Boreal swept her scaly tail through the snow in her approximation of a wag at the nuzzle, crooning agreement with her wolf friend and leaning down to puff warm air gently from her nose over Pad's fur to ruffle and dry it.
Tal was grinning as he watched the byplay, relaxed and carefree for the first time since the War's end. Later he might feel guilty for it, but in the moment it felt so good to just be two young men and their silly companions for an hour.
"No wonder he bonded to you," he teased Sah with a nudge of his shoulder. "Takes one to know one!" But then the hunter elucidated on what he meant by 'weird' and the courier's nose wrinkled in confusion. "Y'mean, like a squirrel buryin' nuts? Does he think they'll still be there if he comes back later?" Lots of dogs liked to bury things in the snow. Tal had plenty of experience with that aspect of canine behavior. But usually those things were dead first.
Good thing most of Halo's small animals were perfectly happy burrowing through snow so they could escape once the pup left the area?
"Well, we got 'im t'come down, so now he gets to play," the courier decided firmly, at which point Sah might realize that Tal was already planning to spoil Pad rotten if he got half a chance. Hopping up, he leaned down to try and ruffle Sah's hair with a grin. "An' you're it!" And with that he was dashing away, running to 'hide' behind the tree Pad had climbed.
Tal was grinning as he watched the byplay, relaxed and carefree for the first time since the War's end. Later he might feel guilty for it, but in the moment it felt so good to just be two young men and their silly companions for an hour.
"No wonder he bonded to you," he teased Sah with a nudge of his shoulder. "Takes one to know one!" But then the hunter elucidated on what he meant by 'weird' and the courier's nose wrinkled in confusion. "Y'mean, like a squirrel buryin' nuts? Does he think they'll still be there if he comes back later?" Lots of dogs liked to bury things in the snow. Tal had plenty of experience with that aspect of canine behavior. But usually those things were dead first.
Good thing most of Halo's small animals were perfectly happy burrowing through snow so they could escape once the pup left the area?
"Well, we got 'im t'come down, so now he gets to play," the courier decided firmly, at which point Sah might realize that Tal was already planning to spoil Pad rotten if he got half a chance. Hopping up, he leaned down to try and ruffle Sah's hair with a grin. "An' you're it!" And with that he was dashing away, running to 'hide' behind the tree Pad had climbed.
