Path of Least Resistance.

His crimson fur bristled with a mix of fear and courage, and in that fleeting moment, he was a protector – his every sinew dedicated to shielding Star from harm. But the giantess merely laid to bring her gaze closer to his own, and he stood fast despite the fright within his heart. Her voice, a soft rumble that echoed through his flimsy skin and bones (or at least that's what it felt like at the moment), tried to weave a sense of reassurance into the boy, gently coaxing him to believe her words of helping other puppy kind.

It should have been obvious, but he had met this cat before, though at the time the chaos of the moment had not allowed him to fully memorize her features. Big cat wasn't exactly the best way to commit a soul to memory, now was it? As Taiga returned to her task, her powerful form effortlessly rending the earth asunder, Redrum stared with wide eyes. The ground trembled beneath the force of her efforts, roots and stones yielding before her unstoppable might. He was scared- he-

With a gentle touch, Star’s paw sought to ease the tension that Redrum had created, her words an attempt at soothing the fears that gripped him. He shifted to look at her, his ears trained on the big cat just in case. The girl was so at ease, but then again… she didn’t have a reason to dislike cat’s like he did. Okay. He did his best to ease the raise of his hackles, his muscles spasming all the while. Focus, focus on the moment.

Star was all smiles as she returned to the task at hand, paws dancing across the earth, sending clouds of dust spiraling into the air. Redrum was still at a loss, peering up at the cat as she dug. What was that about the sooner they dug, the sooner they ate? He sniffed the air, scenting some sort of animal on the wind. A trap? Like mother always made? His own experience with trap making was rather.. Little. He was more of a hands-on hunter, but.. It couldn’t hurt… right? With a distrustful furrow of his brows, the boy settled in to dig next to Star, his gaze flicking up to the cat every now and then. He was unsettled, but sticking around in case something went wrong was better than running off to calm his heart...