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+--- Thread: Heron Lake Plateau machines just got workings, and they talk to me (/showthread.php?tid=27129)
machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 10, 2018
Backdated to May 7, immediately after the thread with Fin/Towhee when Raven became alpha.
Raven was numb.
Too many emotions in too short a span of time. She'd gone from choking anxiety over Towhee's unknown reaction to her pregnancy, to confusion over her sister's sudden insistence that she take the alpha position, to anger at Towhee bullying her into it accepting it, to incredulous disbelief and hurt at Finley's response to it all. As she made her way back to the spot where she'd last seen @Quixote she just felt totally dead inside, like the emotional atom bomb had swept away everything inside of her and left behind a cold, grey nuclear winter of emptiness. She walked slowly, in something of a daze, and more than once nearly ran facefirst into a tree because she wasn't really seeing where she was going.
Towhee had stepped down.
Finley had quit.
Finley had freaking quit.
And now she and Quixote were the alphas of...whatever this smoking ruin was.
She found him not far from the lake and quickened her pace, seeking the comfort of his presence. "That didn't go at all as planned," she said, almost eerily mimicking the exact words he'd said when he last encountered Towhee. It was strange how her younger sister tended to have this effect.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 10, 2018
This was going great until I started watching Critical Role, woops. So sorry if it's a little disjointed. >_>
Quixote, on the other hand, was having an excellent day so far, aside from the anxiety that he was trying to bury. Things could go terribly wrong, couldn't they? The only way to not think about it was to distract himself. In Raven's absence, he'd tried again to catch one of the damn birds and actually, finally caught one. It was just your average duck, but it seemed like it had recently narrowly evaded some other predator and this time it hadn't been so lucky as it was a much easier catch. After the resulting explosion of feathers, he'd pranced back with the bird, set it down nearby, and, well, waited.
The call for the betas had sent pangs of panic through him, and for a few minutes he sat up, ears canted towards where the howl had come from. What was happening over there? Was he going to be called over next? Kicked out? The thing that hung heaviest on his mind was the potential that if he wanted to stay with Raven, to have a family or whatever was to come out of their union, that he'd have to fight for her. Like legitimately no holds barred, mess someone up because you're running counter to pack law and tradition kind of fight. As he lay there, head on his paws, staring off towards the seemingly endless horizon of the plateau, he was almost warming to the idea -- or maybe that was just the random bits of sunlight, whatever. Either way, he'd pretty much talked himself into doing it if necessary -- after all, if he'd messed up that badly, he might as well go out with a bang. But even as he pondered, no other call came. Seriously. What was happening?
Time passed. Slowly.
Let's be honest, waiting wasn't very interesting. Quixote's eyelids drooped and he was probably a few minutes from dozing off entirely when he spotted her now-familiar figure approaching. Something was off. He sat up quickly, ears flicked forward. Raven's words, though -- they sent a shiver down his spine, the familiarity not lost on him. Quixote got to his feet, rushing to meet her. He looked behind her for a second, but as she seemed to be alone, he turned back to Raven,
What happened?Quixote reached out to nuzzle her cheek. As mentioned, there were many ways he could imagine it going wrong, but none of them were what actually happened -- all of his ideas ended with Towhee still as the alpha. And as such, before she could speak, he continued,
Like-- if it was that bad you could have called me over,as much as he disliked the idea (and was probably going to be glad to have not been there after hearing what happened).
He was concerned, and perhaps in a way that was weird for him. Normally, everyone was left to their own devices, and as long as everyone could continue to exist in some sort of vague harmony, usually he didn't mind what happened to anyone beyond that. Okay, Colt being kicked came a little close to doing something he'd later regret, but this had him a bit more agitated if only because he didn't know what to do. It wasn't like there was an obvious cause for him to fix (aka some annoying person following along behind that he was totally supposed to beat up).
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 11, 2018
Poor Quixote. XD And your post wasn't disjointed at all! Your writing, as ever, is wonderful to read.
