Redhawk Caldera Can't see me cry ever again

Snow fell thick over the caldera, obscuring the woolly grey clouds from sight as Alyx hauled herself over the uppermost ridge to peer down at the icy lake. It formed a blanket over her black guard hairs and tickled her whiskers as it blew over her face. Twitching her nose to rid herself of a melting flake or two, Alyx scanned the shoreline for any sign of @Towhee.

She knew she could ask her father for help as well, but after her talk with Fennec, she needed her second mom more than her dad. She was at least a little hopeful that Towma would join her for a hunt and supply some of the recognition for her interests that Niamh had failed to give. She had no reason to be so insecure. Her family had never given her any, at least, besides not trusting her judgment when it came to Rusalka. She was simply a kid who thrived on acknowledgement and didn't do so well with criticism, and who felt a little unnoticed lately. Niamh had gone a step further than that to make her daughter feel low, and now Alyx desperately needed a little of the former to put her back on track.

Towhee was harder to get praise from than Phox, which made it mean a whole lot more, and so Alyx had chosen to look for her.

Things felt quiet around here lately. Then again, it was always rather quiet in Towhee's world. She snorted to herself as she plodded along the borders, finishing up the last leg of a boringly routine patrol. The Sovereign then made the trek to the territory's namesake landmark, keen to get a drink of fresh water despite the heaps of snow surrounding her.

She spotted Alyx as she made her way to the caldera's edge. "Sup?" she called to the teenager—very nearly an adult, now—right before she bent to slake her thirst. The icy cold water hit her insides like a punch to the gut, making her shudder a little as she raised her head and looked to see if Alyx had ventured any closer.

Ah, there she was. Even if Towhee's black coat didn't stand out from the snow, the streaks of red-gold were impossible to miss. Alyx made a beeline for the shore, picking her way carefully down the slope to avoid stumbling, and signed a cursory, Not much. When Towhee was the only one around, there wasn't any need for words, which Alyx was grateful for. She didn't want to come across as desperately as she felt. She lifted her head in time to see a shudder wrack Towhee, and she winced sympathetically. Cold water made her teeth scream internally. She felt that.

Do you wanna go hunting with me? she silently asked, flicking her gaze across the lake momentarily. The area surrounding the water wasn't great hunting territory, so that was out. She still wasn't all that used to running around in mountainous terrain, but she thought they might stand a good chance of scaring something up in the forest. In the pines? she suggested, hopeful. She really needed some kind of win.

Not only did Alyx come closer, she invited Towhee to join her on a hunt. Towhee finished swiping a few chilly droplets from her jowls and set her foot back on the ground, using her free one to reply with, -"Heck yeah. Only, I'm not very good at it... like, at all... so I might cramp your style a bit."- She smirked, hoping this fact wouldn't be too much of a deterrent.

-"You take point,"- she said in the next beat, motioning for Alyx to lead the way and preparing to fall into step behind her. She'd said she wanted to head for the pines. Towhee wondered what prey she might select.

That's okay, Alyx replied, I'm still learning, too. She'd never hunted anything larger than a beaver, and her success rate with smaller critters wasn't amazing yet, either. Even if Towma wasn't very good at hunting, she was a lot older, so Alyx reckoned she was still better than her. For that reason, she was pretty surprised when the Sovereign offered her the lead.

She felt a little anxiety creeping up the back of her neck. What if she never found a suitable trail, or what if she thought she found one, but it led nowhere? She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Towma... She shook those thoughts away. Embarrassment or not, she would never improve if she didn't challenge herself more. She began leading them to the trees, walking awkwardly now and then to sign.

Do you think we could take on a deer? An excited twinkle lit in her eye as she "voiced" the thought.

Alyx didn't seem deterred whatsoever. She offered up a disclaimer of her own and Towhee quite truthfully said, -"You're probably already better than me. Guess we'll find out though."- She offered the youth a playful grin as the two of them set off for the trees.

When the young huntress wondered about deer, Towhee's knee-jerk reaction was, -"No, no, no."- She shook her head vehemently, then paused to explain, -"Not 'cause of you. Or even me, although I don't think I can emphasize enough just what a shit hunter I am."- She huffed. -"Something I do know is that even two very capable and talented hunters shouldn't go after such big game on their own. We'd need at least a third."-

After a brief, thoughtful pause, she recommended, -"So we can either call for someone else to join us, if that's really what you wanna go for, or we'll need to pick some other, smaller prey."- Once more, she fell quiet and looked to Alyx, wondering what choice she would make.

