Heron Lake Plateau Road Regrets
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Ooc — Jess
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#1
All Welcome 
As the rosy sunset faded into navy, Niamh streched, left her den and headed for the borders. She’d decided to take on a couple night shifts without really conversing with anyone else- but she figured it certainly wouldn’t hurt to switch up her routine a bit, and reinforce the borders after dark.

She spooked a raccoon while on patroll, and the creature snarled and hurled high pitched, warbling accusations at her from the tree it ran up. Unphased, she continued along the borders, stopping here and there to investigate a scent or leave a new one of her own.
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He tried to sleep.  Didn't work.  No matter what gets said in other threads, he was still having some problems sorting through it all, so took the chance to go for a walk when he'd be least likely to run into people.  A productive walk at least.  He arced towards the borders, melting into the low light and shadows.  Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't even been aware that someone else was up ahead until the raccoon announced it.

Jolting back to reality, he peered around owlishly until he spotted a somewhat familiar pale shape moving along up ahead. Quixote veered to intercept.  He had smelled her scent around, so it wasn't too surprising that he'd run into her eventually, he supposed.   Hey.  Decided to stay, huh? -- I'm Quixote.  Since before didn't exactly lead to introductions.
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It took a moment for Niamh to spot Quixote, given that she hadn't heard him above the din the raccoon had made. She smelled him first, and turned her head, hackles bristling until she made out his shape in the fading light, his eyes bright even in the darkness. She recognized him from that day, and her ears flicked back momentarily. There were still a number of wolves she had yet to meet since that day, and she wasn't entirely sure how most of them would receive her, given they'd wanted to rip her throat out the last time she'd seen them. Finley's daughters had been the most obvious two to watch out for- she was prepared to be ambushed at almost any moment. 

She remembered this guy, though; he hadn't been a complete asshat, but he also hadn't exactly helped...Compared to the majority of the other wolves who'd simply wanted to chase her off, though, that made him one of the few 'good guys.' She relaxed when he greeted her, and slicked her hackles back down, lowering her head in a greeting. He was almost on the short side, or maybe average- hard to tell, given the fact that he was quite solidly built. Definitely looked like the tough sort, not the kind she'd want to tangle with. 

Half a smile crept across her muzzle when he spoke, and she nodded, shrugging one shoulder. "I guess 'asshat' and 'shithead' and whatever else was said doesn't make for a great introduction, hey?" she joked. "I'm Niamh; just about to go for a patrol if you wanted to join," She said.
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Perhaps it was odd that Quixote was willing to just shrug things off like they hadn't happened, but to him, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.  People switched packs, and sometimes enemies thought better and went elsewhere.  Wasn't his job to dig around for problems with new members -- one of the great things about being a subordinate was that shirking responsibility like that came with the lack of title.  As long as nobody stepped out of line, what was the big deal?

He dipped his head politely in response, not big on fluffy formal intros other than a trade of names.  Sounds good to me.  Was thinking the same -- maybe I can walk myself to sleep. And with a mild half-snort, half-chuckle at his own own lame joke, he turned to head the same way she had been aimed.

He was keen to start heading along the patrol, but Quixote had nothing against talking as they went,  Anyway, yeah the whole mess was pretty stupid.  Still trying to figure out how to jump in front of that kind of thing -- prevent it, and all -- but I'm not that quick.  He honestly had no idea how he would have other than taking the lead on the whole conversation.  Couldn't do that without being leader -- couldn't do that without taking up responsibility he didn't necessarily want to deal with-- and he didn't know whether Towhee would even consider it again after their conversation.  Not to mention those kids were freakin' nuts.  So it goes.
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Ooc — Jess
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Niamh chuckled at Quixote’s joke, when he accepted her invitation to join and rolled her eyes. ”Maybe I’ll just be super boring so I can talk you to sleep.” She remarked, and started to walk. Not that she considered herself to be boring- Niamh thought of herself as being a laugh and a half- so to talk him to sleep wouldn’t exactly work. She knew she’d make him tired of her babbling and sarcasm before she could ever actually make him tired.

