Blacktail Deer Plateau Loosen my tie

A pale female with a vivid red tail traced the borders of the plateau on a misty morning with jaws clasped lightly around a duck. Her journey across the flatlands was brisk, but she seemed to relax when she reached the edge of her pack. Saēna wasn't properly re-integrated yet, however, and stuck to the edges of the territory more than she delved inward. The initial shock of Peregrine's abandonment seemed to have worn off, but she suspected the pack was still on edge.

She settled somewhere near the edge of the plateau, overlooking the river winding toward the creek she'd met Junior at, to pluck at her kill. Saēna hadn't been gone long, but in that time she'd become a decent hunter and was capable of providing for herself, for the most part. She licked her bloody lips, lifted her head to survey the land beneath, and then dug back into the fowl's breast.

Do you mind if this is set after the Dante meeting? If so, I'll switch up my post. :)

So, Dante was the new head-honcho, and Blue was where she had always been in the grand scheme of things. At least the willow had stuck around, and Tytonidae was certain that Lasher's scent was still thick upon the plateau, although she had not seen him since Father had left. She was not quite certain if he would be going with Peregrine or not, but she could not see any reason why he wouldn't. Like all the others, he was just another relative who would leave her one day.

Speaking of departed relatives... Ty picked up the definitive scent of her red-tipped den sister and loped toward it at a slow and steady pace. She did not have any particular agenda in mind, but she did want to talk to her. Ty wondered what Saena had seen while she was away.

Totally cool!

As she gazed out over the valley, she turned over the recent events in her mind. Her attempt to get on Fox's nerves when she'd accidentally found their pack had failed, but Blacktail Deer Plateau felt more united than ever. Dante was to lead the pack now and she couldn't agree more. The male was there when the cubs were little and seemed to have the resolve it took to hold a pack together. Instinct alone said he would be a good leader. Saēna wasn't one to question instinct, though she did occasionally wonder why Blue Willow hadn't stepped back into the position herself.

She decided she'd need to ask the Beta when next she saw her. Saēna tucked her thoughts back into her mind and finished off what she could of the duck, then stood with its scant remains and began to search for the telltale overturned earth that signalled a cache. She didn't get very far when she encountered Tytonidae.

"Hi, Ty," she said somberly as she stepped into the dreamy teen's path and lowered the duck to the ground. She couldn't help feeling a twinge of uncertainty; Ty had been the only one to support her dad's decision at the gathering aside from an unfamiliar male, and Saēna wondered if that meant they were at odds. Deciding not to bring it up if she could help it, she used one small paw to push what was left of the duck toward her age mate. "Want the rest? I'm not gonna eat it."

“Sure,” Tytonidae replied, glancing at Saena for a moment to make sure it was actually okay for her to be eating the leftovers. Convinced that it was fine, Tytonidae began picking at the meal, tearing flesh from bone. Between bites, she asked, “So what did you do while you were gone?” It felt easier than asking why she had left. Maybe there was something "out there" that was especially awesome, and that was why Saena had left them for a little while.

It felt odd to be talking to Saena. Or any of her denmates, for that matter. Tytonidae had always felt a disconnect between herself and those around her. The exception had been her father, and that was only because he had somehow seen past her weirdness. She was sad that he had left, if only because she'd been looking forward to being his gamekeeper apprentice.

Maybe because of the distance Saēna had put between herself and Tytonidae since Junior first diaappeared, she found herself surprised that Ty spoke like a normal individual. She didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't what she got. Maybe she'd come to exaggerate Ty's idealism in a way that made Saēna look like a judgemental ass, and her den sister wasn't actually about to chat to invisible people about imaginary woozles and heffalumps. She was stunned into silence for a time.

She recovered with a slow blink and then said, "not much. I just needed some time, what with my real dad dropping bombshells and then ditching out on us. I went and saw a pretty cool canyon though, it was really colourful." Then, settling back on her haunches, she turned the question back by asking, "what'd you do while I was away?"

Ty still often felt unsure of things, especially when asked questions she thought were definite. She struggled to find the "right" answers to questions in those cases. But she was definitely a smidge less spacey. Ty had learned to conceal her quirks better as she had grown older, keeping her friends hidden away even from herself at times. She would still catch glances of them out of the corner of her eye in the presence of others, but she was able to suppress (or at least ignore) them most of the time.

Kisu's absence had gone largely unnoticed by Tytonidae, who struggled to remember who was here and who had left. “Mostly just stayed around here,” Ty replied, “I tried to see Mom, but she didn’t answer my call. Summer said she lived there, I think.” Ty paused, then realized Saena probably didn't know who Summer was. “Summer’s a boy who lives over there. He was very nice.”

