Hoshor Plains reschedule that for tomorrow

@Rannoch. ^_^

The herd of deer that he had chased with Lagan and Gannet a while back had moved on from their normal stomping grounds. When he'd asked Raven where they had gone, she shrugged and said he should find out for himself. Beaming at this newly-assigned task, he had set out last night (after letting Finley, Elwood, Raven, and the other adults know where he was going) to find out where they had gone. Their scent was easy enough to pick up, but boy, had they gone far!

He navigated through Bramblepoint, along a river for some time -- the one that fed into Big Salmon Lake -- then had to cross an even bigger river. Thankfully there was a shallow point, so he hadn't needed to do too much swimming to get from one side to the other. Finally, he'd come to a great expanse of gently rolling plains where he spotted "his" herd of deer grazing lazily in the summer afternoon.

Phox hadn't slept since the day before, but it was totally worth it. He plopped down on his butt and watched them grazing with a silly content smile on his face.

Thank!

 
After parting ways with Lagan, Rannoch headed westward in his attempt to investigate whether or not Harold was a resident of Hoshor Plains. Thus far in his investigation, Rannoch thankfully had not come across the stench that grizzly exuded. 

He strode through the tall grasses with purpose; his head held high as he navigated through the territory that he had called home for a few weeks. Soon enough, the intriguing scent of an undistinguishable Caldera wolf came to him by way of a gentle breeze. Curious to who it might be, as he was slowly getting to know some wolves from Liffey's pack, Rannoch changed his course and headed towards the direction of the other. 

He had spotted the herd of deer before he did the child. His pace ceased at this discovery, and he stood silently, not wishing to scare them off. A simple sweep of his aquamarine eyes located the nearby wolf who smelled of Liffey's former home. The Alpha wondered if the wolf, who looked no older than Redshank, was merely watching the herd or if he had different intentions. A quiet wuff escaped the male's dark lips as he attempted to grab the other's attention and figure out what he was doing. Though it wasn't Rannoch's business, the Alpha had a soft side for children and wanted to make sure the kid didn't do anything he would later regret.

A single ear twitched backward at the noise, and it took a great amount of willpower to turn his head and look at the stranger. The stranger hadn't said anything, nor did he make any sudden moves, and Phox—being the friendly adolescent he was—got up and pivoted to face the blue-eyed wolf. "Hi, I'm Phox! What's your name?" If Towhee had been here, she'd probably be bristling and ready to pounce on the "outsider," but she wasn't, and Phox was nothing like his sister in that regard.

Phox wasn't sure if the adults of his pack would want to come back here and hunt the deer, but he did hope that this guy didn't eat them all before they got a chance to. There was still plenty of small game, but Phox had been really excited to take back information about where "his" herd had gone off to.

Rannoch's assumptions on the situation were dismantled by the manner in which Phox had greeted him. He had been convinced that the adolescent was biding his time until he struck, but, apparently, Rannoch had misjudged the situation. "I'm Rannoch," he replied, expression matching the jovial tone in which he spoke with. 

The question of the herd still lingered at the forefront of his mind, and he turned from the darker wolf and towards the grazing prey. "How long have you been watching them?" he asked as he turned his attention back to his company.

"I just got here," Phox explained quickly, but then he realized the other might be asking in total, and he responded a second time. "But I started watching them a month or two ago. My brothers and I chased them, but we weren't trying to get them." It would still be awhile before Phox and his littermate were allowed to participate in pack hunts, but he sure was looking forward to it. In the meantime, he would keep an eye on his herd and make sure they stayed healthy. He was, for all intents and purposes, a shepherd of these deer.

"Have you been following them, too?" he asked, feeling somewhat protective over his herd. He hoped that this guy wouldn't try and steal them from him. An even bigger fear was that Rannoch would catch too many and the herd would die out or disperse. Phox certainly didn't want that. One day, he wanted to hunt this herd. It was his.

Relief was an understatement to how Rannoch felt about Phox's reply. When realizing that he was only watching, the Alpha relaxed visibly, his shoulders releasing the tension they held previously. "I thought you were going to do something stupid," the Alpha admitted, his voice gentle. This was not to say that Phox was stupid, as Rannoch barely knew the kid, but, given what he had seen, he felt as though he had to make sure that the raven-haired adolescent knew what he was doing. 

