Sun Mote Copse we dropped the ball a little on that one.

Pox grimaced as he rolled back onto all fours, his teeth bared in angry frustration as Crow cackled and trotted off into the trees. He didn't like to lose, but he also had learned when to admit defeat. Or at least, when to pretend to admit defeat when really he had decided to hit the pause button and bide his time to prepare for the next round when he would completely destroy his opponent.

We won't say what round he was on with Crow. I don't want to hurt the little guy's pride any further.

He sneezed as he stood and gave his coat a good, hard shake. He ears had been tucked tight against his head, but lifted now that he was confident Crow had stopped calling out taunts over his shoulder as he'd made his exit. This was twice in a row now that he had failed. The first failure was the hunt he'd gone on with his mother and Crow. Smashing his brother's face into the first was supposed to have been his way of recovering from the frustrations of his first failure, but now all he had was a second disappointment to contend with.

Scowling at that thought, Pox trekked off towards the borders of the Copse. It was never a good thing for the young Blackthorn to find himself swallowed whole by frustration. It usually meant disaster was afoot because the more frustration he felt, the more spectacular a thing he would need to do in order to move past it. The boy wasn't certain what sort of spectacular thing he would do this time, but he rarely ever did. The opportunity would present itself eventually, and he would be all about it when it did.

With @Sugar Glider's help, Fennec had managed to explore a larger portion of the glade, but she still wasn't up to snuff completely.  Her current path weaved towards the borders, head warily down, big ears alert.  Every so often they would twitch and she would adjust, sliding along trees and through the brush.

Are there two of you or are you just trying to scare off anything around? she asked, lifting her head and stopping so that she could take a break from navigating.  The call was in response to her hearing Penn, who I'm assuming was making no attempt at being quiet in this patrol.  Her usual droll tone was apparent, but there was a slight curl to her lips.  She had no clue who this was, but that didn't bother her any.

Pox wasn't really paying attention, otherwise he would've sensed the approach of the stranger. As it was, he didn't realize she was there until he heard her voice, at which point he spun with bristled hackles to face her, alarmed. He didn't recognize this girl, which was very rare an experience. He was in the Copse. He was related to just about everyone in the Copse. This girl, though... He had no idea, and it was an unsettling feeling.

He frowned at her question, confused by how it even was one. The boy had not inherited much of his father's sensibility, thoughtfulness, or even his kindnes. And so, he responded impetuously, without thought. "What, are you blind?" Pox snapped peevishly, already in a bad mood without some trespassing stranger asking him stupid shit, "Obviously there's only one of me. And there's nothing around to even scare. At least, there wasn't till you showed up..."

"Who are you? What're you doing here?" he continued, not pausing to allow her to respond to his rudeness. Likely someone had told him at some point about the newcomer, but Foxegrine Blackthorn was not known for listening when anyone spoke. He was known more for the opposite.

Fennec's eats shot up as she was immediately jumped on, verbally.  There were times when she would be offended by such a thing, but this kid sounded so young (around her age) and so petulant that it was pretty easy to laugh it off.  

Yeah I'm blind, but at least I know how to walk in a forest without tripping over my feet. she replied without a lot of heat or tone at all.... irritatingly calm was kind of her go to.  It was a big claim, because she definitely did trip more often than not, and she had no idea if he did.  He didn't need to know that though.

Fennec.  I'm just here until I can go home.  Who're you?  Besides being rude.  She'd stopped, unable to walk and talk at the same time consistently without guidance.  So she now stood stock still a short distance from him, she could tell.  Boys really were the worst.

Pox scowled at her response. He wasn't buying her ascertion that she was indeed blind--her tone (or lack of tone) made it sound like sarcasm to him. He had spent too much time with his mother to readily assume strangers weren't being facetious with him, especially when they made such an unheard of claim. Unheard of in his short experience with the world, anyway.

"Whatever," he muttered dismissively, his ears pressing forward and eyes narrowing as she continued on to introduce herself. The name actually did strike some bit of familiarity with him, but he dismissed that as well. He'd have to think about it more to figure out where he knew it from and he just didn't do things like that.

Whe the question was turned around on him, Pox straightened a bit and answered her with a tinge of pride in his voice, "Penn Blackthorn." Something instinctive had taken hold of him as he spoke. He didn't like this jerkface girl at all, but he still felt somewhat compelled to impress her. And what was more impressive than being a Blackthorn? As for the name he gave, he had reached the age that he found only embarassment in the nickname he'd been called since birth. Penn was much cooler and way better fit the awesome young man he had become.

