Heron Lake Plateau Red robin

He was afraid to stray too far away from the small den. The run in with the eagle had shaken him something awful. Even so, his desire to explore was great so while the sun was still high he crept away from his mom and brother and out of the den. Just as he did so, a bright red bird landed in front of him, shaking its vivid tailfeathers at him in a way that Tywyll thought was mocking.

"Ima gechu" he murmured and walked toward it. The bird lifted its head and stared at him before chirping and hopping a few feet closer, wagging its feathers and then looking away. Tywyll growled and with a snort he ran forward and jumped at it. The bird took flight and Tywyll ungracefully landed face first into the dirt. He lay there for a moment before sitting up and rubbing at his nose, wiping a smear of mud off his face. He looked angry and embarrassed, giving a quick look around to see if anyone noticed his clumsiness.

As the days passed and the emotions churned up by the confrontation with Colt—right on the heels of the relocation and all that noise—settled, Towhee realized she felt less and less inclined to consider inviting Quixote into leadership. She and the Blackthorns were far from perfect, yet they were doing the thing and didn't need help. Besides, it had occurred to Towhee that the Alpha male should be her mate. She'd never felt so much as a romantic inkling toward anyone (except maybe that Étoille guy, now her sister's baby daddy—not that Towhee knew the first thing about that). She could see herself pairing up with Quixote in a sort of businesslike arrangement... but what if he wanted a proper romance, with her or otherwise?

The Alpha brushed these thoughts aside upon arriving at the Betas' den. She had spoken to her godparents at length about Quixote's eligibility but she knew they'd let her make the ultimate decision and support her either way. But right now was not about business or leadership or anything like that. Towhee was here for one thing and one thing only: she wanted to play with her little brothers.

-Tywyll, are you making an escape?- she asked playfully upon arriving at the den site and finding the little black cub scooting about outside. She hadn't even noticed the robin, though she became very aware of it when X suddenly dropped from the sky, pounced it and just as promptly winged away with the poor birb squeezed tight in his talons.

"Damn it, X," Towhee exclaimed loudly, stepping closer to Tywyll in case the hawk had frightened him.

As he pawed the dirt away from his nose and face looking around, he spotted Towhee approaching. He stood up immediately and gave a sheepish but eager wag of his tail, running to her and covering her with licks and nuzzles. "Noooo" he lied and then snorted, nodding his head. "Yeah. Wanna 'splore" he explained.

Then when X dropped down his excitement was ruined and he gave a scream, dove underneath Towhee and trembled thinking that the bad eagle was coming after him again. "Towee, it's gonna eat me! he shrieked and pressed himself farther back against her back legs.

When the youngster dove beneath her, Towhee assisted him by sweeping his tush with her foreleg, making sure he knew she would protect him. At the same time, she reassured, "That's just X. He'd never hurt you." She knew why Tywyll was afraid, though, having heard about the eagle's attempt to make a meal of him. Her jaw clenched as she glanced sharply upward, resisting a strong impulse to drag X out of the sky and strangle him.

She gave the pup a moment, using her foreleg now to run her paw soothingly down his back, before asking, "Still wanna do some exploring?"

His trembling ceased as she aided in hiding him, heartbeat slowing as he trusted in her ability to protect him. When she reassured him that the bird was alright, he gave her a curious look. She knew the bird? It had a name? That was...awesome! "He's a friend?" he asked curiously, looking up and around to try and spot X, now somewhat intrigued.

As the topic turned back to exploring he grinned and nodded "take me out Towee?" he asked, throwing her the wide eyed puppy dog look of begging. He wanted her to take him somewhere he'd never seen before, a real exploring adventure away from the den. He was sure his mom and dad wouldn't mind him being with Towhee.

Since he was partially underneath her, Towhee missed the question entirely. If she'd heard him, she probably would've replied, "Sometimes." She loved X, of course, and was incredibly happy he'd returned. But why would he pull such a stunt? What if that had been Tywyll's pet robin?

The pup's evaporated and he came out from beneath her, allowing the Alpha to catch his second question. "Sure, buddy," she agreed readily, barking to let @Finley and @Elwood know that Tywyll was with her. -Stay close,- she added in ptero before clarifying, "Do you know what that means?" The pups were still learning both languages, after all.

She missed his first question but he had already forgotten about X. Now he was just eager and excited to explore places he had never seen before. She signed something but he didn't catch it, so when she asked if he had understood he shook his head. He was curious as to why she didn't speak out loud and without the knowledge of what was rude or what wasn't he didn't hesitate to ask "Why dontcha talk?" he spoke in an innocently curious manner. He didn't think she was weird or anything, he actually thought she was awesome.

Her brow furrowed. She had been using ptero around the boys since the day they'd emerged hot and fresh from Finley's womb. Tywyll should be able to understand such a simple phrase. She tried again, signing more slowly. -Stay close.- Out loud, Towhee explained, "I'm signing 'stay close.' You know about ptero," she continued patiently in response to his question. "It's just like talking, just in a different way. I can't hear, remember?" To his credit, he was still pretty young and therefore forgetful.

"This is how I say your name in ptero," she added a beat later, making the sign for, -Tywyll.-

His ears heated in embarrasment as it occurred to him that she had been using it a lot around him and he did often get it. He must have gotten super excited and just not caught the signing. "Musta been too essited" he tried to explain, looking away and shuffling. He couldn't recall being told she was deaf but now he knew, so he would remember. 

When she signed his name he beamed, eyes lighting up as he repeated the sign. "That's cool! I'll stay close, can we splore now?" he asked, bouncing on his paws eagerly. He grew from 0 to a 100 real quick and began to nip and bite at towhee excitedly,  an excited torrid of "Lessgo lessgo lessgo lessgo!" being shouted and squealed.