She almost wished she had called him over. Somehow she felt that it all would have been easier to endure if she'd had him standing beside her. His face was painted fifty shades of anxiety and she felt bad for having made him wait so long, particularly since she knew he'd heard her howl for the betas....er, now ex-betas. She wasn't sure where Elwood would stand on the issue but she expected he would follow suit with Finley and step down from leadership as well. She wasn't exactly going to go knock on their door to ask, either. A bitter taste filled her mouth as her anxiety, hurt, anger, and sense of rejection continued to snowball into a bigger, uglier mess in her head.
Seeing him stirred something within her, though, and she felt the first tendrils of comfort begin to slither out from her heart and suffuse her frozen insides with warmth. He gently touched her cheek and she melted into the gesture, sitting down, scooting close, and burying her face in his thick neck fur. She sighed and remained thus for a few long beats, just enjoying the way his scent softened her anger and the warmth of his touch tempered her fear. She didn't keep him waiting long, though, knowing he was probably freaking out wondering what was wrong (she'd gotten the sense from their interactions thus far that stress was a thing for him). Pulling away, she looked at him with so many emotions in her face that it was probably impossible to pick just one, and dropped the metaphorical cartoon piano on his head in one fell swoop: "Quixote...we're the alphas now."
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 11, 2018
Woo, good! It's much easier to write (and read, I guess >_>) when not distracted.
Calling him over might have ended in a whole different world of screwed up. Chances are, Quixote would have mouthed off at the wrong time and things would have been a lot less peaceful -- he was expecting it'd end with him in a fight, and that was not the right mental state to bring to something that had obviously been able to be solved reasonably diplomatically. He might have been good moral support, if he could like... Not say anything. Ha.
He sat as Raven did, curling around her as protectively as a wolf could until she was ready to speak, taking the time to absently preen the fur at her nape as he tried to get his own thoughts in order. Though she couldn't see, his expression now had a defiant edge to it. Whatever had happened, he'd have to go work some sort of magic so idiots would be less idiot-y, wouldn't he? Annoying how that seemed to happen, but that seemed to be the likely vague course of action. His face softened slightly as she pulled away, ready and expecting some sort of dreaded news, but what he heard was not what he was expecting.
Quixote blinked owlishly, then his brow furrowed in confusion, his voice quiet,
What.Was it a joke? He leaned back a bit to look Raven up and down, making sure she hadn't done something super surprising like gotten in a fight and like.. Fought Towhee for the title or something. It made about as much sense as the title just being given away, and the lack of any signs of a scuffle made him that much more perplexed. Then, more seriously, though kind of like someone had just said a panda wearing a tutu carrying an entire marimba showed up,
What?It was a joke -- nobody actually makes someone with as many authority problems as him a leader.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 16, 2018
So sorry for the hold-up! I was out of town with spotty service. I'm home now!
Truthfully, a marimba-carrying, tutu-clad panda might have been less shocking to Raven than the revelation dropped on her by her sister only an hour ago. She was still thoroughly mind-boggled by all of it, a weird sort of shock descending on her that made it difficult to concentrate on anything other than just how screwed they all were. It was bad enough that they had been abruptly thrust into the alpha position, but for Finley to have done what she did...Raven legitimately felt like she'd been handed the controls to an airplane that was rapidly corkscrewing toward the ground. She looked Quixote in the eyes, understanding all too well the disbelief that colored his features, and nodded to affirm what she had said.
