The Floodlands You never go to parties.

Tags are for reference; anyone's welcome! :)

The confrontation with Colt had rattled her already fragile sense of self-confidence. @Elwood and @Finley had reassured her—right before the latter had run off to catch her wayward brother—but their backing could not shake the doubts from surfacing in her mind again. Did others feel the same way? What if it was only her godparents—and Clover, she added with a faint smile—that supported her? What if everyone in the pack secretly harbored reservations about her ability to lead, based not only on her recent judgment calls but something she could neither help nor change, no matter how hard she tried to compensate: her deafness?

She swallowed thickly and blinked herself back to the present, gazing up at the waterfall. She had jokingly dubbed it @Tegan's Tears in honor of her younger brother's saltiness toward her, though she couldn't find the humor in it today. Tegan was probably among those who thought she oughtn't be in charge. The chronicler in her rose up and murmured, Fox Falls. It was her mother's tumble and subsequent broken leg that had resulted in the caldera's foundation, now stuff of legend.

A movement toward the top of the falls caused Towhee's ears to slick back. She watched as X circled over the rushing water, then dive-bombed toward her. Despite herself, her lips parted in a laugh as she watched him glide downward at high speed only to bank and swoop onto a nearby rock. Her ears splayed again when she saw his talons slip on the slick stone, though he managed to stay upright and fold his wings, turning his head to look at her.

I'm sure my character hates me. :D

He'd heard Finley's call to Colt, but at the time it had gone in one ear and out the other -- more pressing business going on, y'see. He'd been pretty well chemically leashed to Raven for the past... Wait, how long had it been? Didn't matter really.  Hell, Quixote half expected Colt to just pop out of nowhere to heckle him about it. But he didn't.  In fact, after that howl, Quixote hadn't found any new traces of his friend.  Had he actually done it and gotten the good ol' boot?

The thought occasionally bobbed to the surface of his consciousness until he'd quite had enough of it, finally deciding to waste a siesta to make it go away, figuring he could go back to doting on @Raven without the distraction when he returned.  Colt said he was gonna talk to Towhee about some stuff -- kinda wondering if it went badly, ha, wondering... I'm gonna go see if I can figure out what happened.  Gimme an hour, maybe two?  Or, um, howl if you need me, I guess.  He didn't like leaving her, but being left by his friend wasn't high on the list either.  On the way, he paused a moment to roll in a shrinking snow drift to lighten Raven's scent, mostly just not wanting to leave an interesting trail back to her if possible -- as far as he was concerned, she was his prize, and wasn't keen on sharing.

Eventually he found Colt's trail, following it to where the confrontation with Towhee apparently took place, and then as he feared, it continued out of the territory.  Quixote continued on, hoping to find his friend bunked down somewhere nearby so he could ask what happened, but before he could get too much farther, there was a problem.

There was the wolf he really didn't want to meet right now.  Though her back was to him, the bird was looking right his way.  X had probably spotted him like three minutes ago.  Quixote was suddenly very, very aware that maybe sleeping with the alpha's sister wasn't a great idea, especially at this time of year.  Ok, sure, there were probably a few cases with a different pack arrangement that would have been worse, but if Colt had really stirred up Towhee badly enough that he'd been removed from the pack, Quixote was gonna believe he was on thin ice as well.  Unpredictability, lack of diplomacy, hate of strangers, need he go on?  It was definitely a different mix of feelings than his plain disapproval and dislike from before, but they shared the same base ingredients.

His best bet?  To pretend he didn't even see her, locking his eyes on the ground in front of his nose as he caaaasually tried to turn and exit back to the pack lands.  Doot doot doot, nothing to see here.  Just some guy checking out a scent before heading back home, not someone uncomfortable enough to have to actively think about keeping his fur flat and pace calm.  Plz be nice, bird, no notice.

She looked right back at him, watching as the bird began to smooth his feathers under the waterfall's gentle spray. Deciding not to pester him, Towhee turned her attention to the floodplain that sprawled beneath their home. She almost jumped out of her skin when she whirled to find Quixote just a few feet away. Towhee cursed loudly, wondering why X hadn't bothered alerting her. Was it because he recognized Quixote? Or was it because he was too preoccupied preening to watch her back?

