Redhawk Caldera I don't understand that reference.

I'm hoping for a @Birk and/or @West but anyone's welcome! :D

The pups were playing in the middle of the rendezvous site when Raven called them over to eat some lunch. They were eating real meat now and the adults had brought some elk remains back for them to devour. Towhee naturally didn't hear the summons, though @Phox gently batted her shoulder to get her attention even as he and the other two went racing over to the bloody spread.

Towhee didn't feel that hungry, though, so she slowly meandered behind the other puppies. She stood off to the side, watching them feed, absent of the normal licking and slurping noises that accompanied such a hearty meal. Eventually, she plopped into a sit and began to lick herself for want of anything better to do. When she inevitably grew bored of that, she then approached the food, sniffed, then snatched a small hunk of meat and wandered away several yards to flop down and begin gnawing on it.

Birk was in a good mood on the day, when he decided to venture deeper in the caldera territory to seek out company. His ears had begun to slowly heal up - no more itching or the sickeningly sweet odour of rotting flesh. The raw patch on the tail had also dried up. Therefore he thought it was time to thank @Raven for the healing stuff, because it had really helped him, even if it had not been neither the easiest, nor the quickest of fixes. 

He found her at the rendezvous site and caught her scent there, but not before almost tripping over a small figure right in front of him, apparently devouring it's first meal of the day. "Hello," he said, stepping to the side and looking down curiously at the small cub.

Although she couldn't hear his approaching footfalls, Towhee's four good senses tingled. She swallowed and dropped the gob of meat as her neck straightened into a stiff column and she swept the rendezvous site with her eyes. She pinpointed everyone's location, then started slightly when an unfamiliar white figure simply appeared. The pup immediately jumped to her feet, her spine arching and tail puffing up like a cat's.

Behind her, she felt subtle vibrations but she didn't dare turn. Even when she felt a gentle tap to her hip, Towhee remained statuesque. Her eyes did dart to the side as Raven came to stand beside her. "Hello, Birk," the caregiver greeted, although Towhee was oblivious as she was now glaring fixedly at the interloper. "This is my sister, Towhee. She's deaf. And she doesn't seem to take well to strangers."

Unaware of Raven's mildly apologetic tone, Towhee broke her silence with a snarl. Since she had absolutely no volume settings, it came out extremely loud and savage.

"Well, she definitely has some spirit," Birk commented, surprised by the fact that such a small creature could utter a noise so loud. He even moved first one ear, then the other to check, if they still were working. Not that any damage had been done, more for the show. 

"So, how do you communicate with her, huh?" he took a step back and lied down, so that he was in the same level as the little cub. He yawned and avoided staring directly, to make the girl more at ease with him.

She saw his ears move as soon as she started growling. It was something Towhee had really begun to notice lately, along with the fact that some of her loved ones often didn't bother signing when they spoke among one another. She still didn't quite know what it all meant—and she had yet to realize she was missing out on anything—but she was a sharp child and a quick learner. There was some sort of cause and effect at work here, Towhee just needed to puzzle out the details.

He was moving his mouth and looking at Raven mostly, though he swiftly lowered to the ground to put himself at the pup's level. This did not affect Towhee in any discernible way, though her eyeball twitched when he yawned. She continued glaring at him until she felt a cool nose press against her cheek. Finally, Towhee tore her eyes off the outsider and peered up at Raven.

"He's a friend," Raven said out loud, simultaneously making the signs. "Won't you say hello?" Towhee gazed back at the caregiver with a little bit of an incredulous look on her face, then shook her head, slowly at first and then so rapidly that her over-sized ears flapped against her skull.

Facing Birk again, Towhee signed, -No, not my friend.- She leered at the white wolf, unaware that he wouldn't know how to understand or make the signs Towhee utilized to communicate with her family. When she did put two and two together, it wouldn't bode well for her already low opinion of this trespasser.

