Redhawk Caldera Magic is costly. You take what you didn't earn, but you pay for it.

If he came off as too eager, Reyes was glad. He had told @Ruenna that he would take some time to think things over, but he had not. His talk with @Teya had bolstered him somewhat; he felt more bold than anything, prepared for whatever @Towhee had to say. Most importantly the young man was eager to see his children. He doubted that anyone would let him get so far as to visit with the twins, and maybe his son would be keeping his distance, but it didn't matter - soon Reyes would have what he wanted.

Or, maybe not. The caveat that had been relayed to him was bullshit. He wasn't going to outright accept things without proper discussion. He was intent on having his side of things heard, and with that confrontational energy built up around him like some kind of armor, prowled the outer limits.

Reyes knew that Towhee wouldn't hear him if he called out, but he still tipped his head back and howled. If he was lucky then maybe @Sphyra or @Tierra would come to meet him, and drag @Caracal along whether he was comfortable or not; it could be the last time Reyes sees either of them if things don't go the way he wants.

She didn't hear the call, though Towhee was finally back to full strength and had resumed her usual patrolling routine, keeping her eyes peeled for any signs of all the prodigal wolves expected at the caldera's borders at any given time. By a stroke of (mis)fortune, she happened to catch sight of Reyes a few moments after his howl. She paused for an instant, swallowing, then closed the distance at a steady clip.

Her posture demanded submission as she ground to a halt a few yards from him, though there was nothing outwardly aggressive about her demeanor otherwise. She held her head stiffly, ears erect, and her tail remained rigidly swooped over her back. Towhee said nothing, orange eyes boring into him, sure he had something to say, though she was certain of little else.

Quite frankly, Towhee didn't know what to think of Reyes or this situation anymore. The image of him attacking Caracal had burned itself into her mind's eye, yet nobody else seemed to take it seriously at all. Their opinions had begun to seep into hers, making Towhee doubt her own mind. She also knew how much the kids missed their dad. And the down time following the snakebite had further muddled it all.

The kids weren't the ones to meet him, unfortunately.

Towhee arrived without much fanfare. Not a word, barely the sound of her striding along. She stopped and leveled a stare at Reyes which he did not appreciate; she looked healthy, back to her normal self from what he could glean. The way she swaggered to the border was one thing, but then she held the dominant pose as if he were some kind of stranger to be assessed.

Not a word fell from her lips, nor was there any sign of her signing language. It felt like he was looking at a complete stranger in the moment and Reyes didn't like it. Still, she was here, and so was he. Clearly they both wanted something.

What, no hug? And that is what we call, an ice-breaker.

She could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage as she waited for him to say something. Only three words left his mouth and Towhee felt an unbidden rush of anger. How could he be so cavalier about this? Her jaw clenched and she exhaled through her nostrils, trying to lighten her own mood by recollecting Rue's hilarious plea that she not murder Reyes. It helped.

"What we had is over, Reyes. But if you accept the terms, you can still be part of the kids' lives," Towhee said, her mouth dry. She still had so many misgivings, whatever anyone else said, but she wanted to try to be pragmatic, reasonable, not for his sake but for their children's. "So, do you?"

Something shifted across Towhee's face that Reyes could not read. He wondered if he'd make her laugh with his little quip, but, that would require a sense of humor and the woman admitted in the next breath - in different but effective terms - that she wouldn't ever laugh with him again. It was all business with Towhee.

The way she so coldly denounced their relationship as deceased was pretty harsh. The man did not know what he expected when he came here, but that was like a punch to the gut. Towhee wasted no time in seeking his answer.

I promised I wouldn't abandon them. He answered, which, wasn't really an answer to her question but Reyes wanted some control of the conversation. It wasn't so cut and dry as a yes or a no given the fine print.

I have a counter-offer. He went on to say, but then stopped.

It was Towhee's prerogative to listen or to shut him out and given how she'd reacted during the incident, Reyes expected her to shut off as soon as he said anything beyond what she required of him; he would keep her here as long as he had to, make sure she listened for a change.

She made no reply to his first remark, though her eyes narrowed at the subsequent statement. Her teeth ground together so intensely, it was audible. Unaware of this, Towhee continued squinting at him, trying to decide whether she should berate him for his audacity, hear him out or maybe something in between.

Unable to make up her mind, Towhee ended up doing nothing but standing there and drilling holes in him with her eyes, which she supposed fell under the umbrella of "in between."

