Bramblepoint This is growing up

Phox meandered outside the caldera's borders today. He was mildly curious about the pack that his daughters and stepson had joined. Maybe he should have known more about it, but he only had the vague sense that Hydra's son led it and... well, that was about it. Was there more to it? And what about the woman who lived at Moonspear who had been teaching Fennec about medicine and such? She seemed to be giving enough to lend a few herbs to the Redhawks, so that was nice, but Phox felt like he should know more about the two packs that were considered sisters to Redhawk Caldera.

One way to do that was to linger in one of the two territories between his home and theirs. That was where he found himself today, stopping intermittently to sniff at some scent trail or scratch at something interesting in the dirt. Since the three packs were so close, he was bound to run into one of them at some point, right? And if not, he would have at least done a little bit of exploring and stretched his legs.

Speaking of stretching, he slapped his front paws on a nearby tree, using it to stretch his back. Phox yawned, wondering how long he should lurk around here before he headed back home. Probably not too long. Niamh would be waiting.

Dhalia found she only missed Jasper when she was alone. Which meant she missed him, too, when she was with others, but she didn't let herself feel that or think too hard about the lonely longing in the crook of her chest when she saw the siblings around her and wished she wasn't the only Rochester-Ostrega here. But Jasper hadn't found it in him to leave with her when she'd left again, even though growing up he had always been the one who couldn't seem to stop moving.

The emptiness at her side roused her emotions in a different way when she'd awakened today. Where usually the feeling would nag at her until she found some foreign or familiar face to tag around with for the day, today, she'd rolled through the mental list of her potential company, and, at the thought of every one of them, knew that anyone but her brother would send her to the edge of an emotional breakdown.

So she'd gone outside the Glen today, to the forest between the little alliance of packs she'd somehow stumbled her way into. The forest here felt much less heavy than whatever emotional dump she'd left behind, and the challenge of navigating her way through the brambly undergrowth was enough to take her mind off things at least a little bit and help her settle into the moment again.

The whine of a yawn swirled her attention around. Oh, gosh. If it was anyone from the Glen --

But her eyes caught someone unfamiliar through the tangle of branches, where the light streamed through in just the right way to catch his silver fur like mercury. Much different than the raven gleam of the Ostrega brothers, and nothing like the ruddy hues of Bronco or Osiris.

"Never seen you around these parts before," she quipped and sought her way towards him to catch a better look at the stranger she'd stumbled upon.

Phox pushed himself from the tree just in time to catch a glimpse of somebody rounding a corner and greeting him. It wasn't anybody he knew, but a quick cursory sniff of the air told him that she was from Firefly Glen, the same pack where Bronco, Meerkat, and Fennec lived.

And she was... pretty.

Phox had never strayed from Niamh, and the mere thought of considering anybody aside from her "pretty" left a funny taste in his mouth. But hey, he could handle himself, right? It wasn't like his first inclination was to whisk her away on a romantic getaway, leaving his wife and daughter behind.

He could look, couldn't he?

Hey, he said. I'm Phox Redhawk. Live just south of here in Redhawk Caldera. You smell an awful lot like Firefly Glen.

Oh jeez, this was going terribly. He probably shouldn't have said that. Phox managed to keep a friendly facade despite his brain's insistence on making this weird.

"Play it cool," he thought. She's just a wolf like anybody else. Except she's cute. But that's fine. He knew plenty of cute wolves. Like Niamh. Yes, remember Niamh? Your wife.

She hadn't expected the face he carried - but perhaps she should have, since there hadn't been any wolf she'd come across yet that she didn't like the face of. He seemed older than herself and the wolves at the Glen - something in his eyes, as they always seemed to say. They reminded her of when the sunrise would hit mother's fur in just the right way.

A stifled laugh danced from her lips, and she ducked her way under the final arc of brambles that separated her from Phox. "Glad to hear that's the only thing I smell of," she replied with a smile, even as her thoughts lingered more on where he said he was from. It wasn't the first time she'd heard the Caldera mentioned... and she knew, if Jasper were here, he would have prodded the man for every lick of information about these wolves who lived there now. Dhalia, however, simply offered her name, "Dhalia Rochester-Ostrega -- of the Glen," and tucked away her questions until she knew she wouldn't break down, "your nose wasn't wrong on that."

She ran with it, not hanging on to that one slightly awkward phrasing and instead introducing herself in the next breath. Phox was thankful for that, at least, even if she teased him a little at the very end. A little light teasing was something he could handle. Her name was rather pretty, and he knew that the Ostrega name belonged to Hydra as well. Their bloodlines seemed just as strong as the Redhawks and Blackthorns.

He wondered if she knew how cute her nose was when she talked.

(Editor's note: Seriously, Phox?)

Phox opened his mouth to talk about how his kids lived there: Meerkat, Fennec, and Bronco (who wasn't technically his, but whatever), but something stopped him. Somehow it felt weird to be telling her that. Surely she wouldn't want to hang out with some old dad.

I suppose that makes us friends by association, he said, rolling his shoulders back.

I don't know too much about Firefly Glen, even though we're allies. Maybe you could help me out?

He seemed to pause on a thought, or did she imagine that? A slight stall in the conversation -- these things, she had learned to pick up on, early in her training as an ambassador. But perhaps the circumstance made her hyper-aware, because her parents had warned her about using the name "Rochester" around these Wilds. While Sebastian had done much to reclaim the honour of their family, she was warned that to some wolves, bad blood might still run thick.

But Phox didn't bristle or bare his teeth. He seemed casual, trustworthingly so, and after a small pause of her own, Dhalia said, "I suppose you're right," with the touch of a warm smile, "though it seems promising we might be friends by actual acquaintance soon."

He asked about the Glen, and she brightened even further. "Of course I can help!" she said with a grin, and a playful puff of her chest, "In fact, you should know that you've run into an ambassador of the Glen herself!" Though there was hardly anything interesting about the place that wasn't run-of-the-mill, this was the first opportunity she'd gotten to flex her skills in such a role here, and to start earning her own name instead of riding off the reputation of her heritage. "Before I bore you with details, though, of things you already know, perhaps you should tell me what you do already know. A good ambassador knows when to talk, and when to shut up, after all," she said with a playful wink. Which humoured her, to say the least, because info-dumping was usually her downfall.

Her smile was cute, too.

She was all kinds of cheerful and bubbly, reminding Phox of Maia in a way. Maia, but less... well, less related. Maybe all these weird feelings were because Phox practically never talked to girls outside his own family. In fact, aside from Chanel, he couldn't even remember living with any females outside blood relations and his mates, Camilla and Niamh. Her name made him feel guilty, but he brushed that aside, listening as Dhalia explained that she was an ambassador for the glen.

And oh gosh, that wink made his stomach do all kinds of flip-flops. Dhalia seemed to have this total, carefree way of behaving that just felt so... natural and warm, y'know?

Now sure, he could have mentioned that three of his children lived there, but again, there was an aversion to it, so he guided the conversation to more top-level things he knew about the pack.

Well, I know that it's an offshoot of Moonspear, which is led by Hydra. And Osiris, who leads the glen... isn't he related somehow? Phox couldn't recall whether Osiris was brother or son to Hydra. He admittedly hadn't been very involved with either pack. Although now he had a perfectly good reason to learn more.