Sun Mote Copse looks like we just got a little closer.

I hope y'all live here still O_O

Even Penn had to admit, the way the rain was coming down was mildly alarming.

Not nearly as much as fuckin' Fig was making it out to be, though. Penn scowled at the pace he made them take to close the remaining distance between themselves and the Copse, as though the weather would somehow matter less there than it did here. He did realize that rain still came through the trees, right? It wasn't like the copse had a solid ceiling. And who the fuck cared if that they were so wet, anyway? This whole thing was stupid. He really needed to just bug off.

But, he didn't. Penn cantered along at Fennec's hip towards the borders. He slowed when they did, stopped when they did, and stared warily ahead when Fig tilted his head back and called for @Phox and @Towhee. Tension prickled along his hackles at the nervous joy in Fig's voice as he called for his family. Tension and jealousy, though there wasn't a chance in hell he actually recognized that. What the fuck would he be jealous of Fig for? 'Cause he had a family? 'Cause he got to be happy that they were home? 'Cause he got to feel like he had a home?

Obviously not.

Penn glanced at the dark sky as thunder rolled. He blinked against the rain, then snapped his head back over his shoulder as a flash of lightning in the distance behind them stole his attention. He frowned, annoyed with himself for being here at all, but also reasoning that it maybe wasn't the worst idea in the world, given the conditions. It might be the second worst, but... not the worst.

He glanced back, his eyes lingering on @Fennec for a moment, wondering how she was feeling, what she was thinking. Fig was distracted just now. He could nudge Fenn's side, silently beckon her to follow. They could run off and leave Fig here, he wouldn't notice until it was too late. They would be gone. They could keep going and keep having fun, just the two of them.

He let her be, and simply waited for whatever was to come.

Well that was a welcome surprise! Fig's howl rang through the rain, and Phox immediately kissed all three (not-so-)little heads and Niamh's before he set off for the call. He was home! Phox still wasn't quite sure why Figment had left for the Frosthawks, but he hadn't left on bad terms, and Phox was glad to have him back, especially since Fennec had been gone for so long. He knew she had to live her life, but it was just so hard, y'know?

So you can imagine his surprise when he found not just Figment, but also Fennec and Penn standing there. The latter he didn't know as well, but he knew that Penn had been the one to travel with Fennec. -HI!!!- Phox greeted enthusiastically, his whole body wiggling from nose to tail. -How are all of you?!-

He knew better than to rush Fennec, but he knew Figment wouldn't mind, and so Phox slapped his foreleg around his son's shoulder in a wolfish hug.

It was pissing rain again as Towhee made her rounds, though she did her best to ignore it, at least until she reached the easternmost stretch of borders. She felt mildly alarmed when she arrived at the foot of the Barriers and found the river overflowing its banks. She wouldn't necessarily use the word "flood," though the usual shoreline was certainly underwater. Towhee stood there a while to see if she could gauge how quickly the waters were rising.

A howl rang out from the far side of the borders. Towhee looked skyward, though she didn't hear the call, nor the peal of thunder. It was the flash of lightning that had drawn her attention. Just the other day, she'd been worried that the copse would become a big mud hole. Now she was seriously concerned that it was becoming a watering hole instead.

The Sovereign eventually turned, retracing her steps. It was already raining hard but now it picked up and fell faster, harder. It was getting hard to see. And there was officially water pooling around her ankles in some places. Towhee worried at her lip and kept moving, unknowingly headed straight toward the soaking wet reunion taking place a few hundred yards ahead.

The closer they got, the more inexplicably worried she got. Would they still be upset?  Would she have to fight again if she wanted to leave again?  Would she want to leave again?

She wasn't an idiot.  She knew why Penn left, and she knew why he didn't want to stick around.  Losing her parents wasn't something she could easily imagine, but she did think his reasons were a little stupid, for all she hadn't said it.  Towhee and Phox would welcome him into their little family in a heartbeat.  Somehow the subject of 'your parents are dead but hey, you can share mine' never really seemed right, though.  

Now that they were here, Fennec could take a moment to regret coming, just a bit.  When she'd been traveling everything was simpler.  She'd been so excited when he asked her along, and so stoked to come, that she hadn't stopped to think about what would happen if she decided to come back and he didn't.  She'd been so sure the choice would just be hers.

Outwardly, she tried to keep a nonchalant passiveness as Fig called.  That'll work for dad at least, she muttered, smirking in his general direction.  And sure enough, dad was the first to show.

He didn't sound anything other than happy to see them, and she blew out a quiet breath.  Great, she said, ears splaying though as a particularly cold runnel of water landed square on her shoulders.  Wet, but great.

