Redsand Canyon (Nothing but) ashes...

By the end of day four, Towhee’s body screamed for a break. But she still had a lot to do, much to prove, and so she took a quick dip in the creek and emerged from the water with a shout that echoed off the canyon walls.

She still had two Auxillia to meet: @Diesel and @Glaukos. Shivering, teeth chattering, Towhee headed to the Sparring Arena and began running laps around it to chase the chill from her blood. As she ran, she wondered if it might be fun to oversee a spar between the two remaining soldiers.

When she felt warm and limber, she slowed to a trot, then to a walk. As soon as she had the breath to spare, she summoned them with an obnoxious howl.

Habits were slow to form, but form they did.

Glaukos had gotten it in his head that patrols were his thing so he was hard at work, once again, as always. Moving through portions of the canyon that he knew and avoiding the northern reaches, where the caves dominated and the paths got too narrow for his broad-shouldered self, he moseyed slowly towards the training grounds.

He came upon the sparring arena in time to notice someone racing around it at a full canter, and within moments of finishing their run the wolf cast their head back and --- howls don't sound like that, at all. Glaukos couldn't identify what they were trying to do (die loudly maybe?) and stopped to stare.

When there was silence again (and he could unclench his everything) he realized his name had been shouted (screamo-style) and that earned a dull grunt.

When her lungs ran out of air, Towhee dropped her head and opened her eyes to find the offspring of a bear and a boulder standing just a few feet away. She totally jumped with an aborted exclamation of, H’oh, fu—!

She recovered after a long beat and found herself staring at this absolute unit. Are you Glaukos…? she asked, orange eyes bouncing from the crown of his head to his enormous paws, then back up to his lips. She noticed the freckles and thought they looked rather adorable on someone so otherwise intimidating.

Watching the stranger startle gave Glaukos some satisfaction. He liked to scare people - it was a powerful feeling to see others subjected to the terror and the pain, rather than himself. It also wasn't often that he felt empowered like that.

He grunts as an acknowledgement. Nothing more is said, and he looks around, as he has places to be. The stranger is staring at him more intently than the others of Mereo. The only one to offer such a challenge was Diesel, who enjoyed riling him up.

Who wants to know? He rumbles after a few moments, impatient for an answer. Glaring at them in return, to convey his distrust.

Occasionally, Towhee found it difficult to read a particular wolf’s lips. She could never be sure what caused it, perhaps some incomprehensible-to-her thing like a speech impediment. It happened now, causing her to squint a little, and take a moment longer to parse his words.

Towhee Redhawk, she replied by way of introduction. I joined a few days back. Germanicus tasked me with seeking out all the other Auxillia and getting to know them. Phrasing it like that seemed a lot less contentious than the whole truth, not that she had done it on purpose.

I’m hard of hearing, so don’t mind me staring at your lips. That’s how I communicate, Towhee said in the next beat before diving right into it and asking conversationally, Out of curiosity, would you consider yourself foremost a warrior, guardian or tactician?

The stranger introduced themselves and Glaukos immediately lost interest. It didn't matter to him why she was here, or what her mission was. She was an unknown.

Her comment made him scowl — and then her question made him bristle and comment thoughtlessly, I consider myself busy. And before she could say anything else he was turning to head onward, to the next beat of his patrol.

Glaukos had never been a particularly friendly creature in the first place. She'd have to work for it if she wanted anything out of him.

Towhee scowled before she could catch herself. She could understand why the other Auxillia were a bit put off by being assessed by a stranger, yet she hadn’t even gotten to that point with this guy. She was getting pretty fed up with the inexplicable animosity and attitudes. Why did every man around here have a stick up his ass?

Although aware she was over-tired and cranky, Towhee loped after his retreating figure and informed him, The Imperator ordered me to do this, as part of assessing you for a promotion. If you’re too busy for that, fine, just be aware that I’ll have to report that back to him.

Doubtless he would be as happy about that as Arsenio and Kallik, which was to say, not at all. Towhee couldn’t care about that. The Imperator’s instructions were clear and she was keen to demonstrate her abilities. She wasn’t even motivated by the promise of a promotion. Towhee had toyed with declining it, though now she savagely decided she would absolutely accept it should she earn it and lord it over all these moody boys.

What Towhee did not know yet was one glaringly obvious difference between Glaukos and the other auxillia: unlike the other men Glaukos did not give two shits what his general thought.

He found ways to goad the man and to test him, similar to how he tested Towhee now, and found that Germanicus never once reprimanded him in any way that mattered. Shoving a boulder around for punishment was decent in getting a point across - but Glaukos expected, and in part wanted, to see the man break and strike him. It never happened.

So with Towhee now demanding his acceptance for this task, Glaukos merely huffed and continued walking. He didn't care what her goal was; failure was on her, if it came down to that.

Whatever. Glaukos failed to see her threat as valid. Telling his boss he was doing his daily routine? The horror.

She didn’t catch his dismissive comment. Towhee thought he simply ignored her. The disrespect riled her, not because she was his superior—she wasn’t, technically—but because they were meant to be pack mates. They were actually supposed to be more than that. Soldiers were intended to be comrades in arms, willing to obey their Imperator’s every command. This maybe-Glaukos didn’t seem to give a damn about either.

Of course, it was temping to fall back and stop wasting her own time. But Towhee’s exhaustion made her petty. And she was stubborn too. Wordlessly, she kept pace with the gigantic wolf. She would join him on his patrol and use the opportunity to get further acquainted with Mereo’s layout.

Instead of going off to do her own thing, she followed after him.

Glaukos couldn't tell if she was doing it out of spite (which was likely the case) or duty (the idea makes him scowl a little harder); but whatever her reason, he doesn't say anything. He doesn't stop her, or speak during the tour.

This is his way of getting shit done. If she wanted conversation, he figures, that's what the civilians are for.