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+--- Thread: Redhawk Caldera Getting high and skipping class (/showthread.php?tid=66559)
Getting high and skipping class - Hotah - November 19, 2025
set after this @Towhee Jr
The valley opened beneath them in a long sweep of frost-kissed grass, the morning light just beginning to burn through the lingering haze. Hotah moved at an easy, ground-covering lope, glancing back every so often to be sure Towhee Jr kept pace— not out of doubt, but out of a quiet, instinctive habit. She was sharp, steady, and sure-footed; he’d learned that quickly. Still, he watched.They slipped between the scrub and the outcroppings until the land widened into a bowl of wind-brushed meadow. That was when he paused, chest lifting as he drew in a long, tactful breath.
There—northwest.
Sharp, musk-heavy, unmistakable.
Hotah’s ears tipped forward. His posture shifted subtly, focus narrowing like a blade honed to a fine edge.
He flicked a glance toward Jr.
Then signed—slow, controlled:
-Buck.-
Another sign followed, smoother now:
-Big.-
He pointed toward the rise of willow and bramble in the distance, where the wind carried the scent strongest. Then he let his weight settle into a hunter’s crouch, muscles coiling beneath his dark coat.
His eyes warmed with a glint that bordered on playful, inviting challenge.
-You… lead?-
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Towhee Jr - November 20, 2025
it is a little disorienting walking through life now without tell-tale signs from ghost ( but she'd rather have her feathered companion keep a keen eye watch on her son ); and while she was unable to hear their quarry, she can smell the deer they tracked. she can see the signs of it's path: broken twigs, half nibbled leaves, hoof prints in the earth not yet totally hardened by the frost.
his glimpses back do not go unnoticed by towhee jr in the same way they do not go challenged: she does not doubt her silence could probably be eerie to those who were used to conversing through sound.
hotah pauses and so, too, does towhee jr; drawing nearer so she might read his ptero. -i smell him.- she confirms, paws motioning.
a soft spark of surprise lights her expression for a moment as he suggests she leads, and towhee jr — never one to back down from a challenge — quickly composes herself with a small grin. -sure,- she affirms, gaze settling upon their quarry, taking note of his antlers, their size.
-i'll chase him, you take him down.- hotah was bigger than her, after all; and though she wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with something bigger than her ... she'd learned to play the board to her advantage.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Hotah - November 23, 2025
When she stepped in closer to catch his signs, he met her eyes and nodded once at her confirmation.
-Good.-
Her brief spark of surprise at his offer to let her lead tugged a quiet grin to one side of his mouth. The way she recovered—quick, composed, competitive—made the expression deepen.
At her plan, he studied her stance, the set of her shoulders, the measure of the buck ahead. Smart. Efficient. Exactly how he hunted too.
He signed back, slow but certain:
-You chase.-
Then, with a confident flick of his wrist:
-I… finish.-
Hotah shifted his weight, lowering into a ready crouch, muscles gathering beneath his dark coat. He gave her one last steady look—an unspoken I trust you, go on—and the smallest, almost teasing glint warmed his eyes.
-Go.-
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Towhee Jr - November 24, 2025
towhee jr can feel her muscles tense — a bow string pulled taut, ready to be loosened. her gaze locks onto their quarry with a sniper's precision, breaking only to catch hotah's signal.
go —
towhee jr surges forward, kicking up dirt at takeoff, ears pinning back to her head, lips curling back to expose her teeth. the buck becomes aware of her with a startled rise of its head. a growl rumbles in her chest and she snaps her teeth at it's flank, dodging a kick of it's rear legs; belly scraping across the ground before she's recollected herself and back on the chase, aiming to corral it towards hotah.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Hotah - November 24, 2025
Hotah watched her explode forward, a dark streak cutting through the valley grass. The instant she moved, he shifted too—lowering his center of gravity, muscles coiling, every nerve alive and razor-sharpened.
Jr’s chase was clean, fierce, precise. He felt a flicker of admiration at the way she snapped at the buck’s flank, the way she dropped beneath its kick and came up running. She wasn’t just fast—she was smart. She was pushing him exactly where she meant to.
Good.
Perfect.
Hotah angled wide, cutting through the frost-stiff grass in a sweeping arc. His breath came cold and steady, paws thudding a rhythm into the earth as he closed the distance. The buck swerved—Jr correcting him each time like a seasoned herder—until the animal’s path aligned with Hotah’s line of attack.
He caught Jr’s eye for a heartbeat, a brief, fierce spark of acknowledgment—
I see your work. Now watch mine.
