The Firebirds were as crazy as ever. All of her playmates had grown up and started some drama somewhere in the socially complicated huddle that was their pack, but Nellie herself was pretty new to the stuff. She had promised herself to check in and have a little chat with her mother (and Bronco, if he so desired) every day to reassure her she was sticking around. Of course, that promise was played with willy-nilly and she was sure she had already missed a day. Her coat now reeked of the Copse and the daffy gang that lived there, so she was sure Niamh could track her whenever she wanted and vice versa.

She popped into the conversation accidentally and, in an attempt to establish a name for herself instead of "That missing daughter of Niamh who returned", decided to socialize. She recognized them vaguely as Phox and Towhee, fuck, were they family as well? Their tree was confusing as all heck, which would make dating difficult in the future.

Hey - whatcha'll doing? She greeted with a smile, totally adulting like a pro.

She remembered Phox - he had come to visit the Frosthawks not too long ago. Nellie had indeed let him swear secrecy, but was surprised he had kept his promise. She liked him for that, for an honest man was a good man. She smirked at him. 'Happy to see me, less happy 'bout you not telling her my hiding place. She remarked. Her expression then turned into something more sincere as she followed it with; But thanks for not spillin' my secrets.

Another then joined the party, this time the grey scale woman she believed to be called Clover. Luckily she didn't have to ask for names with everyone shouting their identity to each other, and her suspicions were soon proven to be correct. She shot a smile at both the colored-maned Towhee and the clover-butted Clover, then turned to whoever it was that would take the next word.

Clover's crash into the conversation didn't last very long, which was a bummer because Nellie wanted to get to know everyone. Seeya! She called after her, giggling at Phox's comment after. She felt a teeny tiny bit guilty for making him lie for her, but the fact he'd done so only gave him plus points in her book. If she had any kind of father figure in her life, she was thinking it might be Phox.

She grinned, but not for very long. When her mother was brought up she sighed. Yeah, I noticed. She nearly wanted to roll her eyes but thought it might come off as rude. She didn't like her mother making such a big deal out of it all. She'd come back unharmed right? What was the issue? She'd just been chilling at the hawks, no biggy. Phox was right; enough about that. She smiled at Towhee, waving her goodbye when she went after Clover. That just left her and Phox.

Trip went fine, had no troubles findin' my way back - and no, I haven't much. She shrugged. Yeah, he was her brother, but they hadn't grown up together the way most Firebird pups had. She found it hard to approach him like this. Ya think he's avoidin' me or somethin'?

She shook her head at Phox. I don't think he's upset. Not like their mum at least. He seemed glad to have her back here, otherwise he wouldn't have tackled her onto the floor. Maybe we just grew apart and he has better friends now... She couldn't blame him for it, really. While she'd been gone, he probably made a ton of friends. Maybe even a girlfriend. Nellie was sad to not have a boyfriend, or well, like, any friends. She knew Figment, Phox's son if her memory served her correctly, but to say that they were besties was stretching it. Maybe she could get to know Fig better through his dad?

Sure. She answered. She didn't mind hunting when she was successful at it, but failing to catch anything always put her in angsty teen mode. Maybe with Phox's guidance she could catch something. He was grown and all, probably faster and more skilled. If she had to guess his age by looks, she'd say he was about 4 years? 3 maybe? Strangely enough, she could see where Fig had gotten his looks from.

She motioned for him to take the lead, falling into a comfortable pace beside him if and when he did.

Nellie wouldn't mind a boyfriend, though she was sure her mother wouldn't approve fully. It didn't help that there weren't any cute boys wanting to hang out with her specifically, but it wasn't like her life goal was to woe one of them. She barely knew the basics of mateship and how puppies got into the world, still needing to hear from someone how that all worked before it was too late and she was stuck with a teen pregnancy next year.

She shrugged, something that looked a little awkward while walking. A really sick deer, but I wasn't alone. She admitted. 'Usually go for small ground critters - I'm pretty fast with these legs. It was true, she wasn't built like her brother with rippling muscles and a stocky frame. Was it not for her dorsal stripe and different facial features, she could be her mom's twin instead of her daughter.

