Sun Mote Copse Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?

As soon as she heared the news, Fennec was off to look for her friend.  Towhee might have maybe needed her, but her mom had Meerkat and everyone too.  @Penn was a dumb jerkface who would probably go off and do something stupid like beat up a cougar, so Fennec wasn't about to not grab him and force him to take her along.  That's what friends were for, yeah?

PENN!!  HEY, PENN, YA DICK, I WANT TO GO FOR A SCOUT AND I NEED A GUIDE WOLF.  She hollered at the top of her lungs as she wandered through the copse, keeping her ears peeled for any sound.  She had no clue how to deal with what Penn was probably going through, so she wasn't about to get all emotional or anything on him.  She just, for some reason, didn't like the thought of him being alone right now.  Being alone kind of sucked in general, didn't it?

If Fenn seriously thought that Penn was going to do something insane with his grief like try to enter a death match with a mountain lion, she was super fucking right he was. The hours since telling the pack about his parents had passed in a blur. He didn't know what to do with himself. There wasn't anything he even could do with himself. His parents were dead. In the blink of an eye, they were gone. Not missing. Not out for the afternoon. Gone. Irretrievable, and irrevocably gone.

Penn was definitely going to fuck with a massive carnivore.

But then, he heard Fenn's call. He was near the borders, fully prepared to storm straight past them and head into the wild to do something spectacular. But her voice made him stop. Penn sucked in an angry breath and immediately set about cursing her inwardly. What the fuck did she even want. Was she fucking serious right now? Did she have no fucking idea what was going on? Or did she know and she just thought it didn't fucking matter?

It was anger that turned his heels and sent him stalking off through the Copse in her direction. He would show her. He would tell her. What the fuck was she thinking, asking him for anything right now. Didn't she know? Of course she fucking didn't. No one knew. No one could understand. No one could grasp how angry, how cheated he felt. How had they died? How could they just up and leave him like this??

His eyes were swimming with angry tears when finally he spotted her. He bared his teeth in a silent snarl as he stalked up to her, making no effort to hide his footsteps. He paused a few steps ahead of her and snarled, "What the fuck do you want, Blindo." He did his best to keep his voice filled with only anger. Anger was better than the rest of it. She didn't need to see the rest of it. Not that she could see, but now is not the time for blind jokes.

She finally found him.  He was angry... she could tell it from every loud step and from the way he spoke. But there was something else too in his tone, and that something made her lean into it.  Of course, his being made made her lean in too.  She wasn't really one to cow down and let another wolf yell at her.

What does it sound like, deaf-o? I thought my mom was the only one who couldn't hear.  I want someone to go scouting with me. She replied abruptly, seemingly indifferent to his anger.  

She had no idea what to expect from this, so she was just going to take it as if came.  Good mood or bad, yes or no, she'd probably give him shit either way.  His parents being dead didn't change that... because if she were him, she wouldn't want anything to change that.

Penn had expected her to quail under his anger, or to at least get angry right back at him. He'd never sworn at her like this before, though he'd definitely called her by that insulting, tactless nickname plenty of times before. He hoped that she would get angry, that she would attack him. She wasn't a mountain lion, but he knew her well enough to know that this had the potential to be a close second.

Fenn didn't falter though, nor did she rise to his anger. She replied as though nothing were wrong. Like he wasn't snarling in her face. Like he wasn't choking on the torn pieces of his heart. Like he hadn't just found his parents' dead bodies in the last few hours. He didn't understand how she could possibly be like this when it was simply inconceivable that anything could ever be normal again.

It was super bewildering. Penn stared at her in silence, breathing hard for a solid 60 seconds before his emotion subsided. He heaved a sigh as it escaped him and he deflated. What was the point of being angry? They were gone. They were gone.

"Where do you want to go," he asked, his tone heavy with the weight of his grief and the sudden emptiness that had overcome him.

Now it was him who was being off.  She heard the fight go out of his voice when he responded, and the dead quality to it made her extremely uncomfortable.  Fennec had a hard time conceptualizing what Penn was going through right now, but she had a nice stand by whenever she was uncomfortable - and that response was exactly what Penn was going to get.  For better or for worse.

Oh no, not if you are going to be all weird and boring about it.  I'll go get Bronco or something.  She responded, and while she was clearly teasing, a part of her hoped he'd get mad again.  The yelling before was way better than this version of her friend, the one whose voice she barely recognized.

Penn stared at Fenn, unable to understand what the fuck she wanted from him. Hell, why would she want anything from him at all right now? His desire to do something stupid had faded into a desire to go lie under a rock and sleep for a decade. Existence hurt. And she clearly had no fucking idea.