Well, she hadn't started shouting. That was a plus. The look on her face was something Reyes had never seen before on anyone and it made him uncomfortable to the extreme. He wouldn't wait long before launching in to an explanation.

Look — yes, I want to be in their lives. I want to be in your life too, but clearly you don't want that. His eyes were hard as they watched her, wishing he could say the right thing to make her soften, to make her understand that he loved their family and wanted to be present. If you wanted me at all, you'd have let me stay. You wouldn't have sent Ruenna with some bullshit list of requirements and demands for me to follow. He was starting to get heated; that's not what he wanted. He had to pause, breathe.

There's a space in Brecheliant that I've been given permission to use. A middle-ground. I want the children to visit me when they're ready to, and that way they can know me. There, that was it. What would she think of that? It wasn't part of her plan so, Reyes anticipated an explosion or at least some barbed words.

They wont know their father as an omega.

Reyes began to make his case and Towhee hung on his every word, regardless of her indecision. She tried to keep her expression blank as he spoke, though she couldn't be entirely sure she was successful. A lick of anger shot up her spine when he made his accusation, though the Sovereign still said nothing. He wasn't wrong about any of it, except that Towhee knew her conditions were both fair and simple.

When he got to the point, her lips parted. She felt even more torn now, because she actually would've loved Reyes to keep his distance from her. But he wouldn't stay away from the kids, that much he made clear, and so it was moot. She wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him, monitor his interactions with them, in Brecheliant. And that was kind of the entire point.

"No. I want you here, so I can keep an eye on you when you're with the kids, at least until I feel like I don't have to anymore," Towhee countered, trying to keep her tone reasonable, although she couldn't be quite sure about that either. "Omega is Rue's term, not mine. I don't see how you can possibly worry about something as petty as a title, though. With what's at stake? Don't you want to earn my trust? The pack's? Don't you want to prove you're not going to attack a child again? That's what this is, Reyes. That's all this is."

No explosion, but there was a definite refusal to accept his terms. They were at an impasse.

Towhee moved beyond the denial and began to berate him for his focus on rank; that wasn't it, the title meant nothing to Reyes in truth. It was the perception it would create among the children as they learned of pack structure, and what sorts of questions might arise from them.

Don't you want to prove you're not going to attack a child again? There it was; the true fear of Towhee's, the insinuation that Reyes could not be trusted. She hadn't moved on from that singular event even with his repeated apologies and dismissal from the Caldera.

They never trusted me to begin with, he shot back, and then with a grimace, looked away from her. I'm not a Redhawk, remember. But Reyes tried to keep his own focus on the children, keep himself level. The last thing he wanted was to lose his cool and give Towhee more ammunition.

It isn't about the rank, Towhee. Its about our children growing up with one parent in power, and one treated as less that dirt, for no good reason. They'll have questions about why. They'll see the rest of your family treating me like shit and you really think that won't affect them?

He looked at her again - more so for her own benefit when it came to reading his lips.

Brecheliant has children too. I haven't done any harm to them. Besides, I apologized to you after what happened with Caracal. He's okay, right? The last time he'd visited he'd tried to get information from Tierra, but that hadn't worked out. Nobody would tell him anything.

It was one moment Towhee. One stupid, random accident. You're going to hold that over my head for life? You're determined to keep our family broken after I've done everything in my power to fix things? Everything besides accept this deal.

"With very good fucking reason," Towhee cut in angrily, really losing her cool for a minute before reigning it in and saying, "But who said you'll be treated like dirt, Reyes? Literally nobody said that? You'll be treated like the wildcard you've proven yourself to be, first with Niamh, then with Caracal. Until you show us you're not like that anymore. Nothing more and nothing less."

She let him finish without interrupting again. In that vein, Towhee didn't reply to his comment about the pups in Brecheliant, though she made note of it somewhere in the back of her mind. And when he asked after Caracal, her eyes flashed dangerously. She opened her mouth to say something after all, but he had more to say and his next few words sent her train of thought careening off the tracks.

"Fucking damn it, Reyes!" Towhee spat, voice raising. "Do you think I want to do this? Do you think I'm doing it for funsies?" she demanded heatedly. "I don't trust you. I don't know how you can trust yourself. Nobody else goes around throttling pups by random accident. Don't you think you should take a step back and figure out why the hell you did that? Why you attacked Niamh before that? Where is your goddamn self-awareness and remorse...?"

