Heron Lake Plateau Give the girl a gold star

Hoping for @Towhee but all welcome :)

In the wake of the trio's return, Niamh had caught wind of the extent of Towhee's injury and felt a bit bad that she hadn't been able to be there to help her out. Tegan and Ceara did a good job of getting her back to the plateau, but she couldn't help but wonder if the entire thing could have been avoided altogether had she gone. Now, though, they were back and there was no turning back time. All she could do was help out now, and hope that Towhee's recovery went smoothely. 

She'd caught a nice fat hare for her friend, and carried it by the scruff of its neck, and trotted through the yellowing grass in search of her friend. She had some news to share, of course, and was bursting at the seams to get it out.

Towhee frowned deeply at her hind paw, which now sported a thick callous from dragging on the ground ever since her accident. As her frustration with her predicament mounted, she forcibly tore her gaze away and tried to redirect her thoughts. But try as she might, the Beta couldn't avoid the inevitable train that ran through her mind like a railway station.

What if I never get feeling back? How will I patrol? Will I be able to fight if I need to? Will I adapt or will I just be a useless cripple? I don't want to burden the entire pack... She drew in a shaky breath as her thoughts jumped the tracks and began careening swiftly downhill, gaining momentum. I can't be a leader, not like this. Hell, if I can't figure out a way to contribute, I don't belong here, period. I don't think Rave would kick me out... but what about Quixote?

She swallowed, head snapping up when she saw movement coming toward her. Niamh was a sight for sore eyes and a welcome distraction from her rapidly devolving train of thought. Towhee pushed herself into an upright seated position, using her left foreleg to yank her left hind leg into a more proper position as she managed a tight, forced smile for her friend. It didn't reach her orange eyes.

Niamh’s ears perked when she caught sight of Towhee, who actually didn’t look too roughed up, despite what she’d heard about the beta’s leg. Nothing looked contorted or torn apart- not that she looked terribly closely- so that was a good sign. Niamh, of course, was not skilled in medicines or healing whatsoever, so all she could do was put faith in the fact that Towhee would heal.

She dropped the hare at Towhee’s feet and with a dramatic, exhausted sigh, she too flopped down, looking up at Towhee with a cheshire grin. ”Thank gawd you’re back,” She said. After all, it was the first long period of time Towhee had been gone on a trip that Niamh hadn’t been a part of. ”This place gets kinda boring without you.” She said, still smiling. She could tell Towhee wasn’t in the best mood- but Niamh appreciated her company whether she was grumpy or hangry or whatever kind of mood she was in.

Niamh didn't make mention of her leg. For an instant, Towhee was mildly taken aback by this. Then she quickly shifted to a more grateful outlook. She didn't want to dwell on her injury. There was nothing she nor Raven could do about it, except give it time. The sensation might return, though somehow it didn't seem likely. She would just have to adapt and overcome. It would be easier said than done, though having wolves like Niamh around would certainly help boost the Beta's morale.

"It's good to be back," Towhee replied conversationally, voice as dry as ever. I won't be leaving again anytime soon, possibly ever, she thought but did not say out loud. "If I had to guess, nothing exciting happened while I was away. But," she continued, leveling her Person with a speculative look, "something's up. What is it? Thanks for the eats, by the way," she added, grabbing the dead prey and dragging it closer, settling down to eat even as her eyes stayed focused and anticipatory upon Niamh.

Niamh wasn't exactly sure how to react when Towhee speculated that something was up. She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up into a seated position, and felt her cheeks flush warm. Nothing of great note, pack-wise, had come up. "Eh, Pack stuff's mostly the same," She said, referring to her eat, sleep, patrol regime. But Towhee knew her better than that, and had probably picked up on the glow that Niamh was having a difficult time smothering. She shrugged one shoulder and smiled sort of shyly- a rare occurance for the female who was rarely bashful over anything. 

