Much to his benefit, Valtýr had managed to have his first full meal since arriving at the Plateau. The grown-ups brought in a sizable kill: a large moose who had been incapacitated. A big animal meant a feast for all and there was plenty of food to go around too all the members of the pack. After the boy stuffed his belly full he dragged a piece of meaty bone back to his hideaway to gnaw on.
The savory meal was delicious! Val's stick figure body rested lazily beneath an outcropping of shale. His bloated and sated tummy gurgled happily as he chewed, spirits returning after a rocky start.
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the boy who had returned from waters red with junior's blood was a quiet, thin creature, but lasher had kept a watch upon him. with the successful glut of a carcass upon the pack, he went to seek out the child, following the pale scent of an innocent, mingled with the bloodied trail of carried meat.
giving a low chuff, taltos did not draw too near to where he discovered the child, though a glint of a smile encouraged the boy to come out of where he had secreted himself.
Yet, Valtýr hardly trusted anyone around the Plateau, especially after his rough encounter with the binary Pura. His ears rolled back, body shrinking into the shadow the stone outcrop cast, and clutched the bone protectively. Bronze eyes watched the grinning Lasher distrustfully and wondered exactly what he wanted.
the child grasped the moosebone defensively, seeming to shrink into the shadows that already veiled most of his slim body. prostrating himself where he stood, lasher stretched his belly against the earth and slid ecru ears backward, attempting to make himself appear smaller.
again he called wordlessly to the boy, signalling himself as a companion and one who meant the child no harm; nor did he wish the bone for himself.
Lasher, thankfully, was a patient man. The charcoal colored adult lowered himself to show he was no threat without interest in the small meal Valtýr possessed. The child blinked a few times before relenting. He crawled like a snake on its belly from the shadows, gaze adverted towards a patch of dead grass. "Are you my guardian?" the pup muttered under his breath, reflecting on what Pura had told him earlier.
the boy approached, and lasher blinked in consternation at his unexpected question. we are all your guardians,
the gamma purled kindly. he did not expect the whelp to draw too near, but gestured for the boy to sit beside him all the same. what is your name? i am lasher, but you may also call me taltos,
the earthen servant offered with a gentle curve uplifting his lips.
he still wondered how junior had happened upon the boy, for it had not occurred to lasher that the child had simply appeared there that day. perhaps he had come across her while she was in the process of mutilating her legs, as she had recently admitted to doing.
Valtýr's flat bronze eyes cast downward, his expression sedate as the pup mulled over the time he had spent with Pura, searching for his family. The older youth had instructed that the sooty boy required guardianship, and Val assumed that meant one wolf on the Plateau.
Lasher's gentile visage eased him somewhat. How different this male was from the mottled youth. His kind face and expression soft, especially when juxtaposed to the witch's sharper features. The lost Sveijarn could not have known his Tartokian ties to this man, who had promised fealty to the same matriarch his mother had.
The Lasher felt uncomfortable sharp on Val's tongue and so he parroted, "Taltos," to secure the name in his memory. After a few beats of indecision, the child he scuttled closer on his belly and left the bone behind. His submissive posture reached out to his superior. "I'm Valtýr," he said with a crooked frown, wiry frame straddling the ground uncomfortably.
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pleased by the boy's approach, taltos sat alongside him for a moment, before rising to his paws and pacing in the direction of blue willow's den. come with me, valtyr. i daresay blue willow will be able to find you a treat of sorts.
with a smile at the child, the dark male began to move again, glancing back behind himself to see that the newcomer followed.
Though the scrawny boy was still suspicious of the dark witch's intentions, his childish naivety and the promise of something delicious overcame any lingering reluctance. His ruddy ears perked, bent legs unfolding. "A treat?" he chirped with a cock of his head. Quickly he scuttled to Lasher's side, not wanting to be left behind. Children, especially the boys, were too easily won over by food. Val's thin physique didn't help.
yes,
lasher murmured warmly. blue willow was there, at her den, and the bustle of her lush hips brought a delicacy for the starveling child. taltos himself was content to watch them from the corner of the clearing, his eyes soft with affection and a bit of curiosity at the mystery of valtyr's presence among them.