Ghost Lion Crag tunilaaga ♢

was he less sad? arcturus didn't know, truthfully. life had a strange way of turning him in a tailspin. he was miles away from everything he had known -- and thousands of lives away from what he wanted. "it is good to see you too." his words were stilted, but seeing kukutux in this moment was like beholding a divine vision.

did he deserve this gift? his throat constricted as the duck bent to the hide, unfurling artefacts within it. his nose told him it was trout, carefully prepared -- painstakingly prepared. when she looked upon him, it was not the earnest of her gaze he felt, but the twist of a thousand knives: betrayer.

he silently placed a paw over the hide and the cured meat, pulling it towards him and wishing instead he was pulling her (wrong, wrong, wrong!). her svelte form, her soft but stricken gaze -- could have been his in another world, had he not been so ... arcturusly.

"i do not deserve these gifts." arcturus announced, though he was loathe to give them back to the duck. "how are your children? what are their names?"