The Alpha gave a little snort at his self-aware remark, then reached out a paw and lightly patted his shoulder. "It's okay, little buddy," Towhee let him know, orange eyes sticking to his face. Pups' words were not spoken as clearly as adults', so it usually required more concentration and context for her to read their lips. This was exactly why she liked for them to learn ptero, though it was easy enough for her to parse Tywyll's words.

"Sure," she replied when he agreed to her terms and shortly began bouncing around biting at her. "Hey!" she cried playfully, unable to hear the child's shouts but definitely not ignorant to his general demeanor. He was excited to go exploring and Towhee was just as game to show him a little more of their little piece of the wilderness.

"Okay, c'mon," she declared, beginning to stride away from the den.

Of course, careful was not his forte. As soon as they set out he was all over, sticking his nose into everything. He sniffed flowers, sticks, logs, trees, and when he found a particuarly interesting scent he paused. He once sae his dad lift his leg to go potty, he would try it out too! He cautiously circled and sniffed before hesitantly lifting a leg and releasing a stream of urine, wobbling awkwardly. All seemed fine and dandy until he lost focus and teetered, falling over before he wad done peeing. He gasped and rolled to his paws, squatting to finish and then licking at his fur quickly. God that was embarrassing.  He snuck Towhee a quick glance, ears flattened back but then he stuck out his tiny chest and stomped ahead of her, pretending nothing happened.

They didn't get very far before something or other distracted the pup. Towhee stood by patiently, intermittently observing the boy's explorations and scanning their surroundings for any signs of a threat. Because of one such wary sweep, she missed most of his accident. By the time her orange gaze made its way back to him, he'd already resumed his feet and marched onward. She glided along after him, perfectly content to be his over-sized shadow.

Tywyll slowed his walk so that he fell behind Towhee, studying the way she held herself and the way she walked. He attempted to match the relaxed yet confident way she held herself, ears perked forward with concentration. He had no idea what ranks were or that dominancy came with it but he did know Towhee was important and he himself looked up to her. A question popped into his mind so he ran ahead and turned around to her "Are you our leader?" he asked curiously. She seemed to be the leader type, she had fought with the other strange wolves upon their arrival and she even had a kickass bird sidekick...what else could she be but their leader?

His moseying slowed and Towhee found herself getting ahead of him. She slowed herself and then arced back toward him, catching his question as he spoke. Her mouth opened to answer him when a flash of movement in the corner of her eye momentarily snatched her attention. It was only X, winging with sudden swiftness toward the ground about three hundred yards away. When he rose again, there was something captured in his claws. Her tail waved at her friend's victorious hunt.

Facing Tywyll again, Towhee bobbed her snout. "One of them. Your mom and dad are leaders too." She didn't feel the need to explain about Alphas and Betas, not when he was so young. But she was curious. "Why do you ask?"

When X swooped down this time he looked on with curiousity instead of fear though he did sidle closer to Towhee out of instinct. He turned in time to catch her response and felt shocked to know his mom and dad were leaders too. He hadn't seen them do any cool stuff like Towhee. 

Unsure how to explain his thought process he shrugged and looked thoughtful "You hold yourself strong, you stopped a fight. You have a bird sidekick. You're awesome! I figured you were" he explained the best he could with a shy smile.

Her kid brother's admiring words meant a lot to Towhee, especially considering recent events. She smiled down at him fondly, tail up and wagging, and reached out to give him an affectionate nudge before nipping playfully at his ear. Pups were so great. She didn't deign to have any of her own, though she was so glad Finley and Elwood kept them coming.

"You know who else is awesome? I mean, aside from your mom and dad," because it was important to give them an honorable mention too. Her orange eyes glowed as she peered down at him in anticipation, wondering if he'd guess the answer (spoiler alert: she was talking about him).

Tywyll giggled and ducked his head as she nudged and nipped at his ears. He couldn't help it, he pushed forward and pressed his tiny head into her chest tiny tail wagging a mile a minute. He absolutely adored Towhee and as he stepped away and stared up at her, his eyes were wide with admiration and adoration. At her question he cocked his head to the side and thought for a moment, naturally his own pride lead him to want to say "pshh me obviously!" but he decided that playing dumb and acting like a humble boy would be better, so he asked "I dunno...who?" though he couldn't help the full faced shit eating grin that blazed across his features, revealing he absolutely knew what she would say.

She could see that he knew the answer already. Towhee adored him just as much as he appeared to adore her, plus she knew he was still quite young. All the same, she wouldn't be much of a big sister if she didn't tease him from time to time, right?

"Cinder," she replied, sporting her own shit-eating grin as she wondered how he'd react.

At first his face fell and he looked a mixture of surprised, disgruntled, and hurt but after a few moments he slowly nodded. His little brother was awesome, he could admit it. Even so he wouldn't quite d so outloud "I wouldn't say Awesome , but he's pretty great yeah" he admitted with a slow wag of his tail. Then he noticed the way she was grinning at him and realized what she was doing. "HEYYY!Not funny!" he shrieked though he was laughing. He lunged at her with a playful growl and began to go for her legs, biting and nipping at her paws before jumping up at nip at her nose.

Mind if we fade and have another soon? :)

Towhee cackled and sidestepped his playful attacks (after tolerating a few nips to build his confidence and skills, of course), inciting an impromptu game of catch-me-if-you-can. Her tail waggled in the air before she tucked it between her legs and ran back in the direction of the den, laughing teasingly all the while before eventually letting Tywyll tag her.

No problem! I love their relationship x_x

Tywyll giggled and set off to chase after her, of course never even getting close despite how hard he ran. When she finally slowed he bolted right up to her and touched her with his nose, delighted that he was able to tag her finally. However, he was growing tired so he asked her to bring him back to the den and once there fell asleep.