Redtail Rise Mama, if that's movin' up

This is set immediately after this thread, which was right after this one which was on October 28 :) If you're tagged, please feel free to join <3 *leaves a treat out for the board so it stays stable for a while*

 

When a hawk passed overhead, she sang out for it; it was possible that it was the one who often haunted @Towhee Jr and it still lingered on her mind that they should find the girl and prepare her for what might be coming. She had no way of knowing if the hawk would alert the girl, or if it was even the right one- but there was something clever in its eyes, and it seemed to watch the two wolves with interest as they passed by below, before it soared off. 

Her gaze fell back again, but lifted soon thereafter when she felt something cold touch her nose. From the grey skies, the first sign of the upcoming season began to patter softly to the ground. It melted as soon as it hit the earth, but it was a sign that there was more to come- and that winter would round upon them with a blanket of white snow soon enough. 

She could feel the chill in the air as she and @Ancelin moved to find Augur and @New Snow. Perhaps by now they would have rounded up @Saturdays Sunrise as well. She pined for Moon Runner, who would come home at some point to find her nuclear family had changed, if it remained at all on the Rise.

augur waited.

he had scarcely moved from the place where wolverine had left he and new snow.

he thought of flame stalker and moon runner. either of them would have made a fine ulfhedinn in his stead. it was what he had intended for his daughters.

but the blood of boulder and snow held little sway here. wolverine had come from nowhere and had ascended to berserkr. her success had been a promise for those not born to the rise.

now, he saw no future here for his daughters in leadership or even as mothers. yet this must be their choice. they had achieved their own minds. perhaps with peace in the rise, he would be mistaken. he wished it. 

he was quiet when wolverine returned with her mate, hardly stirring save for a single low chuff.

phone post, short!

Gathered she was, upon the flanks of her father as she whines to him, confused about what changes are surfacing in the rise. Flame Stalker was no dummy, she was smart enough to sense when trouble stirred.

So she rumbles to her mother and father, pining as she searches with a dim flashlight for answers. The rise was growing dark. And she didn’t understand why.

short ance post!

their short walk was quiet and tense. ancelin found himself looking for cousins or his aunt, somehow dreading their arrival and yet finding inside himself a core of stone.
the melonii indigo eyes were resigned and maybe frustrated as he paced the perimeter of the tiny group, stopping to exchange breath with augur's daughter in hopes of soothing her a bit.

Their daughter had come to them. New Snow mouthed at her forehead with maternal affection. New Snow showed to her daughter the changing leaves. Spring was not yet due, and yet perhaps it still inspired all that transpired this day. 

New Snow watched a leaf fall. This tree was nearly bare. Change, New Snow grumbled. But it was not a thing to fear—only a part of life. The faces of her daughters life would change. Hierarchy would change. The seasons, the moon and its phases—what her daughter experienced now was one of her life’s first, most drastic of changes. 

The hunter recalled her own. When a sister was chased out for flirting with a strange man one too many time. Too many mouths to feed—mother could not support sister and the cubs she might have, and it had turned to blows. 

No resentment or anger once it was done. It was the way of the wolf. New Snow sighed. If she was pack mother, then perhaps she herself had been Wealda—though in dominance she had never acted the part. She had no wish or design for it. 

And as she gazed to one of her own daughters, new blood of the Rise, she knew it was perhaps she or any of her sisters who stood to lead someday, and as another born to the rise, why not? 

The birthright of their blood was to live a wild life, however they pleased. Alpha. Omega. As long as they were happy. 

New Snow moved to exchange breaths with the boy that was her son through love of Wolverine, and her daughter. No matter the outcome, she would ever be connected to them. Her gaze switched to Mountain Boulder.

ghost is insistent when he flies back to jr; digging his claws into her uninjured shoulder once. briefly. but sharply; drawling a soft hiss of pain from her. but he is in the sky, hovering low, leading her.

she follows; partially annoyed by his erratic behavior and much more curious than she'd like to admit.

her wounds are healing ( and scarring to her delight ) but she still favors her uninjured leg for the time being, just to be safe.

the small group she comes upon is an interesting bunch; though her eyes seek lilia and augur as her leaders. her questions write themselves upon her face, can be found in the tilt of her head.

what's going on?

New Snow moved to greet them, warm in spite of the chilling potential that lay in wait for them. Lilia mouthed at the woman's cheek appreciatively, savouring again these moments that they might share, knowing that there might be an end to it that was much earlier than planned. She had hoped to share the winter with the woman, learn more from her, and be still fond and treasured when they departed in the Spring. Now, Lilia was not sure what would happen by day's end. 

Sunrise looked confused, and she moved to the girl offering her a low rumble to help still her nerves. Lilia had protected the girl before, and she hoped that Sunrise would never stop thinking of her as a loyal and diligent guardian. 

Augur's greeting, however, was abrupt; a chuff, from a man who stood as stiff as a boulder. She felt a pang of regret, and wondered if he begrudged her for denying Avicus. She was the reason that they gathered now, a family united as they were left in the dark. The other portion of the pack gathered somewhere, but whatever verdict they had reached was still unknown to those who were not Redtails. 

