Work Text:
Halsin liked being needed. Healing his companions, cooking, watching littles; being a steady presence for everyone, it made him feel warm inside. North had said that people in their world would've called him a ‘protective mother hen’ they had snorted as if it was a funny joke but assured him the words were said as a compliment.
So though Halsin was as overwhelmed by the events of the day as everyone else he took deep breaths and smiled softly as he healed everyone.
The fight they'd been in had certainly taken its toll, and looking around he could tell a good lot of his campmates were on the verge of regressing; himself included which surprised him.
Truth be told he was a bit nervous, he had told them all at one point or another that he did quite rarely also regress, especially when one of the group felt bad about doing so. But he hadn't in, oh say 2 years at this point? He wasn't quite sure how he wanted to go about this either.
Doing so now of all times felt almost as overwhelming as the day itself had been. He much preferred silence or at least quiet when he felt young which was not something he could see happening at camp tonight.
Even now the scraping sounds of pots and chopping of knives on a board from Gale and Wyll making dinner was grating on his ears. He was also covered in a good amount of blood and bodily fluids that had dried to his skin in an unpleasant way.
Shadowheart was out cold, insisting on helping to heal everyone despite having been heavily injured herself and now sleeping off the exhaustion she'd been ignoring. The rest of the camp was in similar states of either asleep or resting.
Looking around he found things sufficiently calm for the time being at least so he rose from where he was sitting and walked up to the chefs of the evening.
“Im going to wash up and maybe take a bit of a walk.” He murmured quietly to them.
Gale barely looked up, busy trying to get everything in the pot as soon as possible “Ah good luck then, take your time this'll be a few hours anyways.” Wyll stopped his careful measurements, a task given to the kid by Gale probably as Wyll especially loved to help cook when small, to wave at him. “Bye bye.”
Halsin smiled and waved back, the little one was adorably soft spoken when small no matter what end of his range the warlock found himself on, reminded Halsin quite of himself. “Bye bye cub, i’ll see you soon.” Wyll smiled happily at that and got back to his very important task.
Once out of camp he quickened his pace considerably, eager to wash the filth of the day off. He'd see who was big when he got back and talk to them about maybe regressing after dinner or in the morning.
The river was delightful and quite beautiful to look at with the sun slowly sinking behind it.
Halsin took his time scrubbing himself thoroughly with the pine soap he made himself till he was sure every part of him was clean as could be.
Something pecked at his feet and he looked down to see some tiny fish swimming underneath him. Halsin chuckled, leaning down to try and scoop one up, he missed splashing at his calf instead.
He wanted to try again but the rest had all swam away so he just huffed and pouted instead.
Deciding to explore the riverbed some, he flipped over rocks along the shore to see the bugs underneath and watched birds and dragonflies that he found with quiet revelry.
Something caught his gaze and Halsin gasped excitedly at the sight of a big rock down stream, he wasted no time wading towards it. Sitting down and nodding to himself in satisfaction that it was just as comfortable as he thought it'd be. Halsin hummed a tune as he made little kicks in the water.
He thinks he learned the song from either his mother or grams when he was a young cub, he couldn't remember the words but he knew it was rain related. Halsin decided he rather liked the feeling of mud under his feet and slid down the rock to squish the ground under the water between his hands and toes.
With a noise of contentment he picked mud up and poured it on his arms in little dollops giggling at the cold sensation. He spread them up and down his arms, coating himself in a thick layer. It reminded him of something he used to do as a small elfling.
“Huh, well I see someone's having a bit of fun, yes?”
Surprise made him jerk up to see Astarion watching him from the shore...a bundle in his hands?
…Oh the vampire had collected his clothes for him.
Just above a whisper he greeted “Hi Astarion,” he usually couldn't make his voice any louder when he felt like this but he knew Astarion could hear him fine.
Halsin wiggled his fingers at him. “Look, art!” He waded to the edge to show Astarion the drawings he’d made on his arms consisting of swirls and flowers.
Astarion grimaced slightly but kept a small smile. “Hello Halsin darling, I see…it’s very nice, I admire what creative skill you have there.” he tapped his fingers against his other hand making tiny claps and Halsin absolutely beamed at him “…However; and not to detract from your little adventure, last I was aware you were getting cleaned up not covered head to toe in river grime before dinner hmm?”
Halsin looked at his arms and could suddenly feel some on his face that he hadn't noticed. “Oh yea.”
Astarion snorted in amusement “‘Oh yea’ indeed, its quite alright dear, but said dinner is warm and ready for you so lets wipe all the mud off and get dressed, don't miss a speck now alright c-” Halsin’s prompt response was to get under the water as quickly as possible which resulted in a bit of a splash.
“Well I suppose that was one way to do that.” Astarion sighed dryly to himself looking down at his now soggy pants as he held out one of Halsin's towels, at least it was warm out and was only his ankles and downwards. “Are you in need of any assistance?”
