Frogspawn Swamp Nerds trying to dance.

It wasn't often that Towhee strayed from the territory, at least not without a specific purpose, but today she found herself meandering around the bog absently as her thoughts ran wild in her head. She'd dreamed of giving birth last night, her joyful surprise soon giving way to horror when she'd realized that each and every one had been born with some ghastly defect. The nightmare was fading from her mind with every footstep, though it still made her feel restless and uneasy, not to much a little heart sore.

It occurred to her, as she strode through the frozen bog, that despite everything she'd said about her own fertility, there was still some part of her, deep down, that held out hope. How long ago had her heat started? Two weeks? She'd had the same number of partners as the previous year (three), which didn't bode well for her odds. But with two of her partners, they'd mated more than once, several times in Pippin's case. If it had taken, she would know within another week or two, surely, and suddenly Towhee felt buoyed up despite the previous night's horror show.

Her good mood was short-lived when Towhee's attention strayed to the nearby mountains and she couldn't help but think of her single encounter with Arcturus. She slowed to a stop near a mossy log, orange eyes glazed as she found herself wishing she could seek out Hydra. She really wanted to catch up with her adopted sister before too much time passed again. But did Hydra know? What did she think? Would she disown Towhee? But there's no risk, she caught herself thinking before she blinked back to a sharper focus, lips twisting into a strange expression, although hopefully there is a risk... Talk about your conflict of interests.

Penn, however, strayed like 24/7. Ever since he was born, he'd found it difficult to sit still. That had not changed as the months had gone by. If anything, it had merely grown as the spaces he was allowed to roam had gotten bigger. It was becoming such that the territories outside of his pack lands were becoming just as familiar to his paws as the Copse. He had favorite places amongst them and different ways he liked to spend his time in each of them. And that day, he wanted to hunt some frogs. 

He hadn't expected to come across Towhee on this venture. He'd been meaning to make her teach him more of that fighting shit she'd done with him the other day, but he'd been away a lot and she'd had that one guy hovering around her like a super creep when he had been home. Penn took a quick glance around to see if Clingy-McClingster was around before he trotted on over to her to say help.

"Hey!" he called as he walked up and bumped his shoulder against hers, grinning.

Zane was headed north when he crossed a trail he recognized.  It was the chick from before, just... damn.  A little less interesting now.

Still, there was a chance right, that she was still down for a bit of fun?  It wasn't like the season hit and then bam, curtains till next year.  Zane prided himself in an intense knowledge of the female psyche, one that he in no way actually had, so he stepped out with an optimistic stride.

Until he got close, saw that she wasn't alone, and recognized the twerp talking to her.  Holy shit you had to be kidding.  :OI, HEY, DICKBAG?!  WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS THAT?::  He hollered, stopping still where he was a ways off.  What the actual fuck was this kid doing here, chattin up a lady, when he'd left Zane holding the bag a few weeks back?

stevie has good ideas

If she did fall pregnant, at least Arcturus was the least likely to be the father. Despite her misgivings there, Towhee felt her previous flicker of hope bounce giddily as she considered the possibilities. Abruptly, she remembered speaking to Finley about this last summer. "Well, never say never," her godmother's lips echoed from the past. "Sometimes things are just... not what you expect." She needed to get back to expecting the unexpected, which honestly seemed like a good way to approach life in general.

Speaking of which, she jumped when someone jostled against her shoulder. Towhee's head whipped around sharply, only to lock eyes with a smiling Penn. She blinked at him, the sudden tension melting from her even as her thoughts about her possible pregnancy drifted away, though not without leaving a gleeful little twist in the pit of her belly.

"Yo," she greeted, only to have her attention snatched away by the approach of someone else. Towhee hadn't heard his shouting, of course, but she could see the look on his face. Her own contorted in a strange blend of confusion and recognition. He wasn't entirely familiar; where did she know him from...?

It appeared he'd taken Towhee by surprise, but she relaxed into a smile soon enough. He grinned back and was about to go invite her to hunt for frogs with him, willing super Creep wasn't actually lurking somewhere in the shadows, when he was interrupted by some shouting buffoon.

