He hasn’t learned how to be gentle or how to love the parts of the world that seem so threatening at first. Anything that isn’t serpentine or flower petals is a threat to him at this stage of life, so something as foreign as Velkan is most definitely unsettling. But he remembers his father fussing with his mane with sharp teeth meant to rip things apart. He doesn’t know what it’s like for those same teeth to come for his throat so he doesn’t understand the glistening scares on his new friend’s neck. Still, those bright green eyes skim over them curiously, but he thinks it’s best not to ask. No one liked explaining how they got their scars.
The small boy frowns briefly at the tone of Velkan’s voice when he explains that he is a monster like his parent before him. They are alike, and yet so different. The serpent boy edges closer and he wishes he could talk back his initial reaction. He doesn’t like the wounded look across the other’s face. His expression manages to brighten a bit more when the stranger gives his name, his lips curling into a smile. Chronos circles the wendigo and lets his shoulder lightly touch his friend’s to signify their new bond.
“I’m happy to meet you too!” he says with a small laugh. At his question, the younger boy tilts his head and thinks on it for a moment. Is there anyone that Leliana wouldn’t give her flowers to? Perhaps at first, when her eyes burned like an angry star. He was afraid of her too when she didn’t know how to control her magic.
The memory makes him a little sad – the angry voices, the arguing, the way he didn’t see either of his parents for so long back then. But those days are over now and he thinks she would certainly welcome even the most terrifying of beasts into her home. Her soft heart has room for anyone trying to find their place in the light.
“She would cover you with flowers, if you wanted. Plants like her a lot!” he replies in a voice that is clearly excited, his little legs prancing a bit in place. “She’s been growing all kinds of things in Tephra after the volcano ate up the forests. Maybe you’re like that too. You just need some flowers and people will realize how great you are.”
He nods to himself at this thought. Velkan is, to him, like the cooled lava flows covering his home in some places. Those areas used to frighten him with the danger they seemed to hold, but the trees and flowers all seemed more vivid, more full of life beside them.
Chronos
sometimes he calls me baby and I swallow my own tongue
sometimes he hands me the knife just to watch me give it back
@[Velkan]