Along the borderline

Of course, Nico hadn’t seen everything he’d spoken of.  Sure, Echo had told him about pigs being a different color when small but that didn’t mean Nico had ever seen it.  Still, for the time he was with his parents they had been roaming instead of staying in one land as a pack.  Then Nico had his time with the herd and Taiga.  The boy imagined he had seen a lot more than most his age. Safe to say Nico hadn’t quite imagined just how clueless the boy was.  Though Nico also hadn’t imagined just how young the boy he spoke to was.  

“You just came out of your den?” Nico’s nose scrunched up and eyes squinted considering the wolf pup.  “Mom and dad did say wolves generally got larger than coyotes but uh, never specified how big.  Sooo, you probably are younger than me. Man, I bet you’ll be huge.”

So the funny thing was a crab.  It could be food but it was crunch and it could hurt him?  Nico didn’t need food at this moment, not when he had a distraction but he’d remember that he could eat crabs if it became necessary.  He waved a paw over the crab but not close enough for the crab to reach him.  Nico glanced to Jack as the boy seemed to get an idea into his head.

He listened to the kid suggest a trade in knowledge, grinning wickedly back at him.  “Well, ya know hunting takes a looooooooooot of work.” Nico drawled out.  “I been training every since I left the den!” Nico had his own bold grin on his face for a moment, enjoying the energy of the other boy if nothing else.  It was nice having another kid close to his age again.  Hopefully, the boy was right on ships being great.  Then he was mentioning swords and monkeys which Nico also had no image for.  

“Aw,” Nico waved a paw at the boy, “Course I’ll show ya, was gonna offer ya that even before ya mentioned swords.  I wanna see a real sword.”  Not that Nico had a damn clue what a sword was but he imagined it was something that fit into a den. Still, even if it was boring Nico just wanted to have a friend a while longer to play with.  Maybe they’d have some fun discoveries together.

Then the real offer came up!  Lots of food?  All the food he wanted without having to hunt?  Hunting was fun and all, but having a free source also sounded pretty good.  “Um, your family won’t mind that?  Sharing all that food?”  Some of these wolves might be the sort to kill coyotes so how would they feel about Jack offering to share their food?  “I don’t want to upset them.”  Nico didn’t want to become the food.  Regardless there was another problem.  “So, you able to leave the beachside?  You said you just left your den.  I’ve been hunting in the grass and around trees n such.”  He’d also been eating berries and eggs and scraps he found but that part didn’t sound nearly as exciting.  Nico pointed to another crab, “I bet I can show you how to kill that later and be safe about it but, I wanna see the ship first.  I wanna see why it's so neat cause hunting is super neat.”

"Niko"