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Ororon shouldn’t be here. Not when his head was stuffed with cotton and the man he was following an unknown danger. But maybe his brain was stuck on small acts of kindness, told him that he was safer with the fatui agent then back at his camp. Maybe just for a moment he could stave off the loneliness that came with this headspace.
It wasn’t as though the captain would even know that he was here. He was too stealthy for that! A great wolf hunter, sneaking up on its prey. That thought made the regressor snicker to himself, poking his head out from behind the bush he was using to hide behind.
Ororon convinced himself that he came to gather information, protect his granny, and then go home. That was his only reason for being here.
Still, even with his very important task it was hard not to grow bored. Grown up talk about Ley lines and powers that went straight over his head.
The regressor huffed, batting at a tuft of grass. Then a small stone he found. Soon he was ignoring everything around him in favor of gathering a small pile of shiny rocks and pebbles.
Given enough time he could probably come up with a small story all on his own. The shiny blue rock he first found was the outcast, and all the other gray rocks hated it and were planning on sneaking upon it and attacking! Driving the blue rock from it’s home and-
Ororon froze as his small pile of rocks tumbled over the hill he was perched on, catching the eyes of the lower rank fatui members that flanked Capitano’s sides.
His heart rate spiked as they gave a shout, swords catching in the light.
He was too small to fight, too small to even run away properly as his legs turned to jelly. He just wanted his granny. He wanted to go home!
~~~
Capitano is well aware that he has been followed for most of the day now. He is no idiot, even when told multiple times by his subordinates who thought he was simply to unaware of his surroundings. He brushed them off each time. He’d like to think that he knew the kid well enough to know if Ororon was going to do something other than stare.
If only that same level of, should he say trust, extended to the men he was traveling with.
A pebble rolled down the hill, followed by a small gasp. You would think a bomb was set off by the way his men reacted, blades drawn and cursing.
“Stand down.”
“But sir! He’s been trailing up all day! We can not allow this to go on any longer let us deal with the runt-”
“That’s enough. Do you think me so incapable not to be able to handle him?”
“No sir, the exact opposite.”
“Wonderful, then I don’t need to explain myself. You have your orders, see to them.”
“But…” Their words died in their mouth as Capitano walked away.
Now to find out just what it was that had been bothering him about Ororon’s behavior.
It could be nothing, but something was telling him that something was off about the ‘shadow’ he has grown accustom to being followed by.
“What’s the problem with you?”
He watches with coldly as Ororon flinches, scrambling away, as though he hadn’t heard him approaching. Weird if he was still trying not to get ‘caught’.
“Nothing. Is fine…”
He doesn’t have the energy to push this matter, doesn’t even know why he bothers to.
“You weren’t hurt in your foolish little escapade, were you?” He asks, eyes narrowing. There was something here that he was missing. Ororon’s mannerisms were meek and subdued in a way they weren’t normally.
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
The younger huffed. “Leave me alone.”
“Right, because I’ve been the one following you all day.”
Ororon doesn’t answer.
“What were you even doing?” He takes out the small crystal blue stone that had rolled down the hill, presenting it to the other.
“Do they have some importance?” He had no clue why they had caught the boy’s attention.
“No, don’t. Jus’ playin’.” Ororon muttered, pocketing the rock.
He’s acting like a child. It’s the dawning conclusion, the only one Capitano can come up with despite the fact that it doesn’t make sense.
Still, the only reasonable thing would be to send the boy back to his camp and keep him out of trouble there until, whatever this was, wore off.
“Come.”
“Where going?”
“Back to your camp. It’s not safe out here, and I said I would deal with you anyway. Let’s go.”
Ororon scrambled to catch up with the captain.
.
.
.
The walk back was mostly silent and quite uneventful, save for Ororon letting out small gasps, racing to the side to pick up a stone or a stick he found that was particularly interesting, before returning to the elder’s side.
It felt like watching an excitable puppy who just got outside since being cooped up all day.
When they finally do make it back to the place he was staying Ororon expects that to be the end of it. Only it’s not.
“Something is different about you. You’re acting like a child, and I don’t intend to leave until I can make sure whatever it is isn’t harming you. You’re too important of a piece in my plan to lose you now.”
Capitano’s honesty is, frightening. It’s easy to be cautious around an enemy. But an enemy that seems to look out for your best interest? That he felt a pull too? That somehow his brain had labeled as safe and felt like chasing after whenever he got the chance? Unthinkable.
At least it should have been.
But Ororon’s been on his own for far, far too long, and maybe, just maybe having some company when small wouldn’t be the worse thing.
“Feel… smaller… kind of…” Ororon muttered, ducking his head.
“So you can tell the truth.” Is all the fatui member says.
The regressor huffs, “But not a child!”
“Oh? And that means what exactly?”
“I’m a woof!”
“You’re a what?”
“A woof! An I sneaky an go chomp!”
“I don’t think that’s an anima-” Capitano was cut off by the dull clang of metal.
“Ow…” Ororon muttered.
The little had tried to bite the capitan’s arm, only to be met with the harsh steel plates of the fatui’s armor.
“What did you think would happen?” Capitano asked with a soft huff of amusement.
“Chomp!”
“Right… Don’t do that. ‘Woof’ or not, you’re going to hurt your teeth.”
The pet regressor only snarled a little, turning and huffing.
Capitano shook his head. “So, you’re not hurt, this, mindset isn’t causing you stress is it?”
“No. Felt bad ‘fore. Better now.”
“Alright then.”
Ororon didn’t feel like answering anymore questions, going to dig through his belongings instead.
It took the little a moment to find what he was looking for, buried in a pile of clothes and soft blankets. He pulled out a small plush, worn down from love, but distinguishably friend shaped.
“Tada!”
“That’s a bat.” Capitano said intelligently.
The regressor nodded.
“I thought you said you were a wolf.”
“Mhm! Am, but bat frien’.”
The mentally elder sighed.
“Whatever you say kid.”
Ororon mumbled something to his stuffed animal companion, pulling out the rock from his pocket and seemed to be showing it off. The elder took a seat to watch, eyeing their surroundings in boredom. Not the best place for a child, not the worse either. It would be fine for the time, though he still wasn’t convinced that Ororon wasn’t capable of hurting himself while like this.
He's brought out of his musings by a hand nudging at his arm.
“Yes?”
Another nudge.
The captain lifted his arm slightly, confused.
That seemed to be all Ororon needed, nuzzling his way underneath the fabric of Capitano’s cloak, until he was pressed right against the other. The elder slowly lowered his arm around the kid’s side.
“Better now?”
“Mhm.” He nodded, chewing on the ear of his bat plush. “You has to ’tay now. Kay? Can’t ‘eave.”
“I was going to until you return to normal anyways, no need to try and be manipulative.”
Ororon made a soft chittering noise, clearly content with the first part of that response. The sound was more bat like than wolf, but Capitano didn’t feel like that was an argument worth having.
“I don’t think I could leave you like this if I tried.”
The little giggled, “Nope!”