Sun Mote Copse You hit me once, I hit you back

The journey had taken probably 6 or 7 hours longer than Niamh had anticipated- but she hadn't allowed herself to stop for the sake of simply being tired. With the bog taking on water both from the ground itself bleeding from one saturated area to the next, and from the rain that continued to fall. In places, the long-legged female had nearly gotten stuck in mus that came up past her elbows, but was always able to manage to free herself. It was just mud and water- not quicksand, after all. Suffice to saym when she reached the borders she was covered in mud from stem to stern, and soaked through with rain wherever the mud wasn't. 

She meandered toward the Rendez-vous site, and called out- summoning an audience with @Towhee and @Phox to report her findings. While she waited, she found a fairly clear puddle, and began to try and clean some of the deeply inbedded mud from her pelt, like a bird fluttering in a birdbath.

It was ironic, in a way: they'd left arguably the highest point in Tuktu in part so @Fennec wouldn't fall off a cliff. Now the image of her blind daughter treading so near the floodwaters seared into Towhee's brain and eventually pushed her to make a decision to leave for higher ground. She didn't want to leave the copse, yet the weather was leaving them no choice. And when she went to look at the river one last time today, it really sealed the deal. The entire shore was underwater, all the way up to their little graveyard, the current swirling threateningly.

Just hoping those bones would stay safely underground, Towhee raced to find her brother. She went to the rendezvous site first and practically yelled when she found Niamh there. -"You're back!"- she exclaimed before saying, -"We've gotta go. Please tell me we're clear to go to the mountain."-

She'd managed to get most of the mud free from the underwoolies of one shoulder and leg and had started dipping the other front kimb into the cool, now murky water when she saw Towhee approaching. She stood up quickly, though, dripping water and mud, when she was greeted more enthusiastically than she would've expected- and her ears turned back when Towhee so quickly cut to the chase, in support of moving the pack. She wanted to ask just how bad it'd gotten, in her absence- but decided just to be blunt and get to the point. Obviously, there was some need for urgency. 

-Not quite clear. About as clear as mud,"- She groaned, gesturing toward her mid-section and hind legs that were still caked in mud that'd been settled into the fur for a few days now. -"But if this rain clears up, the kids won't make it through the bog. I got stuck a couple times myself,"- SHe said, obviously unimpressed. -"Sooner we leave, the better. OH- an' not to the mountain. To the glade, at the mountain's base."- She tacked on, hastily.

let me know if this is not okay, just a cameo, y'all can ignore her and me from hereon out ;)

 

While the adults were worried, Q was living her best got damn life. 

Picture this: it is raining nonstop, right? Which it pretty much was. Alright, now, picture this: mud everywhere. Which it also was. That shit was Q's fantasy. In all of her make believe games, there was mud incorporated in it... and though it was not as though it never rained, it never had so much to make her dream world come true. Genre: Horror for the adults was inconceivable to Q. Like, were they not seeing this shit? 

While her mother was gone exploring, Quetzal was nonplussed by it. Towma's days were no doubt filled with stress but also, Q being her obnoxious self. These days she had unquestionably landed upon expert mode. 

TOWMA, LOOK!!!! she would banshee cry, too hype to even sign, before throwing herself on her back and back-stroking (squirming backwards) as best she could. Not even five seconds would pass before Q would pretend she was a damn fish and holler, TOWMA LOOK NOW!! LOOKIT!! before rolling onto her belly and glub-glubbing the way she imagined fish did. The only minute she was not mud-soaked was when she was running from point A to B and the rain was hitting hard enough to clean her. Otherwise, she was Quetzal the MudQueen. 

Quetzal marched around, slamming her paws in the puddles with shrieks of delight. HELL YEAH, BROTHER!!!!! As her chin was hit with a gracious plenty of it, she fell onto her haunches and smeared her face with an extra helping. And then a speck of red in the background—mom was home! 

Reprieve for Towhee for like, one second, as she hollered: MAAA!!!! LOOKIT MA!!! Before she settled on her haunches and launched up and into the earth like a dolphin. It resulted in a tumbersault, but Q was absolutely fine and thrilled, jumping right up on splayed legs hollering: [size=10]DID YOU SEEEEEEEE THAT???? WOOAAAHHH!! WAIT!!! WATCH THIS!!![/size] and not really checking before she entered the world of parkour, rocketlaunching toward the nearest tree and trying to do some sort of kick flip shit off of it... but well, she didn't make it to the tree, because the mud was slippery as hell and she instead discovered the joy of slip-and-slide.

The Roost was beginning to feel like a lake. Phox was fairly certain there wasn't a dry spot anywhere in their entire claim, so when he heard Niamh's howl, he hoped it was good news. He didn't think they should stay here, so hopefully she had found somewhere that they could temporarily relocate. Nobody was going to enjoy the trip (except maybe Q), but it had to be done for the sake of their survival.

