Hushed Willows and you've been doing what, exactly?

Though she knew it had occured over a period of time, Banner finally noticed the days getting a bit shorter.  The sun didn't say out as long as it used to, but she was rather happy about that.  Summertime's uncertainty made the hot days seem even more miserable in her eyes.  But the season was just starting to show signs of change and with it the Marauders had built up their ranks.  Soon she'd be able to cuddle up with her packmates (well, there was only one particular packmate she wanted to cuddle with!) in The Crook and enjoy long walks on cool nights.  The Beta drew in a deep breath and exhaled it loudly.  No, that just wasn't as satisfying as taking in the crisp air of a true fall day.

Ah, well.  She'd taken to strolling along the borders of the Keep (again) to ensure she knew the goings-on of the pack (again).  Nothing of note had changed.  New wolves came in, no one had left them.  The short female paused.  No one else had left them.  Mordecai and the majority of his family were still missing in action and Octavia was.. er, whereever the hell she'd gotten off to.  Banner frowned and kept moving forward.  It had come to the point where days passed at a time and were she hadn't spared the former Alpha female a second thought.  Stark still missed her, that she knew, but he had other priorities now.  Like Octavia's son.  What a situation to be in.

Her bright green eyes rolled sharply upward as a bat streaked overhead.  The sky had darkened considerably since she'd first set out on her nightly patrol - apparently it was just dark enough for those screeching sky rodents to appear.  Another bat darted by and she grumpily snapped at it.  Banner had no chance of catching the thing, but maybe a flash of teeth would send a message.

Feeling restless, Tambourine trotted out of The Crook into the cool night air. If anyone called after him, he shouted, "Be right back! I just gotta pee!" over his shoulder. It was a fib, though he meant no harm by it and didn't intend to get in any trouble. He just needed to stretch his legs a little bit, get some fresh air, before he attempted to go to sleep.

He did not expect to run into anyone, though when he saw Banner in the distance, he galloped over to her. "Hi, Ba—what're you doing?" the pup asked, having walked up right when she snapped at the bat. He gazed upward but the boy didn't see anything. Why was the Beta trying to bite the sky?

OH BB TAMBO <3

She was far enough from The Crook to not have heard Tambourine's hasty exit, which was why his sudden appearance near her startled the Beta.  The short chocolate female jumped a bit at the sound of his voice and it took a couple of seconds for his words to even register.  Hey kid, she greeted with a relieved sigh.  Banner never felt unsafe when she was among the willow trees of her home, but something about nighttime wanderings always made her a little edgy.

Another squeal cut through the mild night air and she cast a moody look upward.  Bats are getting awfuly uppity tonight, she grumbled in an annoyed voice.  She knew they'd probably just swooped down closer to her to snatch up mosquitoes or whatever the hell it was they ate, but that didn't mean she had to like it.  Her attention snapped back to the growing boy, head tilting to the side before she asked, What are you doing out so late?  Her question wasn't an angry or agitated one, simply curious.  He must have slipped right out from under Stark's paw.

:D <3

A high-pitched squeal answered Banner's question before she could. Tambourine's eyes grew wide as he stared at the shadows flicking past overhead. They were bats, according to Banner. He didn't know what "uppity" meant but he sensed that she didn't like them much. He wondered why even as he watched their shadows skitter through the faded gloom.

His eyes bounced down to Banner's face when she questioned him. "Just takin' a walk 'til I get tired," he answered honestly. "What're you doin' out so late?" he echoed, grinning a little cheekily at her. "Just yellin' at bats?" he added brightly, wondering if he could join in the fun, even if he still didn't understand why she was so angry with them.

Ah, of course.  Taking a nighttime stroll before bed was something Banner did frequently.  When Tambourine asked her a cheeky question the short female snorted.  She probably looked a little nuts snapping and grumbling about bats, so she'd give him that one.  Not just yelling at bats, she replied with a grin.  I was doing a little bit of border patrol.  Frowning, she looked back in the direction she'd been heading.  Nothing aside from the low-flying bats had been amiss this evening.

