Sun Mote Copse Sword and shield: gym leader battle theme.

The arrival of her brother and son—and the subsequent quality time spent with her reassembled family of four—had temporarily thrown Towhee off her task, though not for long! She desperately wanted to single out @Figment for a little bit today, catch up with him one-on-one, and what better way to celebrate being back together than by picking a fight?! The mercenary grinned like an idiot as she wrapped up her daybreak patrol and made a beeline to the territory's center, where she'd left her sleeping family.

Crashing through the brush, Towhee warbled obnoxiously, "Fig, Fig, Fig!" Likely the whole pack and anyone in the neighboring territories heard her horrifically off-key singing of her son's name. "Ready or not, here I come!" she bellowed before springing into the clearing with a playfully mighty and mightily playful growl.

As thrilled as Fig was to be back home with his mother and sister, he still felt oddly out of sorts. He had fallen into a routine with the Frosthawks that he was without now. He'd made friends there and become an apprentice of sorts to Rannoch. It had been nice to get some semblence of normalcy back after everything that had happened at the grove. Now, he was once again uprooted, out of place, and just... uncomfortable. Unlike before, he was pretty certain he knew how to fix it.

Fig was just stretching and readying himself to put his place into motion when he heard his mother's wild footsteps and raucous cries. He paused and turned his head to watch her come rushing towards him. He didn't move, though--simply tensed and readied himself in case she chose to crash straight into him. When she didn't, he smiled softly and canted his head.

"Hi, Mom," he greeted, "Did you need something?" He could see Towhee was in a whimsical mood, but Fig was not. He'd had to be a grown up after Fenn was lost and when Phox had been hurt, and he hadn't stopped being one since.

She ground to a halt a short distance from her son, beaming at him, tail wiggling in a way it didn't often do. This was Towhee, after all. Fig didn't seem to share her mood at present, though that didn't faze her in the least. He looked different—taller, maybe; leaner, perhaps; definitely more worldly—but he was still her same little boy, always.

"I need you to show me what you learned while you were living with the Frosthawks," Towhee rejoined brightly, already dipping forwarding into a playful bow. Phox had mentioned Fig's experiences with their sister pack, though Towhee wanted to hear about it directly from the source. Better yet, she wanted him to show her.

Fig watched her carefully as she spoke, asking him to show what he'd learned with the Frosthawks. He thought of Rannoch, their walks along the borders and the discussions they'd had. The Frostfur had helped him in so many ways to heal by giving him a job and a purpose, yet there was one topic Fig had always been too ashamed to speak of. He felt that shame now rising up as he looked at his mother--that toxic guilt that he had thought he'd moved on from. But apparently he hadn't.

He was still angry with her.

"I was actually gonna go find Wraen," Fig explained, trying to smile and wag his tail to hide just how badly he suddenly wanted to get away from her. It made him feel sick to be around her when he loved her so much and was so grateful to be with her while also still feeling hurt and betrayed that she had left him. He didn't want her to know. He wanted to figure out how to let it go and get past it without her ever knowing. It would hurt her too much to know, and Figment simply hadn't been born with it in him to hurt those he loved.

So, "Maybe another time?"

His response took her so totally by surprise that Towhee openly balked, sure she'd misunderstood him. It was possible she hadn't read his lips correctly. But then he spoke three words so clearly that she there was no denying them: "Maybe another time?"

"'Another time'...?" she echoed him, a look of bewilderment taking up residence on her face. "I haven't seen you in months," Towhee said. There wasn't much to her tone, per usual, though the words weren't accusatory. Like her expression, they were confused, hurrying toward wounded.

Figment winced at her reaction. Of course in trying not to hurt her, he ended up hurting her. His ears slipped back apologetically as he bit gently into his bottom lip. He didn't know what to do now. What could he say that wouldn't hurt her further? What could he say to let her know he wasn't trying to reject her? Except he was? Sort of? His insides twisted into tighter knots.

"I know, I just wanted to go talk to her about a job," he said, immediately feeling dumb at how he was explaining it like a college grad seeking employment (or maybe I just feel dumb for him because he's a wolf and that's not a thing for them), "Some work I can do for the pack. Y'know, to help out."

Fig didn't know if it would be enough to deter her from looking any closer at his rejection, but it was an honest enough answer. He truly did want to do some good for the pack and to earn his spot in their ranks so he wouldn't feel so out of place. The fact that it would help him avoid his mother and give him more time to sort out his feelings was merely a convenient bonus.

The way Fig's face contorted made Towhee feel bad for feeling bad. He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings, obviously. Her son was simply eager to immerse himself in pack life here and what better place to start than with Wraen? It was nothing personal against Towhee. Sure, she still felt a little crestfallen, especially since she'd really hoped for a wrestling match with him, but the last thing she wanted was for the two of them to be at odds.

"Oh, okay. Gotcha," she replied, trying to muster up a cavalier expression. "Another time then," she agreed to his earlier words, nodding a little too mechanically for it to be entirely convincing. It did sting that he would rather go talk to Wraen than catch up with his mom, though she would just keep telling herself that he didn't mean anything by it. Besides, they lived together now, so there would be plenty of time to catch up later.

Fig watched her closely as her facial expressions informed him of every emotion she felt at his words. The guilt could've swallowed him whole in that moment were it not for the sudden flare of annoyance he felt over it. This was her fault. She was the one who had left, so what right did she have now to feel bad that he wanted to go talk to Wraen instead of play with her? He had work to do. Just because she had decided to crawl out of the Strath and leave them all behind to suffer didn't mean he had to abandon his own responsibilities so recklessly.

Those thoughts, of course, made him feel worse. So, he merely nodded and looked away. "Yeah, another time," he said stiffly. He glanced back once, teetering on the edge of saying something, either angry or remorseful. Maybe neither. "See you," was all he said in the end as he turned away yet again and strode off, not to seek Wraen anymore, but to seek solitude.