Redhawk Caldera The Way We Weren't

Little light cut through the clouds and falling snow, but eventually it woke him.  He'd been roaming around late into the night and instead of finding his way back to a den, he nestled himself at the base of a large tree for a nap.

Since returning from the war, he'd kept himself pretty low key until wounds healed and he felt a little bit less lame.  For being a guy that was used to fighting, he was sure a wimp when it came to how he felt afterwards.  Still-unclear details due to not-done-yet threads aside, by now, things were (probably) pretty much back to normal unless he did something dumb and strained a scar too much.  Nothing exciting.

Quixote yawned, dragging himself to his feet.  Stretch.  Another yawn.  Was it noon already?  Maybe?  Probably.  He wasn't the best when it came to figuring the exact time on cloudy days.  He was down sort of near the borders and had been making a loop around them, not expecting to find much, but he had been wondering if anyone new was gonna show their faces one of these times.  Unless he somehow scared them away by existing.

With the war (hopefully) out of the way now, it'd given him time to think about other, much more mundane things.  He'd actually been kind of wishing there were a few more women around -- it was that time of year wasn't it too?  From Quixote's perspective, it's not like the options here were great.  Of the ones he knew?  Finley was obviously not available, and he wasn't sure Towhee was ever on the list of potentials just due to her age, but her now being alpha probably made it even less likely.  He possibly met Raven after everyone got back and needed wounds tended, but even if so, they hadn't had enough of a conversation for anything to really count.. And others that were actually adults?  Wait, what were their names? Then again, maybe he just spent too much time sitting in a cave being a hermit.

There was an idea.  He and @Colt could go off wandering around seeing what possible lone wolves were around, be eachother's wingman, maybe find some chicks.  Unless Colt was into dudes or something, and then they could be equal opportunity recruiters, whatever.  As long as he got to be dumb and not stress out that they were all gonna die, he'd be quite happy for the time being.

Colt had been healing well enough until his run in with Ithrik.  Then he had added some new (even more undefined) injuries on top of the old, but luckily rolled high enough to evade death or serious maiming (for real, 18/20, lucky dog.)

Colt wasn't aware (obviously) they Qui was thinking about him also when he sought him out, but as one of the few good friends he had at the Caldera, when he wanted to hang, that's where he went.  "Sup?" The male hailed him as he jogged up, only slightly limping.  Likely any of his injuries would turn into rakish scars fairly soon; he couldn't look anything but rakish, handsome as he was.  That was a given.

((wow quick work post but yay! <3))

Speak of the devil, there he was.  Perhaps it wasn't that surprising -- there were only a few members of the pack thus far that had crossed paths with him on a regular basis.  Some time after this he'd have to try to maybe befriend some of them now that the war was hopefully over.  Maybe later in the season.  Oh hey.  We're both alive, looks like, so did you come for the party?  His tail wagged as he continued, Or did you get too beat up to help decorate?  Quixote was pretty much just making things up on the fly, he had no idea what he'd do for decorating anything.  The only thing he could think of would be putting fallen pinecones back in trees.  Or maybe feathers or something, but he didn't have a stockpile of either.

From his earlier thoughts, he had a great quip for what to say next, but wanted to give Colt a moment to get a word in too.  He shifted his weight around a little, almost anxious about it.  The only thing worse than waiting the.. maybe 30 seconds required would be if Colt stole his snark about the current pack's gender ratio.

Colt chuckled at that, shaking his head.  "Nah, but I'm not sure the new management is the party type.  Might get your nose snapped for the trouble," he said with a wry grin.  Quixote's snark was fortunately safe and available to use.  He wasn't sure what the process meant either, but he took it as the joke it likely was, and appreciated his friend's light mood (and honestly, continued presence).

Meh.  I mean it's not like she'd complain about it being too loud or something.  --- Or is the bird a tattletale?  I mean it's a red tail, but...  Can you bribe a hawk?  Slide it a vole on the down low, promise it more every time he ignores them causing trouble?  The damn thing seemed quite attached to Towhee's shoulders at last check, so it might be hard to get alone to make the suggestion.  Quixote wasn't sure what he thought of her as an alpha other than it had the potential to go horribly wrong if her hearing assistance bird took a vacation at the wrong time.  Time would tell.  And as far as he knew, the Blackfeathers were gone so there was no pending doom.

And it wasn't like you were gonna invite the boss to the underlings' unofficial company party anyway.  Oh, and the party is probably gonna have to just be a bro-fest because unless something's changed, there's a severe shortage of hot chicks to talk to.  I mean, if you're not into that kind of thing, then lucky you, but I wanna pretend to be some average dude who didn't come from a screwed up pack and stumble into another war for once.  Let's be honest, he was 110% gonna be garbage at flirting.  He'd previously pretty much been a hermit within his own pack.. And it's not like there was many great options there either.

