Sun Mote Copse You were dancing in your tube socks in our hotel room.

As he patrolled around the borders, his thoughts wandered to unusual depths in the wake of having become an adult. He ruminated on what this would mean over the next few years- that he was now old enough to find someone to settle down with, and with the next Spring, he would be old enough to have kids of his own. Some might've considered the general noisiness of his new siblings to be somewhat of a deterrant- but he loved them. He loved being an older brother, even though his legs were dappled with small punctures left by their needle-like teeth, and their high pitched shrieks left him with mild tinnitus.

So when something roughly wolf-sized and dark tumbled into his peripheral vision and landed with its long, slim legs in the air, he was startled from his deep thoughts, and instinctively went into defense mode. Her scent was unrecognizable- and as such, her presence was too close to the borders for comfort so when he recovered from his initial startle, he made something of a bluff charge toward her, emitting a gruff bark as he did so. He slid to a halt, his ruff bristled and tail curled over his haunches a few metres away from her, and stared down at her with a gaze that reflected his surprise and bewilderment the moment he clapped eyes on her.

She had an athletic form, accentuated by her smooth, flat coat. At first he thought she had a silverish tint to her coat- until he realized it was simply the glossy sheen of her fur reflecting the light that filtered through the branches above them. Her ears looked even softer than the rest of her, if that was even possible- and were long, thin and folded. He imagined her fur might feel somewhat like the fur on a rabbit's ears, or like the velveteen coats his siblings had been born with. Upon realizing that similarity, his expression softened slightly, though his posture remained tense. 

He exhaled sharply through his teeth and lowered his head to gaze at her warily- and realized that while this was not a wolf, she nevertheless bore a distinctly canine shape to her skull. He uttered a soft, low growl as he craned to look at her better, his movements small but jerky- a blatant indication that he wasn't sure yet how much of a threat she actually posed to him. He wasn't willing to risk his life and find out how dangerous she was by instigating a fight, but he was fairly certain he still had a job to do as a guardian, which meant keeping strangers out. Curiosity got the better of him, though- so he held back, and continued to stare at her, unabashedly.