As Ty explained what she'd been up to, a dishevelled clump of hair on Saēna's breast caught her attention. Her ears cupped upright and alert as she quickly bent her head to lick it flat. Her head came back up mid-lick when Ty mentioned their mom. Her heart sank a little. Not only had Saēna been too busy to see Hawkeye off weeks ago, she'd also forgotten the name of the pack her foster mum ran with now. When Ty mentioned summer, she opened her mouth to ask who or what that was. Her sister covered it without her needing to say anything.

"Sorry she didn't come see you," Saēna said quietly, "she must be really busy." Saēna's relationship with Hawkeye had been about as thin a relationship as one could be between mother and daughter, but that didn't mean she didn't care what the lime-eyed woman who'd raised her was doing. Assuming she was busy was a good way to keep herself from thinking worse things.

"Was he cute?" she asked cheekily and stuck out her tongue. She was only joking, of course. Saēna hadn't spared a single thought for how attractive boys her age were. Her pool of known boys was limited to Pura so it wasn't like there were many options.

Ty nodded, thinking that had been the explanation as well. Surely Hawkeye was extremely busy in her new home, just like Fox had been when she first got here. She was probably trying to meet everybody and make sure they all liked her. That made sense to Tytonidae, so she resolved that it must be the truth. It was easier when she could convince herself of a certain thing, rather than dwell on it for days and days at a time.

"Was he cute?" came Saena's next question, and Ty's ears twitched. “Cute?” she asked, wrinkling her nose in deliberation. “He had yellow eyes.” Did that make him cute? What did make somebody cute? Was Tytonidae cute? Saena? Osprey? Could adults be cute? Other animals? “He wasn’t cute,” she finally decided. If she did not know what cute really was, how could anybody be cute?

"Oh," said Saena when Tytonidae concluded that Summer wasn't cute, "that's a bummer." She didn't really know how to explain cute, either. If asked, she might have described a funny feeling in the tummy that meant another wolf was cute, but that explanation was so subjective that either of them could have concluded that a less-than-fresh meal was cute. She could have said it was fun to look at cute wolves, but that would make it sound like non-cute wolves weren't worth looking at. She settled for not explaining.

"So are you guys like... friends? Are you gonna visit?" After a moment, she said, "maybe it'd be cool to visit mom, too." Saena and Hawkeye had shared all of maybe one moment together, but that didn't mean the pale girl didn't miss her foster mother. She hadn't been able to say goodbye at the time, so sometimes Hawkeye would cross her mind in a regretful moment. Often, she reminded herself that Hawkeye had left as well and wasn't worth visiting, even if Saena couldn't possibly classify it the same as her other parent's decision.

Tytonidae shrugged. Even if Summer wasn't "cute," she did think she would go back and visit him. Besides, she didn't think Saena was cute, either, but she was here talking to her, wasn't she? And even if he had been cute... well, Tytonidae shut that train of thought down and moved on to the next one when Saena began speaking again.

“I think I’ll probably go back, yeah,” she replied, “Hopefully Mom will be there next time.” If Tytonidae could have, she would have crossed her wolfish toes to emphasize her point. “You should come along. Then you can see Summer and decide if he’s cute!” If Saena knew what cute was (which Ty thought she did), maybe that could clear things up a bit.

Saena didn't share the same strong need to visit Hawkeye as Ty did, but thinking about it did make her wonder how their stalwart mother was doing. Saena hadn't even seen Hawkeye prior to her departure. She felt guilty about that suddenly.

Because of feeling suddenly like she'd been a bad daughter, she was quick to agree with a vigorous nod. "I'd like to see mom too," she confirmed, and then jokingly added, "and tell that Summer how to treat a lady like you!" 'Course, Saena didn't know the first thing about courting, she thought she knew how Ty should be treated.

Fade with your post? Trying to wrap up oldies. :)

“Yeah!” Tytonidae exclaimed, not really sure what she was agreeing to, but eager to do so anyway. She was glad to have Saena back, however short-lived that gladness would be. “You wanna help me go track something?” she asked excitedly. She couldn't imagine Saena refusing, of course, but it felt like she needed to ask anyway. “I think the resident deer herd is hangin’ out around in the south.” Ty liked to keep track of them, even if she didn't plan on hunting them anytime soon.

Wagging her tail, she took a few strides to the south, beckoning Saena to follow her to the herd. Maybe they could update Dante on where the herd was and see if he wanted to hunt them during their next group hunt. In any case, Ty would go see what they were up to.

"Sure," said Saena just moments before Tytonidae pinpointed the herd's most recent location. She let her dusty sister/cousin lead the way, happy to bring up the rear. Her ears flung lackadaisically back as she followed along with lengthy strides that, despite her best efforts, weren't equivalent to one of Ty's.

Saena once was ashamed of her small size—sometimes, it still bothered her to be more or less a runt—but since learning that Peregrine and Hawkeye weren't her real parents, she was less touchy about it. Her real mother must have been tiny. Shaking the threat of thoughts about her parents away, Saena hastened her steps to keep pace with Ty until they found the herd.