Really he hadn't given the whole relationship thing much thought besides surface-level preferences because he was too concerned with making sure he'd stay alive.  Now there was freedom!  Freedom to be the equivalent of a late-blooming college student.  Surely that wouldn't be embarrassing at all.  He toootally wouldn't end up being oblivious and dating a serial killer chick or four years on down the road deciding he was actually gay or something.  Nope.  He was totally sure of himself, nothing wrong with his life at all, he had it all figured out.

Colt wouldn't have been surprised honestly.  The hawk thing still weirded him out considerably; yeah she was deaf, but in his opinion, if she needed the help of a non wolf, and was willing to give it pack resources in the bargain, maybe she wasn't fit to be leading.  An opinion he'd keep solidly lidded in case Finley came around.  Least they didn't have to worry about their alpha overhearing.

"How good are you at catching mice?" He asked, going with the idea.  Qui had a point about the lady scene though.  Colt nodded appreciatively, sagging a bit.  "Right!?. It's like every chick here is either my sister or her kids.  Sadly, I'm a ladies man."  He laughed and shoved his friend playfully.  "Though I guess we don't know unless we've tried, right? There's a couple dudes here I could try and set you up with if your really hard up..."

He scoffed, Hey, I technically have more options than you in this valley to begin with -- just need to like.. actually go out and find them I guess.  'Cause they sure as hell aren't here.  Quixote seemed to have a bit of an epiphany, turning to scowl sharply at Colt, tail wagging casually, Wait, did you scare them away? You scared them away, didn't you.  After a moment, that expression dropped and he was back to normal, Gotta work on your game if you can't get 'em to stick around.  I swear there were more women here when I first joined up at least, even if I didn't meet them.  He very well could have been misremembering, though.  He'd been even less social than usual before the war.

Quick change of subject along the same tangent, If I head out to go find some new recruits, you interested in tagging along after your leg's a bit better?  He didn't want to get trapped in a storm or something if Colt wasn't moving as quick as he ordinarily would be able.  The pack needed no more disasters.  Regardless of his answer, it was something that Quixote had tentatively penciled in, even without asking Towhee.  He assumed Elwood and Finley were going to have pups again (or maybe it had been already announced, I don't remember), so they'd probably want a larger pack to be able to provide food and security for them.  Wasn't that how it worked?

"Me, scare away a prospect.  Not on your life! Way too smooth for that," he replied, as though offended by the very thought.  "Nah, you came after.  I bet it was your ugly mug that had them runnin.  Don't worry; I can give you some pointers."  

Now there was an idea.  He left off giving Qui shit to nod wholeheartedly.  "I was thinking not too long ago much be nice to get outta here for a bit.  See what we can dig up."  He liked the thought of it.  He felt a little restless hangin around here all day.  "Leg's just sore, should be right as rain I'd think in a week or two."

As if they even saw me! I was spending all the time in a cave trying to figure out how to make sure everyone wouldn't run off a cliff and die or something! There were, of course, no cliffs involved, but he certainly hadn't seen too much of his pack mates when he first joined.  With Colt hyping up how he good he was with ladies, Quixote was gonna laugh his tail off if their first outing ended up with him metaphorically falling flat on his face.

Quixote nodded.  I'll probably go wandering a bit on my own first then, but I'll definitely drag you along when you're up to it.  Just lemme know.  It was probably unfortunate for Colt that Quixote's first trip out would just turn up another of his sisters, but there would always be more adventures to be had.  Then again, it was turning out to be slightly unfortunate for Quixote as well.

With a tilt of his head, he brought up another point that looped back to their earlier snark, Do we have to call the bird to get Towhee at the borders if we find people to bring in or d'you think Finley and Elwood still have enough clout to deal with that?  He could see her being irritated at not being reachable, but then again she'd imagine the now-betas were trusted enough to make such decisions since they had 'til Towhee took the reins.  And did birds understand howls anyway?

Colt nodded, excited for a coming excuse to go outside and wander around a bit again.  He was happy he'd made the decision to settle here, definitely; despite other encounters, he'd made a few friends and was enjoying playing uncle. But he was ready to see new faces, even if nothing came of it.  Ready to move on.

He snorted at the ridiculous notion Quixote put forth, shaking his head.  "I am not howling for a bird.  They can sort it out if they don't."  The bird shoulda been food.  He'd tolerate it, but he wasn't about to start talking to it.  "We have a leader who can't even communicate with the pack.  I know I told you my sis was crazy when we met, but now I'm wondering if it's worse than I thought.  What the fuck kinda bright idea was this?"  Sure, he had his own issues with Towhee... but he was right, wasn't he?

Quixote was at least willing to work with the bird, even if it was weird, if only for the sake of not having to ruffle too many feathers, ha ha.  Hell if I know.  It doesn't sound like the best idea, yeah.  I mean... She isn't exactly what I'd consider much of a diplomat either. -- I'm actually kind of considering trying to put a bit of effort into that kind of thing, just so maybe there's one of us losers who tries to prevent another war if it comes up.  You can tell I'm a great wordsmith, right?  Quixote was not the ideal sort to be going and doing ambassador-y things.  He was either blunt or obtuse depending on his mood, and neither of those were good for dealing with how to keep people from killing each other.  No more war, plzkthnx.  He wanted to be a late blooming college student in peace or something along those lines.

