Lake Rodney your fathers been calling

maybe @Raven?!

He ran, ran, ran, not sure of which direction but it damn well didn't matter - the sound of his sister's voice screaming behind him  (Deserter!) just kept playing over and over. Titmouse ran until he felt like he would collapse. The world was spinning. He careened from the forest and shot straight for the lake, not knowing it was there simply because his eyes were squeezed shut. When his paws hit wet stone he slipped, tumbled, and was suddenly face flat on the shore of Lake Rodney, gasping for air.

Winter was approaching quickly. The landscape was draped in all the beautiful shades of autumn and the sun shone warm and comforting in the afternoons, but there was an unmistakable bite in the wind that foretold snow in their very near future. It had already draped the mountaintops and highlands in blankets of white, and each time a storm rolled through, the snowline crept further down the hillsides.

Raven visited Lake Rodney today, for no other reason than to simply get away from the caldera for a time. The wind swept and rolled across the lake's vast expanse, stirring its surface with ripples and whitecaps. She closed her eyes and basked in the serenity of the moment...

...and heard the audible smack of someone totally busting their ass on the rocks nearby. She jumped, startled, and peered around. She saw the form of a wolf lying on the shore not far from where she stood, clearly distressed and breathing hard, and she immediately ran to check on him. It wasn't until she was nearly on top of him that she noticed the tell-tale strip of red on his sides and understood who this was. "Holy shit," she breathed. She hadn't seen Titmouse in...how long had it even been? She had no idea. He'd been the most difficult brat to deal with but she'd actually missed the little terror when he'd left. "Titmouse? What the...are you okay?"

It wasn't that he didn't believe her. He knew who he was - who his family was too - but to have it thrust in to his face like that was too hard to handle. It hurt more than the pile of rocks which had somehow become his latest pillow. It hurt because of all the guilt he felt. But Titmouse knew he wasn't at fault - he had gotten lost. He had made a new family. To go backwards now was impossible, and yet the chance was there. Was he ready for it? To revert back to being the scared, tiny, useless blob of a child? Not in the slightest.

For now he focused on catching his breath. He gulped air through the pressure of the panic, panting hard, and tried to wait out the worst of it. It wasn't long before a voice cut through the fog of his meltdown - a familiar voice, unmistakable. Tit reared his head up, pulled his shoulders back, and seemed to lift up like a startled horse being pulled by a sharp bit.

He saw Raven. For a split second he thought it was Towhee having followed him, and was flustered with emotion. But he saw her, recognized her, and croaked: "M..mom..?"

He was very dazed, and for a moment Raven was worried that he might have hit his head a little too hard. But he seemed to rally once he heard her voice, and she was glad to see him get up and focus his eyes on her. The words that came out of his mouth, though, took her by surprise. She had never been called "mom" before. Thinking back, she didn't think any of her siblings had ever called her that, despite the fact that she had occupied that role in their world. And she was okay with it, because she wasn't their mom. Sure, she felt those maternal instincts occasionally -- they complimented her work as a healer quite well -- but no melon heads had passed through this vajayjay, thank you very much.

"Hey, Screech," she said, her voice soft and the smile on her face very warm. She let the "mom" thing go uncorrected for now; it wasn't important. "That was a crazy fall. I'm surprised your face isn't flat. Holy crap, you're back!" If she were human, she would have grabbed him in a hug just then. Buuuut she wasn't, so she did the next best thing: stepped forward and licked him all over his face, clearing away sand and mud with her kisses. He would probably be like OMG STAHP but she hadn't realized how much she'd missed him until now.

Okay, maybe she was sort of a mom after all.

The boy glossed over the fact he had answered to his real name. His head was still ringing from the face-plant, and his entire system was overwhelmed with a mixture of anxiety and adrenaline. The more she talked though, the more at-ease he felt. She was a great comfort to him - the sight of her, the smell, making Titmouse feel more and more like he was home. Even though Raven had not birthed his round of firebirds herself, she was the closest thing to a mother figure - and he would likely never forget it.

