Heron Lake Plateau Windows 95 on acid.
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#1
All Welcome 
Towhee exhaled, then began plodding forward from her starting point at the plateau's base. It was good to be back—she hadn't patrolled much since Camilla's untimely demise—and she felt like she could breathe easier these days. The pups were doing well despite everything and although she'd never fancied herself a mother, Towhee felt strangely fulfilled by the role unceremoniously thrust upon her when her brother's mate had keeled over.

On that note, she was fairly certain she wasn't pregnant, despite her forays at the beginning of last month. Thank fuck, Towhee thought as she dropped into a squat to mark a patch of blooming chokecherry. As she was squeezing out the last few drops, she felt a pang in her chest. Sure, it was for the best that she hadn't fallen pregnant for a whole host of reasons... but, man, she'd really gotten around during her heat. So why wasn't she carrying a litter now? Did that mean she couldn't bear offspring? Did it have to do with her weird genital situation?

Lips pursed, the Beta carried on along the borders, thoughts drifting to Raven. Her sister had finally gone into heat and reprised her Alpha rank. These were both happy developments, so Towhee tried to focus on them—and all the other good stuff going on in her life, despite the thread of tragedy—instead of the unexpectedly unsettling fact that, though she'd never wanted kids of her own, she very well might not have any choice in the matter at all.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
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She probably had taken her father's roughly-translated suggestion to make herself scarce at face value.  So, Vasa had been off spending a good amount of time exploring the various territories surrounding the plateau.  It wasn't like she went far, but it was a new adventure so she went and enjoyed some freedom.  Thinking about it, she really should go out and do some adventuring.  She wasn't sure what or where, but it wasn't like they could claim that she was some little kid still.  The fact was she had no idea what specifically she wanted to do other than go see what was out there probably didn't help he prove that she was totally the best set for travel, though.  Something told her Qui wouldn't be happy with her doing the wolf equivalent of hitchhiking.

Today, though, she was wandering on back, no prize in maw -- whatever treasures she gained were either eaten or memories.   She was approaching where Towhee was patrolling at sort of an oblique angle.  If she was looking far enough out, she'd be spotted, but if not, she'd make it so she'd be seen.  Tired but reasonably chipper, she trotted more directly to the border to make sure she'd be more easily in line of site and made a few showy pouncy steps to hopefully pull her attention by being a giant black moving thing in her peripheral vision while she was trying to intercept.  No point in yelling if you aren't gonna be heard, after all.
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Try as she might, Towhee just couldn't shake it loose. What surprised her more than her preoccupation was the more visceral response to it. She should feel relief; she could go around screwing everyone under the sun and not worry about getting pregnant. And she'd never wanted kids. But now that she had Fig and Fen, the realization that she may never have any of her own made her feel almost... bereft.

You'll get over it, Towhee told herself. It wasn't like she had any other choice. You'll— But before she could complete her thought, movement caught her eye. The Beta's head jerked as she zeroed in on a dark figure. Her hackles shot up, then smoothed down, within the space of a breath. Slowly, she coaxed a smile onto her lips.

"Hey Vasa, you here for some more training?" Towhee asked, her player liberally assuming the two of them have been doing some of that behind the scenes.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
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Vasa kind of was wishing that there were more wolves in the pack that weren't family.  She had some ideas bouncing around inside her skull thanks to her adventures and felt like if she told anyone, good ol' mom and dad would find out in like .27 seconds and that'd take like half the fun out of anything right there.  Towhee had at least been a less reliably present figure around the family thicket as of late, but obviously she was still their aunt and around and all that nonsense, she just had other priorities or something blah blah adult-speak.  Still, confiding in her might be a risk, so Vasa would bide her time and see if it was an ok idea or not.

But it wasn't Vasa unless she swaggered on over like the world was her oyster, so once she was sure she'd been noticed, she closed the distance in a much cooler fashion. Nah, I've been wandering around basically everywhere already, I'd just die or something.  I-- she seemed to pause and change her mind about whatever it was and dropped the matter entirely.  She was going to say she should go home and sleep but since that apparently wasn't the best idea, she didn't know now.  Well, she could walk some more first?  She tipped her head, Just patrolling?  Well, duh. But still.  There could be some other purpose she wasn't aware of.
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Vasa's response threw her off kilter a bit. She wondered what her niece thought she'd meant, then pondered that strange redirect. Towhee wasn't entirely sure if she was asking or telling and didn't respond right away, still parsing out the girl's meaning.

