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Kyrak had managed to find himself a tree.

It was a very nice tree, yes. A very nice tree indeed and as it happened - this tree had some orange fruits dangling from it's leaves. There was only one problem for the little parrot, however.

With his stubby down feathers - which, even then, were barely even covering his body - he still couldn't fly. He could barely even walk as it is, even. There was no way that Kyrak could fly up there, and it seemed as though trying to climb up the tree was currently out of the question.

And so the parrot simply stoof where he was, at the base of the tree, and stared into it's leaves in silence - waiting - as if he thought if he stared long enough, the fruit would simply come to him.

The fruit did not, in fact, come to him.

His baby had wandered away. Or been misplaced. Or something. The point was, she wasn't here, so Czernobog had to go find her! The massive pig, nearing five-hundred pounds, slowly ambled through the forest, having left Eve to her not-egg-but-really-an-egg-sitting. It seemed his boat wasn't yet in Cetus... and honestly, the boar wasn't sure he was ready to face him.

He'd fought and won against the weird furry dog thing, and he'd found his hat, but was that enough to make up for his defeat against the fiery dragon? Czernobog thought not, and continued on with a rattling snort. His wounds had begun to close, almost fully healed outwardly, leaving bare patches of skin over his back and a nice scar pitting his cheek, leading to his broken-off gemstone tusk.

The beast's gait, naturally slower with weight gain, was hindered by the bone-deep consequences of having a massive dragon quite literally dropped on his head. His steps were twisted and awkward, back legs occasionally fumbling, though it didn't seem to bother Czernobog much, other than an annoyed grunt issuing from his throat now and then. Indeed, most of his attention was stuck on searching the vast swaths of green for any hint of white.

Instead, a pop of darkness against the foliage caught his attention, and the creature slowed, turning towards the... thingy. It was... very tiny. Another baby? Sticking his snoot to the ground, the boar trotted forward, trying to catch any hint of a scent trail. The tiny-baby smelled a bit like hat? Maybe it was a hat, too!

The thought made his tail begin to wag, and Czernobog danced forward a few more steps, stopping a good two feet from the tiny-baby in case it freaked out, following its gaze to some sort of... food tree. A grunt, and the pig walked to the tree, snorting, and quite casually proceeded to ram his face against it, left tusk striking the bark hard enough to knock one of the fruits loose, sending it tumbling to the ground, bouncing along and rolling to a stop between the boar and the baby.

@Kyrak it's biggus piggus time

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And, as if by some miracle, the tree he had found abruptly began to shake; not too disimilar to the way his stone prison had shook when he hatched. He watched it, wide-eyed, as a mango fell to the ground.

The little bird bounced up and down on his own talons for a moment and he bounced towards the mango, beak open to take a bite out of the fruit before he caught the sight of black, cloven hooves.

The little parrot looked up, wide-eyed. As he made eye-contact with the big pig he began to shake and tremble violently. "Ss... s.. sp-ee-kkrkk?" Kyrak stammered uncertainly.

Czernobog snuffled happily, ears flicking, as the tiny-baby dug into the fruit. It seemed the massive boar's weakness was taking care of kids. Either way, he was kind of... looming over a very tiny hat, and considering just how big he'd grown, that was a lot to loom. At the babe's speech and obvious discomfort, the boar huffed, ears flicking back as he plopped to the ground, becoming a singular loaf of content dad-pig.

"Chuuuuuurnobog," he grumbled out with a grin and a swish of a pitch-black tail, resting his chin on the ground to come snout-to-beak level with the tiny-baby. "Baaaaaaby." Another snort, and he grated his teeth together, gemstone tusks glittering in the forest light, tapping a cloven hoof towards the mango gently. "Fooooood."

Hopefully, the mini hat would understand that the boar was trying to get him to eat, and not... hoping to eat him. Then again, Czernobog never had been the best with words, or getting his point across clearly, or anything that required verbal communication.

@Kyrak (https://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbbgjiMntd1r0txp9o1_500.gif)

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Kyrak looked up, then down. Then up and down again. The half-bald bird was still shaking as it leaned over to bite into the mango, croaking into the juicy fruit-flesh as he settled a thin talon over to help him bite into the fruit easier.

With mango juice dripping from his beak he watched the big pig quietly, still wide-eyed. He wasn't dead yet, therefore the boar must be friendly? Kyrak honestly wasn't entirely sure what this would entail but he was relatively sure that in the end it didn't really matter.

He chirped and continued to eat.

