Sunset Valley Lights from the airfield, shining upon you.

Around the butt crack of dawn, Towhee woke, stretched and decided to head out on patrol. She started by circling Killdeer Rest, then plodded west with the morning sun warming her back. She wondered if anyone was up around Sunset Valley and if any of them might have something fresh she could munch on for breakfast.

As she passed beneath the high, cold bulwark of the glacier off to the left, Towhee idly tipped her snout into the air. She fancied she could pick up Meerkat's scent, even from here. And was that @Rye's? Did he live around here too? She wondered if they might catch up some time, though she slowly veered away from the great wall of ice, toward the hunters' camp.

<3

 


Nyra herself was wandering between camps at the moment. 
Actually, she was on her way to Kukutux's camp, but that wasn't the point. 
The point was, she was out and about so early at all. 

The scarred warmaiden perked her ears at the sight of another. Unfamiliar, but smelled of Moonglow, so therefore wasn't a threat.

Not that Nyra could currently do much about threats. 

She tilted her head slightly and with some hesitance, she began to approach Towhee, keeping her tail relatively low and swaying softly.

She spotted a large, white figure from a distance, the two of them walking in opposite directions which slowly brought them toward one another. As the distance closed, Towhee could make out more and more details. Her lips parted in surprise when they came near enough to make out the scars twisting just about every inch of flesh on the stranger's body. She looked like someone had carved her up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Even for a master mercenary like Towhee, it was entirely unprecedented.

The hesitant approach and lowered tail really threw her for some reason. She supposed she'd just assumed a wolf of such stature and score would go around ripping off faces rather than behave this way. But perhaps this woman was some sort of Omega despite her mass, historically some sort of punching bag. That would certainly explain all the marks, though Towhee stopped herself there and reserved judgment until after they actually had a conversation.

"Hey," she said, coming to a halt about two yards from the disfigured she-wolf. "I'm new here. Name's Towhee. Who are you?" Something about the other's submissive demeanor almost made her want to raise her own stature accordingly, though Towhee kept still, her posture entirely neutral.

Ahhhh im late, work stuff but im stealing anyways <3 I have also forgot when this is set, sooo vagueyness shall ensue. lmk if I need to change anything

Fuck sake, was the first muttered words of his morning, quickly followed by a succession of growls and groans. The hide pillow he crafted out of desperate loneliness was stuffed with leaves, those leaves had a bad habit of poking an eye or nostril throughout the night. The early mornings was no exception. His limit was reached, the loneliness could be managed but not without proper sleep, which was only just beginning to be obtained. Rye sent the pillow flying out the den with his hind legs, wearing a satisfied grin when he heard it land with a soft thud and few a ruffling's of leaves. However, he couldn't get back to sleep, all the commotion set in motion his gears and left the man with no choice but to get up and out. One big sigh later and Rye was out of the den, walking aimlessly anywhere. He didn't have anything else to do, according to him at least. Although breakfast was needed, a drink and a bath, the hotah readily skipped all that and was eager to expend what energy he had so he may return to bed.
That was until he smelled her. Rye halted, letting the wind guide his head and then guide his feet. It wasn't a total surprise Towhee could be out there, with Meerkat staying at the Glacier the mother had to have eventually ventured this way. It felt like years passed since he last saw her, he wasn't sure it hadn't been but none of that mattered once he caught sight of an sickly pink and pale she-devil. Rye had forgotten many names in his lifetime but her face made up for it, he knew damn well just who she was. What a perfect excuse to be angry. His slow pace turned into a trot as he amped himself up for a possible fight. The male raised his tail, forbidding it from waving with each commanding step and raised his hackles until they were no longer pliable. Steam rolled out of his ajar muzzle as he huffed, a dragon ready to breathe fire only to cut itself short ten feet from its target. "You've got a lot of nerve to show your ugly ass here." He roared, furls of smoke rising into the air, he aimed his threat at Nyra. Hawk-eyes fiercely locked onto the woman. "MY home isn't far from here, maybe I should add to those scars of yours since you oh so delightfully had one of your lackeys add to mine." The heated man gestured to the bald spot on his left shoulder. "With all those fresh scars maybe you killed off my family, your kind seems to have an affinity for attacking without any damn good reason." He was yelling at this point, none of it truly made sense, there wasn't any evidence of the white female being involved in his families disappearance and on some level Rye knew that but anger was doing what it did best. Blinding ordinarily good wolves. Poor Towhee had been completely forgotten about.    

