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Vasi had decided he was going to start breaking legs, big cute doe eyes or not. Too many Amulets now had come and gone from his trusting in charm and kindness alone. He thought perhaps once he had gotten them here, he would show them all the price of crossing him. Of running.
Most of all, he wondered how many had stolen dragonling whelps before he had known their wombs were swelling? Nix he had suspected, but the sweet Sunflower held a terrible claim on his dark mind, some shadowed icy corner that made him feel alive at her touch that nobody else could replicate. If she had left … she was the only one, he thought, he would not punish in coming across again. But Amalthea, the flighty little bitch, shed fled in the commotion and made the swim through the waves to escape danger. When he'd gone to find her, the scent tangled with one of Tianlong’s warriors that'd melted from his shores as well. Tough luck, he decided, but not worth the fuss. Let the emperor across the sea have the little unicorn, and Vasi hoped she DID swell with little black and white dragons sent from hell to stir trouble in the kingdom. And the feral, pale beast - he had assumed too much, there. Gotten sloppy. He knew that now.

He watched Adel with a scrutiny he hadn't before, and made sure the others knew she was confined to the island. Made sure SHE knew she was confined to the island, even if every step of it was free to her. He wondered still if he shouldn't break her leg first, to be the start of those lessons for all those who came after to hear and know.
Maybe some part of him still just wanted a pretty, soft little creature to tote around on his elbow, share berries beside, and watch the sunset with. Someone to laugh at his bad jokes and snuggle up beside him just for the warmth of it.

Neph was all the partner he needed, but her disconnect with emotions left him lacking in a companion. One good Amulet, he thought, an easy body to warm his bed and belly when Neph wasn't in the mood.

Not all was dour. Vasi was tickled pink the younger whelps were finally more than old enough to be doing shit, that his days would no longer always be filled with the monotonous laying above or in the den to watch the litter and leaving only to hunt or patrol or snag a stash of berries to slurp down before going back. Just as he had the first, he thought taking them down to the beach would be fun. Something about watching the kids toddle about on soft ground and ohhh and ahhh at the great wide ocean properly was… Magical, dare he say? Something about watching such soft moments made his chest grow warm.

Vasili never had liked kids much, but he loved his own with an undeniable fierceness.

Come on, ya little shits, he hollered with a grin, casting a glance over the gnarly scars of his shoulder before slipping from the cave. He didn't wait for them - they were too old to be coddled by now. Fuck sake, several of them had probably already found their way to the shore. As they finally broke the treeline, the stream from the hotsprings running into the bay and several parrots fluttering to the sky at the wolves appearance, Vasi called out over his shoulder. First one to find me the coolest shell or rock on the beach wins.