Stone Circle the away mission

While he recovers from his stumble (he really has to work on that...) Greyback covers the distance left between them, which doesn't take long. Merrit is tall, but the older man is practically a mountain and is soon upon him with a kiss to match. Heck no - only his parents, Arlette, and Keen can do that - and Merrit shrinks away, just managing to duck from Greyback lick, and he shimmies aside until he's well out of reach. "I wasn't scared," he scoffs and gives a casual roll of his shoulders, even as he feels a flicker of ire bite through his words. Honestly, he doesn't know why Greyback has to act so much like a mother to him.

"His name's Tulimaq," he says, with a tone much cooler than before - neutral and even, like the Merrit he'd been before his father had left. A slim part of him is tempted to lie, if only because something in the question irritates him, but he knows he has less than nothing to gain from that, and everything to lose. "He's an explorer," he says instead, but adds a shrug, trying to show the man that it's no big deal, and that he shouldn't worry, "he said he could teach me to be a warrior, if mother's okay with it," and he shifts a bit further away - as if to ask can I go now? while already having made up the answer for himself, "I'm going to ask her now."