Ouroboros Spine pharmaka

Further words came to coax him in to submission. It was a tactic the boy did not have a defense for; when others wanted something they would always use violence as encouragement. This woman only spoke and waited. The terms she used were not ones he understood but they were not malicious sounds. The woman kept calling him Nuak and he wondered briefly if that was worth adopting.

Food was hard for him to come by currently, despite the full belly he now sported. The boy could return to that carcass if he could find it back down the mountain. What use was this woman then? Offering him food he need not hunt for, better than what he would eventually scavenge. He wondered what her angle was; what repayment she might desire or threat she might pose.

In the end he had to make a choice. Continue to live
the life of a loner, struggle, and likely die - or, adapt. He curled his lip as visible frustration formed on his face, but he stood up, then drew across the divide towards the woman. He paused and ducked back a step, bashful as he turned his eyes away. While he was tense all over he held the curl of something pitiful.