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+--- Thread: Heron Lake Plateau Which light switch is which? (/showthread.php?tid=37961)
Which light switch is which? - Towhee - December 09, 2019
A thick carpet of snow lay on the ground, lending the world a sort of peaceful, twinkling hush. Towhee found solace in it, despite herself, and decided to go for a little walk in the winter wonderland after wrapping her patrol. She ventured slightly north and west, eventually finding herself in the shadow of a very familiar plateau. She hadn't gone to visit Orca's grave site in a while and decided to chance the slippery slope and then the ice to pay her late sister's resting place a visit.
She only knew where the land ended and the lake began due to her familiarity with the terrain. Towhee paused at the water's edge and brushed aside the snow to test her weight on the ice. Everything felt firm, so she tentatively began to walk, making it to The Roost without incident. A lot of snow clung to her pelt, not to mention between her toes, so she took a moment to shake it off before proceeding to her final destination.
When she reached the familiar spot beneath the bare branches of the trees, Towhee's heart stopped in her chest. There was a bent wing thrust up from the snow piled on top of Orca's gave. Holding her breath, the mercenary ventured closer, familiarity striking her painfully. "No," she muttered under her breath as she dug at the snow, slowly revealing the long dead, mostly decomposed, partially mummified remains of her almost lifelong friend, X.
RE: Which light switch is which? - RIP Kaertok - December 09, 2019
Another day, another dark wolf. This one, unlike the others, had markings. A white chest and a couple of red strips that bordered the white. It was nobody he recognized, but he fully intended to make use of every wolf he came across. He was going to have to rely on them if he wanted to find his aokkatti. As much as he considered himself a tracker and a scout, finding a wolf out in the wild was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Approaching the stranger head-on, Kaertok announced his presence with a woof and a generally friendly stance. There was no reason for him to think that this encounter would be unpleasant, so he went into it as such, knowing all too well that things could go sour at the drop of a hat.
He briefly wondered what she was looking at, but since he’d missed the digging and small word that she’d said, he didn’t have a clue and considered it irrelevant.
RE: Which light switch is which? - Towhee - December 09, 2019
It was just another blow among many, though one of the most final and irrevocable. "Oh, X," Towhee exhaled in a wretched voice, sinking down into the snow, her forelegs stretched around the hawk's corpse. "What happened to you?" She expected to cry or at least shed some tears, though it simply didn't happen. She just lay there like a sphinx, staring miserably at the deceased bird, her insides clenching as memories ran through her head: a highlight reel of their life together.
She didn't hear the crunching footfalls in the snow, nor sense the stranger approaching in any other way, so when she looked up and saw him standing there, Towhee started badly. She pushed upward and crouched almost defensively over the hawk (and Orca's grave beneath), sizing up the unfamiliar wolf. He looked like a wolf in his prime: hale, with fur that matched the snow and bright eyes a few shades darker than her own.
"Who're you?" Towhee questioned, rising properly onto all fours and falling into a more neutral posture. Her ears pricked. "And what brings you here?" was the more pertinent question. They were on a small island in the middle of a lake on top of a plateau. Had he wandered up here by chance...?
RE: Which light switch is which? - RIP Kaertok - December 09, 2019
He had thought he'd been loud and obvious enough, but apparently he had thought wrong. She startled rather wildly, protecting something below, which he could only assume was food based on her defensive reaction. Oops, he probably shouldn't go around bothering strangers in the middle of their dinnertime. By the smell of it, the snack had been dead for quite some time. Thankfully, she didn't seem offensive, as she wasn't immediately after his throat.
Kaertok Tartok,he said, answering the first question.
I'm looking for a friend. She used to live on the coast with Rusalka, but they've dispersed. Her name is Raleska.At least, that was what had brought him to the stranger, in hopes that she might have information on the whereabouts of his aokkatti.
RE: Which light switch is which? - Towhee - December 09, 2019
Either his lips were hard to read or his name featured too many syllables to be easily understood; perhaps both. The rest of his words she picked up, more or less, though it took a moment for any of it to actually register. Her best friend's body lay at her feet, on top of her long deceased sister's remains (abruptly, she recalled X's involvement that awful day), not to mention everything else she'd been through lately. Whether or not he gave her one, Towhee gave herself a pass for that and any other social faux pas she made today.
"I'm sorry, neither of those names are fam..." Her voice didn't so much cut off as trail off thoughtfully as Towhee's lips pressed together. Actually, come to think of it, Raleska did ring a bell, a very, very dim one. Even after thinking on it a moment, Towhee couldn't place it. And she was absolutely certain she'd never heard of Rusalka at all.
To explain her second spate of strange behavior, Towhee picked up the thread she'd dropped. "Raleska's name is maybe vaguely familiar. Can you describe her?" She knew the pain of missing a loved one, of searching fruitlessly, and though she didn't know the first thing about this wolf, she decided she would try her best to jog her memory. Maybe she could help him, perhaps even save him from the very fate she was suffering right now: finding her long lost friend dead in in the snow.