Standing at the borders with his family's familiar scent about him, Fig felt like he could breathe for the first time in weeks. It was an anxious breath--the rain coming down in buckets around him was worrisome--but it was still heavily saturated with relief. He didn't know what would happen next as far as whether or not he'd be saying good bye to Fennec again, but the waiting and wondering was finally on its way to being over. More importantly, he was home.

Fig smirked at his sister as he dropped his muzzle and was pelted with her sarcasm. He knew, of course, that Towhee wouldn't hear his call, but he wanted whoever did hear to know he was looking for her. He didn't bother explaining this to her, seeing as she probably already understood and was just being a pill to cover her own anxiety. He merely bumped her shoulder with his hip and turned his gaze to the trees, waiting for someone to show.

To his credit, Fig did a decent job of not dissolving into a happy, squeaky, excited little puppy at the sight of his father racing to greet them. His body was fairly wriggly from the force of his wagging tail, but he stood tall and swept into Phox's embrace like a man. "Dad!" he greeted, grinning as he stepped away, -"All is well on our front. How are you? How are the kids? This rain is something else--are the woods holding up okay?"- He imagined many of the streams and little ponds within the woods were likely flooding. Hopefully not so much that anyone was in danger from it, but he would probably worry about that even after he was reassured that everything and everyone was fine.

All too soon, someone showed up and the bullshit meet-and-greet small talk had begun. Penn lingered a little away from the Redhawks as they greeted their father, rolling his eyes when Fig spoke more words in one go than he had their entire trip. He was such a pansy. Penn wanted to turn around and leave right then more badly than ever. Standing there, watching this made it so much harder to keep thoughts of his own parents from coming to his mind. They were gone. There was no one here to come greet him at the borders. He'd never get a welcome home hug from his dad ever again.

Penn swallowed and gave his coat a shake and grumbled. "Any chance we can take this welcome wagon somewhere with a little more of a roof?" he broke in rather rudely, likely speaking over some comment someone was making. He was drenched to his bones, and focusing on how annoying that was made it a lot easier to avoid focusing on how awful it felt watching his friends reuniting with their parents.

Penn seemed... downtrodden, and Phox had almost entirely missed him after seeing his own two kids. Wow, that couldn't have felt great. And Penn, he said, smiling at his cousling. Thanks for being Fenn's travel pal. I'm glad neither of you were out there totally alone. For obvious reasons that Fennec would hate, but Phox would have said the same about somebody who'd gone with Figment (or at least he told himself as much). Phox hadn't been much younger when he'd vanished from the caldera, and surviving on his own had been a chore. He imagined it had been a lot better with two of them.

The twins are crazy as ever. Alyx hates this rain, Q loves it, and Prim seems pretty indifferent. Phox flicked an ear back, hearing somebody approaching, but before he could turn to look, Penn was asking to move somewhere with a little bit more cover.

Oh yeah, sure! There's not many places I'd consider dry, but we can at least duck under these trees over here to get out of the downpour. Phox motioned for all three of them to follow, and that's when he saw Towhee. Oh boy, was she gonna be excited.

I wanna hear how the three of you ended up together, too, Phox added. I'll bet Towhee would like that story, too.

She grimaced when the ground suddenly gave way underfoot, her left foreleg nearly disappearing into a pool of mud as she tipped forward. "Fucking hell—o!" Towhee shouted when Phox abruptly appeared while she was pulling herself free, complete with a loud squelching sound. It wasn't just her brother though: there were three faces just behind him, all of them very familiar.

"KIDS!" she exclaimed astutely, nearly wrenching her leg now as she slipped past Phox and filthily fumbled first toward Fig, then Fen and finally Penn. She wiggled and waggled like some big, dumb, overgrown puppy, absolutely giddy to see them. She couldn't resist licking and nudging each in turn, then rinsing and repeating, smearing all three with slobber and mud. Good thing the rain would probably wash it right off.

lort

Penn's interruption was no surprise, but his tone was.  Fennec's muzzle twisted into an annoyed frown, but she couldn't really shoot him a look.  So instead, she focused on her dad.  If he was going to be an ass, he could shove it for a minute.  Luckily, Phox didn't seem to take offense, and Fennec followed Fig as he presumably went where indicated.

She heard her mom before she saw her, and Fennec's mouth split into a wide smile when her mom's enthusiastic greeting met her ears (and, soon after, her already soaking self).  Mom! Hey, what's up?  Oh, wow, she hadn't realized how much she'd missed this until right now.

lort x2

Fig suppressed his reaction to Penn's rudeness, tensing when Phox turned his attention to the boy and expressed his gratitude. It wasn't misplaced--Figment was also grateful that the Blackthorn had taken such good care of his sister, albeit reluctantly. But he knew the other yearling well enough to know that he wasn't likely to take the sentiment graciously. He just hoped he wouldn't be rude about it.

