He was well aware of his mother's fiery temper, and he had inherited it to an extent, tempered only slightly by the levelheadedness of his father. At least he had never been on the receiving end of that temper, given that he was generally concerned with keeping himself clean and respectable, and rarely strayed far from the teachings of his parents. Fenyang was a right bully, and Tikal a bit too mellow for his tastes, but the poised boy was a well-rounded mixture of both parents, if not a bit naive due to his age and general lack of real-world experience. Xerxes was content, for now, to be relatively sheltered in the safety of the plains- if his siblings wanted to go out and forge their own paths, then so be it. He had seen what the other wolves of Moladion had to offer- death. At times he was unsure if his parents had forgotten that he had seen what had transpired with Aranck and Mugen, how his uncle's blood had covered his paws.
Perhaps it was justified that he would learn those lessons so young, given his proclivity to be a bit more mature than most his age. His father had told him to enjoy his youth, to not grow up too quickly, but Xerxes quickly found that those words were empty. They were expected of a father to say, but the boy knew that Viserys saw a familiar spark in his eyes rendering the advice impossible to follow. He grinned at his mother at her response, closing his eyes and giving a soft, melodic hum as he felt her tongue begin to move across his forehead and face. "They're my brains now, mother." He said coyly, wispy tail whisking back and forth across the soft grasses.
He settled down, cleared his throat and prepared to recite the poem that he had thought of, though his open mouth swiftly shut at his mother's next words. His eyes flew open, wide with a mixture of shock and disgust. "That's... that's so... GROSS!" It was a childish exclamation but he didn't care. He wasn't a little boy any more, he knew how puppies were made and... he really, really didn't want to think of his parents doing ANYTHING like that. Xerxes even tended to get a bit disgusted when they shared an affectionate nuzzle or even a loving look between them. "Listen." He narrowed his gaze slightly. "Father TOLD me how puppies are made." Xerxes paused and sighed, looking down towards the ground. "He said if you go to sleep in the same den next to a girl they wake up pregnant." His voice was a low mumble.
He glanced up towards Ankh, eyes a mixture of disgust and irritation. "So.. So I'm going to sleep between you and Father, so nothing funny happens." Xerxes stamped his paw on the ground petulantly. There was certainly no room in their lives for MORE siblings, he was content being his Mother's favorite and his Father's protege.
| XERXES
asteraia | one | viserys x ankh | |