Redhawk Caldera No boys allowed.

The snowstorm raged outside the door, soon blocking it with accumulated snow and forcing her to occasionally punch a hole in the drift to avoid suffocating in a total blackout. Any time she grew too restless and stuck her head outside, Towhee regretted it immediately. The wind blew so hard, she swore her whiskers turned instantly into icicles on the verge of snapping off her face. It fucking hurt, forcing her to withdraw back inside to rub at her frostbitten cheeks.

At some point, she fell into a fitful sleep. When she roused, Towhee felt like she might crawl out of her skin. And her bladder was about to burst. But she couldn't see. Groping her way to the cave's mouth, she wondered how @Fennec made it looked so easy. Finally, she felt out her destination and karate chopped her way to the surface. By a stroke of fortune, the storm had hit another lull.

"Oh, THANK FUCK!!!" the Sovereign bellowed as she hoisted herself out of the makeshift tunnel and immediately popped a squat.

I'm dating this for tomorrow (Jan 20). :)

LOL well I'm setting it before firefly Glen soooo you can argue with yourself on that!

Bronco had asked Fennec to go with back to the Glen when he went, and while she had agreed, she knew she should let Towhee know.  But first she had to find her mom.

Calling wouldn't do any good, and snow was kinda a scent killer.  As it was, she just kinda... took to wandering the territory and hoping her mom would find her (or vice versa).  It usually worked alright, especially near the borders.  

Least the snow had stopped again, though it made walking absolute hell on her injury when it got deep.  God she couldn't wait for spring.

She crested a rise of snow with a few hops, then grimace as she sunk in nearly chest-deep.  Fucking hell.  With an annoyed groan she pushed her way through,  wading to shallower snows.

What felt like a gallon of urine poured out of her, yellowing the snow. Towhee let out an immense sigh of relief as she emptied her bladder. When she inhaled, the scent struck her more pungently than usual. Her nose wrinkled and she gagged theatrically for her own entertainment before she went suddenly very still as a realization hit her upside the head.

At the very same moment, she noticed a pale figure hopping her way through the snow. Towhee felt like she was made of jelly as she shook her rump and stood up straight, the knowledge of what was coming coursing through her bloodstream and setting her insides aflutter. It would explain her recent restlessness, plus that strange desire to go wandering across the wilderness...

This wasn't her first rodeo. It wasn't even her second. Towhee knew what to expect and what she wanted to happen. Mind whirling, she plunged down toward Fennec with a bark, hoping to meet her in the middle.

The sound of Towhee's bark preceded the scent, which immediately made Fennec's nose wrinkle.  By the time she got to her mom, she'd dropped the expression, though she still felt a pretty big... distaste? At it.  It made her uncomfortable, on a base level, and she figured she knew about what that meant.  Wasn't it a little cold for that?

Fennec forgot for a minute what she was going to ask.  What's going on, mom?  She asked, the undercurrent to her tone probably cluing Towhee in that she was asking a question she might already know the answer to.

Before Towhee even reached her, Fennec must have sensed something. Well, duh, Towhee thought, rolling her eyes at herself. Wonder if it's even stronger for her? And her heat hadn't actually arrived yet. Towhee of yore wouldn't have even noticed the change in her own scent or any of the other signs... but this was her third and most hopeful round, so she was nothing if not hyper aware of the situation.

"It's my heat," she replied baldly to her daughter's question. "It's not quite here yet, but..." But that was perfect. She'd been paying such close attention—well, when she wasn't being sidelined by tragedy—for this very reason. She wanted to pick up and leave at the first sign of its arrival. And that moment was here.

And as that knowledge continued beating her over the head, logic came sailing in to bludgeon her from the other side. "Oh, shitting fuck," Towhee muttered, braking to a slippery stop by the pale Fennec. "I was gonna make a run for Sapphique to find Kaertok," plus bang out any opportunity that arose there and back. Even as she blathered at her daughter, her orange eyes swept over all this fucking snow.

