Moonspear for my father to come and find me like he said

arcturus' head tilted as a noise sounded beneath the caved dirt, caught between a shrill cry and a whine. he recognized it as fox.

immediately, arcturus thought of hydra's whelps -- a fox was competition, but a fox could also be a danger -- they had to kill it.

luckily, moriko showed no such remorse as she heaved earth from den, digging deeper. she even went so far as to tease him; arcturus, who had never had anyone tease (or flirt with him, for that matter) stood up straight, a sense of unease shifting through him. not with her, but with himself; how could he react to that, what could he say that would show he wasn't rattled and was obviously cool with being teased?

for  a second arcturus rode the struggle bus, his mind feebly formulating an answer. "is that so?" he winced at his voice, suddenly hating it -- and suddenly very self-conscious of himself. "is it a date when there's no dinner?"

he felt stupid for asking that, but hopefully moriko would take it in stride. not one to be left behind, arcturus started to dig around too -- but anyone with a shrewd eye could tell he was watching her tentatively, measuring her response.