Grow New Roots

The sound of paws moving over stone tipped him off to someone's approach and he quickly looked up, his turquoise gaze falling on the massive form of a male that seemed to be split in two with dark fur on one side and lighter fur on the other. Valens immediately shied away from the stranger as he drew closer and began to worry that he had mistaken this cave as one that was abandoned. No matter how uncomfortable he was in the rain he certainly didn't want to intrude on this man's home or earn himself the wrath of this stranger for trying to use a space he had set his sights on. He was ready to dart back out into the rain, but the larger male only told him that he should get out of the rain before continuing on into the cave himself with no warning or sign of hostility toward him.

Valens blinked with surprise and only hesitated for a moment before he moved further into the cave with the stranger while still keeping a respectful distance. He hung back closer to the entrance and watched as the man moved around the space as if he was inspecting it. It seemed that the man had the same idea he had about trying to find any traces of scents of other predators, but he was actually brave enough to throughly inspect the cavern rather than cowering by the entrance as he had. Of course he shouldn't be surprised–this man was just as big or perhaps bigger than any of the gladiators he had served. At the very least he matched Cyprian in height which was saying quite a lot.

Once the larger male was satisfied and moved back toward the entrance a bit to settle on a the cave floor, Valens began to relax a bit. He gave himself another shake and moved closer before settling onto his haunches a short distance from the stranger. It was hard to read from the man's expression whether he wanted to be left alone or not, but he felt like it was only right to at least thank him and introduce himself if they were going to be waiting out the storm here. "Thank you for letting me share this space with you, sir," he said after a moment, giving him a small, grateful dip of his head. "I'm Valens... I go by Val if you prefer."

"Valens"