at the Caldera last he had heard, @Peregrine was likely not far behind—shadow child that he was—and Prevost had been lost for far too long now. He wished he could have been a better father to them, but Niamh had stolen that from him and left their children in the paws of strangers who had not even told the children where they had come from.

With Raven’s guidance, Phox had let go much of the guilt he had held both for Niamh and the children. Phox knew he still had plenty of work to do to get back to himself, but he was well on his way to recovery. And so he had bid the Frosthawks goodbye for the umpteenth time, traveling a few short days north to the pack that @Maia and @Eljay called home.

indeed, peregrine was not far behind; he never was when it came to phox. even at the expense of what little remained of his broken family, he had followed the man into the unknown — and then back again. surprisingly, he'd come out of it slightly more well-adjusted than before. not much, but any improvement to the perpetually angry boy's psyche was desperately needed.

as he trailed behind phox at a slight distance, he realized he felt more sad than angry. for some reason, he found himself missing @Vesper. they'd never been close; the opposite, in fact, as far as peregrine could remember. but she was his sister, and they'd been together for most of their lives — and now they weren't. it was more difficult to cope with than he'd realized it would be... but there was nothing for it. she was gone, along with phox's pack at the caldera. she'd left, just like peregrine had — and now they were lost to one another forever. at least, it felt that way to him.

@Teya had been careful with how she'd relayed the information, but he still lost his shit for the better part of the day afterwards; finding out that your children were no longer where you thought they'd be was, to be blunt, epic levels of shit-tastic.

He hadn't meant to go off the way he did, but Reyes was having a hard time with things. Ever since returning from the wedding at Akashingo (where he'd gotten too drunk and been beaten up, then left in the dirt until morning), his ego had been in a poor state. Learning that the Caldera wasn't habited anymore — and that Towhee hadn't seen fit to inform him of anything — really, really sucked.

So when Reyes detected the vaguely familiar scent of redhawk near his home, he took off in search for it. Whether his girlfriend could keep up or not, he was intent to find Towhee and get answers. He was bristling all over when he came upon the two shadows — neither being his ex-wife.

He was angry, fuming, and staring daggers at the duo. Reyes was livid to the point of silence, unable to get his mind straight enough to even say hello.

Last he'd seen that face—or rather, the tail-end of the wolf with that face—Phox had been chasing him out of the caldera for attacking Niamh. He had not expected this to be the wolf to confront him at Brecheliant's borders, and he wasn't entirely pleased about it, either. He should have killed him when he'd had the chance. It would have been easy to place one hundred percent of the blame on Reyes for starting everything going downhill between himself and Niamh, but Phox reminded himself that it wasn't worth the trouble.

Reyes, he greeted flatly, trying to even the tone of his voice, but not succeeding very well.

I know the Caldera dispersed. Is Towhee here?

When Eljay showed up, it was just in time to hear the Caldera dispersed. He didn't even notice Reyes' anger, distracted as he was by this news. Wait, what? the Auspex said, blinking. Did I hear that right - everyone's gone? At first, Eljay found himself annoyed that he hadn't been consulted at all, hadn't been told about this. That none of them thought to come here.

Then he thought of Reyes and realised that maybe they'd considered it, but the thought had quickly been swept under the carpet. Perhaps the home to some of Redhawk caldera's rejects was not the right place for wolves like Towhee and Phox. Both for them and for the rejects.

The sound of his name helped Reyes find his tongue.

Oh you know? Is this your way of telling your allies that your pack is no more? Reyes countered immediately, ignoring the request about Towhee.

Because I found out from my girlfriend, who found out when she headed over for a visit and found nobody there. If it were possible to radiate rage as a form of energy, Reyes would've been crackling right now. Nice red arcs between each point of his hackles.

He stalked towards Phox just as Eljay spoke up, and Reyes only barely acknowledged the auspex with a turn of one ear.

No, Towhee isn't here. Funny thing, neither are my kids. You have any idea where the fuck she took them?

If I did, you would know.

Phox didn't have time for Reyes's retorts. He had the information he needed (or lack thereof).

C'mon, Peregrine. We're going to go find Towhee.

Phox had found her a dozen times before, so what was one more time? He took a deep breath and gave Eljay an apologetic smile.

I'll let you both know when I find her.

He turned away and began the search.

It somehow stung a little less to not have heard anything of Redhawk Caldera's dispersion to know that even Phox hadn't been informed. Eljay frowned as Reyes angrily demanded to know about his children. Honestly, Eljay wished that he would've been a bit more tactful, especially as it was clear that Phox also didn't know very much, but he also very much understood Reyes' frustration from the standpoint of a father.

Good luck, Eljay called after Phox, feeling a little lame that he had nothing better to offer.

He turned to Reyes and said, I get that it's hard to not know. Eljay thought painfully about Elfie. He'd never found out what had happened to his boy. He could just presume that he had died in the landslide. Hopefully Reyes would find out what had happened to his kids. Maybe you could ask Maia to help you look for them. If you wanted. He wished he had something better to offer, but Eljay himself wasn't much of an explorer. He didn't think he would be of much use.

The dark wolf turned to leave. He bade that the boy go too, and Reyes saw no reason to stop them. He watched them until they were lost among the woods, both shapes merging with the shadows.

Eljay tried to manage things; but the slightest sound from him brought a derisive snort out of Reyes, and then a flare of redirected anger sparked between the two of them instead. 

You don't get anything, he corrected sharply. He said nothing to counter the offer of help, except to glare first at Eljay and then at the patch of forest where the pair had vanished in to. Reyes grumbled something under his breath after that and stalked away. 

The animosity he held within himself was barely contained as he left the scene.

Eljay felt his heart lurch into his throat when Reyes sharply corrected him. Eljay felt that it was unfair — he'd lost a son, he'd looked for hours upon hours upon hours for Elfie and hadn't recovered even his dead body in the process, never knowing just what had become of his son — but he didn't know how to react. He froze and watched as Reyes disappeared out of view.

Teya had always made Eljay feel like he could do it — be the pack's Auspex — but in that moment, Eljay wasn't so sure. He should've at the very least let Reyes know that that reaction was not okay, no matter the circumstances. Instead, he just stood there like a sack of potatoes, flabbergasted and hurt and not able to respond at all.

Reyes disappeared, leaving Eljay with the urge to cry and feeling like a big idiot. He decided not to go home to Maia and the kids for a little while, instead trailing along the borders of the pack, and feeling a lot of his old anxiety flare up. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, but now, he wondered if he really could lead these wolves, could stand up for them when they needed him to, if he couldn't even stand up for himself.