Broken Antler Fen I'd hate to see you waiting

want to get this up today while I have time <3 so makin a few assumptions on how the other thread will go! Seem pretty safe

That bitch had a bite.  So much for gratitude.  Bridget was more impressed (and annoyed) than angry, though, and wondered if maybe she'd be down for a spar sometime.  Just... not for blood, and not for a few weeks.

Bridget grimaced at the bitter taste as she allowed the juice to drop from her muzzle into the open wound.  It was an awkward angle, trying to treat the space between neck and shoulder.  It wasn't dangerous anymore but it was still bleeding; her chest was a mess of it, and once it slowed she was definitely hitting the creek for a bath.

Her thoughts drifted to Towhee.  She hadn't wanted to peace out as quickly as she had and hoped that the woman was alright.  It was too bad, she thought, as a slight sensation of warmth tickled at her stomach. It would have been real nice to have actually slept some, sharing the space with a wolf who was, well... that.  Face it - she was hot.

Psycho-daughter put a bit of a damper on that, and she'd needed to get home anyway.  Soon as she was done here she needed to let the others know she was back.

bridget had been gone long enough for teya to realize it, even in her own self-centered youth. 
what she discovered was not at all expected, however: her close friend and bedmate wounded, doctoring herself. "why you not tell me to come?" teya demanded as soon as she had discovered the red-masque.
bridget reeked of redhawk, of towhee as well as other wolves. the fear that had gripped teya now subsided, replaced by a quickly igniting rage.
"bitch hurt you?"

Of course Teya would be first. Bridget opened her mouth to apologize for bouncing for so long without word, but before she could, the Raven cut straight to the chase. Another thing she could count on.

She looked good, Bridget noted, and she smiled as she paused. This? Yeah, it was a bitch alright. Sorry, I was just going to call, I got a little caught... a lot happened. Then, realizing what that sounded like, she stood up. It was just a misunderstanding. The last thing she needed was Brecheliant showing up on the Caldera doorstep. Fuck, could you imagine?

Sorry. She reached out to nose Teya affectionately, hoping she wasn't too upset with her. There hadn't really been a way to send word, not without leaving Towhee high and dry.

she choked back the incandescence long enough to blurt out "stop." ears cupped forward. she did not want to hear her cardinal's gentle nature. 
"it is redhawk. i smell towhee," she sneered. "she come to brecheliant after wraen die, screaming, throwing mud, kicking. hurt own self. all this after ibis —" 
oh, the hard little face closed after the utterance, and she felt that anguish become tinder for her growing wrath —
"— tell her that wraen is gone. run away. i not see that one again. why you with her?" she inquired, as softly as she was able given her current state.
tambourine. wraen. ibis. now bridget stood in front of her, wounded.
"redhawk not a fucking ally to brecheliant."

Bridget pulled back abruptly at the 'stop', but the hurt disappeared quickly. It was clear that Teya wasn't upset with her, but it really wasn't as big a deal as she made it. Fennec was a bitch but Towhee wasn't, and she got a little defensive as Teya continued.

It wasn't Towhee. She was hurt, I helped her, and she was grateful for it. It was someone else, they must've thought... I don't know. But they must've thought something.

She wasn't going to let Teya shut her up so easily. She needed medical attention. She wasn't like that, but I guess death can bring out a lot. That sounded a little harsher than Bridget wanted it to, but it was true. She found it a little hard to believe that Teya, of all people, would make such a snap judgement when only shortly before she'd had a similar reaction.

had bridget not heard her?
the cardinal's lack of immediate alliance with teya set the girl on unsteady footing. "you help towhee but still attacked?" she asked slowly, the words tasting of pondwater in her mouth.
"you have blood," she added in a hiss, unable to stop herself. what sort of response was this to an attack? towhee had not stopped bridget from being attacked, and the little violet was too filled with anger to ask after the other's mental state. 
twice now, the redhawks had disrespected them, and teya seized upon this as a very fitting scapegoat with the residual ire over ibis' death.
what was the point of an alliance if brecheliant wolves met teeth at the caldera?
i guess death can bring out a lot
her gaze softened, dropped, ears wilting. the barb that had been inadvertent fixed itself to teya.
a swallow. she lifted her head, waiting for the answers she sought, wounded spirit vying with her internal sense of pride, and over both, ire.
"brecheliant lose three. we all suffer. none of us act like that." not even her. what was bridget's problem?

