Bramblepoint cranky curmudgeon

It was automatic for Cypress to settle in beside Rannoch, and if he felt a flicker of annoyance at the affected way his littermate bade him to “come take a seat, brother,” he didn’t show it. Rannoch’s formal phrasing was…odd. The raven wasn’t so sure he liked “brother” in place of “Cy” — but he didn’t question it beyond a wry twist of one tall, sharp ear. Instinctively responding to the gunmetal male’s stiffened posture, Cypress bumped the bridge of his muzzle lightly against the underside of his brother’s muzzle and lay down beside him, angular obsidian shoulder brushing companionably against a sturdy silver foreleg. He faced away from his sibling out of deference rather than avoidance, his powerful jaws cracking with a wide yawn as he attempted to relieve some of the tension in the air. The eidolon was starting to get it now, and he broke the silence following Rannoch’s words with his thoughts on the matter: “You know I’ll stand by you, right?”

Cypress shifted his hips and shoulders to face Rannoch, glancing quizzically up at his littermate with calm sulphureous eyes that bore no ill will or challenge. “I never wanted what paw wanted — what I think you want,” he elaborated. “I knew — I always knew — that it was going to be you, Noch. That’s how I wanted it, anyway.” Significantly, he rose to his full height and sought to clasp the argent male’s chin gently between his teeth, tongue laving the sharp angle of Rannoch’s jaw. “I support you — and Rian,” he clarified, “and I’ll go wherever you want to go. I’m just happy it’s going to be away from here.” With a faint shadow of his old childish joy, “Fuckin’ thorns,” the gargoyle muttered dismally.

A little hesitantly, Cypress licked his lips. “The new wolves, though,” he hedged, not really sure what he was asking or why he was bringing them up. Finding himself at a loss, the raven shook his head. “Hell,” he sighed. “I don’t know, Noch. I’ll get used to them.” He would. He’d liked it a lot better when it was just the three of them, Rannoch, Rian, and Cypress against the rest of the world, but he’d adapt.