Redhawk Caldera i went to the moped store, said f*** it

hoping for @Eljay or @Maia <3 Tadhg is a considerable ways away from the boarder, but happy to oblige by any pack rules if he is breaking anything!

this shit... was insane. 

tadhg had never ever ever not once left the safety of his own home. actually, he had once, but it was with his grandfather who was an absolute G with an insane amount of rizz. homeboy was positively not fucking around when it came to an adventure. but otherwise, besides that, this was the ride of a life for a fresh yearling who maybe just mouthed off to his sweet southern bell of a mother one too many times to finally be told "FINE. YOU CAN GO." this was not, i warn you, the only time tadhg had gotten away with something using this method.

let me give some context - tadhg, the freshest face in the @tegan relevant blackthorn line. technically, he should be tegan the third, but his mom had such a rabbit up her ass about having a 'junior' (despite marrying a junior) that they had to settle for one of the irish ass names that apparently a lot of blackthorns got that just sounded like tegan. tadhg. kind of not really. apparently having two tegans around was already confusing enough, much less a third one. but like! they all look identical, so tadhg didn't really see the problem. 

regardless, there's your important backstory. tegan / bat = living happily with their kids and their kids' kids. somewhere else. bringing us back to the kids' kid that stood at what he believed to be a respectful distance from the redhawk caldera border. tadhg is his name, as established. tadhg had spent the last 3 months BEGGING to go on an expedition. something about 'when i turn one! i will be old enough! i'll be an adult! i want to explore the world!' typical. helicopter mom usually said no, free-spirit dad was typically on board but also liked to be regularly laid so tended not to object. but as previously stated, the young gremlin broke spirits, and so he was given a mission by good ole grandad himself. 

find the redhawks. 

there was something about firebirds and something about maybe not leaving on good terms and also something about the name tristian that tadhg was absolutely NOT listening to -- but he didn't find any of that relevant or important. he was told to find the redhawks and just see what was up! he had a list of names that he did actually put to memory, including towhee and.. oh shit what was his relationship? an uncle? gruncle? tadhg would not remember, but he did remember he was named eljay. 

so that's what he was going off of -- find the redhawks find someone named eljay or towhee. tadhg had even been given a really brief crashcourse in what grandpa tegan called ptero. but the old man was a little rusty and tadhg was not an awesome listener. so, if we cross that bridge it'll most definitely be on fire. 

he got some initial directions that he tried to remember before he would eventually have to resort to asking strangers. a few different loners (not hot ones, FYI) had heard of the redhawk caldera and had pointed him in this direction, and so he had eventually hopefully figured it out. and this place definitely was marked the hell up by some pack wolves. 

so, jumping to present day, tadhg was feeling optimistic that maybe he had gotten this one right in one easy go. he was so fuckin' good at this shit already!! he certainly looked like a yearling. tall, a little gangly, and oh so bright eyed. his fur was light and fluffy and his tail constantly wagging. as a full-fledged adult, it was maybe hard not to look at him without going awww, bless him! but tadhg would accept no such treatment! he was cool and sexy and ready to find the redhawks!! and then what? actually, tadhg wasn't so sure, but again, crossing bridges later. 

and so, excited to be absolutely winning at the game of adventure, tadhg raised his nose and howled for a member of the pack to come greet him. his howl obviously had no words, but his soul was screaming i am tadhg blackthorn and i wanna talk to you! 

The irreverence in his call should have tipped Maia off as to whose grandkid this was, but she would never have thought to connect the stranger with the unpleasant interaction she’d had with Tegan years ago. If she had known, she’d matured enough that embarrassment would be her first response. Instead she showed up curious and slightly frazzled. It had been a busy morning.

Hey! Sorry, who are you? This is Brecheliant. She realized a moment later that, if he had come here looking for someone, he probably already knew that. Duh, Maia. Self-consciously she straightened and tried to act the part of Auspex, but there was more friendly than authority in her bearing. She’d never be good at projecting “leader”, but “mother” was a close enough comparison. It was about as close as she’d ever get.

yay! thanks for joining <3

tadhg waited around as still as he could, not wanting to stray around and maybe accidentally get himself into trouble. i mean, he probably didn't care that much, but he also very much desired not to accidentally miss the wolf who would answer his call.

when she finally arrived, tadhg made note that she was kind of old but kind of cool looking. her cheeks were fluffy and a tan hue compared to her overall dark coat. and she was kind of spotty. neat!! she didn't look like a blackthorn to him, but the yearling reveled that maybe there were not 700,000 of them occupying every corner of these wilds. what a thought.

with excitement brimming in his little feet, tadhg dipped his head low and respectfully (a trick grandpa t had swore would make his life easier). he kept it bowed until the woman spoke, and then raised it to show a pair of icy-blue eyes absolutely alight. he dared not meet her gaze (another life hack he was told) but answered her question -- in juxtaposition with his expression, mildly disappointed. aw shit, he said, and then quickly adding on, respectfully.

brekkylant or whatever she had just said was not redhawk caldera. he'd explain. my name is tadhg blackthorn! i've got family way out west that used to live at the redhawk caldera and they said they'd probably still be here. and i'm trying to find 'em to say hey and just see what's going on. tadhg was not confident what he was to do after he found out, but this was the first leg of the plan at least.

