There is nothing rational about love.

^^

sometime during the festival @Akira

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There was, at least, one zombie here; to think that there was only one zombie was foolish, Archon knew. The vast majority could be zombies? He had eyed the food that was provided, and then eyed the golden zombie — making sure that she stayed her distance.

He called what that other zombie, in the tundra, had said; something about rotting flesh. His zombies didn’t have rotting flesh, so where were there other types of zombie out there? His nose wrinkled and his ears twitched, as he glared off, into the distance, zoning in on the food.

And if zombies existed, what else was there that Archon had yet to discover? His hackles rose and Archon moved away, headed to the pond, when he collided into someone else. Someone smaller, with visible teeth marks on his coat. He’d been attacked by a zombie? Recently? His eyes narrowed and he just stared.^^

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The boy had been watching the water, zoned out as he shook slightly. He wanted to get over his fear of water, but with the slight tingling of his scarred belly and neck, he just couldn't bring himself to get any closer. Any time he needed a drink, he did everything in his power to find a puddle, or beg Dirt Mama to bring him a leaf filled with water, anything so that he didn't need to go to the large bodies of water. 

He was so zoned out, he didn't realized someone was walking towards him until he felt a large body slam into him, causing him to yelp out slightly. He scrambled to stop himself from falling before turning to look at the boy, noticing him staring at his scars. For a moment, he would let out a soft growl, letting the older boy know to stop staring. "Hey, watch it!" He tried to be angry, but he was nothing more than an anxious ball of fluff.

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^^Just as Akira had zoned out on the water, Archon had zoned out on the boy, eyeing those scars as if the flesh itself was rotting. It was, to Archon, who had a very vivid imagination, who just stared at the younger, smaller boy as if he was diseased.

Perhaps he was. He had to have gotten those marks somehow, right? Nice wolves didn’t bite other nice wolves. Of course, he’d bitten Amaranth in the face once, and Archon himself was pretty nice. Almost too nice, unless someone was a zombie.

There’d been a growl, and Archon squinted, staring a little longer, just because the little one was rude. He growled back, eyes narrowing. “What’s your deal?” You know, aside from the zombies??

^^
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The young boy huffed as he sat down, glaring over at the other boy for a moment. His angry expression quickly cleared as he stared off towards the water again. It wasn't until the boy asked what his problem was that he finally spoke. "Nothing just... thirsty..." He knew he sounded stupid with the large lake in front of him but he was nearly shaking in fear of going anywhere near it. 

Instead he would look over at he boy, his face now free of anger. "What are you scared of?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. He figured that if he could see another one around his age that was scared of something, it would make him feel less stupid about his own fear. Hell, he hadn't even spoken to Dirt Mama or Snow Mama about the incident afterwards.

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^^It wasn’t hard to see that there was something about the water that was causing the boy to act funny. He arched a brow, glancing from the water, to the boy, then back to the water. He’d said he was thirsty, alright, but he wasn’t moving towards the water at all.

Instead, it almost looked like he was quivering or something. What was that all about? There wasn’t anything that Archon was deathly afraid. Not to the point that he would begin shaking like that.

The boy’s question seemed to align with his thoughts, and Archon looked back to him for a moment. “I’m not very fond of zombies, or being alone. What happened to you? You got teeth marks, and you don’t like the water.”

Water zombies?!

^^
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The boy watched him for a moment, raising an eyebrow for a moment. Zombies? Those weren't real.... right? Now Akira was questioning what he knew. "Zombies are real?" He asked hesitantly for a moment before turning his attention to the other question. He was slightly hesitant for a moment before answering. 

"Well, I almost drowned, one of my mamas pulled me out. That's where the teeth marks came from.." He kinda hoped that boy wouldn't ask anymore questions, as he really didn't want to relive his near death experience more than he already did.

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^^.. ah, so the scars on the boy had been an attempt to save him and not an attempt to eat him. He scoffed for a moment; thinking that a story about water zombies would have been far more interesting. Or maybe zombies were invisible in the water, and his mama really had saved him from zombies?

His eyes narrowed softly as he licked his lips to taste the air, slowly turning his attention to the water. “They are real; there’s one here, right now..” Archon said slowly, in a low, trance like voice as he was getting distracted by the water, and the idea that zombies might be invisible in the water.

“Not me, though!” Archon said, suddenly snapping out of it, with the shake of his head. Akira had almost drowned and been saved, but was also thirsty, and wanted some water. He took some time in wondering how he might feel, if it were him: a smol babe, almost taken by some invisible water zombies.

What did a zombie bite even look like? He slowly turned to glare at one of the two feathered up wolves with the narrowing of his eyes, having half the time to walk right up and ask her, but then he turned to Akira with a smile. “You want me to sit with you, while you drink? I’m thirsty, too. Nothing bad will happen to you. Your moms are here. My mom and my uncle tiger Kuhn is here, too. ”

That is, if Archon doesn't push him back in to lure out the zombies..

^^
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His eyes widened slightly as the boy confirmed that zombies were, in fact, real.

New fear unlocked. 

With wide eyes, he looked around, wondering who exactly was the zombie that was here. Was his mama a zombie? No, they couldn't be or they would have eaten him when he first showed up here. 

