Wolf RPG

"Um," Towhee said out loud, apropos of nothing, after a long and comfortable silence while she and @Phox watched the kiddos attempt to murder one another, "what about..." But she trailed off for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek. Did she really want to toss this particular idea onto the table? "Been thinking about... what you told me to think about," she started again, changing tack, though only briefly, "and thought... maybe... what about Firebirds?"

She'd been staring at @Fig and @Fennec this whole time, though now she lifted her eyes to meet her brother's, mostly so she could capture his response. It was probably the last suggestion he'd ever expected, yet so much had changed in this past month or two. Maybe he would toss out the idea entirely, which was fine, but Towhee thought it would be remiss not to at least consider it.

Fig gave his sister a mighty chomp on the arm as she wrestled him to the ground and pinned him. He was not one to give up so easily, even when it was blatantly obvious that he had been defeated. Either out of pity or... yeah, it was probably pity... Because Fen pitied him, she let him up with a pleased-as-pie wag of her tail and smart little smirk. Fig rolled to his belly with a wag of his own tail, but he didn't stand. Instead, his mouth split into a yawn as he decided he was bored of that game, and Aunt Mom and Papa were suddenly being interesting.

The boy crawled towards Towhee on his belly, his legs splaying out behind him as he moved. He smiled bigly at her, as always fascinated by how she talked so differently than the rest of the big wolves. Deciding to play a new game, he chirped at her a few, "Fye-bows! Fye-bows!" before dropping his head on the ground between his paws and beaming up sweetly at her. Someday he'll figure out that she's deaf...

But before Phox could process her proposition and formulate a response, a wild Fig appeared right in front of her. Towhee could not ignore the sight of an adorable puppy splooted at her feet, smiling up at her as if she was some sort of treasure. Nor could she resist the overpowering urge to lift a foot and boop his snoot with her big toe (do wolves have big toes?).

-You're the treasure,- she signed. -What's up, pup?- she asked him, aware that he was trying to speak but entirely unable to read puppies' lips for likely obvious reasons.

Towhee asked about the Firebirds, and while Phox hadn't really been thinking much about moving (since it was still so far in the future), he shook his head. -Nah. Colt's over there. I don't like him, either.- Maybe Phox was just a sourpuss and didn't like anybody. Currently, he didn't have any friends outside of his immediate family. It seemed better that way. Every time he'd made a friend, something had come along and fucked it up.

Fig was babbling then, and Phox grinned. He was growing a little concerned about @Fennec. At first, he figured her eyes were just different, but as time went on, he noticed other things, too. He wasn't blind. -I don't think Fennec can see very well,- he noted. If he'd been his mother, he would have put Fenton out of her misery. Fortunately for her, Phox had grown up with a deaf sister who had done just fine for herself. Surely a visual impairment could be overcome.

Fig accepted his snoot boop with a polite giggle and another wriggle of his tail. When she moved her paws away and began to sign, he did his usual which was to try and catch her moving limbs. He bounced at her, trying to nab a wrist and tripping over himself instead. When he righted himself, his eyes landed on his father's now flapping arms aka his next target. He hopped over to Phox now and jumped at his arms, once again trying to land a chomp and giggling all the while.

Her brother dismissed the idea out of hand. Towhee shrugged internally. She certainly hadn't been hellbent on it, plus Phox had a good point. Colt was a tool. So, what did this mean for them? Would they stick around here after all or would they go somewhere else entirely? Towhee's stomach felt weird when she thought about it, so she stopped and focused on the pups.

Fig had directed his attention to his father, who signed something about the smallest member of their family. -What?- Towhee signed, looking sharply at their vanilla bean of a child. -What do you mean? Why do you say that?- she wondered, staring into Fen's pale eyes (which would make it hard for her to catch Phox's answer).

Funny Phox should mention it.  Because as Fig played, his shadow in the light made a shape that, to her terrible little eyes, looked a hell of a lot like him.  So much so, that it caused her to bound away from her aunt and attempt to tackle her brother.  Who definitely wasn't there.

What she tackled instead was the dirt, and that definitely did not give like her brother would have.  Fortunately she had very little oomph with which to hurl herself at it, so it was more of a slap than a real slam.  Still, it caused her to sit and let out a small sound of confusion.  Where'd Feeya go?