"It's true. Towhee...doesn't want to lead anymore. She's promoted us and stepped down." The only thing that kept her from trembling was the presence of his body so close to hers. She found comfort in his touch moments ago. As terrifying as this all was, it was so much less frightening than it might have been if she was expected to lead solo. Then again, she had some idea of how Quixote felt about leadership and authority in general. It was entirely possible she would end up leading by herself. "And it gets worse, too. Finley ragequit on us. She -- and I guess Elwood too -- won't be helping us lead." That was the most bitter pill of them all for her to swallow.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 16, 2018
Welcome back! Don't worry, the drama wasn't gonna run too far away without you. >P
The confusion passed as Raven spoke, replaced with a sudden irritation at the lot of them,
So we're just left here to pick up the pieces? Because they all just gave up?Maybe they really weren't ready to be leaders -- any of them -- if they were just going to chuck it aside at random. What were they going to do now? Just sit back and watch things explode? Perhaps he had a little less ire at Towhee, if only because she seemed to have finally realized she needed more help. So what was Finley's excuse?
That wasn't even what you were going over there for! Did they just like.. ignore you and say, 'Oh hey, yeah, you're being vaguely responsible by saying this, so why don't you take care of the whole pack too?'Okay, maybe he wasn't just irritated, but borderline incredulous. Was this just his life? People always seemed to skip the odd important thing and then he'd go try and deal with it, but it was never official -- it just had to be done, so he did it because staying alive was always high on his priorities.
This is just about the opposite way that was supposed to go! -- I mean, leading wasn't on my list of things to do, was it on yours?He seemed to be losing steam, sharp words being slowly replaced by a similar state of shock as her,
I don't get it.It made zero sense. He hadn't wanted or needed this -- he'd been happy to just have to worry about Raven, did he really want to deal with the responsibility of worrying about everyone else too?
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 16, 2018
Raven's shock and anxiety had been so powerful that she hadn't had the emotional capacity to dwell on the parts of this whole situation that made her angry, but Quixote summed all of them up pretty well himself. Later, when the dust had settled somewhat, the anger and bitterness would come to the fore of her thoughts in force. But for right now...all she could do was reel and try not to fall down.
"Actually, yes," she cut in after his comment about being ignored. "Finley did ignore me. I might as well have been a fly on a pile of raccoon shit for all the attention she paid me." Truthfully, the one she was angriest with in all of this was Finley. She could understand Towhee's position, sort of. The girl had been pushed into leadership too soon, without enough experience or wisdom. She'd given her best, but after fumbling the ball at the goal line a few times, she'd had the sense to realize she was in over her head. Raven couldn't fault her for that. But Finley's behavior really was inexcusable.
Okay...nevermind the earlier thing about not being angry just yet. Raven was mad.
"...leading wasn't on my list of things to do, was it on yours?" Quixote asked, and she shook her head emphatically. "Nope," she answered, and it was the truth. She was perfectly content with her place as delta in the pack -- high enough to be respected by all, but low enough to avoid dealing with the hassles of leadership. She would have been happy to continue being the crazy plant lady, with all her weird concoctions and her herbs. But now this had been dropped in her lap, and she wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced at his face for a moment before her eyes wandered out toward the jagged peaks in the distance. "I'm afraid that if we turn it down, though, the pack will break apart or, worse, someone even less qualified than us will end up in charge." Redhawk was already sort of a dumpster fire, she felt. How much worse would it get if, say, Eljay got it? Or Clover or, heaven forbid, Tegan? Not to mention that if Screech got wind of instability in the leadership, it would leave things wide open for him to take control. She grimaced at the thought and, unsavory as the whole idea of alphaship was to her, the thought of what could happened hardened her resolve to do her very best.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 16, 2018
From his limited run-ins with Finley, she'd always seemed like a reasonable sort, but maybe he'd just never crossed paths with her in a short term conflict. And she had gone and literally ignored Raven? So much for Quixote's opinion of the former beta. Maybe that's why they'd ended up in a war in the first place -- she'd gone and done something dramatic to the wrong person, then just hid those tendencies behind a reasonable facade.
But here they were, two wolves who never really wanted to be leaders that now seemed forced to take the job because nobody wanted it. Where were all the power-obsessed brown-nosers? He sighed and nodded. Running through the list of those in the pack, he couldn't think of a single wolf that would do a half-decent job and had been around long enough to be trusted by everyone. Hell, Quixote wasn't even sure if he fell into that latter category yet.
