Swiftcurrent Creek Here's lookin at you, kid

"Mama" had a plush tail, just the way he liked them, and it cushioned his collapse. With his face buried in tufts of fur, Larus should have noticed the difference between this stranger's scent and his mum's - but the boy was so overjoyed to be in her company (alone in her company) that he was content to just sit and bask in the moment.

She was swift to sooth him, although for the first time he didn't need soothing. He was pleased with the attention nonetheless, and gave a gurgled, gleeful response; murmuring nonsense in to the pillow beneath him. When Larus finally came up for air, his eyes were wide and hopeful. He slouched with his nose across the fluffy tendril and peered up at Danica with such warmth -- but then he noticed the yellow fur of the girl's face; the wide set of her jaw; the eyes which didn't look as stormy as Tuwawi's at all; lastly, he heard her voice. "Hey," the stranger blurted, and Larus reached a conclusion.

This wasn't mommy.

A knee-jerk reaction followed. The boy's eyes lost the innocent adoration with a blink, and he pulled away from the soft tail as if it were made out of porcupine quills. "Naaaa!" He bellowed - mouth wide, tiny teeth exposed - and bowled himself backwards in his haste.