The Floodlands You never go to parties.

I'm sure my character hates me. :D

He'd heard Finley's call to Colt, but at the time it had gone in one ear and out the other -- more pressing business going on, y'see. He'd been pretty well chemically leashed to Raven for the past... Wait, how long had it been? Didn't matter really.  Hell, Quixote half expected Colt to just pop out of nowhere to heckle him about it. But he didn't.  In fact, after that howl, Quixote hadn't found any new traces of his friend.  Had he actually done it and gotten the good ol' boot?

The thought occasionally bobbed to the surface of his consciousness until he'd quite had enough of it, finally deciding to waste a siesta to make it go away, figuring he could go back to doting on @Raven without the distraction when he returned.  Colt said he was gonna talk to Towhee about some stuff -- kinda wondering if it went badly, ha, wondering... I'm gonna go see if I can figure out what happened.  Gimme an hour, maybe two?  Or, um, howl if you need me, I guess.  He didn't like leaving her, but being left by his friend wasn't high on the list either.  On the way, he paused a moment to roll in a shrinking snow drift to lighten Raven's scent, mostly just not wanting to leave an interesting trail back to her if possible -- as far as he was concerned, she was his prize, and wasn't keen on sharing.

Eventually he found Colt's trail, following it to where the confrontation with Towhee apparently took place, and then as he feared, it continued out of the territory.  Quixote continued on, hoping to find his friend bunked down somewhere nearby so he could ask what happened, but before he could get too much farther, there was a problem.

There was the wolf he really didn't want to meet right now.  Though her back was to him, the bird was looking right his way.  X had probably spotted him like three minutes ago.  Quixote was suddenly very, very aware that maybe sleeping with the alpha's sister wasn't a great idea, especially at this time of year.  Ok, sure, there were probably a few cases with a different pack arrangement that would have been worse, but if Colt had really stirred up Towhee badly enough that he'd been removed from the pack, Quixote was gonna believe he was on thin ice as well.  Unpredictability, lack of diplomacy, hate of strangers, need he go on?  It was definitely a different mix of feelings than his plain disapproval and dislike from before, but they shared the same base ingredients.

His best bet?  To pretend he didn't even see her, locking his eyes on the ground in front of his nose as he caaaasually tried to turn and exit back to the pack lands.  Doot doot doot, nothing to see here.  Just some guy checking out a scent before heading back home, not someone uncomfortable enough to have to actively think about keeping his fur flat and pace calm.  Plz be nice, bird, no notice.