Redhawk Caldera Damocles

The closer things got to actually happening, the more he'd wished that he'd heard nothing of it.  Why had the sort of trouble he'd left drawn him to it again?  Unlike others in the pack, he felt like he had virtually no personal skin in the game, other than risking himself in exchange for a place to stay.  Ugh. --- And this was without him knowing a thing about what had gone on with Titmouse and Gannet and the Moonspear wolves, which would likely cause him to just peace out and take his chances.

Honestly, he was tempted to leave before the blood was drawn, and with him down on the lower slopes, it was actually kind of tempting.  There was a fight going on between his innate loyalty and his desire to not get himself killed over someone else's squabbles.  For now, though, he walked. It was cold, midday, and snowy.  It fit his mood pretty well, and about how he saw the world treating him in general.

This was stupid.  He was stupid.

Fin didn't know the new guy. Had Towhee not vouched for him, she probably would've insisted that they drive him off. She wasn't eager to involve newcomers in the impending conflict with Blackfeather. Her long-term members - including those who had carried the Redhawk name previously and were recently returned - she had no qualms with involving as she felt that they had just as much reason to go to war as she did. They might not all see it that way, but they did. This new dude, though. What stake did he really have in this? He had no ties to her family and no emotional attachment to the territory. He could just as easily have kept right on going past the Caldera without being affected at all. Fin wanted all the help she could get to protect her home and her family, but still it seemed wrong.

The alpha watched him silently for a minute or so before she actually approached. He was a big guy - definitely someone she wanted next to her if she were to go marching into enemy territory. He looked unhappy though, and Fin had a sneaking suspicion as to why that might be. With a sigh, she slid down from her perch on a higher ridge and trotted over to him, chuffing lightly to make sure he wasn't taken unawares by her approach.

"You're Quixote, right?" Fin asked as she came to a stop near him.

At least Quixote's doubts weren't completely unexpected, not that he'd know that, at least for now.  He was, however, fairly sure he was being reasonable about it all, and the fact that he didn't just leave on a whim the first time this all entered his mind had to count in his favor.  Just, damn, why did the familiar always end up being so tempting?

He'd just about mentally talked himself out of it all again -- he'd made his promises, he'd do his duty. It was amazing how well those decisions held, but he was a soldier and he'd do his duty, even if he was questioning his very reason for doing so.  It was all he'd known.  Then came a sound from up the slopes, and his gaze locked onto the approaching figure of Finley.  Well, hell.  There were probably, what, three wolves that he would have preferred to not run across right now?  She was one of them, Elwood another, and Towhee the last because he was pretty sure she'd try to chew his face off or something.  Of course this meant one of them had to appear.

His ears flicked back slightly, and he shifted to hold himself a little bit more submissive than he ordinarily would.  Perhaps it was guilt.  But either way he wasn't going to be impolite. Yes ma'am, I am.  It was the kind of question that he expected to be followed up with some sort of request (in the past, often something mundane like to retrieve a leg of venison from the cache), so he stood there for a moment before realizing there wasn't an instant demand. Can I be of assistance?  Superb conversationalist he was not.  And it was a dumb question.

The male confirmed his identity as Fin had suspected. He shifted into a submissive posture, which looked a little odd on him. She appreciated it, nonetheless. She was surprised when he so formally asked what she needed of him, showing this with a quirk of her brow. "I'm sure you could," Fin replied wryly, a small smirk twitching across her muzzle in spite of the heaviness of her thoughts leading up to this meet-n-greet, "I don't really need anything at the moment though. Just thought I'd take a minute to get to know you a little. Since you're going to be fighting for my family, and all."

Fin paused to read his expression before continuing. "So, my goddaughter tells me you're something of a tactician?" she commented, leading him towards elaborating for her.

It was much easier for him to slip into 'good soldier' mode as she responded.  He was very much used to making sure that he was polite and obedient when it came to war business -- not all his scars were from enemies.  As such, he wasn't going to interrupt and start talking until he was sure it was his turn.

Fighting for them.  It was mentally like a pup latching its teeth onto his ankle.  Or maybe a weasel.  Something with frighteningly sharp teeth but usually not deadly.  It remained there in the back of his mind as he smiled ever so slightly in return -- gallows humor, if anything.  He was still pretty grim, but he wasn't shifty like someone might be who was actively planning to abandon ship.  Yet, at least.  He was still fairly sure he'd be around for the battle unless something else happened to swing his opinion.  Quixote nodded, Yes, it's always been what I'm interested in.  Glad to have the opportunity here.  Well, aside from the fact that it's necessary in the first place.

She'd want to know what he'd been up to, though, wouldn't she?  After all, he'd been rather scarce since he'd been allowed to this side of the scent line.  I've been focusing on two things.  One being figuring out the best approaches to Blackfeather territory so we can have the greatest advantage with the least explaining tiny details to people since the date is sooner rather than later.  The other being a review of the land here in case they opt to show up on the borders here instead, or any survivors decide to retaliate, though some of the options aren't that great 'til the thaw.  It was a nice little cliffnotes version of what he'd been up to, though admittedly he hadn't gotten to do as much as he wanted on the latter -- partially because investigating caves potentially meant traipsing into people's dens and that seemed rather impolite.

The fact it was winter definitely did throw a wrench in things though -- you couldn't see what was beneath snow on unfamiliar ground, traces that you were there were obviously super visible unless you got a convenient snowstorm right after, also it was freaking cold.  It was not the ideal.  But at least they weren't marching into Russia or something, just a little ways across the valley.  It was also fortunate that wolves were limited in their choice of weaponry and ability to make boobytraps.