RE: Which light switch is which? - RIP Kaertok - December 09, 2019
He hadn't noticed it at first, but now that she spoke again, there was something "off" about her voice. Not quite an accent, but her speech was stilted. He wondered if she was a bit stunted mentally, but it wasn't his place to ask, and it didn't matter to him anyway. She asked him to describe Raleska, and he did his best to pull his aokkatti's image to his mind.
She's dark with a few faded markings atop her head and her underside. Yellow eyes, about my size.It wasn't much to go on, he knew. There was another deciding factor: her mother. Knowing what the other wolf had told him about her infamy, Kaertok didn't want to bring up Caiaphas unless he was asked directly. For now, he felt her name and description was enough.
RE: Which light switch is which? - Towhee - December 09, 2019
Nothing about her description triggered any further familiarity, so eventually Towhee just shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, I don't think I know her." She glanced aside, unaware that she'd once shared this very space with the wolf in question and even exiled her from the plateau's ranks along with her mother and brother. Her eyes then drifted back to Kaertok as she added, "But maybe I could help you look. I..."
She hadn't forgotten that she was standing over X's body, though she suddenly looked down and decided to step away from the dual grave. "Could we walk over here?" she questioned, gesturing pointedly with her snout before moving in that direction. She didn't settle, choosing to remain on all fours, though her posture was still neutral and relatively relaxed.
"I've been looking for someone as well," she continued, even though she'd technically given up the search a few days ago. "Her name is Sugar Glider and she's gray with black markings, including a stripe down her spine. She has a pink nose." Towhee licked her lips. "If you keep an eye out for her, I'll keep an eye out for this Raleska. Perhaps we can meet up again somewhere to check in later."
RE: Which light switch is which? - RIP Kaertok - December 11, 2019
Nobody she knew, but that was to be expected. The world was vast, even in a place like this with a decently dense population. Kaertok followed, not understanding (or bothering to try) why she wanted to scoot over a little bit from where they'd been. She revealed that she was looking for someone as well, and Kaertok made a mental image of the wolf she spoke of. The pink nose in particular wasn't something he saw often (ever?), so it would be a dead-giveaway.
I would appreciate that. Who should I say is looking for her?he asked. The striped wolf had yet to reveal her name, which wouldn't normally be an issue, but he figured it would be smart to let this Sugar Glider know that she was missed if he did happen to run across her.
And when do you propose we meet back up?Kaertok fully intended to spend all of his time between now and then searching for Raleska, but if this wolf made it easier on him, he'd gladly take the help.
RE: Which light switch is which? - Towhee - December 11, 2019
"Towhee and the Firebirds," she replied succinctly, oblivious to yet another social blunder she'd committed by not introducing herself. His next question suddenly reminded her of something. She didn't respond right away, instead glancing in the general direction of Moonspear.
"See that mountain range there? My pack lives in that forest just below it. A little north of the copse, there's a lake up in the mountains that empties into two rivers. Let's meet there during the next full moon," Towhee knew it was nearly there, so she clarified, "about a month from now. Will that work?"
Only if and when he agreed would Towhee mention Hydra's own search for Isi. She'd loosely planned to pay her friend a visit at Moonspear in a few weeks, so it made sense to rendezvous with Kaertok on her way there. Hopefully by then, there would be good news all around, though only time would tell.
RE: Which light switch is which? - RIP Kaertok - December 12, 2019
He was fairly certain he'd never heard the name "Towhee" or "Firebirds" prior to her speaking them, so he tucked those into his memory. She pointed back to where Kaertok had come from, and he figured it wouldn't be a terrible idea to head further south from here before circling back around. In the meantime, he'd keep an eye out for both Raleska and Sugar Glider. He nodded to show his agreement to the planned meetup in about a month.
Kaertok got the sense there was something else on her mind, so he waited with ears forward and attentive. Thus far, Towhee had been nothing but helpful, even if it hadn't gotten him any closer to his aokkatti.
RE: Which light switch is which? - Towhee - December 13, 2019
He didn't speak, though his nod worked just as well for her. "Great," Towhee said in the manner of someone distracted. There was nothing great about this situation. "There's one more thing: a friend of mine is also on the lookout for someone. Her name's Isi," she shared, then offered the same brief description Hydra had given her. "If you wouldn't mind keeping an eye out for her as well..." Her orange eyes captured his gaze as she tried to convey her gratitude.
There wasn't much more to say on the matter and Towhee's attention strayed sideways, back to where she could see X's body crumpled in the snow. Her insides twisted miserably. She needed to bury the hawk... but where? Should she take her home, lay her to rest in the copse someplace? Although she had been living there for a short while now, it didn't feel right. It wasn't really home, at least not yet. No, she decided with a firm set to her jaw that she would bury X right here, beside her sister.
Returning her eyes to Kaertok, she said, "See you in about a month then. Good luck out there, Kaertok."
RE: Which light switch is which? - RIP Kaertok - December 16, 2019
The description for the other wolf wasn’t nearly as detailed, but often times a name was as much as he would need if he were doing a casual search. If he happened to come across either Sugar Glider or Isi, he would be sure to bring the information back to Towhee in a month’s time. If not, nothing would change, and it was no skin off his back.
With their plan in place, Kaertok trotted off, onto the next encounter where he would search for not one, but three wolves. And maybe one of them would turn up in the next month.