Redhawk Caldera Restlessness, above all

@Maia - set a day or two after Wraen's arrival.

Sleep had done wonders to Wraen and, though on the day she finally felt like a wolf being again and not an emotional and physical wreck she did wake with stuffed nose and wheezing cough. Fever had become less intense too - she felt that it no longer clouded her judgement or clearness of thoughts - which meant that she could get down to business. 

There were a number of things to do - like meet and greet their generous hosts of the rather unexpected (and - perhaps - unwelcome, who knew?) company, thank Eljay, see how everyone else was doing around here - but the first and foremost concerned Maia. Wraen did not remember exactly, what she had said, when they had reunited, but it had sounded important. 

Lately she had learned that postponing subjects that matter was not a wise thing to do. So, she called out to her beloved sibling, inviting her to talk.

Maia tried her best to be patient, but she was quite a bit antsier than usual as she awaited this talk.  Most of that energy she put into walks, ranging a little further than the days previously. Sometimes with Eljay, other times alone, and all the while feeling more and more like her old self.  

When Wraen called for her, she was heading out towards the border.  She'd been sniffing around them for anything small she might be able to catch, but all she'd found that day was a rabbit, and that sprint was a little beyond her still.  

Maia dropped what she was doing and came immediately.  She showed up winded but smiling, and stopped short of her usual enthusiastic greeting, remembering that Wraen probably still wasn't feeling well.  She looked better!! But still not in tip top condition.  Hey!! How are you feeling!?

WC: 90

"Better," Wraen replied, coming forward to greet Maia properly only to realize that along with the cold her sense of smell had been temporarily disabled too. Oh, well, good thing her sister loved to talk and she would get all of the information regardless.

"You wanted to discuss something?" she asked, sitting down and looking expectantly at Maia, noticing that she was more happy and giddy than usual. So, there was good news in store. And - boy - did she need to hear something nice.

Oh, boy, did she.  She was happy to hear that Wraen was feeling at least better, and maybe well enough to have a chat about where they might go next.  Because wow did she really want to be able to give that answer sooner than later, and she knew she wasn't the only one tied up about it.

Yeah, I did.  She sat down as well, thinking for a second on where she even wanted to start.  Big news first?  So, I don't remember a whole lot from, like, the first night I got here.  But that next morning, Eljay and I had a really long talk, and he told me he liked me.  So I told him back, and now we are kinda sorta maybe a thing?  Oh wow it sounded weird labeling it.  Not because she didn't want it to be true, but because her brain had the automatic 'what if you made a mistake?' response that was really hard to ignore.  Would Eljay consider them to be a thing?

That wasn't important right now, so she shoved past it.  But you know Eljay.  He didn't like leaving before, and he's honestly really happy here.  So I figured, maybe, we could stay close?  Not here here, but somewhere nearby, so we could see how things go.  Maia watched Wraen for a reaction.  It felt stupid selfish to ask for this, honestly, and she was struggling with the guilt around making both Wraen and Eljay accomadate her.  If they said no, she'd get it, but for the moment she held her breath and waited.

WC: 265

Wraen would have never thought that Maia putting her happiness first would be a selfish thing. If anything, she encouraged it and wished dearly that her sister would rely on her older sister a little less, when it came to the big matters in her life. Because Wraen did not mind giving advice or being supportive, but she did not want to take responsibilities for choices (good or bad) Maia took.

"You go very quickly," she noted that Maia had jumped from "we are thing" straight to "Eljay won't want to move anywhere" as if they were planning a family already. Well, it happened to young people. And with Eljay being two years short of moving to Florida to enjoy retirement in a golf-course and her sister in her prime, Wraen would not be surprised, if they would not wish to waste any time next spring. But - she stopped herself here - she too had now jumped on Maia's whistling steam train.

"Ah... uh... well," Wraen did not know, what to tell her now. She was happy for her sister - definitely. But then "let's stay somewhere near" went against her wish to be as far away from Moonspear as possible. "Things are a little complicated, Maia," she said. "It's not about you or Eljay - go for it, but... uh... I had a run-in with a former Moonspear girlfriend of Arcturus. We had a heated exchange, she said some ugly things, I did too and in the end she threatened to kill me," she explained. 

"Maybe it was said in the heat of a moment, but I do not take such things lightly. And I do not feel safe either being up in the valley, where the Moonspearans roam, nor here, where their leader is a bestie of Towhee," she said.