Her muttering faded as she eyeballed her pack mate, wondering why he looked as if he'd rather be somewhere else. At least he hadn't bum rushed her like Colt (surely X would've reacted then), though Towhee was curious about his body language. Her head cocked, trying to get a read on him. Her nostrils flared as she took in his scent. If she caught Raven's mingling in there, she didn't think anything of it. With everything else going on, the young Alpha somehow hadn't realized her sister had gone into heat.

"Hey," she finally said after a long, awkward moment. "I've been meaning to find you and thank you for trying to mediate the other day..." Towhee's voice trailed off weirdly as a series of thoughts hit her over the head. She had no idea that Quixote and Colt had been griping about her behind her back or that the former took any issue with her at all. But Colt's grievances were still fresh in her mind and it prompted a very spontaneous query out of her: "Have you ever thought about leadership, Qui?"

His brain was locked in a loop of gratuitous ways he could be verbally or physically eviscerated and was waiting for the hammer to drop when it just... didn't.  Oh hey.  Yeah, uh, no prob.  I wish it had gone better, though. But at least not as bad as it could have been.  It took a little more focus than normal for him to make sure he kept himself facing a direction where Towhee would be able to tell what he was saying, but at least the Worst Case didn't seem to be happening yet, so that relaxed him a bit.

And then she continued. Talk about mental whiplash.  W-what? was all he could stutter for a moment. After the brain gears slipped a bit, they finally caught again and he had a slightly more verbal response, Nah, that's what everyone else liked fighting over, I just liked staying alive.  So no, he hadn't really thought about it except from from the perspective that it was totes all screwed up always and 5ever.  The hell was she asking about it for anyway?  It was probably just because he knew all the facts that he thought it sounded like a really bad idea that wasn't likely to happen.  A nice pipe bomb waiting to explode in someone's face -- his, hers, some random other person who happened to show up conveniently at the wrong time... 

The only good thing he could think of? A leader could bring Colt back in.   The rest of the stuff Qui had in the past complained about?  Technically could be done by anyone if given the free rein to do so.  Despite all his complaints and history, he'd never thought about officially stepping up to do anything about the problems he saw -- just happy to be a worker bee so people would leave him alone at the end of the day.

He looked more than a little disarmed by the question. Towhee might have snickered but she watched his lips carefully, her expression serious. What if... she thought. She wasn't sure whether she should take any of Colt's words to heart, but maybe she could dig out the constructive in the criticism. As poorly as he'd approached the entire matter—by trying to attack his Alpha from behind to prove a point, smh—she could admit to herself that he'd raised some valid concerns, even if he was a cowardly asshole about it.

"But would you? Consider it?" she pressed. A train of thought had rolled right into her head and she was apparently leaping on-board and riding it through to the end of the line. "You know Colt, right?" (Fucking lol.) Aware that these two subjects didn't segue naturally, she explained, "He raised some concerns about my ability to lead. He was a total whackass"—thanks for that one, Tegan—"about it but it got me thinking..."

She paused for a long beat, letting him catch up, especially considering how flummoxed he looked. "Maybe the pack would benefit from rounding out the leadership," she thought out loud, orange eye speculative as she squinted at Quixote. There weren't many eligible candidates to begin with, however, he easily rose to the top of the list.

All he wanted to do was go find out what happened to Colt.  Apparently he was going to find out, but it was also seeming more and more like he'd accidentally lit his life on fire and then fed it through a wood chipper, and all the destruction had just happened in the last minute and a half.  And to think, he'd been quite happy with how things were going a couple hours ago -- stuff finally seemed to be getting in line. It all sounded like some kind of joke -- a twisted take on his comments to Colt.  Oh yeah, maybe Towhee'd crack and then someone'd do something!  Or to go back farther, oh I know, set her up with someone that could help her out as leader!  Ha ha, yeah, that's funny, knock it off this was not what he meant at all and the second was definitely seeming more and more no bueno.