His ears tipped back as he watched her gaze wander. In a weird sense, he was resigning himself to a promotion, wasn't he? By then, his voice had lost its frustrated edge,
On the other hand, I guess we get to do whatever the hell we want now.If they were going to freak out about ranks instead of dealing with the issue at hand, they didn't deserve an opinion about, let alone the right to deny, any pups that might be in their future, regardless of the ranks they now held.
Still, it was an additional weight he didn't quite know what to deal with. He was greedy, and at his core had previously cared only for himself. Raven had been a recent addition to his bubble of "things to gave a damn about," but he didn't really want to add the whole pack to that exclusive corner. Especially if tantrums were more important than dealing with stuff that happened. But here they were, trying to figure it out and questions were already starting to sprout. Alpha or not, Quixote had his priorities, and though he was looking at some nondescript piece of ground when he started speaking, by the end he was searching Raven's face for an answer,
I... Even just maybe having a family was going to be a huge change for me. How am I gonna be able to protect you and maybe-them, and now am gonna have to worry about everyone else while not having a clue about that too?
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 16, 2018
Raven knew Finley was hot-headed sometimes, but she’d never really been on the receiving end of that side of her aunt’s personality. Now that she had, though, it changed the way the healer looked at the elder Blackthorn. She knew she wasn’t everyone’s favorite Redhawk. She was not as courageous, outgoing, or ambitious as her numerous other siblings were. She didn’t really have an exciting story to tell, or big dreams, or aspirations of greatness. She just liked plants and healing people. She wanted to settle down and have some kids, and leave all the adventuring and bravery and leadership to someone else.
But she’d always sort of hoped that maybe there was a little respect for her in there somewhere. Finley’s cold, casual dismissal of Raven’s pregnancy and newfound happiness with Quixote was all the evidence she needed to understand that Finley didn’t give two shits about her. And her refusal to lead alongside Raven and Quixote made it pretty clear what the Blackthorn thought of Raven as a leader.
A sour taste filled the healer’s mouth as these black thoughts ran through her mind. His comments about doing whatever they wanted brought a halfhearted grin to Raven’s lips. So much for worrying about having a few puppies, eh? He went on speaking, and she found herself agreeing with him. She had no idea how they were going to handle all of this, but the good thing was that at least they had each other. And Towhee. Quixote’s uncertainty gave her a measure of strength as she replied, ”We’ll figure it out together. You’re braver and stronger than me — the pack will follow you. And I know them. I’ve tended to their wounds, shared their secrets, and helped raise their children, so they’ll trust me. We’ve got this.” Towhee was not wrong when she’d said they’d make a good team. Each of them possessed skills and qualities that, combined, could bring the kind of stability and strength that the Redhawks needed. ”Towhee’s going to be our beta, too. She might not have been a perfect alpha but she’ll be a great beta.” Allowing a chilly edge to creep into her voice, she added, ”So we don’t need Finley and Elwood.”
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 17, 2018
Of course, he had to make a bit of a bemused interjection,
Braver than you, aside from the whole being terrified to talk to Towhee thing.And what a disaster it had apparently been. One thing was again clear, though, and that was that Raven knew what to say, unlike him. How she seemed to have such a high chance of saying the thing that'd satiate whatever degree of panic or unease that was disturbing him was still a mystery.
Together, then.Though the exact details of the balance would probably take a bit to work out.
And if they give you any more trouble, let me know?Has it been mentioned recently that Quixote was a tad bit protective? If the ex-betas weren't going to be civil, he should be the one to be angry about it. Regardless of whatever unofficial title best fit their relationship, Quixote wasn't going to tolerate people being pointlessly spiteful to Raven. The pack didn't need that drama any more, and if he'd end up having to be a jerk to get the point across, so be it.
Quixote's ears then suddenly pricked up.