Maia didn't quite know how to take the comment on moving quickly, though it echoed her own thoughts on 'were they really a thing' extremely well.  She deflated just a tad.  Maybe it was too soon to tell?  She'd liked him for ages, but she wasn't sure how long he'd felt the same.  She couldn't see a relationship across such a long distance working, not with how infrequently she'd see him.  There'd be no way to keep whatever this was going, and without that, she imagined it would flicker and die.  She knew herself too well, and she imagined Eljay had a chance of being similar.

That was pretty quickly sidelined though, and Maia bristled a bit as Wraen described her run in.  Immediately she wanted to respond with a 'she can try', but instead she shut her mouth and clenched her teeth.  She already knew what would happen if Wraen got attacked by some Moonspear wolf out there and she was around; she wouldn't be able to do a thing.  Just like when she got attacked, only worse, because this time it'd be Wraen and not just her own dumb self.

You're probably right.  We shouldn't risk that, even if she didn't mean it.  Are you kidding me, though?!  She really said that!?  The first part was subdued, but Maia couldn't resist a little fire for her sister's behalf.  What a hag!  And not in the cool sense of the word, the way Wraen referred to herself.  This was the nasty, awful version, snaggle tooth and eating pups and all.

WC: 261

"I might have called her a whore before that," Wraen said with a little smugness in her voice. Even now - she did not regret it. Even if Kukutux was not that in real life, she sure as hell had earned that insult for being such a rotten egg to her. "But it was not the kind of explosive spat I would have with anyone else. That gal' felt positively crazy. She said that I owed my life to the current leader Hydra, because I trespassed - I did, when Arcturus went all dramatic and ran to face-off the whole spear," she filled in the details, not recalling, if she had told the story about this or not. 

"And there was all kinds of other stuff - mainly in regards of Arcturus and, how I have stolen him away from his family and other crap,"  Wraen said. "And Hydra herself might not mean it - though I imagine her rhetoric on the subject of Arcturus would be very much along the same ilnes, but that threat felt real. That girl would not ask permission to kill. Plus, she said "if I ever come close to Moonspear", but then - they already think they own half of that valley and the next," she explained.

"Maia, I really want to be as far away from Moonspear as possible. I do not want to see them and I do not wish to hear the same garbage thrown at me again," she went on. "But then - where is far enough? And... if I am on a hit list - you are in danger too. I do not want to be chased out of here or feel threatened all the time just because some bitch has unresolved issues with Arcturus."

Maia was glad to hear she'd gotten a good hit in herself, and figured there's probably worse things she could have called her, except none of that was language she ever really used or thought about.  She sounded crazy, and Maia didn't like the idea of running into her herself honestly.  What if they did look similar enough?  What if they all knew they were sisters, or what if Maia was traveling with Arcturus sometime?

That's so messed up, like Arcturus can't decide for himself where he wants to live?!  Maia agreed, feeling herself get a little righteously angry on Wraen's behalf.  And now Arcturus', because they made it sound like he couldn't even make that simple of a decision.  What had growing up there been like, then?  Was that why he was always so quiet?

This was a puzzle.  She tried not to let herself get too down about it right now because she didn't want Wraen to think that she was upset.  She was, a bit... it sounded like staying close was definitely out of the question.  Unless... maybe this was actually the best place for them to be.

What if we didn't ally ourselves with Moonspear... what if we just allied ourselves with the Redhawks?  Maia asked, trying to think it through as she suggested it.  Like... say you meet up with her again.  If we're just on our own, they can attack, no consequences!  But if they know that we're friends of their friends, if they did anything to us, then there'd probably be trouble.  Yeah?  She didn't know if that made any sense, honestly.  It relied on Hydra really valuing her agreement with Towhee, which sounded like the case, but Maia had never really seen the two together.  It also depended on this other woman caring about what Hydra valued.

It just... seemed like it might be a better option than wandering scared anyway.  The alternative was to go either way north or way south, and neither of those boded well for Maia's relationship with Eljay.  So if this solve didn't work, there might be some hard choices coming her way.

WC: 356

"Don't blame it on Arcturus," Wraen told, a little softer. "Poor fellow was stunned, when I told him all about this. And what probably hurt him more that this was a person, who he considered his friend," she went on. "And she probably did all this with good intentions in mind, but... why is it so hard for that family to accept that someone might leave, because they feel and think differently? Because I do not feel I deserve to be treated like that even if I am not their favourite person in the world,"  she sighed. "It's a bloody mess."