But what had Colt done?!  How did a conversation that might have just been kinda bad ended as foully as it sounds it did?  What did he do?  Surely if he just spoke out and asked for changes, that shouldn't have gotten him kicked.  Maybe demoted if he was especially snarky about it.  If he'd been level headed and Towhee had gone nuts, wouldn't she be more obviously unstable?  Something happened that wasn't what Quixote predicted the script would be, and that made him concerned.  Obviously he hadn't been mentioned, but he also wasn't going to throw Colt under the bus -- if he could fish him out of the wheel wells, he'd try.

There was also the problem that it had pretty much been carved into him to do what the leaders wanted because that meant you lived.  As awful as they often were, you did what you had to, undermined them if you'd get a better result and wouldn't get caught, and life moved on.  You didn't lie unless you had to, because it'd come back and bite your damn head off.  Omission was always the best option.  Um.  Maybe I guess?  He was figuring that maybe Towhee was trying to do something like shift gamma into a leadership rank?  At least with his perspective, if she was determined to stuff him into a title that was where he'd be fit, barely having a voice but maybe having enough of one to clean up whatever messes got left.  If she was thinking the alpha male slot?  Hadn't even crossed his mind as a viable (or smart) option.

But then there was Colt.  He drew in a breath, held it, exhaled as his ears folded slightly back on his head, and finally decided to take a risk. Hell, it might mean he wouldn't feel obligated to take on additional responsibility.  Uh.  Yeah.  I talked to Colt about it after the fight. And to Elwood before that but shhh, omission,  Like finding someone to help out with diplomatic stuff or whatever else since it kinda seems like Finley and Elwood are being kept pretty busy trying to corral the kids. AKA the adolescents and their behavior, since the little ones weren't really any trouble yet.  He'd tried to decorate that line with an awkwardly bemused smile, but he was nervous -- but thankfully about something he wasn't hiding.  At least he didn't have to fake his genuine confusion and concern at how wrong things had gone, He said he wanted talk to you about it.  But what happened?  That shouldn't have been a.. er.  'Whackass' conversation, as you said.  He wanted to impress that it had probably been some great miscommunication -- that Colt most likely had the pack's best interests at heart, whatever he did.

She visibly bit her lip at his hesitation. Towhee found herself wishing he seemed more enthused by the idea, but Quixote just seemed caught off guard and deeply uncomfortable. For now, she decided to back off. Anyway, he distracted her by mentioning a conversation with Colt. Her ears pricked as if they worked, then folded uncertainly. It sounded like they'd not only been discussing her competence but the Betas' as well. She felt a flash of anger on their behalf, though she quelled it to respond to Quixote's question.

"He attacked me—or tried to. X stopped him. He harped on me for being a deaf leader, but couldn't provide specific examples of where I've come up short. He mostly seemed pissed off about X," Towhee told him. "He basically made it out like I'm a terrible leader. And you—do you feel the same...?" she inferred, ears folding backward and orange eyes darkening. But before he could reply, she added, "I told him that if he couldn't accept my leadership, he should leave." There was a weight to her pause as her orange eyes bored into the Gamma. "So he did."

If you saw this post earlier, I majorly reworked it because I think it made 0 sense and I missed the point entirely when I looked back, oops.

It seemed like a certain amount of pressure had been released from him saying what was on his mind.  It was one thing he didn't have to worry about in the future.  Though he still had Raven as his great dark secret, pun and all, Towhee hadn't said anything, so for now she was safe.  It sounded like Colt had really messed up -- he hadn't actually communicated a point.  Quixote would have to hunt him down later and get his side of things.  Sigh.

But for the rest, Quixote approached the subject with an even keel, and even though Towhee was irritated, he couldn't blame her.  It wasn't a topic that favored her and it was a thin line to balance on his side.  Quixote wasn't challenging her, but he wasn't the sort to just decide everything was fine when it wasn't.  He slightly shook his head. Nah. I said if you get the right people around you, should be fine.  No clue who those would be, but he did wonder if it was maybe not the betas, not that he had any better suggestions.  He couldn't read minds or see the future, so who knew.  I'd agree that not everything's perfect and sunny now -- the fight pretty much proved that -- but at least most problems should be fixable.  Quixote worried about the things that could be changed, Colt had fixated more on what he couldn't (or wouldn't, if he just didn't want to challenge for the rank).

