Heron Lake Plateau East is up.

Although she hadn't minded the trip—she'd actually enjoyed it, for the most part—Towhee was happy to be home. She took some time to herself to rest up on The Roost, then resumed her usual patrolling duties. It seemed rather boring to plod in circles around their homeland versus adventure out in the uncharted wilderness, though it was a yoke the Beta carried happily enough.

As she moseyed around the borders, the summer breeze ruffling her streaky nape, she caught herself thinking about Niamh and Colt. She didn't know how she felt about that particular pairing. She felt a little jealous in a vague way (moreso of Colt than Niamh, since he was preoccupying her Person) but also happy, she supposed, that her buddy had found someone. And she'd just have to kick Colt's ass off a cliff if he hurt Niamh; hey, she'd done it before...

As she wrapped up the circuit and began climbing back up to the plateau, she decided to drop by the rendezvous site where @Elwood, @Finley, @Cinder and @Tywyll kept quarters. She kept her orange eyes peeled for any sign of the Blackthorns as she approached, sifting scents through her flared nostrils and enjoying the bouquets of summertime.

He had been returning to the den with a small mouse in his jaws when he caught scent of Towhee. In about three seconds he lost his absolute shit. He dropped the mouse, whined and wiggled with excitement as he buried and pissed around it and then ran after the scent trail. He wasn't worried about noise, she was deaf anyway, she couldn't hear him. Half the pack probably could though. He chased her down and leaped at her, covering her in licks and kisses and squirming and whining. "Towhee, you're back! I missed you, where'd you go? Are you okay?" he jumped back and peppered her with rapid fire questions, grinning broadly.

lemme know if you want him to shove off!

Colt had gone to visit Finley for a bit of conversation, but when he did, he didn't realize word had gotten out about his and Niamh's status update (of sorts).  As a result, soon as he showed up, he had a playfully irritated sister wondering why the hell he hadn't fessed up sooner and asking questions he didn't even know the answers to yet.  Gotta love family.

"Shit Frog, it just kinda happened." He begged off, but with a grin.  He was happy no matter his reluctance to dish prior, and he did try to answer her questions more or less, in their usual banter.  

When Towhee showed up, Fin had just made a playful comment about kids, though.  Instead of answering, he smirked, standing up.  "Sounds like Towhee's back, I'll go ask what's up." And ignoring her protests, he stepped off, leaving her with her other kids.

"Hey Towhee," Colt called out when he got closer, though if Tywyll was distracting her likely she wouldn't see.  There was no urge to avoid anymore, that having disappeared during the whole Screech fiasco.  But he wasn't about to give quite that enthusiastic a greeting, he thought with some affectionate amusement, watching Tywyll fall over himself in excitement.

Her eyes had just clapped on Finley and Colt when a black blur caused Towhee's attention to rapidly shift sideways. She kicked out a foreleg to block the incoming attack out of pure instinct, though she set it down when she realized it was just an overly exuberant Tywyll. Chuckling at his excitement, which she found flattering, Towhee waved her tail and returned his licks with a few affectionate nips.

She missed most of what he asked, considering it was nearly impossible to read his lips with all the movement, though she did catch, "Are you okay?" "I'm fine. How are you, aside from wiggly?" The Beta gave him a teasing nudge, then glanced up and over her younger brother to Finley and her brother.

"Hey guys," she greeted them, then voiced a silly thought that had occurred to her during her patrol. "If you're my aunt and he's your brother, does that make him my uncle? And does that make Niamh my auntie?" she quipped with a glint in her eye and a laugh that resembled a donkey's bray.

*gasp* the name of this thread aaaa

Cinder had been busy relaxing in the sun, allowing the warmth to seep into his pelt and embracing the peace when the commotion began. His eyes shot open, ears cupping forward as Tywyll's whines reached him, followed by muffled sounds of chattering from a little distance away - what was going on? With a small surge of curiousity, the young boy padded over to the gathering and then paused a few steps back. Oh! Should he interrupt and say hello too? He wasn't sure. He was a little... unsure where he and Tywyll stood at the moment, after the encounter that had occured not too long ago. They'd spoken since then, but not that much.

After a small exhale he pushed any hesitation away and allowed a grin to stretch across his features, strolling forward with his tail wagging behind him. "Hi hi!"

Tywyll wiggled even harder when Towhee turned her attention to him but slowly settled down enough. He wanted to attempt something he had been practicing every so often. "I learned some hunting" he said, body moving in awkward ptero. He hoped he had been legible enough for Towhee to understand. And then of all the things he could brag aloud he said "I learned what pregnant is. I kinda know how babies are made. Do you know how babies are made Towhee?" he asked, tone arrogant and boastful as he hoped she did not in fact know how babies were made. 

