Redhawk Caldera I can do anything that I want, 'cause, look

On the borders with @Towhee @Phox @Maxim @Leona. Family visit! ^^

After Towhee had gotten over her funk, Jack had caught it. He still had remnants of the cold that hung on his snotty nose. Being sick wasn’t going to stop him from poking and prodding his mom and dad for a road trip. He’d pestered them both daily until they had agreed it was time to go. They even packed up Leona and Phox, to go with them.

The boy was thrilled at the earth traveling beneath him. The trip had been longer than he’d expected, but after their travels had taken them out of Epoch and into the unfamiliar wilds, Jack felt time fly past them.

There was a strong scent of claim on the edge of the caldera. Jack Snipe glanced back to his mother and father with a wild grin.

This it, mom? he called to Towhee.

When Towhee mentioned that Jack wanted to go to Brecheliant, Phox figured there was no sense in waiting around for Amalia to get back from Mereo. And hey, maybe she'd already be back home and had decided not to swipe up Phox on her way back. He wouldn't blame her for that. Who wanted to babysit a three-legged old man?

It was strange to gaze upon the place he had once called home. The place where he'd been born. The place he had once considered his birthright. But it was more Eljay and Maia's than anyone else's now, and there were no hard feelings on his end. Phox found it much too difficult to hold a grudge these days. He was too old and too tired for it.

-Sure is!- he said, answering the question on Towhee's behalf.

It turned out Jack hadn’t forgotten Towhee’s promise to visit Brecheliant. She couldn’t put it off any longer, not if she was carrying pups. And with Phox back in the fold, it seemed like a good time to take a big ole trip down memory lane.

She hung back toward the rear of the group as they made their final approach. Towhee avoided looking at the caldera until she couldn’t, then set baleful eyes upon it. She would do anything for her kids, though Towhee realized she really didn’t want to be here.

And what if @Eljay showed up to greet them? There was always the possibility that @Reyes might turn up too. Wouldn’t that be wild? Towhee shifted her weight and, without realizing it, let out a mildly hysterical laugh.

maxim drifted between hanging back with towhee and keeping up with the excited jack. some part of him did feel eager to see a place he had heard tales of, the other part of him wondered what awaited them.

did towhee want to visit the past? phox did not seem bothered by it and, of course, the kids had only excitement to share it seemed.

so he had set aside worry. all up until they arrived and while jack asked a question, answered by phox, towhee seemed to crack. laughter. usually he loved her laughter, but this sounded...wrong? misplaced, perhaps.

-towhee?-

In the wake of his honeymoon, Bronco felt simultaneously tired and invigorated. He both wanted to patrol more and begin working to improve the den space for Teya. He felt restless and home bound at the same time. Through all the conflicting emotions and impulses he carried on, buoyed by joy. 

With the wind at his back, the scent of visitors caught his attention but shifted playfully, away from him. Still- it took only a tiny hint for him to recognize who it was that had come to Brecheliant, so he picked up his pace.

He heard Towhee’s bray of laughter before he caught sight of the cluster of wolves who had come to call and responded with a deep chuckle of his own. Five had come- but two of them he recognized instantly. And in spite of whatever protocols he’d learned in his training, and despite the fact there were three wolves there that he did not even recognize, he approached with a beaming smile. His tail swayed in broad strokes behind him, and he uttered an affectionate grumble. 

”SA-MAN-THA.” He mouthed the word, silently but emphatically once he caught Towhee’s eye. He chuffed, and then moved forward to greet Towhee and Phox with happy, affectionate snuffles. It had been far too long since he had seen them, and time had not cost them an ounce of his loyalty.

teya had not gotten along with towhee in the best of times. and so when the commotion at the borders reached her, she wanted to disappear.
because she had just been with bronco, she could not very well beg off meeting the family she had — abandoned? divorced?
she felt sick. she wondered if she could know so soon the second time around and stared down at her hips, which remained slim. the sickness then, was because she had to go in front of towhee and stand with bronco and realize that she'd taken men from two redhawk women.
sort of.
taking a deep breath and pasting a winning expression to her face, teya stepped out and went to stand beside her new husband, catching his eye for a loving moment that managed to be genuine and also a signal that she was not to be fucked with this time.
as if to punctuate this, she flicked her eyes over maxim, so young for towhee. "hello," she greeted them all a half-second later, brightening. "come in."

