Sufferin' snorkelblatz!

As a leader, the crimson male knew what to look for to tell if there was a lie involved. As a father, he was just as astute, and he had to hide a grin as he spotted the tell tale signs of a whopper about to be spouted as those young eyes widened. The boy introduced himself as Jupiter, but the monkey jumped into the conversation.

Regulus stared down at the two, locking eyes with Jupiter, and simply raised one brow point before drawling out, “Oh really, now?” His scarred features twitched into a conspiratorial smile as he tipped his head and offered, “When I was about your age, maybe a bit older, I went out exploring. My mother had taken myself and my siblings to see a neat stretch of sand that reached alllll the way to a second continent to the far south. So I found my way there, and one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I’d made it to the southern land, and I was lost like you wouldn’t believe!”

He chuckled, then shifted so the boy could see his left shoulder, and the scarring that left him without fur where the gashes had been left. “See these, Jupiter? The claw marks are from when I was almost a yearling, when I tried to find my first spar. The curved scar came from a boar I met on that adventure I took to the south. I ran across him in a tangled, dark, and scary woodland down there, and I guess he wasn’t fond of my red coat. He got me so fast I wasn’t sure what hit me! If it wasn’t for a stranger who swept in and killed the boar, I’d have been swine food. I never got her name, and I don’t think she even spoke the Common tongue, but she guided me back to the land bridge. When Mother tracked me down, I was in so much trouble… I wasn’t allowed to leave the den for a whole season.”

He straightened up a bit and gazed down at the brightly marked child, grinning. “I know the feeling of wanting to see the world, but I learned my lesson big time that day. But what would happen if you had been badly hurt by one of these two cats here? Your mother would probably be devastated.”

He rose to his fours, shifting his paws so his good hind leg bore his weight, tail flicking out for balance. "Come, leanbh." He uttered, tipping his head toward the way to the boy’s pack’s territory and stepping forward as the Old Tongue word tripped easily off his tongue. “Let’s get you to your pack. What’s your mother’s name?”