Somewhere on the other side of the forest around the same time, the great lammergeier had been coiled around the graves of his first children for the night like a large white slug and upon the first rays of light dancing upon his pelt from the sparse tree cover at his own densite, it only roused him slowly. Alabaster lay for a long time, quiet upon the leaf strewn floor, his red-hued eyes being open the only indication he was awake at all.

He chose to stand, doing so with care as he stretched every muscle and limb right down to his toe digits to be prepared for the morning, before slipping away before the dawn chorus grew too loud in order to hunt. Nothing too interesting, a decaying rabbit from someone else’s previous nights activity became his morning meal, polishing off as much of the animal as he could in a typical vulture fashion.

After that however, pickings were rather slim as the male moved through the long grasses in the search for other dead things, or possibly live animals that dared stay the winter. It was during this moment that his keen nose picked up a scent low to the ground as he passed a tree. A young fawn had passed this way, rubbed himself upon the bark as he did so.

A young fawn too, judging by the height of the scentmark and the slight worn/melted indent he’d left upon the otherwise frozen bark. A smirk tugged at the corners of the vultures mouth and he turned slowly in place, black ears radiating for sound;

There it was, a happy sounding squeal followed by some loud thunk that Alabaster couldn’t quite place, but at the second squeal he’d pinpointed the origin and set off towards it.

Appearing like a shadow, the pale blond coloured stag stood on the closest nearby embankment to stare down at Hare, frisking himself around and playing like that it could be a few moments before he was noticed at all, being that he’d crept as close as he could without being spotted but now he’d found a good vantage point, did not care if he was seen.

He very vaguely recognised the creature before him, rushing through his mental mapping of the inhabitants he settled quickly on Rae, and thus Achilles, he’d spied them together previously but since both of them were ‘disgusting feral faced beasts’, unless Rae had been unfaithful this could not be their legitimate child.

With a slow shoulder roll, he mused upon this as he inspected the other and merely waited to be noticed. Whether he was or not, eventually the large male strode down his little embankment towards the other like a rolling thundercloud until he’d stopped beside the other wordlessly, face twisted in contempt and expectation.

An involuntary twitch was given when Hare backed into Alabasters slender foreleg, less from the force of the tiny body colliding with his frame more from the disgust of being touched at all. He watched in a cold, calculative manner as the little fawns face turned up to meet his gaze and fell from a happy smile into something akin to fear. The vulture didn’t move as the fawn backed away from him, only his gaze following the form.

At the sudden bleats however, he interjected with a loud; “Oh hush up.”

Red eyes narrowed in faint anger at the prospect of having the little creatures ‘father’ barrel over the hillside with antlers down, trained at the white stags body like an arrow flying for its target;

“You shouldn’t be so foolish to wander out here alone if you’re so frightened of running into someone larger than you.” He scoffed, before leaning his head down towards the smaller as he strode forth a pace or so.

“I won’t hurt you, I’m a friend of your brothers.” A half truth, he’d only really met one but it was irrelevant when talking to a small child who probably did not even recognise a predator above its instinctive drive.

‘Lets see if you can talk.’ the lammergeier mused, leaning back into his large neck ruff like he was pulling p a fancy fur coat around his cheekbones; “What are you doing out here little brown mouse, its far too cold and too dangerous, you might get lost.”

Enacting his best ‘I care about your well-being’ voice he’d picked up from his own father, very slowly the vulture began to move, circling the other with slow, careful strides through the snow, his head dipping again slightly so he could regard the other more closely.

His face wrinkled in disgust at the animalistic nose that marred an otherwise beautiful little human face, much the way his other target Arielle had those god-awful patches upon a pretty pelt. He didn’t voice this however, as he stopped a little to the left of the front side of the fawn, lifting his head back up.

An amused snort followed as the younger male promptly silenced himself. Alabaster considered it to be that he was being silent and listening to his words, and so a brow quirked when the other suddenly lifted his tail and grinned at him.

Not the reaction he was expecting, the vulture stepped to the side and away from the smaller as it stomped at him and then seemed to vibrate in glee. Oh okay then, this one was clearly defective or his ‘charm tactic’ was too strong. About to speak a second time Al was cut short as he instead let out a disgusted raggy exhale, jolting away from the other the moment his face brushed up against his long leg fur.

Alabaster circled to the side, letting his contempt show on his face at the prospect of being touched when he didn’t allow it, and snorted at him;

“There’ll be none of that.” Came the almost-snap, sinking into his neck ruff a second time and eying the other with only one side this time, before rolling his shoulders and glancing away. He wanted the little thing to like him and build up some form of trust, but agreeing to play or even worse, cuddle made him cringe all over.

“Do your parents know you are out here alone?” He wondered out-loud, glancing back at the smaller creature yet readily prepared to bounce away a second time if he came at him with affection again.