Usually Wraen had been the one to listen to all Maia's troubles and offer an advice and therefore it was very uplifting that for a change her sister had been able to see a light at the end of the tunnel, where she had not been able to herself. It had occurred to her that she still had friends here and there, in case she needed some aid to defend herself. But then - why not build something themselves? With Maia's accident in tow wilds weren't safe for them to be on their own. If they were unable to stay with Redhawks, creating a thing that was theirs... was the next good thing. 

"I just don't see, how two of us can build that defence. Three- if Arcturus does not take his time off to think indefinitely. Four - if Penn tags along," she said. "Though... I did encounter our niece Ibis - Terance's daughter, you probably babysat, when she was a wee baby - back at the plateau. She, her mate and two children had departed from their pack too," she went on. "It would not be that bad of a thing to flock together. For winter months anyhow..."

Oh, I don't blame any of that on him!  Maia clarified, shaking her head.  It wasn't his fault his family was apparently full of terrible people.  She couldn't imagine if their parents had made her feel bad for leaving.  Then again, it was too hard to imagine them doing anything remotely like that.  They'd been nothing but encouraging, and if anything else had happened, she'd likely be just like Arcturus.  No wonder he didn't want anything to do with his home.  It was honestly sad, and while doubtless Maia had heard this in passing before, it hit differently now.

I bet we could find more, too, she said, her hope climbing as Wraen didn't immediately shoot it down as stupid.  Oh wow, and Ibis!!  Maia's eyes lit up.  She'd seen her niece only a couple of times, but if she had kids (!!!) and wanted to join them, that would be amazing!!  We found Penn!  And there's got to be more wolves who will be looking for a safe place to stay, at least for over the winter months!  We'd probably want to talk with Towhee about it, but it could only be a good thing, right?  More friends in the area, more safety.  She wasn't sure how fond of her Towhee was, but Phox at least she guessed would be okay with it.  He'd seemed thrilled to have so many close packs to rely on.

WC: 235

"We could make that unicorn pack we discussed about a while ago," Wraen smiled, because Maia's excitement was contagious. Why shouldn't she be happy, when there were things to look forward to, something to plan and create. "With all those trick entry questions and all," she said. 

"I doubt that Penn will be on board, he seemed very eager to have a distance between him and his family," she replied, hoping that the guy had not taken it to heart her disappearing with out a trace. But, if she was to talk with Ibis again, then she would have to make the journey back to plateau anyway. 

"We'll have to talk to Towhee about it, but only, when we find that suitable place. Everything good up north is either claimed or difficult to traverse and on my journey here... well... caldera aside, there are endless meadows around," she said. 

"There is so much to do now and I would be up for that task were it not your lame leg and my wheezing lungs," she laughed.

Yes!!  A part of Maia had wondered, when they talked about all this, if they couldn't make it a reality.  But she knew in her heart that, at this stage in her life, she had no desire to lead.  It seemed like Wraen had felt the same and Maia didn't have the heart to push her back into something that seemed to have been stressful.  If they made something together, though?  Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

She was less enthused to hear that Penn might balk at joining them, but she dismissed that.  She bet they could convince him that it wasn't the end of the world.  Besides, wasn't the best of both worlds when you could see your family but didn't have to live with them?  If someone had offered her that growing up, she wondered if she'd have ever gotten this far.

North is closer to the Moonspear too, Maia added.  But south... oh, yikes.  Umm, there's a forest to the south, she said, a little less enthusiastic.  But that's... I mean, he's probably gone by now.  But.  Real specific there.  She skipped past it.  Like Wraen said, there was a ton to do, and neither of them were really in any shape just yet to be scouting.  She was close, and maybe on one of her walks she'd go out a bit.  Just to see.

Anyway, yeah, after is probably a good idea.  She'll just be happy to have us gone, I think.  Maia laughed a little self-consciously.  Towhee hadn't exactly been thrilled at their last meeting and had made no secret of her opinion of their staying there without joining.  Maybe when Arcturus comes we can have him look around some.  If he came before they could?  She wondered briefly where he was right now, and suddenly, why Wraen had come here alone.

WC: 308

"Maia, if it is a place we are going to build a new home at, it has to be brand new and not associated with any bad memories, even if it is the best possible and most practical choice," Wraen reassured her sister, when she saw her falter a bit at the mention of the territory, where she had been attacked. The thought of that person just reaffirmed, how much they needed defence of their own.

