cheese dun slid off muh cracker

Talon gallomphed along with his nose to the ground and his tail in the air, a banner waved back and forth at a speed that made it quite possible that was what was propelling his body clumsily past all obstacles as he followed the scent trail of a skunk. But not Lefty. Oh, not Righty either. Those guys were off-limits because they were family. But this stranger-skunk, hooooboyyyyy he was definitely going to find it and claim it as his own so he could be just like Grandpa Valen and Uncle Tyrian.

He found the skunk.

The skunk did not appreciate his well-reasoned argument about why it had to go home with him.

It really didn't appreciate that he resorted to pouncing on it when that didn't work.

With runny eyes and nose, and smelling to high heavens in a way that would have horrified his mother if she hadn't gotten lost in the volcano night, he went looking for less painful entertainment.

Luckily by the time he found it, his nose had become basically inured to scent wafting off him, so he thought nothing of throwing himself gleefully into the group that waited for him. "Jupiter! I want to fight too! Can I? Can I please? I want to -" He froze, gaping suddenly at the adorable fluffy cat that was easily as tall as a lot of wolves. Oh em goodness, was that cute little kitty going to fight too? That... that was awesome! "Awwwwwwwwwwwww it's so cute!" he crooned, wriggling his entire back half along with his tail.