Nyra was about to introduce herself to Towhee when some boy she didn't at all remember started toward her, roaring with anger. 
She looked upon Rye with a poker face, unmoved. 

Turning back to Towhee, she sighed and spoke. 
"I'm Nyra. My name seems to be rather infamous...I used to lead the Saints, alongside Kynareth and after he abandoned us. But my empire has since crumbled. I'm a part of Moonglow now. They have been aiding in my healing from a war long overdue, and I plan to stay with them and offer all the help I can as I get better, to repay their kindness." 

She then turned her balefire golden gaze to Rye "So learn from me. An attack made in anger here is ill-advised. Understandable, but ill-advised." She returned. Her posture was neutral, but her tail had stopped swaying. It wasn't a threat, and her tone was meant to indulge that, but where Rye was practically smoking from the ears, she adjusted her feet a bit in preparation. Nyra didn't want a fight, but if he truly wanted to indulge his own blind wrath, she'd do her best to pin him to the ground without doing any real damage to anything other than his ego.

Rather than answer her question, the white she-wolf turned to look at something in Towhee's blind spot. She glanced over her shoulder and then did a double take at what she saw. Apparently she had smelled Rye... and dude was raging. For a split second, Towhee thought he was bellowing at her, then she realized he wasn't looking her direction at all. He was ranting at the scarred woman, though the angle made it impossible for Towhee to see what he was saying.

It was almost comical, the way she utterly ignored Rye and turned back to address Towhee. The former Sovereign could only blink as she read Nyra's lips. Some of those names struck her as familiar, though she couldn't quite place them. It didn't sound like any of it really mattered anymore. "But my empire has since crumbled..." Well, Towhee could relate. She clicked her tongue.

But what was happening between Nyra and Rye? Towhee looked back and forth between them for a moment before deciding to pad over to her old friend. "Hey, buddy," she said in a low voice, "I didn't catch what all you said and I have no clue what's going on here. But, uh, it's good to see you." She did wish they could stop bumping into one another in the worst possible circumstances but, well.

Sorry for the wait, the holidays had me all over the place. I hope you both had a wonderful Christmas <3  

[size=x-small]Nyra did not take him seriously, at first, she only turned to face him for a moment before returning to Towhee. Rye sneered at the woman, his ego lightly bruising from her inaction. Steam continued to roll from his nose, his chest heaving as Rye took grander and grander breaths to compensate for the anger being built up. Nyra began to talk as if she turned a new leaf, as if her heart had learned its lesson and she stopped being the insanity she truly was. He snorted, scoffing at her claims. She didn't have him fooled. "Oh so now you show kindness since you have lost everything!?" He yelled, stepping a foot closer, his eyes still adamantly locked onto Nyra. "Where was that kindness a year ago? You nearly took my life, and a dear friend. She was all I had back then! I wonder if you came back to finish off what happiness I had left?" He growled and took another step closer, he was prepared to strike, to show as little mercy to her as she showed to him but Towhee had other ideas. [/size]

[size=x-small] She lowly greeted him, it sparked an impossibly tiny flame to flicker in his heart, a granule of compassion for his long time friend caught in the middle. Water rapids of guilt clawed at the mans will to stay angry, Towhee didn't deserve to be greeted like this but the high of anger was a succubus. A siren of the sea, she sang to him, beckoning and pleading but to no avail. Slowly his tail and hackles lowered, his stern gaze softened as his eyes shifted towards his friend. Before the man truly had any say (as if he had any from the start), his anger had been swept away in the current, although in its place left a sour gut punch. A shred of resentment towards Towhee for taking away his chance to get even. For himself, for his family, still convinced Nyra had something to do with their disappearance. [/size]

