Crux knew that he was being watched, they were always being watched. His parents were either always hovering around or their companions were, and Crux knew he and his partially sighted sisters got even more scrutiny than the rest of their siblings, and some part of the boy rankled at that, but he was doing his best to ignore the large shadow his father's vulture cast over the ground as it circled. Deep inside some instinctual part of Crux feared the bird, knew that he would not necessarily be safe with a large raptor flying overhead while he was so small, but the raptor in question was trusted and mostly just keeping an eye out for danger that would actually threaten the young pups wandering around the col. The feeling of unease didn't leave him though and only added to his emotional state, which wasn't amazing today to be honest.

Crux was feeling stiffer than normal today, his movements still clumsy with a very typical for a puppy, lack of fine motor control, made worse by the fact that he just couldn't seem to move his limbs the way he wanted them to. So maybe he was a little grumpy. Crux had decided that at the very least he should learn the layout of the Col, or at least the places he was allowed to go, much as he wanted to scale the cliffside or enter the caves they'd been told not to he wasn't going to push his luck with that... Yet. So for now the young boy was walking the perimeter of the grassy space. Poking his head into the caves he'd pass and taking a moment to draw in the scents of the pack and try to figure out what each space was used for before he'd move on, a scowl on his face, only dropping when he was trying to hide a wince as his limbs protested their usage. Must have just slept on them wrong last night.

Speech

Art by Talia!

Basilisk had of course been introduced to the beans when they were rolling around in the den. When they had been allowed out of the den for the first time, he’d been on patrol, and keeping an eye to ensure they didn’t go anywhere they shouldn’t. Today, he was off duty when he found the little bean that looked very much like his grandfather. He strolled closer to the wolf. To… his Uncle. He wrinkled his nose at the thought of the tiny little creatures being uncles and aunties to him. Wasn’t his grandfather too old to be making more babies? Perhaps that was why some of these wolves had come out… defective.

As he approached Crux, his eyes glanced over at the afflicted leg, before back into the teal-green eyes of the pup. “Hey.. Crux, right?” He said, going over the names in his head quickly before speaking. There were a lot of them, but he was pretty sure he’d gotten it right. He'd come to a stop before the boy. "Whatcha looking for?"


"Speech"

He had so many family members, it wasn't exactly easy for his young brain to keep it all straight. But maybe it was lucky for him that he was too young to understand the trepidation his older family seemed to feel with the idea that he was an uncle to older wolves. He had just pulled his head back out from a cave paw steps sounded behind him and Crux looked up at, his... Nephew? He didn't really even understand what that meant, it was just a title to the young boy but he knew it meant the older boy was family in some way. He'd gotten names at some point too and he nodded in response to his question as Crux tried to grab the blue-marked boy's name from his memory. "Basalisk?" He said tentatively, struggling to get the sounds quite right from memory alone, doing his best to mimic the polite greeting he'd watched his father give the other wolves of the pack even as it was clear he wasn't sure he'd gotten the right name.

He hadn't missed the way Basilisk's gaze had landed on his leg and Crux shuffled self-consciously, angling himself so his right leg was placed further away from view. Biting down the desire to ask if he could help his nephew. He knew well enough there were members of his family who despised him and his sisters for their disabilities, his older brother Azure's actions had spread quickly enough amongst the litter and if he was remembering correctly Basilisk was Azure's son, it would make sense for Basilisk to feel similarly to his father. His irritation wasn't hidden though, even if he managed to keep his voice even enough as he responded, trying to appear more nonchalant, he wasn't totally successful, but his clearly ruffled feathers settled as he shrugged and glanced over his shoulder at the cave he'd been peeking into. "I'm just explorin', tryin' to know the area better." Crux was a quick study, he'd been listening to the way that his father spoke and he was doing a pretty good job mimicking the confidence and eloquence in his parents even if he didn't quite have the real skills or vocabulary to sound like anything more than a child imitating the adults, yet.

Speech

Art by Talia!

“Basilisk, or call me Bas” he corrected. Almost wincing at the bad pronunciation from the pup. As he spoke he watched as Crux shuffled the bum leg out of view. It was no secret what his father thought of some of the kids in Crux’s litter. Basilisk did have a habit of shadowing his fathers opinions, but without the same strength behind the bite as his father. Basilisk was more likely to give them a chance then Azure was. He wasn’t really sure what he thought of them yet. They were new, and something interesting around the pack. Maybe one day they might even be old enough to be fun.

“Did you wanna go into any of the caves? Seer only said to keep you out if you were alone” he said, a slightly mischievous smile on his face as he looked at Crux. offering him a small olive branch. After all, if the pup was with Basilisk, he wasn’t alone was he?


"Speech"

"Bas." Crux said, nodding. That was much easier. He looked up at the other boy, he was... Well, he was massive. Crux was already used to having to crane his neck to look up at a lot of the older wolves and his own size made judging how much bigger others were hard but something about his nephew really struck him. But he didn't really have a chance to think to much on it as Bas spoke again. Crux glanced over his shoulder to the cave again, and when he turned his attention back he noticed the mischievous grin on his nephew's face and Crux smiled back.

"I guess I wouldn't be alone if you were there would I?" He said, coming to the same conclusion Basilisk had a little bit later than the older boy. Crux perked, nose twitching and he meandered towards one of the cave openings, scents he'd never really smelled before slowly reaching him from within. He couldn't know it yet but the scents would lead towards his own older sister's workshop. "This one seems... Nice." He commented, pretending to be very interested in the stone before them.

Speech

Art by Talia!