Heron Lake Plateau born in the right country

Phox hadn't really wanted to seek out @Quixote, but now he knew he had to. He had no idea when Camilla would be fertile, but Phox would rather ask far ahead of time. If he wanted to give her what she wanted, he would need to make sure that their children would be welcomed into the world rather than end up a sore spot for the pack. He tried to count off all the female wolves of age who might have kids this year. With Finley leaving along with Wildfire, that left only Raven and Camilla (and maybe Clover?).

The delta took in a long, deep breath, then threw his head back to call for the alpha and @Camilla. He knew he already had Towhee's approval; she'd been the one to encourage him enthusiastically. Thinking about that caused his stomach to tighten in an odd way, but the feeling diminished quickly. Camilla's presence would be an interesting twist on things, if only because Phox wasn't sure how she would act when they were asking.

Their tryst had awoken a new side to Camilla which, for the time being, didn't want to be shunted back in to the dark. She was more persistent with her affections now, unafraid of showing her attachment to Phox regardless of who watched; she felt free, and safe, and to some degree loved despite having a very limited understanding of the concept. She wasn't sure what lay in store for her, or them, in the future — and certainly did not understand what he'd been asking of her before, about children. The concept had never been properly explained to her, and previous experience had traumatised her too. 

But his summoning call rose up, and she was eager to meet him - expecting them to continue where they'd left off (perhaps without Towhee's involvement), and slipped close to him as soon as she was near. She was nuzzling against him, frisking her tail, nibbling playfully at his pelt - not noticing that Quixote would be along anytime.

The call kind of surprised Quixote.  Partially because he was assuming he'd just get ignored forever, and second of all because Phox didn't sound pissed -- which was about the only reason he figured that he'd get called by that particular pack member.  Sure, to a point he didn't have high expectations of anyone (including himself) but at least the whole thing with the Firebirds and Niamh leaving seemed to have maybe taken a little of the pressure off so he didn't quite feel like he was going to get shanked in a dark alley by an angry punk kid.

Anyway, he showed up on the scene, pretty much neutral in mood.  He looked between them, then to Phox since he was the one who called, What's up?  It wasn't like Quixote had much of a clue, he was out of date on Phox news.  Okay, he wasn't 100% clueless just because Camilla was practically eating him alive, but thus far Phox hadn't really shown much interest in showing up to say hi to any of the kids-that-aren't-very-small in the pack, but eh.  He wasn't going to assume.  The minute you did that, they would totally prove you wrong and it'd be something dumb like they wanted to go join the Firebirds too.

Camilla preened his fur, and Phox wasn't sure whether to smile or be mortified. He chose to remain neutral. We have to ask Quixote about having pups, he explained. I don't want put them in any danger. And if Quixote said no, Phox would have to restrain himself when Camilla came into season.

It wasn't long before Quixote came around, and Phox struggled to read the mood. He had considered starting out with some sort of, "I know we aren't on great terms" speech, but Phox decided against it. He tolerated Quixote because Towhee did, but that was about it. If the guy hadn't been with Raven, Phox probably would have felt more strongly about the whole thing, but that wasn't the case.

Uh, hey. It's not on the table right this second, but if Camilla and I have pups later this year, is that okay with you and Raven? Towhee was encouraging us, but I wanted to clear it with you, too.

He put a damper on her antics, which made her briefly draw back and pout. Some quick words about puppies that brought a surprising cheer back to her features, a smile and the fanning of her ears — but Camilla was out of the loop on her own biology and didn't understand that he was asking for permission on her behalf, that she'd agreed to something more than just making him happy. It was her job to keep her husband happy, and that's all she cared about - but if he wanted more, she'd do that too. For the time being she stopped preening at him, but seemed antsy where she sat.

Then there was Quixote — that nice man who had offered to help her, which made him a friend. A momentary lapse in her thoughts made Camilla think, maybe, Phox was trading her away. A sharp doubt that came and went, as many of her thoughts did. She reminded herself that Phox was related to Raven by blood and so, there was no reason to trade for her. This wasn't an outfit of the Company, she was safe, this was okay, Phox was here — Phox was her's.

She watched their exchange and when Phox was finished his question, she leaned in to him, blissful and stupid.

It's now 2am so if this seems disjointed, I apologize, heh

However, the player is making the assumption that at least some of the whole, "No, we're totally not a thing," nonsense got back to Quixote, so he kind of blinked at them like asking what the hell changed.  Like hadn't it been kind of a joke?  And now it wasn't?

On the other hand, at least they were asking.  Even if he was kind of doing so in a weird way.  You know, unlike him and Raven last year, but that had set off that whole cascade that had ended up with them as leaders when neither of them wanted it, blah blah blah.  On the other hand, that wasn't going to be happening this year.  Permission not required, and he wasn't planning on stepping down.

Unsurprisingly, Towhee's word sounded like it meant a lot more to Phox, and he wasn't sure if they'd even respect a no.  But still.  As far as he could tell, it wasn't like it seemed like they'd put pups in danger?  Probably?  Camilla's behavior previously concerned him a little (what had happened to her?) but at least right now she seemed almost normal.  Kinda?  Maybe she wasn't as screwed up as she seemed.