He approached and greeted Niamh first, licking her muddy cheek and not caring one bit that he ingested some mud in the process. -The glade, huh? Any reason to believe it might get flooded, too?- He supposed that, if it did, they could always go up to higher ground on the mountain right next door. It would certainly be less of a trek than their current half-baked plan.

Phox half-watched Q's antics, smiling at her but also worried about how Alyx was taking it. She hated the rain, and Phox hated to see her so down in the dumps about it. At least Primrose seemed to take it in stride as well, balancing out his sisters by both not caring too much but not going overboard apeshit like Q was.

Her stomach clenched at the words, "not to the mountain." Even when Niamh immediately elaborated, Towhee's insides still felt tight. She glanced sideways when Phox made an appearance, noticing Q's antics in the background. Watching the youngster play for a moment helped loosen the knot inside her a bit. Yes, their home was soaking wet and they needed to leave it. But they were going to get out of here before there was any real danger or risk to anyone but particularly the young.

Facing her Regents again, she didn't realize she'd missed her brother's question. -"That's where the Frosthawks lived,"- she said, aware that she might be stating the obvious. Her orange eyes swept to catch Phox's gaze. -"Do you think Vasa remembers it? Maybe she can help us sort ourselves out once we get there. And we'll need someone to send word too..."- She didn't quite finish her thought, though her eyes lifted tellingly to Moonspear, obscured by billows of hard rainfall.

-"We shouldn't wait,"- the Sovereign said in the next breath. -"We should head out now. It's only going to get worse,"- Towhee agreed with Niamh's sentiment of sooner than later. But she made no motion to send up a call quite yet, waiting to see what her fellow councilors thought.

She knew she'd get more questions from Towhee- but it was hard to think with one of her children yelling and screaming in the background. She'd had three days to enjoy the silence, and realized now, alarmingly, that she missed it already. She kept her mouth shut, but did give somewhat of a look to Phox as though to say you handle her before her expression went back to business with the questions posed. 

-"She might"- Niamh said to Towhee. -"More shelter in the glade; an' if it floods too, we're right near the mountain too."- She said, in an attempt to answer Phox's question before Towhee pressed on, concluding that they ought to get a move on. From the looks of it, she seemed a bit anxious- more than she had been when Niamh'd left, anyway. -"I dunno if we wanna risk sending a messenger anywhere. Not right now- it's too dangerous. Anyone with a brain'll get to high ground an' stay put."- She said. -"I don't like the thought of it either- but we gotta take care of who we got here, and assume that the Frosthawks and Moonspear-ers will do the same."- She said. It wasn't often that she disagreed with Towhee, but with a tiring journey ahead of them, and three pups to mind during the travel, she didn't want to be short one pair of eyes for the trip, or send someone off on a mission to deliver a message.

Phox shrugged at Niamh's look. -Q gonna Q.- As far as he was concerned, there wasn't a thing in the world that would quiet that wild child. It was a good thing he and Niamh were relatively patient and calm parents, although it looked as though Niamh's journey had put her on edge.

Towhee mentioned Vasa, and Phox nodded. -I've been there several times myself. As for Moonspear, we'll just have to wait it out. I wish there was a way we could let her know from afar, but hopefully we'll be back before the new moon. If not, we can always send somebody to camp out here a few days and let her know when that time does come.-

He was suddenly very thankful that Fennec was with them, at least for now. He would have been worried sick about her. In this kind of weather, it was probably even more difficult for her to use her ears as her main way of getting around.

-Alyx is not going to like it, but maybe if we promise her better conditions there she'll be more amenable to the idea.-

Towhee squinted at Niamh, mostly because of the rain but also because of her words. Her narrowed eyes shifted to Phox, who seemed to be of a similar mind. Her wet ears fell back, surprised at both of them. Didn't they care to let their wayward children know where to find them, so they wouldn't try to visit the copse, only to find it underwater, with no sign of their loved ones? And risk getting washed away themselves in the process?

-"Once we figure this shit out, I'll go to Moonspear myself,"- she said, her demeanor brooking no argument. She liked to consult with them as much as possible but she was still the Alpha, the law. -"Can one of you guys send out a call to get the rest of the pack here so we can all go together?"-

She glanced over at Quetzal again, motioning for the pup to come join them. She would likely think it was a big adventure. And Phox was probably right about Alyx. What would the rest of the pack think? Would anyone argue with the leaders' decision? What the hell would Towhee do if anyone tried to stay behind? What happened if they got separated? A million other thoughts ran through her mind and she clenched her jaw, drops of rain sluicing off every inch of her body as she did her best to prepare herself.

