Heron Lake Plateau Fortress

IDK if sibs wanna pop in, but in case I TAG U ALL!  @Owen @Kite @Phoebe  -- AW though!

The old den had been uncovered from the snow, but it wasn't Quixote's doing -- instead it was Vasa.  She'd had the grand idea that she would make a way cool awesome base for her to hang out in.  The fact that maybe the den might actually get used again in the not-horribly-distant future hadn't entered her mind.  As far as she was concerned, it was totally hers now, and hers alone.  Nobody else allowed!

At least nothing else had moved in.  However, there was no saying Vasa was any good at architecture, as she'd created two super high piles of snow on either side of the entrance that were particularly unstable-looking.  It wasn't quite as crazy as the pile of boxes that her player left on her desk at work, but it was probably getting there.  She sat there between the towers like a dignified sphinx for about a minute, proud of her work, before she heard something on the other side of a bush.  Her ears tipped forward, she hopped up on her feet and dashed over to take a look.  Maybe it was something tasty she could chase!  Or maybe it was just the snow shifting a bit and making a random noise.

Phox needed a break, even if it was a very, very short one. Being glued to Camilla (in more ways that one) was good but exhausting. He had barely eaten or slept since a few days ago, and now he was seeking out a cache. They weren't as full as he had left them a week ago, but that was to be expected with one of their hunters more or less incapacitated. He dug through the thin layer of frozen dirt and snow atop the old kill, pulling out a plump rabbit he had left there some time ago. It wasn't the freshest thing, but it would do.

His head rose when he heard and subsequently Vasa popped out from behind a bush. Phox swallowed the food that was in his mouth before he greeted her. Hey. Vasa, right? He was still working on the names.

She was totally ready for something interesting to be over there and instead it was just some dude at the cache.  Not very exciting there.  She wasn't sure he'd be any fun at all -- it would have been much better if that had been a mobile snack or a sibling.  Bah humbug.

He seemed to know who she was, at least.  Mhmm.  Pause, then she continued almost suspiciously, Wait, who are you again?  It wasn't like he'd been some long-standing figure in her life, so she'd pretty much ignored him thus far and had her own fun.  He was just some dude who was probably family but blah blah, not paying attention she had better things to do.  Just because her parents would totally explain everything if she let them, it didn't mean that she had to listen.

Even though Phox had managed to get their names (mostly) down, it appeared the kids weren't quite there yet. Okay, so they were nearly full-grown now, but that was beside the point. Phox, he replied without skipping a beat. Your mom's brother. And sort of her mom's son, but that was an entirely different and much more complicated relationship that he didn't want to explain for a second time (with the first being Owen). Who knew, maybe Vasa also thought Towhee had hatched a bird just like Owen seemed to believe. Phox wondered if Towhee herself had started that rumor.

You hungry? he asked, glancing down at the half-eaten rabbit at his feet. There's plenty enough to share.

Oh.  Okay.  Cool.  Vasa didn't seem too impressed by that.  So he was her uncle or whatever, but he couldn't possibly be all that cool because she didn't remember seeing him around much.  She didn't remember any neat games or anything like that which involved him, so he had to be Just Uncool™.  Okay, some of that lately was her just being caught up in her own world and not giving a hoot especially if there were noisy siblings to heckle or something else more interesting.  It's not like anyone remembers half the people at a family reunion anyway.

At his offer, she got a somewhat thoughtful look and strode forward a few steps to better examine it, speaking as she did so, I dunno.  I was hoping you were something fun, not food -- but is it fresh? Sniffsniff. If it had been in the cache for like a week or something nah, she'd see if Dad brought back something better, she wasn't that hungry.

Phox scoffed at Vas's reply. She was so incredibly different from Owen, who always had something to say and seemed interested in everything. He wondered if his own kids would be this different... assuming he and Camilla had them. Not only did she seem unimpressed by the food, she was gonna be picky about eating something plucked from the cache, it seemed. This was mildly frustrating to Phox, who thought she should have been grateful for the offer. He narrowed his eyes at her skeptically.

It's food, he said flatly, equally unimpressed with her as she was with him. It appeared they weren't going to get off on a great foot here. Are you one of those picky ones?

What, was she supposed to get all giddy and happy because he could dig something out of the ground that was of questionable quality?  She could have done that herself no prob -- her paws worked, after all.  You know what, even if it had been put there yesterday, Phox touched it, so it was probably gross with contamination from him anyway.

Vasa scoffed, If dad might take us hunting or bring something back he caught why would I want something that's been sitting in the ground forever?  It's not like I'm super hungry anyway.  Spoiled?  Probably.  But remember, she hadn't gone to the cache for food, so it wasn't necessarily super intriguing to start.   I only came over here because you were making noise and I thought it'd be something cool.  So you can just eat it all and be like all -- she then made a bunch of loud snort-snarfling noises that was totally how Phox must sound when he eats.  She was super prim and proper, wasn't she?  And probably going a bit overboard, but at least she seemed amused by whatever mental picture that was giving her, like the evil little troublemaker she was.

Uh-huh, he replied, not willing to give her any further satisfaction and certainly not willing to argue with what amounted to a child in his eyes. She may have been grown on the outside, but clearly she had a lot of mental and emotional catching up to do if she wanted to be thought of as an adult. Next time he wouldn't bother offering her any help; she could count on that.

I've got to get this back to Camilla, he said, then paused only briefly to see if she had any last-minute snarky remarks. She probably did, and he would promptly ignore them and be on his way.

Wow yeah, this dude needed to remove the stick from his rear.  Even Owen was more fun, and that kid was pretty much a wuss.  Then again, maybe half the reason he was more fun was because even if he didn't appreciate her sense of humor, she could push him around and make him do what she wanted.  Must be pretty lame for Phox to live in a world that was soulless and empty, but if he didn't want an invite to the cool club, he could hang out in his drab land of grey.  No wonder he hadn't really played much of a role in their lives.  He was probably too busy collecting the most plain rocks he could find and placing them in regular grid pattern for display.

So Vasa wasn't gonna waste more of her time.  Him leaving was no big loss to her, so she shrugged, and with a you-do-you-lameo, Whatever, she turned back to go see what else was needed to build the best base ever.  At least she knew what had caused that noise.