"BUT....Colt did ask me if I wanted to take a little daytrip with him." She said, a grin spreading across her features. "Wouldn't say why, or where, but...Y'know," She said, and wriggled her shoulders slightly, still giddy with the thought of Colt taking her out and showing her around. "I dunno, I think he's gonna ask!" She said, practically squealing- fortunately, though, Towhee would have missed the high pitched note she emitted, so she didn't regret squawking too badly.

She didn't comprehend immediately, staring at Niamh for a beat and trying to make sense of her girlish bashfulness. Then it clicked and Towhee couldn't resist; she rolled her eyes, albeit affectionately. "Ask for what?" she quipped, voice dry but expression fondly sarcastic. "Anal?" She clicked her tongue and laughed to herself, shaking her head. "You're such a dork, Niamh. But I'm happy for you," she added, because it was true: anything that made her Person happy made Towhee happy too, even despite her earlier misgivings about the pairing.

She focused on devouring the rabbit, her thoughts starting to swirl a bit again as she fed. Guess this means Niamh will be an official Blackthorn sooner than later, Towhee mused, chewing loudly as she regarded her golden-furred friend. A thought struck her, one which was decidedly bittersweet, and she found it tough to swallow her mouthful of meat. She wanted to think about the idea before she gave voice to it, even to her Person.

Finished, the Beta pushed the rinds aside and stretched out her forelegs. "Want to go for a walk? It'll be slow going but I really gotta practice with the bum leg."

"What?" NIamh cried, and gave Towhee a swift jab in her shoulder with the blunt end of her muzzle. "Ewww, you're gross!" She seethed immaturely, but couldn't help herself but laugh at Towhee's swift remark. Out of all the wolves in the pack, Towhee definitely had the sharpest wit- and that was likely why they got along so well. There was rarely an occasion where Towhee held back from saying exactly what popped into her mind, and Niamh liked just how blunt and outspoken Towhee could be. Even if it was a bit crass from time to time, Niamh found something to be extremely charming about Towhee's mannerisms and sense of humour. 

Towhee started eating a bit of the hare she'd brought, leaving Niamh a bit of time to babble on a bit. "I dunno what exactly he'll want...I mean, we haven't, like, done it yet, but, like...I dunno. I just have a good feeling about it. He hasn't done the whole grand gesture thing yet- apart from the freaking heron he brought me once- but it's almost Fall, and honestly, if he doesn't ask me before Winter, I'm prolly gonna ask him." She said confidently. "Then we can have like fifty pups, and you gotta be their godmother." She said, so casually and naturally it might have seemed offhanded- if only Towhee could hear the tone of her voice. 

Towhee motioned for them to move, so Niamh nodded, and swiftly- albeit gracelessly- scooted to her feet, sending up a little dustcloud as she did so. She'd let Towhee set the pace, of course. "Oh! By the way, we're related, you and me," She said, with a small smile. "My brother Bruges told me so. Apparently the Redhawks used to be Redleafs, and Redleafs used to be DeMontes. I think we might be from two kind of different strains of DeMontes, but we're totally like distant cousins." She rambled, giddy with the discovery that they actually shared some distant genes.

Only when they got underway did Towhee open her mouth to respond to Niamh's remark, though she clapped it shut when her friend brought up their common ancestors. "Really?" she said, interest piqued at their mutual history. "How did DeMontes become Redleafs become Redhawks, I wonder?" she questioned rhetorically.

But on the subject of family, Towhee addressed her Person's prior comment. "Godmother? Really? I'd be honored, even if they're Colt's," she quipped, smiling wryly at Niamh (and dodging any bats aimed her way). "Do you think you'll take his surname when you two tie the knot?" she wondered, a speculative look entering her orange eyes as as that same thought from a moment ago drifted to the forefront of her mind.

They began to walk, and for a bit, Niamh turned a blind eye to the way Towhee's leg refused to function properly. It hurt Niamh to see Towhee like that, but she did her best not to show it. Besides, it was Towhee- there wasn't a thing on the planet that could get her down and keep her down, right? As much as Niamh considered herself to be invincible, Towhee, she considered to be on a completely other level of invincibility. 

