Alrik couldn't keep running from this. It wasn't like he even wanted to be running from it. It was more like it was running from him! Why the specifications of someone big, strong, and kind? Why did he have to befriend them? And what was so important about this gosh darn golden collar that a dragon seemed to own!

(Writing that bit up above was really funny for me because it has literally taken Alrik a cycle to start asking the important questions.)

Honestly, he was just curious out of boredom now. He wouldn't stop fighting. He couldn't! Fighting was what he wanted, what he had to do. To be the best. The most invulnerable, the MOST capable. Able to withstand... ANYTHING! Blizzards. Storms. Bats. ANYTHING!!!

A king. Alrik was to be a KING!

Did kings sit looking forlorn on mounds of bones? Alrik didn't think so. But it wasn't like there was anywhere else to sit in this wacky room. He didn't want to contemplate the possibility of approaching the Collector again. Even if he was so physically close to that option, he couldn't be mentally further from it.

He was just sitting here, being lonely in a pile of bones. Bonely.

@Kerberos

For a hero's strength

is measured by his heart, oh

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos had noticed Alrik sulking by a mile off. He had a sixth sense for these kind of things, y'know? He was really good at spotting cat-shaped-lumps that needed cheering up, though usually cats stayed miles away from the place since there was a huge, dumb dog around. (And although Kerb liked kitties, his mother most certainly didn't care for them-- for good reason.) What Alrik didn't know, and what Kerberos tried not to think about, was that most of his experiences with cats ended up going very, very badly.

Ahh, but this time would be different! Kerberos had a pitch rat in one of his three jaws as he trotted up to the sulking stranger, his snake like tail waving behind him. "Hey," he woofed from a safe distance away, "I haven't seen you before!" Now that he had introduced himself, however, and certain he wouldn't startled the cat sulking on the bones, he trotted even closer, until he towered above the stranger, completely oblivious to how intimidating he might be.

After all, his goal was to cheer up the stranger. "What are you doing here?" Intended as a curious question, maybe came off a bit strong in the opposite direction. "I'm Kerberrrrf, of the Bonebound!" His name, muddled a bit between the rat in his one mouth's jaws.

The dog dropped the dead rat on to Alrik's bone pile. "Are you hungry?" He asked, tongue lolling out to pant as he dropped his haunches with a thump that rattled the nearby bones.

@Alrik sorry for the delay ;O;

What the heck?

It was huge. It was moving towards him. It had three heads, it had something in one of its jaws, its tail looked wildly out of place--

No really, WHAT THE HECK?!

Alrik stared, feeling all capability of movement leave his paws. It was talking now. Thank goodness it could do that but STILL, WHAT. THE. HECK?!?!

It hadn't seen him before. 'Go figure.' Alrik had never been here before and if this thing had seen him before, that intimidation weirdness factor of its would've been raised about twentyfold. It was wondering what he was doing here. Alrik was hesitant to answer -- ideas were already polluting his mind. Perhaps he was getting too hopeful in his desperation unfortunate situation. An introduction. Alrik didn't speak, didn't even think to nod. 'Bonebound is too cool of a group name to be having members named 'Kerberrrrf',' Alrik's judgement snapped out like an alligator turtle in his mind. But maybe that whip of judgement was too quick. 'Kerberrrf' was an unfortunate name for such a... an interesting creature.

Alrik was sold the moment the sound of a rat's body on the bone pile hit his ears. 'I am amazing and the universe loves me.' This could not be more perfect.

Alrik grinned.

"Hey Ker... I'm just gonna call you Kerb, alright? Cool. Uh, alright, I'm Alrik. That's my name. And uh, I'm here because-- hold on, okay, first: thanks for the food, I am a bit hungry. An' second -- lemme just quiz you real quick here -- why are you givin' me your rat? What's that about?" Alrik was fishing for a specific answer -- one that might indicate kindness living somewhere within the creature who had made itself his company -- but he wasn't gonna say that upfront. And he wasn't gonna take a bite until he knew, either.

@Kerberos

For a hero's strength

is measured by his heart, oh

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

"You can call me Kerb," the cerberus agreed heartily, "lots of gems do!" Or Kerby, which never failed to make his tail wag. It made him sound like such a delightful friend. The kitty's name was Alrik, nice and easy to remember. He nodded eagerly, "Alrik! Nice to meet you, Alrik," he greeted with plentiful amounts of manners, shuffling down so his belly brushed the floor and no longer did he tower over the cat.