She moved to greet the man regardless of his stony facade; she still felt certain that she had made the right choice. She knew that she would never feel respected if Avicus had ascended; and she felt too that Augur had been slighted by the angry woman. She uttered a soft growl, affectionate and proud. She would stand by his side, and do whatever it was that was best for him and his family, and hers as well. 

When Towhee Jr arrived, Lilia moved to greet her, inspecting the coyote wound which seemed to be healing well, though she girl's limp didn't go unnoticed. With time, she would regain use of that leg, but for now, the scars were a mark of victory for her. 

She directed the girl toward New Snow and Saturday's Sunrise, so they might become more familiar with one another. She knew that if peace could only be bought with her own expulsion, that she would want for Towhee to be cared for, and she felt that there were none better for the job than New Snow. 

She returned then to Ancelin's side, and sat, staring off into the grey woodlands. "It'th thtill quiet." She remarked, unimpressed. "We'll give them thome time." She said, though she burned to know what it was that the Redtails were up to.

wolverine moved about, but not before augur offered a vibrating finger of his own.

his tension did not belong to her.

flame stalker was given a press of his muzzle. the huntleader did not want to wait.

slowly he rose to massive legs and stretched slowly until all four had limbered. 

one of their newest was silent as well. augur woofed a low note.

we wait to see.

bumps of the muzzle and tiny kisses are gently offered to those who greet her, though she looks onward to her parents softly. mother shows her change, and father remains steadfast. however, everything else continues to change beneath her. the rise was turning, devolving even, and sunrise is left with the others to wonder what it all means. but perhaps it is nothing more than a leadership scuffle in her mind, there's no way something could split them... right?

oh, but blood was thicker than water for some, and that was the foundation of the rise to begin with. that was the legacy of shadow and his brother, of bloodspot and of all the other children of the wayward mother sunrise only met once.

she was not born to fear things, but this change rocked her stable boat. her affection runs deep between the wolves who have gathered her, and as her dying light eyes comes to meet their gaze, she begins to realize that something has gone awry. something remains quiet, and perhaps that is the scariest part -- the silence is deafening.

tenderly, she offers a brush of her muzzle to the unfamiliar girl, rumbling a soft note to her as a welcome, perhaps to even offer her own comfort in this time. she tries to think of something to call her internally but so far comes up with nothing.

ancelin was stiff-legged and watchful.
the kid was confused, and if he was being honest, so was he. the way everyone held tension, it felt like his aunt and cousins were about to burst down on them.
but they didn't.
and with each passing moment, ancelin became more and more tense himself, until it was billowing off the young man fiercely enough to unsettle augur.
fuck this. fuck this.
he was there for lilia but goddamn, he did not want to stick around to see abandonment in avicus' eyes. not again. not from another of them.

Distraught, the sullen girl returned to the scene of the inciting incident, the place where she had last seen Augur. She didn’t want to feel alone, and out of everyone in the pack, he and New Snow brought the most comfort to her mind at this moment, if only because she knew they could not talk or harangue her. She was eager to curl up in either of their presences and sleep this terrible day away.

She had expected a need to track him down from his last known location, but he was still there… along with practically everyone else.

Carrion hesitated, her body shuddering for what seemed like the millionth time today. She was the first blood-Redtail here, if not the only one who would show, and she looked first to Lilia with confusion contorting her face. The divide here seemed clear. Though Carrion had considered all wolves of this pack to be Redtail, she now realized that those born of Avicus and those who had come here through other means were at odds with one another.

Her eyes trailed to her pied cousin, who looked even more disturbed than usual, and then she looked to Sun Stone who practically oozed uncertainty over the strangeness in the air. It was a disquieting sight to see of the usually upbeat wolf-girl. Carrion related to her instantly.

The deaf girl was here too, and unfortunately so was New Snow, which meant that she would find no company or comfort elsewhere in this time of strife. Heaving a sigh, she approached the group in a downtrodden slink.

This issue mattered little to her, though it had obviously wrought a great deal of stress upon her and everyone else here. In her eyes, no matter who was in charge, she would still be one of the lowest rungs of the ladder with no foreseeable intention to change this. Both Lilia and Avicus had abandoned her (or planned to, in the former’s case) and Carrion saw no reason to support either party.

She came and flopped down prone before the group, like a dog who had just gone on a very arduous run. She yawned and licked her lips in an effort to relieve stress, and her tail flicked with evident irritation. The river is split by a rock, she announced in a cryptic mutter, not looking to anyone as she shrugged, dismissive of the entire debacle.

But the rock will crumble, eventually. This strife would not last. Nothing did.

holidays stole me away!

New Snows ear turned toward the one who approached. Her honeyed gaze turned to take in the daughter of Red Woman; her tail waved slowly to see her there, too. It was all too tense, and New Snow yawned to dispel it within herself.

And then drew herself toward her girl, offering a fond nip-kiss. She looked to the wolf who reminded her of some wild, colorful creature she had seen in the trees she had not the name for. 

New Snow moved toward the daughter of Red Woman, and flopped unceremoniously beside her. She flexed her legs out and sighed, grumbling something as if in rejoinder. It had been some time since a moment like this was experienced, and with a huff New Snow realized she did not miss it. But, even if the season for it was wrong, it was the way of things.