The Floodlands I'm with the band.

Following a spring downpour, the small river at the foot of Tegan's Tears swelled. Towhee observed the rising waters after finishing a patrol and stepping up to the tarn for a drink. After she slaked her thirst, she began roaming south along the shoreline, wondering if she might find any traces of large game what with the wetlands nature of the area.

Instead, she crossed paths with a bobcat feasting on a fresh-caught fish on the riverbank. As soon as Towhee spotted the cat, she froze, and the feline did the same. They locked gazes, each watching to see if the other made a move.

ive always been slightly curious how this would go.... :D

After her conversation with Smokestep, Rosalyn wasn't one hundred percent sold on his philosophy still.... but she respected him more than she cared about the deserters.  So if he wanted them hunted down, screw it, she'd do what she could.  She liked to travel anyway and a free excuse was alright by her.  Would she kill them per say if she found them? Unknown. Guess it depended.

She set off along the coast south, assuming maybe some had sought the shores, but then trekked inland when she found no trace.  Now she was following the river, always feeling better when she had water in her sights, no matter how unimpressive.

Turns out that wasn't exactly the best course today.  She spotted the cat almost the same instant Towhee did, and before she noticed the other wolf who was on the opposite side.. the side she probably wanted to be on.  Away from the cat.

"Oh shit," she said, freezing and also staring.  The cat's face twisted slightly into a snarl when it turned to her... likely the sight of not one, but two, set some defensive alarms in its system.  This wasn't ideal.

Towhee and the bobcat remained statuesque, until something moved on the cat's other side, causing it to lose the staring contest as its attention diverted. The yearling took a split second to note the source of movement—a petite and unfamiliar she-wolf painted in autumn colors—before seizing the opportunity to eliminate what she considered a threat much too close to the plateau for her liking.

While the bobcat was busy snarling at the second wolf, Towhee sprang toward the curve of its neck. She knew the risks, though hopefully her unwitting accomplice had created the perfect opening for her.

Her first instinct was to run.... last time she had gone toe to toe with a cat, she'd been fucked over royally.  But then she remembered, and a spurt of hatred fired up in her veins.  Not this time asshole.

The other wolf seemed to have a similar idea, lunging across to take a chomp at it as well.  While Towhee went high, she went low, coming around the side to try and nab a forepaw in her jaws.  The less the cat had to strike with, the better.

Link to rolls (o shi).

With the advantage given to her, as well as the other's simultaneous lunge, Towhee should've been able to dart in there, rip out the bobcat's throat and leap clear again without a scratch. Guess again! At the critical moment, the cat spun to field her attack, rather than the other wolf's, possibly because she was larger and thus a more serious threat. In any case, Towhee's attempt was not only thwarted, she took a point-blank slash to the face.

Pain erupted and Towhee unleashed a godawful screech that would surely be heard across the nearby plateau. She couldn't see through the curtain of blood streaming from a gaping slash above her right eye. Fearful that the cat had actually torn out the eyeball—rendering her partially blind on top of being deaf, a near-certain death sentence—the wolf retreated further, incidentally stumbling into the water.

Thinking fast, she dunked her head beneath the surface. She resurfaced with a great gasp and found she could see. Before she could feel any relief, a fresh wave of blood poured forth, obscuring her vision again. The bobcat hadn't clawed out her eye but it had obviously cut up her face pretty well. Between the adrenaline and the cold water, Towhee wasn't in much pain now but she could not possibly ascertain the seriousness of the injury beyond the copious amounts of blood.

She baptized herself again, then glanced over to see how the other wolf was faring—hopefully much better than Towhee.

The cat was smaller, defensive, and should have been an easy target.  Unfortunately for Towhee, it managed to land a hit... and unfortunately for Rosalyn, who had managed to snap down on its other foreleg, that meant Towhee backed off to take care of it.  Leaving her solo against a furious animal who she had trapped from fleeing.

Before she was able to release it and bite down elsewhere, the desperate cat sank it's fangs into her shoulder and it's claws into her back.  It then flipped sideways and proceeded to kangaroo kick the shit out of her hip and flank, causing her to release the paw she held with a cry try to instinctively back up.  Too bad the thing was pretty much attached at the moment, and her hind leg buckled.  Fuck.

Link to roll.

Towhee gasped as she watched the bobcat maul the other wolf. Despite the heavy bleeding, she rushed forward in an attempt to save the stranger. She snapped her fangs at the nearer of the bobcat's hind legs, then sprang aside to avoid a counterattack. Although everything was a red blur again, Towhee managed to evade another slash. She didn't hear the cat's unearthly shriek as a result of the tendons being flayed open by her teeth.