Oh, Alyx signed back, a little bummed out. Deer didn't look all that big now that she was adult-sized, and she craved a bit more of a challenge than another bog standard hare or muskrat. They had more weaponry than other animals, though, and she was sure Towhee's judgment was sound. She didn't want to waste time looking for a third partner, so deer was off the menu.

Any suggestions? Rabbits are getting kinda boring, she admitted. Not only that, but they were hard buggers to catch at the best of times, and the snow didn't seem to hinder them at all. It was one thing to acknowledge that she was still a rookie, and it helped that the Sovereign claimed she was a bad hunter, too, but she really didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of Towma after calling them boring.

It seemed they wouldn't be calling in reinforcements. Given Alyx's evident disappointment and her proclamation about rabbits, Towhee licked her lips and pondered a moment. She assumed another rodent would be equally boring in the girl's eyes, so she needed to aim a little bigger. There was always badgers, foxes, raccoons and the like. They were certainly riskier, though perhaps manageable between the two of them.

-"This is a good spot to look for a smaller carnivore,"- the Sovereign hinted. -"Let's see if we can find any trails."- There was no point trying to pick anything specific until they had some leads.

They were near the pine woods now. Towhee paused to sniff at the ground near the tree line, wondering what she might find. She didn't really expect to strike a trail here, though to her surprise, she came across something quite fresh. She went still, wondering whether it was a good idea for the two of them to hunt this particular sort of prey.

Gesturing for Alyx to come over to her, Towhee asked, -"You ever seen a porcupine before?"-

When Towhee made her suggestion, Alyx almost rolled her eyes at her own ineptitude. Duh. She'd completely forgotten that there was a whole class of animals between small rodents and towering ungulates that included the vast majority of the Caldera critters. Somewhere along the way, she'd become so accustomed to hunting rats in the tunnels that she'd never taken the time to try for anything larger than a rabbit, like a fox or a coyote.

While Towhee paused to investigate the tree line, Alyx delved directly into them. Like her mom, she didn't expect to find a trail out in the open, so she was surprised when the Sovereign called her back. The odour Towhee found was pungent enough that she withdrew from it with a muttered, gross, before leaning back in to inspect it more readily. If she knew what cheese was, she would compare this to a particularly ripe chunk of it.

Don't think so, she said, wracking her brain to think if she'd even heard that name before. Pork was familiar... Is it like... A pig that lives in the pines? I'd be down for that.

Towhee had to bite her lip hard to stop the laughter that wanted to burst out of her mouth at Alyx's response. She didn't trust her ability to open her mouth to speak, so she shook her head and signed, -No, although... that's pretty fucking funny. Anyway, it's a rodent sort of like a rabbit but with quills all over its back.- In case the yearling didn't know that term, she paused and added, -Like sharp pine needles, only bigger and more dangerous.- That seemed like an apt way to describe them.

The urge to laugh had passed, though Towhee realized that staying quiet would probably serve them well. -If you're up for a bit of a risk, we can go for it. We'll have to flip it on its back somehow to expose the soft underbelly. I'd like to do that part, which means you'll have to make the kill. Sound like a good deal?-

Alyx was way off the mark. She was a little ashamed at just how wrong she was, but Towhee didn't seem to judge her for it. She silently reminded herself that she was still young and had a lot to learn, and that it would be unreasonable for anyone to expect her to know everything about every type of animal, including herself.

Wow, she signed, adding particular emphasis via the urgency of the motion. Does it shoot them? That would be super cool, and super dangerous. Alyx was the type of wolf who avidly avoided situations where she might get hurt or dirty, but just this once, she wanted a real challenge. She could only stand to benefit by coming out like a complete badass, after all.

Okay, she agreed, bobbing her head for emphasis. Without further ado, she began to streak along the fresh scent trail, marveling at how easy it was to follow such a putrid-smelling animal. Little did Alyx know that porcupines, while not pigs in pine trees, were plenty capable of climbing, so when the trail went cold at the base of a tree, she circled a few times, stumped.

-I'm... not sure, actually. I've never gotten close to one before,- Towhee admitted. She had never hunted much on her own and had never chanced an encounter with a porcupine. But she was trying to dabble a bit more, just like Alyx, so this would be good experience for her too, provided they didn't take any quills to the face.

-Remember,- she advised as Alyx began moving, keeping pace with her and switching to speaking aloud with her paws preoccupied, "I'm patently terrible and you're inexperienced. I definitely want to give it a try, we just have to be very careful."

