Redhawk Caldera two minutes to midnight

Takes place the evening of June 30, 2017.

Happy National Meteor Watch Day, Redhawk Caldera!

 

The end of the month was marked by what felt like a particularly early sunset. The sun seemed in a hurry to dip below the horizon, leaving in its wake a brilliant green flash, quick as an errant thought. The cloudless summer sky was a swirl of purples and blues; and when the waxing gibbous moon tiptoed up through the tenebrae, her light shone especially brightly.

Though the moon was still about a week shy of her full illumination, her unnatural luminescence and the pale cyan halo that appeared around her made it seem that she’d skipped ahead in the lunar cycle. Moondogs glimmered to life like a pair of symmetrical parentheses — and then, in scant trickles at first, the stars began to dance across the sky.

They came in ones and twos — trios and quartets, quintets and sextets — and then they lanced the darkness in the tens and twenties, filling the balmy summer night with kaleidoscopic light.  The stelliferous light show was bound to last for a few days at least, but this was its brightest hour. The green-carpeted slopes were illuminated, along with the jagged crags and rugged terrain; and the reflection of the meteors on the smooth surface of the lake created a mesmerizing mirror effect.

posted by coelacanth.

He never cared much for the skies or the weather as a pup. Nightjar was all about the physical world and action. The heavens were out of reach, something he could never alter with any act he committed, so he had paid them almost no mind when he was young. The weather could not be tempered and he only cared about it in the present, anyway. He went about his life this way, caring only about what existed in the present moment, and nothing further.

That night he was just returning from a late night border patrol. He'd caught the scent of coyote earlier but was unable to find the perp, and decided to leave that hunt until the morning. With a mighty yawn, he crested the last rise to the lake, where he preferred to spend his nights, and only noticed the stars above when he stopped for a drink and noticed their reflection.

Tipping his head back, the variegated Redhawk watched the stars shoot across the sky in bundles. What? he wondered, and felt a squeezing sense of foreboding in his chest. What could make the stars fall like that? Surely it wasn't anything good, and his bad ear twitched as he rocked back on his haunches to watch with an uneasy grimace. The only wolf that he knew of who might have been able to shed light on that was Wildfire, who had once cared a lot about what secrets the sky held, but she wasn't around anymore thanks to him.

Oh well, he thought, and wondered if somewhere in the world, she was watching the same star show and telling her pack mates what it all meant.

Lagan sat on a patch of moss at the rendezvous point, lazily playing kick rock by himself. He used to play this game with Liffey and Eljay, but now he had to play alone. He really missed his siblings. Sure he had Gannet and Raven, and his mom and dad and all his babies, and all his new friends too, but it wasn't the same. It was weird without Eljay, but it was even weirder without Liffey. Liffey had been there from the beginning, literally in the womb with him. It seemed there had been womb for three in Finley, but only room for one in the Caldera.

Lagan wasn't in the best mood at the moment, thinking about his lost family members. Something in Lagan's thoughts drew his attention away from the pebble at his feet, and he glanced up at the sky. Just as he did, he saw a huge light streaking past. It was beautiful, twinkling into and out of existence in a moment. Lagan's mouth fell open in awe as he watched more follow it. Some flew directly above him and cast a glow on the ground around him. Lagan's grey fur both glowed and swayed in the light breeze that touched the night.

His night was immediately better, but still he couldn't help but think of Liffey. Liffey loved the stars, this was her thing. She used to try and tell him which stars were which. He wondered if some of the ones she had told him about were falling right now. Probably not. He wished she were here to experience this with him, but it made him smile to know that somewhere, she was probably just as awestruck as he.

Phox, who had been enamored with the sky for as long as his tiny brain could remember, had immediately noticed the weird streaking lights buzzing across the sky. It was strange, but it was also so pretty! He stood, mouth agape, looking at the sky for at least two minutes before he managed to snap out of it enough to see if anybody else was seeing what he was seeing.

