Moonsong Glacier gumboots

A chilly drizzle fell as Bat trudged further southwest along the coastline. She intended to stick close to the ocean's familiar sprawl, though the barking of sea lions drove her cautiously inland; she had no desire to engage the beasts. She passed beneath the shadow of a stony keep, the sparkle of the glacier beyond drawing her eye. Her hope of catching up to her nomi's war party had begun to fade and fray, so she let her curiosity compel her, even distract her, from the reality: she wasn't going to find them and ought to turn back to Drageda.

Bat's giant ears pricked with particular intrigue when she came close and heard the sound of water dripping, seemingly in dozens of different places along the jutting ice field. The light rain had stopped, so what was the source? She stopped at the floe's edge and cocked her head, listening. The noise soothed her as much as it appealed to her. Totally unaware of just how much of a burgeoning scout she was turning out to be, she took her first step onto the glacier.

tegan promised @Caiaphas that he would go check out stavanger bay a few days back, just to see if there were any survivors of ... something. whatever, he forgot, but he was supposed to be looking for her boo thang and any missing children. in order to avoid some cliffs and this weird jutted out rocky terrace thing, tegan went around some woods and was possibly? (he'd never been to the bay before) just south of it. if he could remember good ol has' directions properly. but currently he was at a fuckin ICE CUBE. in the middle of the summer? could you fuckin believe it? 

tegan had to go check it out, because seriously, what gives? but, lucky for him, he spotted something that was of far more interest. 

the growing yearling paused in his tracks, squinting at the elephant-eared pup that travelled the ice. "bat??" he called out, "what the fuck?" he added the last part in case she didn't remember him. that was a good indication of who he was, usually.

She paused, though only for a beat. The first step became a second, a third and so on and so forth. Bat felt the extra strain on her muscles as the incline increased. She'd had no exposure to ice or snow prior to this, so she didn't know to proceed with caution as she pursued the dripping noises. Fortunately for her, her footing remained relatively sure, the occasional slippage nothing of concern to the inexperienced Goufa.

When a voice shouted her name, Bat whipped around fast enough to discover the treacherous nature of the crystalline white substance underfoot. Her right hind leg gave out on a particularly slippy patch, causing her entire posterior to buckle. She slid backward about six feet before she managed to drop forward and hug the glacier with her forelegs, the tips of her toenails digging in for extra security. A quick puff of breath escaped her, then—still clutching the floe—Bat twisted her neck to peer downward.

"...Tegan?" she said in surprise, too quietly for her voice to carry down to him. With a grunt, Bat carefully plucked herself off the icy terrain and picked her way down to him, her pace hastened a little by the combination of ice and gravity. "Fuck yeah!" The words burst out of her as her forefeet struck the familiarity of green, grassy earth at the glacier's foot. The nearly full grown Goufa sprang toward Tegan, a sight for sore eyes despite their brief acquaintance. Bat hadn't realized, until this very moment, how extraordinarily lonely her voyage had been.

"fuck yeah!" tegan chirped back, watching (and wincing) as he watched her crash down the glacier. she was more graceful than he expected, much to his disappointment, he'd really expected her to fuckin eat ass down that hill. but, whatever, at least he didn't have to mend any broken bones-- which, by the way, he couldn't do anyway.

she bounded towards him, and feeling somehow obligated to do so, tegan allowed (yes, allowed, it is not often that you can just TOUCH such a masterpiece) her to spring towards him and crash into a real mess of an embrace. oof, she was actually bigger than last time. she just looked a lil lanky, and still young. but, tegan was young too, so, whatever. all this thought process is just maggie trying to figure out how to describe this child from the point of view of ANOTHER child. 

he let her go, plopping down into a sitting position and giving her a stern look (lmao, tegan, stern). "what gives, bat? i thought i already delivered you back home?"

Without really thinking about what she was doing, Bat found herself slinging her marked forelegs about Tegan's neck in a loose embrace. It was so good to see a friendly face! He seemed to welcome it, though Bat soon released him and they each took a step back to regard one another. Her expression was eager and open, his erring on the sterner side.

His remark jogged her back into her present situation. "Oh," she said, a little breathless, her face falling a bit. "I was trying to catch up to my nomi's group, headed to Trigeda," she explained, "but..." Bat bit her lip, staring in the direction of the ocean as the fact of the matter really hit her and began to sink in: she wasn't going to locate Thuringwethil.