The topic of the brawl came back up and Niamh shrugged. ”I think any normal occasion wouldn’t have become such a shitshow. It was our turf and we were challenged for it- we did what any wolf would. I think all the real tomfuckery came about because Screech and Towhee are siblings so naturally yelling is easier than talking, and Finley’s two girls just wanted a fight because they’ve probably never actually been in one.” She said. ”I mean- Towhee threatening to kill us was stupid. Who even does that? And Screech was an idiot for thinking three of us could take on all of you.” She said, and shrugged. ”But it’s whatever. Nobody died and we all live here now. If Finley’s kids could lay off with their constant need for a pissing match that’d be great, but I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon.”
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#6
The fact that she rambled on as she did piqued his interest.  He wouldn't mind someone to mutually complain with, but despite not caring too much about others' history in general, he at the same time didn't want to get burned again by finding a new friend that would either bail or just not fit right to start with.  Quixote had only kinda jumped the gun with Raven, he'd be a bit more careful for a bit, thanks.  For now, though, he was going to respond in kind.

Yeah I think the kids were salty because they didn't get to go play in the actual war.  They seemed pretty disappointed when they were told they had to go somewhere safe, from what I recall.  And yeah, that was pretty much my point -- not the first time Towhee's done something kind of nuts like that, too.  Same war, actual fight -- we were all being kinda sneaky, stop for a moment, and Towhee yells for the Blackfeather wolves to show up to fight us.  Finley was even there, and she was still alpha at the time -- so I'm not quite sure how that whole speaking-before-thinking thing hasn't been fixed yet.  Truly birds of a feather, I guess?  He shook his head.  He hadn't thought about the parallel until recently -- Quixote wished he'd thought of it sooner, it would have been a good point to bring up to Elwood.  And it had made him consider the leader thing all the more.

I mean, adult rank or not, I assume the kids are still under their parents' wing, so they have to deal with them...  Dear lord what was happening with the subconsciously appearing bird puns?  But I think Towhee probably does need more help -- I want to help with diplomatic stuff if she'd let me, assuming nobody's better at it, but.. Well.  Shrug.  He paused a moment to veer to one side and pee on a scrubby bush that had caught his attention.  Then he adjusted his path to be back alongside Niamh, wondering where he'd been going with his rambling, Hell if I know.  It was kind of frustrating knowing stuff should be done, but having no idea how or well, anything.  Grasping at straws, here, but it was a problem he just didn't seem to be willing to let go of.
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Odd as it might have seemed, Niamh felt comfortable airing her grievances about the territory claiming with Quixote even though he'd been on what she'd once considered to be the 'other side.' This was likely because of all the wolves that had been present, he hadn't acted like a complete asshat, and hadn't tried to badger them out of the territory without acknowledging that it had been theirs to begin with. Unlike a few of the others, he didn't seem to hate her because of all that, and wasn't walking around with some chip on his shoulder. He was kind of cool- and she'd thought that about him- even just a little bit- when she'd first laid eyes on him anyway. 

"Can't say it's something I want to pick up." She said, referring to Towhee's habit of yelling and starting fights. "But I'm sure it's gotta work sometimes. Even if it's just a bluff. Could probably scare the shit outa some loners or trespassers by doing that." She said. Briefly, she envisioned herself and Quixote coming across a trespasser during their patrol and yelling Monty Python-esque insults at them for no reason other than to try and scare them away. It caused her to smile wryly, to herself. 

When he brought up Finley's parenting tactics, her smile turned to a grimace. "I don't think so. Last time I saw all three of them, I asked the girls to like...Well, next time they had an issue with Screech or me, to tell us, rather than trying to start a fight...And Finley looked like I was an idiot because I was trying to teach her girls how to be civil." She said. Of course, she had stepped on Finley's toes by doing that- it wasn't Niamh's place to try and school Fiadh and Clover, and it had made it look like she was judging Finley's parenting skills...Which, to some extent, she was. But Niamh had no idea how hard it was to be a parent, and thus, had no place doing so. 

