Redhawk Caldera pineflower

teya lay in the crook of @Reyes' arm. she stared up at the ceiling. the light outside had started to darken, not from time but from snow rising to blow through the clouds.
she was hungry, but moreso for a word from him, and turned her head against his chest to look up at reyes. "what is in your mind?"

Reyes lay awake, responsive to the even breathing of Teya, and heard her question. He felt the chill of winter trying to reach in to their shared space and blocked it out by hugging her close, pressing her with little kisses. She looked up at him.

Only you. The feelings that she had caused inside of him. The triumph he felt, knowing this was now their space. That old memories were annihilated — that the scents woven here were only of them, warm despite the frost.

it was the answer teya thought she wanted.
but she was thinking of their future. of what came after this. the furs felt too warm beneath her. had he lain here with her? she frowned lightly at the thought, not truly perturbed.
towhee was gone.
would reyes want more children?
that did cause her heart to quicken. teya kissed his shoulder and pulled away. "we should — get back to claiming. maybe." eljay might worry. or maybe she was worrying.

Groaning softly at the suggestion, Reyes tried to pull her close again, but she had gone too far for him to manage it. The kisses she left him burned against his coat.

We have plenty of time. It wasn't like the caldera was going anywhere. Besides, it is so cold out there, and so warm in here. Come back. He wiggled his outstretched digits at her, as if that might entice.

Whether she came to him again or not, Reyes was sprawling contentedly against the furs. His skin was humming.

Do you really want to live here? He asked softly, watching her.

Finding the caldera empty caught him by surprise, which made no sense. Caracal knew the pack had disbanded, yet it was still wild to come here and find the place empty, with no trace of Towhee's scent anywhere. It kind of made his guts ache. He stood at the old borderline, telling himself to go somewhere else. He should start by going next door and saying "hi" to his old man.

But some morbid curiosity compelled him to climb the familiar slope, pausing at the crest to take in the views. The nostalgia was almost overwhelming. Abruptly, he knew he wanted to stop by the Hobbit Hole and he began the descent into the interior.

About halfway down, Caracal spotted fresh paw prints in the snow. Surprised, he tried to stop but immediately began to skid. He gathered momentum surprisingly quickly as his center of gravity shifted him so that he began to slide backward downhill. He shouted, though there was no one around to hear it.

she dropped to her haunches next to reyes. "eljay said it. the caldera." she climbed back into the furs with him. maybe they could linger. only a while longer.
"i want to live with you," teya said plainly, eyes lingering on the details of his face. "wherever that is." she looked around, then back at him. "do you want this?"

Right on Caracal's heels was a veritable cannonball of patchwork puppy fat, bounding through the snow with reckless abandon.

WAIT FOR ME, ASSHOLE!

His voice echoed off the icy slopes, and though he was a little more coordinated than he had been when departing the caldera, Killdeer, too, fell prey to the slippery hill.

Oh, shitballs, he remarked, almost passively, as he began to tumble.

Somewhere along the way, he bumped into Caracal, and the two of them slid in a tangle of multi-colored limbs, a stark contrast against the winter white.

I want to live with you, Teya was saying, and went on to ask a question that Reyes wasn't really ready to answer. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could make much progress, there was a commotion outside.

A voice carried among the trees, but was too far from them and their shelter to make much sense. Reyes looked at Teya a second and then rose, heading for the doorway to the cave.

There was something tumbling along in the snow, skidding across the ice.

Caracal? Reyes recognized him immediately, albeit he had gotten a lot bigger. He said his name as if he were speaking a prayer.

The second body collided with that of his son pretty soon after that, leaving Reyes to stare down at the two of them. No hello, no checking-in to make sure nothing was broken (they were boys, they could handle it), just a perplexed moment passing between.

Then as Reyes remembered his role as the father in this scenario, he barked out, Hey, kids.

Someone did hear it. Caracal let out another whoop when Killdeer caught up with him, the two of them colliding to finish the rest of the tumble in tandem. For his younger companion's benefit, Caracal let out a loud, "Wheeeee!"

Eventually, the grade evened and the boys rolled to a stop. Caracal laughed as he untangled their limbs, then rose and brushed snow from his furs. He whipped around in surprise at the, "Hey, kids."

"Dad?" he blurted, eyes darting to catch a glimpse of Teya behind him. "What're you guys doing here?"

whatever was about to be said was trampled beneath the loud and boisterous arrival of two young wolves. she pressed out of the den behind reyes, determined not to be caught in an improper situation.
caught between answering as a raven or answering as the girlfriend to the father that had not been told anything about his kids, teya decided not to answer at all. reyes could handle this one. "hello, boys," she murmured instead.