Though the thought of injuries brought a fact to mind something he'd have to inquire about -- how many medics were they bringing along?  How were they going to be able to drag anyone back who couldn't walk? More stuff for him to think through.  He was sure there was even more that he hadn't remembered yet.  He had a little bit more respect for the Skeleton Lords now.  Not a lot, but some.

Fin was quiet as the male elaborated. She had personally never been one for really thinking through tactics. Certainly she had tricks up her sleeve and she knew how to handle herself in a fight or when approaching one, but she had never really consciously planned out her moves on this level when she'd been younger and getting herself into trouble as though her livelihood depended on it. Quixote's comments were good ones, and though she was aware that she ought to be trying to work with him to devise a plan, her head was elsewhere, leaving only her heart behind to steer.

"Have you ever had to put your skills to use before this stage of a fight before?" Fin asked, "Like... before the decision to fight is made? Or do you just come in after?" She knew that many in her pack did not agree with her on the need to fight. Most days, she was confident in that being what needed to be done. But every once in a while, she doubted, and those moments were growing more and more frequent the closer they got to it.

Like any job-seeker he had done a reasonable job talking up his resume, but at least right now he hadn't gone too far outside his comfort zone, These parts involving the approach, yes, on a sightly smaller scale.  And then fought in it, and since I'm still alive, those I learned from had to be doing something right.  Trying to herd around a small group of unruly hotheads was far less than directing a pack's worth of wolves, but to a certain point, he figured the entropy caused by a number of steady individuals would match up with that created by a group of overly-enthusiastic non-thinkers.

Either way, it wasn't a particularly convincing note to end on, so he continued, The approach is a pretty basic thing to learn and apply.  And I know there's not enough time to go train people in squads and then gather all the proper interior-territory recon, then plan based on the recon and squad chemistry, then figure out how the Drageda wolves work in to it, and so on.  There's a whole extra.. I don't know, five layers of planning possible if there was time and I had more experience in those areas.  But I suppose we do what we can with what's available, and at this point I think that only thing is just trying to give everyone the best entry possible and hoping things go well from there.  He didn't appreciate chaos all that much, but he wasn't working with a well-oiled machine.  As far as he knew, all sides involved were novices.  Nobody had mentioned if their enemies had marched to war on some other, now nonexistent pack, and if the Caldera wolves had done so in the past, there wasn't any evidence.  How to herd a bunch of puppies? There were ways. Greatest advantage for minimal time and training.  And hope that Blackfeather wasn't secretly training an actual army, but that was beside the point.

His expression did take a slightly more dour turn, though his words were almost a plea, For the sake of everyone, I hope it doesn't become a common thing.  If it does, I personally suggest relocating -- fighting battles people have forgotten the reasons for is no way to live.  It's not worth the lives, nor the sanity.  And that was what he was truly worried he'd stepped into, the same problems blooming anew.  That he was somehow cursed to bring such a fate along with him wherever he went.  He hoped Finley agreed with that, and he chanced to search her expression to see, but Quixote wouldn't be surprised if she stated that they would always stay put, no matter what.  The black wolf did have his limits, though, and if again they were tested, again he would likely act on them.

Fin was silent as the male answered. Silent but for the inner monologue that said damn this dude talks a lot... It was quickly apparent to her that he hadn't understood her meaning, but she didn't outwardly show that this disappointed her. She supposed it was too much to hope for that he would somehow just understand what she wanted and would magically just give her the words of encouragement that she needed. She supposed that was solely Elwood's special talent, which she was alright with. For now, she let go of seeking reassurance and focused instead on planning, no matter she was too exhausted of it to be of much use.

"The pack has lived here for many years now and we've never had a fight this big on our hands," Fin replied, "Once this is done, we'll be safe again, which we won't be if we don't fight. The fuckers next door have an unfortunately long reach." She paused before adding, "You should know that I'm not an idiot. If things go South, I'm ready to do whatever's necessary to keep my family safe, even if it means leaving. There's too much at stake to just up and do that now without a fight, though. More than I expect anyone else to understand." Did she even understand these days?

Lucy.

Quixote was a realist and still relatively unfamiliar with well.. Everyone. He was little comfort unless you liked reality with a dash of pessimism.  Or sometimes the other way around.  To a certain point he liked expecting the worst, mostly because it meant that he was prepared for it to happen, but he was no longer willing to blindly accept his own death just because some random as hell leader said to.   Call him paranoid, call him a party pooper, whatever.  Violence was a part of life, for they were predators, they had territories and families to protect.

He bowed his head.  Then we shall make sure it's only needed once.  It was a flat, definitely darker tone than some of his previous.  Quixote would do what was necessary, even if a part of him wished to be elsewhere, that maybe he'd given one of the trade packs a chance instead of searching for the familiar.  I'll do what I can to make sure that this one battle will be the only thing needed.  And yet, it still felt a little dishonest due to his bottled doubts.  Did he even believe himself? He was one wolf, they would be many, against another many.

The black wolf wasn't sure if there was anything else that he had to contribute to the conversation.  He wasn't the greatest talker, especially with authority figures, and so looked to Finley to see if there was anything else.



Would he like himself when it was all over?

last post for me! feel free to post once more or just archive :)

Quixote's response pleased her, though she did wonder if he truly meant it as passionately as she would have preferred. There was something so robotic about dutiful wolves like these. He seemed more eager to please than he was willing to actually share and on one hand, Fin appreciated that seeing as she was spectacular bad at emotions. But in this, when it was so important to be able to trust the wolves at her back, a little blatant honesty would've been nice.

But there was no helping it, and Fin didn't have the energy. She nodded in answer to his words, but offered none of her own that would continue the conversation. "Let's hope it's enough," she replied, leaving it there. After a beat, she nodded to him as her way of bidding farewell, then turned to head back to the rendezvous site, thinking some time with her family might be just the thing to settle her nerves.