Bramblepoint This is growing up

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.