They arrived at the base of a tree, which Alyx began to circle. Towhee lowered her own head to sniff at the ground, then raised it a little to inhale near the rough bark on the lower trunk. Her orange eyes then traveled upward. She didn't see a porcupine, though she noticed there was a hole in the tree several yards out of reach.

"It might be in there," Towhee said, tapping Alyx and pointing, "in which case, uh..." She'd almost proposed they bark at it, but what sort of dumb creature would come out of hiding in that scenario? She licked her lips thoughtfully, peering at the rough, fragrant bark of the pine tree. The trunk was fairly slender, so maybe... "We could put our forelegs against the tree and try shaking it?"

If she had a hand, she would have actively waved off Towhee's concern. Surely the Sovereign wasn't that horrible at hunting. Alyx was pretty inexperienced, that was true, but she thought she could be pretty clever. She had no doubt in her mind they would find a way to conquer the porcupine.

She pressed her nose into the roots and found no evidence that the critter was underground. With her nose, ears and eyes all trained on the ground, she started when Towhee nudged her shoulder, and directed her eyes upward.

Oh. Well then. I ran into a tree once, she shared, hard enough it made my nose bleed, and it didn't even budge. In other words, she had some doubts they would be able to do anything about the porcupine if it was up there. But maybe if we both kinda rock at the same time, it'd work? she added. After all, Towhee was more of an expert than she was, even if she was patently terrible.

She reared up and balanced her forepaws squarely against the tree, feeling a little foolish all the while, but now that she looked at it, it did seem a lot skinnier than a lot of trees around here...

Alyx shared an anecdote about ramming into a tree and Towhee snorted. There was a point to her story: they might not be able to budge the tree. But maybe they could. "The only way to find out is to try," she replied, nodding at the girl's suggestion.

She watched as Alyx reared up and planted her forepaws against the tree's slender trunk. Towhee stood there, debating whether to mimic her on the opposite side or position herself beside Alyx. She decided to go with the latter option in the hopes that their combined weight might make more impact.

"Okay, let's do this," the Sovereign said, bracing her weight and then applying pressure in an attempt to shake the porcupine out of the tree.

Towhee was also heavier than she was, a fact Alyx noted belatedly when her aunt-slash-mother reared up against the trunk next to her. Not like she was fat, or anything, but she was definitely taller and more defined overall, while Alyx was still just a gangling teenager.
So maybe her anecdote about running into a tree lacked relevance, after all. It might have been a larger tree, or it was simply due to her slighter stature. This had some chance of succeeding with the both of them, didn't it?
Alyx's heart lifted when their combined efforts proved enough to make the tree sway, just a little. It was nothing monumental, and felt like even less down low, but the motion was enough that a distinctly dark, rounded face framed with thickened blonde hairs poked out of a hole higher up.
Look, said Alyx, turning her face toward Towhee while she spoke and then jabbing her muzzle toward the sleepy porcupine.
But now what?

Together, they were able to sway the tree. It didn't feel like much movement, especially considering the power the Sovereign put into it, but when Alyx directed her gaze, she saw that it was working. Well, their prey had poked its head out of its hiding spot. Even if it ventured out a little further, Towhee didn't think they could shake the tree hard enough to make it fall out.

She glanced at Alyx and saw the look on her face that seemed to ask, "Now what?" "Have I mentioned," Towhee said after a long pause, "that I'm a very terrible hunter? I have no idea what to try next. But if you have any ideas, I'm all ears... well, you know what I mean."

Honestly, said Alyx after wracking her brain for a moment, me neither. She didn't think it truly made either of them terrible hunters. There were just some things that no wolf could do, and climbing a tree to get at a porcupine was apparently one of those. Alyx wasn't much of a quitter, but sometimes, it couldn't be helped.

She backed up and dropped her forelegs back to the ground, perplexed. Maybe we can go find something else? she signed. Admittedly, the hunting itch was already fading, as was her frustration with her mother. She would be just fine with relaxing, if that was what Towhee would rather do.

Alyx suggested they go after something else. She seemed a little, well, over it. Towhee didn't blame her. She felt the same way. But as long as she was interested in hunting something, the Sovereign would be happy to accompany her. Practice made perfect or some shit.

-"Sure. I have an idea. Come along, little dogie,"- she joked with a wink, giving the porcupine one last hairy eyeball before loping away from the pines, back in the direction of the territory's namesake. Maybe the two of them could wrangle a beaver. At the very least, the trees they lived in were already horizontal, so it gave them better odds.

I figure we can wrap here, so feel free to fade and/or archive! :D