Then Hotah surged forward, breaking from the brush at full force, intercepting the buck’s path with a powerful, decisive lunge.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Towhee Jr - November 25, 2025
there is nothing in that moment but the hunt. the thrill of adrenaline singing through her veins and a healthy outlet for all of her fury and grief bottled up for the sake of her son ( or so she told herself ). to let it out so she can fully allow herself to move on from it ... in whatever capacity that looked like.
it burns from her veins like the breath from her lungs as she puffs out breaths, giving encouraging snaps of her teeth to the buck trying to shake her but ending up right where she wanted him: into hotah's awaiting jaws.
the catch of their gazes is brief but the message passes betwixt them is understood.
she watches hotah, all power and deadly intent that has towhee jr's gaze admiring, lunge like a mighty spear piercing the air, grappling with their quarry, her steps slowing as she circles slowly as she gives hotah room to work but is ready to intervene if he needed backup.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Hotah - November 25, 2025
Hotah met the buck with the full force of his weight, the collision thundering through his chest and down his limbs. His teeth found purchase at the thick column of the animal’s neck—hot hide, panic-sharp musk, the buck’s frantic pulse hammering beneath his jaws.
It surged, tried to wrench free. Hotah only tightened.
Jr’s snapping teeth kept the buck turning, kept it from gaining leverage. He felt her presence—controlled, fierce, precise—flanking him like a second heartbeat. That brief look they’d shared still burned behind his eyes.
He shifted his grip, bracing his forelegs and hauling the buck’s head downward with a guttural exertion. The animal’s front legs buckled, momentum failing as Hotah dragged its weight off balance. He felt its strength falter—first a stagger, then a full collapse as its hindquarters gave out.
Hotah rode it down, pressing into the earth with grim, efficient force. A final, brutal twist of his jaws.
Only then did he release his grip, breath coming hard and warm in plumes through the cold air. He stepped back just enough to give Jr space, his shoulders rising and falling as he looked to her—eyes bright with the electric afterglow of the hunt.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Towhee Jr - November 25, 2025
hotah wrestles the buck to the ground and towhee jr knows that the hunt was a success as she watches the fight wane from their quarry. her breath is sharp, cool air needling in her lungs that still burn from pushing herself in a way she hadn't since ... well at least a year now.
it'd felt good. a breathy laugh leaves towhee jr; blood still singing from the jubilation of the thrill of the hunt.
towhee jr's breath begins to slow to normal alongside her heartbeat, though she can still feel the jolt of adrenaline in her veins as she meets hotah's gaze. -it is a good trophy,- she signs her compliment.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Hotah - November 25, 2025
Hotah met her gaze, breath still warm in the cold air, the pulse of the hunt slowly settling in his marrow. Jr’s signs drew a small, approving lift of his brow.
He lifted his own paw, signing back with firm, deliberate strokes:
-Yours.-
A glance toward the buck—then back to her.
-You earned it.-
His grin edged wider, the crease by his eye deepening. Both in exhileration and joy. Her mom's voice in his ear rang out, I'll support it, and he swallowed. Eyes drifting lower to her panting body.
-You're fast.-
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Towhee Jr - November 26, 2025
towhee jr gives a soft shake of her head as she reads his ptero, rejecting the notion that the trophy is her's. it'd been his idea, he'd done the hardest part: taking it down. a small furrow makes a 'v' between her eyes, notched left ear flicking. -no,- she signs, a small pause between. -it is our trophy.-
gaze strays from hotah only long enough to look back at the corpse of their successful hunt before it falls back to hotah.
the twitch of her lips as she reads the compliment might've been considered demure if it was anyone else but towhee jr. for a wild moment, she isn't quite sure how to take a compliment. -i think it is nature's way of making up for my missing senses.- jokes towhee jr with a grin, referring to her lack of hearing and ability to speak.
she wanted to tell him that she thought he was powerful, had admired the way he'd wrestled their quarry to the ground and held strong ... but she doesn't know how to do it without it feeling cheesy, or like she was repaying a compliment. she didn't want her genuine admiration to be taken as less than what it was, so she saves it, tucking it away for another occasion.
-we make a good team.- she observes, paws giving 'voice' to her thoughts, gaze straying briefly back to the buck, thinking it would be plenty to feed her mother and divide into the pack's caches. with winter creeping ever closer, towhee jr's mind goes into strategic mode, trying to be helpful to the pack.
RE: Getting high and skipping class - Hotah - November 26, 2025
Hotah huffed a low chuckle at her correction—our trophy—and dipped his head in a small, conceding nod. Fair enough. She’d earned that say.
Her joke earned a broader grin from him, warm and unforced. He didn’t answer it with words—just a soft shake of his head that clearly meant: you’re fast because you’re good, not because the world owes you anything.
When she signed we make a good team, Hotah’s eyes flicked to the buck, then back to her. A short, firm nod answered that.
He stepped to the carcass, gripped it by the shoulder, and hefted the weight up with practiced ease. Then he paused, glancing back at her with an expectant lift of his brow.
He signed, brief and sure:
-Help.-
Then:
-Carry back. Skin there.-