you my best friend

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2021
"Speech!"
The wolves of Habari were doing nice things for each other, giving each other gifts and the like. It didn’t matter if the recipients were couples of a romantic nature, or even family or friends - everyone was having a good time sharing moments they’d cherish. Mac’s emotional range was stunted, for certain - he didn’t understand why such concepts of gift-giving were so important. He didn’t even share the idea of something deeper, like romantic feelings for other wolves, but that was something he wouldn’t need to dwell on until his older months, or years. For now, it seemed like a great time as any to present his brother, Ghoul, a gift of his own. The speckled child reflected on the tight bond he and his pink brother shared in particular as he stalked a snake, its dull scales contrasted with vivid dark striping, indicating it wasn’t a venemous creature and likely wouldn’t give off more than a pinprick bite. Though he loved all his siblings - well, even if he couldn’t necessarily feel love for others the same way his siblings might’ve, he still shared a closeness to Ghoul that almost rivaled that of Viscera and Ichor’s bonds to each other. Ins ome ways, he felt he and Ghoul were two halves of a whole, in their own polar opposite ways.

Upon leaping on the snake and delivering a swift, crunching blow to its neck, the reptile lay still. The boy’s silver eyes flashed with glee as he dragged the thing to asmall clearing, proceeding to use the blades on his bracers to carefully cut it open. Clearing out its contents - meat and organs and all - he’d soon created a strange, snake-shaped shell, hollowed out. He’d made sure the head was intact - he was planning to stuff this thing and preserve it, and it wouldn’t do for the snake to not have a head. After all was said and done, the snake dried out just enough for the boy to stuff it well with dead leaves and grasses, even finding some sweet-smelling lavender to make it have the slightest tinge of freshness. Not that it helped much, it wasn’t foul but it certainly didn’t smell dainty. He awkwardly managed to stitch it up with a string of thin leather and a sharpened porcupine quill, ensuring the stuffing wouldn’t fall out. At last, Mac stepped back to admire his work - the snake was clealry dead and stuffed with something, but it didn’t look comically bloated. You could be convinced it was alive if you squinted a bit. Happy with his goft for Ghoul, he grabbed it and headed towards their den, just as his brother’s familiar call rang out to him.

Pace quickening, the cow-spotted child reached the den, and upon seeing his blood-smeared brother and the equally bloodied den, his tail wagged eagerly. He grinned as he spotted and smelled the mouth-watering hunk of fresh meat the boy had dropped before him, basked in the moonlit glow that highlighted the den’s opening. He gently placed his own gift on the ground, marveling at Ghoul’s offering. "That piece of meat wouldn’t happen to be for me, would it?" He inquired, clearly excited to give Ghoul his gift just as much as his brother was excited to give him his.