Before he could react any further, she was assaulting his face with her tongue. It was a warm and nurturing action, but he was easily overwhelmed by this too; the boy sputtered and tried to free his face from her attention (to no avail), until she was finally finished, and Tit's face was a mess of smoothed, saliva-covered fur.

I'm not back! He sort of bellowed at the earliest convenience, when she was still quite close to his face. Realizing how that sounded a moment later, his ears fanned out to either side of his head (hooray more embarrassment!) and he frowned, trying to hide how flustered he was behind a weak wall of stoicism he had yet to master. I just -- I ran in to Towhee, she screamed at me, and -- I couldn't -- I needed -- The more he tried to explain, the more he thought about the previous events, the harder it became for him to breathe, until Tit was once again hyperventilating and dropping low to the ground.

He is so cute <3 I just adore him!

Titmouse had always been sort of a high-strung ball of energy, and it seemed this had only intensified with age. He started getting himself really stressed out and within seconds, he was freaking out and hyperventilating on the ground. Raven immediately crouched down with him, talking to him in a calm, soothing tone. "Hey...hey...calm down, baby. Calm down. It's okay. It's just me. Look at me -- breathe. Yes, that's right, breathe." It wasn't the first time she'd had to talk someone down from an anxiety meltdown, so she knew how to do it in a way that would help him focus on her and collect himself. He had mentioned Towhee and honestly, if he'd run into her then it was no wonder he was a bundle of burnt-up, shorted-out nerves. Towhee was a force to be reckoned with and she drew a hard, uncompromising line when it came to those she tolerated and those she had no use for. Raven couldn't really picture Towhee being aggressive toward her own brother, but as far as personalities and views went, she and her younger sister were polar opposites so the medic would never be able to fully understand the way her mind worked.

She had questions, for sure, but right now, she needed to let him calm himself and get his head together before she came at him with questions. And so she stayed there, talking softly to him, while on the inside she was doing cartwheels of delight at seeing him again and hoping that Towhee hadn't totally ruined any possibility of him sticking around.

It took time for him to concentrate (and to be fair, Titmouse was probably too ADD to concentrate for real, or for long). Raven's voice was soothing for its presence rather than what she actually said, and the boy wasn't really hearing any of the words. It was hard enough to hear anything beyond his pounding heart or the constricting feeling that had risen up to dominate every inch of his body.

But it worked. Gradually.
Slowly.

And when Titmouse was breathing at a better rate, relaxed beside Raven, he breathed deeply with a sigh and said, She hates me, Gulp. She -- she called me a deserter. It wasn't true! He hadn't meant to leave. Why did it matter anyway? He was alive, he was here, shouldn't everyone be happy? Maybe it was because he denied their relation - but it had taken him by surprise! The boy shook his head frantically and buried his snout in to Raven, whining softly.

It was as she suspected: Towhee had terrorized the poor boy. In all fairness, she wasn't exactly wrong -- he had left them. Raven had been furious with herself and inconsolably heartbroken when he'd taken off way back when, fearing him dead until she'd later discovered his scent mixed with the scents of others (namely Liffey) frequenting the lands outside the Caldera. Towhee's judgement of him as a deserter was not at all unwarranted. But her way of handling things and Tit's ability to take criticism could not have been more incompatible. Raven couldn't bring herself to disagree with Towhee, but all the same, she still felt for Tit. The kid was a mess.

He buried his face in her fur, and she stroked his neck and shoulders with her tongue in a gesture meant both to clean and to comfort. She wasn't really sure how to approach this one. "Towhee can be really intense," she said after a moment of thought. "She's been through a lot and it's made her really hard. You did leave us, but I could never be mad at you. What've you been up?" She was careful to keep accusation out of her voice; she knew that if she put him on the defensive, he would just shut down again.