A blush flushed her cheeks underneath her fiery fur - she smirked proudly, shaking her mane and sticking her chest out just a little as she followed him. "not bad" wasn't exactly a compliment, but she perceived it as such. She liked compliments, mainly because she didn't get many, and coming from Phox it was just; wow. Despite her apparent clumsiness sometimes, she was a fine hunter for her age. Nothing special is what she would describe it, but useful in the long run. However, now she was gunning to impress Phox.

She observed him from his flank, lowering her muzzle to the ground to smell what he was smelling. She, too, picked up on the scent trail rather easily but couldn't help getting a whiff of "Phox fragrance" - the name he should definitely use if he was ever gonna put out a perfume - and it distracted her a little. She didn't get the time to think about why it had distracted her, because she assumed her instructor had seen or heard something that sent him into a frenzy. She raced after him, trying her best to pass him from his right to get the first pounce in.

Unluckily for Nellie, her writer loves torturing her with feelings >:). Nellie didn't know what she felt for Phox in that moment, she just knew it was different from something like a friend or family. As much as she was aware that Phox was older - much older - than her, their interactions were so... Yeah, different. He didn't treat her like a little girl like her mom did. or as a pesky sister like Bronco did. She felt like she could really be 'Nellie' around him. She had no idea how to bring this up, if she even should, but Nellie would continue to have these feelings despite the strangeness of it all.

Well shit. Was her response, halting very suddenly so she wouldn't crash into him nor into the stream. She stuck her nose to the ground, sniffling around a bit and circling back to where she had began. Just our luck, ey? — Maybe somethin' else is around? She looked to Phox then as, again, something fluttered in her food system.

He didn't seem to notice her much at first - weird. She suppressed the urge to wave a paw in front of his face or bump his shoulder, and was glad she did because whatever trance he'd been in was gone not long after. Blacking out while hunting in a team seemed a little dangerous, and Nellie could only hope Phox was gonna be alright in the end.

It wasn't a secret that Nellie was a teeny tiny bit accident-prone, from getting stuck in bushes to falling off things, but if there was one thing she could do with relative success, it was having being a huge ass — and tracking. She smirked proudly, nodding just once before beginning her sniffling again. There was Phox scent, her own, the trail they'd lost and just a bit away she was like 90% sure she found a rabbit track. She ignored it at first, wanting to catch more than just a meek bunny, but she couldn't find much else exciting. Just her luck. Ya fancy rabbit? She asked with a knowing smile, head turned to look at wherever Phox had found himself.

It was for the best that Phox didn't aspire to be her new daddy - well no, she def wanted him as a daddy but not the normal kind. Her writer could only imagine the awkwardness and the shame that made you wanna dig a whole and bury yourself alive if Phox really wanted to replace Colt for her (something that couldn't happen regardless of him wanting it because Colt was a special bean and there was no one as great as her father - nor would anyone ever be). Not that wanting to hook up with her mom made things any easier for her confusing feelings that had no actual place anywhere, so she hoped he wouldn't drop that bomb on her 'cause it would break her little heart.

She smiled brightly, trotting her way over the scent trail. Buttocks a bouncin', she tracked the rabbit with relative ease and fell into a comfortable sprint once she knew they were close. She pounced, not thinking about Phox for once in her goddamn life, and - sure enough - she'd caught it.

Nellie wasn't thinking at all about having kids - barely knew how they came to be. She felt perfectly fine without kids, but that might be because she still was a bit of a kid. The hormones that drove females to go into heat (a thing she'd only heard whispers about) or make them all boy-crazy weren't in her body all that much yet.

She practically beamed at his praise, a big grin around their catch - or was it hers? She put the rabbit down, spitting out some fur in the process. 'Not all that hungry - you? She said honestly. If you're not hungry either, we could drop it off in a cache on the way back. She suggested with a little shrug, not actually wanting their time together to end.