The boy’s tail flagged at Phox’s confirmation. He was pleased that they had arrived in such a short time. There were tons of smells that needed sniffing and he was the man for the job.

From behind him, Towhee cackled. Jack lifted his head and glanced back to her, smiling. He hadn’t caught her distress. The boy was too excited to be visiting somewhere new. His eyes shifted from his mom to his dad. The young Redhawk thought about asking what they should do. Before he could speak up, their group was met by two individuals.

And one of them looked totally badass.

Jack Snipe couldn’t stop staring at Bronco. The man’s scars were the craziest things he’d ever seen. He wanted to know how the guy had gotten them all. After a few moments, he realized that this total badass was getting friendly with his mom.

Is that your brother? he shouted at his mother, bouncing to where they were. There was a pretty woman, too. She didn't quite catch Jack's eye as well as Bronco had.

Perhaps if he had realised fully what he was walking into, Eljay might've avoided that wasp's nest. Like Towhee, he really didn't want to be at this little family reunion. Eljay had left all of them in a tough spot, but Towhee specifically. He didn't like to revisit that moment and he was ashamed of what he had done then. At the same time, it was exactly what he needed at the time; he was in a much better place right now than he had been when he had left. Forging his own path for the first time in his life (following Wildfire was still sticking to something comfortable for him, after all) had brought him a lot, and in Brecheliant, he had truly found a family who loved him no matter what he did. All of his personality traits seemed to have turned into qualities rather than flaws under Brecheliant's watchful eye.

Laying eyes on Towhee turned his stomach, both because it made him feel like the little boy who was being berated by Towhee for not being strong enough, and because he felt so guilty for abandoning her when she needed him most. It was a complex myriad of emotion, and he swallowed thickly as he approached the borders — where Bronco and Teya were already greeting the others — with a nervous, concentrated expression on his face. He was not ready for this; he wasn't sure he would ever be.

Uh... Towhee? You want to—come back later? but before he could really finish the thought, Bronco, Eljay, and somebody else Phox didn't recognize appeared. She seemed to be standing rather... close to Bronco. Possessive, almost.

Bronco approached and greeted them like they were old friends, which maybe he should have expected, but Phox could only think of how strange it was to see Bronco with anybody other than the mother of his very own grandchild. It was such an odd sensation, but Phox tried to roll with it as best as he could, returning the

At least Phox didn't have any hard feelings toward Eljay. Not any that he could remember, anyhow. That's Eljay, he whispered to Jack, gesturing toward the grey, dappled wolf.

So... how's things in Brecheliant? he asked, directing the question to the three who had arrived. He was not really that curious, but he also really wanted to break whatever awful awkward thing was happening right now with a question. He simultaneously wanted to cut and run, but Jack's presence kept him here. This trip had been for him, hadn't it?

And then Bronco appeared, moving toward the group with a broad smile on his rugged face. Towhee snapped out of her momentary hysteria, staring at him as he came closer. Had she known he lived here? Her daughter or grandson must have mentioned it at some point, though Towhee couldn’t recall. He mouthed something at her directly and Towhee could only continue staring at him, still processing his unexpected presence.

Before she could figure out how she was meant to react to the man whose most prominent title in her mind these days was “Fennec’s ex,” someone else came along. Towhee didn’t know her, at least she didn’t think she did. There was a vague familiarity, as if they’d met in passing, but she just couldn’t place her.

She didn’t miss the way the latter arrival looked at Bronco. Towhee’s mystified gaze flicked between the two. She wondered if Fennec and Killdeer knew about this. She knew it was really none of her business, though, so she focused on how the hell to react to Bronco individually. He clearly didn’t conflate her with Fennec, that much was obvious. Should she take his cue and do the same? Could she?

Towhee missed her son’s shout because she was staring at the latest wolf to materialize, perhaps ironically. It was the man, the myth, the legend: Eljay. She hadn’t known how she would feel seeing him after all this time. She would never forget the way he’d comforted her after her miscarriage. He’d promised to stay close, only to disappear, and that had certainly angered and hurt her. But especially now, years after the fact, she could appreciate the long history behind that fallout.