"She's pretty good at reading lips and she uses signs to communicate," Raven explained over the belligerent child's head. "If you go like this," she added, showing Birk the sign for "hello," "she might open up." Keyword: might.

"Aha..." Birk took in the sign Raven had shown him and then back down at the pup, who was still glaring at him. "Huh," he huffed and then shook his head, after having reached a resolution. "I have a feeling that this flicka is dead set of not liking me, no matter, what I do," he crossed his paws in front of him and regarded the little kid with an amused glance for a while.

"Are the rest just as friendly?" he turned his gaze away from the girl and back to Raven. "Anything I should watch out for?" he asked, resting his head between his outstretched forepaws and looking at the kid again with wagging tail.

He gazed back at her, his demeanor easygoing and open as he moved his mouth. Towhee's eyes kept getting narrower and narrower until they were nothing but slits. She wanted to turn away to prove her boredom and disapproval yet it was difficult to take her eyes off the stranger, as there was no way other the pup knew of to keep track of him.

She felt Raven's leg come to drape over her shoulders, which caused Towhee's ears to splay uncertainly. She felt the telltale vibrations as the caregiver replied, "You might be right. She seems pretty put off by strangers, though you can't really blame her, since she can't communicate as readily. Her brothers and sister are a little more approachable," she added, sliding her leg off the pup's shoulders.

Despite herself, Towhee suddenly inched forward, sniffing at the ground but keeping her eyes fixed on Birk. She eventually came to sit stiffly two yards from him, telegraphing, -Go away,- in a decidedly sullen way that caused Raven to tsk, unheard, behind her. Her elder sister moved forward to tap the pup's hip and shake her head with a disapproving look when Towhee glanced back at her.

"Be nice," Raven scolded aloud, enunciating each word slowly and with a shrewd look so that even though the Pi couldn't hear her tone, there would be no mistaking it anyhow.

"Did you see that?" Birk asked Raven excitedly, when the little kid inched closer and sat down in front of him still pouting. "I made progress!" with that he lifted his head and smiled at the caretaker. "I figure that by the time I am old, creaky and cranky we will be best buddies, won't we, you little bugger?" he woofed at the girl.

Then he got up to his feet. "I think that Towhee has had enough of my charming personality for today," he told and cast his glance over to the place, where the rest of the puppies were either busying themselves with eating, playing and growing up. "Care to introduce me to the rest of them? I can't promise I will remember their names on the first take." Though he would definitely not forget Towhee. She was special.

Birk's response to her command perplexed Towhee. She had told him to get lost, so why was he smiling so brightly and speaking with clear excitement? The pup glanced back at Raven, who appeared amused by the entire situation. Towhee let out an exasperated huff. She then jerked at the motion out of the corner of her eye and twisted her head so rapidly that it made her neck creak (not that she knew about it).

"Sure, I'd love to," Raven said over Towhee's head. By the time the child looked at the caregiver's face, she was laughing. Her eyes were dancing when she looked at Birk. This made Towhee's own eyes (or one of them, anyway) twitch. Not only was she put off by her older sister's openness toward an outsider, she was also falling behind in the conversation.

-What...?- she began to sign but Raven was one step ahead of her. "We're going to say hi to your brothers and sister. Coming?" Towhee stalled. Of course she wanted to be near her litter mates. She also wanted to make sure this Birk didn't do anything to them. -Yeah,- she signaled a little flippantly, casting the Epsilon one last disapproving look before she tromped ahead.

I figure you can fade things here—unless you'd like to continue and maybe tag the other pups? I'm on-board for whatever, so up to you! :)

Birk followed Raven's lead, now and then casting an amused glance at the grumpy cub, who - quite obviously - had decided to hate him forever and ever and ever. These kind of solid resolutions in small children were both surprising and funny. And though the man hoped to change Towhee's attitude towards him one day, he was a little excited to find out, how long would it take her to warm up to him. 

Until then he embraced the chance to get to know the rest of the family.