Sun Mote Copse lots of people like to make believe they're living.

backdated to whenever the pack decide to leave for the Glade (too lazy to check)

Nope.

Penn's frown deepened as he heard them talking amongst themselves. He'd happened upon them inadvertently and had decided to amuse himself by eavesdropping. There was nothing else going on that was at all interesting. He spent most of his time moping and feeling suffocated, so for one moment, it had seemed like a nice change of pace. Until he'd heard what they were talking about. Then he'd gotten pissed.

Penn slithered back and away from the gathered when the summons came for the rest of the pack to join. He had no interest in going with them to some other woods. No interest in being with them at all anymore. He'd only stayed for @Fennec, to give her time to decide that coming with him again was what she wanted. But he saw her with her family. He knew what cards were on the table. She would want to stay, and that simply wasn't an option for him.

Penn didn't stop until he was near the Northern borders where he hesitated briefly. There was a moment when he wondered if he was really handling this the right way, if maybe... But no. He was not the type to question himself. He went with his gut, and he didn't change his mind. Fenn would understand, or she wouldn't. It didn't really matter. She had a family to console her if she was upset. Penn had... Well, Penn had to go.

Fennec heard the summons, and was on her way when she passed Penn.  It was by chance that she heard him, but he always was distinctively loud.  He and Bronco made it easy to follow like that.  She couldn't catch up, but that didn't matter, because as they went further and further Fennec realized what was happening.  And at that point, she got upset.

Upset... is an understatement.

PENN, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!  Part of the scream-volume of her yell was to make sure it carried over the rain, the other was the sheer rage that pounded in her veins as soon as it became apparent they were approaching the borders.  Initially she'd thought he was just ducking a summons, and she was fully intending to make fun of it with him and laugh it off because no, she didn't need to listen to her parents.  She could just blame it on his "bad influence".

She didn't think he was going to fucking cut and run on her.

Penn definitely hadn't expected her to catch him. "Shit..." he muttered as he stopped and turned to face her wrath. She was pissed. He figured he knew why, though there was a brief moment where he had to think if there'd been anything else he'd done recently that might've put her in a rage. It was only a moment and then he concluded that his gut was probably right--she knew he was trying to bail.

Shit indeed.

"Good god you can be loud, woman," he shot back, trying to deflect her anger, "You probably just sent all the seagulls on the coast flying."

Assuming he was leaving was a leap in itself... it was entirely possible that he was just innocently walking towards the border or something similar.  Fennec's assumption was mostly based on three things.  One - they'd just been summoned, why would he pick now to take a walk?  Two - he'd been acting weird since they got here.  Weirder than normal, and that was saying something.  Three - he hadn't come found her to come along.  He'd bailed before, and the signs were all there.

Good, I hope one takes a shit on your head while it's at it, she cut back, slowing to a stop now that he'd responded and she knew he was within reasonable talking reach.

If you want to act all weird and sulky and whatever, fine, but if you were seriously about to leave without saying anything to me again, that's it.  It was too bad she couldn't really glare at him, but her spiked fur and tone were likely more than enough to show how agitated she was.  I'm done having friends who don't respect me enough to make my own fucking decisions.

God, that wasn't even what she'd wanted to say, it just... came out.  It was true, though.  Bronco, Fig, mom, dad... some had said it was okay, but none of them had wanted her to go the first time.  She'd thought Penn was different, and maybe that was why it hurt so bad now.  She didn't know if she'd have said yes, but fuck him for not even bothering to care.

No dice. She was mega pissed, but her words drove his own hackles to prickle. He'd been weird and sulky, eh? What did she know about it? What right did she have to judge him for that? She knew he didn't want to be here, and yet he was, and someone was being real damn ungrateful about it. Someone who was acting pretty damn put out over not getting to make her own choices when she'd been rather silent about what her choice was going to be.

"Then what's your fuckin' decision, Fenn?" he snapped back, "'Cause I asked you a couple of times on the way here and Fig probably asked you every five seconds what it was gonna be. Do you want to stay with the pack or do you want to go? I've made no secret about where I stand. I'm out. There's no place for me here and I wouldn't want it if there was one. You want to make your own choices, fine. Make them. But hurry the hell up because I'm not waiting around anymore."

It wasn't fair of him. He knew it wasn't an easy decision for her to make, choosing between him or her family. But he wanted it to be easy for her. He wanted there to be no hesitation from her about it. That wasn't fair either, but... well, here we are.

Of course her statement was going to lead to that.  It was the perfect setup for an ultimatum, but even though she walked straight into it, she wasn't prepared.  It did make the decision easier, though, because no way in hell was she leaving right now just because Penn couldn't fucking deal with himself.

You could have told me you were in such a hurry.  We've been here what, a week?  Just because you don't think you have family here doesn't mean I have to pretend like I don't either.  She didn't care if that hurt.  She didn't know why she was so mad... except that she felt like she wanted to cry, and she was in no way going to do that right here.  The thought of leaving her dad and mom right now, before she'd even gotten to spend any amount of time (it seemed), felt wrong.  Him rushing her to it only made it worse.

Fine, go.  Don't bother waiting up.  Fennec turned and started off in a random direction into the territory, too mad to even really worry about where she was heading.  She could feel the telltale hitch in her breath, and there was no way she was going to the meeting now.

He'd been afraid of this moment, when she would finally make her choice. Somehow, he'd always known that it wouldn't be him. No one ever chose him. Crow had left. Sugar Glider had left. His parents had left. He'd always been the one left behind, so he'd tried to break the trend by being the one to do the leaving. It had worked, for a time. But here they were, and though she hadn't exactly said it, all Penn had heard of her words were the ones that were always haunting him in the dark corners of his mind that he liked to pretend didn't exist.

Just because you don't have a family.

Penn had never really been angry with her before. She was a pain in the ass. She was rude, she was blunt, but she was perfect to him. This time, he was angry because this time he was hurt. He stared tight-lipped at her as she told him to go, stood still as glass as she turned and walked away. It didn't even occur to him to go after her because his prophecy had been self-fulfilled. He would never be someone's choice. They would always leave him. He would always have no one.

He too turned and left.