Heron Lake Plateau My disintegration.

Tags for reference. Post dated in real time, so a week+ after this thread. Please let Remedy post first, then it's open! :)

Having made her call at the neighbors', Towhee returned to the plateau. She trudged up the slope, the weight of everything that had happened lately resettling on her dusted shoulders. (In that vein, she missed X's familiar weight very much...) She had enjoyed the brief throwback and respite from reality but it was over now and it was time to face the cold, hard facts. She went straight to the place where she and @Phox kept house with the pups.

She planted herself on the grass and tended to her shoulder. In the week since her altercation with @Tegan, the wound had mended well enough. It only hurt a little now. Mostly, it itched. She wished she could ask her sister for some help but she couldn't bring herself to go to the Alpha female just yet. She passed her tongue over it a few times, then sat up straight. She pointed her snout skyward and bent her spine, cracking her back. Towhee rolled those weighted shoulders, then let out a breath.

Her heart began to pound as she said, "I think it goes without saying that we're not really welcome here anymore." She glanced pointedly at her shoulder, fighting the bile rising in her throat. Was she really ready to leave the Redhawks? It felt monumental: schema shattering. But aside from @Raven, was she even leaving anything behind at this point, truly? She'd held off as long as she could, kept her silence and gave herself time to heal from Tegan's attack, though Towhee could feel the ground rotting beneath her feet.

All she needed to do was look at @Fig and @Fennec to steady herself and remember why she was making these choices. Once, pack fealty meant everything to her. Now they meant everything to her. She would be an oath breaker, for them, though she did hope that any bridges burned would one day be rebuilt... yes, even including the particularly charred one spanning between herself and Tegan. Surely their notion of an alliance was still as viable as the Firebirds'?

"I know we wanted to wait until they're older but I think it's best if we just go," Towhee continued after a lengthy pause. Better to be gone before someone else attacked them over their decision. Or before Raven kicked them out to keep the peace. She sucked in a breath. "Today." But not just today. "Now."