Cheek wasn’t really in the mood to actively fuck with anyone at the moment, but it didn’t stop him from giving his cheekiest, evil grin at the way the chickens chickened the fuck out at him, like he wasn’t too lazy to actually do a thing. T’ha, get wrecked, he said vaguely, shifting slightly on my back so that one paw would dangle from the side of my wither.

I wasn’t really there, y’know? At least, at first. It was duty and routine and I went through the motions--but my heart wasn’t really in it. Chico could tell it was still stuck gnawing on that thing that hurt no matter how much I tried to gum it down. Cheek was proud of me anyway, even though I was still brooding on shit I had no control over; I was moving, at least. I was doing things instead of running away from it. I was here, even if I wasn’t.

But then, suddenly, I was.

He’s come from the Hidden Falls, he’s staying here with us now.

My head snapped back even as my gaze shifted directly to her, my brows raising high and my eyes blinking rapidly, as though I were genuinely shocked. Oh. “Oh,” I said, responding--not just to her words, but to the tone that said Fuck with me if you wanna. And there was a small overwhelming part of me that wanted to, just to see. To really figure out who this Elsa was, so that she can tell me all of a sudden who shit’s gonna go around here. And maybe she did know what’s up and had a wisdom that I lacked--whatever, right, I’d roll over, except where she been, though? Yeah, I was gonna remember Elsa for a minute (even if I never had before).

I could’ve argued; I could’ve bristled at the challenge. And maybe before, when I was young and stupid and full of piping-hot piss, I would’ve let that shit start. But the petty idea of denying this guy (a friend so dear to her she ain’t even introduce, I notice) out of spite to her wasn’t even considered in my head. He confirmed that ye, he’d come from the Falls, and it would be disgraceful to turn away a guy from no fault of his own after he just lost a home from no fault of his own in the first place.

Besides, he was a warrior. “Oh bitchin’, we got hella room for you man, don’t you worry ‘bout that,” I said excitedly, giving him a once-over with my gaze. Short, but eh. So was I. And there was evidence of his claim with being a fighter anyway, so I wasn’t complaining. “You’ll be reporting to me then. Name’s Ros, the General here.” Ugh I hated saying that outloud. It felt pretentious of me to throw that rank around like that--but I had to let him know somehow, didn’t I? I turned to lead them both back into the herdland. “Take some time to rest up and get oriented with this place, then come find me and I’ll put you to work. We’re spread thin right now so there’ll be plenty for you.” Not to mention the looming threat of Kaos and whatever the hell he had planned.



"In ornare vitae leo eu volutpat."
" I like it when you call me Big Poppa."