[size=x-small]Rye faced Towhee, still aware of her deafness, but refused to make eye contact, swiftly switching from trees, to snow, to even Nyra; which he promptly flashed his teeth to. "It is good to see you as well Towhee." He breathed, the last remnants of anger being exuded. "You don't know it but the woman called Nyra nearly got me killed once, along with a dear friend. She will never be more than a worm groveling in the dirt, its best you leave her to rot alone." [/size]

Nyra watched without any change as Rye continued to yell.
Towhee seemed to wish to dispel the tension though, and went to him in low tones.

At Rye's words in Nyra's direction, she in turn directed her own, rather detached words, at his lack of logic.

"I'm learning to control my own rage. Worms wouldn't seek to do better." She said, pointedly locking her eyes on him. Whether or not he thought she was calling him the worm was up in the air. 
"Call me names if it makes you feel better, make me your villain too, by all means. But in the end, if you choose that path, it won't be me that looks stupid. It'll be you." She swayed her tail once, tone remaining detached and neutral.
"I don't even remember you. If you're so self-absorbed to think I came here or took your loved ones just to spite you, then you already look like a fool." Nyra pointed out. Nothing changed in her tone, nor her stance. Not even her eyes. 
She was saying what she perceived as the honest truth, but she clearly also wasn't after him or anyone here. 
There was a lack of bloodlust and hunger in her hellfire-gold orbs. She anticipated he would probably try to attack her now regardless, thus Nyra stayed in place, watching.

Would this hothead see his error in thinking? She doubted it. But, maybe, he'd prove her wrong. 

Again, she doubted it. 
Balefire gold eyes continued to watch.

Evidently, Rye was too riled up by the exchange to acknowledge her right away. Towhee took a step back, only to give herself a fighting chance at reading his lips, as he spoke to Nyra. She caught something about Nyra nearly taking his life, as well as his friend's. She blinked, eyes narrowing to catch Rye's every word when he did turn and address her directly, including a repetition of his allegation.

When she glanced over at Nyra, the white she-wolf seemed utterly bored by Rye's accusations. She said she didn't even remember him, which was surprising considering the nature of the man's indictments. Towhee's eyes squinted even more as she noted how Nyra didn't actually address anything Rye said. There was no apology or explanation. Her lack of acknowledgement, her indifference, struck Towhee as really odd. Was she a sociopath or something?

"Rye," Towhee said after a moment, trying to keep her voice low, which was always a questionable endeavor, "look, I'm still not clear on what happened between the two of you. What I can tell is she's definitely not worth the trouble. Why don't we walk away and you can tell me about it."

She looked over at Nyra again. She wasn't sure what Rye was going to tell her but there was a good chance she'd end up biased in his favor. Really, she already felt herself taking his side. They had a long history and she respected the dude. Nyra might be her pack mate, yet they'd only just met. And there was definitely something off about her. That didn't bode well at all.

"We're going to go," Towhee said coolly to Nyra, before giving Rye a chance to even accept or decline, raising a paw to gently nudge him away.

She was rolling him into a spring coil, each "holier than thou" comment had his anger curling like a viper, ready to erupt with fangs flared. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Towhees soft voice once again, whether she new it or not, she had become a bomb defuser. She raised her paw and encouraged him to follow her, for a moment he glared at Nyra, making one final call to fight or leave. It would be no surprise when he choose Towhee over some wounded hag. Leaning into her paw to affirm his choice to her.

Rye walked with Towhee, letting her walk as far as she wanted and wherever she wanted. "I'm sorry I put you in the middle of that." What he really wanted to say was far more blunt and inconsiderate but he bit his tongue."[b] [/b]

The Warmaiden watched without disturbance as Towhee defused the bomb that was the young fool. 

Nyra also wasn't really surprised by the cool tone when the other woman coaxed Rye away even as he glared at the massive white woman. 
Eventually though, he chose wisely, very wisely, and turned away with Towhee. 

