Sun Mote Copse Hades gonna hate.

With @Phox and company gearing up to visit Frosthawks in the next day or two and @Niamh and @Eljay dispatched to survey Redhawk Caldera, that left Towhee to hold down the fort for a spell. She took the task seriously, especially with their numbers temporarily dwindled, and spent most of the time roving the borders. She kept her eyes peeled for any sign of @Hydra, willing her sister-in-arms to appear; there was much she wanted to discuss with her closest ally.

But her patrols remained both boring and solitary. Towhee huffed as she plodded along, itching for something to happen. Over the past few days, she'd come to lean strongly toward relocating. She wanted to get underway now, to give themselves the best chances to establish their new/old domain before winter claimed the wilderness for its own. Patience wasn't really one of her strong suits, though she reminded herself there were steps in this process that needed to be followed.

Come at me, @Reyes?

Fresh from one of his own patrols — during which Reyes had been fortunate enough to scare up a few grouse — the new recruit came bounding through the trees with one fat bird between his teeth. It swayed bulbously, a singular bouncing bosom of meat. He had half a mind to tuck in to it himself but knew better, as he had to restock one of the caches to make up for a previous day of binge-eating at breakfast; still, a boy could dream.

As he rounded a bend he spotted the silhouette of the Captain, who was facing away from him. Being somewhat obtuse to Towhee's hearing situation he thought of a fabulous idea: he halted a bit short of her position and with a volley, threw the grouse up and over, so that the bird's corpse would land squarely in front of them. Except he misjudged his aim and it just went up, then down, a few feet ahead of him.

Potentially right on her head.

When something soft and feathery knocked into her shoulder, it threw Towhee back in time. But it didn't feel quite like X's familiar landing and, of course, the hawk was long gone. The Sovereign whirled, mouth opening in surprise, orange eyes dropping to the dead grouse at her feet before snapping upward to land on Reyes's face.

-"Did you just... bean me... with a dead bird?"- the Sovereign demanded.

It didn't land on Towhee's head, thankfully. When the Captain turned around and shot Reyes a look, he could only:

That was when he noticed the signing Towhee was doing. He wouldn't have called it signing so much as spazzing out, and he wasn't sure what he was looking at. That probably played in his confused expression thereafter. He'd known there was something up with the Captain based on the odd cadence of their speech the night of his acceptance, however he hadn't realized there had been movements to go along with it.

Not so smoothly, Reyes watched more than he listened, and when the words actually sank in he snapped his attention to Towhee's face as if this were a real and proper conversation, smirking crookedly. Wasn't my intention, cap'n. Light was in a weird place, sorta screwed with my depth for a second. That's for you if you want it - or I can uh, bury it somewhere. Cue a cheeky little grin.

She bit back a laugh, trying to keep her expression stern, but it didn't last with the face Reyes pulled. She brayed (a rather atrocious sound), then struck out a paw and rested it on the dead grouse. Finders keepers, losers weepers, Towhee thought, though when she looked upward again, he told her it was actually intended for her.

-"Oh, I'll eat it,"- the Sovereign assured. -"Thanks. Aside from lobbing corpses at unsuspecting passerby, what're you up to? Settling in okay?"- Even as the words popped out of her mouth, she realized the irony. -"Don't get too comfy..."- she began to add before stopping and wondering if she should mention the possibility of a move to anyone just yet.

Well, he wasn't in trouble. That was a plus. The last thing Reyes needed was another wolf pissed off and attacking him for no reason.

Nah, my schedule has been pretty full stockin' up on ammunition. He quips back, pleased with himself. His ears twitch when Towhee murmurs an extra tidbit, and he huffs, looking a touch confused again.

His confusion turned in to a frown. The only thing that came to mind was Niamh, which made his nape bristle. To play it safe he didn't mention her, but there was a slight edge to his tone, a walking-on-eggshells quality that would have betrayed his agitation if Towhee had the capacity to identify it: Somethin' going on?

She abruptly realized how ominous that sounded, right about same time Reyes began to prickle defensively. Ope, Towhee thought, quickly shaking her head at his question, only to fall still when she realized she was saying "no" when the answer was actually "yes."

-"Sorry, that came out wrong,"- she said, then laughed because maybe he deserved to be trolled a bit, however unintentionally. -"It's just that we might be relocating. But it's all sort of pending at the moment,"- Towhee revealed. -"I'm waiting on word from Phox after he gets back from visiting Frosthawks. And Niamh and Eljay are currently scoping out our chosen territory: Redhawk Caldera."- She wondered if any of these names meant anything whatsoever to him yet.

He tried to pay attention, really he did, but the flailing and the motions gave him some kind of vertigo, like he was standing by the ocean and being tossed around by the force of the waves, to the detriment of the conversation.

