LOOK AT THIS POOR BOY / intro

[RED]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]Something is on fire. Where flames lick the surface of the murky water, plumes of black smoke billow up between the trees and fill the air with that scent of rot that plagued the stagnant marshes for so long. It was a house, likely, or someone’s fire left unattended. Red considers briefly that the Pitt could be here to tear their town to the ground, just as they had done to the Elysium, but he reasons that they never would have made it this far in. The woods are quiet, and a few hushed voices ring through the forest. He follows the voices, the smell of smoke and burning foliage. There are few in Tanglewood but him, he thinks, who would be able to put out the fire safely.

The sight before him, though, takes him by surprise. A tiger tears at the flesh of a freshly-slaughtered alligator, his body lit with fire and his eyes blazing with a different sort of ferocity. The smoke that hisses up from the water tells him that the animal is dangerous - not to him, but to the others who had approached. His peers hang along the edges of the marsh, their expressions wrought with concern; it’s for the best, Red considers, that they didn’t try to get any closer.

"Stay back," Red hums low in his throat, casting a glance towards Wormwood and Delilah. He didn’t feel like he had to explain himself; they’d realize why soon enough. He wades a few feet into the water, watching Roy with a hand raised in quiet submission.

"...Hey there," he murmurs softly, avoiding locking eyes with the tiger. He didn't need Roy to think that he planned on stealing his catch - this trespasser seemed to be far too out-of-it to recognize that they meant no harm. "Not gonna hurt 'ya. Do you want more food, pal?" He nods back in the direction of town. By the time he's fully approached Roy, the flames that emanate from the tiger's pelt have started to lick at Red's palm and climb up his arm. He doesn't flinch. "If you come back to town with us, we can get you something better to eat, get you cleaned up and dried off. How's that sound?"