Redhawk Caldera Wish I loved and kept the good friendships

In the days since leaving the Copse and establishing their claim on the Caldera instead, Alyx busied herself trying to make herself useful to the pack. She was getting older, and as she did, she began to recognize her own feelings for what they were. While she still held a lot of resentment for Bronco, Fennec, and Meerkat for leaving while she was forbidden to, she understood that it was the feeling of inadequacy that made her resent them and her parents for not letting her pave her own way in life. Everyone was so proud of Bronco, Meerkat, and Fennec. Everybody loved that they'd all gone to serve Moonspear. But no one seemed proud of her, when she desperately needed to be seen and valued.

She'd gathered every variety of remaining plant she could get her paws on before the frost took them and stashed all of them in a small cavern near the Caldera's base on the northern side. She didn't know what most of them were and she had no idea which ones were useful and which weren't, but she'd gathered them all up anyway until she could work up the courage to ask Weird Uncle Eljay for help. She frequented this cave more than anywhere else in the territory, arranging and rearranging the plants while they all dried out and shrivelled up. She had no idea how to keep them alive, but she did her best. Anyone attentive to her efforts would've found her stash by now, but she never talked about it.

When she wasn't there, she was in another tunnel, hunting the huge rats that had grown fat in the absence of predators. Presently, she carried one such rat—a scruffy black specimen that she held up by its worm-like tail with a diva's ginger grasp—up to a cache she'd made in the trees. Setting it down, Alyx began to dig. There were already three other rats stashed here, but she wanted to make it an even four before creating another cache somewhere else.

wc:253

With this year's batch of kids growing up and quickly approahing the age where they would become even more independent, Niamh allowed them the space to work away at their skills and trades, having them rely less and less on her and Phox for food so that she knew they were hunting for themselves. They had witnessed pack hunts, but she was beginning to wonder if it wasn't time to potentially take them on a hunt, and have them join in the chase; keep them a safe distance from the action of course, but teach them what it felt like to run alongside their brethren, and how to read the herd's movements. How to split a group of deer apart, and herd them in another direction; that time was coming soon, and she was eager to see it happen perhaps when the bucks were distracted with the rut.

When she caught sight of Alyx she was digging, and it made her pleased to see that her Princess was being active, and not simply moping. She knew Alyx likely still wanted to go and live with Rusalka- but the reality of that situation had been too dangerous. They were now further from the coast than they had been before, but she still believed that a trip to the Glen or to Moonspear might help cure Alyx of being sick of her family group.

“What'd you catch?” She asked curiously, having not caugfht sight of what it was Alyx had managed to pin down.

She threw herself into her task so thoroughly that she didn't realize her mother was there until Niamh spoke, and when she did, Alyx froze. She couldn't remember the last time she'd spent any one-on-one time with her mother, and between being grounded and being dragged to this new claim, she had permitted a little resentment to grow between her and her parents.

Nothing ultimately harmful, but it was enough to cause a slithering sensation in her tummy when her mother asked what she'd caught. A retort jumped to the tip of her tongue, but she quickly bit it back. Attitude wouldn't earn her any favours right now, and the last thing Alyx needed was to feel even more wretched.

So she replied with a short and simple, rats, before resuming her digging.

Alyx's reply was stiff and blunt, and Niamh knew that this was likely awkward because Alyx had become somewhat comfortable with having some space and time to herself. And Niamh didn't mind- she hadn't wanted to have her own parents coddle her when she'd been younger, and she was pleased to see that while Alyx wasn't exactly warm toward her, at least she was being productive and had been hunting to establish their caches for the winter. "That's good," She praised her daughter. "We'll need capable hunters in the pack for when winter comes." She said. 

Like last year's children, this brood had begun to grow up and stretch out with surprising swiftness. It was hard not to see the child in their features, and in the youthful sparkle of their eyes, but they would be adults before too long, just in time for winter's hardships to hit. "You hoping to get a hunting trade?" She asked, hoping her daughter, like her, shared some interest toward earning herself some titles.

There, that was probably deep enough. Alyx listened to Niamh with one swivelled ear as she picked up the rat and dropped it in the hole, but took her mother's commentary as just idle chatter, at least until Regent asked her if she was pursuing a hunting trade. While there'd been no official announcement on account of my claiming the trade specifically to inject more drama into this thread, and she hadn't really gone hunting with any of her parents, she hadn't kept her passion for hunting a secret. It was a slap in the face that Niamh didn't know.

Her tone was flat and only a little inflammatory when she announced, I am a hunter. You'd know that if you ever spent any time with me. Who knew what Niamh was busy doing instead? Alyx had no idea that her mom gave her space because she thought she wanted it, when in fact, Alyx had always felt pretty separated from her. All she saw was her mom not even knowing that she loved to hunt.

Didn't know, or didn't much care, it was all the same.

DANG! Akitapup did a beautiful job on your avatar!!