"I'm not sure." She said. "Apparently there were fucktonnes of DeMontes at one time. One branch of the family kind of renounced the name, though, but I can't remember why. I think maybe the Dad was a bit of a deadbeat or something so the kids took a different name. But like you, they all had bird names too." She said. Her side of the family, of course, didn't take on the bird names- aside from one who'd been named Blackbird. The rest had names Niamh had always considered to be slightly pretentious. 

"Of course you'll be Godmother. Haven't asked Colt yet, but he'll just have to deal with that." She said. There was certainly no way she was going to have Finley be the Godmother- but then again, the relationship between Colt and Towhee was just as interesting, if not moreso, than the relationship between Niamh and Finley. "Uhm....I don't think so," She answered, and cracked a grin. "I dunno if the pack can handle another Blackthorn woman." She said. "Maybe I'll get Colt to take my last name, or something; I dunno. I hadn't really thought about it, I guess," She answered with a shrug.

She was so lost in her thoughts for a moment that Towhee missed much of Niamh's history lesson, which was a pity since it genuinely interested the young historian. Fortunately, she came back to a focus in time to catch her friend's response to her own question. It surprised her. Towhee realized she had already assumed as much and hadn't expected Niamh to answer in the negative.

Doesn't really make a difference, she thought to herself, it's just a name. It's still a worthwhile idea. But are you sure...? Towhee cut off her own inner voice to say, "Or maybe you two should come up with your own surname, since that seems like the familial trend. Did you say fifty pups, by the way?" Towhee said, motioning the sign for "fifty" for emphasis, eyes flown wide in faux shock before she jokingly added, "I mean... that's all?"

Towhee's idea of coming up with a new surname actually intrigued Niamh. As Niamh didn't have too many relatives in the region- except for her brothers, of course- she assumed it would be fine to create their own surname. After all, the DeMontes had done it before, though that was, as far as she knew, done out of spite, or something like that. "I like that idea." She said. "Something to do with Redhawks, though," She mused. "I mean, we live here and all. Or herons. Heh, something I should probably figure out with Colt. If he's even going to ask, of course. I'm just kind of, like, hoping, or assuming, or something." Gettind ahead of herself might have been the better way to put it- but she had a lot of hope benched on the fact that Colt was taking her somewhere she assumed was special. 

And as for Towhee's comment, Niamh shrugged and snorted. "I just mean in the first litter." She responded. "I figure that's a good, round number to start with; see how it goes and then hope for more the next year if all goes well." She said. Of course, puppysitting had made her love puppies and given her a bit of a taste for what it was like, but in no way whatsoever was she getting the same experience that Raven and Quixote had. She nodded to Towhee's leg then, and furtively asked "How's she doing?"

She was doing her best to ignore her leg and the sluggish pace it enforced on them, maintaining her focus on the company and conversation. But when Niamh asked about it directly, Towhee slowed to a halt and peered down at it. It didn't hurt, which was both good and bad. She frowned when she instinctively tried to flip her calloused paw, only for her body to fail to respond. She would probably get used to it soon, though it currently still jarred her every time it happened.

"It's..." She wasn't sure what to say about it. She rolled her shoulders, then let out a long sigh. "I'm not sure how to deal with it. It's scary and weird and I don't know what it means for me." Her eyes lingered on Niamh's face, almost beseechingly. "I'm not sure I'll be able to patrol," Towhee continued, "or fight. I mean, I'd hope I'd adapt, if the sensation never comes back. But," she faltered, only to shake her head and finish lamely, "I don't know."

She began moving again, now distinctly aware of the numbness on her rear left side, the mostly phantom pressure and weight of her dead leg as sensed through the functioning parts of her body. There was, for instance, the impression of drag, which made sense; her foot was dragging. But the Beta couldn't be sure if it was a real sensation or her brain filling in the blanks. She supposed it didn't matter. At least she was able to walk, even though that simple act required more concentration than usual as her three good legs bore more of the weight and her center of gravity shifted accordingly.

