Redhawk Caldera you are blood and earth, not theory and chalk
what do i do after all this survival?
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Ooc — Kermy
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#26
While Thuringwethil had been in the caldera before for an extended stay, there was little she knows about them. Finley doesn’t tell her anything she didn’t really know before but it at least offers confirmation and they know where they stand and who their strengths are. However, Finley stands for her kids safety too and her ears twitch upon her head, looking between the two wolves that seem to agree on the same thing. She knows Finley’s children are significantly younger than their own but that doesn’t mean they aren’t children too and it’s a surreal experience every time she jumps from Heda to Thuringwethil and how easy it is to slip back.

After Finley finishes, Thuringwethil wishes she had waited but there’s nothing to be done about it now and she can at least be prepared. It may take another trip home but they are capable of the trip, even in winter. The second option of the caldera moving isn’t in anyones favor and if she can help keep them rooted in place, everything will turn out for the best. It seems these wolves do things with no real rhyme or reason to them and they needed to be wiped clean from the earth.

“If you choose to go to them, we will go too, but I need time to get them here,” she glances at Étoille, considering how much she’s tossed him around all over the teekon. There isn’t time to send someone off to Sangeda and beyond with winter around the corner but she doesn’t completely dismiss the idea. It these wolves are more than two packs combined can handle—one with an army—then she needs not exclude it. She has the power to remove them, but if what she has at her disposal is enough, then she goes with it first. “What do we know of their land? Anything?” Wildfire had told her a little, and maybe she told her godparents something too, but she doesn’t think she can get much out of her anymore than she already has.

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Trigedasleng · Common
all that wanting, all that aching, all that capacity for love:
it never belonged to you in the first place
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Ooc — Iris
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#27
feel free to skip Eljay unless directly addressed as he'll just be listening and standing around.

Eljay waited patiently as he listened to their conversation. Eljay was surprised to hear that his parents wanted to fight the wolves that had harmed Wiffle. It wasn't that Eljay didn't want to see them hurt for what they did, but he just didn't like violence of any kind. He liked to believe that this problem might just go away if they ignored it, really, but maybe that was too naively thought. Eljay waited patiently until it would be time to head back to Drageda by the Heda's side, preparing himself for saying good-bye to his parents, possibly forever this time considering his inability to travel far or tell directions on his own.
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#28


Finley and Elwood provide more details. Étoille tries to recall if he's met any from Blackfeather, but he has not to his knowledge. The strange trickster he'd met once talked about a dark brotherhood but he does not think that was the same as this. He is not surprised by the talk of war, although he looks to Heda, curious what she will ask of him. Drageda is a clan of warriors, he knows - he himself does not have much ... practical fighting experience, although he is confident he could handle himself in a fight. (He is wrong).

Heda agrees to join forces. It seems a tricky needle to thread - and he is unsure he will be able to do much after three more journeys back and forth. The Rauna wonders if there is something else he could do, although he hesitates at the idea of allowing Heda to travel back to Drageda unaccompanied. Or accompanied by Eljay, he supposes, but the scrawny boy does not look like he'd offer much in the way of protection. Still he bites his tongue for now, waiting to see a plan take shape.
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#29
Elwood shifted his gaze to Finley as she more eloquently elaborated on his thoughts. She expressed his every feeling accurately; they knew that something had to be done, but they feared putting their family at risk to do so. On the other hand, they were like sitting ducks if they refrained from action, and he didn't like that option either. Finding that he had nothing to add except his solidarity, he nodded firmly and turned his attention to Thuringwethil, whose response was short and succinct and filled him with hope as well as terror.

"Thank you," he said, his words quiet yet earnest. As far as her query about the layout of the Blackfeathers' territory, he reached into his memory to recall Wildfire's description. "They're to the east, in a forest. I don't think we know much more than that -- Wildfire said that there's some sort of network of tunnels where they kept her prisoner," he replied, lips tightening as the words crossed them.
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Ooc — Stevie
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#30
Thur was quiet as she took the information in. Finley could see the consideration in the line of her brow in the moments after she finished speaking and could do nothing more than continue to breathe as she waited for a response.

When it came, a wave of relief and apprehension swept over her. Only then did she realize that part of her really wanted the commander to decline and force them to take the safer, though passive, route. She was an adventurer at heart and the idea of setting out to find greener pastures was thrilling in its own way. But the Caldera was their home. It was where she and Elwood had met, where she had built a life for herself and where her kids had been born and raised. It was where her best friends were buried, and where she and Elwood would be buried as well when they passed on one day as well.

Together.
At the same time.
No one for even a second having to mourn the other.
And that's final.
GDI.