To Phox's question, Rannoch shook his head. "No, no. I was in the area to see if I could determine whether or not a bear was still prowling around here. Thankfully, the plains seem safe from what I can tell." The wolves of the Vale would be pleased to hear that Harold had left them for somewhere beyond their range. "Then when I smelled you I got distracted because you smelled like the Caldera and had to see what's up." Realizing that may have been an odd thing to say, he elaborated: "My good friend Liffey was born in the Caldera, and I always make a point to introduce myself to her family and friends." 

Phox was mildly offended, but he made no show of it, especially when Rannoch went on to explain that he knew Liffey. "Liffey!" the young wolf beamed, having not seen her since she left. Lagan had seemed really sad about his sister leaving, and Phox wondered if he would be sad if Towhee ever left. The mere thought of that made his stomach flip. "Is she gonna come back and live with us?" Phox asked, even though he had a feeling the answer was no.

"It would make Lagan really happy!" At least... Phox thought it would. Lagan wasn't a depressed puddle or anything, but the young Redhawk thought it would be better for the siblings to be together. Weren't they supposed to stick together forever?

Rannoch's attempt to strike up a connection between Phox had worked, but not in the manner that he had anticipated. Though the aspiring hunter's exclamation had started them off strongly his second remark was one that faltered Rannoch's feelings on the interaction thus far. If there was one thing he knew about Liffey, it was the fact that she had no intentions of ever returning to the Caldera. Even though the reason why remained a mystery, and Rannoch respected her privacy, he knew that she felt strongly about this topic. 

"I'm afraid she's not," he replied with a frown, his ears dropping as he spoke. "But, you could always come and visit the both of us in the Vale?" it was the least he could offer the kid, especially since he had stolen Liffey away from the Redhawks and Blackthornes.

*throws self for a loop*

Phox squinted at Rannoch, wondering why he was keeping Liffey away from them. Actually, he knew exactly why. Liffey was awesome! But why didn't she come visit them? And why had she left them in the first place? None of it made any sense to Phox, who was perfectly happy to live out the rest of his days in Redhawk Caldera with Towhee, Orca, Lagan, and the rest of the gang. Then again, Eljay had left, too. Phox didn't get it. Maybe they'd come back, like Nightjar had.

"Maybe she should come visit us!" Phox said, feeling anger bubble up in his chest, for reasons he couldn't even begin to comprehend (yay, teenage hormones). Without giving Rannoch a chance to respond, Phox stormed off, forgetting all about his herd and how he'd come all this way to track them down. All he wanted to do was go home and go to sleep and not talk to anybody ever again.

Given how cordial their meeting had been up to this point, Rannoch found himself genuinely confused when Phox responded. Phox's anger seemed to have materialized out of nowhere and, in reaction to this, Rannoch found himself needing to address the issue head-on. This realization came to him as Phox retreated from the scene, as the teenager drove himself away from both the Alpha and the herd, and quickly, Rannoch reacted. 

"Phox!" He called as he gathered himself onto his paws to launch himself in the direction that the other had gone. "Wait up!" Rannoch's mind scrambled for the right thing to say as he chased after Phox. Though Rannoch was slow, he was determined to catch up with Phox in an attempt to work out just had happened. And, hopefully, Phox would oblige.

Rannoch protested his departure, but Phox would have none of it. Instead, he stopped in his tracks, whipped himself to face the traitor, and bared his teeth. "Leave me alone!" he bellowed, though it felt more like an out-of-body experience than anything he would actually say. Rannoch had stolen Liffey away, and he wasn't going to give her back. Either that, or Liffey didn't care enough about her own family to even visit them. In either case, Rannoch was the bad guy on some level, and Phox wanted nothing to do with him.

Phox's second refusal caused the alpha to slow. At this point, as he had been rejected twice, Rannoch knew there was nothing else he could do. He had done his best to reason, but, the alpha had found that doing nothing was sometimes the right thing to do. With this decided, Rannoch watched helplessly on as Phox slipped away from his sight. After watching where the other had disappeared, Rannoch eventually turned around to return to the Vale, feeling disappointed with the outcome of their interaction.