His eyes followed the ptero to some degree (not that he could translate it) and about halfway through the explanation Reyes cut in with: A'ight uh hold up, the fuck are you doin'?

That's your Captain speaking, sir. He knew that; his back straightened and he was swift to say, Sorry, not to be a dick. What's with the flailin'? Is it a nerve thing, d'you have that compulsion disease?

He asked the question quite crassly, though it wasn't entirely unexpected, as she'd taken notice of his fixation on her moving limbs. Most wolves never said anything, inexplicably. Some did ask, usually compelled by confusion or curiosity. She supposed Reyes fell in the former camp, hence the bluntness, though Towhee didn't hold it against him. She appreciated any form of acknowledgement when it came to the sign language.

-"No, I'm not diseased,"- she replied with a scoffing sound and a leer. -"I'm deaf and it's a sign language. I use it most of the time. Habit,"- she explained. -"I can lipread pretty well, hence how we're communicating."- Towhee paused and added a silent but emphatic, -Ya asshat.-

The explanation might've made him feel guilty if he was his younger self, but this version of Reyes had been around all kinds of weirdos, so he merely raised his eyebrows and murmured, Well fuck me... his tone somewhat incredulous. It made sense; it also made sense that he'd miss the whole spastic show at night, hence why he had been oblivious until now. How does a deaf Captain manage a crew? Ah well, they seemed to be doing fine with it.

Right, okay. What were you say... Sign...ing? Somethin' about visits here-there-everywhere? He'd heard it all and was making sense of it even as he asked for a reprisal, sniffling softly as he thought about all the specifics. He knew most of the names by this point and was quite pleased to hear Niamh was among the departed (har har).

So long as we're moving further from the beach I'm down for whatever. You'd be surprised how nasty the seaside can be. Not that we're anywhere near it now, mind... I've spent some time livin' on the beach and lemme tell you, it ain't a picnic. Was that too much? Did he have to slow down his talking pace so Towhee could read.. him..? Reyes wasn't very pleased with having someone's undivided attention on his face, but he'd deal. 

Anything you want me doin' then?

She caught his muttered epithet and snorted. Maybe later... Towhee did not acknowledge it aloud, especially since Reyes had more to say. He asked her to repeat herself, which earned a momentary squint from her. Had she stuttered? Then she remembered the way he'd been looking at her forelimbs as if they were making him dizzy. Maybe he'd been too caught up WTFing to catch everything she'd said.

-"For the moment, just stay put and do patrols,"- Towhee replied, mustering patience. -"My brother, Phox, is taking some of the others to visit our family for a couple days. And I've sent Niamh and Eljay to Redhawk Caldera, which is on the other side of those."- She pointed out the Barrier Mountains looming over the copse's eastern edge. -"It's nowhere near the ocean. It is closer to our allies at Moonspear."- As she said it, she couldn't help but sweep the borders, once more hoping Hydra would magically materialize.

Maybe it would have been easier for him to shut his eyes and listen to the words spoken, rather than try to follow the motions. It made sense once Towhee went through it again, and Reyes nodded, content to stick around and do whatever needed doing.

Aye aye, Cap'n. He intoned with a flash of a smirk, but stowed that pretty quick as Towhee was motioning at the mountain chain that barricaded one side of the claim. Going around those seemed like a tedious adventure. Moonspear? Never heard of 'em. Sounds like you guys — er, we — have a lot'a friends out there though.

It was a far cry different from lonely old Rusalka. When Reyes looked back, he saw that Towhee's attention was lingering on the tree line further afield and he glanced that way, but saw nothing of import. He didn't have anything to report to the Captain at this point and stood there semi-awkwardly, until they looked back at him.

Guess I'll get back t'work then. If you need me for somethin' particular just... Give a scream, aye? With their numbers lowered because of all the departures, he'd have to pull some extra shifts on patrol, which was fine. Kept him busy, which he liked.

But, of course, her sister-in-arms had a pack to oversee, arguably two of them, and she did not yet darken Towhee's doorstep. The Sovereign turned back to Reyes, having missed his comment about Moonspear entirely. She actually missed almost everything he said, save the last several words. Luckily, Towhee was nearly as good at filling in contextual blanks as she was at reading lips.

With no particularly compelling reason to hold him back, Towhee said, -"All righty then. Thanks for the grub,"- and waved him away with a paw, though not before thinking to add, -"And I'll teach you some ptero sometime. Later, Reyes."-

He nodded, smiling toothily, and headed off when dismissed—mouthing the word ptero to himself a few times, as it was very strange, but before long his red-toned figure dwindled among the shadows within the copse.