He looped it around back to the initial question as talking through it made him make a slightly more solid decision, I've tried to do what I can to help out when something's going bad, hence stepping up at the just-mentioned conflict, but it's mostly just been damage control. I guess people might listen to me more if I had a title, but I'm definitely not anywhere  near perfect, and there's no saying I'd agree with everything you do.  Still, pretty vague.  He wasn't demanding anything and seemed to be quite happy with the status quo if she wanted to leave it as is.

Towhee's eyes narrowed to slits when he implied she needed the "right people." It made it difficult to follow the next few words, but how dare he imply her godparents weren't the most qualified wolves on earth? In that moment, the Alpha realized she took more offense from slights on them than on herself.

But as with the maddening conversation with Colt, she managed to curtail the impulse to interrupt or otherwise react until he finished. His attitude toward everything was such an improvement on Colt's and, for that alone, Towhee gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had issues with the leadership, but at least he bothered to keep his criticism constructive. Plus, he made a point to put a positive spin on everything.

"Newsflash: Alphas aren't perfect," Towhee told Quixote, the inference rubbing her the wrong way after Colt had painted it as if leaders couldn't have flaws or weaknesses of any kind, gods forbid a disability. A moment ago, she'd been worried that she'd have to ask him to leave too, though now she circled back to the earlier topic. "I think we should both think about the fact that you're a reasonably eligible candidate for leadership—that you might have a lot to offer."

But it didn't have to happen right now. Although Towhee knew she was well within her rights to do whatever she pleased as Alpha, she hadn't been lying to Colt when she'd told him she considered her Betas her equals. They made decisions as a team wherever possible. She'd definitely want to consult with them about a fourth and final leader, specifically whether they thought Quixote was cut out for and worthy of the last open slot on Redhawks' council.

"That is," she added a moment later, tail flicking, "if you can stand working with Uncle Elwood, Aunt Finley and myself. 'Cause none of us are going anywhere."

If had been a week or two ago, perhaps Quixote would have been out on his tail like Colt -- he'd been sulking around for what seemed like forever, questioned the move, questioned her, been generally unhappy even if he pretended otherwise.  He still had questions now, but the anger had been for more selfish reasons and it was pretty much gone.

Alphas, not perfect?! Naw, really?  He really wanted to say a bemused, 'You don't have to tell me that,' but caught himself before he made things worse.  With another wolf, he might have, but it he was pretty sure their senses of humor differed wildly and he'd just be trying Towhee's patience.  He did have to wonder if they'd been looking at the same pair of betas, though.  To him, both of them choosing to stay with the pups instead of helping to try to deescalate things said that maybe they didn't want those duties any more.  But what did he know?  Quixote didn't have a family and he wasn't in their brains, but it just didn't seem quite right for them to have left the dealing-with-others thing to people who were no good at it when there were plenty of other noncombatants that could have had pup protection duties foisted on to them for a few minutes.  But why didn't it happen?  What did that say about them?  Perhaps he was reading too much into it, but if there was gonna be some other impending shakeup, Quixote wanted to know about it in advance.

Since Towhee herself had already been discussed, his response in addition to a shrug was, I only said they seemed busy.  Other than that, Qui didn't really have a problem with them, though maybe Towhee should if they were shirking on refining her leadership skills.  In the end, he worked with what he was given, and even if he thought they were screwing up, they were still worlds better than what he was used to overlooking.  But that didn't mean that if the opportunity knocked, he wouldn't try to change things that everyone else ignored.  I'll think about it, though.  No promises I'll end up with the answer you want, whichever way.  He smiled faintly and lowered his head, knowing his rep had probably taken a few hits from this conversation, but eh.  It was out in the open now and it'd give him less to stew over.  Watch him end up deciding he should never lead if she wanted him to or that he was the only option if she didn't -- it'd be just his luck.  And what the heck would Colt think of this?

Quixote said he'd think it over, which earned a simple and somewhat stiff nod from Towhee. She couldn't help but rejoin, "No promises over here either." But there was nothing particularly malicious about the look she gave him. They were both simply being honest. She wasn't sure what answer she wanted, nor whether she would make the official offer in the end. Towhee simply wanted to throw the cards on the table for consideration.