I got to thinking and I guess time got away from me, she finished with a shrug.  Tam didn't need to know that she'd been thinking about his mother's disappearance.  He especially didn't need to know that Buchanan had been on her mind.  Though, she mused, it was probably obvious to everyone that there was something going on between them.  Have you ever patrolled the borders before? she asked suddenly.  You can join me if you'd like.  I'm afraid it isn't very.. interesting.. but that's actually a good thing.

He was familiar with border patrols, in theory if not in practice, being the (foster) son of leadership. Although they sounded kind of boring—Banner herself said as much—and Tambourine had already explored every inch of the Keep what felt like a hundred times in his search for his mother, the pup was pleased as punch to be invited along. In response, his eyes brightened, his ears both perked and his tongue lolled from his gray muzzle in a grin as he nodded enthusiastically.

"We're checkin' for trespassers, right?" he chirped as he fell into step with the Beta. "Are the bats trespassin'?" he wondered, glancing up as a few more of them skittered past overhead.

To her surprise, Tambourine took her up on the offer of a patrol.  Banner shrugged and continued on with her usual evening stroll.  Company was nice on a night when she had far too many things on her mind.  Right, she answered.  Trespassers and anything that.. well, doesn't look right.  Not the best instruction, but at least it'd be a starting point for him.

The short Beta chuckled when he gave the bats overhead a suspicious glance.  No, they aren't trespassing.  Just.. annoying, she admitted with an overly dramatic sigh for effect.  I think bats eat mosquitoes or something, so they aren't so bad.  As if on cue, another sky rat screeched and swooped down much to close to Banners head.  With a low growl she snapped at it even though she again knew she didn't stand a chance to catching the thing.  .. except whent they do that.

When one of the bats decided to swoop down low with a squeal, Tambourine also reacted instinctively. He leaped without thinking, teeth gnashing, and ended up bumping roughly into Banner. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as he bounced off her shoulder and tumbled backward, shooting her an apologetic grin and wave of his tail.

Something about the contact—about his gawky, long-legged body colliding with and brushing against Banner's petite, slim frame—caused something to swoop in his belly. It made him think of how he felt when in the throes of passion with his beloved hump stump. For a moment, he thought of bringing her by there and sharing its wonders with the Beta.

Instead, Tambourine cherry-picked some of the things Rhodes had told him about wooing (mostly because much of it had gone in one ear and out the other) and he presented Banner with his best side: his right, the one with the upright ear. He then glanced sideways at her and wiggled his eyebrows, because it felt right and for no other reason.

"Am I wooin' you?" he asked after a beat. Abruptly, he remembered what Natasha had told him. He chose to ignore her warning and added, "Y'know? Fuckin'?" in the hopes of impressing her with his broad adult vocabulary.

TAMBO <3

A very undignified squawk was pulled from Banner's mouth when Tambourine ran into her.  She huffed after he righted himself (with a friendly smile to the kid, of course) and kept her previous pace.  That's okay, she hummed.  Her bright green eyes scanned the area as they walked on, though she was pleased that nothing nefarious jumped out at them in the dark.

The feeling of being watched was a strange - sort of prickly.  Banner caught Tambourine looking at her out of the corner of her eye and turned her attention to him.  Her eyes narrowed a bit as she took in their weird expression he wore.  Was there something wrong with his eyebrows or was he doing that on purpose?  Growing concerned, the Beta slowed her pace a bit and was about to ask the kid what his deal was.  But he spoke first.

The short female stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening to dinner plates.  Uh..  Banner coughed.  What the hell was she supposed to say to that?!  I think..  Her tongue seemed to grow too heavy for words - or maybe that was an alarming sense of panic swelling in her brain.  She drew in a breath.  I should hope not, she finally replied as evenly as she could.  I think Buchanan might have something to say about that.

The question seemed to perplex Banner. Tambourine watched her face carefully, his own eyes sweet and full of hope, his tail wagging slowly to and fro. It slowed, then stopped, when she rejected him. His heart did a funny thing in his chest, then sank. He wasn't sure what to say. In fact, his mouth dropped open, only to clap shut an instant later when she randomly mentioned Buchanan.