Quixote expressed an interest in wanting to teach Towhee- and likely the rest of the pack- how to be a little more diplomatic and a little less explosive, and she nodded. "I dunno, man, I think you'd be good at it." She said. "Just look at the other day- you at least tried to stop some kind of nuclear war from happening; there was another woman who tried to, as well. She had black fur, maybe yellow eyes? I don't remember. But she put herself between Screech and Finley's girls. I dunno her name- but it seems like she kind of wants things to be normal too." Of course, she was referring to Raven- but names weren't exactly her forte yet.
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As she mentioned what happened with the Finwood kids, he cringed a little, muttering something like, Oof.  As if he'd have any better luck bringing it up.  Sure, it wasn't like he was in bad standing with them, as far as he knew -- unless his conversation with Elwood had riled them both up more than he expected -- but that didn't mean they'd listen to a bachelor with no pup experience when it came to pointing out the issues with their brood.  Maybe in another few months when the kids had no excuse he could face them directly, but right now?  Naaaah.

And of course, this being in the past, he did his best to caaasually look the other way when she started to mention Raven, as things were totally still hush-hush secretlike, and he wasn't going to trust Niamh nearly as much as Colt, at least not yet.  Give it another day or three and stuff would probably be out (more?) in the open and he'd have a whole heap of other troubles to whine about.  He sniffed at a few old tracks while his head was pointed the other way, Yeah, Raven.  She's Towhee's sister -- totally different, huh?  Okay, he had to look back to see what she thought, but he did his best to temper his curiosity.

Either way, moving on.  But yeah, the bluffing thing might work on trespassers, but that's because you've got all the intel and they don't -- only thing we had at an advantage back when everyone met was numbers, and if you guys had some more hiding down in that forest or something, it would have ended a lot differently.  He shrugged.  A heaping pile of things would have been different if there'd been more to their little gang -- like the Caldera wolves wouldn't have even crossed into the territory and would have continued on to who-knew-where. I just dunno how willing some would be to listen and learn.  I've been with them basically through winter, and never really met the pups and stuff in a one on one, so not had a chance to even try. -- I think the main issue is just getting the jump on the insanity.  I'll need a pile of good luck for that.  He really didn't know how things had worked out that way.  Maybe they were just a lot warier of strangers than Towhee had previously assured him.  Oh well.
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Raven- so that was her name- and apparently she was Towhee's sister. When he commented on her being different than Towhee, she imagined he was referencing the fact that while Towhee wanted strangers' heads on spikes, Raven tried to stop kids from picking fights with strangers. That sort of difference. She shrugged. "I dunno. Haven't met Raven, but Towhee's actually pretty cool. She's teaching me Ptero." She said, and paused for a moment, trying to do some mental maths. "Seriously though, who in this pack isn't related?" She asked. "Seems like everybody's all sisters and brothers and stuff. Which is cool, but like...Yeh, small gene pool. Are you related to them? Or am I like...The only one who isn't?" She asked. Ironic, considering that the Redleafs used to be DeMontes, like her- but that was a story her parents had never told her.

She took a moment to stray away from him, listening to him go on about the slightly unconventional methods of handling stressful situations while she reinforced a border marking before she made her way back toward him. Again, she shrugged, unable to provide much helpful insight into the matter. "It'd be nice to live in peace with other packs, and those who harmlessly come to the borders without trespassing. Maybe things'll be different now that you're here, and the war's over. We're far enough away, hopefully things will just chill out." She said. "We can just sort of...Set an example, and hope it catches on." She said, looking to him, then, to see what he might have thought of that. He seemed to be a pretty chill guy; she liked that about him. He was, of course, easy on the eyes, too- kind of on the gruff side, where he was built like a tank, but it suited him. For some reason, she felt compelled to offer him a bit of encouragement, so she leaned in to bump her shoulder against his, good naturedly. "You don't need luck when you got me on your side," She said, albeit somewhat awkwardly, given she'd only just realized that yeh, the guy she was hanging out with was totally cute and she'd just done a totally bro move.
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Pter-what?  You  know, despite Quixote being in the pack that long, he'd never seen anyone use it or talk about it or anything.  He'd always met Towhee without anyone else around, and one of the problems with pretty much just accepting things as they were is he didn't ask too many questions -- he'd just worked around Towhee's deafness by being clear and direct.  Her kind of garbled speech didn't confuse him too much either -- just had to listen a little more and it wasn't too much different than someone with a jaw injury.  