There was nothing for it, so Towhee tossed the conversation out and tried again. "You wanna hunt or spar or what?"
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
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It probably wasn't unheard of for Vasa to say or do something that didn't entirely make sense.  She was a prime combination of saying things that she thought was cool but otherwise might be a bit overboard in hyperbole, stretched logic, or something similar, topped with a glaze of teenage laziness that made her tend to be vague rather than explain everything because pffft, why would she?

Her ears perked up a little, Did ya smell something interesting on your patrol?  Or in other words, of the two choices, a hunt appealed to her a bit more.  I didn't smell anything over that way, pointing off in the direction she'd arrived from, but I wasn't really looking. Though, that did kind of link up tangentially, so prepare for another jump just because it was kind of gnawing at her. I was thinkin' though.  If you think I wouldn't get eaten by something, I kinda wanna explore farther off from home.  Are there places kinda near that you know have history or something?  I'm sure dad wouldn't want me to go, but maybe if it was like... Somewhere important.  Which was at least the tiny summary of it.  Sanitized a bit too, but she wasn't gonna go spill every bean ever for no reason.  That'd be unlike her.
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Given options A and B, Vasa went with C. Towhee squinted, then caught herself and schooled her expression. She made no answer to the question, once more thrown by her teenage niece's train of thought entirely. Towhee was tempted to simply bail on this entire conversation at this point.

Then Vasa asked a question which made some semblance of sense; at least, it explained the prior question a little bit. "You're plenty old enough to explore on your own, though I always advise using the buddy system when you leave the territory. I'm not your girl though," she was quick to add. "You should ask Tegan or another scout about nearby territories and maybe going with you."

Idly, the Beta wondered why Quixote would care if one of his kids ranged a little. Vasa was a yearling, a fully-fledged adult, and able to fend for herself. Granted, even Towhee wouldn't want her going off entirely on her own. With an inward shrug, she just added that to the list of attributes that made the Alpha male totally lame.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
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Tegan had never really stopped by to see them when they were younger -- or gone out of his way to meet them as far as this player knows -- so he was bottom tier importance regardless of whatever rank he held, at least to Vasa.  So why would she talk to him?  Yeah, if I can find him, she scoffed.  He kept going off on trips and stuff, didn't he?  If he was halfway across the planet, she couldn't exactly pin him down to talk to him.  Nobody else wants to do anything...  which apparently included Towhee.  But she'd been all over and stuff before, right?!  So what was wrong now?  Nothing out there was important and worth going to check out?  From her self-centered perspective, her aunt was totally trying to stop her from going anywhere too.  Parents were parents, but Vasa had apparently been misinformed in thinking that Towhee was one of the cool peeps out there.  Not that she'd admit it, she was tired enough that it frayed her nerves. You know what, forget it.  Forget I said anything.  She stopped there and looked back, trying to judge whether the fastest way home was going to be back the way Towhee came or up somewhere ahead.  Basically just a brief pause before she excused herself and peaced out, but not as sudden as it would have been if jammed into one post.

Yeah maybe there was a reason Quixote wasn't too keen on her going anywhere -- she had a lot of emotional growing up to do.
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Vasa's scoffing tone was lost on Towhee, so she took the comment entirely differently than her niece likely intended. "He goes off scouting pretty often," she agreed, "but catch him when he's around and I'm sure he'll be happy for you to tag along. I'll tell X to pass along your message," she added.

The next thing she knew, Vasa told her to forget she said anything and then left abruptly. Towhee gazed blankly after her before her face twisted into a bit of a scowl. It reminded her of that time Kiwi had done something similar, although she and Phox had sort of instigated that. In this case, Towhee wasn't sure what exactly she'd done to make Vasa behave so oddly.

But she wouldn't read too far into it. Teenagers, Towhee summed it up with a shrug. She resumed her plod around the borders, wondering if Fig and Fen would be inexplicable and moody when they grew up. She got so caught up in that train of thought that she forgot about her likely barren womb entirely.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)