Czernobog grunted, content to melt into a big fluffy watchdog for the moment, keeping one eye open to make sure no foes - dingo or otherwise - snuck up on him once again. The teeth scars in his haunch kept his bristles puffed up and his muscles tensed, ready to defend the incredibly tiny hat from danger. The boar eyed the bird, contemplating how to get him out of harm's way, should the occasion arrive. Babies couldn't fly, could they?

The pig smacked his teeth once again, snoot twitching. He'd have to get the hat on his head, obviously, but how? An idea came to mind, and with a brilliant flash of green light from his still whole tusk - and a sickly, blackened tint to his cracked tooth - the sprouts nearby danced up from the ground, roots propelling them upwards, moving at first to "look" at Czernobog, before turning to the baby hat and mimicking a wave, tiny green leaves bobbing to and fro.

Unfortunately, it was at that point when his gem's injury became apparent. What had started as healthy, green plants began to rot, at such an accelerated speed it almost seemed unreal, withering and turning black, crumpling to the ground until they were nothing but sludge.

The boar stared at the very, very dead bodies of his plant friends with a soft, distressed whine, feeling a rare trickle of fear slip down his spine. "...huuuuurt?" A blink, and the giant beast, almost fully grown but still very much a child at heart, began to tear up. "Chuuuuurn huuuuurt frieeeeeeend..." A sniffle, before another high-pitched whine built in the pig's throat, erupting into a much too loud sob, an uncontrolled grimace overtaking his maw. "Chuuuuuurn baaaaaaad..."

@Kyrak

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Kyrak had barely managed to swallow some of his mango when Czernobog had started crying. He looked up at the sobbing boar, confused, then to the blackened remains of the leaves.

Sad? No- no, no, no, stop sad. No sad. No, were the thoughts running through the tiny parrot's head as he looked around, half-stumbling and half galloping towards a small, scarlet poppy. Promptly, he bit the stem and yanked the little flower away.

Kyrak stomped back towards the boar and settled the flower upside-down on his snout, so that the stem stuck upwards. "Ssp-ee-kkkrkk!" he chirped, staring intently at the pig.

Completely distraught, it took the boar a moment to realize what the tiny baby hat had done, other than tickling his snout. Watery black-brown eyes opened slowly, wincing, and narrowed in on the poppy, gently placed blossom side down, stem sticking up into the air, petals wavering with every muted exhale.

Czernobog huffed, then chortled, a low cacophony of grunts and whining that seemed to resemble laughter. Balancing the flower on his snoot, the boar nudged his head forward enough to tap his nose against the parrot's belly, smiling softly.

He was very carefully not looking at the plant-sludge.

"Friiiiiiend," the boar mumbled, effectively labeling the baby as such for all time. "Baaaaaaby haaaaat frieeeeeend." That title might be a bit of a mouthful for a teeny tiny baby bird, but Czernobog didn't seem to notice.

Eyeing the babe, the boar lifted his head enough to get his nose under the mango, rolling it back to rest in front of the bird. "Foooooood." It appeared that was as close to an apology as the boar could get across.

@Kyrak

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Happy? Happy-happy-happy-happy. Friend, happy-happy. the little bird went running off again, this time picking up a fallen leaf and also setting it on Czernobog's nose. He paused.

And then he dipped down to continue eating his mango, chomping away happily. "Krrrk-... Krrr-ee-nnkk."

Czernobog stilled as the babe ran off again, only to trot back and delicately place a leaf next to the flower on top of his snout. The enormous boar practically melted into a vaguely pig-shaped blob, grunting softly, almost like a porcine purr. Indeed, the offerings seemed to have soothed his distress over the plants - for the most part. His gaze couldn't help but wander towards the black-green goo every so often, just as quickly flickering away, guilt roiling in his stomach.

His boat couldn't know.

Not ever.

He just... wouldn't use magic, at home. That was simple enough... but didn't he have to help small with the garden? The boar snuffled, nose twitching, making the leaf and the flower dance. If he tried to help, the garden would... hurt. And then small would be mad. Czernobog didn't want his family to be mad! Stewing in his own dismay, trying to figure out just how to hide whatever was wrong with him, the pig seemed rather oblivious to what his baby hat friend was doing.

Huffing, the beast seemed to deflate, trying to force himself to relax. After all, he didn't want to scare the baby hat, and it was so nice! Then again, all of his hat friends were nice, but they didn't give him gifts.

In fact, this was the first time anyone had given Czernobog a gift.

Another sniffle, and the boar simply sat, staring at the poppy and the leaf with a tiny, happy, toothy grin.

@Kyrak