The Warmaiden resumed her travel then to Kukutux's camp without a glance their direction to spare.

If she met Rye again, she knew they'd go to blows regardless of what she did or said. 
His ego and pride clouded him, in her eyes. 
But was she not the same, until very recently? Wasn't she still shedding that part of herself? 

Nyra huffed softly to herself with this thought as she went.

exit for Nyra! Feel free to close this if you want <3

She offered an encouraging smile when he willingly followed her away from Nyra. Towhee glanced over her shoulder to see the scarred woman depart in another direction. Later, she would wonder a lot of things about Nyra, though right now, she returned her focus to Rye.

They'd walked closer to the glacier again. Once more, Towhee struck out a paw, this time to gently stop Rye. She then settled on her haunches and motioned for him to do the same. As he presumably made himself comfortable, she gave him a concerned once-over.

"The last time we saw each other, you were there for me during one of the worst moments of my life. I want to return the favor. Unload on me, Rye. Tell me what happened with Nyra." Towhee paused, eyes resting fondly on her longtime friend's face. "And I wanna hear what else you've been up to all these months too, if you wanna share."

Upon Towhees request the man sat, the exhaustion of his burst in anger plopping his whole body down, with no desire to properly sit up he stayed put. He watched as she looked him over, his jaw clinching with shame over the fact of how much he has been reduced to nothing but a sniffling mess; still, he relaxed and nodded to reassure her he was fine. The following words of hers twisted his stomach, his hawk eyes switching between her and his paws, much like a guilty puppy. It was clear he felt guilty for her loss but Rye stayed silent while she spoke, only giving next to nothing glimpses of his eyes. 

Towhee offered him a friend but- "I don't think I deserve a good friend like you right now Towhee. I've fucked up so badly in your life and my own." Tears welled in his eyes, his muzzle tilted upwards to keep the tears at bay but they were too fat to not break the dam. A steady stream of visible pain flowed down his face. Did she not know just how much of a incompetent dolt he was? He lost his family, he let them go when he shouldn't have and because of his stupidity, they were likely dead. What a father, what a husband.   

Rye's shift in demeanor gave Towhee a little bit of whiplash. "Wait," she said, not sure which she found more perplexing: the tears or the words. "What? What're you talking about, Rye?"

She slid down beside him, looking at him a little strangely, admittedly. Where had this come from? One minute, they were talking about Nyra's attack and the next, he was crying about fucking up his life and hers. Towhee genuinely could not think of what on earth he meant about her, specifically.

"Dude," Towhee said, touching her nose gently to his shoulder, "talk to me." As she gazed at him, it hit her: Rye might very well be her oldest friend these days, with so many of the others dead and gone. "What do you mean when you say you fucked up?"

Rye didn't want to say it, to admit his problems out loud, least not to Towhee. He feared she might draw conclusions about her loss with her own family and his, like it was karma for his failure. She nudged his shoulder, appealing to the core of his heart and melting his icy wall. Her gaze only worsened things. The wall crumbled. 
His tears streamed faster, sobs threatened to burst from Ryes throat but the man clenched his teeth and bit his tongue. It left the sobs to fester into hiccups, it was rather awkward for Rye to be crying and hiccuping. 
"I lost your pups and my own family too Towhee. They're gone— They're nowhere to be found. This is what I get, this is what I deserve. I was a dumbass Towhee, I watched them walk away." Rye didn't hold back on the sobs that crashed into his body, although he felt insufferably pathetic for crying in front of her but he couldn't stop himself. "This is what I get." He repeated, this time quieter, staring off into space. His crying abruptly ceased, a numbing sensation taking over. "I don't deserve you." He lastly trailed. 

"I lost your pups..." he began and Towhee's head actually reared back. She probably made a face too. She didn't mean to invalidate Rye's feelings right now, but she had no idea why he would say something like that, or even think it. But it became pretty moot in consideration of what else he said. He'd lost his family and it didn't take a rocket scientist to intuit he likely meant a mate and pups.