And even without it, was now really the time to bail on everyone? Especially Phox and Niamh, so soon after burying Primrose? That sounded like something Towheat™ might do but she wasn't in the throes of her hormones just yet. She could still make pragmatic decisions before her baser instincts took the wheel. And logic told her that running off to get her jollies was the epitome of bad timing.

But, of course, there was more to it than that. She wanted children and this might be her only chance this season. Towhee stood there stupidly, her mind racing.

Ah.  Now was probably a really bad time for that, for all kinds of reasons. Do you have to?  Fennec asked, a little slowly.  You said we shouldn't go anywhere alone right now.

If there were bears out there, as well as lions and blizzards, it seemed to Fennec not to be worth it at all.  They should at least let the snow die down and then scout the places to make sure everything was actually gone.

There has to be someone closer,  she added.  She didn't know what about this guy was so special, but Fennec was very not down with her mom making that trip and it showed.

She hadn't even thought of the other threats out there until Fennec reminded her of her own words. There was a brief moment where she felt like a moron, then her heart clenched and her stomach twisted simultaneously. Fen was absolutely right, of course. Towhee felt like she might abruptly burst into tears as she realized just how much the odds were stacked against her this season. She'd been so hopeful matters would be different this year too. In fact, her eyes did start to glisten and she looked away, missing her daughter's second statement before remembering Fennec wouldn't see her overly emotional response.

Blinking the wetness away, she faced Fen again and acknowledged, "You're right." Towhee sucked in a breath, the brief conversation so far reminding her of something else. "You wouldn't want to spar right now, by any chance, would you?" She could use the outlet to work through some of these difficult emotions and get her mind off this impossible decision she faced. Hey, it was better than the alternative: collapsing in the snow and scream-crying at the unfairness of it all.

She was relieved when her mom took her advice.  She wouldn't have been able to stop her if she'd had it set in her mind to go far, but they didn't have nearly enough fit bodies to go around.  Though... there was another thought, maybe.  She definitely wanted to spar, but this new idea caught her first and sidetracked her.  Y'know... Bronco wanted me to go to the Glen with him, just to kinda check things out.  I could see if there's any new guys?  Couldn't hurt to keep an eye ear out.  Last she remembered most had been pretty young and Hydra's kids, but that might have changed.  Maybe it was a weird thing to ask a pack hit with so much tragedy, but life was short and if they wanted kids, what was the problem?

She flexed her shoulder experimentally, while she waited for an answer, then bent both forepaws, tensing.  Sure.  She answered with a light smile.  She'd just reopened and cleaned the wound a few days back, but it was healing way better now, and she had to keep stretching it.  Otherwise it would get all tight and weird and hard to move.  Sometimes she would move to get in first, but this time she waited... she wanted to see if she could react correctly in time.

It wasn't lost on her that Fennec wanted to help her, which earned a dry huff of laughter from Towhee. The sound quickly died on her lips though. Was she really thinking of going to the glen? She was tempted to ask her to stay put, especially after what they'd just discussed. But the Sovereign couldn't help but think of Meerkat. It would be nice to know she'd made it home in one piece. Besides, Bronco would be with her, and he could very likely use the help.

"You two just... be careful. Don't worry about me. Just look after yourselves," came her remark to that. One of the ways Fen could do that was by sharpening her fighting skills, particularly when it came to defense.

With that in mind, Towhee didn't waste any time after the, "Fine." Silently, she sprang at her daughter, kicking up a swirl of sparkling snow as she feinted at the yearling's neck.

She took the warning silently, but she did take it to heart.  Silently she was also using it as an excuse... she didn't like Bronco going alone any more than Towhee liked the idea of her going with.

Fennec was poised and ready for it when Towhee jumped.  She used the pattern of her breath, the sound of her paws... all of it to paint a lightning quick picture.  She would need to improve more at this to serve her long-hand in a fight, but the first moves were always the easiest to avoid.  She whirled and twisted herself, dodging sideways to keep her neck and head out of reach, then snapping towards the thick fur of her mom's shoulders.  It was similar to the move she'd used on Kiwi, but from the side rather than from above.  Her mom was bigger, for one... and she wasn't desperate, or acting entirely on instinct.  Keeping out of reach was smarter.

