Noctisardor Bypass Um, do you wanna go to Heaven? 'Cause it's, like, ten bucks to get in.

@Pheiros maybe?

There'd been some rain again, oh no. But it didn't seem as bad as before. Which was good. Still, Warlock was a little wary as he prowled around some distance from one of the local herds of deer. He was just watching right now, not daring to go chasing after them on his own -- that'd be foolish. So he'd watch and see if there were any worth mentioning to his mother or something. Probably too early to sic the little ones after it too. They kinda freaked him out a little too.

The herd had been at the lake, but now it was sweeping across towards the southern edge, slowly, munching as they went. A buck and some does, not anything spectacularly odd there. Maybe a couple of the ones he thought were does were just young and not actually does but... eh. Whatever. Warlock stretched and shook out his fur casual trot after the herd so he could find a new and closer spot to sit and watch.

He hadn't been doing much today, just trying to stay dry and wondering if he should make more of an effort to spend time with Arbiter's kids. He had stayed away, unsure what to say or do or if she would even want him there. But he felt like he had stayed away for too long, and now it was weird. He didn't do well in those situations, and his usual was just to avoid them and feel guilty, which was what he was doing now, until he caught the scent of his friend. 

He tracked him, noticing how the scent mixed with the familiar herd of deer that frequented their territory. When he saw the other boy looking out over the heard, Pheiros moved forward quietly. He came up to his side with a quiet, Hey, and then settled down beside him to watch the deer too. Whatcha doing? he whispered, curious as always.

Deer weren't very exciting creatures, were they? They just kind of hung out and munched and walked a bit and munched more. While Warlock watched it gave him a moment to reflect on how boring it must be to be some kind of prey animal. However, on the other hand, he was glad that a familiar gold shadow was headed his way. 

He smiled, Hey. Just watching. I was hoping maybe there was one out there we could all go hunt or something but I'm not seeing anything I'd want to report to my mom yet. He takes another glance of the herd before looking back to Pheiros, What about you? They hadn't gotten to hang out as much as he probably would have liked, but Warlock kept getting roped into helping with stuff, so at least it wasn't his fault. They could fix that though, right?

Watching—Pheiros could definitely watch. Hunting was still iffy for him, but watching the deer and hanging out with his friend would be fun. Well, I can help you try and find something good to take back to your mom. Of course, he would be happy to do anything that would make Arbiter think he was useful. 

He shrugged when the question was turned back on him. Um, not much, he offered. I was mostly looking for something to do. Not the best use of his time by far, but at least he was honest about it.

Well, if Pheiros wasn't doing anything either, then this was perfect, wasn't it? At the very least nice, as long as Warlock didn't make a complete idiot of himself again like last time. He pointed his nose at the deer, I think these guys aren't worth hunting, too healthy and stuff. Maybe watch a little more then head off and look for something else. Probably would end up being something smaller -- something they could actually catch. Even if they saw the perfect deer it would be kind of sketchy for the pair of them to take it down, having a third wolf around would be nice.

His ears tipped back a little, trying to not look horribly guilty even though he did kind of blame himself, as he said next, And I'm sorry we haven't hung out as much. I've been trying to help out a lot. And um, did you hear I did get my name? They'd both been quiet, so maybe he hadn't. But hey, he was an adult now in his mom's eyes so that was pretty cool. It made him better than his sister, wherever she kept stowing herself. Either way, it meant Warlock wasn't being as good of a friend as he should be. They were supposed to be able to go explore together and stuff and that hadn't happened... Probably because of him.

pats warlock

Pheiros nodded, deciding that his friend's opinion was probably a good one; there was no way they could take down any of these guys with just the two of them. Okay, I can help with whatever, he said, looking out over the herd. Gathering information about them would be important too, right?

Then the other boy was apologizing to him, and Pheiros turned to look at him with confusion. He shook his head. No need to apologize to me, he quickly pointed out. I haven't been the most social lately either. he hadn't even really spent time with Arbiter's new kids. As for his friends' name, Pheiros hadn't heard, and he felt bad about that. I didn't, he admitted. What is it?

It'd be nice to hang out with him again. The only problem was Warlock was just as awful at talking as before, and he was suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything at all and they could just have just hung out and enjoyed it all and he wouldn't have gone and run his mouth and now probably seemed like a total fool.

Warlock. Which still to him sounded the equivalent of putting a kid in an adult's suit, probably quite visible even from his expression. And how quickly he jumped topics because he wasn't sure how to explain or what he thought of it still. But it was his name, so he'd just deal. Eventually it'd make more sense. He'd hopped suddenly to his feet, speaking quickly, C'mon, do we wanna give those rabbits another go? He took a couple steps, wagging his tail. It was about all he could think of to prevent that whole nosedive.

Pheiros smiled, unwilling to let his friend move on from the subject of his name without paying a him a compliment. I think it suits you well, he said, his heart beating faster as he spoke. His cheeks were warm as he continued. I like it. He smiled shyly, shrugging a little from nerves.

After a few awkward moments, Pheiros nodded at the invitation. Sure, I'm up for that. He would do just about anything if it meant spending time with Warlock. Maybe we can actually catch something this time. He grinned and then waited for his friend to lead the way.

But did it really? He still at times felt like second-guessing it. At least Pheiros liked it though. It'd be awful if he thought it was silly or something. His smile was also shy, also uncertain. He was glad that he didn't get asked more about it though. For now, at least. Maybe he'd feel better about talking about it later. Right now it was just all hush-hush.

Warlock started towards the closest warren he knew of. He tried to joke about their last major attempt at hunting together, with an uncertain laugh, I -- I'll try not to trip. And ruin everything. Again. Oh god that sounded so dumb, so he hastily continued, I mean -- I think we'll do better this time. We'll make sure the rabbits are farther away from the burrows too. That should help. They had just gotten unlucky last time. Really they should be good at working together. Or at least, he hoped they would be.

Pheiros was suddenly horrified. He realized it sounded kind of like he had made a jab at his friend and what happened last time they hunted. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to— he sighed and swallowed. It wasn't your fault. I just meant that hopefully we would have better luck this time. He was nervously rambling and probably not making sense, but the thought of hurting Warock's feelings made his chest tighten and his face heat. 

I-I think we'll do better, too, he added quietly, following his friend to the closest warren.

That wasn't the response he wanted at all! He wasn't trying to make Pheiros feel bad about it, he was just trying to bring him in on the joke (the joke that was Warlock himself, apparently). His ears tilted back, mind whirling as he tried to figure out how to undo it somehow. He didn't want Pheiros to feel bad about it. N-no, I mean -- no. It was all my fault before. I'm good at messing things up. That's like--- normal. Or something. His self-esteem wasn't going to win any awards, after all. But that was normal, it colored his view of the world, so he didn't think he was putting himself down more than usual.

Then, as if the world in general wanted to prove a point, Warlock's attentiveness (and also lack thereof) struck again in a much more minor way. He'd been watching Pheiros (and trying to will him to realize it was a joke so he should laugh at War's expense like everyone else), not where he was watching and so he of course stumbled over a rock that his paw hadn't totally cleared. His teeth clicked together forcefully, but he kept moving, pretending that hadn't totally just happened. The warren wasn't gonna be far away by now anyway so he was ok just brushing that right off.