"Shit," she whispered, unable to comprehend anything else he said once he began sobbing in earnest. Towhee felt a little awkward about it but she reached out and slung an arm around his shoulder, juggling against him gently. She tried to think of something else, something constructive, to say.

When he calmed down and said, "I don't deserve you," Towhee made a tccch! noise. "Rye, buddy, you were in no way responsible for what happened with my pups. I could blame my shitbag ex but I don't think even he was at fault. It's just one of those nature things..."

But this wasn't about her. "Your family... can you tell me what happened?" She still wanted to know the deal with Nyra but Towhee had a feeling this was way more critical. She just hoped he would get over this idea that he didn't deserve a friend right now and let her be there for him, dammit.

Desperate to believe her Rye chanted her words in his mind, letting the echo fill the creases of silence between chants. It wasn't his fault. Now that she had said it would there finally be peace? The man wasn't sure, he felt no different. With the highs and lows of the past ten minutes, he could feel the speedball of deep insecurity and unwanted vulnerability being strengthened. Hotah felt furless, wet and cold, left to dry in a snow storm. It was time for him to rein himself back into reality, slowly but surely, or else he wouldn't be able to get through what he had to explain next. Emotions whirred in his head, clattering around with all the other processes, it filled his head with pain and left little room to acknowledge the new "shitbag ex" character. Later Rye would most certainly ask about them, it would make for a nice distraction. 
"My wife, Imaq," His voice matched his face, expressionless. "Mothered our child, Sikuliak, he was everything to me Towhee. They meant more to me than anyone on this wretched plain but I let them slip away, I watched them leave for their trip." As he spoke, the harsher his tone grew, cracking and wavering as Rye tried to fight the tears, the sobs. "They've been gone for months now, not a trace left behind. And I keep thinking, why was I so stupid to think they were immune to bad things?" Rye looked Towhee in the eyes, expecting to see utter disgust at his failure, he would be shocked if it wasn't there. A more important question was why he didn't go with them, the short answer was Wintersbane, his injuries were extensive but Rye couldn't find it in him to enable that card to be used. No matter how he spun it, the man found himself weighed, measured and found wanting.

He told her about his mate and child, Imaq and Sikuliak. Towhee wondered when they had come into his life, though what mattered more was that they'd left it. For a split second, she wondered if Nyra was involved. But as the details came out, it sounded a lot like they'd just left one day and never returned. Whether or not it was under their own power, Towhee couldn't say—she knew he couldn't either—but she knew Rye wasn't responsible.

"Rye," she began, gently but firmly. Towhee was no stranger to this scenario and it colored her take on the matter. "I'm really sorry this happened. But there's no way you could've known what would happen. So how can you hold yourself responsible? I get it, though. I really, really do." It would be easier and faster to list the wolves who hadn't left her in some capacity than the ones who hadn't; the list was tiny now. But, again, this wasn't about her.

"Feel your feelings and shit. I just don't think you should beat yourself up so much," Towhee opined, foreleg still slung along his shoulders. She gave him a little squeeze, then let go to sit back a little. "No matter the circumstances, being left behind sucks. Losing someone you love sucks. Life sometimes just sucks ass." And there was a reason she wasn't a counselor, though to her credit, Towhee didn't even attempt to offset this observation with some stupid platitude.

"Life sometimes just sucks ass." As simple as Towhee put it, Rye utterly agreed. Life was horrible at the moment and the light at the end of the tunnel appeared to dim with each passing day. The womans embrace comforted him, chasing away the bubbling pain that had slowly encroached back into the forefront of his mind. He gave some thought to her words, weighing them against his own. Was she simply saying those things to be nice? Or was it unbiased truth? Seeing little value in asking Rye simply nodded his head, his forelegs pushing himself into an upright position. He sucked in a large breath through his stuffy nose, closing his eyes as he exhaled, seemingly relinquishing the pressure from his body. Even if only for a short time. His body let down, shoulders were no longer kept tight against his chest and his belly relaxed, letting his diaphragm fully extend. 

