The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Jack POV

The expressions on people's faces were just priceless for Jack, and it was all thanks to girlie. He was perched in a tree nearby as Basti, and her cubs strolled into camp.

Basti, for one, greeted Aug as the girl approached, the little girl coming up and hugging the adult prowler's neck before approaching the cubs. The black-furred cubs was more privy to the situation as he slinked off around to the other side of Basti. Whereas the little girl just stupefied the other three cubs, the three continuously looked over at Basti worriedly as they were handled in a way they'd never been before.

After a bit, the rest of the group started meandering over, mainly to watch the situation. However, the kids of the group approached, thanks to Aug, diffusing any tension that might have been there.

Zasutir stood, pushing up from his seated position with his hands on his knees before glancing at Virtisa. "Let's talk later." He offered, wanting to make sure she wasn't ignored before walking over to Basti with a smile on his face. "Good morning, Executioner Basti; thank you for visiting us. What brings you here?" He asked curiously.

Basti chattered and murred in response, carrying a conversation in her untranslated tongue. Zasutir nodded in response as if he perfectly understood, throwing in a few words of confirmation and 'Oh really' and things like that before looking at the others. "She's come to socialize her kids and is seeking permission to allow them to wander our camp and interact with us."

The rest of the group looked at each other curiously, unsure what to make of the situation. However, that's when Jack decided to speak up. "Come on then; they're just kids. Let them get to know ya; they'll be the ones guarding ya as the days go on."

The members of the camp closest to the tree he was perched on had certainly jumped with surprise. However, they looked the cubs over with a new appreciation. It wasn't long until murmurs turned to sounds of agreement as they began dispersing.

Zasutir turned to look at Basti with a smile as he nodded. "Our home is open to you and your family, Basti; feel free to come and go as you like." Basti, in turn, murrs with a nod as she looked to her kids, which were in the form of bliss as they were pet and doted on in a way they'd never experienced. The black-furred cub was admittedly standoffish about it and slinked into his mother's shadow for the time being. However, the white-furred cub was into it, being the most socially adept and managing to wrangle the most throat scratches from the kids. Even some of the adults came over, watching the cubs and Basti with the understanding that these were potentially powerful beasts, but even they couldn't resist how cute they were.

Though even as Jack watched over the situation from his perch, he got the feeling that someone was watching him. Looking around, he spotted the dwarf woman anxiously shifting side to side, not exactly sure of herself. With his attention sufficiently grabbed, he flitted over and landed on the ground before her. "Yes, did ya need something?"

Silvia smiled a bit as she nodded. "Yes, I realized I did not properly thank you for saving my daughter. I mean it, thank you. I understand you've only been what you are for less than a week, yet you already have more compassion than most people."

Jack's feathers floofed up, certainly not accustomed to such praise and attention as he averted his gaze. "Y-Yeah, well, it was a kid in trouble; what kind of bastard would ignore that."

Silvia smiled as she got down to her knees and gently patted Jack's head. Currently, he was too flustered to be annoyed. At this point, he could also feel the ground tremble very slightly beneath his claws, turning just in time to see Aug rush up to him. "Jackie!" She cried out in enthusiasm as she scooped up the bird, much to his surprise as Silvia chuckled at the view.

Jack was uncomfortable, but he didn't fight it; his wings unfurled in the imitation of a hug as he flapped his left wing to mimic patting her shoulder. "Alright, alright, girlie, that's enough. Set me down now." Thankfully Aug didn't insist on hugging him for too long, Jack flitting away onto the ground again and ruffling his feathers.

"We, uh, have something for you." Silvia said a little nervously, her hands fiddling together in an uncharacteristic amount of shyness for a usually confident and stalwart woman.

Though it seems Aug was happy to pick up the slack. "We made you a bandannanan!" She gushed, Silvia, smiling some more as she watched her daughter open up more. The usually shy girl has spoken more in the past several days than in the rest of her life so far.

Jack was confused, looking to Silvia for clarification, which she was happy to offer. "It's a simple thing, really, but Aug really helped out in making it. It's a bandana." She explained as she pulled out a piece of canvas that's been dyed red. "We didn't have much to make it unique, but we did manage to find some natural dye; the red comes from beetroot." She explained as she smiled a little more. "We figured you might like it more if it smelled like the forest, oh! We heard from Zasutir that vassals like yourself have the potential to grow even more, so we made sure to make it big enough and just folded the extra material into a neat hem." She explained as she offered the bandana for Jack to see.

He was… Well, he was speechless. He's never received a gift before. Leaning in, he smelled the bandana curiously. It smelled sweet and earthy, and something else mixed in there too. He let out a low whistle of approval and nodded. "I uh… I love it. Thank you." He said softly and stepped closer, Silvia carefully tying it around his neck with a strong knot. It felt weighty but also comforting in a way.

"Jackie looks so cool." Aug chirped as she walked around Jack, appraising him from every angle.

Jack was getting incredibly flustered at this rate as he fluttered his wings. "Well, it was nice seeing you, glad you're looking better, kiddo." He commented with a nod; he was fidgeting some more before deciding to give his wings a flap. "I should go; I've got my duties. After all, I was just making sure these cats got here alright." He explained, giving himself an out as Silvia smiled at him.

"Alright, Captain Jack, see you around." She said gently as she stood back onto her feet.

"Bye, Jackie!" She waved enthusiastically as she went back to her mom's side.

With his way out sufficiently established, he flitted off as fast as he could to try and collect himself after all that attention.