Fin looked at her mate as he responded to the heda's question. She had nothing additional to add to his description, but a question came to her mind that needed to be addressed. "How long before you can come back?" she asked, "We'll need time to get ready too. And Winter is coming still. It'd be a real shame if we drove those bastards out and then starved to death because we didn't finish filling our stocks before we went after them." She assumed Betty would feel the same, only more eloquently put.
 
what do i do after all this survival?
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Ooc — Kermy
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#31
Sorry this is bad, it's really early in the morning, lol.

“It took Étoille and me four days to get here, without much snow in our way. Maybe five with more wolves and if it snows soon,” she pauses with a lift of both brows. They’d understand. There is a lot more at risk with the new season coming upon them. Not only did they have to worry about their crew going into war, they have to consider the entire other half of the pack and in winter, it’s worse. Perhaps if they’d been closer together, the barrier for communication can easily be torn down, but short of uprooting one of their entire packs to another territory for a few months doesn’t seem worth it, but almost.

If Redhawk Caldera had a better army, they could go to them now and get it over with. Her head is still hot for Cicero, just thinking of the things that had been done to her wife. She’d have enough fuel to get through all of them, she’s sure of it.

“We do not have to rush but we cannot sit on this,” she says, albeit strained. She has half a mind—the emotional, uncontrolled part they’d never quite squashed out of her in her training as fos goufa—to go now and search for the culprit herself. “I want nothing more than to get rid of their blemish here, but Wildfire is safe now, and we have to be ready going into war,” she explains. They have to be focused and ready to face whatever happens, whatever their skill may be in this. She hopes she doesn’t have to explain the struggle and loss with battle, should it come to that. “I do not know this land that well, or how the weather fares in the winter, but when the time comes, Drageda will be ready. If it is not now that we go, you just need to get word to us.”


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Trigedasleng · Common
all that wanting, all that aching, all that capacity for love:
it never belonged to you in the first place
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#32


Étoille is a patient man, and he is glad that they seem to reach a similar conclusion. They do not need to rush. If the wolves of Blackfeather are as arrogant and foolish as he suspects, they will not be going anywhere, not with winter breathing down the neck of every wolf in the Teekons. 

An idea strikes him and he clears his throat. "If I may," the Rauna starts, voice measured, "it would help to gather more information, I believe." He looks at Heda and at Eljay. "I can attempt to... er, how would you say.. scope out their pack." He does not know if he is overstepping or if Heda and the Caldera wolves will consent to the idea. He does not know how much useful intel he would be able to gather, even, but he is unafraid of being harmed by them. He is big enough to fend for himself and, at least visually, he is not an easy target. The titan does not add anything else - he will follow Heda's command either way.
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Ooc — Kim
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#33
With the information that was given about Blackfeather's location and territory, Finley and Thuringwethil began to hash out a plan. Suddenly, it was all very real; this was something that was actually going to happen, and none of them knew what the outcome would be. Of course, they all hoped for success, but it still left a bitter taste in Elwood's mouth. He was a guardian, not a warrior; but he supposed, in a way, he was simply doing his duty to protect his home and family.

The commander anticipated that it would take approximately five days to travel back to the caldera with their army. He nodded his agreement. "By the time you go home and rally your troops, we should be ready," he said, hardly believing it as the words passed his lips. He shifted his gaze to Thuringwethil's companion, who until this point had been relatively quiet. The male suggested that he scout out Blackfeather's land, and Elwood bobbed his head in agreement -- although it would obviously be the Heda that gave him the go-ahead.
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Ooc — Stevie
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#34
Apparently Drageda and the Caldera were not very far from one another, when you really put your mind to it. Fin considered silently, realizing that if they left right now and came right back, the two packs could be at Blackfeather's borders in little more than a week. It became very real to her then, and as much as she wanted to press them forward and wipe those bastards off the face of the earth, there was far more to consider - things that she hadn't even come to realize even needed to be decided yet.

The wolf Betty had brought with her spoke, breaking the brief moment of overload Fin was currently experiencing in her mind. She looked at him, but said nothing in response to him or to his leader. But Elwood spoke next, and she could only nod solemnly in agreement with his words. For really, there was no other choice. Their course was set, and whether Drageda returned a month from now or tomorrow, the Caldera would be ready.
 
what do i do after all this survival?
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Ooc — Kermy
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#35
Étoille speaks up and she turns to him, more out of surprise than anything. His interruption is not unwelcome but the brute is a quiet one and if something is worth speaking up, she easily considers it. Besides, it is a good idea. She’s put her trust in the large male from the beginning and he’s proven his loyalty over a short period of time. It doesn’t make this any different than anything else she’s asked of him. Instead, he’s putting his skills to good use on the front line.