Not only that, but nomi hadn't wanted her mate or children to go with her anyway. Bat knew there were good reasons for this, yet in this moment, she felt an onslaught of raw emotions. "Nomi didn't want me to go with her anyway," the youth said in a voice twisted with bitterness and grief. Tears suddenly sprung to her silvered eyes, though Bat tried to avoid blinking so they wouldn't fall. "She took Ephraim though," she concluded in a small, tremulous voice.

Unable to prevent the tears from falling, Bat bent her head toward the ground, causing them to cling to her eyelashes for a moment before dripping directly to the ground. She then swiped a paw across her eyes and straightened up again, squaring her shoulders and offering Tegan a sheepish, watery smile. "Fuck all that, though... do you wanna explore with me?"

ah shit, more crying. tegan found himself a little more uncertain what to do with bat, for some reason. he sorta stared at her with a weak expression until she seemed to heal herself. "don't worry about it, bat, it'll be a gucci, i swear," he promised quite emptily to her, also because he had no idea what the fuck a nomi was. then, unable to tell her no (cause she was just crying, for christs sake???) tegan nodded. 

"yeah, totally, i am the world's best scout, after all," he said, chest puffing out, "well, i was actually kinda on a mission-- it's by your home, so like you can come along and then... i mean, do you wanna go back home or..." he trailed off. where else was he supposed to take her? somehow he felt that raven would kill him if he brought home wildfire's kid... just like, randomly.

Tegan seemed as discomfited by her tears as Bat felt embarrassed about them. Fortunately, he quickly seized upon her change of subject and his words effectively sidetracked the youth. She sniffled lightly and swiped her paw over her face again, this time wiping at the fluid oozing from her nose. But her wet eyes glistered with interest.

"You're a scout? What's your mission?" she wondered, momentarily ignoring his question. She didn't know the answer. Bat hadn't actually given any thought to what she might do if she didn't find nomi. And the nature of Tegan's query made her realize that she had a choice. She could go home—which definitely made the most sense—but Tegan's, "Or..." opened up a world of possibilities that didn't include returning to her broken home.

he gave bat's shoulder a nice pat with his foot. there, there, little bat, it's all good, it seemed to say, but without any of the words actually escaping tegan's mouth. 

"world's best, working on becoming redhawks ambassador," tegan answered, tail swinging and chest puffing out pridefully, "caiaphas-- lady in my pack-- asked me to go to the ankyra sound and check for her lost mate and kids. she said it was next door to drageda." the next question was maybe you've heard of it, but tegan was gonna let bat soak all that in first. hell, maybe she'd even sound off on her own.

She nearly missed his answer as the possibilities swarmed her brain. But Bat blinked back to a focus and caught most of what Tegan said. Although she didn't know the sound by name, she thought she knew the place. She could even show Tegan the way. It would mean formally throwing in the towel, plus quite likely returning home directly afterward. Bat surprised herself by recoiling a little at the thought, particularly when she considered how Wildfire would react. The Goufa had come to dread her mother's intense emotions.

"I want to go with you," Bat said. "I want to be a scout and do missions," she added, surprising herself again with the genuine vehemence in her own voice. The former lazy bones had changed quite rapidly in the past week or so following her nomi's departure. "If I take you to the sound, will you take me with you after that?" The Goufa didn't know if he'd head back home to these Redhawks he'd mentioned or if he typically spent much of his time on the road. Bat didn't care. She realized she would rather go anywhere than back to a nomi-less Drageda.

his ears pricked, a little shocked that little bat was so on board with just fuckin going. he couldn't imagine leaving his family-- finley, fuck, dude, he's gonna get choked up again. "word," was his initial response, that classic tegan smug-ass smirk smearing across his face, "i'll take you under my wing." haha wing, cause she's bat. wait, but, he wasn't bat, so he wouldn't have wings... fuck-- guess he wouldn't make that joke out loud. likely, bat wouldn't have gotten it anyway. 

"but uh, you wanna say bye? or something? i dunno if raven would be too happy if i just like, stole you. we're gonna be right next door anyhow," he suggested weakly. no way wifi would let him take her anyway. oof. at this point, tegan didn't even wanna trek all the way to the sound.

