Heron Lake Plateau we stan a good puppo

Bat didn't know when it'd happened. But one morning, as she watched him eat the breakfast she'd brought him, Bat realized her crush on @Tegan had faded. She still loved him, very much, but it felt a lot more platonic nowadays. Huh, she thought. She finished her part of the shared meal, then pardoned herself for a bathroom break.

While she was squatting, she thought about it some more. Her mind wandered to that awful night when Tegan had cursed at her. He'd said he'd never leave the Redhawks. He'd also said he'd never part ways with his mom. Well, Finley lived with the Firebirds now. But Tegan was also a leader these days. He was still quite tied down, it seemed.

She wondered if he'd yell at her if she brought up the idea of traveling. With her romantic feelings taken out of the equation, Bat realized she could actually deal with the thought of leaving him behind. She still would've preferred he come along, of course; he was still her best friend! But it seemed highly unlikely. She recoiled from the thought of Tegan's anger, though she thought maybe she could deal with that too.

She finished up her potty break, then meandered back. Bat didn't mention any of her thoughts just now, though she voiced another one altogether. "I was thinking of going on a trip to Lost Creek Hollow. Now that I can speak, I'd like to thank them for their hospitality. Would you like to come?"

tegan, at this point, was gnawin' on a bone from the scraps of their meal. his tail flicked in a 'welcome back' sort of manner, and he watched her as she approached with some sort of mission. his ears cupped forwards, and he stopped mid-gnaw to give a short think to the proposition. 

"yeah that's a good idea," he told her, tongue swiping over his maw as he studied her curiously, "i definitely should go with -- i might need to check up with quixote and towhee though just to make sure." cause... well, his decisions felt a little more weighty nowadays. before he could just be like 'peace out i'm goin to the coast!!' but now it was like 'may i peace out to go to the coast??' kind of deal... at least, tegan was sort of chalking it up to be like that. ya know, he didn't wanna step on any toes this early in the game. except towhee's, but literally, so that was another story.

"you know how to get there?" he asked her, knowing damn well he had not the slightest idea. and then, without meaning to, he wondered aloud, "i wonder if that seabreeze chick is there."

Never before had he mentioned floating a road trip past leadership prior to departure, but then he hadn't been a leader himself all those other times. Bat quirked a brow and rejoined, "You're one of the top dogs and now you have to ask for permission first, when you didn't before?" She made a show of tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Bruh, that don't make no sense."

It wasn't a big deal—and if they prohibited him from going, it wasn't going to stop Bat—so she moved on to his next query. "I think so." Curiously, the mention of some she-wolf by the name of Seabreeze only brought about the faintest inkling of jealousy. Bat had never been prone to it anyway, though she couldn't help but notice again the new patterns in her feelings toward Tegan and marvel at how and when they'd changed. "No idea. Who is she?"

"well i didn't have a lot to lose before," he reminded her with a quick wave of his tail, studying her expression curiously as she said bruh. and when she knew how to get there, tegan gave one, hefty nod of his pale head. "hell yeah -- we'll get there probably, what, is it to the east?" that made the most sense, there were only those giant ass mountains to the west... and tegan had never tried to climb them but he'd be damned if anyone else could. besides, there probably wasn't much out there anyway, all the activity was to the east fo sho.

"some lady," was about the most detailed response good old tegan came up with, but he patched it a few moments later, "she was part of the hollow when it was sunspire, and i met her while we still lived at the caldera." i'm pretty sure rannoch would have told the redhawks all about their move and name change, which is why i'm making all these assumptions. but someone fuckin sock me in the face if i'm wrong. 

"you make any friends before you left the hollow full speed back to me?" he asked with a smug grin, head cocking. he didn't know much about the pack, honestly, but if they were allied then they couldn't be that bad.

"No, I didn't get to know anyone there, between being mute and mostly dead," Bat replied cavalierly before nodding and adding, "Yeah, it's to the east. I don't have the route down pat but that's half the fun, right?" She paused, already happy features brightening. "So you and me, hitting the road again, at long last. How long is it going to take to get someone to sign your permission slip?"

tegan grinned. sounds like a fuckin mess, he replied, meaning every word of it but in the best way. and then he shrugged. i can go ask towhee and then we can take off. or wait until morning. whatever she was feeling, tegan figured she alcohol take the lead on this one.

He offered to go find Towhee stat, maybe leave in the morning. "No rush," Bat said after pondering a moment. "I'm sure they're not going anywhere and we'll want to plan and prepare, 'cause it's gonna be a long one. I think it took me a few weeks to find my way back here. We'll make better time than that, but still..."

Her slim shoulders raised and fell in a casual shrug before Bat changed the subject. "Hey, so, what's it even like? Being a leader?"

"sheesh," muttered tegan with a squint of his eyes forward, "yeah we might need to prepare a few things before we head out, then." like herbs, or... something. i dunno, he'd ask raven, she knew all that garbo. 

to her question, tegan grinned a little bit, his chest puffing out as he peered down at bat. "what, you mean being all-mighty and powerful?" he clarified, and then added, "nah i kid -- it's kinda the same. i just... well, you kinda missed a little bit when you were dead." he gritted his teeth, trying to force himself over the emotional hump it was to share his feelings with others.  "i have a little more say and get a little more respect from others... which just makes me feel better about -- myself, i guess. i make good decisions, and no one takes 'em seriously. and now they will," he said with a flick of his gray ears.

She rolled her eyes affectionately at Tegan's mention of might and power. Bat might've busted out laughing at this notion that suddenly others would take him seriously, yet the way he mentioned her brief hiatus really sobered her. She could probably deal with Tegan getting mad at her for taking off to travel a bit but how would he cope? How had he coped when he thought she'd been dead? He tried to pretend he didn't care for her a great deal, though Bat would have to ask someone else about it before she made any significantly life-altering decisions.

"Sounds pretty dope, except for that little detail where you suddenly need permission to go anywhere. That's pretty fuckin' lame. I don't think I'd ever want to be a leader; it'd cramp my style," Bat thought out loud, shoulders rising and falling in a casual shrug.

i refuse to write what tegan would do even though i know exactly what tegan would do. but know that that could've been something i wrote about to make this post longer. thx - the editor. 

tegan snorted, rolling his eyes. "okay, yeah, but i don't know that i need permission i just... i don't wanna like, do something stupid and then get demoted so quickly," he told her, grin souring a little bit, "this is important to me." to her next comment, he nodded pretty quickly. "yeah, i always thought that too," he said, ears flicking, "but that like.. it's for you, but i mean, like, same boat." tegan realized pretty quickly his sentences were getting really fuckin choppy, and tegan was usually great at putting together words to make good, mostly coherent sentences, so he had to end this dialogue pretty quickly. 

"how about i make you my henchman? you get to do all my dirty work."

A vaguely quizzical look passed over Bat's face as Tegan rambled, though she smiled, laughed and tapped her tail when he said she could be his henchman and do all his dirty work.

"Bet," she responded, not entirely sure she'd used the term right. "What exactly does that entail?" she inquired brightly.

"i guess you'll find out!" exclaimed tegan as he rammed his head into her shoulder suddenly and bounded away, eliciting a rather sudden game of chase if she would have it.

Once, the bodily contact might have sent Bat's heart aflutter. Right now, she just sighed as he rammed her and then shot away, the invitation for a chase pretty clear. Funny how the habits she'd found so endearing were now slightly obnoxious. Was that how a crush worked? Bat loped slowly after her best pal, making no effort to actually catch him. She had been chasing after him so long and she was over it, she mused with a sort of wistful smile.