Redhawk Caldera The voice says I'm almost out of minutes.

Towhee trawled along the rendezvous site's fringes, sniffing and occasionally squatting to urinate. When her tank ran on empty, she pestered her sidekick, @Phox, to mark the borders in her stead. The two of them eventually completed their circuit and found themselves where they had begun. Bored, her brother wandered away to fetch a snack. Towhee licked her lips as she watched him go, then turned to resume a second inspection of the nearest perimeter.

She found something strange curled up in the longer grass that framed the clearing. She stepped short and froze, squinting at it. Towhee initially took it for a pile of dung but it wasn't a uniform brown and, anyway, it had eyes. It also had a small, forked tongue that rapidly sprung from its snoot. Fascinated, Towhee watched it, feeling the tension already coiling in each and every one of her muscles as little alarm bells began ringing in her blood.

Without warning, the little Pi sprang at the sunning garter snake. She sensed that it was dangerous but did not particularly heed the threat, instead only acting on the overwhelming impulse to eliminate it.

Having never been injured before, she ignored the advice given to her to stay in the den and rest. Airi, despite the sore tightness in her body, raised herself and trotted regally through the unfamiliar territory. Zennyo was wary here, eyeing the new land with uncertainty, while Airi kept her nose in the air, looking down on the pack who had so brazenly taken in a wretch such as she.

She wandered aimlessly, focusing on finding someone to speak to (or, more likely, to torment). She was interested in this pack that so quickly ran to her rescue. Had she seen a wolf such as her on her borders, she would have left them to bleed out. But they? They ran to her rescue, gave up precious herbs to save her, and for what?

There was a hissing sound in the air, and the smell of wolf along with it. She approached, tentatively, the sight of another, smaller pup facing off against a strange coiled beast. She said nothing at first, wondering how this pathetic-looking child would fair against such a creature.

I've made some assumptions here; let me know if any of them are way off base. :)

The snake's entire body writhed in an initial attempt to make a quick escape. When Towhee's weight came crashing down on its slender body, the serpent struck in self-defense, fangs sinking into the Pi's leg. The pup gave a startlingly loud cry (more surprise than pain), then began wildly shaking her leg. The snake would not let go, its sinuous body twisting and coiling against her limb and causing Towhee to give another indignant shriek. When still it clung to her, she reacted instinctively, biting at the garter's head until it finally went limp and dropped, dead, into the grass.

Breathing hard, the pup stared down at her dead nemesis. Her teeth had sliced open its neck just behind the head, revealing bits of glistening pink flesh and even bone. She had nearly decapitated it. Blood pooled underneath the flaccid carcass. Towhee licked her lips at the sight, then turned suddenly when she felt eyes on her. She was faced with something nearly as unwelcome as the serpent: a vaguely familiar black puppy, larger than herself, with shrewd indigo eyes.

Towhee squinted right back at her, tail going rigid right before it arched. Raven had introduced Airi before but the Pi had elected to ignore the older girl entirely. She was an outsider and the only reason Towhee didn't hate her outright was because she was a fellow youth and, for some inexplicable reason, she was given more leniency for this. Yet clemency was a far cry from compassion and the child stared coldly at Airi even as she slowly but emphatically signed, -Outsider.-

She did little, no, nothing to help the young child, even as she yelped with the creature's successful strike. She was enamoured by the sinuous creature's quickness and grace, but such quickness and grace was not enough to save it from a child. Even one younger than her. 

Instead she rose to her feet to get a better peek at the nearly decapitated creature, but stopped when the young girl whirled towards her. The glare was cold, but Airi matched it with a haughty one of her own, sneering at the younger girl. There was a strange, and slightly familiar movement. The girl's mouth moved but there was no sound. She scoffed. Can't you talk? 

As she signed, she caught sight of the small wound on her leg where the snake had bitten her. Towhee stared at it for a second, sucking in a deep breath when she saw the two little beads of blood. She then ripped her eyes away from it and returned them to Airi as the outsider's mouth moved. Towhee could read her lips easily, a realization that might have given her some sense of pride and accomplishment if she hadn't been so busy feeling frustrated toward and a little insulted by this gatecrasher.

