Heron Lake Plateau I couldn't find a suitable 90s song for this title.

Heat thread! Her heat will last from Feb 7th to 14th. AW but (obviously) @Phox.

It wasn't often that she was parted from Phox but on this morning Camilla needed to stretch her legs. She woke with an itch to her skin, a need to move, and was roaming before the crack of dawn. By the time she returned to the lakeside where she'd started, the winter sun was beaming brightly across the plateau and trying to warm the territory up. Despite having run a fast patrol of the borders she was still feeling that itch, and it was starting to really bother her. With breath pealing out of her in gulps and gasps, Camilla tried dashing along the lake's edge - first one way, then the other - to try and work away this feeling. All that she really did was tire herself out while spreading a particularly sharp scent she hadn't noticed yet.

Things had, for the most part, settled in the Redhawk ranks. At least that was the way Phox perceived things. Nobody was doing anything crazy, things with Camilla and Towhee were going well in their... whatever it was. He had actually been looking for Towhee this morning, but instead he came across Camilla and that same (yet different) smell he had caught which had prompted him to seek out Quixote not too long after, uh... boning Camilla.

With his mind at rest that no matter what happened, their children would be welcomed into the world, he slid up alongside Camilla. Hey, he said softly, How you feeling? Phox's body was, of course, itching to get right to the point, but that just didn't mesh with his personality.

She'd come down with a cold seemingly overnight, so not only couldn't Towhee smell properly, she had become a (disgustingly loud) mouth breather. Despite feeling under the weather, she pushed herself to patrol like usual, though she felt rather worn out afterward. She made her way back toward the top of the falls, to snuggle down in the thicket for a long nap. Towhee couldn't decide whether she hoped Phox and Camilla were there (to use as pillow and blanket, respectively, of course) or not (was she contagious?).

They weren't there, as it turned out, and Towhee never made it there either. She found herself crossing paths with the husband and wife and wearily approached them with a dull (and even more distorted than usual), "Hey, binches."

She did a few runs to-and-fro before Phox made an appearance, and the woman's spontaneous zoomies (zoomie-ing? zooms? z... whatever) stopped as abruptly as they'd started. The boy came up behind her and his voice made the fur at the back of her neck raise, and the sensation drifted down her spine; her head whipped around and then her shoulders, as she spun in place with more energy and enthusiasm than was appropriate, and she dipped in to a play bow. Camilla didn't know how her own biology worked and thought she was feeling antsy and playful, not outright horny.

Her butt was raise in the air and pointing away from Phox. Her tail fanned about, flashing silver in the light, and she wriggled in place, expecting Phox to play a game with her — utterly oblivious to the increasingly obvious state of her own body. She was also oblivious to the approach of Towhee until the woman was right behind her; when she spoke her gnarly voice startled Camilla (mostly because it felt like someone was talking at her butt), and Camilla twisted around again, slapping the earth and smiling dumbly at her sister-in-law like nothing was amiss.

At least now she was flashing Phox the goods rather than his sister.

Phox knew that he wouldn't be making any moves unless Camilla asked him to (or maybe if Towhee asked him to), and the energy she was putting off was far more playful than romantic. That didn't bother him too much, especially since the whole thing still felt so new and foreign to him. He would do his best to keep his dick out of the picture. Phox caught a glimpse of Towhee right before she spoke, startling Camilla a bit. The two of them seemed to have a much better relationship now, perhaps because Camilla was to be the vessel for Towhee's nieces and nephews.

Camilla's sudden change of orientation put the strong smell even closer to him, and it took a whole lot of willpower to keep himself from mounting her right then and there. Phox licked his lips and swallowed, then moved so he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Camilla. Hey, he said, giving Camilla a sideways glance.

Towhee noticed nothing out of the ordinary as Camilla spun to face her, although the woman's overt playfulness earned a curious arch of her brow. "Nah, you don't wanna come anywhere near me," she said in a voice made even more difficult to understand because of her congestion. "I've got a cold," she added, unaware that it was very obvious, not just because of the vocal distortion but also due to a rope of snot currently dangling from her left nostril.

"Not so close," she warned when Phox flanked Camilla. Towhee took a step back from them. "What're you two up to?" she added, clearly still wanting to hang out, albeit from a safe distance.

