Bearclaw Valley rites of passage

tag for reference ( but you're always welcome to join grim, if you want! ). <3

clear of mind and free from the plaguing burning of her season, towhee wakes after a long restful night, basking in the refreshed feeling ... glad to feel like herself again. there was much to unpack about it, despite that towhee feels the urge to run from the unique vulnerability she'd shared, however temporary.

which brought with it pang of sorrow when she leaves her to consider that she would miss that closeness with @Tvar. she agreed to teach him ptero, of course so she does not imagine they would be strangers but it would not be the same.

her mind is heavy as she follows ghosts' shadow as he takes to the skies, heading to the borders. her go-to place to think.

snagging this , muahaha

edit ; note to grim that you can still jump in at any time! <3

the woman, a stranger, cloaked in shadow and yet kissed by flames and snow, was headed towards the borders of which nanuralaaq's pale paws carried her over. her jaw, bloodied, thick with a similarly pale snowshoe hare, moved to the right of her as her movement came to a halt. though they were packmates, the claw had yet to meet the guard, and so she would move to share a meal as well as conversation.

the huntress would be denying her keen senses should she lie and say that storm-clouds' scent was not thick as she approached. him, as well as the faint sweetness of a moment that had passed. and though something within her stomach churned, the polar cub found herself somewhat delighted - if somewhat crudely so - to know that tvar and the woman she now approached had exchanged pleasures, for it did well to alleviate whatever guilt may still rest heavily upon her shoulders (though, still, she avoided the man).

unaware of her lack of both speech and audio, a soft hello, left her lips, silent paws and a pelt that practically blended into the winters surroundings perhaps making it seem that she was to sneak up upon her packmate. rala would do what she could to meet the eyes of the stranger, before dropping the hare in front of her and saying: would you like it? i am not too hungry, with a friendly tilt of her head ...

... and quite the curious gaze.

the scent of blood draws towhee's attention first, even if first the other bearclaw woman blends into the frostbitten terrain. unfortunately, towhee, relying upon lip reading is unable to read the other's lips as her mouth is full of the rabbit she carries betwixt her jaws. their gazes meet and towhee's tail twitches against for a moment.

she tries to assess the friendly demeanor, the curious tilt of the other's head ... and realizes while she's been trying to read the micro expressions she failed to answer the offer of the rabbit now sitting at the woman's paws.

a soft shake of her head 'no' is given; not at the moment when her mind is weighed full of the everything she needed to unpack from the past handful of days. and though she appreciates the gesture, she likes to hunt her own food while she was on patrol.

shaken head was given as response, and so rala would nod and take a seat, nudging at the hare as to find a suitable piece to begin eating. her head, tilted towards the stranger, though her eyes remained on the rabbit as she spoke: i am ... rala, a name that stung when she held back the title that she had earned, though there seemed to be many that could not quite wrap their tongue around the name nanuralaaq. she kept herself from putting them through the pain of butchering such a title.

we have yet to meet. what is your name? pale orange eyes glanced upwards, now, to those in which burned like embers against a midnight backsplash. something about her gaze was almost intimidating, as if she were studying the pale woman that sat before her. or perhaps it was her stature and her well-muscled frame that caught her eye.

rala, towhee reads the other woman’s lips as the introduction is given.

she assumes that word has traveled ‘round the pack that she is both deaf and mute but that she had her own way of communicating and could read lips.

unfortunately, she cannot return the gesture of offering her own name and instead offers an apologetic, if not sheepish twitch of her lips in stead.

oh, came her words, then. nanuralaaq's brows raised for a moment, and an involuntary tilt of her head signified some sort of surprise. you cannot speak? she asked, for she had heard of such ; wolves without voice ; some without hearing! she wondered, then, how life would function, for rala was a talker, a listener ; she would struggle. but the woman before her seemed to be doing just fine! it was fascinating, she thought.

that is okay, she said, nodding. is there another way you ... communicate?

there is obvious surprise in rala's expression towhee sees as realization dawns. her inability to hear and speak would make itself known easily enough to newcomers ... or they might think she was just rude. it could go either way, towhee considers. she focuses her thoughts upon reading rala's lips, lest she get caught up in her own inner monologue.

she nods. for a moment, she considers gesturing to her notched ear that she couldn't hear either ... but she was well versed in reading lips ( were she close enough to do so ) and didn't think it was super necessary.

another nod follows as the question is poised to her if she communicated in another way. at times, her urge to keep ptero as coveted as she could rears its ugly head ... but it made communicating with her pack mates, clearly used to speaking and hearing, much easier. ameline had the advantage of having been taught it when they were younger. tvar took to it very well, in which towhee was both pleased and proud.

-yes,- she signs slowly with her paws in ptero, nodding her head along with the signing so it's meaning might be clear.

nanuralaaq watched the nod of her head and the way her paws seemed to move ; the movement was slow, purposeful, and the brows of the pale woman shot upwards, eyes widening with an almost doe-like curiosity. that is fascinating, her words were almost cooed, should the woman be able to hear - though she may be able to see the way her lips take such an 'o'-like shape. she had never seen such a thing!

readying her paws, now, she urged: can you do it again? i would like to try, if that is okay with you, and her eyes seemed to twinkle with a new-found inquisitiveness.