Still, Penn had no fight in him until she did the unthinkable. "Oh, fuck that guy," he snapped, his anger rising again, "He's such a fucking tool. Why do you even talk to that jackass?" His blood boiled at the thought of his cousin. They did not get along. Even were it not for how territorial he felt over Fennec, he probably still wouldn't much care for his cousin. They were boys and they were young and they were a bit too similar to rub elbows comfortable. And the fact that Fenn would bring him up then (or ever) was just fucking annoying.

I have negative posting vibes this week ;.; tryin to kickstart some

Fennec was relieved when they got back to anger, which probably wasn't the reaction she should have.  Still, she rose to it as well, verbal sparring something she genuinely enjoyed.  She didn't read more into it, didn't consider that she should be kind.  You should feel lucky I like talking to jackasses.  That's why I came to talk to you, isn't it?  Her tail twitched impatiently.  I don't get how you fight so much anyway.  Bronco was cool in her books, if a little stiff for her.  He reminded her of Fig in that... duty bound and all that, listening to adults vs shooting the shit and causing chaos like she and Penn tended towards.

Penn's frown deepened at her response. He normally would've enjoyed it, but he was looking for her to at least somewhat agree that Bronco was a dick. Maybe mention she didn't know why she hung out with him. Maybe admit that she only did it to make him jealous and all she really wanted was to spend time with him.

Y'know. Give a guy something.

But no, she didn't go there. She just called him a jack ass (which was fine) and wondered aloud why the two of them didn't get along. Penn rolled his eyes, briefly wondering why he was wasting his time on this conversation when his parents had just fucking died, but finding himself unable to pull his focus. "Because he's a moron," Penn answered, "He's a giant, muscle-y idiot without a brain in his stupid idiot head. I mean, come on, fart jokes?? I'm amazed he's able to communicate with more than grunts and gestures. God forbid he use any sort of intelligence to be funny. But of course, that's setting way too high of expectations to that monosyllabic... behemoth." 

Penn spoke the last word with venom that didn't really befit the word itself. I mean... Behemoths are cool, so yeah. But Penn was livid, and that made it hard to think of the more clever insults he liked to think he was known for. But anyway, rant over, he looked again at Fennec, his eyes softening slightly as he added in a fumbling, hesitant, still angry manner, "You shouldn't... waste your time on him."

Harsh words.  She was cool with that, because Fennec was a firm believer in not pulling punches and saying what you felt.  He isn't that bad, she said, with a snort.  But then the conversation meant she did, indeed, have to throw him a bone.  Because there was a reason she came looking for him even outside what had happened.  She tended to always come looking for him when she needed distraction.

He isn't as cool as you, sure, but he isn't a moron.  And you're no genius, what the fuck.  Monosyllabic behemoth, are you kidding me?  She laughed, honest to god laughed, and it felt good.

Penn stared at her, uncertain of how she would take his sentiment. She clearly didn't see the meaning behind it that he'd felt, which he decided quickly he was grateful for. He didn't even know what that was about. He didn't love her or anything. He just... He didn't know. He felt out of control, and tired, and just... like he was feeling too much.

"Whatever," he growled, though he did so softly, somewhat mollified by the fact that she thought he was cooler than Bronco, "At least behemoth is three syllables..." He looked away from her for a moment, but quickly slid his gaze back. His parents' bodies had tried to come back into his mind, so he grasped at Fennec's face instead. "Did you want to go somewhere or not?" he asked.

Mhmmm.  Because he was so clever, apparently.  She let him have it, though, and didn't argue, because the next words were more important.  Yes, please.  Truth be told, she needed to get away for a bit too.  She needed space from the sad, the reality, and she wanted to shoot the shit with a friend while making sure he didn't have to be alone right now.  So she needed him with her instead.

She wasn't going to tell him she cared, because that was cheesy as fuck.  But she did, and she was glad she'd managed to catch him and he was willing.

Penn watched her quietly for a moment after she answered him. She was so intent on this. Why? He wondered again if she realized what he was going through. If she had any notion for how this felt, how heartbroken and lost he was. It certainly didn't seem like it if she was making him play guide dog as though everything were normal. But, as he looked at her, he finally considered that maybe she actually did understand.

He bit his lip, then reached out and nuzzled his nose gently against her muzzle. It was a brief touch, and just a small one. But still. It was more tenderness than he'd ever shown anyone in his life, and so he was instantly embarrassed by it.

"Come on," Penn said as he promptly pulled away, "Let's go to the swamp and I'll try to trick you into falling into the muck."

Touch was something Fennec was accustomed to, but not like this, and not from Penn.  She didn't comment on it (though it was so, so tempting to default on calling him out).  Instead she just saved that little note for later.  So Penn was a secret softie.

Oh, good, cool.  That's assuming I don't just dive in immediately.  I think swamp witch would be a pretty cool trade to chase down, she replied, but let him lead the way was they went.