Grouse Thicket Hakkerskaldyr.

It was a few hours since her... altercation with Niamh. Long enough for Towhee to feel terrible about some of the things she'd said while still stewing in her own bitterness at her Person's departure. How could she? As someone who'd never experienced a crush, much less romantic love, Towhee simply didn't understand why Niamh would go crawling back to Colt and how she could give up her rank, her friendships and her home for him.

She avoided the impulse to find a shoulder to cry on. She didn't even want to see X, to make sure he really was okay. Currently, Towhee was in the mindset that she wanted nothing to do with anyone ever again. The mood would pass but, for now, she was deliberating the merits of becoming a total hermit. If she pushed everyone away and didn't let herself get close to anyone, then they couldn't hurt her when they inevitably left. It was logical to a fault.

Not that she'd ever really leave and try to make it as a loner—Towhee could be impulsive but she wasn't that foolhardy—but there was a certain appeal to getting away from this place right now. She hadn't left since her accident, though she scarcely thought about that as she abruptly abandoned a miserable patrol and headed for the neighboring thicket.

Once there, she found some measure of relief in violently butchering a grouse. But she didn't touch it after the fact, simply sitting beside the carcass and staring sourly toward the east.

@Tulimaq

After his conversation with Wildfire, Tulimaq had not known what to do with himself for a hot minute. He eventually fell in to his old habit of patrolling, marking, and investigating around the claim. When it seemed as if his work was finished, he thought of an extracurricular job — the one he'd discussed with the Alpha earlier in the day — and set about trying to find a body of water that might hold some fish. Maybe if he could find some place suitable for lessons, he could help her keep her mind off of things. It would have to be slow moving enough to allow fishing, but not so slow that it was frozen over.

Eventually he made his way from the copse to neutral ground outside of the intended claim's limits, although it was hard to tell with the dim light slanting through the boughs. As Tulimaq made his way he caught the scent of grouse and felt his belly rumble and gurgle, perhaps to remind him he'd given up a chance at a free meal and he needed to eat. Grouse was too small for a beefy man like himself; he'd find that water source and bring some tasty fish back with him though, that seemed like a good plan.

Except the thicket didn't hold any signs of a lake, pond, river, or anything he could probably fish in. Tulimaq paused over a patch of dug-out snow where he thought he found a different scent (like something familiar, kind of earthy like rabbit), and was hit by the pungent aroma of fresh blood. This drew him through the thicket at a more deliberate pace, until he spotted a limp looking bird with a dark silhouette sitting ominously beside it.

Normally, Towhee would react immediately and accordingly to a stranger's presence, especially so near the plateau. But she was a little apathetic and a lot distracted right now. She afforded the male a loud blink, noting his hungry gaze dropping to the dead grouse. She felt a jab of possessiveness over her kill, which faded quickly. She wasn't even hungry.

"You can have it," she said in a dull, clunky voice, when a thought struck her and her eyes narrowed. "Unless..." Towhee's voice trailed off for a moment, long enough that the next sentence almost didn't seem linked to the prior one. "Are you with the Firebirds?"

The stranger shifted, and he thought he glimpsed a smattering of gold or white fur among the darkness. It could've just as easily been her bright eyes, which leered at him from the distance. Tulimaq paused in his approach and kept his wits sharp, just in case, only to be surprised by the offer of free food - again. He didn't want a handout from his own Alpha, and the prospect of taking something from a stranger didn't really mesh with him either. The man opened his mouth to reply but before he could, the woman asked a question — and he was reminded that the Redhawks lived on a plateau that, in hindsight, might've been closer than he thought.

I've been helping them out, he confirmed, more or less answering the question — but he'd missed the implication in her tone (perhaps because her voice sounded so different from those he was used to, slurring a bit and with odd inflections). He took a step closer, then another, and stood a measured distance away. You're a Redhawk? So that meant they were allies or something, right?

His response made her squint. Well, was he or wasn't he? Towhee opened her mouth to press the matter, when all the fight went out of her again. It was bad enough that she'd picked a fight—had a downright row, rather—with Niamh. She didn't need to start one with a stranger too. She suddenly thought of how disappointed Rave would be if she heard about any of this. They were supposed to be sister packs. The idea made the resentment simmer deep within her.

But she really needed to keep it in check, didn't she? Thinking about her Person was suddenly extremely sobering. Towhee blinked a few times, feeling moisture behind her eyes, and then forced herself to pay attention. She'd really made a dog's breakfast of things today. How could she fix things? Should she fix things? Niamh and Raven were now both tramping through her head...

"Yeah," Towhee said, massively delayed. Between her speech impediment and her slow response, he probably thought she was thick in the head. But what did she care? "How long did it take you to get from there to here, out of curiosity?"

