Dawnlark Plains chromed out mirror, i don't need a windshield

henlo i'm here. takes place april 10th.

tegan was here-- this had to be it. he'd found easy's scent a few territories back-- real stale but, definitely there. it was hard to track but he did it, it was so strong here. this was morningside-- it had to be. he was so stressed out, oh man. he'd made it here but that meant he'd have to go back. maybe he'd just stay here? maybe morningside would be like a really cool place to live. but what about clover? and fiadh, and lucca? and towhee? and elwood and finley? and maybe even elroy? nah nah. he had to go home. grow some balls tegan, jesus christ.

he knew how to act at the borders-- towhee had set plenty of examples when complaining about wolves that approached their borders. so despite his typical loose body language and sort of quirky exterior, tegan tried to tone it down-- submissive and quiet. 

his grey head tilted back and hey made a loud call for @Easy. 

hah! motherfucker, bet she wasn't expecting this!

Grayday was near the borders, making sure his scent covered up any hint of Catori's. He could still detect tiny traces of the scent of her pregnancy, but he was almost done covering those up. Unless someone was looking for it, they probably wouldn't know there was likely a litter about.

Except that Grayday carried the scent of milk and newborns heavily on his pelt. Oh well.

He moved toward the sound of the howl without thinking about this, more curious to find out who was calling on his daughter here. She was around somewhere, but likely in the Maplewood. It would take her a hot minute to reach the source of the call, and Grayday figured he'd entertain them until then.

And do some snooping.

"Hey," he chuffed, catching sight of a rangy silhouette. The closer he came, the more he learned about the other. A young wolf, about Easy's age. Not from Easthollow, so it couldn't be Ezra. What a shame. "Where'd you come from?" he asked. He was from a pack, but not one around this area. He'd come a long way to talk to Easy....

wait, an old guy came? what the fuck! this wasn't easy-- the guy was waaaay less nice on the eyes. tegan almost wondered if he should just stay still and pretend he wasn't here. that's how it worked, right? don't move and you'll go unnoticed? ugh... maybe he'd at least tell him if easy was here-- or if he was in the right spot. suddenly, tegan made a quick note of the guys face.

"i'm tegan blackthorn," he said at first, tail waving a little bit, "i'm from the redhawk caldera... i'm uh, friends with easy, but my packs moving and i wasn't gonna be able to meet up with her so i just wanted to like, let her know..." oh shit tegan! that was some rambling. ugh, being respectful is so hard. tegan was clearly out of element. maybe it was a good thing easy didn't show up, she probably would've given him so much shit.

"you're grayday, right? easy's dad, she talks about you a lot," he added, trying to seem more likable, somehow-- not typically tegan's way.

Blackthorn, huh? Grayday thought back, momentarily tuning the boy out as he tried to remember if he knew anyone who went by that name. Nothing came to mind. (Although he had actually met and rather liked Tegan sister, Liffey, she had not provided a surname for him to catalogue.) Still, no news was better than bad news, and he figured the kid must be alright if he came all this way just to let a friend know he'd be leaving soon.

"Yeah, that's me," he said with a raise of his brow, a bit surprised to hear that Easy talked about him. He wondered if she was saying good or bad things about him, but he really didn't want to find out from this guy, so he didn't ask. "She might be out right now, but if she's around I'm sure she's on her way over here."

Graydad is sorta boring XD I'll send Easy next round

jesus christ what was this feeling? tegan had never felt this emotion before in his LIFE. he was feeling like he wanted to crawl outta his skin-- like, honestly, was this what being awkward was like? because oh boy, tegan hated it. maybe going home to be set on fire via towhee wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"word," tegan responded with a flick of his ears, a quick confirmation that he'd wait around-- not that grayday was supposed to know what that meant, whoops. and then, he just sorta stood there. the only thing he wanted to vocalize was how fuckin tired he was, and that didn't seem like the right thing to say to this guy.

Tegan didn't appear to have anything to say to that, except, well - word. Which didn't mean a thing to the aging male, who rarely spoke to anyone outside his small pack. "You alright?" he asked, doing a concerned face at the young man. Long trips could really take it out of you, Grayday knew, and he wondered if he should offer some food or water - before selfishly deciding not to. He had kids to feed!

"Daddy! Don't say anything to him!" Easy shouted, running toward them at breakneck speed. "Not a word! Tegan cover your ears! Don't believe him!"

Grumpily, Grayday turned away from the boy and headed back toward Catori and the kids, a bit hurt by Easy's panic. He wasn't going to embarrass her or anything... right?

Easy incoming

Easy skidded to a halt where her father had stood shortly before, panting as she tried to catch her breath. "Love you, Daddy!" she shouted after him before turning to face her friend with an expression of high dudgeon on her dark face. "What are you doing here?" she asked, glad to see him, sorta, but mostly horrified that her father had met him. Urgh, he'd probably said something awful. Easy had heard him talk to Aditya from time to time, and she did not want to be talked about like they talked about Dawn. How embarrassing!

"He didn't say anything weird to you, did he?" she demanded, glancing fearfully over her shoulder. What if she was engaged now or something?

tegan bit back the whole load of complaints he had, instead politely nodding. yessir, tegan was just fine thanks. but then-- oh sweet jesus thank god-- easy came barreling in, as ungraceful as tegan remembered (shots fired). she shooed her father away quickly and as soon as he left tegan plopped his butt to the ground. his legs were so tired. he raised on to inspect his paw pads-- they felt like they were on fire. "hunting wildcats," tegan said simply, still inspecting his foot... then glanced up, nose still pointed down, "nah i'm kidding, i was looking for you. and you better appreciate it cause tow's probably gonna demote me to omega when i get back--" pause, a few dazed blinks, "--or she's gonna kill me, i dunno yet."

tegan sucked in a heavy breath, eyeing her curiously. "he didn't say anything calm down-- what, you got so much dirt you're afraid it's gonna be spread around?" haha. a joke. not a good one, tegan was so beat.

