speak of the devil, and he shall appear before you: wreathed in flame.

The night herald the-ex box no longer on his lonesome. Away from his nightly patrol's there wasn't much the tiger did when the sun fell, well- one could infer that he would sleep, but it was usually just before the dawn would break that the tiger could ever be caught resting. In fact if it wasn't for the strips down the edges of his eyes there might've been a permanent darken patch where his eyes have led over to the tiresome ways. Vaas was always some level of tired, it didn't do well for his reaction time but it fared so much better for his control. And control, was so important to the warrior.

Beside, there were drugs for that, if need be.

And it wasn't an addiction- before he got ratted onto it, he didn't trade addictions, but the yearning of home was so much easier to drown under the influence- he could look at the nightly wash of the shore and trick his mind into home, into thinking that the island was still the same as the small one he grew up onto- even if he knew far better than that.


The tiger heard his voice, and through his hearing he pinpointed the wayward apprentice. Vaas knew the other still slumbered in his cage. He didn't mind, because there were plenty of other's who still did, it was a camp before the merger, and still other's might've refered to it as such. To Vaas it was a central place of meeting, to rest where the sound of other's sleeping would aid his own troublesome sleep. - Vaas was bemused by the change in shift of the conversation.

"you're not wrong either" He didn't take much offense to the comet either, dark eye shifting from the speck of purple on the dog's paws towards rhinestone's eyes. jade green watching the other for a reaction as he circled around, sitting down a little off but not too far away. "Catnip works as a soother for dogs, while on cats it has an... opposite effect."

The tiger hummed at the focus on nightmares, his eyes narrowed into consideration. "maybe nothing specifically for nightmares, but I've got something for sleeping without dreams" Vaas took that, a dreamless sleep was a well worth one. Valerian root smelt like shit but it worked well- and added a little bit of some of the more fouler liquid drugs Vaas had but refused to give out- ah well.

When Vaas had first settled into the newly set borders of palmclan, he was unstable, a tiger set loose without a care and all the power and knowledge of just how small the clan beside him was. He could claim ignorance, outwardly he would always do so, but seeing the fresh scent and the rot that was still currently setting into the boardwalk- Vaas knew that the edge of the isle's coast was weak, freshly drowned and Vaas was hungry, begging to push aside the feeling- need of being needed and instead took from them the opportunity to lead. When Rhinestone had come up to the boardwalk, with the rest of the boardwalk; there was a sense of unease, of suspicion directed at them- because of Vaas

Now, the tiger looked back, and if he was a waker warrior he would've wept in graditude for the tom. Vaas, was made to lead. Bread to become the leader, the perfect warrior, kept pet on a leash for his tribe. He was the false king of a now destroyed- utterly wiped people. He was made- built for leadership, and as thus he fell into it naturally here: This did not mean that Vaas wanted it.

So he thanked the tom the only way he knew how, Rhinestone, defeated, hollow cast eyes so brilliantly blue that Vaas felt his own breath stutter for a moment- Vaas pointedly did not ask the question. Instead took one careful glance inside the leader's eyes and accepted the burden there. His large form brushing against the other's in meager comfort as he rose up, walking slightly in the direction of the boardwalk's cage- his den.

"there might be some drowsiness, lethargy at most; but it too can be treated." Carefully slow was the tom's walk, as the tiger would set to lead the pair towards the place if they took the subte hint of him showing him towards his den. "I'll give you what to take in the morning as well, to help wash your system of the remnants of it."

Already, Vaas knew what to give them. Variant root was natural, and had little in the form of side effects beyond the allergic kind, but the other drug... could. A powder or liquid, odorless and tasteless, Catnip in the morning to help wake him up if he needed it. Maybe corked into a bottle to keep the scent and contain it.

"Just... make sure you sleep up. It'll help you knock out, but you'll wake up with a hangover-like state if you get up too early" The body's way of keeping them put under. Or rather the Tiger's only warning towards the kind of effects it could have. Vaas was clever, but he had never dosed a small cat- only himself on it. And what would make his sleep dreamless with effects was just a small few drops, with Rhine who was smaller- it might leave a little bit lingering in his system afterwards.

Careful ignorance, Vaas had lived his life playing to his brute nature and hiding his true talents. Cunning, calculative, charming; it was easy to befall the tiger because of injury rather than his words, yet the wars of life had been far behind him now. In palmclan there was more peace than the pirate ever saw in the typhoon, in his own tribe. He was taught to fight, he learned to hide his thoughts, his feelings for the better of the tribe, and with the slow gait to allow the other's to keep pace, Vaas kept his mind clear through it all.

This was no longer his tribe, where expectations laid at his feet and chained him to the earth such as duty, or tradition. Here they were merly sugestions, careful considerations that Vaas picked and choose from. He found himself accepting the burden from the leader's shoulder without thought, and pushed the implications or the why out of his mind. "that's good to hear, real good. Leading is stressful, don't I fucking know it" He gave a low huff, not likeing where his thoughts drifted, instead he took a moment to blank his mind, breathing deep, in and out.

He imagined a rusted pelt, pale blue eyes, and let out a low huff. "I'm usually up most hours of the day, but when i was the boss, it was almost as if i never slept" There was a short time, if he remembered, he was awake purely because of the drugs he downed to stay awake. Aware and sharp and snapping, snarling. It had been a week of demonstrations, of ruthless efficiency, if he remembered it right.

He knows, if nothing else, without this clan, without Rhine he would be different, for the worst. As the cage came into view, he slipped inside the opened door, following the open cages to a far pushed corner where a storage crate lay half closed. Let the thoughts fade as he focused on what he knew, how he could help the one who had helped him.

"over here is most of it," Vaas spoke up. Pulling at the soft soil inside and stripping the fresher herbs from stems. Valerian flowers tugged gently until the roots could be pruned. Catnip cut with steady claw work and placed in a small vial and wet clay to seal it and break easily. "this is for the morning, just break the seal and take a whiff" He pulled more than just one dose from the crate. A large amount tugged into a linnen bag for Quesar' the other would need it if the night progressed without sleeping, a small bundle of root placed inside there as well.

When he turned back towards the pair, there was a smile along his maw, "such a sleepy pair you make" He geastured towards the top of a makeshift hill, made of cages and rates alike where a pile of soft bedding lay. "Rest is in my own bedding," he didn't wait for the other's to come after him, hurrying to grab it before the other's could discern where the gathered it from. "this one is... very dangerous, or it can be in the wrong paws." Vaas warned, as an explanation. he only had the liquid of it, and that would work for the use he needed.

A single drop of the drug, Valerian root came together in a bowl with a touch of sea water to cover the smell and taste. Valerian root was... in few words, disgusting. He was careful, pushing it into a paste, and then adding berries to sweeten it. "blueberries, Rhine?" the tiger offered him one before pushing the bowl towards him,

"here, cachorro." Vaas set the tied linen bag towards Quesar as well, giving a small nod "It'll help with your own nightmares, when you get them" Oh, Vaas knew the other's drug of choice, but this was something a little bit more... tame in comparison. Catnip and Valarian root at least wasn't something commonly known for smoking.

He gave a self satisfied not, tail swaying behind him as the tiger felt at ease to do so, in his own den: the cage of the boardwalk where most had taken to slumber, it now felt empty in comparison, quiet among the other sleeping members here. He nodded towards a pair of empty cages, lined with soft bedding for sleeping.  "feel free to make yourselves comfortable here for the night, I'll be up for quite a while still"

/Now edited w more gay