Girls. It was fortunate for Alyx that she was Niamh's own daughter, otherwise the Regent likely would have taken that oppoetunity to pummel the teenager into the dirt with the rats she'd buried simply to teach her a lesson about how to speak to her superiors. Just because Niamh was her mother didn't mean that she got free passes...But Niamh was a creature who was, indeed, biased toward her own offspring. She'd tolerate much more from them than she would any other youths. Alyx was nearly an adult now, and when she crossed that threshold, Niamh couldn't necessarily guarantee that family ties would be enough to save her from getting put back into her place. 

Niamh was also part aggravator, so hearing her daughters attempt at spiking her only fuelled her. She chuckled and approached, reaching out to shove her face against her daughter's side the way a cat wil rub along a beloved owner's ankle. "Well forgive me for not smothering you; I didn't realize you were still such a little baby that needed her Mommy's attention all the time." Niamh had not been avoiding her children- and she spent time with them as she crossed paths with them but now that they could hunt, she felt it best to let them learn to take care of themselves without being coddled. They'd be stronger wolves for it. And Alyx was hardly ignored- she had two mothers, a father and several siblings around to keep her company. If she'd wanted something, Niamh would have made herself available- so she excused herself of whatever blame Alyx was trying to place on her. 

She pulled away, still eyeing her daughter with skepticism. Alyx was a moody one; independent, but apparently she didn't want to be given the freedom Niamh had afforded her, in the wake of her disappearance. Having had one daughter run off had taught her not to smother, but apparently, this wasn't a cure-all solution.

They did an awesome job!

Alyx thought her mother might congratulate her on becoming a proper hunter, maybe even apologize for not bothering to know what her daughter liked to do, but what she got instead made her jaw drop. Another jab at her maturity, that was original. She knew she wasn't the most level-headed or easy of Niamh's children ever since her parents had refused to let her go to Rusalka, but she damn well knew she was the hardest working of her litter and she thought she deserved a little better than to be mocked like that, especially when Niamh was the one who didn't even recognize how hard she worked.

She'd learned from last time that sass wouldn't get her anywhere. Never before had she so fervently wished that Towhee was her birth mother and that Niamh didn't exist—at least Towhee wasn't an absolute asshole to her children when they clearly needed something from her. At least Towhee would've acknowledged the work she did instead of completely ignoring it in favour of calling her a baby. She clapped her mouth shut and refused to so much as look at Niamh as she packed earth hastily over the rat, then turned to walk away without a single word.

It seemed she'd offended her daughter, which didn't bother Niamh much. It'd at least served to teach her not to snap at her mother over something so stupid, and she would much rather have a child rove away to relieve her steam elsewhere rather than blowing up like a brat. And it didn't look like she was going to run away, either; so Niamh scuffed a final pawful of dirt over the cache Alyx had made before she continued on after her daughter. 

"I was thinking we could track down something...Bigger," She called out. The pups had witnessed hunts before, but it was about time Alyx began to train alongside a mentor, searching for larger sources of food if she hoped to contribute toward the whole pack. Her rats and small offerings were appreciated, for sure- but the real crown of accomplishment came from hunting down something that could feed several wolves. "But only if you're interested," She called out with a shrug. If her daughter liked hunting, she felt sure that her lure would work.

Alyx loved hunting.

But right at that moment, she hated her mother more. If Niamh thought the way to win over her daughter was to fling an insult at her and then pretend she was the least bit interested in her hobby after making it crystal clear how little she cared about it, she was dead wrong about that. Alyx craved recognition—and this was far from it.

Leave me alone, she called back, flattening her ears and quickening her pace. If she wanted to go hunting big game, she need only ask her father. At least Phox didn't make her feel like shit about herself. She suspected that attempting to hunt anything with her mother would be a huge mistake. She was in a delicate stage of development and needed her mother to build her up, but it seemed all Niamh wanted to do was tear her down. Alyx had no reason to believe that would be any different during a hunt, and she wasn't interested in hanging around to test that theory.

She had extended the invitation to hunt as a means of showing her trust in her daughter's abilities. She didn't want to test her, but to nurture her talent, and give her a bit of help on her way toward learning the strategies needed when taking down larger predators. Apparently, the young woman was offended and hurried her pace up even more; this wasn't something Niamh couldn't handle, as she had legs for days and she knew exactly how to continue following her daughter without looking like she was in any sort of a rush. But she chose not to pursue her, though she did pause long enough to call out a warning to her girl, who seemed content to be disrespectful and angsty. 

"Declining an invitation to hunt; perhaps you don't like hunting after all," She said, before she turned her back on her child. She'd mention the brief meeting with Phox, and would see if he would back her up. Alyx wouldn't be simply given what she wanted because she demanded it from one parent, not the other. She'd inform the other leaders that her daughter was in the middle of another bout of rebellious behavior, and that she preferred they push her toward acheiving her goal only once she had apologized to her mother for being so disrestectful. She knew how to back someone into a corner and keep them there until they squealed.