Fig wagged his tail, happy to hear about his little siblings. He wondered about Meerkat, who he noticed with suspicion was missing from the commentary, but wasn't given too much time to question it before the conversation continued. "I was just about to head out from the Frosthawks when Fenn and Penn showed up at the borders. I decided to hang with them for a bit and then we all decided to come home," he explained.

Then suddenly Towhee was there. He whined happily as he mushed his cranium into his mother's shoulder, tail bouncing to and fro as he listened to hear what she would say to Fennec's question.

Penn stared blankly at Phox as he thanked him for being with Fenn and expressed his gratitude that neither of them had been alone. He felt many less than kind retorts flooding his tongue, but held them back and responded with nothing more than a shrug. What did this guy actually care that he hadn't been alone? And they sure hadn't seemed grateful for much of anything when Fenn had told them she wanted to travel with him, from what he understood. So where did he get off? He glanced at Fenn, though, and decided not to rock the boat. She seemed happy. Why fuck it up.

He stood and followed, feeling more and more uncomfortable as the conversation continued. He rolled his eyes at Fig's explanation of how they'd ended up together. There'd been no we when the decision had been made to come back to the Copse, and calling this place home might not be a stretch for Figment, but it certainly was for him. In spite of himself, Penn glanced around as they moved, maybe sort of hoping to see Wraen and Eljay, but also hoping like hell they didn't show up. He knew the sight of them would make him feel guilty. And what did it really matter? He sure as hell wasn't staying.

He peered at Fennec again. 

When Towhee arrived, Penn braced himself for the whole happy reunion excitement to start again. He sighed, but was surprised in a very nearly pleasant way when she came and greeted him. He'd forgotten he liked Towhee. He smiled, but it was quick to tighten on his face. He didn't want to like her. She wasn't family. None of them were. This wasn't home. He hated it here. He wanted to leave.

He slipped back into the role of sulky teenager then and simply kept his mouth shut tight, waiting for when he could slip away on his own.

lol @ phox being too scared to do anymore talking/asking

The story was short, but Phox didn't mind. It was just so nice to have the kids back. Granted, he didn't think that Penn was likely to stick around based solely on his indifference (and maybe outright disdain) for Phox and Figment, although Phox could have sworn he saw the Blackthorn half-smile at Towhee for a split second. Whatever sour mood he was in, Phox wasn't sure it was his place to stick his nose in it. What he could do was kill him with kindness!

There was the lingering question about whether or not Fennec would stay, but Phox held his tongue for now. Of course he wanted her to stay (forever and ever), but he knew asking that right out of the gate would put unwanted pressure on her. Now that they were out of the rain (as much as they could be, anyway), Phox just basked in the presence of his two "little" ones who were certainly not little anymore. They were full-fledged adults.

Despite the gloom and possibility of flooding, Towhee's day brightened considerably as they greeted her in turn. Was there any sweeter sight than Fennec's smile? Could Figment be any handsomer? Penn looked hale too, if a little sulky. She hardly paid attention to the sour look on his face, still pressing in close to all three and licking any part of them she could reach. This went on for several minutes, actually, before she finally stepped back to look at them properly.

-"Welcome back!"- she said emphatically. There was so much to catch up on from both sides, yet that could wait. -"Let's find somewhere a little more sheltered,"- she suggested, unaware that they'd already been heading that way when they'd stumbled across her. -"It's so good to have you guys back."- Towhee couldn't emphasize that enough and kept staring at her two children and younger brother with dopey eyes even as she attempted to navigate the rainy copse.

i keep completely missing that I'm after towhee Jfc - we can wrap this lol

Fennec was glad to hear news of shelter and followed readily.  She could sense something was off, but she pretty readily and easily ignored it.  All that mattered at the moment was that mom and dad were here, they were happy to see them, and pretty soon here they'd be mostly out of the rain.

Flooded with joy, yeah? Fennec said with a soft snicker at her own joke.  God what a terrible line.  Plus, too soon maybe?  

Fig was doing an enthusiastic enough welcome for the both of them anyway, from the sound of it.  If Penn slipped away, and Fennec noticed, she let him go.  She'd ride him about being an ungrateful asshole later.

It was a relief when Penn decided to keep his mouth shut for once, leaving Fig to feel free to turn his attention to the reunion with his family and let the excitement take him. He smirked at Fenn's quip and bumped his hip against hers to express his appreciation for her humor. The gesture made Penn scowl, but Figment ignored him. He looked at Towhee and smiled. -"It's good to be back,"- he replied as he set off into the Copse with his family to continue their conversation on dry(er) land.

ima slap an end on this here :) slap me if anyone minds!