Then Cinder and Colt came ambling in and he pouted slightly, turning and feeling disappointed that he didn't have Towhee to himself this time. He sort of glared at Cinder before relaxing and with a small sigh, giving him a smile and pouncing at him with a small growl. He just wanted to make sure Cinder knew who was in charge here. He was. Right?

alrighty back at it!

"Har har," he said, though his smile was good natured despite the sarcastic lilt.  It was probably too much to ask for others to not poke a little fun at a new pair, if word had gotten round, and Colt didn't much mind if he was being honest.  He wasn't declaring it to the sky, but he wasn't really trying to hide anything either.  "Though I'd love to see her face if you called her auntie."  He chuckled too, managing not to wince at Towhee's braying laugh.

Then Fin's other came up and Colt gave an affectionate nudge to Cinder, returning with a "Hey kiddo."  Tywell seemed eager to take it away after that, with a subject that made Colt cast a wicked grin at Finley.  This was likely going to be good.  He'd definitely let Towhee field it first.

Pleased by Tywyll's signing, Towhee acknowledged it with an, -Oh yeah?- But if she'd been expecting him to elaborate on what he'd learned about hunting (in ptero or otherwise), she was in for a disappointment, because the child quite suddenly shifted gears and began babbling about how babies were made. The subject change gave her a bit of a whiplash, though it also made her smile.

"Yep," she replied breezily, "I know all about it. They hatch from eggs in a cave at the top of the tallest mountain in the world, then a stork wraps them up in leaves and delivers them to their parents." She nodded sagely, wondering how Tywyll would react to this news. Although she was a chronicler by trade, Towhee favored telling the truth versus stories in situations like this, though she couldn't resist the temptation to playfully test her little brother's knowledge.

And to make sure not to exclude Cinder, Towhee looked over at him and asked, "Isn't that right, kiddo?" Unaware of any true animosity between the two, the Beta smirked even as she aspired to drum up some sibling rivalry (all in good fun, of course).

He noted the glare followed by the slight softening of his sibling's face, and figured that was a cue to signal that Cin could stay. Phew. Though of course it was followed up by a pounce, to which Cinder responded with a play growl but flopping onto the ground in full acknowledgement that Tywyll was most definitely boss out of the two of them. After getting back up again, he grinned at Towhee and Colt again.

The subject took a turn and the young Blackthorn perked his ears forward with a curious glimmer in his eyes. He'd never even thought about how babies were made! His brother seemed to know, but so did Towhee - how come Cinder didn't know? He wanted to know now. He had no reason to doubt the odd explanation given, and so when the beta looked at him expentantly, he quickly nodded. "Uh, yeah! Obviously." See? Hah, I know stuff, Ty! Yeah... Really, he had no idea if that was actually true or not, but he comitted it to memory just in case, staring to see Tywyll's reaction.

Tywyll stared blankly at Towhee for a moment when she said she knew and then made it so so obvious that she didn't know. To make it even better she turned to Cinder as if he also had the wrong information. In this situation he trusted Raven's information more because she had actual experience with it! With a super "I am Superior" look on his face he slowly shook his head. "Nope! Raven told me that daddy wolves make super special seeds and give them to mommy wolves. Then the mommy wolves somehow get them inside of her and grow the puppies! Only the male wolves can make the seeds and only the females can grow the puppies!" he said looking very proud of himself for knowing something that Towhee didn't. He did feel a bit bad for his little brother, so left out of the loop of things.

lordie I always lose track of group threads

Yeah, nah, Colt wasn't touching this one.  He listened with growing disbelief (and amusement) as Towhee went to tell some kid friendly lie and the damn kid corrected her.  Well hey, good for him. Apparently he was gonna be ahead of the curve.

Ok well mostly correct.  Apparently Raven was adept at euphemisms.  He shot Towhee a look of appreciative adult understanding, but that was about it.  He didn't want to be the one to tell him the business, not yet.  Maybe once he was around the age Tegan had been when they chatted women.  But not now, and definitely not in front of Towhee.  They were just gettin to solid ground, no use undoin it.

Since it's a bit outdated, shall we go the route of a fade? :)

Although Cinder concurred, Tywyll immediately countered her. "Oh, that's right!" Towhee said, theatrically slapping a paw upside her forehead. "I got it mixed up with something else," she quipped, winking at the boy. "You're absolutely right. And you can always trust Raven to know how these things work. She's a medicine woman and a mother; of course she'd know all about how babies are made."

She glanced over at Colt and Finley and almost made the obvious segue, pestering him about whether he and Niamh would be planting any seeds in the future. But the idea didn't exactly sit well with Towhee, so she didn't pursue it. Instead, she decided a change of subject was in order.

"All right, Ty, I wanna see you show off some of your new hunting skills." She motioned for him to lead the way, then glanced over at his brother. "Coming?" Towhee asked simply before nodding goodbye to the other adults and striding after the black youth.