All the same, she didn’t know how to feel and Towhee could only look around at all these familiar faces and whisper to herself, I should’ve just taken him to the coyote whorehouse, unaware that it came out quite loudly, right over Phox’s question.

a lot seemed to happen. like a red carpet had been rolled out, only it kept rolling and rolling. faces walked down it that he did not know. that phox and towhee did now. somehow maxim felt his age the most in that moment. young, a bit dumb still.

despite how much towhee had helped him emotionally blossom, he felt an undeniable denseness in this situation.

especially when she declared that.

it was not the language that shocked him the most. it had been the timing, the way she had broken her hysteria with such a statement. one he felt completely unprepared to handle in any capacity.

he stared at her for a moment. dumbfounded and silently prayed that phox could handle being the social tactile bomb diffuser while he gawked at his wife.

His reception was lukewarm at best, but he would handle that with as much grace as he could. After all, these were now his ex-parents-in-law, but before that, Towhee had been his Auntie, and Phox had been his stepfather. Talk about a few crossed roots in the family tree- but even when one root was severed, the other persisted. He could forgive them for being standoffish, considering the fact that he and Fennec had ended things, but...She'd moved on. He'd moved on. Towhee and Phox should understand that, he thought. 

The kid, however, bounded forward, and Bronco was happy for the playfulness of youth. He grinned, and was about to introduce himself as Towhee's nephew instead when Teya arrived. The smile still stayed in his eyes, as he was happy to see another generation of children who had come over the past year from Towhee. But he stepped toward Teya, to show his unflinching association with her. He knew that she and Towhee had some unresolved tension, so he appreciated that Teya had come at all. 

Eljay approached furtively, and it was at that point that Bronco began to sense that there was an overarching tension that seemed to hover over all of them. At that same instant, both Phox and Towhee spoke simultaneously- but naturally, his selective hearing chose the more ridiculous comment to focus on, and he coughed with laughter. 

-Nahhhh, this place is way more fun,- He said, signing as he spoke. He was oblivious to the reference she'd made, having never been to such a place. He thought it was just another one of Towhee's lewd jokes. -I'm glad to see you again!- He said, looking from Towhee to Phox, and then to the others. -Welcome to Brecheliant-I don't think we've met....I'm Bronco, and this is my mate, Teya.- He said, giving her a soft smile. He nodded toward the man holding back a bit. -Eljay, of course,- He said, gesturing to his cousin so that he might come forward. He looked back to Towhee. -These ones yours?- He asked, gesturing both to the kids and to Maxim.

eljay was here and teya felt her stomach lurch with a sudden relieved desperation. the fact that he had stepped down from leadership did not make him feel any less a staunch part of these meetings.
grateful that bronco was with her, drawing strength from his nearness, teya resolved to make nice for the duration of the visit. the boy pulled a true smile from her.
and then towhee spoke, loudly, drowning out anything that was said. and then bronco was laughing too, his paws flying in sign that immediately shut her out despite the fact the words continued. it reminded her that he had been close with this family, was close with them. it reminded her that towhee might always be a part of their lives.
coyote whorehouse; her reaction had been swift and involuntary, a tightening around her coolwater eyes, a tension slipping into her spine. it did not improve her view of towhee, to come and insult brecheliant's ally. teya knew she was being unfair, searching for any reason to dislike the woman who couldn't possibly know their politics, but she justified it.
"since our lilitu married into akashingo, there reason for any extended family of caldera wolves to visit," the raven said, addressing towhee directly. "the queen have kids these ages. i sure she welcome a playdate." as if this little unit was going to visit, towhee's disdain clear. and it frustrated teya that she could not blame her for this. she tilted a warm smile that welcomed eljay, a clear shift from her taut expression.
was it cattiness? teya found she no longer cared. she looked to the older man with a missing leg, reminded vividly of bridget. "brecheliant peaceful," she said softly. "soon i think we organize a hunt. maybe your family join us again for that."

tossing her in just to have her here but she is most definitely skippable!!

Oh, she was late. Maia had rushed from what she was doing to attend to the call on their border, but she wound up arriving after a large gathering had already arrived. Oh dear.

She only caught what was said distantly and not much of it registered. The visit was pretty self-explanatory anyway. Obviously Towhee was here to see the family she had here and, potentially, how the Caldera fared. Did she mind, that they claimed it? Maia felt a moment’s anxiety, though it was quickly replaced with quiet resolution. If she did, it didn’t matter. This was the place where Eljay had found so much happiness and he deserved to call this place home.

