#AllTheNPCs
You're of course more than welcome to PP them too! :)
Towhee rarely spent time at the territory's namesake landmark; when she wasn't scouring the borders, she could usually be found at the rendezvous site. But when
@Wildfire invited her and
@Orca on a walk there this morning, the mercenary decided to tag along. She sent X to hunt with
@Phox, then trailed after her sisters as they made their way to the lake, which very much looked the part of a steaming cauldron on this frosty December day.
All three she-wolves seemed to spot Titmouse at once.
"Hey!" Orca called even as Wildfire offered a quiet,
"Hello." Meanwhile, Towhee only threw him a stony look, her lips pressing tightly together. While the other two moved forth to greet him properly, she hung back and then veered to another patch of shoreline. She eyeballed the cold water for a moment before bending down for a drink that hit her stomach like an icy fist.
Another brother joined them, this one significantly more welcome, though his appearance made her jump slightly since she didn't have the benefit of hearing his approach. Suddenly Tegan was simply there. "What?" she said rather loudly, having caught the movement of his lips without actually catching the words. When he presumably repeated himself, Towhee shot him a smile and a shrug. "Just taking a stroll around the lake, I guess," she said, pointing to the others who had come to rest at intervals along the lake's edge.
That was when she saw Titmouse begin wading. "What're you doing, you idiot?" Towhee shouted at him, ignoring the way Wildfire's ears pressed downward and Orca's look of reproof. "The water's nearly freezing!"
Temporarily forgetting her audience—including one child and two of the pack's most soft-spoken members—Towhee did not hold back from saying loudly, "Come here and say that to my face, sh—" Eyes cutting quickly to Tegan, her voice died off as she abruptly remembered herself. Her lip curled disdainfully, orange eyes flicking back to Titmouse and tracking his every moment as he carved his way through the freezing water.
She huffed a breath, then said, "You know, it's your decision if you want to be an idiot. But you need to learn to respect your superiors." As Towhee said this, her eyes continued to bore into her litter mate's face, just daring him to challenge her authority. Her ears pressed forward and her tail swung upward, making sure he knew his place, even as Wildfire prepared to step in between them and Orca beseechingly said, "Please don't fight, you two—not in front of Tegan."
Moving this along // there now its in the right place! Derp! wow. Technically #300~
Towhee could protest all she wanted. For the time being, Tit was more concerned with the wetness and the cold that was spreading through his extremeties. While the others tried to talk her down (he could hear Orca talking under their breath), Titmouse turned his attention away from his sister and quickly exited the water. He didn't want to appear weak after the blunder into the depths, but there was no way to avoid the shivering of his haunches as he stepped on to dry land. The boy shook the water off of his limbs with a violent shuffling of his body, and then shot Towhee a sharp look.
I do respect them,
he clarified, and then he half-smirked and turned away. All I've gotten from you is piss-all, so why should I respect that.
Between their initial meeting when he returned going poorly, his broken limb keeping him secreted away, and generally being kept at a distance by his family, Titmouse had no reason to feel connected to many wolves in this pack. They called themselves his family but at the same time, he knew Towhee in particular didn't like him. Why bother wasting his energy trying to mend a relationship with someone who was more likely to toss him aside?
Towhee shot Orca an impatient look and was met with one that begged for her cooperation. She tore her eyes away from the would-be peacekeeper, glaring at Titmouse as he muttered. It was hard to catch some of the words, though she got the gist of it. She had quite a few things she could (and wanted to) say in reply, though she caught Orca fidgeting out of the corner of her eye, essentially pleading now, and Towhee bit her tongue, rolled her eyes, then sighed loudly.
"You should respect me because Uncle Elwood and Aunt Finley do. They call the shots around here. It's no mistake that I'm ranked above you, making me your superior, Tit," she reminded him with a curl of her lip. She snorted derisively, watching Orca's expression out of the corner of her eye as she added,
"And that's all I have to say to you."
When Tegan questioned her, Towhee happily snubbed her litter mate further by turning her back on him.
"He's just a flaky asshole," she said quietly to Tegan, smirking. She winked, then glanced over her shoulder to address Orca and Wildfire.
"Let's keep walking," Towhee said loudly, pointedly ignoring Titmouse's presence as she playfully jabbed Tegan with an elbow and said,
"You too. Come on."
Meant to be my last post! :)