Redhawk Caldera DNA Mad Scientist

Luck shined on him today.  He was trotting back over the territory line, a hare dangling from his maw.  He was intending to put it in the cache for later, just in case.  The spring population boom wasn't going to happen for a few more weeks at the earliest, so he wanted to make sure there'd be plenty of food stored away until then.  Besides, when was Finley supposed to pop?  Soon?  Can't have a mother being hungry or he might be on the menu.

He still hadn't been too successful with his recruiting -- or at least, he didn't have a whole horde of new women now in the ranks.  As the days went by, it seemed less and less likely for him to be able to use the season itself to score himself a girlfriend.  Not that it was likely to be too important this year anyway -- it'd be a hell of a whirlwind romance if he somehow ended up with pups.  Or an accident.  But Quixote was way too paranoid about being chewed out by leadership to think that'd happen.

But now he had a chance, didn't he?  The war was over.  Hopefully they'd not have to do it again (he at least didn't know the Blackfeathers had returned to their home, as he'd stayed keenly away from it).  What was a year?  He had a lot more ahead of him, didn't he?  The thought had put a bit of a spring in his step as he pranced back into Redhawk territory and started up the slopes, the hare bouncing along with each step.

Towhee snorted awake, sitting up so abruptly that X jumped into the air in surprise (emitting a cry she didn't hear). She blinked rapidly, the dregs of her dream circling in her mind. She had dreamed that Finley had given birth and all the pups had come out black as night, because @Phox was secretly the father. Towhee's stomach churned uncomfortably as she grunted and heaved herself to her feet. She gave her body a good shake, head included, the last vestiges of the unwelcome dream thankfully rattling out of both useless ears.

Parched from sleep, she blinked at X, who spread his wings and hopped up onto her shoulder. The Alpha quickly swiveled and began walking uphill toward the caldera, eager for a cool drink. As she climbed, she spotted Quixote doing the same, their trajectories parallel. Eyeing the rabbit in his mouth, she altered her angle to make an approach. As she closed in on him, she nodded, aware that he couldn't engage verbally at the moment and that there were probably too many limitations for a conversation in ptero to be viable.

To a certain point, he'd been glad he hadn't run into Towhee since her promotion.  He wasn't entirely sure how to treat her or how everything was going to work now.  Normally he was ultra-respectful to leaders, which given his history was probably unsurprising since it kept him alive longer.  But then again he was casual and snarky to his friends and peers.  What did that make her?  There was also the fact he had no idea how they were gonna be dealing with some of the mundane alpha-y stuff, especially when she also wasn't a super friendly sort.  He was afraid to even ask.  Hell, if she'd been able to hear, he might not have expressed any opinions about her when talking to Colt.  The trees had ears.

His ears, though, tilted slightly back, and even from that it was probably at least a little obvious he was going to treat her differently -- and not just with proportionate more respect.  It was proper to offer the alpha the food, wasn't it? Especially since he was just planning to stash it away anyhow -- might save him some effort.  Despite being limited in actually being able to say stuff, he was still going to try like the stubborn git he was -- if she'd been able to hear, he'd just wharglbargl and talk with his mouth full.  The best he could communicate was to wave the hare towards her and then cant his head.  He figured she of all wolves would likely be able to figure it out.  If she couldn't.. Well.  Maybe he was just an idiot.

He instantly offered his kill to her and Towhee managed a thin, sleepy smile and shook her head. "I just woke up," she explained. "I'm not hungry. I'm dying for a drink though." She gestured with her own muzzle toward the caldera, implicitly inviting him to tag along. Surely they would pass by a cache on the way there.

But she was only assuming his destination. "We should take that to Finley directly," she said just before they arrived at the lake shore. She stepped toward the water's edge, digging her toes into the silt, and bent to lap greedily. Thirst slaked, she lifted her head again and licked her dripping jowls even as she said, "I can show you to the den if you don't know the way."

Quixote nodded.  He'd follow along, partially because he also wanted to maybe ask her a few questions now that things weren't so stressful.  Mostly what he was gonna be doing now that (fingers crossed) they weren't gonna fight anyone else for a while.  He had ideas.  He'd made assumptions.  And pretty much at this point he figured it was probably a good idea to get the stamp of approval before he continued on doing whatever he wanted. To do so, he didn't mind a detour.

He did feel pretty dumb when she mentioned Finley, though.  That should have been a blatant destination for this snack, but Quixote could be a dunce at times.  His ears twitched, wishing he'd thought of that in the first place.

At the lake's edge, he set the hare down gently and also moved to take a drink.   Once done, he looked over to make sure she'd be able to read him, Sure.  I kinda know where it is, but it always seemed impolite to go confirm unless I had a reason to head over there.  Especially if the den's owner had pups.  That was a good way to die if you weren't trusted, and being the outsider of the lot, he'd rather not take his chances, despite the fact that now he was probably better off in that aspect now that the war was over.  With that, he scooped the rabbit back up and was ready to go.

