Snowforest Taiga broken boy

the pale fool offers peace, pleads for unity, and suggests they hunt together that masa’s jaw twitches, eyes narrowing into slits of bleak yellow.
this is not your fight, he states, deadpan. but it lacks the edge of scorn. there’s something almost tired in it.
then aspa speaks. cruel. mocking. masa turns his head slowly toward her.
he does not need to fight me to prove he is a man.
his voice is flat, final.
he must survive.