last time they'd been at the caldera, blixen had been restless over her mother, sick with worry, refusing to move from her self imposed vigil but for that time she patroled with towhee. this time she's on a vigil of a different sort, and happy to be making up lost time with her mother - but she's restless for a different reason and it's bothersome, to say the least. furi can take care of herself, blix tells herself about forty times a day, like a manta. you wanted her to come, she reminds herself, between mouthfuls of meat and before she closes her eyes to sleep. 

and it's true: furi can take care of herself, obviously, considering she'd been living on her own before eske scooped her up. and blix isn't competitive enough to think too hard about who was better at being a gona (the answer, though, was obviously blixen, who'd never brought home a bunch of strays because they looked sad -- but this is irrelevant to fighting, which is what war is about). but there's a lot of variables still and all of blix's attention has to be on mother. she has a job. 

she frets anyway and hates it.

honestly she's not expecting to see her -- cousin? aunt? let's go with aunt this time -- as much as she enjoyed their last patrol, she remembers that towhee didn't seem particularly fond of them being around. but then again, it's different this time now they've got a common enemy. either way it's a welcome surprise and she gets up from her spot (where is she definitely not watching the general direction furi is in, not at all) and trots over, expression bright. "hey, towhee!" she chirps, remembering to speak up, "who're you looking for?"

distantly she notes furi moving but does not track her, distracted first by towhee smiling (it looks weird) and second by towhee basically demanding a spar out of nowhere. well, not entirely out of nowhere, given the circumstances, but surprising enough that it takes her a beat, and then a grin splits her muzzle. "yeah," she says, and then tries to adopt towhee's serious expression (it looks weird) and repeats, "yes," with a nod of her head.  blix hasn't sparred with anyone other than nomi - but she always wants to, and she remembers that towhee'd been on the edge of earning a mastery and that's impressive. "now?" she adds, and she hopes the answer is yeah, duh. 

first: blixen is not an idiot. she'll take a distraction when it's offered her, but she doesn't get distracted by every little thing going on. it would make for a bad guardian, after all. 

but,

second: what the fuck.

there's some bird overhead and instinctively blixen pulls back, still sore at all bird-kind thanks to the one that stole a bit of her fur. towhee starts to explain - the bird has a name, and that name is X, apparently, but none of that really matters because the bird is swooping down between them and towhee is talking to it. she's asking about someone named phox, and the bird, is, she guesses, listening? and responding. and giving it... a pep talk?

in any other situation this might be a little heart warming. blixen is mostly confused. she looks around a little awkwardly, noticing furi nearby-ish, and makes a face like you saw this, right? right? before towhee calls her attention again and asks if blix is ready to spar as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened.

about four different questions catch in her mouth at once, coming out: "you -- bird?" ugh, no, towhee's gonna think she's an idiot. shaking her head, she tries again: "you.. have a bird?" is "have" the right word? is there a right word for this situation? what did towhee want to do with her again? oh, right, spar. right. "sure," she says belatedly, though her eyes are scanning the air where the bird flew off, clearly distracted, for better or worse.

"no," blixen replies, looking moderately horrified. "last bird i ran in to stole a chunk of my fur," she adds in a grumble. towhee's story is sweet but she still doesn't trust birds.

she watches towhee get into position but before she has a chance to mirror her they're interrupted again, by a girl blixen doesn't know, asking about someone named tit and gannet, and if blix was more observant she would pick up on the bird-name-theme. but she's not; she's instead watching with her head tilted, wondering if they need to go look for these tit and gannet people - maybe they're in trouble like mother was. 

still distracted, she does not have time to process towhee's abrupt shift back into spar mode until the girl is bearing down on her with snapping jaws. startled, she tumbles backwards without a hint of grace and a yelped "hey!" but she's quick to spring up, ignoring the sting where towhee's teeth glanced her, and (finally) fall into a defensive position, firmly keeping her eyes on towhee even as she asks, "shouldn't we help look for your tit and gannet?"

she's already opened her mouth to argue when towhee springs forward again; her teeth clink together as she snaps her mouth shut, jumping out of the way in time to feel the snap of towhee's teeth against her fur. "it seemed important," blix stresses, because of course, she does not know how to keep her mouth shut, and also how to stay out of other people's business. sparring is cool and fun but if someone needs help -- well, blixen's brash with a heart of gold, most of the time. at least when it comes to family, and redhawks are family. she maintains her defensive posture -- since towhee seems intent on rushing her regardless -- but backs up a little, hoping her aunt will listen to her good sense and go look for those missing... whoevers.

towhee's outburst takes blix by surprise. frankly she's never met someone who matches her in outbursts, though towhee wins the irritability aspect by a long shot. the firey girl's own temper flares as her aunt spins on her heel and she steps after her, snapping, "family's more important - we're in a war!" 

of course she has no way of knowing if towhee will even hear her since they aren't facing each other. face flushed, flustered, the gona watches her stomp off and looks to where furi was, shrugging a little helplessly despite the frustration on her face, as if to say can you believe that?