“No no I have it!” Halsin said quickly, taking the towel and patting himself dry. Dressing was admittedly a bit wobbly but not so much so that Astarion felt the need to step in. The little paused and looked up at him. “Um…perhaps my hair, the way we do it?”
“Ah perhaps so, stay still then” Astarion agreed, he had to reach up a bit but still made quick work of wrapping Halsin’s hair in the second towel neatly after not so subtly checking the little over for any missed dirt spots, giving a satisfied hum at somehow not finding any. “There we are poppet, now do try not to fling yourself around too much so it doesn't loosen alright?”
Halsin nodded. “Thank you Astarion.”
The vampire smiled genuinely “You are quite-” he accentuated the word with a flick on Halsin’s nose “-welcome, now come along darling. I fear the other hooligans aren't as polite as you and will gobble all the food down their greedy gullets if we don't get back soon.”
Halsin giggled, much quieter than his usual booming chuckles.
They arrived at camp, Astarion with a firm grasp on Halsin’s hand after he had gotten distracted by fireflies a few too many times, to only a few of his companions left eating, Gale, North and Shadowheart who’d seemed to be rejuvenated from her nap, Lae’zel sleeping near the fire instead. “Seems I accidentally stumbled upon a bear cub while on my hunt, much too hungry itself to make a full meal though.” Astarion stretched his arm forward so that Halsin was in front of him directing him to sit between Gale and North.
Gale looked up from his bowl, his eyebrows pinched in what the group had come to know as curious confusion before it softened considerably, “Well we can fix that quite quickly can't we?” He made to stand however a sharp look from North had him defeatedly go back to eating as their leader got up themself to get Halsin a bowl and collect empty ones to be washed.
Halsin in turn offered North the firefly he had caught.
“Why thank you lovely, I'll make sure to find it a good home.” North said looking genuinely delighted at being the chosen one as they took the firefly while at the same time Astarion tilted his head in surprise and exclaimed “I had no clue he had one of those and I’m not sure how he managed that.”
Halsin hadn't realized how cold or hungry he really was till he was plopped in front of the fire taking his first bite of chili, he still tried to eat slowly though it was clearly fast enough to have those watching him try not to laugh. His ears flushed and he ducked his head slightly.
“Oh it's alright kiddo no one's poking fun, you're just brightening our night.” Gale winked warmly and patted his head. The wizard then directed his attention to Astarion "I take it you're going back out then?”
Astarion sniffed “Oh no, I found adequate sustenance a bit before finding this one pouring mud into every nook and cranny of their being.”
They all had a time trying to not laugh too loudly.
Shadowheart raised an eyebrow in unrestrained amusement “Is that so?”
“Art” Halsin said simply, nodding. He'd love to tell them everything he saw and got up to but he wanted to eat more so just left it at that.
North snorted, covering their mouth with a hand. “Aw, I bet you're a lovely artist Halsin” He gave a pleased hum at that.
Astarion looked around before asking “Everyone else already tuckered out and in I presume?” to which the others nodded.
“Wyll is bunking with me tonight, Karlach is in her tent and whoever's on watch will be keeping an eye on Lae'zel” North counted.
Astarion clasped his hands together. “Well seeing as I'm assigned second watch I best be joining them in the land of dreams, hope the ticks don't find all friends present. Gale I'm afraid you'll have to figure out other means of warding insects that aren't my words.”
Gale mouthed something definitely not child friendly that made Astarion cackle, North looked exasperated.
“Not quite how you say goodnight Astarion however I shall be getting up as well, first watch.” Shadowheart bid the others goodnight, properly, and went to the edge of camp.
Gale's knees cracked as he stood with a groan before adding more wood to the fire, banking it up to last through the night. “And how about you cub?” Gale asked as Halsin politely handed his bowl to North with a thank you.
“How's tonight gonna go, your own tent or is Uncle Gale having a sleepover aswell?” Halsin pondered the question; he tended to like space when sleeping and was quite fine on his own but on the other hand even while big he loved hearing Gale read or tell stories.
“My bed but you read for a bit?” He asked hopefully and smiled brightly when Gale nodded “Sounds like a plan, can you get yourself settled while I check on everyone and get a book for you pebble?”
Halsin nodded excitedly and only being full and tired kept him from running to his tent.
He could feel the day catch up to him as he sunk down onto his bedroll, and Gale had barely finished cuddling up to Halsin’s side at the request of some very convincing grabby hands and started reading before he was out.
The next morning Halsin rose, feeling more relaxed than he had in a while. He quickly found Astarion and scooped him into a tight hug “Many thanks my good friend.”
Astarion awkwardly patted him back. “Yes yes darling, no need to mention it or for such mushiness first thing in the morning.”
Gale gave a much more enthusiastic response when it was his turn for a crushing bear hug, accepting it warmly. “Of course Halsin, you're always welcome in any form!”
Some of the others looked a bit confused but they could be filled in later, they had as much to do as they had the day before. Currently Halsin just beamed in the presence of his current company.