Returning his gaze back to Towhee, Rye nodded once again, as if to say he was okay. "I don't know Towhee, there were things I could have done better before they left for their trip." He admitted. "I am stupid, I was stupid..." His voice trailed off, tawny eyes casting downwards for only a moment. "I think what truly gets to me, more than my failures to protect them, is the fact I did not spend enough time with them. All the times I put off playing with my boy to pay attention to other things, or I would put off being an attentive husband to my wife. She gave me more than a son but companionship, love and so much more that I cannot begin to describe. Being with her, knowing I got to call her my wife, that was it. That was it Towhee, more than just a dream. She was my reality." And now, she was gone. If there was a word greater than fool, he would be it and much, much more. How could anyone fuck up as badly as him? Rye doubted anyone would ever top his accomplishments in failures. The man swallowed hard, forcing that lump in his throat back down but it fought harder than him and won. At first a few tears rolled down his features, his jaw clinched, swallowing hard again. He pleaded with himself to cease the tears but they began to flow like a river, his only save and grace was the absence of sobs. He wondered what went through Towhees head at the miserable, pathetic sight of him. No doubt nothing good.

 

Rye collected himself, pushing to all fours and drawing in some steadying breaths. Towhee watched him in silence, eyes moving to his lips when he spoke again. She paid attention and didn't interrupt, understanding that he needed to exorcise these demons by talking through them. She couldn't hear but that didn't mean she couldn't listen.

"I know that feeling," she told him, frowning in commiseration, "but I assume you'd feel that way, even if you'd spent all the time in the world with them. Don't you? There'll never be enough time. Hey, don't do that," she added when she saw tears beginning to well in Rye's eyes again, then slip down his face.

She bumped her shoulder against him again, then cast her eyes around the ground searchingly. It wasn't exactly the right time of year for it, though she spotted a brittle brown leaf a few yards away. Towhee fetched it and tried to pass it to Rye, saying, "Here's this in case you need to blow your nose..." It was more silly than anything, an effort to distract him with a joke.

"Life's a bitch," she repeated with a sigh, resuming her seat next to him, "but you've got me and my friendship, for whatever that's worth." Probably not much. But if there was one thing Towhee could offer that most wolves couldn't, it seemed, it was a refusal to leave or die. Nuh-uh, she wasn't going to do either one of those things anytime soon.

Her point was heard and found to be fair, even if he had spend every waking hour with them it wouldn't be enough still. Rye knew that but it took someone else to tell him for that to sink in. His head nodded, eyes following Towhees. In confusion Rye titled his head, initially puzzling over what ideas she conjured up that involved a fragile leaf. His chest gently rolled with quiet laughter hearing her offer, he played along and jokingly held the leaf to his nose, blowing gently. The mans nose crackled and whistled but nothing came forth, he shrugged and tossed it away.

Returning focus to his friend, he listened back in. Her company and companionship had managed to pull him from the depths, momentarily, returning back to his home was sure to bring him down again. He decided he might stay out for a while longer to ponder on his next moves for his life. To say he'd like to see her again in the near future would be an understatement, perhaps she could be the key to normalcy. Rye didn't know if his family ever would return, or if he could find them, but Towhee showed him there was still hope left in this life. "Your friendship means more than you can know Towhee, thank you for being here for me." He smiled, returning the same shoulder bump she gave him.    

Feel free to write a closer, welcome to power play him too if needed!

"'Course," she said simply, glad to have cheered him up even a little bit. "I'm not going anywhere. Except over there, eventually," Towhee quipped, pointing at Moonglow's temporary outpost in the near distance. She laughed lightly, throwing a companionable elbow at Rye.

Towhee spent the next several minutes explaining just how she'd ended up among the "moon woman's" ranks. She told him how she knew the pain of losing everyone, finding herself entirely on her own. But she'd made the most of it somehow and she believed Rye could manage that too, given some time.

"I'm sure I'll see you around," were her parting words when the time came, giving his nose a friendly nip before Towhee resumed her earlier trajectory toward the hunters' camp. She kept an eye out for Nyra as she went; she wouldn't soon forget Rye's accusations nor the woman's megalomaniac reactions.