Oh! And while you were gone I finally caught one of those damn ducks...He hopped up onto his feet, quickly going to retrieve the recent bane of his existence from where he'd set it aside so that he could deposit it at Raven's feet with a wag of his tail. As he raised his head, he paused to nose her cheek,
For the new alpha, who'll hopefully be needing it more than me.Despite all the annoying as hell idiocy that was floating around them, not everything could be spoiled, could it? Well, maybe it could just by him being kind of cheesy.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 17, 2018
She couldn’t help but smile as he mentioned his terror at talking to Towhee. While she hoped that time would mend the rift between them, she couldn’t blame him for being intimidated by her younger sister. Tow was a force to be reckoned with, and Quixote’s experience with her had been less than stellar up to this point. But underneath the young Redhawk’s hard exterior was a warm heart and a kind soul, and she knew that it wouldn’t take long for Quixote to see that side of Towhee too.
His comment about the Blackthorns giving her a hard time touched her. She wasn’t used to someone being so protective of her and she loved it. She reached forward and tenderly nuzzled his cheek, affection warm in her eyes. She hoped he never stopped doing that. ”Don’t worry about them,” she replied, her voice gentle despite the hard feelings that lingered within. ”I don’t plan to go visiting anytime soon. Finley owes me an apology. I’ll probably never get it, but I guess we’ll find out.”
After a moment, he rose and out of nowhere, produced a duck and presented it to her. Its sleek feathers glistened with multitudes of iridescent colors in the bright afternoon sun, and the warmth of life had not yet completely vacated its still form. She sniffed at it appreciatively and looked up at him with delight clear in her face. She knew how proud he must have felt to have finally caught one of the elusive birds, and it meant a great deal to her that he had saved it just for her. ”Oh, Qui,” she said softly, rising and stepping forward to push her nose into his neck fur again. She smiled and kissed the warm skin hidden beneath the black fur. ”What a wonderful treat, thank you. How’d you finally manage to snag it?”
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 17, 2018
Just what the world would need, Quixote being encouraged to be more of a protective jerkwad. But oh how he did enjoy feeling as though he did something right. Not to mention, being kind of ominous and threatening were supposed to be things he was good at -- always good to use his talents. Raven would probably have a hell of a time trying to convince anyone that he was sappy and sweet to her if he had to go and threaten to bite off some heads later on -- probably would even be a challenge right now, as it wasn't like he was otherwise a super amiable sort. But as it were, he hoped that Finley would behave herself. Probably just that change of opinion speaking, but he wasn't expecting her to do anything positive any time soon.
But two things done right! Even better! Despite being over his fear of doing something outright wrong by overstepping boundaries, he was still rather shy about initiating shows of affection but he was quite happy to follow Raven's lead. Her touch still made Quixote a bit giddy, and his tail wagged wildly as he just about tried to bury the whole broad side of his face against her neck as he savored the kisses and closeness. It was still a little unreal to him that she was at least kinda part of his life now -- he'd gotten really damn lucky and he'd be more than happy to shower her in gifts in appreciation.
I think someone else previously had a go at it. Made it easy for a novice like me. -- Getting something to eat is a lot harder when what you're chasing can vanish vertically.He was still a long way from being able to just snatch a bird off the lake with any regularity, but for a wolf who wasn't built for stealth or sheer speed, this was a good start.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 18, 2018
Were she a cat, she might have purred at his returned affection. As it was, a soft, barely-audible hum vibrated in her chest as she savored his touch. This was still such a foreign thing to her, this attention, and she just couldn't imagine anyone ever taking it for granted. She was still getting to know Quixote -- they certainly had done things backward from how it seemed was traditionally expected -- but she couldn't deny that there were already strong feelings in her for the stoic wolf. What others saw of him was nothing like what she saw, and she found she really adored this different side of him. Perhaps they couldn't keep their relationship private, as they both might have liked, but this she could keep to herself. Nobody else had to know what a cuddly teddy bear the Redhawks' new alpha male was.