By the time Towhee could wipe the blood from her face with a foreleg, the bobcat was limping swiftly away along the swollen riverbank. There was barely time for relief, however, as the Beta darted to her unknown cohort's side to assess the damage.

This having been the second time Rosalyn got her ass handed to her by a cat, she was not a happy camper by any means.  Fortunately for her, Towhee managed to chase the damn thing off, but her flank was a mess.  The strikes that had landed on her side were surface, but the claws had managed to catch and gouge deep into her hip, exposing muscle and bleeding fairly heavily.  

"Well that went terribly," she said through gritted teeth, though there was no accusation behind it.  It was doubtful Towhee would notice the words, though, and Rosalyn had no idea her new ally was deaf.

She was alive, so that was good. She was even conscious. Her lips moved, though Towhee didn't catch the words, as she was too busy looking at the wounds on the stranger's flank and hip (not to mention the blood still clouding her vision). She cringed, her orange eyes finally making their way to the other's face.

"I'm Towhee," she said, speaking quickly, which made her even more difficult than usual to understand, "and I'm from the pack that lives on the plateau. I'm going to call for help." Without waiting for a response, the Beta threw back her head and howled for @Raven and anyone else who might want to lend a hand. Her voice sounded like a howler monkey being strangled.

Blood had now run down her cheek and neck and she could feel it, hot and sticky. And just as she registered this sensation, she felt lightheaded and dropped to her haunches. She meant to ask the other wolf's name, maybe offer to clean her wounds and also explain that she was deaf. But none of those things happened as Towhee sat there trying to stave off a swoon.

They were a mess of a pair alright, and Rosalyn took Towhee's inspection as a chance to look her over as well.  She had a striking coat, Roz noted a little distantly.  Too bad about the face.  "Yer bleeding," she said, most helpfully, before the fact that she was also bleeding hit her as well.  She needed to get home.

She shook her head dismissively and went to rise, but her hind legs wouldn't support the weight, and there was a shot of agony as she pulled the torn skin of her hip.  At that moment, though, Towhee called, and the unexpected horrendous noise brought a moment of clarity to her.

"The hell kinda pipes are those?" She asked, but didn't note if she received an answer, as things began to swim before her eyes as well, and she dropped to a laying position.  She didn't want to pass out here, not with both of them roughed up and unguarded.  So she bit the side of her mouth, the spike of pain helping to steady a bit, and tried to keep it together with the familiar shiver that started to tingle in her extremities.

Link to roll (the dice gods smiled upon ye, Tow).

It occurred to her that she should splash in the water again to help matters. A little drunkenly, Towhee slogged in that direction, wading sloppily into the shallows and then dropping so that the water came up to her shoulder blades. The current tugged her and was nearly strong enough to drag her downstream, though the chill definitely roused her and the Beta was able to climb back on the shore before she could be washed away.

She slumped there for a moment, blinking to clear the stickiness from her right eye, then hoisted herself back onto all fours and settled beside the stranger once more. "Help is on the way," Towhee said with confidence. "What's your name?" she wondered, unaware of it as a hawk appeared in the distance and began winging closer.

Towhee left for another dip and Rosalyn thought dimly perhaps she should too... but she doubted she could get up if she wanted to, and likely she wouldn't be able to keep her footing.  She was losing blood quicker than was optimal, but there wasn't much she could do until this help she talked about arrived.  

"Roz" she responded, her full name a bit of a mouthful for now and, hey, if gettin busted up by a bobcat together didn't merit nicknames, what did?  "Yer crew... they're close?" She asked,  assuming so.  She had said something about a plateau yeah? Rosalyn was having a hard time keeping track of the conversation, but lucky for Towhee, had turned her face towards the Beta to regard her while speaking.

Despite her compromised vision (and attention span), Towhee caught the name as well as the question. She bobbed her head. "See that plateau? We live there. We're called the Redhawks," she shared as X displayed impeccable timing by swooping to land a few meters away.

"Hey, bud," the Beta said, relieved to see her friend. To Rosalyn, she explained, "This is X. He's kinda like my sidekick." Turning back to X, she asked, "Is anyone coming?"

Was it getting harder to breathe?  She focused on the motion, feeling a cold spike of fear as she completely, again, missed what Towhee said.  It was definitely getting harder to breathe.  

She wondered if it was a dream when the hawk appeared in front of her nose, but on some weird unknown level found it extremely funny that Towhee seemed to know it.  Nbd, just my buddy bird dropping in for a visit. She opened her mouth to comment, but found she didn't quite have the energy to do so right that instant.