If he thought her to be stupid, he would not say. Although many of Tulimaq's cousins and comrades were thick-skulled creatures too, so he was accustomed to mindlessness and more feral behaviors. It had struck him as odd when he'd arrived to the Wilds that so many wolves used language to communicate (not that he wasn't happy for it); so this woman's delay was acceptable. A bit odd, sure, but so was her speech. Tulimaq wondered if there was something deeply wrong with the swarthy stranger — maybe the grouse was laced with something? That would explain her reluctance to eat it as well as her impediment. It didn't enter Tulimaq's mind that this woman might be deaf.

He got a little bit closer, eyeing the grouse with a little bit more skepticism. She'd offered that to him freely -- maybe she was trying to trick him? Poison him? But that made little sense too, coming from a Redhawk to a Firebird. He looked to her and said, A couple of hours. Its not a difficult hike at all, but can be confusing if you've never made the journey before. There were many dark paths in every forest.

He confirmed the information she'd already acquired at some point, although it soothed something in her to have it corroborated by a perfect stranger. Not for the first time, she reminded herself that X could probably make the trip in half the time it took a wolf, if that. If only she could howl back and forth, that would've made things even easier. Towhee felt queerly bereft for a split second, then quashed it. She was going to put effort into looking at the bright side, if it fucking killed her. Because the other option—hating everything about it—was slowly killing her already.

"I don't travel much. Bum leg," Towhee said idly. "What's it like there? Take it," she repeated, motioning to the grouse when she noticed him looking at the dead bird again. A thought struck her and Towhee felt the words gush out of her mouth before she could put a single thought into them. "If you don't want it, take it back to the copse and knock a wolf by the name of Niamh upside the head with it. Tell her it's from me." Oh, but he didn't know her name. "Towhee."

Tulimaq liked to think of himself as a pretty decent guy, and when it seemed as if this stranger was struggling a bit with something, he let it slide. He wasn't about to call her out for being slow or dim-witted, as not everyone could be born with all the right genes. She'd survived this far with -- well, whatever it was that plagued her. Hopefully it wasn't contagious. If it was something she contracted via the bird, he didn't want anything to do with the grouse; except, then she mentioned having a bum leg and something about giving the bird to a Neef, as a gift. The man squinted a bit at that, unable to hide the flash of concern and skepticism as it rolled across his face.

Firstly, that bum leg — that must've been a lie, because grouse were pretty slick little birds and hunting one down took a little skill. Maybe she was a savant. That would explain a lot.

Mostly Tulimaq was concentrating on the whole.. Gift... Concept. You want me to throw a dead bird at someone? He spoke slowly, enunciating, as if speaking the request aloud might make this woman understand how odd the request was. He frowned, and with a flick of his tongue over his lips he mumbled, I don't think I've met anyone by that name. You keep it.

He seemed bewildered by the instructions, understandably so. Towhee could've taken the out he unwittingly offered her, playing it all off as a joke. She really hadn't thought it through before spouting off. But for whatever reason, Towhee decided to stick to her guns on this.

She didn't notice his mumbling, though she did address the bit she had processed. "Okay, well, you don't have to actually throw it at her. You can just drop it at her feet or whatever. And... and..." She felt her fur heating up again, though this wasn't like before. This wasn't anger, this was shame. "And..." Towhee sighed and pulled herself up by her britches (speaking metaphorically). "Tell her I said I'm sorry. Could you do that for me, um...?" What was his name?

She seemed to realize how silly her request was, and recanted hastily. This also made Tulimaq reconsider his position about her mental state; maybe she was dosed with something and it was wearing off, or maybe he'd made assumptions that painted her in a different light than the truth. Assuming she was trying to make a situation right (whatever that situation was), it seemed like he'd have a role to play in that. Plus, with the packs being so close already, he really couldn't say no to a request that might improve pack relations.

He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, but then, finally agreed.

Alright, I'll take it with me, he started, but then — And, she interjected, Tell her I said I'm sorry. Could you do that for me, um... ? Blink, blink, oh. Uh. Tulimaq. He drifted closer, and this time made to reach with his teeth for the bird beside her. He clasped it carefully and pulled it away from her, and stepped back. The bird's plump body hung from his jaws.

She breathed a great sigh of relief when he stepped forward and took the bird. That effectively ended the conversation (his side of it, anyway), which was just fine. Towhee was glad for this chance encounter and for the opportunity to begin reparations so quickly. But she thought she could still use some time alone to really sort out her head and her heart.

"Thanks, man," she said in parting. She almost asked Tulimaq to tell Niamh that she would visit sometime. But it seemed a little soon for that. What if Niamh needed time too? No, she wouldn't mention that now or even make plans. She'd think about it though. And if and when she decided to make a field trip of it, she would send X ahead first to see if Niamh even wanted anything to do with her anymore.

The conversation was concluded, not that he could've said much more with a bird grasped in his teeth. So he turned and departed, leaving the odd woman to her thoughts while he plotted a course back towards the Firebird claim. The first thing he'd need to do was find this... Neef person, whoever they were. Maybe Wildfire knew them. Or he could ask around for a bit. Still, he wasn't keen on holding on to this bird for long — what if it was infected with something? Yeesh. The things one did for diplomacy.