 

Okay, so, it was a little flattering that he'd come all this way to see her. Was that romantic? She squinted at Tegan, but he looked the same as ever - which is to say, not at all romantic. "Cool, but why?" she asked, plopping down next to him and craning her head to see his paw. Why were they looking at it? Was she dreaming?

"Oh - he doesn't have any dirt," she said with a little shrug, not too worried about mentioning what she hadn't wanted her father to mention himself. "It's just that he's obsessed with getting us all married off, and I didn't want him to betrothe me to you or something. He's the boss guy, so if he wanted I think he could just wave his paw and we would be married. Scary, right?"

"they're just sore-- this place is way further than i thought-- and i gotta get back before they start worrying," tegan explained, putting his paw back on the ground. "towhee's worried about that pack-- blackfeather-- cause they moved back into their old territory. so she's making us move. it fucking blows, easy, i don't wanna move. but, i just wanted to let you know... cause we're friends and all that, and it'd be a real shit-ass move if i just stopped coming to meet you and never told you why," he said in a very long explanation, giving a soft huff. man, he hadn't really thought about how much he didn't wanna move until right now. he liked the caldera, like a lot.

oh fuck, gross! wait-- was it gross? wait yeah, totally gross. girls were fucking gross, like, tegan didn't have time for that right now. "what? am i not good enough for you?" he teased playfully, but also kinda confused-- did that infer he was into it? cause he wasn't. tegan was a free bird flying. "not sure mom would be all for some stranger setting me up and stealing me away from the caldera," he added, and then sourly, "not that we're gonna be there anyway..."

For Easy, moving territories was much less jarring. She'd done it as a child and her dad had made no secret of the fact that they'd do it again. Apparently, not all packs opperated that way - Easy guessed she had known that, somewhere in her thick head. "Well, I'll go with you so I can see where your new place is," she offered, tail wagging. "Do you have to leave right away, or do you wanna stay and rest of a couple hours?" She would have to say bye to everyone, of course, and maybe kip in by the den to see if she could kiss her new baby siblings goodbye.

Easy tilted her head at Tegan's question, misreading it entirely. "Oh - well, I'm just he just didn't think of it," he assured him. "Don't take it personally or anything."

whoa whoa wait, did she just say? tegan blinked at her, taken back. "it's gonna be a hike, easy, like, it'll take a hot minute... are you sure?" he asked, somehow adopting some sort of responsibility and concern into his voice, "not that i don't want you too- it'd be so much better to travel with a partner." maybe he wouldn't starve (you didn't eat for two days, it's not the end of the world, tegan) with easy traveling with him.

"sheesh, can i take a power nap? just a quick one, i'm beat," he added with a prick of his ears. he made no comment to easy's mistake, he was too tired to think of some sort of proper comeback... but she totally misread that.

Easy was ready to get fired up about that - she could do anything, alright? But I seemed like Tegan was actually worried about her, and she wasn't about to ruin that with her sass. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I've been travelling non-stop lately, so it's not like it'll be too much of a change," she said, turning in the direction her father had gone and gesturing for Tegan to follow. "C'mon - I'll show you to the shady tree and find something for you to eat. I gotta tell my dad where I'm going, anyway."

Without checking to see if he was following, she trotted off into the territory, barking for Daddy to hold up and come back to talk to her. Poor guy, she thought, but not with much actual pity. He seemed healthy enough to her. "I'm gonna go back with Tegan," she said when she'd caught up, biting at his chin. "Are you gonna be okay while I'm gone?"

Daddy was gonna be okay. He also warned her to be careful, and to make sure she said goodbye to Cat and Pema and her brothers and sisters.

"I was gonna do that anyway," she assured him, turning back to find Tegan.

"ah shit you're gonna feed me? are you sure you're not tryna wife me up, easy-peasy?" he asked with pricked ears, raising up to follow after her. of course, when they met back up with grayday tegan fell real quiet and awkward, a straight, tight-lipped smile across his face, ears fallen back. he looked stupid as fuck.

he looked to easy, waiting for her to lead the way and get them away from this adult that tegan didn't know how to act around. honestly it was probably nice to get a break from tegan's typical 'never-shut-the-fuck-up-ness.'

Urgh, why was he so terrible! Easy waited until Daddy was well out of earshot before replying sotto voce. "That's what girls are supposed to do," she huffed, clearly displeased with what he was implying. "If you want I can just let you starve to death."

Except she wouldn't, because she was a girl, and girls had to take care of boys. That was just the way things worked. "Here - " she thrust her nose toward the shady tree that stood near an icy stream. "Take your nap. I gotta go say bye to everyone." She was about to get out of there and leave him to it before rememebering that she really ought not to leave him alone with no one to vouch for him. "Oh, wait..." She moved forward, attempting to rub her side against his to cover him with her scent. Hopefully, that would keep him safe while she was gone.

"sure, sure, blame it on some last century gender roles, i'll let it slide," he replied with a smile, which widened at her second comment, "please feed me." please please please. tegan was not capable of catching food on his own, apparently. well, not well or consistently anyway... 

he nodded, but before he could slide over there and pass tf out, she was t o u c h i n g h i m. NOO don't touch him. he gave no permission. he got all stopped up and hot in the face, stiff as she swept passed him. "sheesh, a little warning next time," he said, shaking out his fur and whatever nerves had crept into his gut. tegan actually decided he hated morningside, he'd had too many awkward feelings today to like it. 

"come get me when you're ready, i'd sleep for like a week if you didn't wake me up," he added with a wave of his tail, and then set off to the tree to pass tf out.