Sun Mote Copse Everybody hates Monday mornings.

She couldn't any footsteps, though Towhee saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye and her head jerked upward even as she maneuvered herself to stand directly over top Meerkat. She largely welcomed visitors at this point, though not this one. It had been a long time since she'd so viciously thought the word, Outsider. There it was, a flashing neon sign in her mind's eye, and she stiffened, teeth bared and a low growl rumbling in her chest.

Below her, Meerkat lifted her grass-stained face and noticed her mother standing over her. "Hee," she burbled, falling silent and cocking her head so far to the left that it would've been comical if Towhee had been looking. Even as her right ear lifted toward the noise, the baby's eyes spotted the stranger too, a smudge of black beyond the more immediate blades of grass. Head still totally sideways, she stared at him, slowly blinking, and smiled.