Heron Lake Plateau tip-toeing in the street like dally

alright. what gives? tegan was beyond confused-- fuckin rattled, even. like, what was this? first, @Towhee acts all big and bad and dangerous, running around demanding respect and just straight up wildin', and then she just drops it all and moves on? like? he was fuckin confused. 

i mean, yeah, okay, maybe he wasn't so interested in the ranks and maybe he wasn't on the best terms with towhee right now but... still. color him a bright shade of concern, because boy howdy i'll tell you what...

he sought out his recently demoted cousin-sister with angry eyebrows, cause like, what the hell, man?

Consider this a sneak peek. :eyes:

When she first woke up that morning, Towhee couldn't believe what she'd done. Had she really foisted leadership onto her sister and her baby daddy? Had Elwood and Finley really retired from leadership? Had she actually wound up where she'd wanted to be all along: as the pack's loyal Beta?

By the time noon rolled around, whatever regrets she might have felt had been burned away by the brilliant May sunshine. Towhee felt awesome, actually, with the weight of captaincy gone from her shoulders. She truly had faith that Raven and Quixote would do the rank more justice. Meanwhile, here she was, standing right at their proverbial elbow, ready to serve and protect.

Twilight arrived and everything just felt right. Towhee returned from a patrol, X flapping along overhead, and bumped into Tegan. She saw the expression on his face but she couldn't help but grin at him. "Tegan's Tears is that way, whackass," the buoyant Beta teased.

SPEAK of the muhfuckin devil, here she was. tegan padded up to his sister-cousin with his angry eyebrows still in tow, but her comment warranted more of a sigh and a roll of his eyes, because ugh. "towhee you don't use that word ri-- never mind, it doesn't matter, you're real prouda yourself for that aren't you?" he said slyly with a small smirk. towhee was like, pretty young, only a year older than tegan, and yet she somehow outdid finley on the old people scale. like, she tried real hard to be hip to his lingo but she just really didn't pull it off. he gave her props for trying though, mostly.

then, smirk washing off to an unusually stoic expression that fit tegan very strangely, he said, "what the hell, man?" an open ended question.

"For Tegan's Tears? Or whackass?" Towhee jested right back at him, returning his smirk. It gave her a great measure of relief that they could banter like this again. This was another benefit to the changes in the upper hierarchy: she wasn't top dog anymore and its effect was already shifting her dynamic with the other members of the pack, mostly in positive ways. It was like yet more unseen weight lifting off her shoulders.

She hadn't expected to feel so damn delighted with everything, especially not after Finley's initial reaction. But it truly felt like everything was falling into place now as Towhee reached out and batted at Tegan's shoulder. "You're going to have to be more specific, man." Her attempt to emphasize the word was ridiculous at best, though she remained oblivious as she cocked her head and arched her brows.

"tegan's tears," the yearling sneered back, "whackass is mine, you can't claim that, tow." he ducked away from her touch-- sure, maybe he was being civil and friendly but he didn't want her paws near him! miss him with that, towhee, you're still on thin ice. 

"come on, towhee," tegan said in a soft whine, "you know what i'm talking about, don't play dumb." 

She was in too good a mood to take it personally when Tegan moved out of the way. Towhee rolled her eyes at her younger brother and then her expression grew inscrutable for a moment. She knew he probably wanted some sort of explanation about the change in leadership, yet what was she going to say?

"I picked someone—two someones, actually—that're better suited to the job. I'm not going anywhere, though." Whether that reassured or disappointed him, she didn't bother guessing. "Did you hear the other news?" she asked in the next breath, using Raven's pregnancy as a distraction again. "Raven's gonna have babies!"

tegan scowled, especially when she brought up raven's pregnancy. "what am i gonna do with puppies?" he questioned-- like seriously? stare at em? teach em how to how to wreak havoc throughout the plateau? ... oh wait, actually, that sounded like the move. okay, you got him, tegan was mildly interested in raven's litter now. 

"you should be the alpha though," tegan said stubbornly. and then, ears pinned to his head, tegan turned his head(mostly just averting his gaze) so towhee could only barely read his lips. "raven's not my favorite sister for a reason." and then, because he knew that towhee knew what he'd just said, tegan turned to look at her with a narrowed gaze and added "you're still a lame boi though, fo sho."

Towhee couldn't understand how nobody else seemed caught up in the joyous news. Although she never deigned to have a mate and family of her own—just one more thing on the list of reasons why she wasn't a suitable Alpha—she adored pups. She clicked her tongue at Tegan's response, though before she could possibly answer with any of dozens of reasons why babies were awesome, he cut right to the chase.

It meant a lot to her, even now, that Tegan said so, though she wanted to remind him of how he'd defied her and, in doing so, undermined her authority completely. Towhee would much rather let bygones be bygones at this point, though, so she kept the thought to herself and said instead, "Wait, does that mean I'm your favorite sister? Teg... I'm honored..." She put a paw to her chest and pretended to sniffle.

