Nova Peak Oh, I've got reservations about so many things.

Stag, if nothing else, could be patient. He followed the boy as he set out among the firs, tracing some subtle scent until he came upon an old carcass. While Astraeus ate, Stag considered his past -- never once feeling bitter.

"Mahler was my father's kill-brother." Stag surmised in many ways, Mahler was his surrogate father. "I have never not known him. Even in my earliest memories he was there." Stag felt this conversation was becoming lopsided. All about him. Was this Astraeus' design and purpose? To deflect the attention elsewhere?

Common courtesy dictated he at least try to make the boy feel included. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to, you know." Stag started, feeling they might be kindred in more ways than simple loss. "We could just hunt and be. You know, just.. be." Two hunters joined in the cause, without thinking, or heavy thoughts to weigh their soul down.