"Oh, give her some credit. She did not want us to leave in the first place," she told Maia, though some things might have changed in between, she sincerely hoped that Towhee was still their friend. Because... she was a good egg with a rough shell and just the right kind of person to unload all that was troubling her mind. Her pragmatic outlook of life helped to set the sight clear, where Wraen's emotions had clouded her vision. 

"Yeah... it's been few days now. We had a serious talk after - you know - me meeting the evil white witch," she explained. "And... he just needed time to think," and she hoped that he reached the right conclusions soon. She missed that guy.

Maia breathed a little easier when Wraen all but passed on the wood.  It really was a practical choice, but she locked up even thinking about passing beneath those trees right now.  With time she knew she'd get over it, but right now, it was so soon after she couldn't know he wasn't lurking there waiting.  Even when she scouted the areas around, she'd be sure to do it in the daytime and she'd be sure to keep a sharp lookout.  She didn't intend to make herself an easy target twice.

Yeah, I guess that's true.  Maia was still skeptical, but she'd give Wraen that.  Her experience had been more of a guilt trip than a real request to stay (in her recollection) but it might have come from a place of honesty.  Maia hadn't had many more dealings than she did with Phox, in truth... or really anyone in the pack.  Just Eljay and Weejay.  She'd have to make sure she was better about that now, with both the Redhawks and whatever group they formed if they did get the caldera's blessing.

Oh.  Well, I'm glad you talked.  Maia didn't like the sound of 'needed time to think' because she couldn't think of a single time she'd heard that used in a positive sense.  But those types of conversations were always important and if they cleared the air on anything, she couldn't imagine Arcturus staying away for long.  She was a little mystified on what they would have needed to talk about in such a straightforward interaction.  "You're family is terrible and insulted me and you.  Oh, alright, we knew this.  Cool." didn't quite merit a conversation in her mind.  

Well, when we do go out, just... be careful.  If you see a friendly black wolf with orange eyes, don't trust him.  She warned.  Then, to get back to lighter topics...  I bet she really is a witch, you know?  The truly evil kind.  We might want to get some anti-hex magic ready, just in case.  Or maybe we could send a hex of our own her way?  Maia leaned forward and extended her forpaws to lay down, settling in for a nice little dish session on all of this witch's nefarious ways.

We can wrap here or keep going, I am fine either way!
WC: 374

Wraen had not had that many experiences with guys, who would bail on her under pretence of "I need to think", and even if she had had, Arthur was by no means your usual cookie. He might keep things to himself, but he did not lie. If he wanted to have time on his own, then Wraen was confident he was taking full advantage of it and really sorting things out. She just hoped that he is not attacked the same way (or by the same guy) Maia had and that rather than going out and looking for him, he would arrive in his own time fine and well.

"You just described Arcturus, but I am sure I will be able to tell the difference," she reassured her sister. Had not Maia's misadventure been so traumatic, she would have joked about him having an evil twin brother, but there was time and place for such witticisms. And this was definitely not it. "I don't think that she is an evil witch - more like unhappy one," Wraen replied, though she appreciated her sister's effort to make her feel better. And imagining turning Kukutux into a frog just for a day, really improved her mood.

"Maybe if we do send some magic her way... let's wrap a little sunlight, warmth and goodwill in the package, so that the anger and hurt in her heart lifts and disappears," she said - in part feeling like she meant it and at the same time not knowing, how much of, what she had said was the after-effects of fever. "So that she does not have to go around and quench happiness of others," she finished. After all, what had she lost because of that conversation? Yes, it still hurt and she was a bit wary about her safety in the valley. But at the same time - Arthur was her friend still, she had Maia and other friends and acquaintances she had made along the way. She had come out of the confrontation no worse. 

I think that we can wrap up here and then with the next one start the discovery/founding threads?

Alrighhhtt. Maia replied with joking reluctance.  She was perfectly fine to play nice, but Wraen was definitely a bigger wolf than she would have been.  If some girl had insulted her and gone after her about a guy, she'd probably be nothing but insults (albeit somewhat innocent ones).  Maia did spare a moment for a thought, though, and said as much.  She's lucky you're such a good person, Wraen.  There was a lot of feeling behind it, because whatever this Kukutux might have said or implied, Maia didn't believe a word of it.  

She hoped Arcturus got his time in away and was able to sort out... whatever.  And she hoped, if Wraen needed to talk about any of that, she came to her.  Outside of it all that was the last she had on it, though! She didn't want to pry and she knew everything was going to work out.  Besides, they had more important things to come... like mystical pack plotting.

last for me! Feel free to archive (or cap it off if you want)
WC: 163