The Sunspire pumped up kids

After getting a quick tour of the mountainous terrain and getting himself sorted out with a quick bite from a fresh cache, Screech double dipped and grabbed a chunk of meat (which looked like a scrappy grey squirrel that had seen better days) and set out to track down the black wolf. Having agreed to make amends, Screech thought the gift would suffice. 

He was skeptical of every shadow, and sometimes would pause along one ridge or another when he thought he saw a canine shape. It took him a bit, but eventually he fell into step with a path that smelled strongly of @Terance and soon, the guy came in to view.

Screech dropped his offering at his own feet and called out, "Hey!"

sorry lmao

terance was on his way back from his patrol. he'd wanted to find seabreeze, who was a counselor by trade and terance found extremely easy to talk to. her presence was enough to calm him down-- he thought, anyway-- but along the way he was stopped abruptly by the same voice that had put him into this mood. he paused, taking in a soft breath, and turned to view titmouse, standing a small distance off with a sorry looking excuse for a gift. what? did he just yank that from the cache and expect to make amends? he didn't even try to pick out something good, it looked days old. terance stared for a moment, his expression blank. 

"welcome to sunspire," he said to the guy, his expression still free of any emotion-- though his tone was rather dry, "did you need something, titmouse?" regardless of the moonspear drama-- which terance was fully willing to leave behind him-- titmouse had not made a good first impression on him, and terance was not too keen on hanging out with him.

The dark-furred wolf turned and regarded him. All Screech wanted to do during those first few seconds was stride on over and somehow sucker-punch the guy; then, as he spoke, the tone of his voice (and his use of Screech's old name) made him feel a stronger urge still: a more focused attack, like a punch in the nuts. Alas, he was here to fix things and make a better impression, not get kicked out.

He opened his mouth and had to close it almost immediately, lest he speak his mind. He grabbed the squirrel and with a flick of his snout, tossed it closer to Terance as if to take another step was beneath him (or maybe just sharing the same air as this rando darkie was an abhorrent idea, and to some extent it was). Just wanted to give you this. Rannoch says I should apologize. And that's why he was there, but so far no such apology had left his lips.

Rather, Screech made a quick correction: My name is Screech, by the way. Only my brothers and sisters can call me that other thing, but that likely wouldn't stop this guy from saying whatever he wanted, he was dark after all. The boy regarded the larger, older wolf with a cool expression on his face, chilly and unremarkable, and then shrugged. But whatever. This is for you if you want it. Sorry.

With that said (and in his mind, over and done with) Screech turned as if to march back the way he'd come.

 

being super vague since sb tried to kill herself last night lmao and idk what will transpire

she had strayed from the spires and come down from the height of her mania, and now it was time for the depression.  her heat had come on strong now and added its own mix of unwelcome hormones; mostly, she just isolated.

but she desired his company.

although she knew in her brain that it was her heat that made her want to be near him (and that she should do literally anything but seek him out) she could not shake the memories of what had happened the night before — she needed a distraction.

when she found him, he was with company.  titmouse?  but he was.. hurt.  very hurt.  she remembered last time she tried to comfort him and kept her trap shut, ghosting closer to the boys.

was this guy seriously offended that terance didn't know his name? was he fucking serious? "sorry, screech," terance corrected, but couldn't stop himself from adding, "might've known that had you told me, but fine, i'll call you screech." he stared at the squirrel that was tossed closer to him, eyeing it suspiciously. somehow, terance believed it was poisoned. "i already ate, but thanks, apology accepted, don't worry about it," he said, and as screech turned to go, terance suddenly found himself hit in the face with a sack of bricks. 

"seabreeze," he muttered under his breath, turning his head to see the pale figure of the packs delta. she was, honestly? mesmerizing, and he felt himself get weak at the knees as she approached. but he knew what this was-- it was heat, and she needed to be... somewhere, not out in the open, that's how that sort of thing worked, right? liffey had the right to breed-- seabreeze had to be kept away from harms way. "seabreeze you-- need, you need to-- what are you doing?" he fell over his own words. he hoped screech was leaving.

It wasn't a sense of importance which fueled his need to correct Terance (in regard to his name) although, having it come across that way didn't even factor in to the kid's mind. He just didn't want to be known as Titmouse or the less intimidating Tit, and figured the correction was best done hastily. The way the other guy took the remark made Screech bristle. He didn't like the tone of his voice, and turned back to state as much - when a strange aroma suddenly filled the air. It was intoxicating; soon enough Screech forgot all about his issue with the darkie and was looking around for the source.

His ears turned when Terance spoke a name, then folded back, but he regarded the new face with a mixture of drunken curiosity and suspicion in equal measure. Something about the stranger was familiar - but more important, she had stopped him in his tracks. While Terance fumbled, Screech took the opportunity the slide closer, unable to stop the light swagger to his step. Jeeze man, don't harass her. If she wants to hang out, let her hang out. You have like, no game.