Fig did a pup chomp on his foreleg, and Phox mock-yelped in agony, winking at Towhee all the same. Gotta teach them puppies bite-inhibition early! Towhee seemed perplexed by Phox's observation, but he knew he couldn't have been imagining it. In fact, a second later, Fennec tumbled right into the dirt, and Phox frowned. It wasn't the same sort of tumble that Fig often took (assuming he's a clumsy pup here, ok?).

He tapped Towhee on the shoulder with his snout, waiting for her to return her attention to him before he went on. -See?- he asked, getting up from where he'd been laying, then nudging Fenton back over to the rest of the crowd. -Maybe Raven would be able to tell. Can she do that?- he asked.

As if to demonstrate her father's astute observation, Fen abruptly ate dirt. Towhee stared at her as Phox gathered his feet and nudged the little girl toward their group. Her eyes had always been unusually pale, thought the Beta hadn't thought much of it. But what if Phox was right? What if Fen couldn't see? The thought hit Towhee in the gut like an icy fist.

-Probably,- she signed back distractedly, still peering at Fen, frowning thoughtfully. -If she can't see, she can't see ptero,- Towhee said, aware how redundant that sounded but who cared? She was still trying to process what this might mean. "I hope you're wrong," the Beta said, making a point to speak out loud, "but if you're not, I just hope I'll be able to read her lips in time..." The thought of being unable to properly communicate with her own daughter put a lump in her throat.

Looking sharply to her brother, Towhee said, "You'll have to work hard with her on her enunciation." She paused, swallowed. "And me too. I want her to be able to understand me, so you'll have to help me make sure I'm pronouncing things right. You'll do that for us, right?"

Phox hadn't really thought of that, but it made sense. If Fenton could not see what Towhee was doing, she wouldn't be able to see what Towhee was saying. He frowned at the thought, but already Towhee was drumming up ways they'd be able to communicate more easily if that really was the case. He'd have the most proper-sounding family in all of Teekon. Phox had noticed that Fig had picked up on a little bit of ptero here and there (or at least paid more attention when Phox was using it) compared to Fenton. Still, he held onto the hope that she was just a little developmentally behind in that department.

-I'd do anything for the three of you,- he said. Towhee, Figment, and Fenton were the center of his universe.

Fig felt a flash of victory as he landed a good chomp, but it was very quickly dispelled by his father's sharp yelp. He released immediately and bowed down sheepishly against the ground, peering up at him. He whined softly as he looked from his father's face to his paw, then crept timidly forward to place a few gentle licks upon the "wound". His tail began to wag then as he determined that he'd probably solved the problem, but before he saw any indication of that being the case, he turned to see Fenn faceplant.

The boy hopped up onto all fours and trotted over to where his sister was becoming one with the dirt. He was concerned, but it was growing less the more she did things like this and came out okay on the other side. "Giddup," Fig commanded in a weary, I'm-so-bored-with-this kind of voice and moved to help her by prodding her with his nose because that's what helpful is.

Ah, there he was.  She felt Fig's nudge and rolled towards it, getting back on her feet.  He seemed a little grumpy, so she tried to nip at him for good measure, but the try didn't land.

You geddup, She replied with a giggle.  Didn't matter that he was already up... she just wanted to say it too.

He assured her that he would do anything in his power to ease the way and Towhee could only nod and exhale sharply through her nose. Could Fen really be blind, totally blind? She caught herself squinting at the girl again, trepidation filling her heart. The communication issues were just the tip of the iceberg. Towhee knew all too well what it was like to live with a disability, though she couldn't imagine going through life without sight. The thought actually made her a little ill with fear for her little girl. She could only hope that Fen would never know the difference and adapt just like her surrogate mother had.

The small family of four continued to bask in the lazy springtime breeze. Phox was surprisingly content, despite the realization that Fennec most likely had eyesight issues. Like her (adoptive) mother, she could (and would) adapt. The Redhawks had always been a strong bunch, and he didn't see that stopping anytime soon. He did wonder, for a brief moment, if Camilla's early birth had anything to do with it, but he thought it was better not to think too hard on it.