Heron Lake Plateau for more accurate facts about history, check out Yahoo! answers.

Clover gave her mother an unamused frown before she turned and cantered off - presumably for that hunt she'd been going on about for the last twenty minutes. Fin scrunched her own face up in an exaggerated mime of her daughter's in response, calling out, "You sure you don't want to hear anymore of your crusty ol' mom's stories???" as the girl went. Clover picked up her pace in response, and her mother merely snickered and looked away. She knew her kid appreciated her on some level. They all did. But it felt like just about all of her kids were at the age where they were more interested in hunting and trolling borders than listening to her ramble on about the good ol' days.

Finley bowed low to stretch her legs, swinging forward to stretch her lower back and hind legs as well. She skipped forward a couple of steps as she righted herself and gave her pelt a good shake before she too began to meander. Unlike Clover, she didn't have any interest in hunting that afternoon. Her bum hip made that a bit of a pain in the ass anymore (lol geddit???), but that didn't mean she preferred to spend her time being useless. It just happened to be what she did a good 80% of the time.

So, with boredom settling in, Fin began to sniff at stuff. And that's how this thread begins.

Camilla kept well away from the borders, as she'd been told to do, and had spent most of the day touring the territory on her own. On the rare instance where she'd encounter anyone else, she'd duck away quietly. Sometimes she'd come across the scent of Phox and it would cause a sense of calm to temporarily descend across her, like a healing aura. It had been a couple of hours since she'd seen any sign of him; but with thoughts of him in mind, she'd headed to the northern side of the plateau to find him some sort of gift.

Rather than a gift, she found a voice. It seemed to come out of nowhere — Camilla didn't know every nook and cranny of the plateau pack's claim, and it wasn't like there were many places to hide, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard the shouting voice and looked around, startled. Her tail tucked across her rear and curled to her belly, and she looked around for a moment, terrified that someone might've crossed in to the territory, that maybe someone was hunting for her - and she let out a small whine.

Fin paused in her sniffing when she heard something whining nearby. She tipped her muzzle to look behind her, choosing to peer out between her legs rather than lift her head and look over her shoulders. She canted her head and frowned at the sound. After a few seconds, curiosity got the better of her. She headed towards the source of the noise, only to find ...whoever this was.

"You alright?" Fin asked, quirking a brow at the girl. She did recognize her as the inverted shadow that Phox usually had glued to his heels. It appeared she had gotten unbuttoned from him somehow and was wandering on her own - an activity that was clearly uncomfortable for her. Fin took a casual posture, but didn't lower her gaze from the pale female's anxious face.

The wolf that ambled over to her was older than all the others she'd met, but they weren't as menacing as she expected. Camilla gave her a quick glance at first but when Finley spoke that got her attention, and she watched as the wolf approached with an air of caution; they appeared to be one of the older members of the pack, maybe one of its creators. Camilla's mind briefly went over the prospect of this being Phox's mother — but she push those thoughts aside. She visibly calmed down upon reaching the conclusion that this woman was a) not a man and b) not going to come after her. Perhaps the shouting had been for another reason.

She realized she had not responded to the question, and the quiet moment was stretching on to become somewhat awkward. Camilla swallowed the lump in her throat and, with her eyes sneaking frequent little glances, and said: I am okay, I am.. okay. Which sounded more like a mantra, like she was convincing herself of the fact rather than answering the older woman. When her heartbeat had slowed just a little bit, Camilla decided to try and be better at the whole social thing. She took a shaky breath and added, There was shouting, I thought there was trouble.

Fin didn't move as she waited for her answer, sensing that even the slightest waver might send the girl flying for the hills. She didn't know what the exact relationship between her and Phox was, but there was a 50/50 chance that her son wouldn't thank her for sending his girlfriend away. Of course, the other side of this was that he might be thankful that she finally relieved him of his stalker, but Finley felt like being optimistic that day.

Still, the silence that stretched was a little off-putting, so she was glad when it ended. An easy smile stretched across her muzzle at her confession and Fin relaxed into the conversation. "Oh that was nothing," she said reassuringly, "My daughter was just being bitchy, so I threatened her with some mom-time."