"But," she said, suddenly growing a tad more serious, curiosity clear in her vivid orange eyes, "what's the reason...?"

"hey hey!" tegan exclaimed as towhee got all stiff-faced and tight-smiled, "you got that much outta me, just savor it." cause he was not gonna give her anymore. 

he hesitated. "i'm sorry i went behind your back. you know i typically wouldn't... this was just really important to me, and i knew you would forgive me, i wasn't so sure easy would," he said quietly, which didn't matter since towhee couldn't hear tone.

Well, that wasn't at all what she'd expected him to say. Towhee blinked, her head jerking backward because she was quite literally taken aback. A moment later, a grin split her face. Her tail thumped. She made an abortive movement toward him, as if about to cuff him or hug him or maybe both, then checked herself. There was still that shit-eating grin though.

"It's piss under the buffalo, Teg," she assured him (which is apparently a wolfish variation of "it's water under the bridge," according to Kat [themoreyouknow.gif]). "We're good."

But the talk of Raven and her own eligibility prompted Towhee to ask, "What about your mom? How do you feel about her rage-quitting as Beta? Has she talked to you about it?" She hadn't seen or heard from her godmother since she'd walked out on the leadership. She knew things would smooth over in the end—a world where she and her godmother were at odds forever? IMPOSSIBRU!—otherwise she would be in an entirely different head space about recent developments. Nonetheless, there was still part of Towhee that was as deeply worried as curious as she regarded her brother.

tegan groaned. come oooon. "i dunno i didn't ask, mom and i only talk about cool shit," he told towhee with a huff. seriously? was she gonna start tryin to get information outta him? i mean, he didn't know nothin! but even if he did, tegan wasn't no snitch.

oh wait shoot, towhee needed to get a load of this. "i heard though there might be a new beta, like, way better than mom or dad or you could ever be," he shared with a puff of his chest, "heard it straight from raven herself."

Towhee shot Tegan a bit of a squint. He was going to give her shit for stepping down but he didn't have an opinion about his mother's much more dramatic exodus? Seriously? Well, she wasn't really one to gossip, so she didn't press. Soon, she would get a chance to talk to Finley herself and clear the air. She wanted to give the woman some time first though.

His next quip caught her by surprise. She squinted at him again. Was he kidding or was he serious? Not sure how to play it, she decided to go with a joke of her own. "It'd better be Fiadh, otherwise she's really going to wring all our necks..."

well tegan was gonna give towhee shit for it solely because she gave him shit for being a shithead, and now she was being a shithead! finley never gave him shit for being a shithead, she adored him always because he was a perfect angel. so he wouldn't dare mock finley for her choices.

tegan scowled. "fiadh sucks," he said very matter-o-factly, "no." all fiadh did was complain about sucking and then suck some more. i mean jesus christ if you're gonna commit to sucking at least learn to swallow. 

he waited for a few moments, letting towhee be all on edge and stuff, and then puffed up again. "me!" and then, since he doubted that towhee would believe him, he added, "i'm going on a scouting mission and raven promised me if i could do it she would promote me! and i'm not saying to beta but..." tegan made a big ole dramatic shrug, paired with some raised eyebrows and pursed lips as if to say 'but i'm not not saying beta.'

Towhee clicked her tongue when Tegan unhesitatingly threw his sister under the bus. She wanted to defend the poor girl, though he moved on before she had the chance. He declared himself the Redhawks' most eligible Beta candidate, then explained that Raven was sending him on a mission, which would be followed by a promotion.

Her brows lifted. It was strange, hearing about an Alpha's orders secondhand, because she wasn't top dog anymore. But Towhee quickly shrugged off the weirdness of it and instead gave the idea of Tegan as her counterpart some serious thought. Would Raven really consider that or was Tegan just kidding himself?

"Out of all the whackasses in this pack, I couldn't think of anyone I'd like to share the rank with more," she said. It was true that there were other great wolves in the pack, his sisters and brother included. But most of them were either retired (Elwood and Finley), inept (Eljay and Nevouku), female (right or wrong, Towhee knew the rank would go to a male) or babies (Tywyll, Cinder, Screech). His only real competition was... Lucca? "I hope you get it."

was she... was she fucking serious? "towhee what the fuck," tegan exclaimed, clearly exasperated by how quickly she accepted that. he shook his head. "first of all-- you gotta stop saying that, i know you can't hear yourself, but i can, and it's bad towhee, real bad look on you," he started, giving her a look of concern, like he was giving her some very important and hard-hitting advice, "second of all, are you kidding me? i'd run this pack into the ground-- maybe on purpose, i dunno, try me-- raven just said she'd bump me above clover cause i'm clearly the superior blackthorn child." and then, with another small puff of his chest and a hard sniff, tegan added. "whackass."