Caracal's cry pierced his eardrums, and he gave the other lad a rough shove before a shadow darkened the both of them. "Dad?" he heard his friend say, and Killdeer looked up to see a leggy red wolf, surveying them with eyes that reminded him of staring into the sun too long.

He didn't remember Reyes at all, having been born nearly simultaneously with the man's ousting from Redhawk Caldera. But, he supposed as he looked back and forth from father to son, he could see a resemblance.

A soft female voice interrupted this double-take, and Killdeer gazed past the man to see a woman, lithe and willowy, with fur of soft grays and creams. Suddenly in the presence of a beauty, his brain shut off and his body—slowly transitioning from that of dumb kid to dumb dude—straightened.

Um, hi, he said, ignoring Reyes' question as he shook off snow and tried to make himself somewhat presentable.

Teya was beside him, hurrying to his flank. Her touch sent a certain electric jolt through him that Reyes had to tamper down deep, as he was still burning with desire for her, and now that the kids were present it was a weird juxtaposition.

Caracal was as surprised to see him as Reyes was by the entire situation.

I would ask the same for you, he said with a slight petulance, reminded that his children had chosen Towhee over him, and all. Your mother's pack disbanded. I presumed you had gone with her to — wherever. It served nobody to let his anger influence this moment, Reyes reminded himself.

Brecheliant is moving. Our leader Eljay thought it was a good idea. He looked sidelong to Teya and then back to the kids, mostly ignoring the darker boy since Reyes did not recognize him - it wasn't one of his, which made Killdeer a third... fourth, wheel, or something.

He glanced over at Killdeer, wondering if he'd ever met Reyes or Teya. Should he make introductions? Before he could, Reyes answered his question. His phrasing and tone caused Caracal's head to whip back to face his father. He sounded like he wasn't thrilled at all to find his son here.

His ears flattened a little. "No," he began, prepared to tell his dad how he and Killdeer had had taken the opportunity to team up and go exploring, now that they were old enough to be on their own. But before he could, Reyes mentioned that Brecheliant was moving.

It did not occur to him that they meant to move here, though the mention of his dad's pack reminded him, "The last time I tried to come visit you there, some ugly lady stopped me." It was unkind, but so was she! "She made me leave." He realized this was pretty irrelevant. "Anyway, I was gonna come by later..."

That was the honest truth, but something felt off here. Caracal's voice trailed off and he looked at Killdeer again, pulling a face. Was it just him or was this whole situation super weird? He blinked over at Teya, lurking quietly behind his dad, and decided to ignore the tension.

Taking a breath, he said, "We know the pack disbanded." And I'm not even sure where mom went. Tierra and Sphyra, either. "Me and Killer decided to go traveling for a bit. We were thinking about scouting around to see where everyone ended up going." Um. "Where're you guys headed?"

"here."
teya had not meant to speak so directly to caracal's question but she found the word quick and confident on her lips. a glance to reyes now, to assure herself perhaps. the boys seemed rather young to be off by themselves, but what did the raven know? she wasn't a mother. "brecheliant coming here."
reyes was tense. she stepped past him only an inch, waving her tail in an effort to dispel tension.
the idea of motherhood made her pulse stutter in a way that teya could not identify as good or bad.
there were many reasons to come back to redhawk caldera. eljay and reyes had history in this place. and towhee was no longer in charge. caracal was charming but teya was waiting for his rebellion. she wondered who the woman was who had barred him from entering brecheliant.
her eyes flicked to killdeer. "will you stay here for bit or keep moving?" she asked, her words aimed at him but meant for caracal as well.

Well, this was a little awkward. Killdeer sedulously avoided either red wolf's gaze, choosing instead to keep staring at Teya. Probably to a creepy extent. He realized this too late, and shifted his eyes to her paws, but when she spoke, they snapped back up to her face.

Oh, he said aloud. Thus addressed, he glanced at Caracal. I'm going wherever he goes, he said with the most confidence he could muster, and gave his friend a fleeting grin (albeit a bit strained). 

He looked back at Reyes. Although, d'you know where my Mom and Dad went? Fennec and Bronco? Did they stick around or. . .

It was kind of a tough choice, had they gone away. Caracal was his bosom buddy, but he did miss his parents a fair bit. If the two of them weren't coming back, he wasn't sure what to do.

Teya spoke up with a succinct answer, moving beyond Reyes to interface with the boys. She must have noticed the strangeness between the father and his son; Reyes could see it just as plainly, and wasn't sure what to do.

It hurt him in a profound way, hearing that Caracal was already aware of things. That the Caldera had splintered apart and he had chosen the road rather than his father. The other boy spoke up to answer Teya's question and Reyes looked at him with some surprise, but he quickly masked it.

