She found herself in another meadow, this one rather different from the first (and not just because it lacked a sexually repressed young man trying to slut shame her, or whatever he had been doing). There were still flowers here. As Towhee wandered among the colorful array of blooms and brush, she tried to come up with a profound metaphor about her fertility in comparison to a meadow in the desert.

Towhee ducked her head and snorted. The slightly warmer air here felt good on her skin, a complement to the inner heat. It put her urges into overdrive, especially since it had been more than a day since she’d gotten laid. She raised her head again, orange eyes scanning the flat horizons for any sign of a male, preferably a capable and interested one this time.

Her tail lashed. It really bugged her her that she’d only coupled with a single man. Towhee didn’t necessarily want to collect notches on her bedpost and she didn’t even worry that more partners meant more chances of conceiving successfully. She just didn’t want him to be her one and only. Towhee didn’t want to know who’d fathered any pups that came of this.

Come on, she rumbled impatiently to herself, treading closer to the corner of the meadow, back toward Great Bear.

whether or not he'd feasted from the hunt the other day, he remained in the meadow. he was tired, and needed to regain his strength in order to make it to the coast; it would not do to see him collapse and die upon this great journey.

noise interrupted his nap, and he looked up from his place within some brush, irritated.

a woman, talking to herself. maybe the age of his mother, if a few seasons younger or so, clad in varying shades of black and white and vivid orange. surya regarded her at first with annoyance, then with interest.

and then, as she drew closer. . .

he stood up quick, tail flagging, chest slightly heaving as he took in her scent.

no. . .she was too old, right?

and yet here she came, reeking of the most primal instinct, and he could not help but to move forward in base, eager response.

Something moved among the desert flora, rising up like some sort of mirage. Towhee turned to face it, intrigued but wary. For a split second, she thought it was the old man. Had he followed her all this way? But on second glance, she realized this stranger was younger, with a lither build and more color in his palette, including a verdant gaze.

There were no pretenses this time. Towhee woofed, then pranced right up to him to sniff noses. Her tail wiggled, fanning her scent around them both. She did not introduce herself. She didn’t speak at all. Instead, she simply swung her hindquarters toward him and looked over one whitening shoulder, giving the nameless man her best bedroom eyes.

but there was no foreplay. no introductions, beyond the sniffing of snouts.

then she turned and bared her. . .

without another word?

he choked down the desire that overwhelmed him in that moment and spoke, teeth slightly exposed, you don't know who i am.

every muscle and nerve jumped quietly, waiting to explode.

It was a good thing she was looking at him because he decided to speak. Towhee watched his lips move, a look of amusement drifting across her face.

I don’t give a fuck who you are, she replied, twitching her hips toward him. Well, maybe one fuck, she amended, leveling him with a playful leer and an eyebrow wiggle.

if that was meant to entice him, it had the opposite effect. surya frowned at her, circled round, caught her eye in his peripheral vision and asked—

you don't give a fuck? even about the kind of man i am? or if i'd stick around?

his teeth were full bared now.

you'd want your kids to be bastards?

Towhee really didn’t want that geezer to be her only lay this season, though she seethed a little as this dingus moved away from her hindquarters and bared his teeth. She thought of the yearling who’d chased her the day before and wondered why the men around here were so different than she remembered.

No. I don’t want you, or for you to stick around. All I want is your baby gravy, she retorted, before laughing openly at his remark about bastards. Just kidding, I was totally planning on marrying you afterward.

That made her think of Arcturus, even after all this time. Maybe today’s dudes weren’t so different, after all.

her pique brought the anger full force within him, and it was with much effort that he restrained himself from snapping at her hindquarters—in a peeved, not aroused, way.

i don't want you, surya spat, eyes blazing. you're the worst of them all—how dare you—?

surya spun and cast off her scent, tail thrashing in his wake.

he would be a father. but he would not be a father to bastards, no matter the circumstances.

Towhee would be a lying liar who lied if she said his rejection didn’t rankle. Why had he approached her? Should she have given him a moment to propose first? She scoffed inwardly and outwardly, though there was also a bewildered dejection flashing behind her orange eyes.

Irate and sexually frustrated, she snorted under her breath and began loping toward the Great Bear without a backward glance, mouthing, “‘You’re the worst of them all?’” to herself. By the time she reached the glen in a few hours’ time, she would thankfully reach a conclusion that would leave her ego intact.

Dude had been brain damaged.