Toxin was milling about, useless from any outside perspective. He was growing, stronger now than ever before and he'd eaten lots of monsters with Mother, only... He wasn't getting too much bigger like Dione had said he would. Was it a lie? He ground his teeth and shook his head furiously from side to side. No, he couldn't think like that. Mother was... Mother, and she wouldn't do that. Or, well, even if she did it wasn't like he could... The young boy let out a sigh and sat down with a thwump. He looked down at the blue of his coat and narrowed his eyes. Was he small because of his coloring? Mother and Father and his siblings were all smaller too, and then there was Valentine who was hugemongous! Toxin grumbled to himself, "I just wanna be big and strong." The voice inside his little mind hungered for more though, it wanted to hurt things. And it was getting stronger every day. "Talk" "You" Think

"I just wanna be big and strong." The little voice on the wind drew him from the path he was taking around Imperium. One of Dione's boys? Sounded like it. Pushing through scrub brush that grew no higher than his shoulder, Valentine was soon face to face (well, to the boy it was face to shins) with the one name Toxin. Even though he expected it, the blue of the boy's coat was startling. He tried not to dwell on it. The child couldn't help it. “You will be soon enough.” Considering the height of his parents, that was probably a lie. Didn't hurt to give him hope though, did it? The giant eyed the boy. “What are you doing all the way out here, so close to the border?” His mouth quirked at the corners and he joked, “You're not running away, are you?” “”

NOTE: Valentine has a female striped skunk companion named Lefty. Unless stated otherwise assume she's present.

The giant's footsteps were lost on Toxin's inexperienced ears until he came to stand directly in front of him. Startled Tox would leap up and back, teeth flashing in a juvenile snarl. Maybe it was a monster, maybe it was- Oh. It was only Valentine, the leader guy. The one Mother listened to sometimes. Tox coughed, trying to cover up his surprise. "Waiting is stupid," he sulked, small voice petulant. But at the core of it, he was truly afraid. What if he couldn't grow big, what if he wasn't good enough when he did? The world was so big and scary, and full of monsters. Mother had made it look so easy, but... He shuddered. Toxin looked down and away from Valentine, worried he might read his mind and get Mother in trouble.

"Waiting is stupid," the boy grumped, and Valentine found himself nodding in agreement. “Yes, it is.” And it was always going to be stupid. There was no changing that. “You didn't answer my questions,” he observed. Maybe this little guy was the runt. They are all small to him, so if there was a height/weight difference it was lost on Valentine due to their general smallness. Maybe he was so far away from his family because he'd been picked on? That wasn't exactly a topic the brute was familiar with, but he was willing to give it a shot it that was the reason behind Toxin's sullen demeanor. “”

NOTE: Valentine has a female striped skunk companion named Lefty. Unless stated otherwise assume she's present.