Niamh looked down Towhee's leg, which was quite slack in comparison to the others. The fur even look a bit more dull- though that could have just been from the fact that the leg was dragging and it would pick up dust and dirt that way. She frowned, and willed Towhee's leg to twitch or kick or something, but it didn't look as though Towhee was able to do much at all with it, from the hip down. Niamh's mind began to work- maybe there was some way to keep her leg up off the ground so at least it wouldn't drag...But she couldn't quite figure out what might work. She'd have to think on it, and try to come up with something a little unconventional. 

Towhee couldn't do what she normally did best- patrolling and fighting. It would likely hinder her hunting skills as well, but Niamh didn't need to point that out. Just the sound of a dragging limb could give her away, let alone the fact that it would slow her down as well. "I mean, hopefully it comes back," Niamh said, with a nod. But she wasn't going to give in to despair if it didn't. "But there are lots of other things you could do that don't need you to be the best on your feet." She said. Medicines could be learned, she could keep working on her historian practices, and puppies could be watched without having to be too quick on her feet- so Towhee would always have a use in the pack. "An' you can always still patrol. I'll only ever be like a call away," She said. It would mean Towhee might be a bit of a target, should she cross paths with someone who had bad plans for her- but how often did that happen, anyway? "But you'll probably be too busy Godmothering in a few months anyway." She quipped.

Although she knew Niamh intended to comfort and reassure, she felt her insides twist at the notion that she could simply give up on her mastery and look to something else. In the next breath, her friend reminded her that she could patrol. Towhee gave her a sharp look. How could she be so sure? Towhee clung to her friend's faith in the matter, even if she felt much more uncertain about her abilities and her entire future.

But pups were something that would always bring a smile to her face (those that belonged to loved ones, anyway). Towhee didn't doubt that Raven and Quixote would give their blessing for a litter, though she had to wonder: did Uncle Elwood and Aunt Finley plan on any more young? Could the pack support three litters? She supposed it was a good thing she'd never had any romantic inklings. In any case, she didn't know that she wanted children of her own, despite her love for her younger siblings, nieces, nephews and potential godchildren now too.

The small smile that had touched her lips faded suddenly as her mind turned back to other things. "I'm sorry to be a downer," Towhee said, "but can I bitch for a second?" She waited for Niamh's acknowledgement before plunging into a miniature rant. "I'm pissed, mostly at myself. Why did I even feel the need to go there? There was no good reason to visit the caldera, not really. And now, because of my own impetuousness, I'm a fuckin' para-plebeian or whatever it's called. I may never be the same again. And for what? We were there for all of five fuckin' minutes before I fell and ruined everything, possibly my life included. Okay," she concluded with a huff, "I just needed to throw a little pity party. But I'm done. Back to pups."

Niamh's natural go-to for cheering anyone up was distraction, rather than interogation. But when Towhee volunteered that she wanted to open up and bitch, Niamh nodded, completely willing to hear where Towhee's head really was, and what she felt about her recent injury. It sounded like she was frustrated with herself ore than anything, and with the fact that she'd gotten injured- which wasn't anyone's fault, of course. It seemed as though Towhee regretted the decision to go back and see the Plateau, which meant that she was likely associating the injury with the place, rather than keeping the two separate- as it was simply chance that she'd been injured while she was there. 

"Shit happens, Tow," She said. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to go and see your old home. I'd go back and see my birthplace too, if it wasn't so damn far, even if nobody else was there anymore," She said. "You got lotsa memories there. I didn't even think twice about it when you said you were going," She confessed. Guiltily, she added "An' I'd kind of like to see it someday. I'm sorry I couldn't go this time- but it's kind of...Like...If one of us goes somewhere, the other one's gotta be here, y'know, to keep up the badassery," She said. At least, that was the case given that Raven and Quixote had a fresh batch of pups, and the pack's safety would be jeopardized if too many of the adult wolves went off on an adventure. "You sound pretty frustrated," She noted, "And it kind of sounds like maybe you feel like you've jeopardized your future by doing something you seem to think was a stupid idea. But I don't think it was a stupid idea, and I think it was an accident. It's not like you asked for this to happen, Tow," She said, rubbing her shoulder alongside her friend's. "And it's OK to feel like shit. But I am here for you," She said, nudging her friend's cheek.