She drew in a loud breath, then unleashed an ugly laugh before all semblance of humor was wiped from her stony face. "You haven't remotely done everything in your power to fix things, Reyes. Saying you're sorry is fucking meaningless. Show me you're sorry. Show me you won't do it again. I don't want to hold it over your head forever," she seethed, gnashing her teeth, "by fucking design!"

Niamh attacked me. He cut back before he could temper himself, his tone barbed, but also breathy - that Towhee would no longer trust him was one thing, but to dredge up something that happened even further back (which he thought they were on the same page about) hurt him deep.

Her voice is a shriek.
Nobody else goes around throttling pups by random accident.
I know that—
Where is your goddamn self-awareness and remorse...?
I told you what happened and I apologized, over and over again; —don't you think if I fucking knew why I did it I'd find some way to help myself?!

He couldn't say more because she was laughing. Really laughing. Finding some sort of dark humor in all of this; proving once and for all there was no love between them at all. The only existence Reyes could hope to have was one beneath her heel, obeying whatever Towhee thought was right; where was the trust supposed to come from if she was this vehement about keeping their family in pieces?

There is never any middle ground with you, for fucks sakes! His voice carried enough that any wandering guards would hear him, or perhaps the children if they had followed after their mother, but Reyes was too pissed off about this conversation to think clearly about it, or care.

Reyes was seething; he had never been this angry with Towhee before, with anyone, but at the back of his mind he knew not to move any closer. In his current state of unrest any effort to close the distance between them could be misconstrued - as if this conversation hadn't already destroyed any connection between them.

You don't really care what I think. He finally said.

She breathed hard after her tirade, suddenly feeling like she wanted to drop to the ground. It wasn't just an emotional exhaustion, either, but a physical one. She lurched forward a step to balance against a sudden sense of vertigo, all the while trying to steel herself so Reyes wouldn't notice anything amiss. But the effort stole all her concentration for a beat, causing her to miss everything he said in response, save for the last sentence.

No, I don't, she thought. Aloud, she said, "Are you? Thinking?" She exhaled, trying to simmer down for her own sake. This confrontation was taking more out of her than she had ever expected, right when she thought she was strong again. "I don't know why you think these conditions are so much to ask. I'm not out to get you and nobody is going to go out of their way to make your life miserable, Reyes. I don't even want to interfere with you and the kids. All I wanna do is keep an eye on you, and only until I feel like you're not going to have another random accident. It's for their safety, literally nothing else. Think. Really think, Reyes. Is that really so much to ask of you?"

Towhee sucked in a breath, thinking she was through for the moment when more words came pouring out of her mouth. "I don't know where you got this idea that anyone is going to treat you like dirt, or shit. Or why you insist I'm trying to hold it over your head forever, when I'm literally telling you exactly how to put this behind us. I want you to prove to me that it's not going to happen ever again. I want to be able to trust you around our kids again. But I can't do that without you doing whatever it takes—in this case, yes, humbling yourself—to rebuild the trust you broke when you attacked our son," she said with an air of weary finality.

The way she spoke to him now was beyond condescending.

Where could I have gotten the egregious idea that a Redhawk was better than me? That I'd never measure up? That even my children, who I have sworn to love and protect, aren't even really mine because they somehow belong to this exclusive club of assholes?

Reyes fumed.

The kids were safe. They are safe. You told me to fuck off and I left, right? So there's no real way for me to make things better because I haven't been here. She can't blame him for that. If anyone should be humbling themselves its you, oh-great-merciful Sovereign.

He paced back a step, not ready to outright leave despite his body's posture carrying a sense of defeat; not wanting to turn his back on Towhee either, as wary of her as she was of him.

You think I'm so fucking unstable! Like I'm not allowed to be surprised by anything, or get angry. Guess what? I am angry. I'm not ripping your face off either though. That should count for something — but it won't, because you've made up your mind. And that's what it all boiled down to for Reyes — that lack of control regardless of whatever effort he did put forth.

Having the kids visit me, on their own time and with a supervisor, obviously, is better than living here with you.

And that was it. He was tired of fighting, tired of debating with her over something that neither was willing to budge on. Reyes hated the idea of being this laughing stock that the pack would no doubt gossip over, and was too wrapped up in the idea to think of how this might truly affect the children.

It was like talking to a brick wall. There was no way of getting Reyes to see her point of view, much less relent to it. Towhee growled in frustration, the noise carrying on through the entirety of his own tirade, riddled with insults. She bared her teeth, not that it seemed to have any effect whatsoever.