Back to her though.  I think if Finley and Elwood weren't having pups soon it might not be so bad.  They'd be able to help out and make sure everything was gonna work out ok, that the nearby packs weren't gonna eat us, there was that drama with whatshisface at Moonspear, if he remembered right, but won't they be busy with their kids soon?  Towhee needs a mate or something to help out, not a bird.  And not me.  I have issues with leadership.  He would have been that edgy kid in high school drawing anarchy symbols on his notebook when he was Towhee's age.  He did look pointedly at Colt though, though he expected a similar response to what he had.

"Best of the best.  Hey, at least your trying."  His main beef with her was definitely that; well, mainly the fact that she couldn't take a joke, and that left Colt with the distinct lack of how to get along with her effectively.  He was the type of "make it or break it" with the sarcastic humor, and the few times they'd talked, it had definitely fallen flat.  He didn't have a hard time imagining other wolves taking issue as well.  "I'm friendly as the next guy, but some things take a leader." And he wasn't willing to go grey trying take over that thankless job, no siree.

Hold up, was Quixote implying..... hah!! He laughed, a single bark that trailed into more contained chuckling. "Not my type, besides, she's practically my niece.  Your all about the ambassadoring, sure you aren't up to the challenge?"  He was joking, but he did agree.  Towhee needed someone to help, if only to balance her with a little fucking lightheartedness.  "All the dudes in the world in this pack, and still...". Maybe they shouldn't only be hunting chicks on their outing.

Ambassadoring means make sure that we have another dumb war, not date the boss.  He seemed pretty steadfast on that fact.  How many times had he stated he didn't want to be in more dumb wars?  Quite a few, he was sure.  Besides, that sounds like a good way to get booted from the pack -- screw something up, have a bad breakup, congrats, you need a new pack!  Ok, he hoped his relationships didn't go that way, at least, but there were certain things that stood out as a giant Bad Idea to him, and having anything other than a professionally friendly relationship with leadership sounded like it fell into that category.  Sure, things could work out one way or another, despite is preferences, but he was definitely not going out of his way in this case.

I guess most of the guys in the pack are pretty much her family too, aren't they?  There was that one other dude.. Uh.  Quixote didn't know his name, actually.  At least Finley and Elwood's kids were all pretty easy to recognize, at least in his opinion.  Something tells me, though, that if we tell random potential recruits that our alpha is single and we're trying to hook her up with someone, Towhee will feed us to the damn hawk.

He made a very good point there, and nowadays he doubted even Finley would speak up for them in that instance.  Family was family, but he was sure Towhee rated above him, not that he minded.  She was practically a kid to the former alpha.  He was just the favorite (better still be) brother.

"All good points.  Guess we'll have to hope some guy comes along that'll take her, or the hawk ends up being enough."  He didn't mean that in the way it sounded.... definitely meant it in the advisory and assist capacity. But as soon as they left his mouth, he gave a little snrk.  "Not like that, but to each their own?"  

His ribbing was never serious, though at times he did take it a tad too far.  Qui would probably, for the near future, get the extent of it.  He was smart enough to only go so far with those who he didn't know their sense of humor.

Okay, he did have to guffaw about that, This pack is weird, man.  But now all he could think of was what a wolf-bird would look like, and there were far too many utterly ridiculous permutations that were possible.  But you know what?  He'd 100% take deaf alphas and speculation about cross-species relationships in his spare time over having another war right now.  If this insanity was what was going to continue to take place, he'd happily live in this fever dream.

So once you're all up to par, I'll nag you into going on our grand adventure and we can see what other freaks to add to the menagerie, yeah?  They'd probably prattled on enough as it were.  Now's probably about time for me to go find something to eat, though.  Gonna raid a cache if you wanna come along.  If not, Quixote didn't mind, for surely Colt might his own top secret things to do.  Ordinarily Quixote might have gone and hunted something but today seemed like a lazy day.  Gotta goof off more, roll around in the snow, blab about dumb things, and generally be useless.

"You can say that again," he agreed, though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  Not completely anyway.  Jury was still out on their leader's quirks.

"Both those sound like excellent plans," he said with a grin, feeling the laze as well.  He'd hunt later, but currently he had a friend and it was a beautiful day.  Time to shoot the shit and not worry about wars or pack probz or any of that.  Stress was bad for you, and Colt wasn't one to let it get to him much.

Their pack wasn't amazing in every aspect that could be measured, but at the very least it was better than some.  Better than what he came from.  More stable, weirder in more tolerable ways.  He'd stick around.

With that, Quixote nodded and motioned Colt to come along.  Onward to the land of snacks and other adventures!