He had hoped that he wouldnt be noticed, but that was far from the truth. The small numbat seemed to have noticed him immediately since he mentioned him, but it only caused him to attempt to sink lower into the ground, but he was already flat up against it so he didnt quite know what he expected. He stared wide eyed as the two discussed, Alpha obviously dropping his accusations to instead protect him from the ill words the numbat spoke. He loved Alpha so much; he was so brave. And here he was, quivering on the ground. His eyes found the chrysalis the two argued over and he stared at the pretty rock. Thats what they were tlaking about now- the rocks they came out of. He didnt feel like he had been put in a chrysalis like Alpha had, but he went with it believing everything that came out of the pups mouth to be true. Alpha Omega

@alpha @booker

Priest hummed, cloudy eye roving over the pair slowly, piercingly, until slowly, he nodded, shoulders slumping, entire posture displaying just how entirely tired he was. It seemed he would never get rest - if it wasn't Louie, it was Baratheon, or Diot, or Dovefeather or Bee or any of the other people he loved who'd been hurt or killed. Probably stop when I run out of family, the tiny numbat mused, slowly bowing his head to the pups, glancing towards the darker every few moments.

"Alpha, Omega. I have herbs to help such things, if you would like," he offered slowly, hating to get a child addicted - but "Omega" looked like Priest did when he was edging close to a full-blown panic attack. "Put you in crystals?" His gaze widened, fur bristling. "Oh my. Did someone harm you, children?"

The idea of someone, anyone hurting kids had used to turn his stomach. Now it made his paws feel bloody. He curled them into fists around his cane.

"Eridanus is my home. It is a forest - a sea of trees, filled with many Gembound, like yourselves. At its heart is the Mother. As for the leader, well," Priest rumbled, raising an eyebrow split in two by an opal spike, "I am one of three of the leaders of Eridanus, and one of its four Guardians. You are welcome within its walls, should you need protection - but we do not tolerate violence of any kind."

Well, no one ever said he wasn't a hypocrite.

"In any case, it is obviously not safe outside its walls, if someone was able to harm Louie," he murmured to himself, absently wandering closer to the chrysalis, unfolding a hand to press it to the cold surface, discomforted by the chill and the absolute lack of a heartbeat. "He is talented in ways of harm, at the very least. I would warn you both to be very wary around anyone overtly aggressive - such beasts will not hesitate to harm anyone, even if they are merely passing through, or attempting to help."

@Alpha @Omega

@Omega @Booker

grudgingly acts nice to the healer man

just one word from you and it's over

Alpha listened, his tail swaying behind him gently, slowly as ever. He was always thoughtful with the heavy weight on it, even from near-birth knowing that it contained a sharp edge that could hurt. Perhaps in his chrysalis he had touched it, curled up in on himself, or perhaps he simply knew from how easy it was to break free. Whatever the reason, it kept his posture slow and deliberate.

"Not to be rude, but I don't think I'd trust taking medicine from anyone simply claiming to be a healer for something as simple as a few bad habits and nervous ticks," he retorted, glancing towards Omega. The child was, as far as he cared, well enough. He could walk, he could breath, and as long as he would eat when he was fed he would be good enough. The lesser boy just had to survive, that was all that was required of him. "If it becomes a problem, then I suppose I'll be quick to ask you first." He shut up after that, quickly focusing on the much more important (at least, to him) matter of Eridanus.

A forest. The thought thrilled him-- though the idea of many other gembounds did not. He did not want competition in his hunting grounds, but anything had to be better than this dusty, lifeless tunnel. Aside from the fungus, there was no sniff of prey to be snatched up that he could tell.

... According to Priest, however, he was one of three Leaders. It seemed like a poor choice, having that many leaders, especially for only four guardians, but perhaps there were civilian likes and such? The canine's ears twitched as he listened to the numbat's warning, feeling particularly set at unease by the words.

"If anyone so much as thinks about hurting Omega, they'll have to get through me first," Alpha snarled, turning his nose to press to his charge's forehead. The growl broke into a gentle, reassuring murmur, "No one will hurt us ever again." It was a promise, an oath made with blood yet unshed. He wasn't afraid to fight, nor could he afford to be. If what this rodent said was true, then he was more than ready.

He kept his snout close to Omega as his eyes shot back to the numbat. "... I suppose we will see you around then. I need to check out this Eridanus myself. Let your fellow leaders know of us and grant us safe passage, and I will see to it that we don't cause any undue problems." It wasn't really a threat-- hell, half the words out of the pup's mouth were too big for him to really even grasp the meaning of. He was saying things with an air of importance, something a kid might say if they were playing pretend and they were supposed to be some sort of knight or king-- but he didn't really have the world knowledge, only a distant, hazy memory of what it might have been like once to be an alpha wolf.

ulla

He wasn't really listening to the two anymore, but he was feeling a little safer. The two hadn't tried to rip each others throats out yet, so that had to be a good thing, right? Alpha had such a short temper and it seemed like he was past that already, unless the numbat would try something. He doubted it though, since the guy was offering some herbs to them, but Alpha didn't seem to like it much. He crawled slowly from the place he laid and over towards Alpha, where he laid at his head on his paws and stared up at Priest with wide, green eyes. The small rodent like creature was cute and not much taller than him while he laid on the ground, making Omega feel large and small at the same time. Maybe Alpha should lay down and talk from this level, but he knew better than that. Alpha would never lower himself to below the numbat's nose and he knew that, but it was a pretty neat angle. So much so that it distracted him while the two talked about this cave and also stopped him from humming; odd. Alpha Omega

@alpha @booker