Redhawk Caldera Sit still

Astronomer thread. ^_^

Now that they were at the rendezvous site, Phox was allowed even more freedom than he'd been allowed before. No longer was he confined to a small space outside the den, but a giant field where he could go further and further every day. Not that he ever went too far, but he certainly pushed the boundaries. Often, Raven had to call him back when he got distracted by some smell or another that led him away from their home base.

Twilight was setting in as he stood next to his wet nurse now, @Towhee leaning up against him. He was eyeballing the giant expanse of sky that had become his "roof" since they had moved here, and noting the tiny twinkling lights that speckled the canvas of blue. He had seen them before, of course, but he had never really paid attention to them. "What dem?" he asked Raven, who appeared to be looking at them, too.

When she wasn’t catching herself reminiscing about her idyllic homeland she was often struck by an itch for companionship and the only family she had in the Teekon Wilds. There was a sense of acceptance there with them, but she still felt apart from them often enough that the idea of her “place” remained a gaping grey area of uncertainty she simply hadn’t been able to shake. It was like an unwelcome fog that hung all around and kept her from feeling close enough, and it was surely all in her head.

She’d been toting a dead and nearly headless marten around with her somewhat absently, lost in soft, mopey thoughts as she made her way with the rendezvous site in mind. Not feeling the edge of appetite, Sassafras was about to divert her path to stow the carcass when she spotted Towhee, Phox, and Raven. Waving her tail with slightly quivering ears, she trotted over and flopped herself down beside them as though she was only physically drained instead of mentally. She pushed the animal away to signal that it was up for grabs before fully registering Phox’s verbal intent by following his gaze to the sky.

She hesitated to answer for just a second because he’d obviously been speaking to Raven, but she was given the slightest of cheerful nods from the dark, adult Redhawk and decided she ought not to leave him hanging. She beamed right back, then turned her warm gaze of mahogany on the shadowy Firebird.

“Those are things we call ‘stars’,” she explained. “You can see plenty of them right now, but there’s even a star that appears during the day…”

Having just eaten, Phox wasn't particularly hungry for what Sassafras brought, but he perked an ear when she began talking about "stars." Towhee, meanwhile, chomped on the marten with reckless abandon. Transfixed by this new information, especially that of day stars, Phox tilted his head to one side and leaned in to his temporary mentor.

She had trailed off at the end, and Phox's nose quivered in anticipation for whatever she was about to say next. But she was baiting him, so he took the bait with little hesitation. "What dey do?" he asked. Surely they had a purpose. Rabbits fed them. Rivers quenched their thirst. Siblings were there for playing with. Adults helped them learn new things. So what was the purpose of the stars?

Sassafras leaned far over to ruffle the fur on top of the ravenous Towhee’s head with the breath expelled from her nose with a smile, then flopped to lie full on her shoulder with eyes that turned up to gaze at the tiny, glittery lights above. Phox’s eagerness to learn only made her wish she knew more about the expanse of sky they all slept beneath, but she knew enough to start him off. If he kept his interest, perhaps he would be teaching her one day.
 
“They can tell you when the seasons are about to change and they can help you find your way out there,” she said, thrusting her muzzle in a gesture that she hoped would indicate she meant ‘outside the Caldera’ before settling her eyes on the young Firebird. Of course, he hadn’t had much experience with lands that lay beyond, but as he grew, she could show him. “You can even pick out shapes in the stars to help you do it. Those are called ‘constellations’,” she explained as she sat up again, intent to find one in order to demonstrate.

Towhee seemed mildly uncomfortable with the ruffling, but resumed eating. Phox signaled, -It's ok,- to Towhee, who squinted at him as if she didn't believe him. Not lingering too long on her reaction, Phox returned his attention to Sassfras, who began explaining something about seasons and constellations. Phox didn't immediately comprehend either of the words, but being the curious one that he was, he couldn't help but being asking questions about what she'd said.

"Wha's a season? Where da cons'alla-shuns?" he asked, peering at the stars as if they would magically give him those answers. (The letter T was not his strong suit.) Phox wanted answers to those questions and all the others that were suddenly bubbling to the tip of his tongue, but he attempted to enact some sense of self-control.

