Redhawk Caldera changing everything carefully

thought itd might be cute for blix to get to meet some extended fam before the drageda crew ships back out! lmk if anything needs to be changed ❤

loathe as she is to leave her mother's side, there is only so much she can do - fisa and nomi have the situation under control as much as it can be. she wants nothing more than to stay curled up within touching distance of her still-unconscious mother's form but she does not want to end up underfoot or make things worse. 

once they begin the journey home, blix knows she will not break her self-imposed vigil. in the meantime, though, she needs to stretch her legs. reluctantly the ginger pulls away from the little camp drageda has set up and sets off for a walk. overhead the sun is rising.. she thinks about finding nomi, maybe, but there's a restless itch in her legs that makes her want to keep to herself for a little bit.

careful not to stray too far from her family, blix walks quietly - a slip of black-and-red against the pinked sky, taking absent stock of her mother's childhood home.

Towhee didn't care if they shared blood or bonds otherwise; having these outsiders camped out on their lands violated her every protective instinct. She couldn't decide if she should stick close to the rendezvous site and keep them away from the pups (and the pups away from them) or keep a constant vigil near their bivouac. She ended up pacing endlessly in between the two locations, eyes narrowed and a scowl on her lips.

When she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, the young guardian turned toward it and watched as a small red wolf moved away from the party. Towhee's bright orange eyes tracked her, the white-streaked fur along her shoulders and spine prickling.

 it didn't really occur to blix that they might be imposing or that her extended family would take issue with their temporary tenure there -- even though she, herself, would probably feel at least a little put out if the inverse occured at drageda. actually, being totally honest, she hadn't paid much attention to her extended family at all in the chaos that'd been her mother's mutual arrival. the alpha pair - her.. aunt and uncle? - they seemed nice and all, and blix was obeying her nomi's order to be polite, but again, previously mentioned self-imposed vigil. 

 all this to say, the ginger is surprised by the glare that greets her when she spots the other girl. she pauses mid-step, head tilting, and calls out "hey," a little quietly so as not to disturb the rest of the camp. "sorry, i wasn't gonna go far," she adds, because even though she's slightly taken aback she doesn't want to overstep any boundaries with the caldera wolves - nomi's been pretty clear about the importance of being diplomatic and territorial is an emotion she can respect.

Despite her unfriendly demeanor, the wolf spotted her in turn and spoke. She must have been whispering or something because her lips hardly moved and Towhee couldn't interpret at all. She ground her teeth together in frustration. Territoriality aside, this was one of the biggest reasons she despised outsiders.

"I can't hear you," the guardian said. She was angry, though it didn't reach her tone; it was as flat as ever, her words thick. She did make an impatient gesture. "Speak up, so I can read your lips, and tell me why you guys are even still here."

 she wasn't being that quiet but - polite, polite, she reminds herself, and steps a little closer to the strikingly-colored girl. "sorry," she tries again carefully, louder, even as her ears flick back in annoyance. "my mother can't travel yet," she says, her voice clipped, "she's too badly hurt." that she's still unconscious weighs heavily on the protector, but her breathing has been even and so all blix - and any of them - can do is wait. a frown tugs at her lips. "we're probably related - sha? my mother's name is wildfire," blix adds, in case maybe this protective stranger just doesn't realise. maybe.

Although she couldn't hear the stranger even if she shouted at the top of her voice, the louder volume meant she enunciated more clearly and now Towhee managed to read her lips. She made no reply to the apology and her expression remained blank when she explained that her mother was too injured to travel. And why is that our problem? asked her snarky inner voice.

But if Elwood and Finley had allowed this, then Towhee couldn't do anything about it. Besides, if she wanted to prove herself as leadership material, she supposed that working on some ambassadorship might make a good impression. With that in mind, the guardian smoothed out her face somewhat and ran her tongue over her lips as she formulated a response.