Penn frowned as he glanced in the direction Towhee was squinting. He didn't immediately recognize the guy--after all, he hadn't looked nearly this angry when he'd found Penn in the tree. But, the memory did eventually click, just as Towhee was greeting him with a yo. 

The color drained from Penn's face as he looked back at Towhee, not that she would've noticed because his face is covered in fur but still. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost, but he swallowed thickly and forced a big ol' grin across his muzzle. "Hey, you can fight, right? Yeah, you totally can. This'll be fine," he began to turn away from Towhee towards the angry guy, but looked swiftly back at her to tell her, very seriously, "Oh! And if it happens to come up--It wasn't my fault."

With that, Penn looked back at Zane and smiled as though seeing an old army buddy again. "Heyyyy, sup, man? How you been?" he said, his body tense in preparation to flee if the other wolf decided to give him the beating he may or may not have deserved.

At this point, Zane was tuned in on Penn and completely ignored Towhee. He came in closer and faced both of them, but it was the boy behind that he locked his eyes on while he continued his righteous tirade.  

Dude, for fucking serious, ducking with the food and leaving us with the psycho wolverine?! Total dick move.  Thanks for the fucking setup and all, that chick was mega hot, but low fucking blow.  You owe me a fuckin dinner with interest, bro.  Zane shook his head, then looked at Towhee.

Hey! Glad to see that other chick didn't murder you.  He'd wondered for like... 5 minutes if she was going to be okay before promptly forgetting all about her.  Until he crossed her scent again.  See? Thoughtful.

She continued to quirk a brow at the stranger, trying to place him, when she sensed Penn was saying something to her. Towhee glanced at him only in time to catch the last bit. Her face pinched in confusion but then Penn and the stranger were talking rapidly to one another. Towhee could've attempted to follow along (although she could no longer see Penn's face to lipread) but she was too caught up in blinking between the two and assessing their body language, which spoke volumes to her.

She was just about to intervene and possibly tell this dude to back off her little brother when he actually turned directly toward her and said something utterly nonsensical. But it was exactly the kind of jogging her (at the time, hormone-fogged) memory needed. They had nearly banged that night, before Wraen had come along and taco blocked her by eating her taco and not in the sexy way.

Towhee locked eyes with the stranger again and replied, "So you saw that and decided to bounce? I thought dudes were supposed to be into—" And then she abruptly remembered her younger brother standing there. Towhee glanced shiftily at Penn and didn't finish her sentence, instead changing tack to say, "Anyway, how do you two know one another...?"

Whoever he was laid into him verbally, but didn't make a move to attack. Penn assumed it was because he was intimidated by Towhee, which he totally got. Towhee looked like she could dead lift a building and the whole I'm too deaf to convey tone thing made her seem like a cold, unfeeling machine. Which she wasn't, probably. But in any event, it worked out well for Penn, so he let himself relax just a touch.

"Hey, I had kids to feed," Penn retorted indignantly, even though it was absolute crap. He'd meant to feed only himself, in spite of whatever lofty ideas he'd had at the time about his ability to be selfless in the moment. The fact that he'd given the meal to Fenn meant he wasn't entirely terrible, though. Either way, had the meal gone to himself or with Fenn, he'd fed kids with it so it's not really a lie.

Penn wasn't sure the guy had even heard him as he turned his attention to Towhee. He frowned at the pair of them, wondering what they were talking about and why Towhee had suddenly stopped her comment and given him a weird look. "I could ask you the same," Penn retorted, deciding it was better to deflect the question with a rather impertinent comment than to actually answer it.

Zane laughed.  Fuck yeah I got out of there! I like my parts where they are, thank-you-very-much!  And so do a shit load of others, he said with a lift of his eyebrows and a big ol' smirk.  Aww yeah, Zaney-boy, still got it.