He didn't understand the apparent non sequitur. "Buchanan?" he repeated dumbly, his curiosity suddenly spiking, eclipsing his earlier dejection. Tambourine's head cocked to the left, ear flopping forward. "What would he say?" he wondered, taking the statement quite literally.

Oh lord.  Banner struggled to keep a neutral air about her.  That face!  Guilt gnawed at her even though she hadn't done anything wrong.  Tambourine looked so dejected with his mouth open like that.  Where was.. Stark.  Stark!  She looked back in the direction of The Crook where her packmates were likely all settling down for the night and wondered if screaming her brother's name and running off into the night was an actual option for her.

No.  That wasn't.. no.  The short female looked to her young companion again and gave him a half smile.  Tambourine didn't deserve a ridiculous scene from her just because she didn't know how to adult.  I'm not sure, actually, she mused.  The large mahogany male would probably be as dumbstruck as she.  Damn!  I don't think he'd like the competition, she said with a shrug.  Though if the kid didn't understand what she'd been trying to say before this probably wasn't a wise way to go about things.

Her uncertainty made Tambourine scrunch up his face. He was so confused. Then she mentioned competition. It took him a couple of seconds to remember what that word meant. Even when he teased out its general meaning, he still didn't get how it applied to the conversation at hand. He had no idea why Buchanan had come up or what he had to with anything.

"I don't get it," he announced after a beat, then shrugged himself. He liked Banner and enjoyed her company but he didn't actually know the first thing about love or attraction, so his disappointment about all of it was very superficial and short-lived. In any case, he supposed the answer to his first question was a solid "nope." And that was okay.

"I don't really know Buchanan," Tambourine revealed as he began walking again, eager to continue their night patrol. "That's a funny name," he added, glancing sideways. "It sounds like butt cannon!" he realized out loud, giggling childishly.

After all was said and done, none of the confusion really phased the kid.  Banner blinked and simply stared at him when he started moving along the borders again, unsure of how to proceed.  When Tambourine made it a few paces ahead, she had to put real effort into moving her legs.  The first few steps were oddly stiff - apparently shock did that to her - but she shook her head and decided to follow his lead.

His giggles helped her to relax further by reminding her that he was just a kid, after all.  That it does, she conceded with a chuckle.  Couldn't argue with the infallible logic of rhyming!  You should talk to him sometime, she suggested, a smirk evident in her tone of voice.  Banner couldn't imagine how Buchanan would handle Tambourine.  Five minutes with the kid was enough to make any newcomer a little nuts.  He's very.. special to me, she added, perhaps pointlessly, before stopping to sniff a particularly pungent scent.  The Beta frowned and scratched at the spot on the ground.  Huh.  This hadn't been here before.  She huffed and snapped her head up, brows furrowed and eyes searching outward from The Keep's borders.

He didn't really understand why Banner would want him to talk to this Buchanan but he nodded nonetheless and offered up an agreeable, "Okay." A moment later, she mentioned that he (Buchanan) was special to her. That explained things a bit better, even it lacked any sort of detail. Without really knowing why, Tambourine grinned a little teasingly at her.

But their conversation came to a halt when they simultaneously noticed a strange scent. Tambourine didn't know what to make of it—he found it more curious than anything—but he took his cues from the Beta. When Banner stiffened and warily scanned the dark wilderness beyond their borders, the boy froze and did the same, his tail sticking out stiffly behind him, the end drooping.

If she weren't so focused on this odd scent, Banner might have felt proud of Tambourine's reaction.  He grew silent and serious in an instant - behavior she hadn't seen from the boy thus far.  She spared a quick glance of approal his way before stepping forward several paces toward where the pack's borders ended.

The short female's posture was stiff and low as she moved.  Cautious as she was, Banner wasn't prepared for the rustling she heard.  Ff--!  Smothering whatever was about to come out of her mouth, she stopped abruptly and exhaled sharply when a fat little raccoon rushed out from below a nearby willow tree and scurried out and away from Marauder's Keep territory.  She glared after it, rooted to the spot while she loudly grumbled: Stupid fat little f.. mask-wearing bastard..  Young ears were still present but she couldn't help letting a curse slip.

