Bramblepoint Leave this blue neighbourhood

Forgive the length, I'm having one hell of a time articulating where Lagan's mind is atm because him being a fraidycat is really uncharacteristic for him but I wanted to shake him up, lol

Panicked though he was, Lagan was beginning to calm down, and in his rising calm, he knew he had to go home, whether or not he could stand the thought of running into Whip. He knew the Redhawk wasn't an evil wolf, but he could never really look at him the same way again, either. He didn't know what anxiety was, but that was the closest thing to what he felt at the notion of looking into Whip's eyes and being unable to separate him from the notion of a monster. Whip probably hadn't meant it, but that just didn't justify it.

Freyja seemed willing to help, and Lagan nodded his head dumbly because he did need to get to Liffey, but then he froze. He was willing to employ this wolf's help in finding Liffey and making sure she was okay, but he didn't even know who she was. Or why she was here. He believed in fate to some extent, of course, and didn't think lightly of the fact that someone his age had shown up right when he most needed an escape from what he'd just witnessed, but they were perfect strangers. So he gulped down some more air, and started by answering, "black, red eyes... when I was younger I watched it come and take my sister Lucy away, and she hasn't come home. I think... I-I think it ate her." But even if she was eaten, he never forgot her, even if he could barely remember what she looked like.

"This wolf... he's not the same as that, he never did anything like that, but it's still wrong to attack your own, and when he did I just... saw the monster," he vehemently claimed, fully believing in that, "and so I... he's family but he's not... not..." Lagan's words faded off as he stumped even himself. "He's not right, and the monster was like that, too, so isn't he a monster as well? I... I'm afraid he'll do it again." The longer he thought about it and the calmer he became, the more he understood that Whip and the monster were not one and the same. But there was a sense of wrongness about the entire situation, and an inability to cope after witnessing it, that kept Lagan rooted to the spot. Whip probably wouldn't do anything to him or his family, but did he really want to be there to find out?

But did he have a choice? Not really. He had to go home eventually, his parents would worry. Anxious to change the subject and take his mind off going home and having to face not only Whip, but the fact he had run instead of staying like he was supposed to as a pack member, Lagan finally voiced the question that was nestled in his head from the moment he saw Freyja: "where did you come from? I've never met any other kids."