But since she kept talking, he didn't ask, Nah, I'm an odd one out too, which was something he had mentally complained about quite a few times.  But hey, that fact wasn't bad now, was it?  I think it's like two families really?  Just with some adoptions.  There might be another couple guys around that aren't related either, but I haven't talked to them to make sure.  A while back I joked with a friend of mine, Colt, that I'd have my pick of the chicks, unlike him -- he's a Blackthorn so he was out of luck.  He had a bit of a devious smirk at that.  It had been a good plan, and definitely a happier day even if they were complaining the whole time.  Suppose you've got your choice of all the dudes -- unless you don't go that way, that is.  That smirk hadn't faded by the time he looked back at her to see what she thought.  It wasn't like he knew anyone's way-complicated family trees either.  But yeah.. Colt kinda pissed off Towhee.  Gonna see if I can figure out how to get him back in the pack somehow, though.  But how, he had no idea.  Maybe Colt could just hunt a bunch of stuff for the pack, maybe?  Either way, he needed to get his buddy back in the pack.

If she was expecting that she'd somehow embarrassed herself or something, Quixote hadn't thought it worthy of that, responding with renewed amusement, You gonna beat 'em all up if they step out of line?  He gave Niamh a joking, sort of 'looking over a pair of glasses' look before continuing more normally, I do think we're probably so far away from everyone else we won't have any trouble.  Everyone can start over, I guess. Build new alliances if they come, not piss off the neighbors.  Might be a little boring, though he concluded as if it it was a playful warning. He smirked over his shoulder as he trotted off to scrape at a mark that Towhee had left sometime in the past week or so.
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Huh- so he wasn't related. In build, he was fairly different from the rest of them, so she couldn't exactly place him with any of the others, except for maybe Raven, but that was simply because of coat colour and that meant very little- except when considering the Blackthorns and their dorsal stripe. She was kind of glad that she wasn't the only one who wasn't related- and somewhat relieved to find out that Quixote was also formerly an outsider. He seemed to have integrated himself into the system well, which meant that she could too. 

She chuckled at the mention of Colt- someone else she didn't know- and his slim luck of finding a lady unless he went outside the pack. "That makes us hot commodities," She said, giving him a wink and swaying her hips slightly. If most of the males and females in the pack were related, then for sure, it made two outside wolves such as herself and Quixote, the most likely to find a significant other within the pack. Wouldn't it be funny, then, said a small voice in her brain, If we just snuffed the rest altogether and got together, leaving them with absolutely no options. It was a silly thought, but still it crept into her mind. She blushed slightly, cheeks warm beneath her creamy fur, and was thankful when he brought up the other alternative.

She laughed. "Nah, I like dudes." Lucky for you, Insisted the voice again, surprising her. She tried to regain her cool. She shrugged one angular shoulder. "We'll see. I don't want some asshat that's gonna get himself killed in a stupid fight along the borders. I want a real man, with a real brain." She said firmly, before she added- "Someday." Sure, she'd had crushes, and had spent some time with this guy or that guy, but hadn't exactly had one really strike her fancy, or make her think surprising thoughts. 

He mentioned Colt again, and made it seem like Colt was a good friend of his- who was out of the pack. "Well, she let Screech come back. So as long as Colt didn't like murder anyone or set someone's babies on fire, she might forgive him."That seemed to be the standard- Screech had done a bunch of not-cool things and he'd gotten another chance; once things blew over, she figured Colt would get the same. 