We would be better off without you, she thought viciously, because you are fucking unstable! Her tongue lashed as she fully prepared to launch these barbs at him, when Reyes said something that made Towhee freeze and squint harder than ever.

He hadn't mentioned an escort when he'd pitched the idea originally. To be fair to her, the possibility hadn't occurred to her in all the internal and external conflict. Maybe it was odd to strike a compromise smack dab in the middle of a heated, screaming argument, but suddenly Towhee realized that they might've incidentally stumbled onto a middle ground.

Ignoring the implication behind the "obviously," Towhee said, "If the kids are always accompanied by a chaperone, one hundred percent of the time, while visiting you in Brecheliant, then..."

Reyes realized he did not want to be here. He wanted to see his kids, but he didn't want to be here, in this moment, with this person. The warring between them would only continue and likely get worse, as they were both pig-headed enough not to allow any leeway.

At least that's what Reyes thought, feeling the itch to run; but then Towhee said something that surprised him. It was as if his yelling had finally worked its way through to her, and when he focused enough to listen he felt a tremulous hope.

Then...? He echoed, watching her expectantly. The air still buzzed with the anger he felt, the tension strong between them. What did she think he was trying to do? Steal them away from her? If that had been his goal then they'd be with him now in Brecheliant — her injury had been the perfect opportunity for such a heist — but the thought never even entered Reyes' mind.

Maybe she should've thought this through before saying anything else, taken some time to weigh the pros and cons, perhaps consulted with her Regents again. But this was becoming a purely personal matter and Towhee was sick and tired of beating her brains about what to do with Reyes and the kids. This solution wasn't perfect but it was one she could live with, so she was going to seize it.

"Then, fine," Towhee said, stare unwavering again as her orange eyes ate into his face like fire. "They have to have an escort with them the whole time, every time, they visit Brecheliant," she repeated, stiffening as she wondered if he would end up refuting any of that. "I'll allow it."

As if her inner voice hadn't already done enough—not to mention her outer voice, Reyes's too although she couldn't technically hear it—another in the back of her mind reminded her that the kids were at that age. No matter what she and Reyes decided among themselves, they had minds and wills of their own. They could very well disregard every parameter their parents set, as youngsters were wont to do.

She hated to think that her children might learn about consequences the hard way, though the Sovereign soon banished that line of thought altogether. She blinked a few times, hard stare awaiting her ex's final answer.

Finally, she saw some reason.

Reyes had not expected it to take a whole fight, but their connection to one-another had been a deep one on his end, so it was only reasonable to assume there would be an outpouring of emotion as they talked of such important things; home, children, the future. If only they had not both been so hard-headed; once a lovable trait, now not so much.

He was thankful to have gotten what he wanted. Somewhere beneath the surface of the red man, where he still hurt from the way Towhee had cast him out, was even glad she hadn't got a single thing out of the deal that went her way.

Good. Then... then what?

Not knowing what to say next, or if he should linger much longer - and surprised by the way he had somehow won the rights to his children with this set-up, Reyes stood there awkwardly.

Can I.. see them? Here and now, since Towhee was present and could be their supervisor. So that we can tell them... What should we tell them? Hey kids, your mother kicked your father out a while ago (old news), but rather than come home to live with you, he's gonna time-share. You good?

:/

"Can I see them?" If he'd only accepted her terms, he could've seen them anytime, or all the time. It occurred to Towhee that denying his request now was petty. But Reyes had rejected her conditions, and insulted her quite a lot to boot, so she wasn't feeling particularly cooperative beyond this verbal agreement.

The Sovereign said baldly, "No. We're done here. I'll talk to them and arrange their first visit." And in case that wasn't clear, "You need to leave. You're no longer welcome here." He would've been welcome, would have been part of the pack, if not for his ego. But he'd spat on that opportunity and Towhee had given as much ground as she would today.

Although he bristled visibly at the tone of Towhee's voice, Reyes knew he had pushed his luck too far already. She still had all the power to turn him away, even to refuse to talk to the kids and convey the plan in his absence. She could tell them whatever she wanted when he was gone - and he would just have to deal with that.

Alright. Reyes answered, refusing to let the defeated feeling inside himself flavor his words; even if she couldn't really hear it, Reyes was finally closing himself off for good from Towhee and finding ways to control himself in her presence. It was a little late for that now.

Without so much as a goodbye, he finally moved to go. Turning his back on the conversation and what remained of his family, to make his way back to Brecheliant where he was, at the very least, respected.