Sun Mote Copse i'm the pretender, i'm not what i'm supposed to be

The child's eyes widened comically as Arcturus postured. She didn't make the connection between his demonstration and the word "fierce," though she appreciated it all the same. And, of course, she immediately attempted to mimic him. Meerkat puffed up her chest and struck a pose, tail quivering like a poker in the air. She then made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a splutter, eyes bouncing between the adults as if to ask if she'd done it right.

Towhee smiled and patted her head, then motioned for both Arcturus and Meerkat to walk. -"C'MON!"- Meerkat said, needing no further encouragement. She batted at one of his swarthy forelegs, then bounded ahead, only to look back over her shoulder and repeat, -"C'MON!"-

-"Go ahead. I'll bring up the rear,"- Towhee said, mostly to Arcturus. Accordingly, she fell back a few yards. Much as she loved her child, she wasn't going to back off this opportunity to partially foist her on someone else for a few minutes. And it was always interesting to watch her kid interact with their pack mates. It was obvious Meerkat didn't echo her mother's skepticism of Arcturus whatsoever, though had Meerkat ever met a stranger?

Quite possibly they would run across one today, a thought which prompted the Regent to relinquish some of her attention to their surroundings rather than Arcturus and Meerkat. He would keep an eye on her while Towhee kept an eye on everything else.