When he mentioned beating others up, she shook her head. "Nah, that's not my style. I meant like...Greeting people and talking to them before jumping to any conclusions and ripping out throats. If we do that, and it works, maybe the others will do the same." It made sense in her head, anyway.
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#12
IDK how but somehow your post ended up with like.. double bolds??  Fixed using my awesome leadery powers. >P

Probably one of the reasons Quixote hadn't had much actual relationship luck before Raven's heat was that he was a wee bit oblivious about it all.  Funny how hormones cut corners by cutting out some of the questions.  After all, he'd joke around with anyone willing and never question there might be any motives behind it, then in the cases when he tried something, he'd be way too subtle for most to notice.  Most of the time, as long as folks were hanging out and having fun, that was all he wanted, and since Niamh seemed to be enjoying herself this evening, all was well.  Ooh, a real brain.  That might be a tough one.  Whether it was obvious or not, he was poking fun at himself, too.

I'm sure someone will show up for you when you're ready -- maybe some of the local slackers will even shape up by then. Okay, doubtful on that, but at least it was humorous to think about.  He was kind of tempted to say something about Raven, but he didn't want to take the chance of that finding its way back to Towhee yet.  Sometime they'd tell her.  Or one of them would.  Something.  

Nah, he was just being an everyday idiot at the wrong time.  I'm sure I'll be able to work something out eventually, just dunno how.  It'd take a bit of thinking.  Hopefully he'd come up with something before Colt got tired of lurking.  Technically he would, but it wasn't gonna be by convincing Towhee that Colt was great.

Putting things into action was the challenge.  Stuff should change but he didn't know how, or sometimes even what would be best.  There were still a few pieces of the puzzle missing, but the obvious things were, as suggested, the easiest.  Yeah, it's gonna take a lot of work, though.  Trying to change stuff without it being a direct order probably makes things happen at like, I dunno.  Half speed, maybe slower.  It was unfortunate, but that was the truth.  People would follow a leader around way more often they would some guy, and for now he was still just some guy.
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#13
I think I had one open tag- because I physically write my brackets in rather than clicking the thinger- and then went back to fix it and all hell broke loose XD I didn't want to edit it too many times for fear of reeeeally opening a can of worms or getting warned for too much editing :) Thanks!! <3


"Right?" She said, agreeing with him on the matter of finding a man with a real brain. She chuckled, and glanced at him, then; at least he seemed to have one. And he was a man who wanted change- in a positive direction. Needless to say, she was a bit disappointed when he mentioned she'd find someone else, and she was surprised by that feeling. It wasn't like she knew him well enough to care that he wanted her to find someone else, right? Maybe he thought she was too young- or maybe he just didn't see something in her...She'd have to work on that. 

Confidently, she lifted her chin. "Oh, I'm ready." She said, and raised an eyebrow. "But I don't settle for just anyone." She said. "It'd be a pity to waste these good looks, brains and talents on just some dumb hack," She said. It was kind of awkward, telling him these things. Of course, she wanted to sort of hint things to him- but Niamh lacked the prowess when it came to flirting and seducing a man, as she was still a bit too immature to understand how to use her natural charm in the best way. All she had was her good looks, as well as confidence- but no idea how to use the two together. 

"Maybe...I dunno, some sort of partner system, or mentoring. Pair a hothead up with someone who knows what they're doing- that's what I'd do. From what I've heard, Elwood's actually a super calm dude; and if Raven is too, then there's another. You and I are the two coolest people here, obviously, so it's not like the pack's completely made up of trigger-happy warmongers. I think there's hope. Plus being so far away from other packs might help. Less stimulus, less dramalamas. Should just happen organically, I'd think." She said.
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#14
Whatever happened, it ended up with a bunch of double bolded stuff when I went to fix it.  THE MYSTERIES OF BBCODE!

Is that so?  Again, a little bit of playful skepticism.  She was still kind of young, wasn't she?  Well certainly by next year she'd be causing all kinds of mischief among the guys in the pack if Niamh decided it appealed to her.  So whatcha gonna do then?  Test all us fools to see if we're worthy?  It'd be some of those old stories but with a bit of a twist, he meant fairy tales, but assumed she knew what he was talking about.  It did sound kind of fun (or at least the whole concept was amusing), but would he end up missing out on it?  Should he?   This was too complicated, dammit.  That was the thing that nagged at him occasionally -- he didn't entirely like not having an official status, but that was pretty well balanced by his dislike of having things out in the open.  Those ideas weren't exactly compatible.