She beamed at him. “A season is a time of the year when the weather follows a sort of pattern,” she explained, choosing her words as she went. The last thing she wanted to do was confuse his idea of something she was trying to teach, and because she was around the puppies least of everyone (aside from the newer members, perhaps, or Liffey, who didn’t seem over fond of the floof-ball firebirds) she wasn’t entirely sure of what terminology he was already familiar with. “All the snow, ice, and cold was winter, but we’ll all soon be warmer and wetter because spring is already arriving.”
 
There, she stretched a number of her weary, stringy muscles, and after a pause she filled with a great, gaping yawn, she twitched her ears and asked, “Understand?” She meant to move on with her tiny lesson if he did.

Sassafras went on to explain seasons, at least to some degree, and Phox looked at her mildly puzzled but sort of getting it. Fidget knew about cold and snow, as he'd not really known anything else. But he had started to notice the grass that was underneath the snow. It seemed odd, walking on this soft green stuff after only being used to the dirt of the cave or the cold, wet snow.

"Uh-huh," he replied, nodding as he did so. Technically, he didn't have a comprehensive understanding, but he felt like he was getting the gist of it. This wasn't the kind of thing he was gonna learn overnight.

“A constellation is a group of stars,” she continued, lifting herself to a lazy sit. “Just like your family is a group of wolves. We can see different shapes formed up there in the sky, separate from others.” She wasn’t going point any of these out to him, though. She only wanted to get him to think about it and form a familiar connection.
 
With that, she got to her feet and moved to face all three of the Redhawks she’d been lounging with, and reaching out with one forepaw she dragged her claws across the icy earth to show a shape that represented the relative positions of the four of them, including herself. Once the faint, straight-lined shape was obvious, she dug out a small divot at each of its points. “This one is Raven, this one is Tee-Hee, this one is, you, Fidget, and this one is me. Think of these, and us, as different stars, and think about how you can find shapes like this in the sky.”

She looked for signs of understanding in his young face, but couldn’t resist turning to Raven. “Clear as mud, right?”

Phox's mouth made a little "o" when Sassafras explained what a constellation was. He glanced at Towhee, wondering if she was catching all this. If she didn't, surely she would ask and he would catch her up to the best of his ability. He didn't quite understand when Sassafras said that the little holes in the ground were them. He squinted at them, wondering if she was crazy in the head.

He furrowed his brow, then glanced at Raven for some sort of clue, but she only smiled and shrugged at him, looking about as lost as he was. "How find dir' in 'uh sky?" he asked, puzzled.

“Never mind, little dude. You’ll get the hang of this with practice,” she shook her head, smiling, not terribly concerned that she’d just tried to describe the arrangement of the stars in a way that wasn’t clear to him. He was growing so incredibly quickly that she was sure he’d understand for himself, with all new context, in just a matter of weeks. She did hesitate to further confuse him, though, and decided to stick to the basics.
 
She budged from her spot in front to locate pebbles, one at a time, and arranged them on the ground in the particular shape she wanted to point out to him as a frame of reference. “Here. Do you see this up there?” (insert any actual or fictional constellation you like) She gestured pointedly with her nose, waiting for him to give her some indication, one way or the other.

You can fade with her showing some more constellations if'n ya want. ^_^

Phox furrowed his brow, still not quite sure what the ground had to do with all of this. Sassafras went off to pick up some lighter-colored pebbles, though, and suddenly it was starting to make more sense. The pebbles he realized, were light on dark, like the stars in the night sky. She laid them out for him, and he looked from there to the stars several times before he finally made the connection.

The boy jumped up, shoving his nose at the sky enthusiastically, "Der!" he said, nudging Towhee (although she didn't seem to make the connection like he had until a few moments later). "Show more?" he asked of Sassafras, looking at the pebbles expectantly.

She was so pleased that he’d caught on and that she’d managed to get her idea across to him that she helicopter-tailed and dipped into a play-bow. With one paw extended further in front than the other, she tried to catch the eyes of both @Towhee and Phox as she splayed the toes of that one paw in an exaggerated gesture for what she hoped would be understood as a sign for the –stars-.

Sassafras was more than happy to oblige Phox’s request and forget her previously sullen mood. She dipped out of her dive and proceeded to select several more pebbles to arrange off to one side. “What about this one?” she asked, grumbling her happiness and providing a directional hint just as before while patiently awaiting his discovery. It was a new grouping to be identified up there in the dark sky, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.