“Yes,” she says to him, glancing up at Elwood and then Finley, whom has nothing else to add. While Thuringwethil hadn’t expected to stay long, she feels awkward turning and leaving then. She hates to admit she’d entertained the thought of spending more time with Wildfire but it is long out the window and she has a long journey ahead. “Be careful,” she tells the scout though she does not expect she needs to. Then she glances to the alpha pair. “If it is all right for Étoille to return here once he’s gathered information, I will begin the trek back and return as soon as we can.”
Trigedasleng · Common
all that wanting, all that aching, all that capacity for love:
it never belonged to you in the first place
Brecheliant
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a hundred mini dreams and a healing scar ♥
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Ooc — Iris
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#36
Eljay waited beside the Heda and it seemed that good bye time had finally come. He glanced at the Heda and then at his parents as they rounded up the conversation, a sad glimmer in his eyes. He knew he must return with her but Eljay wanted nothing more than to stay here in Redhawk Caldera forever, as it was the only place that resonated home to him.

As the Heda said that she would begin to trek back, Eljay quickly removed himself from the Heda's side to press himself between his parents, aiming to draw them in for a hug while he whispered barely audibly "I'll miss you." Before he would eventually return to the Heda's side and prepare to leave with her to Drageda, his now-home that was still a long way from feeling like a real home.
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#37
"That sounds good," Elwood confirmed in response to Thuringwethil's suggestion regarding Etoille. Any information that the scout could share would be beneficial to both packs involved, and he would be more than willing to allow him a place to stay upon his return.

As the commander began to move as though she was preparing to leave, Eljay approached his parents. Elwood embraced his son, finding that it was hard to let go but knowing that he had to. He was proud of Eljay for his maturity; it wasn't so long ago that the youth would have only been separated from his parents kicking and screaming. And now he was a member of another pack and was a trusted caregiver of the Heda's children. "We'll miss you too," Elwood murmured as Eljay stepped away.

Looking back to Thuringwethil, he nodded his head solemnly. "Safe travels, and we'll see you soon. Thank you," he said.
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#38
With a single Yes, Fin felt the entire future of her family shift firmly into place. She gazed steadily at the commander's face for a moment before giving a nod herself and taking a slow breath. It somehow felt like this moment was between them, in spite of how much stake she knew that her mate had in this as well. Since Peregrine and Fox had passed, she doubted that there were any two wolves in this world that loved Wildfire as fiercely as they did, and certainly no two women had ever cared more for the safety of their families.

Eljay's movement forward broke the moment, and Fin turned to focus on this new one. In the tension, she had forgotten that Thur's return to Drageda might mean the departure of her son. Now that fact was highly apparent, and she felt her heart beginning to crack as he pushed against her and murmured his good byes. She opened and closed her mouth twice, protests forming in the suddenness of it all that didn't actually escape her throat. She didn't want him to go, but she knew that he had to. He had grown more in the few months he'd been away than in all the time he'd spent in the Caldera. Much as she wanted him to be with her, she knew that it would be a disservice to him in the end.

"I love you, Jaybird," Fin said softly as she pressed her muzzle into his ruff. She held tight as she could - even for a few seconds after he'd begun to pull away. But she reeled herself in, transferring her weight from Elwood Junior to Elwood Senior for support as the former stepped back towards his alpha in preparation to leave while she looked on.
 
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#39
sorry! last one from me unless ette's specifically needed

Heda agrees to his head and Étoille nods. He is not sure what he's getting himself into - he doesn't know much about the wolves of Blackfeather beyond the location of their forest. He doesn't know their number or what their territory is like (although, of course, that is why he's going in the first place). "Oui," he murmurs in response to her instruction to be careful. Perhaps it is his natural arrogance at play but the titan has no plans of being maimed or killed. Or taken captive. And even if he does make the wrong play, he trusts Drageda will be able to continue with or without him. He only hopes he can provide an advantage.

He waits to be officially dismissed before heading off, one more piece of this war-lead puzzle falling into place.
what do i do after all this survival?
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Ooc — Kermy
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#40
Their goodbyes are short and she looks to Eljay as he approaches his parents and offers them a goodbye. He’d stood near her during the conversation, which gave her enough of a hint, but still it surprises her. She nods once to the alphas as they eventually separate, watching Étoille go his own way too. Whether or not he makes it back to the caldera before they do remains to be seen and she departs from the caldera once more with just as much haste as it took to get here.
Trigedasleng · Common
all that wanting, all that aching, all that capacity for love:
it never belonged to you in the first place