Towhee noticed the way Quixote positioned himself so that she could more easily read his lips. She smiled at him, appreciative, and nodded understandingly at his words. "Fair enough. I don't think Aunt Finley will mind us visiting, so long as we come bearing gifts. I think it'll score points with her if we make sure she knows it's coming from you." She winked, then quipped, "More importantly—since I'm the Alpha and all—it scores points with me." She grinned smugly.

Motioning for him to follow, she began to pad in the direction of the Beta pair's whelping den. Towhee wasn't really one for small talk, though she knew she'd have to carry the conversation as they traveled. "Do you have much experience with pups?" she wondered, peering sideways at Quixote. She figured it was smartest sticking to questions that could be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" gesture.

Quixote attempted to smirk around the rabbit.  Only kinda awkward.  It seemed like he wasn't the only one who was a little more goofy with less stress on the table.  Then again, when she'd tried to force feed him her foot, that had kind of broken the ice a bit as well.  He could almost forget that she was the alpha now -- ok not really, since not only was he mildly paranoid, and she just mentioned it.  Either way, he certainly wouldn't mind staying in leadership's good graces.

Pups though.  He shook his head, but the way he did seemed uncertain or perhaps just complicated or something?  An ear tilted sideways slightly. There was only so much that could be said while walking along carrying a hare, and it seemed rather like he'd have had more than a couple of words to say about it.  Then again it was also one of those subjects where he'd often hide behind what he expected an average bro to be like rather than say something that might make him seem like a nice person.  It was probably stupid and pointless in the end, but it kept him from having to face things where he was only 75% sure he knew what he actually wanted and didn't want to be wrong.

He'd also probably be a pretty bad poker player.

He shook his head, which was interesting but not particularly surprising. "Well, you'll get a fair share here," she informed him. "My godparents have had several litters and I fully anticipate that they'll keep going for years to come. I'm counting on them, actually, because I really don't intend to have a family myself and someone has to be responsible for carrying on the legacy and whatnot."

They were already nearing the den, so Towhee motioned for Quixote to stop. "I'm not actually sure how receptive she'll be to visitors right now, so we should just leave this here where she can grab it whenever she wants it. But this is it: the Betas' whelping den." She eyeballed it but saw no obvious signs of her godmother's presence; she was probably deep inside, snoozing.

Either way, that revelation about Towhee not wanting a family might trouble the probably-not-serious plans he'd discussed with Colt.  Obviously this truly vital information would have to be brought to the table next time they were having their venting/gossiping/whatevering conversations.  It was probably about time Quixote checked in again with him -- maybe it was time for the two bachelors to go get in to trouble recruiting finally.

And there was the den.  With the way he moved forward a few extra steps to drop the hare carefully within a reasonable radius of the den entrance then quickly retreated, perhaps he was expecting Finley to suddenly dart out and attack him like a moray eel or something.  With his ears flicked back and his whole body held slightly lower than normal, it was probably more than a little obvious that he was maybe possibly a little bit wary and keen to put a bit more distance between himself and the den.  Quixote was definitely not without baggage, and also wasn't just going to drop his previous worries without being more than sure they weren't going to come true.  He preferred to keep all his limbs whole and his pelt no more ruffled than it already was, thank you very much.  

This did mean he was able to talk again, though.  Not that she'd notice, he spoke at just above a whisper in reply, taking full advantage of the fact that volume didn't matter to Towhee, I haven't even run into last year's batch, really.  Towhee was the youngest wolf in the pack he knew, unless he was just really bad at telling ages -- he'd seen them vaguely in passing or at a distance, at the meeting.  Hell, they didn't look too much like pups any more at this point.  Quixote had also been in sort of an odd way since the war had concluded, not sure what to do with himself, so seeming kind of like a weirdo probably hadn't helped win anyone over since he stopped being a hobbit. Do they just not like strangers or am I just unlucky? Or lucky?  He tried to be humorous but it seemed a little forced, likely because he was a little too tightly wound at the moment.

She quirked an eyebrow at Quixote's openly apprehensive mannerisms, biting back a bit of a snort. Her eyes fixed on his face as he explained that he hadn't really crossed paths with any of the Betas' previous offspring. Aforementioned brow rose even higher. His final word cued something of a squint.

"They're all great," she said, feeling a prickle of defensiveness over them. She supposed they could be obnoxious—they were kids—so she summoned some understanding and patience. "I find that really surprising, actually. You've not met any of them?" Towhee pressed. If that was true, then she was disappointed in all five of them.