That being said, she was still a jerkface, and he was still a little piece of crap. "Feel free to go home any time," he retorted, "No one's stopping you." He shuffled his paws as though he was going to leave. Which he was. He just wanted to get a rise out of her first.

He definitely had an attitude, but Fennec actually liked the way he dismissed her statement.  Usually the rise she got was the opposite; sympathy, maybe embarrassment.  She'd kinda been aiming for the latter, but complete dismissal was new.  Whatever, no big deal.

He said his own name like it was supposed to mean something to her, but it definitely didn't outside of telling her he was one of Sugar's brothers.  Cool, now she could give him one back.

Whatever, she replied, with a tiny sly smile.  There was a line between mean and joking that Fennec liked to walk a lot, and had stepped along (and over either way) ever since she and her brother were small.  Usually he was the target.  This one was even more fun, though not nearly as likeble or helpful.

Why don't you go? They told me there's rocks blocking the way.  Maybe if you run into them enough they'll break, heavy steps.  Not the best insult, but she only had so much to work with here.

His frown deepened as he spied the little smile on her face. She was mocking him. He was too young to realize that to get pissed off about it was to let her win. Otherwise, he might've controlled his temper a little better. Only probably he wouldn't have--he was a Blackthorn, after all.

"Yeah well maybe if I throw you at them, they'll crush you and you'll die," Pox spat back. Also not the best insult, but he was too irritated to be clever.

Yeah, maybe I would.  She replied, completely unbothered by the threat. For some reason, death had always seemed kind of funny to her.  Not when someone she knew died of course... but as a concept, it felt like something to joke about, because taking it too seriously didn't make a lot of sense.  Everyone died, right?

If that made any sense, anyway.  Point is, if I could go, I would.  I can't see, but I'm pretty sure you have some kind of stick up your butt. She'd heard that phrase from someone - maybe Phox, maybe Towhee, maybe someone else - and it seemed super appropriate here.  When Fig got like that, she'd try and distract him with games or pranks.  This kid she didn't really want to share that with.  You should probably do something about that.

She turned to go, but unfortunately, couldn't resist that parting shot while she did so.  This meant she was distracted.... just enough to not realize her turn took her right into a rogue tree.  Exit ruined.

The girl proved herself to be aggravatingly difficult to cow. She responded to his threat with a nonchalant agreement that she might indeed die were she to be thrown at some boulders. It was quite unexpected, and Pox found himself uncertain of how to respond and too irritated to come up with something clever anyway. And in any event, she was talking again, making him even angrier.

Pox's lips peeled back in a silent snarl as she insulted him and stepped away. Were it one of his siblings, he would've attacked long ago. But only now did he teeter on the edge of lashing out at her. He readied himself to lunge as soon as her back was turned, but he hesitated, noting something odd about the way she moved, as though she... couldn't see.

Wait, had she been serious?

The boy's lips fell as he quirked a brow at her, his sudden suspicion confirmed when she walked straight into a tree--a sight that might've made another wolf cringe with guilt over the way he'd accused her. But when his anger abated, it was only because curiosity flooded in to wash it away. Not because he felt any semblance of guilt, or even sympathy.

"Hold up," Pox said as he trotted nearer to her, peering quizzically around to get a better look at her face, "Were you not just being a bitch? Like, you're actually blind?" He hesitated, his gaze sharpening with suspicion before he added, "..or are you still being a bitch?" Because the mark of a true bitch is to be so devoted to a ruse that you injure yourself.

Now she was irritated.  She'd been doing so well, walking around without issue, but now he had to go make her run into a tree.  And not particularly softly, either.  She'd been moving to step away with some confidence, and now was paying for that with a nice knot between the ears.

Just because I'm a bitch doesn't mean I'm lying, she said, her voice a little tight now for the first time in response to the ache.  Fortunately it started fading fairly quicky.  Are you blind too, or just dumb? 

That one was uncalled for, even she knew it.  But that hurt, and now he was going to go and start making a big deal out of it? She'd thought he was cool with it, but apparently he just hadn't believed her in the first place.

Pox eyed her suspiciously as she reacted to her tree crash. When she replied, it was with a little less nonchalance than she'd intoned earlier. Not that he really noticed such subtlties seeing as what she said was annoying enough without the tone. He frowned thoughtfully at her ascertion that you didn't need to lie to be a bitch. Apparently they were perfectly honest bitches in the world. He'd have to remember that, though he still suspected she probably wasn't one of them.