She moved quietly alongside him, pressing her muzzle gently to his shoulder before standing next to him and smiling at Towhee and the others. She could catch up with them once they’d had the chance to talk. Right now she was more so there to support Eljay. She knew it had to be complicated, seeing Towhee again; she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t think they’d spoken since he moved away.

The boy only caught his mother’s words because he had been waiting for her to say something about her old digs. It was like Phox was giving the tour and taking the questions. Was mom too cool to answer her son?

But at the mention of the place she called a whorehouse, Jack Snipe livened up. He didn’t know what it was, but he thought it sounded like a great place. Eagerness overcame him. The thought of visiting Towhee’s home had flittered away to be replaced with Jack’s version of a whore which was just a coyote and a deer mixed together (boy hasn’t seen a horse, give him a break). It was awfully pointy, this image he’d conjured in his head.

Mom! Mom! Can we go see the whores house after this? Jack Snipe called out to her.

Bronco might have saved Towhee from an awkward conversation. He was warm and welcoming to their group, introducing himself and the pretty woman. He drew the boy’s attention away from the exasperated shape of his mother. Jack fixed his eyes on the Bronco’s scars.

You look totally badass! He said with stars in his eyes. Do you remember how you got all those? Do you have stories? Too many questions to expect answers for all of them.

skipping eljay since he's npc. i'm also skippable unless addressed!

Phox grimaced at Towhee's comment, more because of how loudly she had said it rather than the content itself, which was particularly Towhee-esque. Thankfully, it was Bronco's new ladyfriend who interjected and offered something he felt he could actually respond to. He breathed a sigh of relief.

A hunt... yeah. I'll bet Arsenio would agree to that. And then Jack was rattling off again, being his excited boyish self. Ah, the youths!

She could practically feel eyes burning into the side of her face and turned to catch Maxim giving her a look. Immediately realizing what it meant, she pressed her lips together and scanned the group. Had everyone heard that? How would they take it? Towhee mostly meant it as a joke…

Bronco came in with the save. In spite of everything, she gave him a grateful look as he expertly fielded the awkward question before redirecting the conversation to safer waters. He seemed genuinely happy to see them and made formal introductions.

Teya? Towhee probably embarrassed herself all over again by pulling a face. She missed every word the woman said as she tried to do some mental gymnastics. She thought back on a winter night some time ago, a drunken Reyes rambling about his girlfriend, Teya.

Clearly, he was out of the picture now. All jokes about picking up the Redhawks’ sloppy seconds aside, Towhee felt a strange camaraderie with this golden she-wolf. She wondered what exactly Reyes had done this time. She just hoped it didn’t involve any children, her stomach tightening at the thought.

Maia’s arrival derailed her thoughts and simultaneously reminded her of Eljay’s presence. They still hadn’t spoken directly to one another. Towhee still didn’t know what to say. Maybe he didn’t either. Perhaps it was enough simply to mingle among their mutual loved ones without engaging directly.

Belatedly, Towhee broke the silence to reply to Bronco’s question, saying, This is my youngest son, Jack Snipe, in case he forgot to introduce himself. And this is his sister, Leona, she added, gesturing at the girl who always seemed to hang back at group gatherings. My mate, Maxim, she finished before tacking on, It’s nice to see all of you, and shifting closer to Phox purely for comfort’s sake, curious about the words she caught on his lips: “a hunt”?

But Towhee knew she was an extra in this scene, her son the main character. She would let him capture and hold the spotlight. Jack was as full of antics as his mother, though in a more wholesome sense that might actually appeal to the group at large. He seemed particularly captivated by Bronco, which seemed fitting seeing as he was the one mostly adeptly bridging the gap between the two families.

please feel free to skip me if i ever take this long again...admittedly he's probably skippable unless addressed x)

it was a whirlwind it felt, in the moments that followed. the realization settling upon them while others simple swept up and carried on. perhaps showing just how family they might be! if towhee's wording did not perturb them so horribly.

introductions passed around and towhee introduced him.

to which he only gave a soft smile and a polite nod. feeling suddenly overwhelmed with the amount of, presumably, family bustling around them.

a hunt. playdates.

everybody seemed to fall into step with one another and he was left to look between his son, phox and towhee. not wishing to seem impolite by staring too much or too long at any brecheliant wolves.