The Heartwood he said, i got the one for you

tegan had... well, not followed towhee's orders. who's surprised? he knew that he was supposed to have searched for whip daaaaaayyyysss ago but, lets face it, he really didn't care about the guy. he wasn't concerned in the slightest about whip's whereabouts... even though towhee seemed to have a real stick up her ass about the whole ordeal.

whatever, he was looking now, and that's all that mattered.

little, average-sized tegan padded about the woods with bright eyes. he'd never been here before-- and it was pretty interesting. he wondered what this was-- just woods? he guessed. this was turning out to be a flop. whip's scent trailed off miles back, the last whiff he got of the guy was in the territory... just in this direction. whip was gone, this was pointless.

seabreeze had traveled north after her encounter with the redhawk boy.  she wasn't quite sure she had helped him, but she could not dwell on it.  she should have probably gone back home, to terance, to safety, but it had been a while since she'd been brave enough to leave and she figured that she might as well enjoy herself.

it did not take long before she started to smell redhawk again, and she wondered if it was nevouku.  she headed towards the source of the scent before she saw a monochrome boy.  close, but no cigar.  

she let out a chuff to get her attention, head low just in case he was here for trouble.

depends on your definition of trouble... but mostly not, just tegan. 

he spotted her after she chuffed-- cause he was sort of out of the loop when it came to things like that. sure, he knew what he was supposed to do. but life had treated tegan very kindly, he thought all that was just baby talk. his sister's encounter with the dark wolf slipped his mind. it would never happen to him. his own tail flew upwards and began to wag happily. maybe she didn't enjoy being so forward, but tegan had no qualms with it. so he began to stride right up to her, tongue lolling. "hey, lady! howsit going?" he asked brightly.

wow, this dude was way less scared than the other one.  hey there, stranger.  she smiled genuinely, warming up to him immediately.  freakin' finally, someone who wasn't terrified or trying to kill her.  my name's seabreeze, i'm from the sunspire back there.  you're from the caldera, right?  i met one of yours yesterday.  her tail wagged excitedly, ears cupped as she waited for a response.  maybe she could set up an alliance between sunspire and the caldera as she had with bearclaw and tindome.

oh heck yeah! this wolf was way better than that indra girl-- and she introduced herself! though he kinda liked indra, she had battle scars, she was cool. but seabreeze had a cool face scar. maybe she was a warrior too? whoa. maybe she had some stories! oh but... wait oh shit! she met one of theirs? like a caldera wolf? "wait wait no way-- was his name whip? i'm looking for some guy named whip," he said excitedly. no WAY his first scouting mission would go this well! hell fuckin yeah.

"yeah i'm from the caldera! m'names tegan-- what's at sunspire?" he then introduced himself, ending in a question with a slight tilt of his grey head.

she felt bad she couldn't help him with his whip any more than she could help nevouku with... well, whatever the hell it was that was wrong with him.  no, nevouku.  he seemed scared out of his wits.  maybe he could give her a clue.

it's nice to meet you, tegan.  we've got a nice little pack up there.  rannoch's our alpha, we used to live on northstar vale.

drats. but whatever, if he'd actually found whip towhee might've promoted him to beta-- and tegan just wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility. "mmmm never heard of him. bet he's new-- and lame, we don't associate with lame bois," tegan told her casually. by 'we' he meant him and his siblings, but he didn't clarify that with her.

"up? like a mountain? you live on a mountain?" nice! mountains were cool. hah, maybe that was how she got that face scar! falling down a mountain. that was probably something clover would do, he thought with an extra hard few wags of his tail.

wow, that was kind of rude!  but she didn't say anything, because ha ha holy shit she was out here alone with this dude and although he seemed nice so far, it didn't mean he would remain nice.  so instead she focused on sunspire.

yes, up!  it's pretty cool.  i've never been to a caldera though, what is that?  up on the sunspire, we've got some high peaks and a really beautiful waterfall.  she shrugged.  i'd say it's pretty sweet.

she noticed his gaze raking her face-gore and shrunk almost instinctually.

"oh hell yeah!" tegan barked, his eyes shining. a waterfall? sounds dope as hell! he kinda wanted to see but... well it was maybe rude to just visit another packs territory... isn't it? at least, towhee never let outsiders into the caldera so? "the caldera is sort like a mountain, but more like a wall? it just kinda surrounds us. i dunno if that makes sense, that's the best i can do," he admitted with a shrug. 

and then she like-- fell apart? or something, it confused tegan. maybe he stared too hard at her... oh wait, her face. ah damn... tegan wasn't usually one to care about how he treated others but... mom did say it was rude to stare at strangers. he shuffled. "my bad-- i didn't mean to stare. i just-- are you a warrior? i met a lady the other day and she lost her whole tail in a fight! it was badass, i was just tryin to think if you'd have a cool story too," he said quickly, giving a bright, toothy smile in attempt to butter her up and... well maybe not come off as such a dick. he didn't mean to hurt her feelings so badly-- tegan was all for being a little asshat but, he didn't like being mean...

what an interesting little landmark!  she had never heard anything like it.  that sounds.. really cool, actually.  i'd like to see it sometime.  maybe you can come visit sunspire, and i can come visit the caldera.  that was, if their pack wasn't super-hella-territorial.  like most of them seemed to be.  like sunspire was.  oh.

are you a warrior?  it took a second to register.  did he really believe that thin seabreeze who looked like she could be broken in half was a warrior?  no, she began with a wide smile, just have a tendency to get myself into trouble.  but i do have some cool stories about them.

she shuffled, moving to her haunches.  the first time my face was ripped open, i was out with a packmate.  we came across this big.. metal thing.  smoke, debris.  there was a creature.  pale, fleshy and pink.  we found some wolves just torturing it, and one of them grabbed me by the face and threw me to the side.  only a few days later, some pups from our neighbor pack trespassed.  

my ex-mate used to run that pack, and we're on good terms with them.  so i told them to go home, and the bastard bit my face!  she laughed good-naturedly.  can you believe it?  they showed up on the pack's doorstep and then disrespected them by spitting in the face of the allies.  she doubted it compared with getting an entire tail ripped off, but.  well.  she tried.