Instead, she drifted, everything fuzzing out to darkness.

Hope I'm not cramming too much into one post!

Ho hum, just your average patrol.  A few weird noises up ahead, but he didn't really think much about it.  Let's be real, sometimes Towhee sounded more like a cryptid than a wolf.  After all, they weren't truly alone out here -- there were plenty of other creatures and a few other random wolves wandering about, so it could very well have been any of them causing a ruckus.  He'd just have to keep an eye out and see if anything weird happened.  Then, something did.  That was Towhee's weird garbled howl coming from that same direction, right?  Uhh.  Maybe he should have gone to investigate earlier.  Quixote sprinted off in that direction, still a fair distance away.


Anyway, Quixote showed up on the scene right about when the unfamiliar chick lost consciousness.  He slowed to a walk as it all unfolded before him, taking in the disaster as he quickly processed what to do.  There was already what seemed like an immense quantity of blood all over the area, and given that one of the participants seemed to be slumped over in a pile, that was probably why.  Had Towhee and whoever it was gotten in a fight?  His eyes flicked between them, but the slashes across Towhee's face seemed very unlikely to be from a wolf -- far too clean and dramatic.   No wait.  Bobcat?  That scent was definitely here too.

That was enough for him to start into some kind of action, heading quickly towards the stranger she was looking pretty grim -- at least Towhee was still upright even if she looked like a Halloween prop.  The hell happened?  was about all he'd be able to say before he pointed his attention back to the brownish wolf, though he kept an ear towards Towhee as she likely gave her response.  Quixote did a very, very cursory once-over of the wounds before placing a wide paw heavily on the one that seemed to be producing the most blood to attempt to staunch the flow.  He wasn't particularly gentle about it; Quixote was not a medic, but show up around enough fights and you'd certainly pick up enough things to use to keep your buddies alive until the real help got there.  Speaking of, regardless if Towhee was still talking, he tipped his head back for an additional short howl -- hurry, please.

Link to roll -- y'all are in luck today. ;) Minor pp here with Towhee, hope ya don't mind Kat. Sorry for the novel length, lol.

Raven was all the way over on the opposite side of the Redhawks' domain when she heard Towhee's baboon call howl rend the air from a great distance. It took her a second to ascertain what its message was, but the instant she understood it, she immediately dropped what she was doing -- foraging for early-season medicinal plants -- and took off running as fast as she could. She'd almost left the plants that she had gathered but decided to keep them just in case she needed them. It was fortunate she did, too, because she was unaware of what awaited her at her destination.

She was about halfway there when she saw X pass above her, heading in the same direction as she. Moments later, she heard an urgent call from Quixote beckoning her to hurry. A flutter of panic tickled in her ribs as her imagination treated her to all sorts of horrible scenarios. She refused to entertain them, however, forcing herself to maintain a clear head and doing her best to remain calm.

She arrived breathless, panting around the small clutch of yarrow flowers in her mouth. She was greeted by the sight of two bloodied wolves -- one of whom was Towhee -- and Quixote doing his best to tend to the other, whose injuries appeared to be worse. Raven took a few beats to thank whatever forces had inspired her to search for this particular plant today, because by some great stroke of luck, it was precisely what she needed. With the practiced eye of many years' experience, she took stock of Towhee's injuries as well as the stranger's. While the reddish she-wolf had the most damage by far, instinct told her to treat Towhee first. Towhee was hers.

She quickly snapped up a few yarrow flowers and chewed them, stem and all, into a thick paste. Gesturing for Towhee to lie down, Raven quickly used her tongue to press the salve to the slashes on her face. The cuts were shallow but enormously bloody, and Raven was terrified that she might have lost an eye. As soon as the paste was securely in place, she gently licked the blood from Towhee's face and was relieved to see that her sister's eye appeared to be unharmed.

She was done in a few minutes, and flashed a warm smile at Towhee. "You're going to be okay," she said. "But stay still so the medicine can work better." Turning then to the unconscious female, she chewed more yarrow up while she surveyed the damage. The worst of it was clearly on her hip, which was mangled down deep into the muscle and bleeding extremely heavily. Luckily Quixote had been close enough to help; without him there to apply pressure to slow the bleeding, Raven thought the she-wolf might have bled to death. The wound needed to be washed before she treated it, but she didn't want to set her medicine down in the dirt. Doing her best to talk around the mouthful of green paste, she looked at Qui and asked while gesturing at the wound, "Cuh ya hlick it c'ean f'r meh?"