-I am talking!- she signed with a sneer. -Outsider,- Towhee added, not without a disdainful "tone" to her movements. -Go away.-

She was weakened by bloodloss and the exhaustion of her first battle, but contempt and revulsion made her paw rise to forcibly hit the younger child's neck. The moment sound comes from your throat is the moment I'll consider this a conversation with you, She rolled her eyes at this kid's "game". Until then you're just a useless gust of air,

This time, the older pup spoke too swiftly for Towhee to keep up, though she was able to pick a few words out of the mix. More importantly, she could read Airi's expression, which was very telling. There was a disdainful look on her face, as if there was a bad smell right beneath her nose. Towhee's eyes narrowed, only to widen in surprise when the outsider struck her on the neck.

It was more surprising than painful. She genuinely hadn't seen it coming and she stood frozen for a moment, as if buffering, before baring her teeth and letting loose quite the savage growl. She then launched herself at Airi, teeth gnashing and paws swiping.

Compared to the vicious, murderous gnashes and swipes of the alluring male from the dark forest, this little mute child felt like the swiping of a branch. Airi flinched, but despite the blows landed on her, felt nothing. Instead she lunged forward, relying on her larger size and experience to bowl the mute over, her fangs aiming for the soft joints.

Airi was like a stone, immovable and unaffected even as Towhee launched her attack. She quickly countered by shoving the younger pup backward and then climbing over her. Towhee felt sharp teeth connect with her ankles and she gave a cry that was brimming with both indignation and pain. Although she was in a disadvantaged position, she did her best to flail and kick back, eventually managing to push Airi aside so that she could roll back onto her feet.

She glanced down at blood trickling from one of her dew claws. It turned her stomach a little but but her gaze quickly flicked up to the older girl again, her lips wrinkling back from her teeth even as she quickly signed, -Get away from me, outsider! Get out!- Surely Elwood and Finley wouldn't want this horrid youth in their ranks, attacking their very own pups.

Airi tasted blood and the primeval dragon in her roared in delight. Though she was kicked aside, she already felt triumph in seeing the rubies trickling from the deformed pup's paw. She licked her teeth to mock her, but then, upon seeing the movements of the girl, decided to tease her further. Her head cocked to the side, her ears twitching towards her. I can't hear you, orokana myūto! Her tongue stuck out, daring the girl to press further.

Airi reacted by sticking her tongue out at Towhee and saying something the deaf youth didn't catch. The smaller pup kept glaring, though a painful twinge in her paw caused her to glance downward. Both snake- and wolf bites had hit the same paw and the punctures were bleeding slowly. Towhee gulped a little and then looked up just in time to see a black blur racing closer from behind the other youngster.

-Rave!- Towhee signed with a measure of relief. She shot Airi a smug look. She was in trouble now! -She bit me,- the Firebird informed the caregiver. -So did that,- she thought to add, pointing a single black toe at the mauled garter snake. Towhee then gazed up at Raven, holding out her bleeding paw while making a point not to look at it too directly herself.

The medic's brow furrowed as she glanced between the pups, then at the snake (harmless, thank goodness), then concentrated on Towhee's paw. "I'll fix you up," she promised, then shot a questioning look to Airi. "You bit her?" she demanded in a no-nonsense voice.

A black blur came towards them, and Airi whirled to meet it, only to be disappointed that it was an adult, someone she could not yet match. A scowl overtook the sneer on her face, pointed at the mute who silently communicated to the approaching woman. The girl recognized the healer, ignoring the smug glare on the smaller girl's face. What mattered was that she won the battle, not the fact that the girl's ally came. She answered the woman without resignation. Yes I did,

The youth's frank confession evidently took Raven aback, as her mouth opened and closed for a moment. Finally, she frowned and said, "Why did you do that?" Perhaps Towhee had done something to provoke the attack, a fact which the medic took into consideration despite their familial relation. She was well aware of Towhee's attitude toward those she considered outsiders. Still, Airi shouldn't be picking on someone so much smaller than herself.

But instead of waiting for an answer, the caregiver said, "I'm going to take Towhee elsewhere to look at these wounds. I want you to stay here. I'll be back soon so we can discuss this." Raven gave Airi a serious look, then turned and motioned for her little sister to follow her as she led the way toward her medical supplies in the nearby badger den.

Towhee fell into step behind the medic without hesitation, though she did take the opportunity to look back over her shoulder and stick her own tongue out at Airi before they departed the immediate area.

Last post for me! You can make whatever assumptions you like about what happened behind the scenes after this. :)