@Eljay @Alyx @Maia @Weejay @Vasa @Chanel @Savaktuk @Arcturus @Wraen

Niamh was impervious to Towhee's glare, which was mostly perceived as a means of squinting through the rain rather than passing judgement. She felt fairly certain that the kids would stay put, and that there really wasn't much of a way for them to reach the Copse presently anyhow- not without going a very long distance, or risking their lives in a river...Which she felt confident Bronco wouldn't allow. She was half-distracted by Quetzal's shrieks and squeals, though, so she turned her head, zeroed her gaze in on the girl (who blended in with her environment very well by now) and in a quiet but seething voice, hissed QUETZAL. Just to get her daughter's attention, and indicate with a brief, flippant gesture with her paw to lower her voice. 

Towhee, at that moment, had declared that she would go to Moonspear herself in a tone and at a volume that made Niamh frown slightly, but in the end, she'd nod, once. Maybe she and Phox could deter her, later, from leaving them, but obviously now was not the time to be arguing that point. Prompted, Niamh, tilted her head back and summoned the rest of their packmates to meet them at the Rendez-vous site, and her tone was both urgent and mandatory; Mandatory meeting for everyone. NOW. Rendez-vous site. NOW.

Eljay frowned at the rain as they kept coming. The water was rising. He loved the Copse, but what could they do? When moving had been suggested before, Eljay had resisted and said that they should stay here -- and Wraen had listened. Now, though... He wanted to stay so badly. The Copse had become what the Caldera had once been. It was to Weejay what the Caldera had been to him. Her home. Their home.

But now the gardens withered under the rising waters and if they could not live here properly, then what did they have left? Was it truly worth clinging onto the homesickness he felt whenever he left the Copse for a short while?

Worry was painted on his face as he nudged @Weejay's shoulder and said, Let's go see what they have to say. There was a certain defeat to his voice; as if he already knew what the answer might be. He showed a small, forced smile and then made his way to the meeting, presumably with Weejay in tow, while he waited for what they would say.

let me know if pp is not ok Lauren <3

Weejay had also watched in growing dismay as the water level climbed; first it swept past her ruined garden, and now it lapped sinisterly at their den’s door.

She kept close to Eljay, nodding as the pair made off towards the howl. The young girl had her own troubles to hold, and arrived behind her father with a dreadful expression worrying the soft lines of her features.

Vasa had only just begun to familiarize herself with the copse—and with every day that passed, she began to recognize that the territory became all the more inhabitable. Precipitation continued to pool, making it harder to navigate the place where she had only just started to call home.

Once summoned, Vasa sloshed through the territory with a sense of urgency. "Hey," she greeted, breathless as she walked up to the group. Vasa had made some wrong turns along the way, but it seemed she had still managed to beat some of her packmates. Standing close to Eljay and Weejay, Vasa waited for the meeting to begin—watching the leaders with noticeable concern.

The whisperhiss was heard only just over the sound of her own parade, as she grew inevitably closer and closer to her favorite three wolves, and when it was heard Q pulled on her sassy pants, gave her mother the same look, and repeated in the same voice: QUETZAL!!!! Nanana booboo, her look said, but then with a giggle she retreated beneath her fathers legs before mama bear could reprimand her. She underestimated the slipperyness of the mud, though, and slid out a bit further than she'd like—she reeled backward, backpedaling with her forelegs as her ears slicked back atop her head, though there was plenty of room for Niamh to rebuke her in the meantime.

Alyx was incredibly slow to arrive, all owing to her very precious tiptoe tactic of getting as little mud and water on herself as possible. The effort was futile, but there was no telling her that. She felt better when she thought she was a little less filthy and sodden as everyone else, even if it wasn't true at all.

She picked her way tediously across the copse and found the driest spot possible, which happened to be a precarious perch atop some nearby surface roots just behind Phox. She watched her sister sliding around in the mud and snatched her ears back, scowling with disdain at this undignified behaviour

Honestly. Quetzal ought to have been born a fat, slovenly boar, the way she boorishly carried on. Shut up! Alyx snapped at her twin when she screeched her own name, the uncharacteristic outburst betraying just how high Alyx's temper was running thanks to all the rain and muck. How could she show the pack how civilized, mature, and ladylike she was when she was covered head to toe in it? Her temper with Quetzal, and even Primrose lately, was misguided, if only because Miss Priss wanted to be seen as grown up and cool, and they were just always so childish!

Soaked; Chanel felt ugly. She was not the type to find anything romantically poetic in rain- it was annoying. Upon being summoned, she pulled herself out from her den, frowning as her paws hit mud and wet earth- disgusting. Still, she was fairly quick to arrive, offering a polite smile to whomever she happened to make eye contact with before settling near the kids with her ears tilted forward.

Figment's worry over the state of the territory and the dangers it held for his siblings, young and old, was constantly on the rise. He held it tightly and resisted the power he knew it had to consume him, but still it persisted like a constant stomach ache. When the call came, he came eagerly, hoping the gathering would hold some sort of announcement of a solution for what was happening to their home.