"Yeah, we're related," Towhee confirmed. Wildfire was her sister, so that made this spry young stranger her niece. But Towhee didn't really consider them family because they weren't Redhawks. Although that begged a question. "Do you use the Redhawk name? And what's your first name? I'm Towhee," she introduced, a little begrudgingly.

 it seems that her answer has assuaged some of the tension between the pair, though blixen still feels a little out of her element. well, she'll settle for not being glared at. the girl - towhee - confirms the ginger's suspicions but does not elaborate, and - she supposes it doesn't matter that much. 

 "redhawk? no," she says, her brow knitting together. redhawk must be the name from her mother's side, though as far as she knows, mother is, like nomi, drakru. "i'll be drakru. my name's blix," she says, offering a tentative smile. and then, a moment later, adds, "so is pretty much everyone here a 'redhawk'?" still unsure of the exact family tree breakdown between herself and rhc's residents.

Names could be unfathomable gobbledygook to Towhee, so she (only slightly impatiently) said, ”Yes. Spell out the names, please.” Assuming Blixen obliged her, she would try them out loud—later, when there wasn’t an outsider present to judge her.

Introductions has been exchanged and there wasn’t much more Towhee cared to know. She wasn’t one to small talk. But Blixen showed no sign of leaving, nor did the rest of her pack, for that matter. The guardian glanced at them in the distance and sighed.

”Patrol with me,” she said, the lack of inflection and tone making it unclear if it was a command or an invitation. ”At least make yourself useful while you’re loitering,” Towhee added, clearing up that little mystery.

 blixen has never encountered a wolf who can't hear and so towhee's odd requests seem just that to her: odd. "okay," she says, only a little confused, "blix is b-l-i-x, drakru is d-r-a-k-r-u."

 for a moment she thinks she's going to be dismissed or something, and tenses - but towhee instead asks (orders?) her to patrol with her. she bristles slightly at the word 'loiter', but luckily for her - cousin? aunt? family member, patrolling happens to be blix's favorite hobby. and this might not be drageda, but practice is practice. "sha," she agrees with a nod, but adds a little petulantly, "i'm not loitering," under her breath. speaking normally she says, "are you gona? or - uh, a guardian?" as she falls into step beside the older girl.

Towhee missed the muttered comment, though her eyes narrowed when Blixen used another strange word. Fortunately, she quickly clarified with a term the guardian easily recognized. Her expression smoothed out considerably as she nodded.

”Yes, training toward my mastery,” she confirmed. Without another word, she motioned for Blixen to follow her as she turned and headed toward the borders. ”You?” she added simply, turning to face the other she-wolf to keep an eye out for an answer.

whatever lingering annoyance blix harbors towards the whitemarked girl wilts away immediately with that particular revelation. not because she has never met another training toward mastery - drageda, after all, tends towards warriors - but because it means towhee must share some of the same values as her. or at least - is a potential tutor.

"i'm training to be a guardian too!" she chirps. "i'm still kru right now but i'm really close to getting to gona, which is what you would be - unless you'd be cheka..." she trails off thoughtfully, oblivious to the fact towhee wouldn't understand drageda's hierarchy. "but i dont care about ranks so much - really, i just want to be able to keep my family safe," she admits, watching towhee's expression with a previously damped-down earnestness.

Blixen seemed exuberant about their shared interest. Towhee did not feel nearly so excited about it, yet she had to admit that it made her opinion of the outsider rise a little bit. This counteracted some of the annoyance the guardian felt when Blixen continued to use strange words here and there. Fortunately, she had long ago acquired the skill of utilizing contextual clues to help figure out what unfamiliar words meant.

”What are all these strange words?” Towhee couldn’t help but ask though. ”Are you speaking in a different language?” she pressed, curious despite herself. Something dawned on her then and she looked Blixen square in the face and said, ”I’m deaf, in case I didn’t make that clear. I rely on reading lips for the most part. I also use a language called ptero with my family,” she added, reminding herself that Blixen wasn’t part of it despite their mutual genetics and interests.