She said nothing as Niamh spoke in turn, her orange eyes fixed astutely on her friend's lips. She appreciated her Person's reassurances, even if she didn't necessarily agree with her. Towhee did think she'd made a mistake—a big one—and was now paying the price for indulging what came down to a stupid whimsy. Niamh validated her feelings and reminded her of her support, which earned another faint, fleeting smile from Towhee.

"Thanks, that means a lot. As does the whole godmother thing," Towhee said, still trying to steer the subject back to pups now that she'd unburdened herself. She motioned for Niamh to keep moving, then resumed her dragging shuffle. "I was raised by mine, which I'm pretty sure you know. I know that's not going to happen here"—she gave her friend a look as if to say, Don't you dare think about dying on me...—"but I mention it because I know how important a role it is. And I only hope I'll do justice by it, like Aunt Finley did."

Her lips pursed as she glanced around out of habit, orange eyes skirting past her leg. It registered, dimly, and she couldn't help the quip that suddenly bounced off her tongue. "This godmother comes with a built-in chew toy." Towhee would've shaken her bum leg, if she were capable. But she couldn't feel it, or move it, which was kind of the point: Niamh's future sprogs could chew on it all they wanted and it wouldn't bother her one bit.

Niamh was aware that Towhee's birth parents had died, and that she'd been raised by the Blackthorns. Though they were alredy technicaly related by blood- albeit distantly- she felt that Towhee was family, and therefore wanted her to be family to her children as well. And if Towhee had been raised by Blackthorns, then she'd make a worthy godmother...Though Niamh did tell herself as a quiet little aside- hopefully she wouldn't have female offspring. Female Blackthorns seemed to have a few screws loose. 

"I think you'll make a badass godmother." She said, and gestured softly at Towhee's leg, which she'd offered as a chewtoy. "Bum leg and all. But it could get better by then, ya never know. Otherwise, I'm sure you'll adapt with it. One of my relatives- who was totally related to you too- had all his toes bitten off by some psychopath. Could hardly walk....Ended up living like 17 years and having a bajillion kids." She said.

Towhee's head cocked as Niamh began telling her about a distant mutual relative of theirs who'd had his toes bitten off by, as she described, psychopaths. Her brows lifted, intrigued. She wanted to hear that story. But her attention was abruptly stolen—and she missed the bit about his long life and host of chilren—by a weird sensation in her affected limb.

She jerked around suddenly, giving her deadened hip an instinctive nip. Towhee couldn't help but feel a blast of hopefulness. It quickly crashed and burned though. It was just another phantom pain. She'd had a few of them and figured they'd either cease eventually or she'd simply grow used to them. The leg was still as unresponsive as ever; she knew because she stood there and tested it. Nothing happened.

Biting back a sigh, Towhee faced forward and began shuffling again, a bit of agitation evident in her movements. She tried to coax it out of her muscles as she faced Niamh again and said, "Sorry, I missed that. Tell me more about this guy who had his toes eaten by whack jobs."

Towhee's sudden interest in her leg garnered curiosity from Niamh, who also felt hope rise in her throat, only to find herself disappointed when the leg didn't move again, and Towhee seemed to become resigned. Something had happened, though, but it didn't seem like a big deal to Towhee. Niamh had no idea what phantom pains were, and assumed maybe Towhe had felt a twinge- but her dismissive attitude now seemed to indicate otherwise. 