Still, as long as Phox didn't go all snarlsnarl at him, Qui was willing to act reasonable and respectful. That didn't mean he wouldn't make jokey comments, though.  You'd think that if she liked pups so much she'd want some of her own... he mused, also assumedly still unaware of her extra bits of anatomy that very well might make that impossible if she tried.  Still.  You think you're ready for the responsibility and stuff though, yeah? I know it's cheesy as hell to ask and the pack exists to help if there are issues, but.  Shrug.  Had to be asked.  Even if the real answer was probably something about how nobody was ever ready, he wanted to know how much thought Phox had put into it.  It also, notably, wasn't a particularly committed answer.

Phox actually appreciated the joke, although it wasn't such a knee-slapper that he laughed. Instead, his lip twitched. Camilla continued to lean in to him (as always). This was what she wanted, and Phox wanted to make her happy. If there was any miscommunication there, he was completely unaware of it. The other question Quixote asked had Phox responding with his own shrug. I guess nobody is ever really ready, but I'm sure we'll make it work. Between him, Camilla, and Towhee, the kids couldn't grow up to be that bad, could they? Two out of three mentally stable parents seemed like pretty good odds.

Camilla could sense some good cheer in Phox, but didn't realize it was because of Quixote. She liked the thought of them together and took this meeting to mean they were approved of, which was good. It seemed less like Phox was going to trade her away and that made her happy too, so she smiled, and watched dumbly as the two men discussed the future.

He nodded slightly.  Quixote couldn't really think of any concrete reason to deny them.  Just asking was perhaps more maturity than he'd figured any of that similarly aged group had.  Perhaps he should give them a little more credit.  First Niamh had pretty much done an 180 on her attitude, now this... Really all he needed was to talk to Towhee again and find out she'd figured out the whole two packs thing wasn't such a horrible disaster or whatever and he'd have completed the set.  It's an adventure.  Good and bad.  Hopefully more of the former.  And not with such a rough start as his family had -- that'd be some really bad memories that would dredge themselves up later in the season.  At least Screech or Titmouse or whatever was not anywhere within range as far as he knew.

Maybe this would be a bit of an olive branch?  Something to prove that he wasn't some kind of irrational monster or whatever the hell they all had thought of him.  Probably not, that'd be asking for too much.  He just hoped he wasn't making the wrong call when it came to Camilla -- but considering Quixote's experiences dealt more with fighting and less with Stockholm syndrome or whatever that could do to people, he was just assuming she was made of tougher stuff than he expected, and had brushed it off.  His eyes flicked between them, And I guess with Eljay leaving, Raven's our only midwife.  I'm sure she'll want to check in and make sure everything goes okay, so I hope you'll be ready to get pestered by her a bit. -- And "good luck" seems like a weird thing to say in this case... Early congrats? I dunno.  Qui wasn't gonna win any awards for his elegant speeches, but he was at least smiling a little, which never seemed super visible given he was more prone to eternally seeming kind of scowl-y.

Phox wasn't sure if he had expected an outright or a hesitant no, but Quixote's response (so far) seemed to be neither of those things. It was enough of a "yes" for Phox to not feel worried if Camilla did happen to conceive. He wasn't even sure that would happen. He knew that it wasn't always a done deal, and a small part of him hoped it would fail... but another part of him knew that both Towhee and Camilla wanted this, so why shouldn't he?

He was fully prepared to get his ear chewed up by all of Raven's talking about child-bearing, but that wouldn't be too bad. Their relationship had never been particularly deep, but there wasn't any bad blood between them as far as he knew.

Thanks Quixote, he managed to say, surprising even himself. I'm going to track down @Raven and run it past her, too. Camilla seemed pleased, which was a good thing, Phox hoped. You want to come with me for that, too? he asked, suspecting the answer would be an obedient yes.

Something was concluded, or it seemed to be. Whatever they were talking about left Phox happy - and then he was inviting Camilla to go with him, and she was nodding with a smile on her face; thinking that they were going off to have some fun --- but then she paused mid-stride, and turned towards Quixote. She slipped over to him and politely (but a bit hastily) booped his cheek with her nose, then darted back to Phox's side and waited to be led away, her tail batting contentedly at her hocks.

So maybe to a point this would round a few of the dangerous points between them?  Maybe?  Eh.  He wouldn't count on it, but he'd hope.  Time would tell.  Quixote nodded in acknowledgement, and wasn't necessarily going to say much more.  It was a good plan to go off and talk to Raven.  Maybe she'd have an opinion on Camilla -- sanity check things and all that.  

He hoped everything would go well.  Quixote was starting to wander off as well, taking a step or two before Camilla turned back around and bounded back to, he guessed, thank him in her own brief way.  Yeah.  Hopefully stuff went well for them.

Phox departed with Camilla by his side. They would find Raven and talk with her. (Ok, let's be real, Phox would talk and Camilla would stand around like a loon.) He felt better about things already. If Camilla got pregnant, everything would be all right... probably. The thought of kids still terrified Phox to an extent, but at least they wouldn't be scorned by Quixote... probably. It all felt a bit up in the air, but there would be no surprises from Quixote's perspective.