Heron Lake Plateau i can see a heart-sized hole inside this bottle, where i'm pondering a midnight swim

all tags are for reference, and AW

a few meters from the lip of the den where @Raleska and @Svalinn slept, a silent visitor had come in the night. caiaphas nosed the troubling scent with a scowl - the musky scent and broad imprints left in damp soil were unmistakably that of a male bobcat. the pawprints were not three hours old -- and likely, the cat had come hunting and turned away at the scent of adults around the den.

either way, caiaphas did not appreciate the discovery and she started to follow the meandering trail with a hateful look about her.

tegan was up late that night. on the prowl. he'd meant to catch up with sapphira cause she was still a hot piece of ass that he needed to pursue, but dude was sorta busy doin other stuff. way cool stuff. don't ask questions. 

on his stroll, tegan too picked up on the scent of wildcat, which was bizarre cause typically tegan was entirely spatially unaware when inside the borders of redhawks claim. he too took off after the scent, which was SUCH a stupid idea because like, seriously, look at the guy. he was a kid. jesus christ. moron. luckily, he spotted that wolf with the kid that looked like she just dumped her head in like, black mud and went about her day like that. he forgot her name. kipas-- kippas-- kippass-- ass. haha. unimportant. he padded up-- she was probably way more aware than him and probably sensed him coming or saw him or something, so he wasn't worried about her like biting his head off-- and gave her a nod. like a, 'hey less fuckin do this' nod. she'd probably understand.

When Towhee caught wind of the intruder's scent, every blade of fur along her spine bristled. She immediately dropped what she was doing—searching for @Niamh to catch up on the latest happenings with her friend—and began tracking the smell to its source. She found herself encroaching upon the den site belonging to Caiaphas and her ilk. The Beta had been meaning to catch up with this particular batch of newcomers but hadn't gotten the chance. And these certainly weren't the best of circumstances.

Her orange eyes hovered on the den's mouth several dozen meters behind the harlequin Kappa, then swiftly swept sideways to Caiaphas, then included the nearby Tegan. "We need to find it and kill it," she said in the same stony voice she always used, lacking any tone whatsoever.

nosedeep in thick tussock, caiaphas paused as she heard steps -- lifting her blackened muzzle from concealment, she caught the greystreaked form of a young wolf - not so young to be invalid, but in her eyes, simply young. maybe she really had gotten old; she returned his nod with a cant of her muzzle, as if to signify that the trail bent to the west of them out into the thicket.

names could be exchanged later, caiaphas was not a wolf for idle talk when a tremendous task was at hand -- as she turned down the path towhee joined them; she gave the female respectful birth and averted her gaze, keeping her composure lower than the she-wolf's as if to signify she recognized the female's stature was above her own. the woman's words, wooden as they were, were met with a grim nod -- indeed.

three was better than one. armed now with the confidence that her two hunting comrades bought, caiaphas waited for towhee's lead, but prepared inward for battle.

ayyyeeeee it's towhee! even though she looked pretty fuckin stoic-- her face always kinda looked like that though, lameass-- tegan took this moment to be friendly and bump his noggin against her shoulder. always time for a lil friendly bump. and then he sobered up like the other two fae's and followed suit, his tail still and straight behind him as he walked and his head sorta low.

hah he looked badass as fuck. if only fuckin sapphira or niamh could see him now. cool as a fuckin cuke-- cuke being the cooler variation of cucumber, in case you were wondering.

Despite the serious business at hand, Tegan greeted her with an amiable bump. Towhee gave him the briefest affectionate nibble in response, though her eyes stayed pinned on Caiaphas, who nodded in agreement. It seemed they were all on the same page and ready to follow her lead. The mercenary flexed her paws in the earth, then began moving.

Before she'd gotten far, she froze and looked to the Kappa. "Should we post someone beside the den?" The Beta didn't see the pups, though surely they were nearby. Someone should stand guard while their mother and her comrades took care of the threat. Towhee could even call X to keep watch.

the sylph paused besides tegan, glancing upward at the mention of a sentry; towhee was right -- it would make little sense for the three of them to depart for a bloody foraging party, and leave the children vulnerable to attack. they were her children, therefore her duty to protect. caiaphas sullenly held her own ambition in check and nodded.

she would stay behind -- albeit reluctantly. with a grunt she motioned with a thin paw towards the band of summer sedge where the bobcat's scent had faded: "through there."

while she might have been disappointed to miss out on the opportunity to sunder whatever beast presented peril to her children, caiaphas was assured that the two other wolves took the pack's safety seriously. settling then not so far from the lip of the den, the she-wolf prowled, tense and alert for any call that came back her way.

tegan's jaws parted to make a face like this :V as the gears in his head actually began turning. well butter him up and call him a corndog-- this was actually a terrible idea. why was big strong warrior woman standing guard while he and marble-mouth were going after this? he-- the weakest link, though he hated admitted it-- was probably better suited for standing and watching. he was gotten get eat. 

phewf. 

tegan nudged towhee in a i'm totally not afraid it's just polite to let ladies go first kind of way and then would follow after her-- head low and careful.

It seemed Caiaphas would hang back to guard her pups while the other two forayed forth to deal with the wildcat. Towhee merely nodded and prepared to begin walking again. Then she paused and glanced at the older woman again to say, "We won't rest until it's gone."

Turning to Tegan, she raised her brows as if to ask whether he'd heard that. She took his nudge as acknowledgement and began moving. Her head dropped to comb for their quarry's scent, the fur along her streaked shoulders and spine prickling as its stink filled her nose.

-This way,- she signed to her cohort, shifting course slightly as they trekked across the green grassland that—along with its namesake lake—made up most of their territory. Towhee never lost the trail, though she didn't catch sight of the bobcat and her jaw dropped as the odor led her to a ledge and she experienced anger, confusion and frustration in equal measure.

-It must've climbed down,- she said to Tegan, flashing him an angry look (although it wasn't directed at him). They, of course, couldn't follow. And she saw no sign of the cat, anyway. It was as though it had run off the edge of the plateau and vanished into thin air.

skip me <3 caiaphas oot!

caiaphas disliked missing the action; yet the young boy had been right -- if they slipped off as a trio, they left the puppies unguarded. while much faith could be put into blondine's ability to defend the children, caiaphas had learned that there was always room for things to go worse.

she hung back as the duo swept forward, a dip of her muzzle given in response to towhee's glance. quietly the matron watched tegan and towhee descend out of view, and then she too slipped to the den to secure it.

Wrapping for us!

There was no sign of the cat, yet Towhee refused to depart the area. "Go back and let Caiaphas know it's gone, would you?" she said to Tegan. "I'm going to patrol here a while, make sure it's really gone. I'll check in later." In case of any token protests, Towhee turned her back to him and began prowling along the plateau's ledge, scouring it with her eyes and nose. She wouldn't give up and go until she was certain, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the wildcat was no longer a threat to any of the plateau's pups.