The first wolf he ran into was Lagan, and he also appeared to be watching the dazzling show. "Lagan, isn't this so cool?!" He nudged his brother's shoulder, grinning from ear-to-black-ear as he returned his gaze to the sky above.

As night fell, Elwood was making his way back to the rendezvous site. At first, he didn't notice the brilliant display overhead, but when he heard Phox's excited voice, he looked up. He paused, one forepaw suspended in midair as he observed the swirls of color that accompanied the sunset. Quickly, the sky darkened, save for the moon's glow and the sudden and inexplicable dancing of the stars.

Wordlessly, he made his way towards his sons and took a seat near them. His gaze remained directed upward as he watched the natural light show, and much like Lagan, he couldn't help but think of Liffey.

Fin was making her way back to the rendezvous site to settle down for the night. She'd been spending a great deal of time at the whelping den, preparing for the birth of her third litter - an event she was pretty sure would happen any second now. She had reached the point where it was impossible to actually get comfortable, so she figured she may as well be with her family if all of the bedding inside the den wasn't going to be of any use to her.

She had nearly reached them when a sparkle of light overhead took her attention. Finley paused to turn her head skyward, watching with a furrowed brow for a few minutes before a second star fell. Her lips parted slightly as more and more began to fall, painting streaks of light across the black. She was still as she watched for a few minutes, but eventually she was distracted by the voices of her packmates. Fin picked up her pace again until she reached the rendezvous site where Phox was bombarding Lagan with excitement and some others milled about with upturned eyes.
 
Fin spotted Elwood nearby and she made her way quietly towards him. She settled onto her haunches at his side and leaned gently against him, wordlessly. Her eyes fell from the sky to sweep across the Caldera's slopes, spying the lake in the distance and watching the way the light flashed across its surface. It was an incredible sight, but like Lagan, Fin couldn't help but think sadly of Eljay and Liffey and wonder if they were watching the meteor shower as well.

Liffey would be like Phox - overwhelmed with awe at what was happening overhead. Well, actually, she'd be way more of a nerd about it and being trying to hypothesize about what exactly was happening and why and what it meant and what the ramifications of the event would be. Her poor, sweet Eljay, on the other hand, was probably terrified. Fin shut her eyes, feeling that unfortunately familiar ache in her heart and sending another silent prayer out to the universe to take care of her little wolves.

Towhee was in the middle of her own late patrol when the light show started. She froze, the falling stars reflected in her orange eyes as she stared in trepidation. After watching for a moment, she pivoted and began loping toward the territory's heart to locate her family. The rendezvous site was far from empty when she arrived, apparently simultaneously with @Raven. The two sisters locked eyes—Raven looked calm enough, which was reassuring to the youth—then Towhee bounded over to join Phox and Lagan even as the caretaker sidled in Finley's general direction.

"Phox," the Xi said much too loudly, "what does it sound like?" She could only imagine there was some beautiful or terrifying (or possibly both) noise accompanying the fiery missiles zooming toward the earth.

Orca had followed Raven, sticking close to her older sister even as she stared up at the falling stars. It made her a little nervous, but when she saw the other adults gathered and noticed that they didn't seem to be worried, she felt slightly better. She maintained a stooped posture, however, her head ducked as though she was afraid one of the balls of light would land between her ears.

She approached Phox and Towhee even as her deaf sibling asked a question, and though it wasn't directed at her, she answered quietly as she settled herself. "I don't hear anything," she said; then, realizing that Towhee may not have looked at her in time to read her lips, she shook her head and signed, -They're not making any noise.-

The little group of Blackthorns and Redhawks sat together until the end of the nighttime show, murmuring amongst themselves as they watched the stars light up the sky. There were a range of emotions clearly present, but the one that eventually prevailed for Elwood was gratitude. He was thankful to have his family with him this evening, even if there were a few important members who were missing.

He hoped that their other packmates were enjoying the view from other locations, and it seemed natural when he lifted his voice into a howl as the last falling star winked into darkness.