As for why he had given the rat to a stranger, his tongues rolled out of his jaws and he panted, tail thwapping against the dusty floor. "You're welcome," he started, "you looked sad!" That was a good explanation, but probably still left him with lots of questions.

"I can always catch another rat, anyway. They aren't much more than a snack for me. I'm better catching a deer or something, but usually there's somebody around to share a rat with. I like getting them for Bones, or one of the little ones." His floppy eared head looked out toward the distant bones. Sometimes he liked bringing new bones to Giggle, too. She could always use good bones for the bone pile-- though they had more than enough rat bones.

He settled two of his chins on his broad forelegs, while the floppy eared head thought outloud, "Anyway, its easy to be sad when you're hungry and tired. And it can be hard to catch stuff when you're already upset. So I thought, hey, that looks like a friend who could use a bite to eat! I'm not that hungry myself." Okay, that was a teeny white lie, Kerberos was always hungry, but compared to how he felt when he was starving, a little nibbly hunger wasn't too bad.

@Alrik

So Alrik wasn't the first to call him Kerb. The pallas' cat was watching very carefully. More carefully than he'd ever watched any other "gem" before. And yet, he felt that this time he shouldn't need to! I mean, look at Kerb! Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve! Was it possible to pretend to be that happy, all the time? It was almost confounding. "An' you, Kerb." He ought to be polite if it would help him get what he wanted.

The answer to the food question came, and another check was made on Alrik's list. Kind. Why care? If Alrik saw some sad sap mopin' around on a bone pile, he would've stuck his tongue out and moved on! Yeah, Alrik had a heart, but it didn't have to be a kind one! Kerb's heart, however... well I guess if you were that big, you had to have a big heart to match. Alrik began to munch on the provided food offering.

"I bet, y'could share a deer with lotsa-- uh, gems, as ya called 'em. Heck, you could catch a, um, I dunno. A dragon, maybe." Was he hinting at something? Maybe. No, actually, Alrik just couldn't think of a bigger thing than a dragon. "The bones, eh? 'At's a weird reason to catch rats." A very weird reason actually. What's up with that?

'...friend...' It passed in one ear and got caught in the web of the mind, a fly in a trap, stirring. Friend. Kerb saw them as friends? Already? Kerb was claiming Alrik as a friend and feeding him because he looked sad already? This was absolutely perfection! So perfect, Alrik almost felt bad. Almost. "Y'see me as a friend, Kerb? That's-- That's really kind of ya, actually. You're a nice, uh, gembound." Kind, big, strong enough to hunt a deer, strong enough most definitely -- Alrik could feel it -- and befriended. Only one thing left to do. "Well the assumption was right, for the most part. I'm not feelin' that great, an' some food does help, but..." Alrik considered. How to make this segue into...? Ah, yes! "I guess, if we're friends an' all that, I can let ya know about what I'm really sad about."

Alrik turned to look at Kerb in the... faces, I guess. He conjured all the poutiness he'd been feeling earlier, tried to well it up in his eyes. To look solemn, morose-- but not like, whiny morose, not like a little kid! Like a cool morose, broody and edgy and stuff. No tears. Just the look in his eyes would do... if he could do it right. "I, uh, I lost somethin' very valuable to me. Dear t' my heart, I guess. A dragon took it from me, to its lair or somethin', an' I haven't been able t' get it back." Cue some eye water-y-ness... actually no, Alrik couldn't. Crying when you didn't mean it was harder than expected! Gosh darn it. Well fine then, Alrik would just look off into the distance all dramatically instead.

"Don't think I can, honestly. A friend an' a snack is nice, but... nothin' can replace what I lost, really. Hope that's understandable to ya." Better be, because Alrik was already gettin' sick of this acting. It wasn't going entirely how he wanted -- didn't feel like he was, well, capturing these "deep and touching" emotions with his face nearly as well as he wanted to. Not that he was bad at acting or anything, no! Just that, uh, stealing from a dragon was probably a lot more suited to his extraordinary skills! And so he wanted to steal from a dragon already!!

@Kerberos