[Oleander]

Gnawing mindlessly at an old bone was not something that Oleander considered to be a fair use of his precious time; but, within the whole eighty-eight square miles of Alteron territory, Ollie failed to find anything else to do on this day. The off-white femur dented between his milk teeth, and the bits that he did manage to chip away were promptly spat into the dead leaf-litter, with more and more agitation behind the action each time it was performed.

Sarissa and Meara were not always subjected to their brother’s company; in fact, he stuck by them far less than the pair stuck by each other. He was kicking himself now for letting them slip away from him. They were probably gallivanting it up somewhere, while he was here, losing his temperamental little mind to the clutches of boredom. Not even this snack helped to curve his souring mood, and the item was soon dropped from his sore jaws and into his meaty paws. Its worth to him bled dry, except for its usage as a currency in Alteron’s system, and he would deposit the item back into his Pa’s care later as it was, after all, the leftovers of a meal that the child had been too young to catch for himself.

His bulky body sprawled out now, beneath the beams of sunlight that dripped in through the old trees, and a sigh whizzed out of his nose. Heavy and restless, just like the rest of him. Yellow eyes stayed open but looked off into an unseen void. His expression was sharp and perhaps filled with an amount of displeasure that was unnerving to see in a boy his age. Yet, he was growing more and more volatile with the passing seconds, and he willed something to happen behind that agitated gaze.

Anything—

However, when he made his silent demand, he’d been hoping for more than what ended up surfacing from the vegetation. The harshness of his features appeared to deflate. Knife-like orbs then became half-lidded and dull, drooping with a newfound lack of vigor.

[Zach]

While one boy wallowed in a thick, festering pool of boredom, another boy, older, waded carefully along its edges.

Moving silently, Zach drifted steadily through the halls of Alteron's withering woods, the boughs of the trees towering above him dappling his golden coat in scattered shards of sunlight and darkness. He kept his ears sharp and open, searching for... something. One of his brothers or sisters, perhaps, or maybe some type of small prey to bring home. It was hard to be certain, though it didn't matter for long. A sound through the thicket eventually distracted him.

Although quiet, the noise was still loud enough to make Zach stop and turn, considering it for a long, careful moment, sniffing the air and staring, until curiosity eventually drove him forward to investigate, weaving through the thicket until he finally emerged on the other side.

His sharp gaze immediately fell on Oleander's small, bulky form, and he paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side, simply studying the younger boy. This one was no doubt another child from one of the pack's recent litters, he suspected, wrinkling his muzzle slightly, an air of disdain immediately surrounding him. It seemed everywhere he looked nowadays there were gaggles of children popping up, running around the pack like vermin. Crawling about like rats.

At least this one didn't smell like one though, he thought, carefully smoothing out his slightly irritated expression. The boy did, however, look quite moody.

Dare he approach?

With a soft snort, Zach shook his hair and moved forward, curling his tail over his back. "My, don't we look merry," he uttered, smiling thinly, a thick layer of sarcasm painting his smooth tone. The golden adolescent didn't really like children, he'd recently had the misfortune of learning, but they were awfully fun trying to rile up when they weren't shrieking and trying to sully his bright coat with their grubby paws.

(The memory nearly made him shudder.)

He found a place to lounge near the bored pup, taking his sweet time to stretch and curl ever so gracefully in the dry, brittle grass, letting one full minute of silence pass, then two. Finally, when Zach deigned himself comfortable enough, he crossed his paws and gave Oleander his full attention again, staring coolly, the dark shade of his turquoise gaze becoming shadowed by his long, wavy hair.

"Did I interrupt your naptime, little baby?"