Thanks so much for joining, peeps! :D

The bird signaled affirmation and a relieved breath gusted out of Towhee. "Oh good," she said, then thought to turn toward Roz and translate the exchange. She noticed the other she-wolf was now hardly conscious and her heart leaped into her throat. She made a quick movement toward Roz's side, which caused a rush of dizziness not unlike her recent bout of heat sickness.

It was while she was trying to collect herself that Quixote arrived. She didn't notice him until he too flicked to Roz's side. Towhee jumped and nearly passed out in one fell swoop, though she managed to cling to consciousness. With that said, she couldn't manage to stay upright and sank down beside Roz, folded like a helpless fawn hidden in the forest.

"Bobcat," she said, unaware of the faintness of her own voice. Towhee felt rather disconnected as she watched Quixote attempt to help the brown she-wolf. "That's Roz," she said somewhat uselessly, flinching when a shadow appeared above. It was only Raven though. The flood of relief sent Towhee sprawling across Roz's hind legs, blood dripping from her mincemeat forehead onto the other victim, though the medic was quick to render aid to her torn face.

For whatever reason, she didn't lose consciousness entirely. Someone eventually moved her off Roz and she settled beside her prostrate hindquarters, staying still because Towhee dimly recollected Raven's lips moving to form those words: "Stay still." Had there been other words? Maybe, "You'll be okay," or something like that? Her forehead throbbed and a breath hissed through her teeth, the pain just barely keeping her awake and Raven's carefully applied coagulant helping her regain her bearings, painstakingly slowly.

It seemed like hours later that Towhee propped herself up on and elbow and blearily queried, "How's Roz?"

She wavered in and out of blackness, dimly noticing when another, and then another, joined the scene.  On some level she registered that it hurt when Quixote put pressure on the wounds, but it was distant enough that there was no reaction to it.

It was kinda nice, actually, this feeling of floating. Towhee's weight being settled on her brought a kind of instinctual comfort when she noticed it, and then she didn't know anything for a while.

The next time she came to, it was presumably while they were working on cleaning and treating the slashes.  The moment the pain registered, she jerked away, but only really succeeded in flinching and likely screwing with the healers' focus at the moment.  "Bloody hell," she hissed, lowering her head again as the world tilted sideways alarmingly.  She closed her eyes, but her mind felt clearer now.  Next time she needed to mind her own damn business and walk away... otherwise Smokestep was gonna end up havin to find a new first mate, because one of these days, her luck was going to run out.

i wasn't sure what timeframe you wanted kat so I just kinda did a bridger!

There wasn't much more he could do until Raven arrived, and Towhee seemed to be slowly circling the drain as well, but she still wasn't quite as critical as this Roz chick.  Yet.  He wasn't sure how much focus Towhee had at the moment, but he also wasn't sure he could use his other front paw to put pressure on her wounds as well nearly as easily while also trying to keep Roz from bleeding out, I need you to stay awake and keep your head up if you can. -- Roz, if you can hear me, can you open your eyes?  The responses seemed to be not great at best, and absolutely none at worst.  Lovely.

But then Raven appeared, which was a definite relief even if he shouldn't be considering everything fine until everyone was patched up and conscious.  Once she was done dealing with Towhee, Raven asked her to clean Roz's wounds.  He hesitated a second.  Roz was a stranger, and there was that momentary voice in the back of his mind saying something like, 'But you don't know where she's been!'  Ugh.  But he had to.  Quixote did his best to radiate out from that major wound on Roz's hip so he wouldn't get in Raven's way as she worked.  At some point, Roz jolted to consciousness, Quixote didn't know which of them had touched a tender spot.  Whatever, at least she wasn't keeling over dead, Welcome back, but hold still so she can work.

Once he was done, he still hovered around in case Raven needed any assistance, checking on Towhee to make sure she wasn't obviously backsliding.  Okay, he also really wanted to go wash out his mouth, but what was the point if something else happened?  There were still a few remaining logistical questions too, like how long it'd be before Roz would be able to move.  He didn't know the pack she was from, but it was definitely not here, and that probably meant it was gonna be a pretty long walk back to wherever.

Raven noticed Quixote's slight pause after she asked him to wash Roz's wound, and she smiled. Squeamish, are we? she mentally asked him, resolving with amusement to give him a hard time about it later. He dutifully did as she asked, though, and within a few quick moments she was applying the medicine to the dark she-wolf's torn hip. Although she had treated worse wounds than this, the size of this one as well as the amount of blood lost concerned Raven. If this became infected, it could become a problem of life-threatening magnitude very quickly.