Tit shook his head while he listened, which might've felt like he was burrowing but really he was refusing to see things from Towhee's perspective - being through a lot was no excuse. Then again, his reaction hadn't been the best either. But he was stubborn, and would not budge in his thinking. She was wrong. That was what Titmouse would accept from the interaction.

When Raven queried him for answers, she did it carefully - like he was ready to break, maybe - but Tit wasn't astute enough to notice. He was more than happy to talk about his exploits. Without further prompting he began with, I found Liffey. She was with a guy named Rannoch, and a bunch'a kids.. We lived together a bit, as he explained, he seemed calmer than normal. A bit zoned-out while he thought about things and recalled aloud. And then there was a bear. I... I.. pissed myself and nearly died he could've said - but didn't. I fought it, with Rannoch an' his brothers, and Liffey, and we escaped it.

He'd let that sink in a bit before going further, and pulled free of Raven's dark fur to get a glance at her, eager for a reaction.

Sorry for the delay! College sux.

Raven felt a brief flash of annoyance as the boy shook his head stubbornly in the depths of her fur, refusing to accept her words as truth. When he mentioned Liffey, she felt another flutter of irritation. She remembered how distressed Finley and Elwood had been when their daughter had decided to take off on her own. She wondered what had ever happened to the concept of pack loyalty, or -- specifically thinking of Liffey and Eljay -- if that had ever even been a concept to the Blackthorn kids.

She arched her brow at his bear story, unsure if she believed it or not. She decided not to pursue it. Instead, she kept the ball firmly in his court, asking simply, "So what are you going to do now?"

This was the most adult conversation he had ever had. Raven did not talk down to him, did not cater to him in the ways of the older kids as he was accustomed, and Tit was feeling more and more content while resting with her.

That said, her question stumped him. He was quiet, almost like he was actually thinking  (golly!), and finally surmised: "I don't know what to do. What do you... what do you think? I could stay," he wanted to stay if he was honest but, "I don't think anyone wants me here."

But he was clearly focused on the encounter with Towhee. If she was so adamant about it, what would the rest of his family think?

Raven wasn't much of a grudge-holder, and anger, resentment, and aggravation were like sand in her emotional fingers: they slipped away nearly as quickly as they came. Her tense feelings of a moment earlier drifted away as he answered her question, following a surprisingly lengthy moment of thought. The poor boy was lost and confused, and it was clear he was in need of some guidance. She just wasn't sure how to go about it. Titmouse was a fickle and unpredictable wolf, and when given advice, was just as likely to follow it as he was to do exactly the opposite.

His comment that he didn't think anyone wanted him here pained her, and with a quiet sigh she gently touched the top of his head with her muzzle. "I do," she commented softly. "I would love it if you would stay."

In the child's mind, nobody had ever wanted him. He couldn't remember much about the caldera anyways - just the occasional little thing, such as running through the forest, or finding Liffey in the meadow. Living within the Vale was the only thing Titmouse could recall, and he hadn't been close with anyone there. He had been a burden. So to have Raven eager to justify his presence, to accept him and welcome him, all seemed surreal. Tit didn't know what to say when the words had faded from the air. But he did find comfort in her presence. He did burrow against her again, feeling the sensation of his eager heart race.

Then, breaking the silence with his rough little voice he said, Okay.

Want to wrap this up? :) Hit me up if you decide you want to do that drama craziness we talked about...HEH HEH HEH! ;)

She smiled, her heart so full of love and joy at his answer that she felt it might burst. Titmouse, while undoubtedly one of her more annoying brats, was still a Redhawk and her brother. She loved him regardless and was thrilled that he would be coming home. She never liked to see any of her family leave the pack, but with Titmouse it had worse because he'd been so young. A comfortable silence enveloped them as he snuggled into her fur, and she let it stay like that for a short while before she said softly, "It's getting late. Let's get back to the caldera. You can stay with me if you want." She didn't sleep anywhere specific from one night to the next, but she would be glad to let him stay with her if it would make him feel safer and more comfortable -- particularly with Towhee around.