Bearclaw Valley it's whatever you say it is

"yes!" merrick exulted, leaping up with a grin upon his mutilated features. the exact sort of answer he had wanted, ico rising to a challenge beyond himself, and doing so with fucking aplomb. his tongue hung in a laugh; he nudged first fields with a shoulder, and then swept in to bid ico rise up up up up no more cowering no more pandering no more submission.
"ico," merrick murmured, seriousness blossoming again upon his face. "would you like to stay here, with ursus?" of course he expected the answer to be affirmative, but he wished to hear it all the same, to watch the slim, pretty jaws of the foxlike boy form into a yes.
he had pleased merrick. it was not hard to do, but it was difficult to keep a consistency. and yet ico had thrilled him again and again, firing the old hunger for ripping flesh and the lower throb of his more physical self, all intrinsically tied to the glee that rushed through his veins.