Redhawk Caldera No, he's not on any flatbread.

Apparently, the pack had grown too populous to sustain, large game having become scarce in their hunting grounds. Towhee had many, many thoughts on how to address these matters, though she thought of none of them now. She was too busy peering down at her younger siblings and trying to hold their attention long enough to tell them a story in ptero. Obviously, she didn't expect them to understand much of it, but she wanted them to experience the sign language and start learning words as early as possible. Plus, they should learn all about the Redhawks' history!

-My first spoken words were 'get out,' you know,- she was saying. -Phox and I were were near the borders when a three-legged coyote suddenly attacked me. We would've killed her, but then a big black wolf appeared, followed shortly after by your mom and dad. Unfortunately, both trespassers escaped.- Towhee's lip curled at the memory, though she quickly smoothed out her expression lest she scare @Clover, @Fiadh, @Tegan and @Lucca. -Anyway, I killed that coyote a couple weeks later, with the help of a... friend.-

Someone must have passed gas. The Xi obviously hadn't heard it but suddenly the rancid smell permeated her nostrils and her eyes actually watered. -Dang!- she signed, pushing herself into a sit. She waved a foreleg in the air, then crooked her paw and held it to her nose. "Which one of you was that?" she wondered out loud, her voice sounding even more garbled than usual because she was holding her breath.

not it! tegan was not the culprit (this time), and instead made a disgusted face and hacked loudly. he was actually quite comfortable listening to towhee's story-- and though he wasn't sure he understood it, he hardly understood real language anyway, so the silence that towhee's language required was actually quite comfortable to the young boy. that fart, however, was not. inturrupting his own silence, tegan let out a string of babbles aimed at @Clover, who he immediately blamed for the profanity. 

could she not see how she was interrupting something so important?! regardless of who it actually was, tegan was so disgruntled by the interruption and by the smell, he accidentally let loose a good one himself-- the stress did not hold back. he sat still for a moment, almost shocked, before sticking his tongue right back out at clover.

The pups fussed among themselves over the stench reeking up the den's interior. Towhee didn't hear Tegan's additional contribution, though she felt it; the den floor vibrated tellingly beneath her hindquarters and she felt it in the pads of her paws. She couldn't be sure which pup was to blame, so she squinted in bemusement at the foursome, then shook her head.

When the odor started to fade, Towhee motioned for the puppies to pay attention. -She's more of an acquaintance than a friend, especially since she's an outsider. Did you see that word?- Making certain they were watching, she repeated it, then spelled it out: -O-U-T-S-I-D-E-R. Any wolf that isn't part of our pack is an outsider.-

But she had been telling them stories, specifically about the Redhawks' history, and now she paused and considered another one to share. -I was born in the winter, which is when it gets really cold outside. Something called snow falls from the sky, covering the earth. When I was very little, so much snow fell and it grew so cold that we had to move from our den to a cave. And then the snow blocked the entrance, so we were trapped!-

She paused dramatically, orange eyes flung wide as she peered at the pups. Of course, they'd hardly know what she was saying and couldn't possibly be following along with her story very well, if at all. But she was enjoying herself, especially knowing that this early exposure to ptero would help them one day communicate with her effectively. Heck, she might even be able to carry on conversations with them before anyone else could!

I welcome the others to hop in anytime! :)

once the stench had settled, tegan was once again drawn in by towhee's strange movements. what was she saying? he couldn't tell. but there was one moment that towhee made the same motion a few times. it seemed important. still unsure exactly what it meant, tegan repeated it with flimsy limbs after the second time towhee mimed it. -outsider- he seemed to agree, though the motion had no real meaning to him. -outsider outsider outsider- he made the motion over and over, the number of times he did it guaged completely on how towhee reacted to his movement.

then he continued to watch.

the rest of the story, though made no sense, was exciting. his little tail tip-tapped against the den ground, puppy-teal eyes alert. he didn't really follow any source of emotion throughout the story, however-- at least until towhee suddenly had an expression that screamed 'oh no!' 

tegan leaned forward.

Three of the four pups apparently couldn't be bothered to pay attention. Towhee didn't mind. They were young yet. Besides, it thrilled her when a rapt Tegan leaned forward eagerly, quite obviously ensnared. Letting the other three meander away to nurse, sleep or poop in a corner, the Xi focused all her attention on him.

-We were stuck in that cave for days, maybe even weeks. Half the pack was stuck on the other side, including your dad. They dug and dug and dug. It took forever but finally they broke through and saved us.- Although Towhee didn't remember any of this herself, she knew the stories well. And she made a point to leave out any mention of Oriole's death; that certainly wasn't age appropriate.

-Hey, Tegan,- she signed a moment later, changing tack, -can you say 'outsider' again? Show me!-

tegan still didn't understand the story... but he liked listening to towhee. his owl-eyes were locked on her dark paws and lips, watching with great interest. the story seemed to be over, because towhee stopped, but tegan didn't really understand it-- so he was still waiting for something. he stared, and towhee eventually picked back up. unfortuntely, tegan wasn't aware that this wasn't part of the story, so he didn't really understand that this was actually directed at him.

insteda, tegan mimed his own name, which he'd recognized from previous 'conversations' with towhee. -tegan- he mimed back, -tegan tegan tegan.-

She smiled when he signed his own name back to her, repeatedly. -Yes,- she signed emphatically, -you're Tegan!- Towhee reached out a paw and poked him gently in the chest with one toe, before doing the same to his nose. -And I'm Towhee,- she reinforced, jokingly smushing her own nose for the pup's educational amusement.

-But can you make this sign?- she asked again, pausing and then keeping her movements slow as she repeated, -Outsider?-

-tegan- he repeated. even though he didn't fully understand it, the word felt connected to him.  -towhee- he signed, watching her with a curious gaze. that was her, he also decided. towhee's booping helped with all this explaining, and even though he didn't actually know what outsider meant, the action was pretty singled out to him-- with that amount of times she did it and all that. 

-outsider- he signed, -outsider, outsider, outsider- tegan copied her without really realizing she wanted him to, he just liked to do it. the movement was fun to him, though he didn't really know why towhee had made the movement so many times-- and so defined.

"Good job!" Towhee praised (and simultaneously signed) when he parroted the word several times. "You're gonna be really good at ptero," she decided aloud. There was no particular reason she felt this way, she simply did. Hopefully all four pups would grow up fluent.

-Maybe I'll show you the cave someday,- Towhee thought "out loud" in the next moment, looking speculatively at Tegan, then his brother and sisters. -When you're older. A lot older,- she decided.

She wanted to try to wrangle the pups' collective attention again, make another attempt at story-telling in ptero. But they were much too little and short of attention right now. Towhee sighed but smiled affectionately at them, patting their heads and licking their noses as she signed, -See you later,- and headed out to attend some of her other duties.

We can work this toward a wrap, if you like! 10/19: I'm gonna ship it to the archives!