show your teeth -- open, prompt: happiness

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Mira had grown to double his original size already.

  At this rate, Paper reflected, the crocodile would dwarf him in no time. He was already starting to eat more, too, which meant he’d have to learn to hunt soon. Regular prey wouldn’t do it for a full-grown croc.

  For now, though, chunks of squirrel meat seemed to be doing just fine. With a smile, Paper nudged a chunk over to Mira, who snatched it up and gobbled it down with gusto. He would be ready to tear open enemies in no time at all.

  Glancing down at his feet, Paper locked his eyes briefly on the silver cord around his left front paw. He had located it within the lighthouse, and after sniffing it to ensure it didn’t belong to any crewmates he had seen recently (if it did, its owner had long since forgotten it), had taken it for himself. It held no charms at the moment, but he was sure he would find something interesting to put on it soon.

  Feeling a snout nudge his other front leg, he hummed in acknowledgement and ripped another hunk of meat from the fallen squirrel. Passing it to Mira and watching him chomp down, Paper exhaled softly in contentment. This was one of those rare moments where he could honestly say he was at peace.

  Did he have a right to be happy, when the rest of the clan had troubles of their own?

  Perhaps not in general, but no one was ever happy in general. Emotions of this sort were confined to moments, as opposed to spreading as wide as the status quo. He was sure in a little while, he’d go back to stressing out over his crewmates, just as his crewmates would eventually catch a break and take their turn being at peace.

  For now, he would take this moment of happiness, wearing his new charm bracelet and feeding his pet-slash-son (he still wasn’t sure how to define their relationship) whom, either way, he was very proud of.

  /mostly just wanted to get some thoughts down
  /tl;dr: Paper’s taking a break from working/angsting to feed a baby croc

[bubblegum]

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]As Gold and Lynn approached, Paper looked up at them and offered them a nod in greeting. She was able to move around again to a greater extent, that was good. Just for now, he would focus on the good things. He could worry about the mysterious assailant later.

  At Gold’s mention of the bracelet, he glanced down at his paw and tugged loosely at the cord with his other paw. ”Yeah- it was on the floor of the lighthouse, but it didn’t smell like anyone so I figured it had no owner,” he answered, lifting his head. Other crewmates’ possessions were off limits in his mind- he had no issue with thievery, but he did have standards.

  Watching Mira turn his head to gaze blearily at the other two, Paper grinned. ”These are your crewmates,” he said, ”so say hi.” The croc chirped lowly in response, his tail swaying back and forth as if to wave hello.

  Providing Mira another chunk of meat as a reward, Paper then cast his gaze down at Lynn. Gold had had the eagle for a while now, but he had never found out how they met. The bond between a falconer and their bird almost always had an interesting story behind it. Looking up at Gold, he asked, ”Just in the interest of curiosity, how did you two encounter each other?”