His head snapped quickly towards the boy, relaxing slightly as he talked about not being a zombie... unless that was exactly a zombie would say! Nonetheless, he would nod slightly, not entirely trusting it. 

Cocking his head to the side slightly, he would hesitate for a moment before nodding, grateful for the assistance. Slowly, he would start to walk closer to the water, glancing over at the boy to make sure he was coming with him. He just hoped that the boy didn't push him in. If he did, Akira would find a way to come back and haunt him for the rest of his zombie filled life.

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^^New fear unlocked.

Perhaps if Archon was a villain, he would have smiled. Maybe even giggled, and just walked away - but he was not evil. Instead, Archon merely nodded his head and followed the younger boy to the watering hole.

He moved to sit down beside him, with his back turned towards the water for a moment while he watched the zombie (Amaranth) in the distance, and whatever the heck she was doing at this time during the ceremony.

He was quiet for a moment.

“There’s one. Right over there. The first zombie I’ve ever found. She tried to eat me.” Archon whispered softly, nodding his head into the direction of Valeska and Amaranth - but not quite confirming which one it was.

“What do you know about them?”

^^
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He was thankful for the other boy as he shakily drank the water that, not too long ago, almost took his life. His ears perked up as the boy spoke of the zombie, turning to see who he was pointing as. However, his eyes widened as he looked at Snow Mama and her wife. Was that the term for it? Probably. 

He hesitated slightly before speaking. "Well she's Snow Mama, she took me in when I showed up here randomly. But I don't know anything about her." He would point to Valeska and Amaranth one after the other, before finally turning to look at the boy. "Oh please tell me my Snow Mama isn't a zombie.." Now he was scared of that too!

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^^Snow Mama for a gold zombie was a bit weird, okay, but not enough for Archon to consider that maybe they weren’t talkin’ about the same wolf. Never once crossed his mind. Perhaps it should have, but it didn’t. He slowly looked at Akira, then the Snow Mama Zombie, determining that “Snow Mama” and Zombie did not belong together as a title, nope.

It gave him ideas that Olive might also be a zombie. She couldn’t be, no way! What if she was though?? His hackles rose, and he winced, glancing back to Akira.

“I found her dead in the field one day. She came alive and tried to eat me.” Archon spoke in a low, but serious tone. “That aint your mama, kid, that’s a zombie, and zombies need to be gotten rid of.”

Archon huffed, shaking out his coat as he continued to eye them. Were both of them zombies, then? Had he attended a cult of zombies?

Meaning that yes, his mother was one, because she had, too. But, so did Kuhn..

Further investigations were needed.

^^
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The boy wanted to cry. How could his mama be a zombie and he never knew? Little did he know the other boy was talking about a different wolf, but it never crossed the child's mind to have him specify. 

Instead, he would shake his head with an annoyed groan, not wanting to instantly go to attack her. She had been so nice to him before... maybe be was immune to zombies? That would be cool!

As the boy spoke about the zombies in more detail, Akira listened closely, wanting to learn as much as he could. "She's never tried to eat me though, does that mean anything?" His full attention was on the boy, clearly wanting to know any and everything about zombies. "If zombies are real, are vampires and ghosts real too?"

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^^The zombie hunter narrowed his eyes as he listened to the boy speak about his mother. She hasn’t tried to eat him; maybe children weren’t on the menu. He couldn’t recall how old he was when he first encountered her.

The question about vampires and ghosts, though..

He blinked.

“Why… wouldn’t they be?” Archon responded in a soft whisper, licking over his lips nervously.

He had never considered that they might be until right now.

“Maybe she hasn't tried to eat you because you're... ”

He paused. Zombies didn't eat other monsters, didn't they? Could it be, this one, was something else? “...you're too young?” He offered, tilting his head with a shrug.

^^
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The boy's eyes widened to impossible levels, staring in shock and disbelief. All those scary, supernatural creatures were real!? That almost made him forget about his crippling fear of water. 

Though, he would think for a moment, looking over at his mother. Was she really a zombie? Would she eat him when he got older. "Can zombies have children? Do they become zombies themselves?" He had so many questions, so much on his mind. Hopefully this random child could give him the answers he needed.

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^^Oh no. Oh no, no, no.. no.

Archon was studying this little boy, this little… mysterious wonder with the arch of his brow and tilt of his head. What if he was educating a monster about monsters? What if they were going to become self aware, now?

Archon eyed the smaller “boy” with a shrug of his shoulders. It was hard, suddenly, to remain calm, to act like Akira wasn’t a monster. He felt his skin crawl and did all he could to stop his hackles from rising.

No need to alert Akira into realizing he was a deadly creature of the night, right?

Right???

If this was a movie or a TV show, he would have broken the 4th wall by looking at the viewer.

“There hasn’t been a lot of, uh, research on if they can have children.” Archon said, softly, with the tilt of his head as he tried not to look at Akira’s now exposed neck, as the boy looked over at his zombie mother.

“You live with them. You should be on zombie duty, but do not alert them that you are suspicious. Last thing we need is a self-aware zombie running around, y’know?? I live in the tundra. We should meet up every few weeks to discuss your zombie outbreak and what to do with them, yah?”

It would certainly give Archon more time to confirm his suspicions.

^^
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