i reached back to scratch my arse and found a banana peel in my pocket

He did not realize it but he held his breath as his daughter considered him and as she took her first steps toward him. He held it as she inspected him thoroughly, and were it not for the suspended but quivering animation he had placed himself in, he would have bathed her face with his tongue and buried his nose in every inch of her downy fur. The softness of her touch, the innocence of her curiosity, and the smell of her puppy breath laced with berries, that called to mind his beloved rum, was beguiling and rousing.

She frolicked back to her mother just when the sirens were going off in Raptor's brain and demanding that he breathe. It took several deep breaths to recover his air. He took them through an open-mouthed grin, tongue lolling, a chuckle or two between them. For a moment he lent the mother of his child a look — a happy, warm, and appreciative look — but she had her head turned and perhaps would miss it for he was quick to turn his burnt umber eyes back to his daughter.

"Oh?" He smiled as she told him a story, extending his nose forward to sniff gingerly at her — to smell her breath again — as he continued to restrain himself; except for his tail, which continued to wag and thumb exuberantly. Raptor gestured toward himself by hooking a paw back, parroting "f'iss," without any clue what that word meant to her but thinking it rather endearing just the same.

"What's her name?" He asked softly, chancing another glance at Wylla, but then giving his eyes back to his daughter.