Redhawk Caldera hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say

Alyx's jaw cracked audibly at the tail end of a wide yawn. She unwittingly let it go with a contented sigh, then squinted against the early morning sun rising over the Caldera. It was tempting to just walk right on in, but she resisted the urge to use her Redhawk card for special treatment. She suspected her family would never attack her or treat her like a trespasser, but while she could be entitled, Alyx wasn't entirely without manners.

She didn't have much good news to share, so she dawdled by the borders for a little while, debating whether it was even worth sharing any of it. She knew her dad was staying at Yuelong with the hope that Niamh would return there, and she had found no trace of her mother in her travels, but what else really did she have to report? She didn't even have news about her twin. In hindsight, maybe she should have gone to visit Q. Surely her family knew about Phox already. Her dad wasn't the type to not send word.

She eventually lifted her muzzle and howled anyway. Towma wouldn't hear it, of course, but maybe Fennec was still around to pass on the message, or maybe Bronco or Meerkat was visiting. The thought of her sister no longer made her stomach churn with jealousy, although she felt a little flip-flop of uncertainty anyway.

I owe so many replies ;.; but really wanted to snag this one <3

This wasn't the first time Fennec had been left behind, but it was definitely the worst. The longer he was gone, the less she could rationalize the time that went by. And the angrier she let herself get, the less she had to feel the fear that actually settled beneath it. It was so much easier to wrap that rage around her.

So she didn't talk about it.

She recognized her sister's call and went pretty immediately towards it, leaving Killdeer to play with Caracal. The two got along famously and tended not to get into (too much) trouble. She didn't approach as aggressively as she would have a stranger, but despite her relaxed pose, she couldn't really summon true enthusiasm. Was that anything new, for her?

Hey. I figured you'd be mostly fish by now. You back to visit? She smiled, tilting her head and listening for a response. She could go find Towhee if need be, but she wanted to find out what was up first.

Alyx mustered up a broad grin when she spotted the sandy form of her sister inbound, but it slid gracelessly from her face at the drained look on Fennec’s. She hastily put it back on when the Regent smiled, though, despite knowing full well her sister could see neither the smile nor the prior slip. Habits. Maybe it was nothing to worry about.

I was invited to join a mermaid colony, Alyx joked, but I had to decline. They wanted me to be half sardine. Sardine! Taking Fennec’s relaxed posture as a sign that she had nothing to worry about, the dark yearling stepped forward to butt her head affectionately against her sister’s shoulder. She hoped the sudden touch wouldn’t startle Fennec. Her sister made being blind seem easy, but Alyx could only imagine how difficult it really was.

Actually, I haven’t been there in a while, she admitted. There were a lot of new scents entwined in Fennec's fur, young ones especially. Towhee's pups, she guessed. D’you wanna walk and talk? I have a bit of news to share. It's about mom and dad, actually.

Fennec wasn't expecting the affection, but it made her happy to receive it. Hanging out with Alyx was, for some reason, already easier. Maybe it was that she hadn't been around for everything that was happening lately, maybe it was that she joked back so casually. She returned it with a wave of her tail, and her smile grew just a twitch more genuine.

But it disappeared completely when she crushed that hope. Not in a way that was her fault, obviously, but Fennec would have loved to talk about anything else. We heard. Some of it, at least. She was sympathetic but also wasn't entirely comfortable with conversations that went a feelings route... and this one definitely threatened that. Dad stopped in, but he left again. She did begin to walk, though, hoping the invitation to join was clear. As far as she went, her sister was welcome here anytime.

Oh? She was genuinely surprised to hear that Phox had stopped by. What if Niamh returned to Yuelong in his absence? Then Alyx remembered that there was a whole pack living there, not just her dad. Surely they would have said something to Niamh if that happened. Phox wasn't here anymore, though, so that definitely meant he hadn't found her mother yet.

I left Sapphique to go looking for her to the north. I went a long way up the coast, then around some mountains and back down. No sign of her. Alyx's defeated look had more to do with having no good news than not finding her mother. She still had mixed feelings about Niamh, though if she knew the truth, no doubt she would quickly learn just how much her mom still meant to her. Like Fennec, though, she didn't relish talking about it much.

So what's new here? she wondered, leaning a little more to the chipper side, unaware as she was of all that had transpired, and little of it good.

This was the part where Fennec should tell Alyx the news Phox had brought. She should have let her sister know that Niamh was dead, that her siblings were somewhere else.... but she couldn't. Unbeknownst to her, Towhee would do the job later, but Fennec decided to count on that fact anyway. She just didn't have the emotional space right now to take on another wolf's problems. Her card was full.

Nothing too much, things have been pretty boring. Fennec replied with a small shrug. That was pretty much a lie, but if she ignored all of the shit she didn't want to bring up, it was true. We have a few new brothers and sisters, and... oh, shit. Right, you haven't been back. I have a kid now too, his name is Killdeer.

As usual, she couldn't help but smile when she said his name. God, her kid was awesome. She loved him to fucking death.

I guess no news is good news, said Alyx, smiling a little more genuinely. She was glad to hear nothing of note was happening at Redhawk Caldera. It meant her family here was spared the brunt of the turmoil that her father was going through, though Alyx would be naive to assume it didn't affect them at all.

Towhee's? she assumed when Fennec mentioned brothers and sisters. Obviously. Niamh was still missing, and that meant Alyx's full siblings were, too. She wondered how Quetzal was getting on, if her twin had ever come back to visit, but was stopped from asking by Fennec's newest news.

Shut. Up! Alyx exclaimed, ribbing her sister suggestively. You, with a kid? That's crazy talk! For some reason, she'd always thought of Fennec as the spinster sort. She would make a good mom, though, if tough. Better than mine, though, thought Alyx with a guilty pang. Who's his lucky dad? Penn?!

Yeah. Fennec pushed aside her guilt on that. Towhee or someone else could spill the news, Fennec would be shit at delivering it and even more shit at fielding the response. They were both way better off if she played it dumb.

Let her get the good news first. Except her question wasn't exactly good either, because, shit. She didn't want to talk about that either, but it was better than talking about Niamh. Or was it?

Everything really did suck lately, didn't it.

Shit no, ew. Fennec snorted with a laugh. Penn? Fuck, imagine him as a dad? Though funny she'd say ew to that when she had no clue how Alyx would react to the actual dad. Still, she didn't hesitate. It's actually Bronco.

She wasn't embarrassed to share the news, though it was still a little weird that she saw Alyx as a sister and Bronco as a friend. He's not around right now, though. She added, trying to casually head off any questions she might ask after. Better to make her think he was just gone for the day, or hunting, or some shit like that. They had enough going on.