Niamh had to be more clever than him, as she quickly showed.  Huh, that's not a bad idea at all.  It'd certainly take some more thought to work out the details, especially as a pack wolf -- there came a level of being sneaky, maybe to make it someone of importance think it was all their idea and then it could be officially implemented.  Maybe there are a few more of us reasonable folk than I was thinking.  Will have to work out some details, but I could see that working. -- Just watch, though, I bet some pack of really irritating people will show up because they think we're too far out in the middle of nowhere.  Not serious, still joking, but that would be his sort of luck.  Spoiling all the good plans, as usual.  He was going to end up forgetting about it for a while, but hopefully it would come to mind again once he had the ability to do something about it.
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At first, Niamh found the thought of holding some sort of competition of worthiness ridiculous and wrinkled her nose in distaste- but after a moment to think about it, she tilted her head from side to side optimistically. ”You might be onto something there,” She said. She thought about it for a moment before she decided. ”I think I’d need someone to prove themselves by...Catching a freaking hummingbird. Have you ever tried to catch one of them sumbitches? They’re fast!” She said, and laughed. The possibility of a wolf catching a hummingbird, of course, slim to none- so she’d likely end up single for quite some time.

Quixote seemed somewhat taken with her idea, which pleased her. For some reason, she wanted to impress him...There was something about him that wad easy to like- probably the fact that they could go so deep into a conversation on their first real meeting. Whatever the reason, she’d taken a real shining to him.

And when he finished talking about how things could go wrong, she laughed, slanted a shoulder and eyed him coyly. Enjoying the irony fully, the roleplayer then put these somewhat prophetic words in Niamh’s mouth. ”Eh. Probably. But then again, we’re not alphas. Not our circus, not our monkeys.”
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Do we wanna wrap it up soonish? :P

Hummingbirds?  Oh geez, yeah, that wasn't gonna go well for anyone trying to complete said challenge, Is that even possible?  Because damn, I thought those things were bugs for a while, like no way in hell did it seem like they were actually birds -- tiny, buzzed, and seemed to float in the air more like a bumblebee than anything else.  Hell of a wolf that'd be able to catch one of those.  If someone was able to that person would be such a skilled hunter they should be allowed to have a whole pack's worth of pups to improve the general population. 

And oh, the predictions.  He'd never be alpha, after all -- that was just a silly as heck idea with a snowball's chance in hell.  A single bark of laughter, I know, right?  Definitely a responsibility I'm glad not to have on my shoulders.  Yeah, sure, he might want to do diplomatic stuff, but if someone was gonna show up and cause trouble no matter what, noping right out of town sounded like a great idea.  Being a subordinate had definite advantages that often got overlooked, so maybe Towhee's suggestion that he consider leadership was kind of lame, Don't know why some folks want rank that much.
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#17
Sure. Best get the pre-mission-to-Drageda threads tidied up so I can jump on a whole bunch of others when she's back XD

"Exactly," Niamh said, full of conviction. It would have to be a hell of a wolf who ended up by her side for the rest of her life- and while catching a hummingbird actually proved nothing about that particular wolf, if they were determined enough to try and did it enough to actually succeed, that meant enough. Plus, maybe they could give her some pointers- though a hummingbird wasn't really a meal, or even a snack, they were pretty and they were birds so therefore she wanted to catch one, and decorate her den with its jewel-coloured feathers. 

Niamh shrugged in response to his comment about being an alpha. "I get the appeal of being queen, but I think it's too much work and stress and like...Near-death experiences." She said. The two seemed to have a fair amount in common, and Niamh enjoyed getting to bounce ideas- both realistic and ridiculous- off her packmate. In the darkness, eventually, they would part ways, and Niamh would return to her somewhat feathered den, tired from another border patrol and pleasant conversation.