"dope!" tegan exclaimed with a wag of his tail. well, maybe dope... "i gotta ask towhee-- she's basically my sister, and our alpha, she's weird about strangers but... i mean i'm like her favorite sibling and obviously the most accomplished of all my siblings so i think she'd let it slide," he added, a little bit more information than needed but... tegan liked for everyone to know that he was, in fact, the best of the best. 

and then! seabreeze swung into story. it wasn't as exciting as he hoped-- she wasn't actually any kind of fighter, and it actually sounded like not once, but twice she got the crap kicked out of her. oof, that didn't sound good. but she seemed to be doing fine? tegan thought about it for a second and then, wait... "did you say pups? like lil guys or like my age?" he paused, "not that i'm a pup, i'm like old adult, basically in the adult tiers, but you know what i'm saying. trespassed? towhee would've eaten 'em, i think." he paused again, brow furrowing. "well not literally, we're not like evil or anything, but she woulda been pissed! and they attacked you? that shits crazy, seabreeze." 

after a few moments of pondering, tegan declared loudly, "i think you need a new story."

haha, this kid was great.  kind of full of himself, but also great.  she wondered what it would be like to have a little brother like him.  she'd never know, and it kind of stung a little bit.  oh well!  moving on!

like, about your age.  but one of them had.. i don't know, something going on.  his back was all.. bunched up.  he looked like a freakin' roach.  she snorted, before hunching her back up like ramsay's had been.  only it was short, too.  like he didn't have any body, or a neck.  he was just like, a head and legs.

it could have been really offensive, but she figured this kid really wouldn't mind her description of the boy.  but yeah, they just came up and insulted us, and when i told them to go home he bit my face.

she froze when he declared (for all in heaven to hear, she might add) that she needed a new story.  oops.  yeah, that one's kind of.. lame.  even though it was the truth.  got anything in mind?

hah! a freakin' roach! tegan loved it. his tail beat a million miles per hour at the insult-- god that was funny-- and his tongue lolled as she did a fun little demonstration. he snorted. "gross! did someone beat his spine straight?" tegan asked with a tilt of his head, tongue falling to one side. he sure hoped so. notice he said someone and not 'did you'... judging just by her stories, tegan wasn't thinking she got very far in her battles. 

oh shit, lmao, she totally got beat up by a pup. hah! he kept this to himself, but the thought was incredibility amusing. 

"yeah, duuuhh, that's like my thing-- fabrication," tegan began with a quick bob of his head. lying and fabrication were two very different things-- or so he'd learned. fabrication was not lying, and so it was okay. "so, you took on some crazy night-patrol and got into a tussle with a mutant! and, ho boy, you shoulda seen the other guy!" he told her with another nod. the last part was sort of cliche but tegan was a kid so the line was wildly impressive to him still.

she was impressed by his tall tales and it showed in the way her brow quivered at his response.  if only she had been around for the yamalam story; she would've gotten a kick out of that.  alas.

she leaned forward in a secretive, clique-y manner and asked him, oh yeah?  and how many of them were there?  the wheels in her brain got to a-turnin'.  she thought of superfun coconut, and then she was having super-fun with this coco-nut.  yeah.  little roach-boy mutant ain't got nothin' on me.

"honestly? five. but tell em it could've been way more-- you just couldn't really see you were just so zoned into the FIGHT!!" came the blackthorn's response. the perfect alibi to a lie. he hoped she'd be satisfied with that answer-- he certainly was! 

"ah hell no he don't! i think fights are super dope-- but i don't wanna fight, gotta maintain this look, ya feel?"  he added sort of offhandedly. not that tegan was... by any means, the worlds most attractive wolf... but he thought highly of himself, and hey, all you need in life is a little bit of self love.

God, this kid was — what was the word he'd used?  Dope.  Ha ha.  She laughed good-naturedly at his response, thrusting her paw at him.  He was just too much!

Ugh, I know.  I keep getting into scuffles.  Lame.  She swiped her paw across the dirt and rolled her shoulders.  This has certainly been fun.  You should come visit some time!  I just live on the Sunspire.

tegan nodded quickly, tail wiggling. "totally!!! you prolly can't come visit me, cause of towhee, but maybe i'll stop by!!" he exclaimed happy as ever to have supplied a good lie to a stranger-- who seemed kinda cool. not super cool but, kinda cool. his ears pricked up, and he glanced away, nose twitching. 

"i should get back, i think whip just skrt skrt outta town, which sucks, but oh well," he announced, head tilted. then, with a big shrug, tegan added, "you don't think it be like that but it do."

and then, with his words of wisdom, tegan himself leaned forward to give seabreeze and friendly nudge(cause they were pals now) and then he himself skrt skrt outta town, back to redhawk caldera.