Sun Mote Copse Refuge in breathing.

*tags literally everybody*

Mother and daughter sprawled in the shade at the edge of the rendezvous site, Meerkat napping while Towhee kept watch. She continuously scanned the nearby clearing, though everything was relatively still on this peaceful June afternoon. She sighed and licked her lips, pondering a brief siesta of her own, even letting her chin drop to rest on her outstretched forelegs. But instead of falling asleep, her thoughts drifted.

Meerkat had come home the other day with traces of @Pippin's scent on her. Even now, that thought made the Regent's hackles prickle as her eyes darted to her slumbering cub. They might've made amends somehow, except that he'd more or less disappeared from their lives entirely. Her lip curled before she forcibly redirected her thoughts to another man: @Arcturus. She had barely seen him lately, though she knew he was around based on his scent markers. Funnily, time and space hadn't made any difference in her peculiar crush; the thought of him still stirred her guts strangely.

Once more, she tried pushing her wandering mind toward a more pleasant avenue. She thought about how fast not only Meerkat but @Alyx, @Quetzal and Primrose were growing. It seemed they developed by leaps and bounds every day. Even with three parents and the rest of the pack lending an assist, the four pups could be a handful. Nonetheless, Towhee loved them with all her heart and knew @Phox and @Niamh did too. This batch of pups was as amazing as last year's.

Then, of course, her thoughts strayed to @Figment (such a great older brother, along with @Bronco too, of course!), which made Towhee think inevitably of @Fennec. She had gone through a rough patch a few days ago, missing her eldest daughter. Her heart still ached when she thought of her, blooming with worry for the blind yearling. She just hoped Fen was enjoying herself out there, getting whatever she needed from the road trip. Maybe she would head back for a visit soon?

She didn't realized she'd fallen asleep after all until she jerked awake some moments later, a dream about @Wraen and @Eljay hooking up and @Weejay throwing an uncharacteristic fit about it still swirling in the back of her mind. Towhee coughed a laugh and sat up, stretching luxuriously, pointing her snout in the air as her spine curved. She rose onto all fours and shook out her coat, eyes drifting to Meerkat again. Her daughter was still snoozing, belly flat to the grass and all four legs splayed.

Soon, they would get to go see @Hydra in the flesh, perhaps her own pups too. That made the Regent think: should she talk to @Maia or @Chanel about training Meerkat, who aspired to be a "scoot"? Her lips twitched faintly at that title, though she frowned thoughtfully to herself. The kid was going on four months old now (whoa, what?) and often wandered the copse by herself. But did Towhee trust just any other adult to safely escort her daughter outside of the territory?

She sat again, musing over any- and everything, happy to be alone with her thoughts until Meerkat woke or someone else came along to distract her.

It was quiet. 

Too quiet. 

Q's eyes peeled open and she blinkblinkblinked, taking into account her surroundings. Towma was here, and Q immediately sprang into action without delay. Silent, but deadly! Nevermind that everything was silent to Towma; she was oblivious to that fact at present. Present speed: balls to the walls. Objective: Headbutt Towma's booty as hard as she could to get every ounce of her attention. If that was successful, her second aim would be to run away as fast as she damn well could without getting caught.

From the far side of the rendezvous site shot a furry black bullet. Towhee grinned as one of the twins careened toward her, making no move to evade the incoming headbutt. Of course, she underestimated the kid's enthusiasm and velocity alike, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. She flashed back to her recent spar with Bronco, though she supposed Quetzal (or was it Alyx?) would probably react differently.

After a quick glance to make sure Quetzal (she was 98.7% sure it was in fact Q) hadn't busted her skull or anything, Towhee melodramatically threw herself to the ground and began to writhe. Truthfully, having the wind knocked out of her felt very weird, although she wouldn't say it was painful, exactly. She gasped like a fish just for extra effect, her orange eyes rolling around in her head as she waited to see what the puppy would do in response.

Q cackled as Towma fell over from her successful attack, gasping for air, and she darted toward her aunts face crowing: ME WINS!!! ME WIN!!! ME GOT YOU!!! Q GOTTED YOU GOOD, her tail waved wildly behind her, and she jumped backward. OK!!! NOW! NOW CATCH Q!!! She giggled at that, making the executive decision for the both of them as she bolted away from Towma.