Zane was pretty dumb.  Dumb enough that when Penn said he had kids to feed, he didn't consider how young the kid was himself.  Fuck, little dude had little dudes?!  Hell, man, gotta give a dude some warning.  I didn't even fuckin know the thing had food back there, I thought it was just mad n shit.  About clawed my fuckin face off.  This face ain't made for clawin.  Ain't that right, babe?  Zane made another glance at Towhee, this one with a suggestive smirk.  He still hadn't counted out the whole post-season bang thought.  Unless this chick was little dude's baby momma? Shit, he didn't really want to throw down here today.

Penn threw the question back at her and Towhee blinked, then decided to hell with tact. He was her younger brother, sure, but he wasn't that young anymore. "I was gonna fuck him," she said baldly, then turned toward Zane's flapping face, not long before he dropped a "babe" on her. Towhee's face puckered like she'd licked a lemon.

She didn't bother dignifying that with an answer, though Towhee used her powers of deduction to sort out the conversation going on between these two and decided, "I don't have a dog in this fight, so I'ma go. You okay?" Towhee did think to tack on before making any moves to depart, looking at Penn. Zane seemed a little, well, zany... but ultimately harmless. She couldn't pick up on tone but they appeared to be bantering more than anything particularly serious.

Penn had not expected Towhee to hear him, nor had he expected her answer. He blinked rapidly at her, thinking he must've misunderstood. He looked back at Zane, certain he must've misunderstood. He was young, but he sort of knew what fucking was. It sounded gross. And Towhee was... Well, Towhee was not his type, so it struck him as even more disgusting than it otherwise would have. Whatever it really was.

"Gah, whyyy," he grimaced, leaning away from her, "Euggghh.. I'm a child, damn you.' Penn shook his head, trying to shake away the willies that were creeping all over his shoulders. He looked back at Zane, cringing visibly as he directed his words back towards him again. He hardly listened. "Yeah, yeah, whatever man, it's my bad" he said, shaking his head again and turning away from them both.

Penn looked at Towhee as she attempted to excuse herself and shook his head quickly. "You stay, I'll go, and don't ever tell me what you did or almost did again," he requested, making sure her eyes were on his mouth before he trotted off away from them both. That was enough of that mess. And hey, maybe he'd just done Zane enough of a solid that he'd be forgiven for the whole wolverine thing. It certainly wouldn't have been Penn's preference but whatever.

Suddenly she was bailing.  Now, granted... there were definitely finer chicks out there.  Zane wasn't much into the dude-ish ones, but beggars can't be choosers, and something about her presence did scream confidence.  Talk about a turn on.  Still, a dude felt disappointed when a chick shot him down, right? Only natural, even if she was like a... 6, maybe.  Generous 6.5.

((I hate him))

Fortunately little dude took one for the team and bailed instead.  Yeah yeah, maybe not all forgiven, but he wasn't about to track him down to get shit even or anything.  They could be square with this.

So, just you and me.  He gave her a significant look over.  You seemed pretty into it the other day, and so long as crazy doesn't come barging in again, hows about you find out just what Zane here has to offer?  He grinned.  Promise it's the best ride you'll ever get.

Penn had never done anything to deserve this, yet Towhee couldn't help but feel amused at his expense. His reaction was priceless. She was still chuckling about it when he dismissed himself instead. She turned back toward Zane just in time to read his lips, the laughing grin sliding right off her face into a blank mask.

"How about no," she said simply before walking away toward home. It was so strange, the way sex held no appeal to her—kinda repulsed her, actually, at least in this case—except when she was in heat. But Towhee didn't think about it too much, her thoughts instead returning to speculate over the state of her womb.

Tch, your loss, he called after.  He'd totally forgotten what Penn said about her being deaf.  Girl was fuckin crazy not to want to bang with a stud like him, but no matter, Zane wasn't bothered.  Fucking a 6 would probably ruin his reputation anyway.  

Shit, time to go see what he could see elsewhere.  Season was starting, and with it would come loads of desperate chicks beggin him for a good time.  Feeling immensely cheered by the prospect, he turned on his heel and set off across the flatland.