Bridget watched Teya carefully, saw the words hit, but then deflect. Had she forgotten, then? Some might have shied from bringing up memories bound to be painful, but Bridget wasn't a wolf who shied from much. If she was going to talk, she wasn't going to hold back. Not even for the sake of sparing the feelings of a dear friend.

When I found you, digging Wraen's grave yourself, I didn't judge you. She said levelly, eyes flicking across Teya's features. I don't know why they attacked me, and I intend to find out. But they aren't our enemies. She was sure of it. It wasn't just that she found Towhee attractive... she felt a kinship to the other wolf. There hadn't been any lies, just honest and pure comraderie. She wouldn't let Teya spin that, no matter how it hurt her friend that she denied her.

It isn't fair, to judge a wolf at their worst. she added, a little softer. But she didn't move again to close the gap. She'd yet to see this side of Teya and was far from a fan.

why was she bringing this up? "i not go anywhere and act stupid, bridget. or attack anyone." why was she pleading now? she wanted to cry, betrayal twisting an irrational knife in her gut. but teya demanded that her spirit remain reined for now.
she had already decided to go to the caldera. 
the only change was that she did not intend to take the cardinal with her.
she stared at the blood clinging to bridget's mouth. 
"i blame them for what they to do you."
the coolwater eyes were hard.
"i blame them for both us."
teya pulled away and began to turn, hoping desperately that bridget would say something else, but unable to stare long at the crimson there without being dragged into the volcanic headspace again. someone she loved beyond words had been harmed, and all she had was the one horrible recollection of towhee and the redhawk reek clinging all around them to go by.
was there more? what had she missed?

If Towhee had attacked Teya, then she'd have flipped the script immediately. The Redhawk woman would have been discounted and dropped immediately, but that wasn't what happened.  Instead Bridget was the one who had been hurt and she found that infinitely easier to forgive.  Instead, she was left wondering how Teya didn't see the point she was trying to make. 

If she'd come here, and in doing so learned of a friend's fate, of course she'd reacted then.  There was no difference; only that Teya had found her here, in the safety of friends and home.  If anything, the former was worse. 

She was incapable of faulting her and couldn't give Teya the answer she wanted.  Don't, Teya.  Please.

She couldn't stop her right now, and she knew she wouldn't be up for making the trip.  She'd barely slept in 72 hours, she was injured, and she was running on fumes for all she shrugged it off.  All she could do was ask, for all the good it might do. 

And, damnably, this was Teya.  Any other wolf - literally any - and maybe she could have summoned anger.  But not against Teya.  If she went there angry, who knew what would happen?  But Bridget still, knowing this, couldn't bring herself to move to prevent her.  Doing so, she sensed, would be crossing a line she wasn't willing to step over.

only belatedly did she realize what her storming off had seemed. teya had only wanted to find another place in which she might vent to herself, seclude for as long a time as was necessary. not to go at once to the caldera.
but for a brief, cruel moment she considered telling bridget that as their raven, it was her decision to choose what must be done. but that was too malicious for teya.
bridget was too loved for her to consider it.
perhaps it was some sort of healer's nature to be so slow to wrath.
voice taut, body stiff, tail held out behind her hips: "you not stop me bringing food. we talk when i am not this way."
for she was the issue, teya understood, though there were more dire assumptions behind her revelation. 
and they would not talk before she went to the caldera and, unsullied by rationale or sluggish reactions, she would demand to know what sort of chaos was sown among their allies. maybe towhee's sense of loyalty to brecheliant only went so far as wraen.
the girl began to move away again, carefully.
she would find out.

So she wasn't going now. Bridget's assumption had been off, and under better circumstances, she likely would have eaten crow for thinking the worst. Instead she just watched and let Teya leave in peace, lavender gaze uncharacteristically serious.

She should call and have her come back; she needed help cleaning this. But no, she would manage. She was annoyed, she found, deeply. And that rankled feeling didn't sit well with Bridget. What was Teya's problem?

She'd said it wasn't a problem. Why didn't she trust her? And even more, what was with her grudge against the Redhawks? From where she stood, Towhee had done nothing to deserve it.

For the first time since they'd met, they were at odds. And, not for the first time, Bridget began to question just how well she really knew her friend after all. It was thematically on point that she'd be poking that while literally tending an open wound.

Maybe, if she got some sleep, by the time she woke they could talk things out.