Only Dead Fish Swim With The Stream

Arcturus' subtle attempt to head back so he could slip away from his mother before he said something he'd regret failed as she forged on, telling him that they would dry the fish over a fire first instead. Logically it made sense and it was a method he wasn't very familiar with so at least part of him was eager to learn, but internally he was having a hard time just maintaining an easy, neutral expression. "Okay, sounds good," he replied though he wasn't sure if he meant it. At least he'd have a task to focus on and once it was done they could head back, but then she followed that up with a request to gather lots of firewood since they would be here all night. She looked up at him so he gave her a little smile and nodded. "All night huh? Sure, I'll get the firewood," he told her as he got to his paws and started to walk off toward the trees, always careful to keep his expression in place while she could see him.

Once he was was out of sight though his shoulders slumped a bit and he sighed as he went about finding limbs to gather for their fire. Sometimes it was exhausting to keep his mood up and meet the expectations he felt like his family had of him. He knew that there was a lot less pressures out here than there would have been if they had stayed in the Armada, but it still felt like he couldn't really fully process what he was feeling because doing so would tear him apart entirely and what good would he be to them then? He quietly and quickly gathered up a pretty sizable pile of wood, at least large enough to get the fire started, and after taking a beat to collect himself again he gathered as much of it as he could carry in one go and walked back to where his mother was waiting with the fish. He sat it down and trotted back to where he had been gathering to get the rest before he started to set the pieces into a neat pile to make a campfire. It was something that he had done pretty often with the rest of the group so it was a simple task he could put his mind to. Once it was all in place he took a little step back, looking to his mother so she could get the fire started.

"Arcturus Indarra"