"So," she said a beat later, clearly trying to shift gears, "what do you think of the place?" It was kind of an idle question, though Towhee truly wanted her pack mates to like their new home, despite the initial conflict. "I'm calling this Fox Falls, after my mother. There's a story behind it, if you're interested." But she didn't launch into it just now, instead looking to him for his thoughts on the plateau.

At least in the end, things seemed to be neutral between them.  He wouldn't quite call it amiable, but eh.  Depended on perspective.  And he definitely would have to think about it... And with Colt gone -- unless he could stumble across him in the next not-too-long -- the only one left outside of leadership that he'd talked to was Raven.  And despite whatever their relationship actually was, he wasn't sure if burdening her with the sorts of thoughts he'd unleash at Colt was necessarily fair.  Cliffnotes?  Sure.  Either way, working out whatever had just occurred was high on his list, even if he was just talking to his reflection.

That change of conversation was welcome.  Dwelling any longer on it would be awkward as hell or just the end of their chat in general.  But the Plateau?  Eh.  I dunno.  With the thaw and knowing rain's a thing it makes me worry about floods.  But uh.  He looked to the waterfall and back to her in a way to suggest his following question wasn't too serious, I guess it's probably not an issue, huh?  Wouldn't mind a few more trees, though.  Made it hard to lurk without high grasses and stuff, but at least some of those should grow later on.  Despite it being "spring" it was still kinda winter in places.  And the sun would be a lot more vicious out in the open.

Uh-- it hadn't been too long, right?  Eh.  Should be fine, The story -- sure, go for it.  As long as she wasn't verbally recounting an entire copy of The Hobbit, including narration...  Somehow he was pretty sure that Towhee wasn't gonna bother with something that long.  Then again, he could be surprised.  Maybe he could get a bit more insight into her in the process.

Flooding? she thought incredulously, unaware that she mouthed it as well. She peered at the plateau. She supposed the lake could flood its banks, however, all the water would simply run downhill and pose no threat to the wolves or their high-rise territory. She blinked and returned her gaze to Quixote's face, not wanting to miss anything else he had to say.

"We didn't have many of those at the caldera either," she observed out loud in response to his remark about trees. She wouldn't have minded a few more either, honestly, but at least there were plenty of forested areas nearby. "Speaking of which, my mom totally fell down and broke her leg when she and my dad were first visiting the caldera. That's the reason they decided to stay there and set up shop. I thought it would be a fun nod to the pack's foundation to call it Fox Falls."

Realizing that wasn't much of a story, more of a brief anecdote, Towhee said, "Aunt Finley could tell you the unabridged version, since she was around at the time." This was probably why she'd pursued chronicler and even historian but didn't remotely aspire to master the craft.

The plateau was so flat Quixote was just imagining the whole thing being drowned under an inch or so of water for a few days before it had the chance to run off. Dens suddenly having swimming pools and all the lovely squishing. Ew.  Enough of it was marshy as it was.  There were still some trees though.  Or at least more evenly spread, seemed like.  Instead of just all in that one corner.  It would make it awkward to take a nap under a tree if he had to walk across the entire territory to do so.  Bushes didn't seem nearly so elegant. 

She had a pretty good choice of mountain to have her accident on, then.  Seemed like it had pretty much everything you'd need.  I liked it.  And he'd probably miss it until he got used to stuff here.  He wasn't super fond of change unless he'd thoroughly researched it first and a hawk giving a talons up didn't count.  And that's about the right length story for me.  Where I grew up, they always told these stupidly long things to try to inspire us to fight or whatever.  Had something to do with everyone's names too, but I never did pay enough attention to figure out why some of them kept calling me Don.  It wasn't part of his name -- he didn't even have all the right letters.  But it was also another weird brief history story, even if Towhee probably didn't care to hear much about his past.

After another look at the falls, he turned back and asked,  Are more places gonna end up with names like that?  It wouldn't surprise him, and if they were all named after dead folks maybe it'd be some insight into why the pack was the way it was.

He explained that he didn't mind her brevity, and why, and Towhee's head cocked. Her lips parted, though she pressed them together again as Quixote continued speaking. Despite what he might think, she was intrigued by the mention of his past and wanted to ask after the queer nickname, even if it didn't seem he really knew the explanation for it.