A rustling noise drew the boy's attention and without realizing it, the fur along his shoulders and spine stood on end, a bunch of soft silver spikes. His tail drew up over his slim hips and he stared at the nearby tree. He didn't growl or bare his teeth or make any aggressive gestures at all. He just sort of froze, watchful and waiting.

When a raccoon burst out of the tree and scrambled away into the darkness, he jumped and then let loose an unwittingly sharp bark that cracked through the dark air like a gunshot. He might have felt bad but Banner was making noise too, yelling epithets after the little bandit.

It didn't seem like Banner intended to give pursuit, so Tambourine relaxed somewhat and looked at the Beta. "Bastard?" he echoed. His brow furrowed slightly. "I thought it was called a raccoon," he said innocently.

Once again Banner felt pride well up in her chest at Tambourine's reaction to their uninvited guest.  He'd watched and waited, and then when the fat raccoon finally showed itself and scurried away, the boy made noise as she had but did not pursue the creature.  He took his cues from her, followed her example.  Huh.  She'd set an example?  Well, at least he didn't run off screaming and cause an even bigger disturbance.

His question though, that caused her to visibly stiffen.  Damnit!  Er.. it is a raccoon, she began awkwardly.  It's just.. I'll.. tell you when you're older.  Banner finished with a shrug.  Oh, but that didn't get her off the hook!  It just delayed things a bit.  Stark!  Stark will tell you when you're older! she rushed out while plastering and oddly manic smile on her dark maw.  Yes, ask him.  He knows everything!  Okay, so that was pushing it.  Tambourine wasn't an idiot.

The boy goggled at Banner a little bit as she spluttered. When she finished, he replied, "Okay," rather mildly and then peered back in the direction the raccoon had gone again. His pale eyes squinted. "Will it come back? Is it dangerous?" he wondered out loud. Maybe those were stupid questions but Tambourine was shameless in his quest for knowledge. He turned his lamp-like eyes back toward the Beta, who was no more than a barely discernible blackish shadow slightly darker than the surrounding night.

Tambourine wasn't impressed - or maybe he hadn't bought her chipper insistence that Stark knew it all? - and so he moved on.  Good.  That was for the best.  Banner blinked in the direction the raccoon scuttled off.  I don't think so.  If it were daytime he might be sick, but those little b..  things always come out at night, she added thoughtfully.  She'd only seen a raccoon during daylight hours once and that had been many moons ago.  Needless to say, the adults in her old pack ensured that their young kept far, far away.

A yawn overtook her then and Banner capped it off with a bit more noise than she'd indended.  Clearing her throat, she looked back to the young Tambourine.  I'm getting a little tired - I think I'll head back to the Crook, she said sleepily.  Are you going to keep on patrolling or would you like to accompany me back? she asked, happy to give him a choice that he may not have been presented with before.

Tambourine filed that little nugget of wisdom in the sloppy filing cabinet in some messy closet in the back of his scatterbrain: raccoons (also known as bastards) come out at night. He nodded, then yawned himself when Banner did, his jaws parting expansively and revealing rows of sharp, white teeth, a rolling pink tongue and even a glimpse of the boy's uvula (do wolves have those?).

It surprised him that Banner would even think of letting him wander the borders alone. But he just shook his head. "I'm sleepy too," he said. "Can we patrol together again though?" Tambourine questioned eagerly despite his proclaimed sleepiness, yawning a bit less enthusiastically as he fell into step beside Banner and pointed his toes back in the direction of The Crook.

Thanks for the thread! :D

<3

Ah, so he chose to escort her home.  Banner was happy about that, mostly because she didn't want to explain to Stark why she'd allowed his young charge to patrol the borders by himself at this ungodly hour.  Tambourine could take care of himself.  Sort of.  What was there to protect against here in the Keep, anyway?  The adults did a pretty damn good job of keeping an eye on things!

Of course, she replied easily.  We could always use another set of eyes at the borders.  Banner sped her pace up a little so she didn't lag behind he growing kid as they made their way back to the rest of the pack and (hopefully) a good night's sleep.