Towhee wondered what gave her maneuver away. She assumed it must be the sound of her paws in the snow, though of course she couldn't conceptualize how loud or quiet that might be. Perhaps Fennec also heard her panting as she lunged, or felt the shower of snow crystals drifting in the air. Whatever it was that clued her in, Towhee was impressed as Fen easily wheeled out of reach.

She came right back an instant later, jaws snapping toward the Sovereign's shoulder. Towhee flinched in preparation to dodge, then decided to take the brunt of it instead. With Fennec's teeth busy at her shoulder, she lunged again, aiming for her daughter's throat. If she wanted to prepare Fennec to fend off whatever cruelties the wilderness might throw at her, Towhee couldn't pull her punches.

rolled for this and she rolled v v low!

Close quarters combat was a mixed bag, and it was an area where Fennec (obviously) had a lot of room to improve.  She should have darted straight out of there again, but instead she lingered long enough for Towhee to catch hold.  She hadn't detected the shift coming and failed completely in evading it.

While she knew on some level Towhee wouldn't hurt her, Fennec froze rigid as she felt her mom's teeth against her throat.  Her mind completely blanked on what to do.  Instinctively she wanted to pull away, but she knew a move like that would likely get her killed in a real fight, so she remained still.

Frustration began to dawn as she realized, seconds ticking by, she had no idea how to counter this.

Dotter gets #2,800! Wanna wrap this soon in favor of our newer thread? :)

She landed the hit squarely. This almost never happened, so Towhee felt a little thrill, before her stomach tightened a little bit, the implication preventing her from enjoying her small victory. Releasing her grip on Fennec, the Sovereign backpedaled a few paces.

Towhee could've pointed out that her daughter would be dead if she were a real enemy. But surely Fen realized that. So, instead, she pressed, "What went wrong?"

Clearly frustrated, Fennec's first reaction wasn't exactly constructive.  Everything,  she replied with a bit of a surly note, though it wasn't Towhee she was upset at.  It was herself.  She was pretty well aware that would have ended disastrously if it were a real fight, and that was definitely not how she'd wanted to show her mom how far she'd come.

It was hard for her to articulate what really had gone wrong. She hadn't had time to react to Towhee's bite, and she hadn't heard or felt it coming to dodge.  She took a few seconds to try and level set again, then sighed, still clearly bothered.  I think I got too close.  And stayed there too long?  Maybe.

sure!!!

Towhee didn't catch the tone, though she could sense Fennec's irritation as if it were a living thing. She made no effort to comfort her, nor did she refute her words. They couldn't afford to coddle or sugarcoat when it came to this kind of thing.

"I hope you didn't have any plans today," Towhee said slowly, wondering if her daughter had meant to take off right away, "because we're going to practice for as long as it takes until we're both confident you can make this trip safely."

Not only did she want to feel assured that Fennec could look after herself in a wilderness that felt more treacherous every day, Towhee wanted to keep her body and mind busy too. If Fen could visit the glen, she could theoretically go afield as well. But for a variety of reasons, that wasn't going to happen. So she didn't know what she was going to do.

Feel free to wrap and/or archive!

Fennec really wanted to argue, and to bring up the fact that she'd just survived both a scrap with a loner and a fight with a mountain lion.  Was her mom really going to take one fail to mean she couldn't travel?!  Defensively, she started to say something, but then bit it back.

Yeah, fine.  She was clearly not thrilled, and the grudging nature of it was written on her expression, but she needed the practice.  The cougar had been a group effort and pure luck was the only reason she wasn't dead right now.  The loner had been a pretty awesome first move, but what if she'd missed? Dead.

She let Towhee drill her in it until they were both too tired to keep it up, and by the end, she was likely in a much better mood.  The focus on the task helped her, and despite her frustration, she was genuinely thankful that her mom was willing to put in the time.