I'm not sure where anyone went. They didn't tell us they were splitting up. He answered with a level of calm that would sound out of place. Reyes wasn't very good at hiding his feelings when he was angry or irritated, and he was touchy about the subject of Towhee and the kids especially.

He took a breath and opened his mouth to say something else - such as make an offer to the boys, let them know they were welcome, but... He wasn't sure about that either. Caracal and the girls, wherever they were, hadn't chosen him when it mattered, despite all he had done to stay a part of their lives.

Why should he bother?

Here? His first, knee-jerk thought was that it was pretty weird for his dad and his girlfriend to move into Towhee's old place. He made a face, though he didn't reply right away to Teya's news, nor her question.

Killdeer said he went wherever Caracal went, which earned him a brotherly glance and equally brotherly love tap. The younger boy had a question for the two adults, though Reyes said he didn't know where anyone had gone. The next few words out of his mouth clued Caracal in a little re: Reyes's weird mood.

"Oh, uh... I think mom tried to get everyone to go to Brecheliant, but I guess we all kinda did our own thing?" Caracal shrugged a little awkwardly. He could only speak for himself and Killdeer. He supposed this meant the twins weren't there either. "She didn't really want me and Killer to go off by ourselves but she said we were old enough to decide. Uh, after our trip to Sapphique, I just really wanted to do some more exploring."

He suddenly remembered that Teya had asked him a question. "Um," Caracal said, looking at his dad and not feeling personally welcome, "guess we'll get going." They were hoping to track down the whereabouts of Towhee, Fennec and Bronco—and any of the other wayward Redhawks—after all.

Throwing an elbow at Killdeer, he mouthed at him and climbed to his feet. He took a look around, wondering what the Redhawks would think if they told them Brecheliant was moving to the caldera. It still struck him as a bit strange but let them have it. Caracal decided it would probably be best to keep this piece of info to themselves. He'd have to tell Killdeer to keep his pie hole shut, once they located their loved ones.

it was weird. all of it. reyes was being tense. caracal was pulling a face. the other boy, killdeer, was staring and then silent. it seemed that for all of the two packs' intention on communication, that had fallen right apart. teya herself saw no reason not to take over the caldera, but she had no attachment to it. not like the rest of them had.
caracal was not going to stay. she glanced at reyes, then offered the almost-grown children a friendly look.
"if you choose to stay in area, or find yourself close again, i hunt with you," she offered. it seemed easier than suggesting they stay, or insisting on it. as far as teya could see, neither boy had any intention of being beneath the authority of adults again.
when they had moved on, she turned back to reyes' crimson face, waiting for him to speak, or to close, as he so often did.

Okay, scratch what he thought earlier. This was really fuckin' awkward. And to top it off, apparently neither of them knew where his parents were. Killdeer shuffled his paws, looking around and choosing to focus on literally anything else. A stick, a blade of tall grass above the snow, a deer turd. Whatever.

He was shoved back into reality by Caracal, and nodded, giving Teya a smile at her offer. Thanks! he said, voice chipper. His eyes shifted between the two adults. Uh, nice to meet you?

Without hesitation, he moved off after his friend, and probably wasn't quiet enough for the adults to hear the ghost of "Dude, what the HELL" floating on the wind in their wake.

The boys left. As Caracal got up to go, Reyes had half a mind to stop him - but it wasn't enough, or wasn't clarified in time, and when Reyes finally gathered himself enough to speak the two had already vacated the area.

Reyes let out a breath. He moved towards the mouth of the Hobbit Hole as if the kids hadn't just been there. His ears twisted when he heard the distant shout from one of the boys — but then ducked in to the little love-nest he had reclaimed with Teya.

He sat by the entrance with a sour look on his face.

teya sat down beside him, not quite touching. she looked out toward the trail of prints in the snow that told the story of the boys arriving and then leaving again. "they not come home if she ask either," she said of towhee, stepping with caution around this.
"they free. free boys not want to live with parents." she didn't know, truly. she wasn't one.

Teya said something but Reyes was lost in thought, his face tempestuous a moment as he focused, lost focus, turned an ear to her. Something about the boys being boys; they wouldn't come home for anyone. Too old then, he thinks. Vagabonds now the way he had become, and the way of his father. That is a bitter pill to swallow.

He chuffs to her. Looks to where she stands, draws her close. Begins where they left off: nuzzling her neck. Reyes pushes aside the past and draws Teya in to the dark of the Hobbit Hole again.

after a time teya turned and followed.
if she could drive out the foul mood from reyes again she would, and her labour would be an act of love. an act of christening the land where she hoped one day he might rule with her and eljay.