As was typical for him, he scanned those gathered as he approached for any sign of Fennec. She wasn't there, nor was Penn. He frowned over this as he settled in with his packmates. They were likely together, but he had a feeling the Blackthorn was more likely to convince his sister to shrug off the meeting than to help her attend. It grated, but he knew he needed to learn that Fenn needed to make her own choices, even if he didn't like what they were.

With an inward sigh, he turned his attention to his little sisters and gave them a smile, then looked to Towhee in patient expectation.

The ones who had heard arrived, and now it made even more sense for Towhee to stick around a little longer after they had left. They had to move now if they wanted to make it as easy as possible on themselves. In a different time, Phox would have jumped right in and started letting everybody know what was going on, but Niamh was taking the lead on this one, so he deferred to her.

-I think this is as many as we're going to get right now. Towhee can wrangle up the stragglers once we get these guys and gals on the move.- he said to Niamh.

@Primrose Redhawk had at least joined them, and he stuck close to Phox's side for now, clearly a little nervous about the electric feel in the air.

There were three dozen what ifs swamping her brain but, somehow, she hadn't anticipated that some of their pack mates simply wouldn't turn up at all... and that one of them would be her own daughter. Towhee blinked water out of her eyes and surveyed those gathered, her chest tightening. There was no sign of Penn, either. And though she didn't realize it consciously just yet, they were also missing their newest recruit, Savaktuk.

She was just about to volunteer to stay behind and search for them when Phox signed as much. Her stricken eyes caught his and she nodded. She glanced at Niamh, then made a sweeping motion, urging them to go. -"Be safe,"- she said before stepping over to Fig and saying, -"Will you stay behind and help me look for your sister?"-

Last post for me, I think.

For the most part, their packmates looked bewildered and cautious as they came forth from the wilderness. A few were missing- but she wasn't terribly worried about Penn and Fennec, who she assumed would stick together, and Savaktuk who was a full grown adult. Towhee mentioned acting as a sweeper, and trying to find the few stragglers, and Niamh nodded. To the others, she swung her head up and spoke out loudly over the rain. 

-"We're going to the Golden Glade, temporarily,"- She announced. She didn't leave time for protests or questions. -"The Copse and the surrounding areas are flooding; we'll head out through the bog to the South, spend the night at a halfway point, and then make it to the Glade the next day. It's tough going- so pick a buddy to travel with, and keep sight of each other at all times."- She said. She made a point of seeking eye contact, and therefore acknowledgement, from each of her packmates before she nodded. -"And keep a special eye on these three. Now, let's go,"- She said, gesturing once to the three children, before she began to lead the strand of wolves off through the bog.

samesies!

Fig listened quietly as his leaders spoke. He wasn't too familiar with the place they were going to, but he trusted that it had been thoroughly investigated and deemed a safer place for them than the Copse. He dropped his gaze again to his little siblings, feeling his protective instincts rising as he thought of them traveling out there, in the Wilds. They'd be surrounded by pack, of course. But still. There'd be no borders around them to keep the danger away.

But, borders were made by wolves--the same wolves that would be with them. This thought comforted him and he took a steadying breath, only to turn his attention to Towhee in the next moment as she posed a request to him. He'd almost forgotten. Fennec. She wasn't here. For a moment, he felt torn. If they didn't go with the others, his little siblings would be down two very capable protectors. But, they would have Niamh and Phox. Fennec would have Penn, at best. Penn, who would never bring her home. He'd probably take the opportunity to whisk her away with him.

Fig had to take another slow breath to keep his hackles from rising at this thought. He looked at Towhee and nodded his consent, then moved to bid his family farewell for now. It was time to go hunting.

Double samesies! Pretty sure the posting order is outta whack now, hehe.

Phox corralled the trio together, making the mental preparations for the journey ahead. Nobody was going to have a whole lot of fun, but at least everyone would be safe (hah, right). Figment would be with Towhee, and they'd track down Fennec. -Alright munchkins, let's get a move on.- He cast one final glance to Towhee and Figment who were already on their way out, then off they went toward the glade.

Eljay listened as Niamh laid down the law. He frowned as he thought of leaving the Copse, but at the same time, everything had been so wet here... They needed to do something. Too weak to object, Eljay silently followed when they went, his mind on leaving Wifi behind as they trekked to the glade.

Figment gave his immediate, unspoken assent. Towhee shot him a grateful look before her eyes flicked to the rest of the pack as they formed a caravan and prepared to exit the copse. She remained rooted to the spot as they trailed away into the rainy distance toward the safety of the glade. When they were gone, she turned toward her son, nudged his neck, then pivoted and headed back into the copse to begin the search for Fennec and Savaktuk.