 "oh, they're-" she starts and then pauses to let towhee finish, her own eyes widening in understanding. the weirdness of towhee's previous requests makes more sense. blix doesn't feel bad, per-se, for not realising, but she will try to be clearer in the future. "it's drageda's language," she explains. "drageda's the pack that we're from. d-r-a-g-e-d-a," the ginger adds pre-emptively, thinking of towhee's previous request. 

it doesn't occur to her to take towhee's disability as something negative - after all, she's training toward her mastery - though she's never met a deaf wolf before. she's curious, but - it'd probably be rude to pry, right? still: "what's ptero?" she asks, even as her gaze returns to the border they patrol.

Sometime during her lingual training of yore, Raven had mentioned other tongues, yet Towhee had very limited experience with any spoken language outside of the one she used with her family. "I see," the young guardian said, her lips twitching faintly at some inner joke.

Blixen wanted to know about ptero. Towhee liked to keep things like this close to the vest, yet she knew no outsider would be able to pick up much of anything with a single exposure. "It's a sign language we made up here," Towhee said, then paused and signed, -B-L-I-X.- "I just spelled your name," she explained.

Something caught her eye in the distance and the mercenary turned swiftly to face the potential threat. It was only a trio of does running through the neighboring prairie. Towhee licked her lips as she watched them, then resumed her halted gait and glanced over to make sure Blixen did the same.

"So why did my sister—your mom, I mean—leave here to join this—Drageda?" Towhee wanted to know, hesitating only slightly before trying out the name. She had likely butchered it, which made her cheeks heat slightly, though what did she really care what an outsider thought of her?

probs can wrap up soon? >:3c

 she glances over just in time to catch the odd movements towhee makes - which are quickly explained as a demonstration of this ptero. she's intrigued, but catches the same flash of movement as the black guardian and turns with her, momentarily excited by the idea of seeing some real action. (she supposes she should be grateful that she has not yet had to deal with a real issue at the border, but - experience is invaluable and forcing her sweetly tempered pupsitter to play pretend villain only goes so far).

 it's nothing, just some deer, and she sighs, maybe a touch disappointed, before towhee's question brings her back. ah. for a moment there, she'd almost forgotten.. everything, caught up in her interest in her - cousin? aunt? whatever's abilities as a guardian and her disability. but of course: mother. and how long has she been away? surely if something had happened they would fetch her but what if something happens and they don't realise where she is? or - anxiety suddenly curls hot in her belly and she looks at towhee with round eyes.

towhee's mispronouncation of her home falls on deaf (ha) ears, stricken by this sudden anxiety as she is. "i don't know," she admits. mother'd spoken of her time at the caldera of course, but hadn't there been someplace else? she isn't sure - she was not a great listener as a child. "i never thought to ask," the girl says, voice dipping slightly with guilt - they'd found her and she's alive now but what if she does die and blixen just never gets to know all these important things? (and.. are they important? what matters is drageda -- right?) 

 conflicted, blix stops abruptly. "i-i should probably go check on her," she says hesitantly - part of her wants to keep on patrolling, but towhee's inadvertently broken the spell she held over the fox-furred kru, and thoughts of mother consume her again.

Blixen's reaction to the question seemed disproportionate, though Towhee quickly realized the girl must be fretting about her mother's condition. Her jaw tightened a bit when her guest promptly bailed on the unfinished patrol, though Towhee could at least appreciate her sense of loyalty.

"Go to her, then," she said with a sharp swish of her snout, waving a paw at the girl and seeing her off before facing forward again and resuming her patrol.

LOVED this thread! :)

me too! ❤ ❤ thank you!

she is already starting to move back when towhee dismisses her - but blix appreciates the gesture all the same. "sha - thanks," she says genuinely, and begins moving again, her steps quickly turning into a full out sprint as she makes her way back to drageda's temporary encampment.