The half-conscious wolf flinched and hissed out a curse, and Raven sympathized for her. She could only imagine how much it had to hurt but still, she persisted in her ministrations. She had to pack the medicine into the wound tightly so it could get into all parts of the damaged tissue and slow the bleeding. She tried to work quickly so as not to prolong the pain, and after a few minutes, she was satisfied. She used what little she had left of the yarrow to treat the other, shallower scratches on Roz's side, and then stepped back. Glancing over at Towhee, she was pleased to see that Quixote was keeping an eye on her. She stepped to her sister and made a few small, gentle adjustments to the placement of the medicine on her face, licking away more blood and grime as she did. "Roz is hurt badly," she answered in reply to Towhee's question, speaking slowly so the dazed Redhawk could better understand her. "But I'm going to do my best to help her. And you."

Finally, she looked up at Quixote and blew out a sigh. "We're going to have to stay here with them until they can both move on their own." There was, after all, no way that she and Qui could carry two fully-grown wolves back up the plateau themselves, and dragging the injured pair was out of the question. "I think we should bring Roz home with us too. That wound on her hip is going to need a lot of attention and I wouldn't feel right sending her out on her own when she can't walk."

Short and crappy! I think this will be my last post, so feel free to PP her!

"Roz is hurt badly," Raven told her. Fortunately, she faced Towhee and spoke slowly so the dazed yearling could catch the words. She frowned, feeling both guilty and helpless.

"Don't let her die, Rave," she whispered with dry, bloodless lips. "Don't die, Roz," she added, turning her head to peer at the brown she-wolf. She seemed to be awake. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

Towhee fell silent and put her injured head on her paws, eyes closing. She needed to fight to stay conscious so that Quixote and Raven could focus most of their attention on Roz when it came time to start moving somewhere safer.

Hurt badly? Hell this wasn't anything... she wanted to say.  But her head was swimming too much to get that much out, and offhand cockiness seemed like a lot of effort.

They were insane if they thought she was dyin here, she thought stubbornly, and her head lifted some.  "'s fine," she said with a grimace, then falling back.  "Jus... need a minute."  Or an hour.  Or two.  She was not looking forward to moving, but dimly she realized they were talking about bringing her back with them.  She didn't like it, but if it was closer than shore, she'd take it.  For now.

Much as she wanted to sleep, instinctively she knew she needed to not do that right now.  So she too would fight to maintain her senses, and when they moved, do as much as she could to help.  

assuming that we can close this out <3 but if you wanna thread it out a little more that's fine!

As Raven was wrapping things up he finally stepped away to take a drink and wash the blood from his mouth.  Quixote felt a hell of a lot better after that, quickly returning to the group, taking a seat next to Raven, but positioned so he could clearly watch the non-river side of their surroundings better in case the bobcat or whatever hellbeast returned.  How long do you mean?  Like a few hours or overnight or what?  Towhee at least could probably amble along but he had no clue how they were gonna get this Roz chick back on her own feet without her springing a leak.  Was he gonna be trying to carry another wolf on his back somehow?  Would being on three legs be too much movement?  Were they just gonna hang out here and he'd end up standing guard or something?  He looked back to Raven with a quick flicker of something between a smirk and a smile, You tell me what we're doing, boss. This is your wheelhouse, not mine.

Fading! A bit of PP with Jennifer's permission.

Nobody is dying, thought Raven in response to Towhee's whispered plea. Not on my watch. Promise. Towhee rested her head and closed her eyes, and when Raven was certain her sister wasn't losing consciousness or falling asleep, she turned her attention back to the clearly suffering Roz. "You're going to need more than a minute, dear," said the healer gently, her mind already scrambling to come up with a plan.

Looking at Quixote, she answered him, "Let's keep them here for a while until I know they're both stable -- Roz, mainly." Moving her too soon could cause the woman to slip even deeper into shock and potentially cost her her life. Raven had never broken a promise to Towhee before, and she certainly didn't plan to start now. "The medicine will slow the bleeding. Once it's safe to do so, we can call for some help getting them home."

And so they waited, Raven monitoring their condition, checking their wounds, and tending to them as needed while Quixote stood guard and helped wherever he could, until much later that evening. At the alpha male's call, a few packmates came to their aid, managing to awkwardly carry Roz under Raven's watchful eye while another helped Towhee walk. It took them a while to get back home, all of them moving very slowly and carefully, but eventually they arrived back at the plateau where both Towhee and Roz could rest and receive more thorough care.