ORIGIN

Bahamut was in the middle of a nap. The stench of dead lesser gembound bothered him on a bad day, but for the most part, he'd gone fairly nose-blind to it. Except for the occasional smell, nothing exactly compelled the tiger to actually clean away the remains of his meals, so they just remained in the outskirts of his lair.

Which, considering the following situation, was definitely not a good thing.

He awoke to the sound of bones rattling outside the alcove in his den. The massive tiger lifted his broad head to stare wearily out, scarlet eyes glimmering in the darkness of the tunnel. He couldn't quite see for himself-- merely, a vague shape milling around outside, but he could smell something new among the rot.

Something... not food, he decided, as the feline hauled himself up to pace around to the edge of the alcove in the wall, staring out. He could just about make it out now-- a cub.

Like he had been, perhaps, but this one at least seemed to have some more colour to it than black and white. But why was it here? Was it... lost? Had it stumbled in from Orion or something?

... it must have.

"Canis is back that way," he drawled gruffly, his voice quiet but rumbling like heavy rain. He pointed, using his nose, to the way that Orlaith had come from, back towards the room that he'd mentioned.

A quiet pause and Bahamut realised one very vital thing: he couldn't be left alone just yet. His maw opened and then shut as he mulled over his words carefully. "Why did you come this way?"

You know. As if there was another way to Canis.

Quietly, Bahamut narrowed his eyes. He doubted this was the actual reason that this cub had come wandering into his territory, but he quickly reminded himself that kids were stupid. Most gembound, in fact, were stupid.

"... right," the massive tiger grumbled, standing unmoving in the entrance to the alcove where he slept. "I don't know why you'd want to. There is nothing here to see." As if to double-check, he took a glance up and down the tunnels.

There sure wasn't anything he could see-- just blackness left and right, followed by a faint glimmer of light where Canis and Orion lay beyond. He wouldn't have wanted to go exploring if he were bored, at least. It seemed just as boring. Trivial.

"Well, yes. You were trespassing," he pointed out mildly, but remained fairly unbothered by it. Other gembound merely passed by and kept going to Canis or Orion, after all. They avoided him. He couldn't imagine why-- the stench and the bodies likely didn't have anything to do with it.

"Aren't there other things you could do if you're bored?" He asked. "Useful things. You could have gone hunting or something, but instead you're doing... nothing."

Exploring because you hadn't done it before didn't seem like a valid excuse to Bahamut, but he felt his interest quickly bleeding away in the matter. "Then why don't you?" He asked simply, still rumbling distantly.

His lips almost peeled back to show teeth. Bahamut had to fight to restrain an instinctive growl rising in her throat. This cub was arrogant-- and he didn't pause to think that perhaps he was too --he merely saw something getting on his nerves.

"A cub," he said, low voice dripping with venom. "Should have more sense than to wander into someone else's den in the first place."

He was torn, now-- he wanted company, but he didn't exactly want company that was rude, or that would just wander into his territory unannounced. And make themselves at home, he noted to himself, as Orlaith sat down.

"I don't care," he concluded as he bent his head down to pick up a semi-fresh rat, about a quarter of the size that he was, dragging it by the leg inside his alcove again. "Do whatever."

It wouldn't be his fault if company ran away, at least. He hauled the rat back inside and slumped over onto his side to eat.