She couldn't argue with his comments about trying to chase things that could disappear vertically. She wasn't the greatest hunter in the world herself, and that was just when she was trying to catch things that were restricted to the ground. Her most recent hunt with Jagwyr had boosted her confidence in herself, though, but she wasn't about to start trying to take down birds on the lake anytime soon. That sounded like a great way to end up soaking wet and disappointed. She leaned down to dig into the soft carcass when, suddenly, a thought struck her. "Hey, now that we're the bosses around here, you should see if you can find Colt and bring him back." She'd known how much Towhee's decision to expel him from the pack had bothered Quixote, with Colt being one of the few wolves Qui considered a friend.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 20, 2018
It was going to take him quite some time to sort out his feelings on a lot of things. At the moment it was sort of a buffer overflow situation, and so perhaps as a defensive measure he'd gone and mentally kicked the giant stress boulder regarding leadership on down the road. That wasn't saying that focusing on Raven was without complications -- he was gonna have a hell of a time figuring things out. Give him a while, he'd be arguing with himself over what things meant and what he should do. As she started to lean down to take a bite, Quixote took a few steps away, circled in place and lay down so that he'd be not creepily hovering around her as she ate. To a certain point, he didn't want to tempt Raven in to sharing, and would be fine with just laying there watching her with some kind of muddled warm expression on his face -- but no saying he wouldn't happily play garbage disposal later.
Colt, though. That was an issue that now pretty much solved itself now, he supposed.
Yeah. That'll be on my list -- though I think I wanna make sure Towhee isn't gonna try to eat him or something. Since the move I'd also been thinking I should go by one pack that's south of here to tell them we're neighbors now -- ran across them when I first entered this whole region -- but uh. Everything kind of happened.'Everything' was a good way to describe this whirlwind of events, wasn't it? At this point he was pretty sure good events well outweighed the bad. It just meant that his life was pretty well unrecognizable in comparison to how it was back in the Caldera, and in a few months it'd be even farther afield. There was the issue that he'd soon find out Tindome had long since moved, but Quixote didn't know that at the moment. He lowered his head to his paws, but his ears pricked forward intently,
Is there anything you want to do with your new power? Or would like me to do?As always, whatever she wanted.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 21, 2018
Shall we wrap this soon? :)
She grinned at his question, a little mischievous gleam in her eye as she glanced up at him. She could definitely think of a few things she'd like him to do with his new power (wink wink). But she contained herself for now -- maybe she'd track him down later on after nightfall to...ahem...explore that new power a little further.
Hey, don't judge. She's only been getting the D for like a month. And Quixote is hot. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So for the moment, she shook her head nah to his request. She liked his comment about paying a visit to their neighboring pack, though, and as she took a bite of the duck, she nodded her agreement. "That's a good idea," she commented as she spat out a few feathers. "Ideally, I'd like to be on good terms with our neighbors. I don't want another Blackfeather Woods situation." As she chewed, an idea occurred to her and she gave voice to it: "I'm going to send a messenger to Drageda to let my sister know we've moved. They're allies of ours and I definitely want to keep those ties strong. Tegan's an aspiring scout, it might be a good chance for him to prove himself to us." Taking another bite of her duck, she grinned gratefully at Quixote. It really was delicious. She couldn't remember if she'd ever had this particular type of fowl before but she greatly enjoyed it. She briefly considered offering to share it with him, but then she remembered that she might be pregnant and, if so, the pups would need all the nutrition they could get.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 22, 2018
Sounds good to me!
There was a slight pause before he caught her drift. He hadn't even thought of that double entendre, though it should have been blatantly obvious -- it'd be Quixote's turn to turn a bit red under his fur. Not that he minded the implication of it, with a slight smirk in return. Damn, he totally needed some more practice at trying to be suave, since getting along by guess and accident wasn't exactly a great way to go about anything.
Where was Drageda again? Freakin' far away, if he recalled.
