Redhawk Caldera wake the devil

The increase of poor weather due to the season had rendered Reyes almost entirely obsolete. Hunting was difficult at the best of times, more-so when the world was at a stand-still such as now. He had been prowling throughout the territory and searching for signs of anything edible for the past few weeks. The signs of edible lifeforms had dwindled; so when he heard something rustle in the bushes along one tired route he jumped at the chance to sink his teeth in to something—veering off of his path after the small bundle, which raced headlong away from him and in to the white haze, to which it was lost.

Fuckin' hell! He bellowed in to the empty white everywhere.

She was almost completely numb by the time she arrived at the caldera. Meerkat trudged the last few yards and stopped, tears frozen to her face as she lifted it toward the snowy white sky and loosed a shaky howl. It was not her usual chipper greeting but a long, mournful note rife with anguish.

Body benumbed, her heart and mind were a totally different matter. She'd never felt so much before, so deeply and profoundly. Meerkat didn't know what to do with this ineffable ache, though she hoped her family here might help her cope with this raw despair.

She heard the shout before she saw the creature in the distance, emerge from the snow for just long enough to glance over its shoulder before it plunged back into a run again, sending a small spray of snow behind it. It'd eluded Reyes, she assumed, and she chuckled softly to herself. A penchant for foul language obviously ran in the family. And while she figured she ought to hunt him down and see how he'd been doing, she figured her answer was clear enough in the anguish of his shout, and that he'd probably be beligerent if she approached him now. 

So she simply continued on her way, unknowingly moving parallel to Reyes who was just out of sight over the fold of the horizon. She froze when she heard Meerkat's plaintive voice, which made her heartbeat immediately quicken. Meerkat was here? She'd just warned the wolves of the Glen about there being a cougar in their neck of the wolves, why would she come here?! While she was still giving her right front leg rest from the bone-deep gash across her shin, she hobbled as quickly as she could toward the borders where Meerkat's howl had come from, hoping to usher her in to safety as soon as possible, and give her a scolding for taking such a risk. She knew Meerkat and Bronco were close, but for her to risk her life just to come and visit her siblings was a fool's errand.

Reyes punched at the snow as he made his way along, figuring that there was no use in being stealthy now that his prey had vanished in to the endless white. Belligerent was one word for it; he hated to lose, but chief among his current feelings was the ever-present hunger that winter forced upon them all. He was a right bastard when he wasn't fed.

When he finally stopped his trudging and has cooled off a little bit, Reyes felt his breath hitch in his lungs. The eerie, melancholic note of a stranger's voice permeated the otherwise quiet day - and it wasn't far. He huffed to himself a reminder to man up and not be so easily spooked, and moved to intercept.

Of course he was not alone.

As Reyes came upon the sorrow-stricken Meerkat, so did Niamh. The smell of his aunt's wound was pungent and made Reyes want to snap something unkind her way; but his voice failed him when he looked at Meerkat.

Hey, what... What's up? You don't look so good. An understatement. Reyes did not intend to be unkind in that moment but he wasn't sure what to do, and looked to Niamh for a moment, as if expecting guidance from her. He shot her a look that openly read: what the fuck?

She'd hoped her mother would come, despite knowing her call would fall on deaf ears. Although Towhee didn't appear, her secondary mother did show up, alongside someone Meerkat recognized only vaguely. She lurched toward Niamh, though rather than feel comforted by the sight of her father's mate, it just made the painful bubble in her chest rupture.

Pushing against the Regent, Meerkat blubbered. Her entire body shook with the force of her bawling, a low wail starting low in her throat and emerging from her maw on a high, keening note. She knew she needed to tell them why she was crying, for their safety more than anything, but Meerkat simply couldn't stop long enough to form coherent words.

She caught sight of Reyes and Meerkat almost simultaneously, though the latter made a beeline for her and didn't stop until she had pressed herself into Niamh's somewhat stiff but welcoming embrace. After all, Meerkat wasn't a child anymore, and Niamh wasn't as steady as she would have liked to be, considering the bone-deep gash on her foreleg. Still, she wavered but held Meerkat close for a moment, flicking an ear toward Reyes whose comment was acknowledged with a nod. Meerkat didn't even try to speak- she simply emitted a heart-wrenching wail that made Niamh panic. What had happened to upset her so much?

A thought was spared to the message she'd delivered to the wolves in the glen. Had the howling winds perhaps interrupted her howl and portrayed the wrong message? She didn't try to shush Meerkat- she'd let her cry it out as she needed to. The girl reeked of fear, and there was something frighteningly absent about her that indicated she might be in shock. "It's alright," She said, hoping to subdue some of Meerkat's fears. "It's alright. Fennec, Alyx and Bronco are all alive." She said to Meerkat. She assumed perhaps Meerkat had thought otherwise. But just how distraught she seemed made her worried. It stressed her out thinking that Meerkat had decided to risk coming to the Caldera, though, given the warning she'd called out about the cougar...But again, she couldn't be sure her message had been received correctly. If this was the response she'd gotten, then there was a good chance she'd been misunderstood. 

"Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe and comfortable." She said. She felt it would be best to get Meerkat away from the borders and, with her injuries as they were, she wouldn't be strong enough to support Meerkat if she needed assistance. She looked exhausted. "Reyes," She requested softly, gesturing for him to draw near so he might step in to help should Meerkat require a bit of assistance. While she wanted to give Meerkat all the time in the world to compose herself, she also felt the instinctual need to shepherd her further into the territory so they could be further from potential danger, and potentially find Towhee as well.

The girl melted before his eyes. She burrowed against Niamh and began to wail which was shocking on various levels to Reyes, who had come from a pretty tight-knit family but not one where such garish displays were welcome. He was out of his depth and the look on his face proved it; briefly wild-eyed and bristling while Meerkat's keening notes stabbed through the air. 

It was weird to see Niamh being motherly. It made his skin crawl in watching how close they were with one-another and how comforting Niamh appeared. Reyes did not give two shits towards the reason Meerkat was here and sobbing like this. The boy had no frame of reference for this kind of situation and was ready to bolt. Then, as if remembering he was there with her, Niamh called his name.

For a moment Reyes looked bright-eyed and then he scowled. Having done a pretty good job of staying off of his aunt's radar up until this point, Reyes wasn't so keen on taking orders from her. He knew it was unavoidable in the heat of the moment so he huffed and moved to lend his aid. Yeah, c'mon then, but don't get any snot on me. While he was there in the periphery to help, Reyes kept a few inches between himself and the sobbing Meerkat's body and would side-step further if necessary, as if she were radioactive.

This day kept getting worse, he thought.

Niamh said some things to her, which didn't immediately process. But when they did, Meerkat found the wherewithal to raise her watery eyes and look at her Neema's face. She tried to speak, though her throat wouldn't cooperate. Soon, the Regent was ushering her toward shelter, barking for Reyes to come along with them and causing Meerkat to jerk her head to give him a stricken look.

She met his hard words with a blink so forceful it caused two fat teardrops to plink into the snow in tandem. Meerkat shook her head at him and made no effort to move, instead dropping to her haunches and raising a foreleg to signal for both of them to wait. Meerkat was determined to get a hold of herself long enough to convey the warning, if nothing else.

"There," she began, her voice a throaty croak, "there was a-a-a... a b-be..." She'd never struggled like this in her life. Meerkat hiccuped, drew in a deep breath, trapped it in her chest and tried again. Only, the moment her lips parted, she saw something over Niamh's shoulder and instead let out a little cry.

"Meerkat...?" Towhee was saying as she galloped through the snow toward the trio. "What's going on—?" The question was partially cut off by a loud oof sound as Meerkat flung herself into her mother's arms and clung to her, sobbing afresh.

Meerkat was in a terrible state. It tugged at the limits of Niamh's patience to spare a moment for her to compose herself, and though Meerkat attempted to explain something, her words were stuttered and confusing. Niamh could make neither head nor tails of it, and she wasn't keen on wasting time letting Meerkat try and find her words there, when she felt it was best for them to get her somewhere safe and warm. She'd been travelling in a hurry, and looked exhausted. If they didn't keep her moving, she worried Meerkat might simply collapse there, and then they'd have to drag her home. 

But her gaze caught sight of something over Niamh's shoulder, and she darted past Niamh who followed her gaze and saw Towhee approaching. She sighed; good. At times like this, she really missed having X around- but thankfully, Towhee'd been in the area and had found them on her own. Meerkat blundered straight into her mother, causing her to expell air loudly. Niamh turned toward Reyes. "Thanks, Reyes." She said softly. She wasn't sure how he felt about all the emotional mess, but she was glad he'd kept himself steady in the wake of such a sudden, alarming arrival. With Towhee now present, her expression of gratitude had also been her way of letting Reyes know he was no longer obliged to follow her orders, as Towhee would be more than capable of helping Meerkat up the slope- but she didn't usher him away, either. She sat, and if Towhee sent a glance her way, all she could do was sigh and shrug. She had absolutely no idea what was bothering Meerkat so much.

When his aunt passed him a thank-you he was stunned again. He wasn't doing anything — he was, if anything, being totally useless in the moment — but Niamh looked genuinely appreciative in that fleeting glimpse she spared for him. Reyes was silent; he had nothing to say that would help and merely stood there waiting (impatiently) for the newcomer to stop their crying to speak.

Some part of her knew she must be alarming Towhee and the others with this absolutely uncharacteristic behavior, though there was nothing Meerkat could do about it presently. She burrowed her face against the side of the Sovereign's neck and felt the grief subsume her. She cried wretchedly as Towhee's forelegs came around her slim shoulders in an embrace. Though the contact was comforting, it made her bawl all the harder.

"Come on, let's get out of this weather," her mother eventually said close to her ear. Meerkat felt the gentle tug of Towhee's teeth near her scruff, grounding her somewhat. Wordlessly, she nodded and managed to find her feet in preparation to follow her dam, though the lamentation continued.

"I'm going to take her to some shelter. I'll catch up with you two later," Towhee said over her bowed head, addressing Niamh and Reyes. Meerkat didn't see when Towhee added, -Once I figure out what the hell is going on...- But she felt the brush of her mother's snout as she urged her to take the first trudging step toward cover.

Last post from me. Thanks for letting me crash your thread. ;)