He agreed so readily. Bat felt her muscles soften with relief even as a tickle of warmth suffused her at Tegan's phrasing. He didn't seem burdened by the suggestion at all. He was happy to look out for her and take her along as a miniature sidekick and that meant a lot to her. She favored him with a huge grin.

It disappeared in the next instant. "No," Bat said immediately, then felt a fresh wave of guilt. She hadn't realized how unbearable she found Wildfire until after nomi had left them alone with her. She loved the redhead, of course, but she felt almost rigid with resentment at what would happen if they turned up at Drageda's borders and pitched this plan. Not only would Wildfire reject it out of hand, she would likely never let the Goufa—now a flowering scout—out of her sight again, much less beyond the borders.

More calmly, she repeated herself: "No. She'd never let me go. And then she'd ground me forever." She shook her head, large ears flapping quietly. "I've already made my bed, now I have to lie in it. Or however that saying goes." Bat blinked. "I'll go back, someday. I just can't go back right now." She drew in a slightly shaky breath, then let it out and concluded, "I'm going with you."

tegan gave bat a very scrutinizing look, eyes squinted and brows furrowed. the little menace! he could've praised her for her nonsense right there. but, after the whole run down with blackbear, tegan did realize he needed to be a bit more... mature. at least, in his decision making. and stealing a pup from an allied back? uhh, that didn't sound like the most thought through decision. 

but tegan was anything but mature, and he desperately wanted bat to come back with him and be his little apprentice. so, the blackthorn boy came up with his own solution. "alright, fine, but you tell everyone you told me your mom knows you're going to the plateau, and if anyone asks i had no idea you don't have permission to be out exploring-- got it?" he questioned. there, now, if the heat was on anyone it'd be on bat and not him.

Her face scrunched in confusion at his wording, though slowly Bat puzzled out Tegan's meaning. She huffed a small laugh, then nodded her understanding. "Got it," she agreed. "I'll tell your Heda that my mom gave me permission." Little did she know that Tegan's leader was none other than Wildfire's sister... and how that might play out remained to be seen.

That did beg a question though: "Who is your Heda? Do you think she'll like me?" It didn't really cross her mind that Tegan's leader might bear another title, or that he might be a he, or that there might even be more than one. But surely he would clarify. If not, she'd soon find out for herself.

It was an exciting prospect, going back with Tegan and joining a whole new pack, and it certainly served to distract her from her depression about nomi. But much as she couldn't wait to meet the other Redhawks and even accompany Tegan on the remaining leg of his mission trip, she wondered, "Do you still want to check out this... whatever it is?" and peered over at the glimmering glacier.

"what the fuck is a heda?" tegan asked, absolutely floored by the use of such a foreign word. which, actually, is ironic considering how often tegan himself used some foreign ass words. but he did eventually connect some dots in his brain. "like your leader? we have alphas, two of 'em, your aunt raven, actually, and her mate quixote. and then towhee's our beta and niamh is our gamma. that's all our leadership. i'm our packs zeta but my rank is sorta all over the place cause i get in trouble a lot-- and then do dope shit and get promoted again." holy fuck that was some rambling. tegan's brow scrunched up. "you're making me sound like a fuckin' nerd, all this explaining shit. raven's dope, and you're related to her, so i think she's obligated to like you," he added, eyeing bat at her question. he didn't mention qui, though, because truthfully he had no idea.

and then he gave his own sideways glance to the glacier. "first lesson of scouting-- always check out fly shit," he announced, and then nudged her shoulder (more like shoved, whoops), "leggo!"

The ice floe's appeal melted (pun intended) in the face of the informational dump Tegan took on Bat's face in the next moment. Her expression brightened with surprise and even a little delight to learn of the connection. Did that mean she and Tegan were related too? He assured Bat that her Aunt Raven was "dope" and she just hoped that meant her aunt was a little less emotionally fraught than Wildfire.

She didn't get a chance to say much before Tegan was ushering her back onto the ice. As she began to climb the slippery shelf again, she barely paid attention, instead turning to look at him and say, "You are a fuckin' nerd." She paused for effect. "And that's why I like you!" She then playfully sucker-punched the Blackthorn in the shoulder before skidding ahead with a gleeful laugh.