Too bad I think we're even farther away from them now, then. I don't think I ever went far enough to meet any of them as far as I know.He wasn't sure how well Tegan would do on this little on that little adventure, but he kind of regarded that whole litter with a bit of well-earned suspicion. Maybe the kid was finally growing up? Who knew. It wasn't like he really knew any of them very well. Maybe he should fix that too.
It was surprisingly fulfilling to see Raven enjoying the fruits of his labors -- most of the time if he had given up a kill it had been because he had to not because he wanted to, because it was going to the caches to be enjoyed by who knew what stomach or to a leader who deserved it just by title. As he watched her eat, another thing popped into mind,
Maybe we should get a few hunts going too. Once we've figured out the leadership thing, maybe something larger to fill the caches, but any requests in the short term?He'd do his damnedest to fill any orders, but things like duck weren't going to be common on the menu unless he figured out a few tricks. For now, though, he didn't seem keen on heading off to do anything else. Maybe a nap or something, but despite how content he seemed at this moment, he wasn't ready to go face anyone else, new alpha or not. The doubts were waiting to dig themselves out of their graves as soon as he was away from Raven's side.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 22, 2018
She swallowed a mouthful of tender meat and nodded in agreement with his comment. "Yeah, I think they're literally on the other side of the galaxy from us here. But I'll tell Tegan to take a friend or two with him so he won't be alone." She didn't know the boy as well as she'd have liked -- mostly she just had the standard medic and midwife's acquaintance with him, having assisted Finley with the pups after their birth as much as the elder female would allow. She knew he was young, but he'd proven himself an able scout thus far and seemed to have a reasonably good head on his shoulders in spite of his goofball ways.
Truthfully she would have gladly gone herself, but given the shake-up in leadership as well as her potential pregnancy, now wasn't really a good time for her to go on an extended trip across the wilderness. Plus, her track record for getting lost in her youth made her wary of lengthy journeys despite the fact that her sense of direction had improved quite a bit as she'd gotten older.
She found herself agreeing with his next comments as well. Despite his self-doubts, she thought Quixote might make a pretty good alpha after all. They were both going to have to figure this out as they went, but so far they at least sounded like they knew what they were doing. "I think a hunt would be good for the pack. I'm not positive, but I don't think we have any good caches established yet."
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Quixote - May 22, 2018
He nodded. At least the path over to Drageda shouldn't be too dangerous either, right? That'd be passing by Moonspear and that was about it packwise unless there were groups there he didn't know about, which was entirely possible. Quixote then wondered what the other yearlings were going to be up to -- would they be interested in helping with hunts or still just goofing off?
I'll keep an eye out for some good targets while out and about.He really hadn't paid too much attention to the patterns of larger prey, though he imagined some had to come by the lake sometime, as it was a nice reliable source of water. Hm.
He lazily rolled onto his side, watching her for a bit longer with this tilted perspective before finally yawning,
A nap sounds good, though. You're welcome to join me -- or wake me up when you're done, whatever.He smiled once more, and would wait for her response before dozing off. At least the weather was still such he didn't have to worry about crawling into some shade. Hopefully, he'd have happy dreams, not ones haunted by the threats of responsibility -- he'd deal with that crud when he woke up.
RE: machines just got workings, and they talk to me - Raven - May 22, 2018
She acknowledged his words with a smile and a thumping of her tail against the grass behind her, and made quick work of the duck. It would take them some time to get a handle on their new duties and expectations as alphas, and while it was scary to Raven, she felt much more confident having Quixote by her side to help. Towhee had been smart to promote them together; perhaps the girl was wiser than everyone gave her credit for.
When Raven was satisfied, she set aside the remains of her lunch and concealed it beneath a scattering of leaves (expecting that Quixote might want to pick at it later). Laying down behind Quixote, she snugged up against his back and lay her head on his shoulder. The sun beaming down on her black fur mingled with the warmth of his body and gave her a comfortable, cozy sense of security. It wasn’t long before sleep was tugging at her, and she gave in with a contented sigh.