Riddle Heights Spotless Records

Rico was, well, not the most pleasant in the face of other males. if one managed to look upon them, it would have been clear Nico was the one to assert himself with the verbal swing, and his eyes seemed to be shining with some difficulty over the matter. It was a burning in his chest to have to behave, and that was why his ears seemed to swing absently on the back of his head as Nico turned on him. Droll stare was offered back, not in the least intimidated by the behaviour of his smoother spoken brother. After all, there was a time and a place for all sorts of words. Nose flaring, he attempted to make sense of the things that were trickling into his ears, but there was just no answer. No reason for him to be singing the pleasures and the compliments of strangers, and thus he cocked his head. "Wha? It was a compliment." Brusque words grumbled, although it had rightly put things back into a better position. Now there was only one cowering fool, that perhaps that was better. When his head seemed to tilt his head back, and his eyes seemed to be trancing and preying across the sky for anything that might have been worth helping. It was why he found himself bristling lightly, and his mouth opened up lightly as he peered his way back to the one who was nearby. As his tail lashed, he huffed with the realization that he had made things worse. Well, that was what happened when you simply did not open your mouth and say what you were feeling! "Not a wolf-eater, no... Ain't got big enough jaws for that. It's those larger wolves you wanna watch out for in that way..." At the notion of living so far, far away it was enough to make him want to laugh. It was true enough, and his eyes dropped down to the male known as Duck, attempting to make sense of the things going through his mind. Bracing himself for something that would have been worse, his orange eyes were not about to be dismissive on the matter. "No one stands for the little man, no one, but that's why we're superior - surely you know that already, eh Duck?" Chuckling, he reached out to nip his brother's hip, a hint of sharpness beckoning. "You need to look a little less horrified of me, I ain't scary." Observation was accompanied with a cheekiness of laughter. "This is speech."

There may have been a small chance that his obvious inability to socialise like a normal being would have resulted in them becoming bored and leaving, but Duck had no such good fortune. Instead, his tremors spurned on something in the smaller brother, and the white boy found himself looking at something familiar yet entirely foreign at the same time - two siblings clearly close and in tune with each other, very comfortable, but rather than using that unified front to direct ire and torment at Duck... Nico was chastising his brother? For doing exactly that?

As distrustful and wary as he was cowardly, such a display didn't warm Duck much, but he was unused to being defended by anyone other than his mother, and she only did it out of obligation and motherly love and stuff like that. Why would Nico care, though? And... had he used the word 'friend'?

The little angry fire which burned in his gut turned ever inwards, as Duck desperately wished that he could properly grasp this opportunity, could do anything other than want to run and hide. Vague threats aside, they hadn't hurt him, and indeed one had been as meek as himself, but there was an insurmountable wall between both sides. Every time Duck tried to glance up it, he felt ill.

Nico spoke more, though Duck heard it mostly as though through a mist, as his social functions began to shut down, burnt by his flame or smothered by the wall. He recognised his mother in Nico's words, patient but with a hint of exasperation, because Duck was being so foolish and why couldn't he just take a deep breath and move past it? It wasn't that hard, see! Not everyone wants to hurt you! Maybe you should try making some new acquaintances, Duckling, build some friendships.

@Staleek's face still hovered over Rico's, sneering, making it impossible for Duck to look at him. They were talking about eating wolves and his stomach lurched unhappily as he remembered his brother gleefully tearing into a waterbird. @Tauza finding and breaking into a clutch of eggs, apologising sweetly to Duck for eating his unborn children. The wall started to black out the sun, and grew until the air was thin and hard to breathe.

I ain't scary.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-sorry," he sputtered, gasping for air, taking thoughtless steps back until his foot landed on air - and briefly considered that as a suitable means of escape. Rationality took hold long enough to bring all feet on rock, and, tail tucked and head low in immense shame, Duck muttered an incoherent string of apologies as he brushed past Nico to flee back down the mountain, lungs burning. This had been one colossal mistake; he should have never left his mother for so long. She may have been imperfect in many ways, but at least he felt some measure of safety around her.

The dead fish, briefly an object of pride and validation, had been forgotten, abandoned on that cliffside along with any budding shreds of Duckweed's dignity.

{exit}

Thanks for letting me trial run solo!Duck <3

What…what happened? Nico had told Rico that he was being unkind, and his twin had even agreed! His brute of a brother was being friendly – insofar as the eldest of the pair could be personable – but it seemed that they’d managed to frighten Duck beyond words. For a moment the other boy simply stared into space, trapped somewhere the pair of brothers would never know, and when he finally snapped out of the trance, he only managed to stutter a single word. What is he sorry for? “Bye,” he whispered, the timber wolf muttered sadly at the retreating form of the white wolf. He had thought-- He had hoped that they could be friends. They all seemed to be the same age, and he’d thought perhaps life would be easier if the work was shared between three instead of only two, but it seemed his hopes were premature. Duckweed was gone before he could ask the other loner to reconsider, and with a heavy sigh, he turned to face his brother. So much for that, his expression seemed to say, reaching out to Rico for a spot of comfort. I tried, he didn’t say, tail drooping low behind his legs as his shoulders sagged. Defeat was evident as he huffed again, ears flat before he turned, wishing to head in a different direction. “C’mon,” he muttered, dejection evident. “Let’s go find somewhere to sleep, okay? I don’t wanna do this anymore.” It was Rico and Nico, against the world. Apparently that was the only way it could be.

Nerves was something that the wolf could understand, but honestly it had not been his intention to be frightening. Rico's disposition was sharp, it was an easy reaction that often had his tongue balanced between defense and interest. As paws seemed to shift on the ground, he watched the boy as he all but collapsed in upon himself. It was actually quite a sight to see, but it was hard to determine if it was something to be bothered about or not. The problem on the matter was someone who was just as frightened of the world as his brother would be enough to have him bracing against the cool reality. What should have been a comfort was not one, and he wished he would have been able to reach out to his brother. Ears slowly flattened against his head, and Rico half wished to apologize; he should have been well behaved, perhaps he should have stood back and remained that way. Shifting through his thoughts, he attempted to find something that would make it better. Stepping into his brother, he simply laid his head across the other's shoulders for a moment, offering the warmth and the acknowledgement that he was still there. No matter what, Rico would still stand with the quiet male. But there was some apprehension that perhaps he had ruined something - perhaps Nico had wanted to start making his paws reach out. As air seemed to come billowing out of his lungs, he accepted his brother's request. No need to stick around and let the wounds fester, they could head back and Nico would be able to rest and mope. Rico would be able to divert some of his small brain to looking for otherwise permanent solutions to brighten some of that intensity on his brother's face. "This is speech."