I’ll try to prioritize this a bit now that work travel is done for a while!

Maia would never get used to being bowed to.  She shifted uncomfortably, then realized what she was doing and chuckled, unable to stop herself.  She really was the image of professional leadership, wasn’t she?  You’re never going to be great at this.  But at least you try, right? It was nicer than her thoughts normally were, and took her a bit by surprise.

You can call me Maia.  I’m the Auspex here, but Brecheliant is more of a family than anything else.  Which is funny, since I think you might be related to my husband.  Eljay Blackthorn?  Definitely related.  She could see the family resemblance, but it still felt a little odd to assume without asking.

He grew up in the Caldera.  And we moved back here when we found out the Redhawks had left.  I think they are still around, but I couldn’t say exactly where.  Sorry!  If he was looking for information on them he was out of luck.  Still, a Blackthorn!  She knew Eljay’s family was large, but she didn’t think she’d ever get used to just how widespread they seemed to be.

and then i immediately was traveling for a while lol (:

okay honestly, tadhg liked this wolf already! her lighthearted chuckle brought an extra oomf to his tail wag, a goofy grin smeared across his face as she began to answer. she said some insane words though. is it cool if i ask -- what does 'auspex' mean? he asked with a shockingly well-pronounced repetition of her word. and then, a pause. no way! that makes you my greant aunt! i think don't make him consult the family tree on this.

no way no way no way! tadhg's tail was wagging up to unsafe speeds now, a youth who has already succeeded their mission was way too much excitement for his leggy limbs. that's okay! i know i'm in the right spot, at least, came his response, almost completely have forgotten that he had literally just asked about the redhawks too -- he found eljay! omg this was so perfect. 

there was a brief pause, the excitement still radiating off of him like a shivering chihuahua, and then he tried again. maia, you seem chill, can i front with you for a second?

Tadhg was a bit hard to follow at times but he seemed to mean well. And he seemed so thrilled to hear about Eljay that Maia couldn’t help but be won over immediately. It’s a leader, sort of. Brecheliant is run by a council, but the Auspex is sort of the final decision, if that’s needed. It usually isn’t. Maia laughed a bit, dismissing the idea that the rank meant much more than Raven. In her mind they were pretty much one and the same.

But it was only her and Kivaluk now that Teya was gone. Maia dodged that thought internally, not wanting to dwell on it and still feeling Teya’s absence keenly.

Front? Um….. sure? Great-aunt. Like grandmother, the title was incredibly hard to believe. Who were his parents?! Where had he come from?! How had he found them, and who had he heard about them from?! She had so many questions but held onto for now. Her first question was what “fronting” was and that, at least, was about to be answered.

maia's laugh brought a new smile to tadhg's muzzle, his tail beating a few extra times. ooooooohh, came his response thoughtfully, trailing off a bit as he considered it, i don't think i know what a council is. but he didn't ask clarification, maybe because he didn't care, maybe because he forgot immediately that he should ask. 

okay, so, aunt maia, he started, deciding to plop his rump on the ground, i know that i was supposed to come here and i was supposed to find the blackthorns and the redhawks... the tap-tap-tapping of his tail on the earth seemed to slow, his grey ears flicking forward earnestly. but to be real, i can't remember what i'm supposed to do when i find them -- i wasn't listening. 

he seemed a little disappointed suddenly. like, do they want me to just go home and let them know?! i just made it all the way out here!! if i go home what if i never get to come back!

She was preparing to answer his question about a council when he continued and swept the words entirely out of her mind. For a moment, he reminded her so much of Jay and Aiden that she felt heartsick. She could so easily imagine, especially Jay, showing up at a border just to ask the ones inside what he should do about forgetting the instructions.

The mom in her couldn’t help but give the answer she’d want her boys to hear. Well, that depends on what you want to do. I think, if I was your family, I’d want you to come back if you wanted to come back. And I’d want you to choose something else if that something else would make you happier.

Of course, there was a chance he didn’t know the answer to that. And if that was the case Maia had no clue what kind of advice to give him. Maybe knowing exactly who his family was would help.