"I'm not dumb," the boy answered, a growl in his throat, "I just didn't believe you when you said you were blind. I've never met anyone who was blind before..." He sounded a bit pouty as he said it, but the return of his curiosity sharpened his tone before he continued. "Why're you like that?" he asked, "Did something happen to you?"

Ugh.  It wasn't even that big of a deal, why did he have to ask?  When Sugar asked it had been different, mostly because she liked her cousin and the tone in her voice had been entirely curious.  Pox seemed curious too, but he also sounded a little... it was hard to describe.  

No.  I asked a witch a bunch of questions and she cursed me. Fennec replied, backing up carefully this time to step a slow arc around the tree she'd discovered.  No need to double check that it was there.  She taught me the curse though, so if you want, I could show you.  She wrinkled her nose at him (well, in his direction).  She didn't feel like explaining the whole thing.  This story was better, and made a point.

Penn's frown twitched a little at the girl's reply. It reminded him a little of Wraen, whom he still adored even though he was too old and too cool for a puppysitter anymore, or for her silly kid stories. It endeared him to the blind girl, if only slightly.

"I thought you had to be in a witch's line of sight to get hit with their curse," Penn replied, the annoyance and aggression steadily disappearing from his tone to be replaced by amusement, "Not sure how you'll pull that one off, blindo." He stepped around her, trying to sneak over to her other side and see if she would realize or not. He thought it'd be funny if he got her to say something to him while looking in the wrong direction.

It was weird, the things Fennec was sensitive to and the things she wasn't.  Up until now, she'd had things slide off with (practically) no problem.  But for some reason, this jab hurt a little. Blindo.  She didn't like that one bit.

You just have to hear it, she countered.  This made Towhee immune, which Fennec thought was pretty appropriate.  Here, let me show you.  Maybe she could freak him out enough to run away.  Now that would be funny.

She started to howl, off key, but quiet.  She'd slowly get louder, and if that didn't work, she'd have to start chanting nonsense.

Pox didn't notice he'd offended her. He was finally feeling entertained rather than annoyed, so he let himself sink into that better mood. He preferred being amused to being angry. Unfortunately, he was at that age where most things were more angering than amusing.

In any event, he smirked as she replied to him. He didn't actually know anything about curses or witches, and not just because neither of them were real. Still, he was pretty certain that what she did next wasn't going to have any lasting effect on him. He chuckled softly as she began, leaning backwards slightly away from her.

"Not feeling very cursed over here," he quipped with a grin, "I think it needs to be a little higher pitched than that. And more yowl-y."

Hmm, he was a tough one, she thought as he cut her off.  She stopped and cocked her head, looking in his general direction serenely.  Oh.  Maybe you already have one then.  She replied casually, with a small shrug.  You can only have one at a time.  That's why I don't mind mine, there's worse ones than not being able to see.  She got a bit of a haughty lift to her voice on that.

Fenn didn't fall for the bait. Instead, she shot a quip back at him that made him dramatically quirk a single brow--a talent he had most definitely inherited from his mother. He didn't believe her ascertion for a second, but her commentary did illicit some amusement from him. "What, like not being able to take a joke?" he shot back with a grin and a wag of his tail, "On a totally related note, looks to me like you can have more than one curse at a time."

He stood then, thinking now might be the right time to make his exit. "Look, I gotta take a leak. Maybe we'll see each other around," he said, then paused before adding, "Or maybe I will anyway." Not wanting to baul without screwing with her a little more, Pox reached over and nudged a paw swiftly against her hip. He ducked out of the way quickly, trying to avoid the retaliation he suspected was coming. I'll let you decide if he managed it or not ;)

Hah! He wouldn't know a joke if it hit him in the face.  She could hear the smile in the way he talked, though, so she knew her poking fun had gotten some kind of reaction.  Normally positive or negative didn't matter to much to her, but this time she was glad he seemed to appreciate her humor.  It made her feel a little more like she fit here, much as she'd rather be home.

His last joke, though, did get an honest laugh out of her.  It was loud and a little awkward, and she smothered it pretty quick, but it was a good one.  Quicker than she expected.  Normally others didn't actually joke about her eyes, not like that.  It wasn't mean and it wasn't sympathetic and she liked it quite a bit.

Smell ya later, she responded, definitely biffing the response hit (she thought he'd be taller) but not minding too much.  He was definitely a jerk, but maybe not the worst sort. Maybe.