She had some more freedom now than she had say, four days ago... but even that was not much. Still, if Towma was at her heels, it was not very likely she would get very far to anyhow. And she was not exactly super sleuth stealth about her path, either; not only was she loud (which her aunt would not know), but every stick that ever existed was pulverized by her mighty paws and every leaf, flower, and weed was torn apart as she ran over them. HEHEHEHE, she giggled impishly as she went, all the messier for her sprint.

Towhee could tell that Quetzal was shouting, likely victoriously, but it was next to impossible to understand her when she was moving around so much. It was always difficult to read children's lips anyway. She didn't really bother trying, though she did glance over and note, with some amusement, that Meerkat slept through whatever her cousling was yelling.

Facing the mischievous puppy again, Towhee watched her dart back toward the center of the clearing. But the Regent made no attempt to chase after her. Instead, she called, "You've killed me! I'm dead!" She paused. "What's your mother going to think when we tell her you killed me, huh?"

Q honestly hadn't gained enough ground to not hear the dead-Towhee, but she planned on it. And if Towhee did not go after her, then Q's dreams of exploring the territory were as good as accomplished. But... ok, she had to help Towma. There was a soul somewhere deep inside. Q doubled pack, planted a wet one on somewhere on her aunts side, and said, all bedter!!!! 

Now, LE GO!!!!!! She hollered and turned again for round two of "catch me if you can". She had saved her aunt, hero that she was, and now she fled from her.

By the time Quetzal doubled back and gave her ribs a smooch, Towhee could breathe again. She huffed a laugh at the action as well as the sensation, pushing herself up into a sphinx-like position even as the child took off again. This time, she hauled herself onto all fours and loped after the fleeing youngster, who clearly wanted to be chased.

"Thanks for resurrecting me!" she drawled as she casually trotted after the kid. "But I still have to—ope—kill you back," Towhee said, nearly tripping over a stick lying on the ground. "It's only fair," she continued, picking up the pace again and closing the gap. "I have to do it but I'll let you choose the method. Maybe I'll..." She caught up to the tot. "Tickle you to death?"

Nooooooo! Q giggled as she went, no kill ME!!!!! She laughed as she ran, too giddy for someone facing death. She answered again, no fair!! so that Towma could see she was being most unreasonable and that, in fact, this was not fair. Q was about the best advocate one could get, as articulate as she was. Problem was, Towma could not hear her great arguments. Q was blissfully unaware of this. 

Q shrieked as she heard Towma getting closer, throwing herself into a clumsy puppy sprint that really would not get her very far. NO TICKLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she bellowed as she went as fast as she possibly could, zig-zagging around for the best escape route possible from Towma. Q was creative, but knew zip about much beyond the rendezvous. But she was doing her doggone best!

With Q's lips out of her line of sight, there was no hope of interpreting anything she might be saying. But that didn't mean Towhee was left in the dark. The thing about kids was they were so expressive with their little bodies. She cackled quietly under her breath as her chibling tried to run faster to escape the imminent threat of death by tickling.

But the Regent didn't let the puppy escape. Pouncing suddenly, she swept a foreleg around Quetzal's chest and pulled her closer to her body, giving her a good squeeze. Still hugging her, she used her other foreleg to none too gently give Q one hell of a noogie.

She was Towhee coming, scuttled backward with wide innocent eyes—

OH GOD 

OH NO 

MONSERRRRRR!!! She bellowed, visualizing her dead zombie mom #2 as a monster and roleplaying with it. And then she was captured, AHHHHHHHFUKKKKKkk, not knowing she had hollered an expletive but saying a word she had surely heard and that just made her feel a lot better to say, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK, which was probably why she said it, not really knowing what it meant while Towma noogied her. She was definitely going to ask what a fuk was. But this felt like fuk. Like fuk no.

Towhee might've laughed, only Q's screams fell on deaf ears. She felt the rapid expansion of the child's lungs, the vibrato of it. But it didn't slow her down one bit. In fact, she sped up her movement for a few beats before abruptly releasing Quetzal, letting the pup drop unceremoniously to the ground.

"YOU ARE NOW DECEASED!!!" Towhee exclaimed as she rocked back into her haunches and flailed her forelegs in the air, a crude mimicry of a gorilla beating its chest. She then dropped forward onto all fours again, thumping the ground with her forepaws on either side of Q's little body.

In the background, Meerkat somehow slept through it all.