Okay, so neither did Screech — he still didn't know how babies were made for crying out loud — but he didn't want to leave yet, and hoped to garner some attention from the perfumed lady.

she hated how much the attention focused on her.  absently, she wondered how long this man-commanding magic would last.  how manipulative!  it had never been like her to think like that.

but she had a need to be wanted; an itch that needed metaphorically scratched.  so she took it in stride.

she did not like the way titmouse — screech — accosted her dark-furred friend; but his fumbling did confuse her.  she needed to.. needed to.. what?  are you alright?

game.  wait, what did that mean?  she didn't think terance was trying to play.. or.  wait.  oh my god.  her ears flatten to their sides and she turns her head from them both but cannot bring herself to move.

an overwhelming amount of protectiveness and-- was he feeling possessive?-- rose up in him. screech-- no, fuck that-- titmouse was insulting him-- disrespecting him-- challenging him. that's what this was now, terance realized, titmouse was trying to one up him-- and for seabreeze, who-- to terance-- was not a prize to be won. 

and that was it. "titmouse, get lost," terance said sternly, his gaze narrowed, "seabreeze you're-- in heat, you gotta... i don't know, i don't think you can be out in the territory-- we gotta find rannoch and liffey." he had turned to the pale delta, turning now protectively to block screech from her. his voice was softer with her, kinder, but he was still visibly dazed.

Screech didn't really know what was going on. He was just trying to be silly, the way he was with Redshank. That's about all the socialization he'd ever had -- Redshank, his best friend, with their wrestling and rough talk. This was a case of "boys will be boys" but it wasn't working so well. Terance wasn't having it, and even had the audacity to boss Screech around.

So far the only wolf who could do that was Rannoch, out of respect. Screech had no respect for this darkie and took the order poorly. He scoffed, giving both wolves present a pointed look (kind of like he'd just licked a lemon). He wanted to say something and opened his mouth, but was cut off by the strange slew of words that poor Terry fumbled through.

Wow dude, you're really bad at this, he cajoled with a little more animosity in his tone, She's a respectable lady who doesn't need you to defend her. If you think she's hot, then say she's hot. Of course, Screech wasn't aware that Terry's linguistic error hadn't been an error at all; he'd said heat and the boy thought he'd meant to say something else, ignorant to the real implications here.

The boy rolled his eyes. Sorry, Seabreeze is it? I'm new here — maybe you can show me around? At least give this guy some time to come to his senses and untie his tongue. I think he has a thing for you, but you look smart - you probably know that. Maybe he'd try and take her from him too? Just to make things a little sweeter overall once Screech launched himself up the social ladder.

she was struck dumb.  her mouth opened and shut a few times as the tension between the two boys grew.  her heat had left her tender and wanting, but this was not the outcome she desired.  she had fleetingly imagined the three of them together, maybe even at the same time, before the warmth crept to her cheeks and brought on a new wave of embarrassment.

no, that was the heat talking.  god, what was she?  this was what she'd gotten for sticking around.

she grew worried as screech became more belligerent, and then turned to her expectantly.  no!  no, no.  she couldn't —

we've met before, actually.. she fumbles, yeah, it's seabreeze.  look, um, i'll show you around some other time.  for now i think i'm gonna .. uh, she says, before her frightened eyes sought terance's gaze.  go.

and with that she turned to leave, so long as nobody stopped her.

terance was not violent by nature-- it just wasn't how he was raised. but there was too much testosterone and too many hormones floating in the air for him to remain completely civil. his last remaining shred of decency held him grounded-- and it only remained because he didn't want seabreeze to see him so agitated or... hostile? was that what he was being? his expression hardened. "it doesn't matter what i think of her-- it's not the time, were you born yesterday? she needs to get somewhere safe and secluded--" his attention turned to seabreeze, "--liffey, liffey will help, i can take you to her." 

and then titmouse started... was he shooting his shot? now was not the time? and not that terance actually had a thing for her, because he didn't-- he barely knew her and that would be ridiculous. and she just broke up with some guy she seemed pretty in love with-- and lyra? it just didn't seem like good timing. but he didn't need to be thinking about this, not right now. 

seabreeze held his gaze-- it was frightened, and terance had never felt so horrible in his whole life. was this his fault? was he scaring her. "i'm so sorry, seabreeze," he said after her, giving her the opportunity to leave-- because he didn't trust himself if he followed her, and certainly didn't trust titmouse to not follow her. when she started off, he turned back to the one-eyed asshat standing before him, moving to block his path should he try to follow him. "what is wrong with you? leave her alone," he said, the fur along his shoulders bristling.

Although the kid talked a big game and tried to make it seem like he knew what was up, he really didn't (like, ever). Seabreeze looked frazzled and ready to leave but it wasn't the girl he had his sights on, but Terance. Screech wanted to get under his skin for some reason and it appeared to be working. Maybe he wanted the darkie to show his true self to someone — validate Screech's view of him and his kind — and so far that seemed to be happening. Terance looked like he was ready to tear Screech a new asshole, and then he was veering after Seabreeze as if she was in dire need of protection.

Screech? Well, Screech just watched. He had no interest in chasing after the girl even with his blood boiling, and his body reacting to the scent of her body. He was ignorant about the cause-and-effect of everything that had transpired since her arrival. A part of him probably wanted to pursue something, but it was a vague and muddy thought in the back of his mind. Nah, he'd rather just put Terry in his place — somehow turn the tables with this one conversation and prove, either to the wolves present or just himself, that he was more than a shitty little Omega and wannabe-ally to the mighty Rannoch.

So, Terance intercepted nothing but a one-eyed glare; as he herded Seabreeze away, Screech had already given up on the situation and had ceased goading the Beta and began shuffling along, turning his back on the darkie. Sure, sure, take her somewhere private and do your thing. Whatever you want, mister Beta. The boy's tail fluffed and twitched in the manner of an irritated cat, but he dropped the topic soon after, and would leave them to their dirty business if he wasn't further interrupted.

Game over, man. This wasn't so fun anymore.