Lift Me Up

Arcturus nodded and gave Vanille a little smile when she said that she had something in her den and that she'd be back. "Alright! Sounds good." He watched her go for a moment before he made himself look back down at the fish between his paws. His thoughts wandered while he worked at cutting away the scaled skin and slicing out long filets from the fish so that they could cook them once Vanille returned with their fire starter. He didn't really realize it until she was gone and he was left with his own thoughts, but this was the first time in a long time that he was smiling and actually working on a task that he was happy about. It wasn't like he was doing anything different than when he would occasionally hunt for his mom and sister, but working with Vanille and providing something for her made it feel different even though he couldn't explain why.

She reappeared just as he was cutting free the last of the fish filets and he looked up to watch her use a flint and steel to get the fire going. Within a few moments there was a small fire building and soon there was a strong campfire burning just waiting to cook their meal. "Nice!" he praised while he nudged the flat rock he intended on cooking on a bit closer to the fire so it could start heating up. He didn't cook food like this all that often, but hunting and meals had always been a big part of his childhood and his family so it was a comfortable thing for him to fall back on. Once the stone was warmed up some, at least enough that when he hovered his paw over it he could feel some heat coming from it, he laid out the filets on the surface, the cool meat sizzling a bit as it began to cook.

With dinner well on its way, he laid down near Vanille, giving her another smile before he looked down with a little shyness. "Hey, um... Are you... Do you just live on your own?" he asked curiously, glancing up at her. He never smelled anyone else's scent on her and the couple of times they crossed paths she had been hunting on her own so he kind of assumed that was the case, but he just wanted to be sure he wasn't stepping over some kind of boundary before he made his offer. "I only ask cause my mom and sister and I kind of live and travel together so if you wanted to travel with us then you could." He was shy, but a bit hopeful when he spoke, partially because he felt like he might actually have a friend beyond his sister for the first time in his life and partially because then at least he could help make sure she was getting enough to eat and was cared for.

"Arcturus Indarra"