She chortled right through his reaction. Tegan was such a character. Towhee would never admit it but Fiadh might be right: she might actually like Tegan best out of the batch. It didn't make sense, considering how he'd defied her, then avoided her for weeks, but there was just something irresistibly endearing about his mannerisms. And right now, she was in too good a mood to question her affection for the little rapscallion.

"Don't worry, it's not like I think you're qualified or will do a good job. You're just the leaster evil," Towhee teased, unaware that that totally wasn't a word. "Anyway, what's the mission?"

"i take that as an insult, i am the mostest evil-- just packaged in this cute lil face--" to emphasize his point, tegan fluttered his lashes at towhee, "--never see me coming." but, she started asking questions, so tegan couldn't linger on his striking good looks. "raven just wants me to deliver some news to wildfire. like our moving and her promotion and pregnancy and blah blah blah. important stuff for sisters." 

wait, actually. not that tegan cared, but suddenly he was sort of curious. he eyed his sister. "why didn't you get pregnant? aren't you old enough?"

Before Towhee could properly process the parameters of the mission and react in any way, Tegan blindsided her with the most ridiculous of questions. She eyed him right back, wondering: was he serious? When she saw the earnest curiosity in his gaze, she couldn't help but bark a laugh.

"Do you think we just hit a magical age and suddenly find ourselves pregnant? Wait!" she exclaimed way too loudly. "Are you telling me you don't know about the birds and the bees, you total feeb?!"

"ah com'on! i'm not stupid," tegan said with a scrunched up nose, but he gave her a look, "i mean, not entirely. i know you need a guy pal and that somethin goes on but like i dunno what that is..." he trailed off for a minute, not trying to act any certain way but thinking hard about something. "do you?" he asked her. would she tell him? she better-- acting all tall and mighty and stuff. 

also? did she say feeb? what the fuck did that mean? he didn't call her out on it, considering a whole lot of garbage came out of his own mouth. but he made note of it. he turned up his nose. "i just meant i thought wolves in charge were supposed to have kids. mom and dad do it every year, raven did it, why didn't you?"

She couldn't believe that Tegan didn't know about the facts of life. She could have so much fun with this. It certainly wasn't her responsibility to inform him, though what an adventure it might be to drop such a bomb on him. She couldn't imagine how he might react.

"For starters, I don't want kids," she began, "and no, I'm not old enough. I think it'll be another year before I hit my first—" Wait, that suddenly felt too personal. Towhee changed direction. "Anyway, it kinda sorta requires a mate." She paused. "Or at least a dick."

"me either," tegan shared with a furrowed brow. too much responsibility and it also required a lady friend and that was something he didn't need. "how does it work?" tegan asked forcefully, ears angled forwards. he deserved to know. "i wanna know before clover and fiadh cause if they learn before me they're just gonna give me shit for it and i don't deserve something so unfair." he doesn't, towhee, don't leave him hanging. how do dick get pregnant? share. 

It was very, very tempting to mess with him, though Towhee knew Tegan would likely take whatever bad information she'd given him and use it for evil, so the Beta eventually decided she would just stick with the facts. After peering at him for a beat (and taking a moment to smooth out the slight awkwardness she felt), Towhee decided to explain.

Using signs—it was somehow less weird this way, even though it directly involved some rude gestures—Towhee explained how babies were made. It was a pretty clinical explanation, save for the part where she kept using slang signs like "dick" and "front butt."

Once she finished, she fell still and eyeballed him, curious how Tegan might react. Would he even believe her? Procreation sounded so ridiculous when laid out like that, so Towhee half-expected the younger wolf to call bullshit.

tegan made faces when it was appropriate to make faces and was quiet when it was appropriate to be quiet. he did a good job listening, surprisingly, and then once towhee had finished explaining tegan made one final face before giving a heavy nod. "bet, sounds weird," he finally said, soaking up the information into his permanent memory before giving a shrug, "supposed to feel good though right? that's why wolves do it? besides like the, having a family shit." yeah, tegan, that's right. 

"thanks for telling me, if fiadh and clover ever come at me i'mma fuckin rock em." 

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" she agreed. She nodded in response to his subsequent questions. It was supposed to feel nice but it was mostly a means for procreation. Towhee herself wasn't interested in either of those things, therefore sex held no appeal and she'd never experienced it. She was pretty sure she'd be fine if she never did.

Towhee did a bit of a double-take at Tegan's closing comment. She looked at him oddly, then said even more slowly than usual, "I don't have to tell you not to fuck your sisters, do I?"

tegan scowled. "that's fucking disgusting, towhee," he shot back, shaking his head. he wasn't screech, he didn't do gross shit like that(not that tegan knew about that incident but i do and i'm the narrator so i'm making the connection). he gave a haughty sniff, a quick cat-like lash of his tail and then a dirty look at his older sister. "i meant that i'm gonna like know everything so they can't hold it over me and act like i'm a dumbass," he said, this time more in depth. then, for more clarification, "cause i'm not." he was not a dumbass.