Camilla heard the change in Towhee's voice and was focused on her for that split second where her husband came up alongside her, and then she heard him and that drew her attention away. She didn't notice the sweet smell of illness drifting from her sister-in-law because she was so swiftly distracted by the sight of Phox - leaning against him for a moment prior to playfully nudging at his cheek.

All Camilla wanted right now was some fun; her tail fanned her own scent around as she wagged it happily, and she began to groom at - and lightly nip at - the boy's cheek fur until she became so engrossed in the process that she lost track of time. She tugged at his neck fur too, jostling him a little, as if trying to incite play out of him. 

Mmm, play with me? She requested, her voice a little huskier than she intended as she mumured close to his ear.

Phox took a step back at Towhee's words, not wanting to get sick himself and definitely not wanting Camilla to get sick at a time like this. He was about to answer his sister's question when Camilla interrupted, though he wasn't at all displeased by this (the opposite, in fact). I suppose we're playin', he said, answering Towhee's question with Camilla's help. No hesitations to agree to that plan. Maybe you can play ref, he suggested to Towhee.

Not waiting for an answer or comment, he attempted to nip at Camilla's front left paw, hopefully grabbing it and tugging her gently toward him.

"Ya," Towhee replied to her brother's comment, "sure." She took a step backward as he lunged for his mate's paw, then a few more for good measure. She looked around and saw no one and nothing, so she returned her attention to the twosome. Her eyes, previously dull with weariness, gleamed a bit like wildfire as she watched them frolic.

He agreed and before she could react, lunged for a paw. The woman let out a girlish squeal that transitioned in to laughter as she tried to avoid him; Camilla wasn't trying very hard. Whatever fancy footwork she employed would cause her to careen close to Phox so she could reach at his scruff with her teeth, taking little nibbles of his neck fur or nudging at his jaw line, only to duck away if he began to react to her. Camilla was fast on her feet. She ducked around him and circled him a few times, spinning on her heels or diving close for the physical contact, until she was all out of moves and trying to catch her breath.

Towhee seemed amenable to that idea, as far as he could tell, when he lunged for Camilla's leg. It seemed her idea of playing wasn't too far removed from his own, and he let himself be tugged and grabbed at however she wished. It didn't take too long for Camilla to pause to catch her breath, and Phox let his nose slide under her chin for a moment, pushing up as a show of affection and general ease. Even now, Phox was baffled as to how he had fallen into this situation with Camilla, although that was far from a complaint. She was an odd one, but he liked her.

He glanced at Towhee briefly, finding her presence comforting as always, even as she looked at him with fire in her eyes. He didn't let his gaze linger too long, and instead turned back to look Camilla in the eye. Do you still want kids? he asked. His face grew more serious now, knowing that no matter what answer she gave, he would be happy to comply.

They roughhoused for a few minutes, then Phox tapped the brakes. Towhee tilted her head as he looked her way. Even though he turned his attention to Camilla a beat later—and even though she was deaf and couldn't possibly hear the question, nor read it from this angle—something prompted the Beta to loudly answer, "Yes." So what if the question wasn't directed at her? So what if she hadn't actually heard a question at all? "Yes," she said again, "do it already."

Her attention focused on Phox but was temporarily caught by Towhee's outburst of affirmatives; then all she wanted was to be close with her husband, and his affection made that more of an imperative. She didn't answer his question except to press against him, murmuring low notes of desire — the game had turned in to something more physical now, and she plead with her eyes that he'd do something, but not even Camilla knew what she was after at this point.

We can probably wrap up here!

She didn't exactly answer, and as much as he loved Towhee, her answer wasn't the one he needed to hear right now. But Camilla's actions were enough to have his chest rumble with want. Instinct took over then, and under Towhee's watchful eye (lol), Phox did his part to keep the Redhawk lineage going. This would, of course, continue throughout the week in order to ensure that Camilla had taken (and—let's be honest—because it was a whole lot of fun).

OK! Gonna fade.

Their games went from being childish to being adult in a heartbeat; the connection of their bodies evolving from the nonchalance of playing tag and rough-housing a little to something decidedly more lewd, made more taboo perhaps because of the audience of Towhee. Camilla was not shy in her affection at this point - it wasn't unheard of within the Company to be taken by many men or to be a witness of their pleasure, so Camilla wasn't bothered by the fact that her sister-in-law was watching the two of them. All she cared about was making Phox happy.