"Oh, probably," she answered his question about naming landmarks. It would make it feel more like home, not to mention it was a good way to commemorate the wolves and the grounds that had supported them along the way. "So—Don? Maybe not now, but sometime I'd like to hear one of these stories. Sounds right up my alley, considering my trades."

Just so he didn't feel put on the spot to regale her anyway, Towhee revisited the topic of trees. "Do you think we could maybe plant some more?" she wondered out loud. "They wouldn't grow fast enough for us to enjoy them. But for future generations?" She paused, licking her lips thoughtfully, jerking slightly when X suddenly decided to take wing and flapped away. She watched him for a moment before facing Quixote and asking, "Do you know Rave well at all? I bet she'd know."

Wait, she was actually interested? And then there was that old nonsensical nickname.  He didn't know what to think about someone here using it at least, his ears tipping slightly -- it was weird to hear it again.  There were a few good memories smashed in there with all the bad ones, a few attached to those who called him that.   Really, though, as long as he knew what to respond to, he'd deal with it.  Still less names than his father.  Uh, suppose I can see about trying to remember enough of them for something more coherent and longer than a few sentences.  Not gonna do a whole one at length -- I'd probably mangle it too badly that way.

But planting trees?  Hm.  How did they decide where to grow?  Why weren't they growing everywhere?  Then -- 'future generations.'  What a nice little phrase to make a paranoid man's stomach lurch.  At least it was just something people say, not directly at him, so he kept his composure without a real problem.  I wouldn't know whe---  Fwoosh, away went X, along with Towhee's attention. '---Where to begin.'   Quixote took a moment to draw in a deep breath and put his mind in order while her eyes were elsewhere.

For his sake, it was a good thing that Towhee said it, and with X taking off, Quixote felt like he owed the bird a mouse.  He'd stopped thinking that he had needed to keep his cards close to his chest, as if the  chance of Raven being raised had only been an option at the beginning.  Even then, he still was caught off-guard a bit, his brain stuttering, Rave-? Oh, Raven -- yeah.  I've run into her a few times since the move.  Ahahaha.  Thank god he'd been kind of awkward around her since the promotion -- maybe she wouldn't notice a thing, Since there's still some snow left in places, I suppose it's not much of a rush.  I could talk to her about it next I run into her?  Oh please give him an escape.  He needed to get out of here ASAP so he didn't say something stupid -- he couldn't hear himself think over all that internal screaming.

Perhaps if she'd been able to hear, Towhee might have picked up on the way Quixote's voice faltered. But she couldn't, so she didn't, and her brows rose when he offered to speak with Raven about planting trees. "Sure," she agreed, having been prepared to take on that task herself but glad to delegate it to him instead. "You'll be her new best friend if you bring up plants, I bet," she remarked.

Her orange eyes drifted upward again, watching as X circled the top of the waterfalls. The Alpha heaved a loud sigh. "That's my cue: time to go patrol." Her eyes dropped to the Gamma's face. "You're welcome to join me. Otherwise, I'll catch you later, Don." Towhee's lips twitched as she picked up her feet and prepared to begin scouring along the foot of the plateau.

Thanks for the thread!

Was fun! Looking forward to the ensuing drama, dun dun dun...

He felt like he was going to get away with murder.  Okay, obviously not literally since nobody was even dead, but just the same...   But hey, free tip about Raven, at least?  Huh, I'll keep that in mind.  Even if a relationship didn't work in the end, he could do with another friend if Colt really was gone, ne'er to return.  There was just so much that had happened in such a short period of time.  What happened to the calm since the war was over?

Oh good, finally he'd be able to get of here  -- I'll take you up on it another time -- I have a bone to pick with those water birds, he lied, but Quixote felt like it was a tiny fib in comparison.  He bowed his head politely, watching Towhee head off on her patrol.

The hardest part was trying to keep himself calm as he moved out of sight.  Though he breathed a sigh of relief once he could no longer see Towhee, at least the bird wouldn't be able to communicate the repeated stilted shifts between a run and a hurried walk that carried him across the top of the plateau.  Raven.  He had to talk to Raven.