"Nah, I'm due for a nap," Towhee replied when she crossed paths with Clover on her way back from a patrol and the yearling invited her on a hunt, "but feel free to take the eyes with you." She shrugged and the hawk seated on her shoulder leaped into the air, winging to follow the young huntress.

Unburdened now (not that she minded being X's perch), Towhee began loping toward the thicket where she and Phox slept near the head of Fox Falls. On the way there, she came across Finley and Camilla. Unable to resist bearing witness to that particular dynamic, the Beta veered toward them just in time to catch the last few word's to spring from her godmother's lips.

"Did someone say 'mom time'?" Towhee quipped, sidling up beside the Blackthorn and nudging her cheek before blinking over at Camilla and adding, "Hey, Mrs. Phox."

"Mom time" — ?

Camilla had no idea what to make of the comment. She relaxed a little bit because the tone of the suggestion made her think the woman was only joking, but she wasn't very good at picking up those subtleties. 

She would've asked about it if she'd been more vocal, less spineless. But she did feel surprisingly elated when another figure appeared on the scene - for all of three seconds. When Camilla recognized the newcomer to be Towhee, the silver girl shrank a little and looked at the dirt.

Hey, Mrs. Phox. she said, and Camilla felt her face flush with warmth.

The ghostly girl didn't reply immediately, so Fin felt free to turn her head to spy Towhee approaching. "Oh look, a daughter that actually likes me," she said with a grin to no one in particular as she returned the nudge. Her ears pricked at the name Mrs. Phox and she turned again to look at Camilla with a puzzled frown. Not being able to actually read how "Phox" had been spelled, her mind immediately went to Fox.

Her confusion passed quickly enough as she realized her error, but she still felt a little puzzled. Were Phox and this girl an actual item? "Huh. I didn't realize you were a 'Mrs.'" Fin said with a sideways glance at Towhee. She somewhat suspected the beta was screwing with her brother's ...special friend-type person... But she was rather oblivious to a lot of the pack's little dramas these days, so it was quite possible too that she was just out of the loop.

Camilla said nothing and Towhee snorted quietly (she thought—it was actually rather loud). -Oh, she's not. But I like to tease the hell out of them. She's kind of, um...- The Beta didn't know quite how to describe her brother's tag-along without sounding mean. -She has issues,- she clarified simply, shrugging.

This encounter wasn't nearly as entertaining as she'd thought it might be, so Towhee took a breath and clapped the ground with a forepaw. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go nap. Any volunteers to be my pillow?" she joked loudly, eyes panning between Finley and Camilla, fully expecting both of them to decline.

Camilla felt her face flush more dramatically; it was a good thing she had a fine layer of silver fur growing all over her body, or she'd probably have been as red as her husband's namesake — the longer she stood there the more strange she felt, and with the older wolf looking confused and then Towhee signing things she didn't understand, it got to be too much. She grit her teeth for fear she might start bawling on the spot. She didn't hear Towhee redirect the conversation — instead of linger where she felt she was being mocked, Camilla turned and abruptly fled from the pair across the plateau.

Fin was quiet as Towhee explained through ptero about the dynamic between Phox and Camilla. She smirked at her goddaughter when she likely should have been encouraging her to treat the poor girl better, but Camilla was shortly proving the whole she has issues thing to be accurate by fleeing the scene. The Blackthorn frowned after her, then looked at Towhee again.

-Issues you say?- she signed, then switched to speech as a wry grin danced across her face, "I don't suppose the merciless teasing is your way of helping her through those?"

Towhee didn't budge, though her eyes followed Camilla's figure as she fled. "Dude," she said, turning back just in time to catch Finley's quip, "you're the counselor, not me. I'd just fuck her up worse if I even tried... which I'm not gonna."

Shrugging, the mercenary fought back a yawn and began to walk slowly, in such a manner that it was clear her godmother was welcome to join her if she so desired. All Towhee was going to do was seek out somewhere comfortable to flop and catch those z's she'd mentioned.

Fin smirked at Towhee's response, murmuring a quiet "True enough," that she knew her goddaughter wouldn't hear or see. When Towhee began to move, she took a couple steps after her, but only to plant an obnoxious upon on her flank before giving her a smile and turning to head in the other direction. She wasn't eager to get back to napping. She decided instead to take her energy and go find another kid to annoy/"counsel".