Sun Mote Copse Man or machine.

Out of nowhere, rain clouds scudded in to mar the sunny October skies. They did not completely obscure the sun, so it was simultaneously bright and rainy. The capricious weather patterns distracted Towhee from her wandering thoughts—there was plenty to think about just lately—and she paused her patrol to gaze upward. The misty shower moved on just as quickly as it had arrived, though she could see more cloudbursts moving in from the horizon.

Eventually, she continued moving, finishing her beat and striding in the direction of the rendezvous site. On her way there, she caught the scent of their newest recruit, @Perdition. With everything else going on lately, she hadn't had a chance to properly introduce herself. There was no time like the present, so Towhee began tracking his scent, trying to recollect what she knew about him from her fellow leader's briefings.

Perdition stood, petrified, with fear, as the first raindrops began to hit him. He could not stop thinking about the night he had been struck. He tried to calm himself down, telling himself that the likelihood of being struck ever again was slim to none. But rational thought did nothing for him. The thought of lightning had become his kryptonite. His legs shook, and nerve pain traced along his lightning scars as he stood, somewhere in the trees, staring blankly ahead. He did not register the woman when she approached, for he was somewhere far away in his own mind. His shoulders and the muscles in his back twitched uncontrollably, and on his face was a horrible grimace, one he did not know he was making. He probably looked crazy, in that moment, or full of rage, the fur along his spine and the back of his neck tufted up. Every time a raindrop hit him anywhere on his face, he flinched.

She realized she couldn't really remember any details in particular. Oh, well, she would get to see for herself soon enough. It didn't take long for Towhee to catch up with him, especially since he was stationary underneath some trees. Her step slowed as she neared him, orange eyes roving over his face, then the rest of his frame. He looked as though he was in some sort of pain, his body language screaming despite his silent stillness.

And in spite of his grimace, the sight of him struck something in Towhee, catching her more than a little off guard. She wasn't particularly familiar with attraction, since it held so little precedence in her life. But after a moment's deliberation, she realized she found him strangely appealing. It made no sense whatsoever, considering they were perfect strangers and she'd never laid eyes on him before. And just now he looked like he needed to take a shit. Towhee's rare experiences with attraction never did make much sense though.

-"Perdition, right?"- she said as she closed the final few feet. -"I'm Towhee. Are you okay...?"-

The woman had to get pretty close to Perdition before she broke through the memory he was reliving. He found her, walking towards him, and though he could not, yet, move his legs, his blue eyes trailed her. She said his name, and that seemed to help drag him back from the precipice in his mind. 

’I’m Towhee. Are you okay…?’

He closed his eyes, inhaling slowly, and managed to find the control of his legs again. He made himself sit down, head bowed, for a moment, collecting himself. He would not get struck again. The rain would not hurt him. He opened his eyes and lifted his head, nodding to her. “I’m… fine,” he said, slowly. His shoulders and back twitched from muscle and nerve damage. It was a lie—he was not fine, but she did not need to know the inner battle he was currently facing. “You are… one of the leaders, correct?” he asked, trying to come up with some kind of conversation in light of their strange meeting.

He lowered himself into a seated position, insisting he was fine even though his body language screamed that he was in agony. Towhee wasn't quite sure what to make of this dissonance and didn't press him right away. He had a question of his own, which earned him a nod even as her eyes continued roving carefully over every inch of him. She noticed what looked like some scars, yet no obvious or more recent injuries that might explain his demeanor.

-"I am, I'm the Sovereign, which is just a fancy term for Alpha,"- she replied, bringing her gaze back to his face. He was even prettier up close, his eyes a remarkable shade of blue. They were set into a face chiseled from charcoal fading into granite. Towhee didn't realize it but she licked her lips. -"You sure you're okay there, Perdy? You look kinda... constipated."-

Perdition found himself easily distracted away from the pain and the fear of the rain by the strange way that Towhee was communicating with him. Along with her words, which came out of her mouth in an odd, tone-deaf, garbled way, she was gesturing with her paws, too. He watched her movements carefully, trying to put it all together in his head. He had never encountered a deaf wolf before—that he remembered—nor any kind of sign language, so to him, everything about her movements was… strange. Without noticing, he continued to stare at her intently, though without malice. His gaze was simply curious. 

She explained that she was the alpha, and upon doing so, Perdition dipped his head as a sign of respect, before bringing it back up to watch her speak. His ears were pushed forward attentively, as her actual speech was a little difficult to understand. When she shortened his name to Perdy, his eyes flicked away in surprise, but a small smile of amusement graced his mouth, as well. She told him he looked constipated.

“Uhh,” he said, unsure of how to react to such a statement, at first. “I am not. I…” He paused, wondering how much she knew of his injuries. If she was the alpha, then surely Phox had told her about him. “Some time before joining you, I was struck by lightning,” he began, and turned one shoulder to face her, so that she could see the lightning scars better. “Since then, I’ve experienced… daily pain, muscle spasms… among other things.” The physical trauma of it all did not bother him to explain, but the emotional wreck he had become in the wake of his accident was another matter. “I…” He paused, sighed. “The rain, it—it triggers… memories. Pain.” He turned away from her, ashamed.

She was the alpha, or he probably would not have explained in so much detail. But, once again, he felt he owed it to the Firebirds to offer his weaknesses upfront, so that they were aware that they were taking in an invalid from the get go.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected but it wasn't that. Struck by lightning? Towhee blinked, hard, gaping a little. Her expression quickly twisted into a frown as she processed what he'd said about pain and being triggered by the rainfall. Oh man, she could relate to that last bit, though she shook off that thought. Could he be telling the truth? Why would he make up a story like that? How had he survived?

Her orange eyes flicked to his scars again, then back to his face. Towhee was still skeptical, as it was such an outrageous tale, though she decided not to question it too much other than to ask, -"Have you met our pack's medic, Eljay? He might be able to help manage the pain, if nothing else."- She couldn't imagine her older brother had ever treated a patient who'd been struck by lightning before, so even the guru himself might not know how to help Perdition beyond that.

Before he'd even had a chance to answer her, her thoughts strayed down another path. Was he able to contribute to the pack or was he dead weight? If he suffered from chronic pain, how could he guard, hunt and perform the other duties expected of their comrades? He might be fun to look at but Towhee was not very merciful (except with pups), though he must have some merits if one of her co-leaders had accepted him.

ta-da the world's shittiest reply

Perdition looked away from Towhee as she gaped at him. He wasn’t exactly embarrassed by her staring, but he was trying to give her the chance to recover herself without letting her know that he had seen the way she was looking at him.

’Have you met our pack's medic, Eljay?’ she asked him. ’He might be able to help manage the pain, if nothing else.’

Perdition shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I haven’t had much of a chance to meet anyone. I’ve been… recovering.” He paused. “I should go and see Phox soon. He told me to come see him after I had sufficiently rested…” 

A flash of nerve pain sliced across his shoulders, and he flinched, but otherwise seemed to have recovered from the brunt of the pain. The rain still bothered him, but he pushed that feeling down. He’d already made a big enough fool of himself in front of Towhee.

It sounded like Phox had been the one to accept him, then, on the condition that Perdition report to him once he'd recovered some. Towhee frowned. She had lots of misgivings about this one. It was actually really ironic to think that part of his physical appeal tied into his evident disabilities. It would give her a lot to think about later, when she tried to decide whether she should punt him from the pack despite his good looks.

-"All right, you go do that. And have him take you to Eljay,"- Towhee said curtly, taking one one last eyeful before turning to resume her path to the rendezvous site, tossing a, "Later, Perdy," over her shoulder.