She asked about their shared relative, and Niamh was happy to comply and tell Towhee about what she knew. "Well, as far as I knew, the guy's name was Osprey. I think he's more closely related to you than me, though, since he and his sister sort of left the DeMonte family." Her details were nowhere near perfect, of course, but Niamh had never excelled at storytelling. "I think he and his like...I dunno if she was a friend of the family or mother-in-law or something, I can't really remember...But they were kidnapped by some psychopaths and held hostage?" She asked, trying to sort through the details, just as her roleplayer was trying to do as well. "To keep them from running off, the whackjobs beat them down and chewed their toes off. I think their pack caught up with them, though, so they were able to escape." She said. "They got away, and got back home, and he like, lived to be something like nine or ten and had a tonne of kids." She said. "I think you're probably like a great-great-great-great-neice or grandchild, depending on whether you're a descendant of him or his sister, Mo." She explained. "I think...I think I'm sort of on some other trail of the family. Like Osprey's grandfather is some ancestor of mine, too. Had some kind of badass name...I think it was Bronco? Anyway, he was sort of the head honcho of the whole family, back in this valley they all lived in, somewhere North of here and East a bit, I think." She explained. Of course, she couldn't remember the name of it, or where exactly it was, but her parents sure went on about it enough.

The name immediately struck Towhee as familiar. But she couldn't think on it now, she was too busy reading Niamh's lips as the story unfolded. She couldn't possibly keep track of all the relationships mentioned, though she got the gist of the tale. And it was cool to know that she and her Person were related, no matter how distantly.

"It's good to know that losing limbs doesn't necessarily preclude fertility," Towhee mused dryly. It was funny to her because she didn't have any particular interest in starting a family of her own. "By the time your kiddos come around, my toes will probably make for some tasty jerky," she quipped.

The talk of names caused the Beta to circle back a bit. "I'm pretty sure I have an an Aunt or Uncle Osprey. I'd have to check with my godparents but the name's super familiar... speaking of which, do you have any names in mind for your future progeny? Maybe you could call one Whee To, eh, eh?" Cue waggling of eyebrows.

Niamh chuckled and shuddered at the thought of her children gnawing on toe jerky. Buhh. "I'm counting on you to give them all their needed vitamins and nutrients," She said, bumping her muzzle gently against Towhee's shoulder. The thought still grossed her out a bit, as she sort of imagined jerky in the shape of a wolf's foot, hanging off Towhee's hind leg. Not the best mental image in the world. 

It made sense for an Osprey to be in Towhee's family- what with the bird name and all. So when Towhee asked about having a pup named after her, Niamh laughed and nodded. "Whee-to, I like it." She said. "Whee-to the chee-to," She mused, throwing the (to her) nonsensical words together for fun. "Hadn't really thought about names much. I gotta get things with Colt on lockdown first, anyway," She said. There was always the minute possibility that he wouldn't ask her- in which case, she'd have to ask him. But Niamh already had plans well thought out for their future together, and she'd be damned if they didn't go her way.

"Tru'nough," Towhee agreed. They were getting rather ahead of themselves, weren't they? She chortled and couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes at the thought of Niamh hitching her wagon to Colt's. The Beta didn't dislike him as much these days, though she couldn't say she liked him either. They really didn't know one another well, still. She wondered how his ptero was coming along...

They walked a while in companionable silence before Towhee announced, "Okay, I'm getting a bit tired," and promptly planted her ass on the ground, her ruined leg sprawled unceremoniously in front of her. "I wouldn't mind hearing more stories about our tangled family tree," she prompted, gazing up at her Person with curious orange eyes.

Wanna fade here...? :)

When Towhee stopped, Niamh flopped dramatically to the ground, as though she too were exhausted. Truth be told, Niamh had lots of energy and could have kept going- but for her Person, she'd put any plans on halt. She looked up at Towhee, rolled over onto her back and curled her forepaws to her chest comfortably, yawning slightly as she pondered any of the other stories she'd been told about the DeMonte side of their family. 

"Well, there is this one story I know," She said, though of course, with Niamh, the details were likely to have been skewed slightly due to her inability to pay attention when stories were told. "About some part of our family that got sick with this really ridiculously dangerous disease that was sorta like rabies- made them kinda dangerous an' lash out, and made their tongues turn black," Niamh recalled, sticking her tongue out symbolically, before she launched into a tale about some 'scragamuffin' named Thunder, who'd saved Sarasvati DeMonte's life. The details were all over the place, and she might've mistakenly called Sarasvati "Sassvat" on more than one occasion, but either way- the story was continued on into the next generation, despite the horrible delivery.