take two

The crimson boy chuckles, his lips pulling upwards to reveal ivory teeth. He watches as she stealthily looks over her shoulder, golden eyes twinkling with amusement at her behavior. What was she doing? He played along, peeking over his own shoulder to see behind him, only catching a flash of smoky fur as a sign that Umbra was checking in. He cocked a brow, unsure of what he was looking for and so he returned his attention back to El. "Prince, h-uh?" He repeated, having never really felt what the implication of his princehood meant. His mother had not ever asked him for more than growth and practicing his skills, afterall. “Redrum- thinks so too.” He finally replies with a grin, enjoying her lively demeanor quite a bit. Besides, he hadn’t had the chance to really interact with other pups, save for Cavader and the occasional run in with the boy’s siblings. The thought of destiny and the like was silly to him, but if she liked the word he would agree regardless of his skepticism.

Wide smile on his face, tail wagging behind him, the boy sits himself down and tries to calmly listen to Elara speak. She speaks quickly, chirping her excitement out at his words, and he is glad enough that she hasn’t bashed him for his speech pattern. He is surprised, gulping down a sharp breath of air as she leans towards him, his eyes going wide as she fidgets in anticipation. She’s doing that thing again, with her eyes that he doesn't understand, and it causes him to nearly bite his own tongue as he barks out, "Red swears!" He swiftly declares, his voice ringing with sincerity as he hopes to assure her with a flurry of words. "Redrum will protect- with everything Red’s got. Elara is a friend. From, uh, m-monsters to- mischief, Elara can count- on Red-!" He meets her gaze, the promise of his words shining in his eyes. He is a boy of his word, and one day a man of it too. The notion of being her protector really fills him with a sense of pride, so he was quite eager to prove it. But it would have to wait until she was able to leave the border.