Again he shook his head, Didn't think anything of it at first.  My old pack, if fighters got anywhere near the pups before they're the age they are now, we'd get chewed to hell.  Not our assignment.  He kind of didn't blame them.  He didn't trust some of the idiots that had been good for teeth and that was about it.  Some were dumb as a box of rocks, probably partially because they weren't socialized to do any better than that.  Quixote himself didn't know what to expect from other packs but his past experience had seemed like a safe starting point -- he'd carry his baggage around until he found a good place to stow it.

And yet, from her response he also felt like he should try and make excuses for them a little, I was out of the territory scouting a lot before the war...  Okay, since then there wasn't as much of an excuse. His adventures to go recruiting hadn't been too numerous yet, nor too productive.  He did kind of want to talk about recruiting stuff at some point, but if she was going to mention more about the youths of the pack, he'd let her do so first.

He explained himself. Although Towhee found his reasoning acceptable—particularly the bit that included his efforts toward the war—she decided she would give Quixote a task. That seemed to be her thing lately: delegating small, purposeful missions to her pack mates.

"All right, well, this isn't your old pack. They're nearly yearlings, so you should get to know them." The way she leveled her gaze, she hoped it was understood that it wasn't merely a friendly suggestion but a command. "Maybe some of them would appreciate some training from you," she added, "and you could absolutely use that sort of experience to earn your own trades." Hint, hint.

Quixote nodded. He didn't know how it was he'd missed them so far if they hadn't been cloistered away, but still wondered if maybe it was because he was the odd one that wasn't family.  He'd try to ascertain if that was the reason whenever he did run across one of the youngsters -- in the most covert way possible of course, as all he could think of right now were impolite ways to phrase the question. Will do when I'm not roaming.  I've been going out to see if we can find some more new members -- or trying to.  He didn't know if she'd noticed the random days he'd not be lurking around the territory, Not much luck other than finding one of Finley's sisters. Will see if she comes back.  He had no idea even if current threads said she would.  Did he want her to? She seemed kind of... Uh.  More prickly than him maybe? Maybe not quite the right term. Either way, he was gonna avoid her for a while should that thread go well.

He disclosed a third reason for not crossing paths with the pack's youth: spending time outside the territory, attempting to recruit. Towhee's mouth opened, then closed. Had the Betas asked him to do that? She certainly hadn't. In Towhee's mind, the Redhawks didn't need to go scrubbing through the wilderness, searching for outsiders to drag back home. In fact, she actively disliked that idea.

"Did my aunt and uncle tell you to do that...?" she wondered. Regardless of his answer, she pondered a moment before saying, "I don't think we're in dire need of recruits right now. I appreciate your efforts but I'd prefer you spend your time closer to home, getting to know the wolves who already live here." But she wasn't going to harp on him; she'd made herself clear.

There was a brief silence before Towhee changed the subject slightly. "And this is random..." She paused, as if uncertain whether to proceed, then went ahead. "I don't want to bother my godparents with this; they've got new pups to worry about soon. But I've heard rumors here and there about Blackfeather wolves still stirring up trouble around the area. I don't know if there's anything we can do about it but I wanted to maybe pick your brain, since you're experienced and all.

Not right now, though," she said in the very same breath. "Nature's calling, then I've got to get around to a patrol. But I'll come find you sometime soon, all right?" Towhee gave Quixote a proper opportunity to respond, despite the urgent clamoring of her bowels, before nodding to him and retreating to pinch a loaf somewhere more private.

No, my own initiative.  He thought he'd been doing okay for a complete and utter novice at it.  

And then came part of the reason that even though he trusted leadership, it was only to a point.  There was always going to be some time when the curtain would be pulled back and there'd a decision he didn't agree with at all, something that reminded him that the world always seemed to think of him as worth less.  That fate would never really allow him to be how he imagined normal to be.  It would always stoke the anarchic embers just at the last minute, to keep it always glowing in the back of his mind.  Quixote started to say something but stopped with a slight shake of his head.

Though at this point in the year his chance of having his own family by summer was basically nil, he was hoping to plan for next.  Now even with almost a year before that date, it seemed questionable again.  He should have just kept his escapades to himself.  Why had he believed that she'd agree with him?  Sure, it was selfishly motivated, but...  In the end it would have been good for the pack, right?  Their numbers had fallen since the war, after all.  There was no question he was displeased to hear her response, but he kept himself in check, even as part of his mind sneered about him overstepping his bounds.

Towhee wasn't a friend, just a leader.  He'd be a good little soldier, but would watch his tongue in the future.  But Blackfeather back?  Just what the world needed to further dampen his spirits. Yeah I'll be around.  Just lemme know.  Just what they needed, another potential war.  When he thought things were looking up, it had to come crashing down again.  He was definitely ready to go, bowing his head before heading off.  He had things to sulk about -- plans to make about burning bridges when he crossed them.