It was a silent moment between the pair of them alone. The dark-eyed deviant allowing his gaze to lift away from that calendar he fiddled with and the lines his fingers traced almost obsessively to meet the green of his companions own- that single question stuttered from his lips. Asking to know whether or not Tetradore desired to have that Alpha position back. A position Tobias had guarded fervently in the man's absence. Those protective instincts within the boy had always been entirely intact even when his own mind remained wholly fractured. Tobias so smoothly having assumed that Alpha role to guard what was Tetradore's own as he had done since they were merely boys and he had kept the monsters beneath Tetradore's bed at bay. So many of those things they did so often for each other alone, even when it seemed as if they were for others. Tobias having guarded his companions place, his position, his very bedroom from any whom might dare to take it just as Tetradore had, before his 'death', surely watched over Raven- that woman Tobias loved and deemed his own. That companionship between them so deeply ingrained that it was moments such as these, perhaps, that meant far more then they seemed. Tobias so displaying that rarely seen understanding he alone so held of his Alpha- an understanding gleaned from growing up beside the man and in the years of their separation- following behind him like the dutiful shadow he had become. So veritably incapable of existing without him. Tobias knowing that answer well before it was given and perhaps- even before it was considered. Leadership was all Tetradore knew. Following behind him all Tobias knew. After all, Tetradore.....needed to be needed and Tobias, in turn, needed a reason to exist, even if only to keep Tetra safe and watch-over Raven in turn. One hand extended suddenly, resting atop Tetradore's own, his gaze dropped away from those green eyes in an entirely submissive fashion and one he would afford no other before his head simply dipped in a bow- transferring that Alpha-ship right back to the panther- the subtle shift in bonds surely felt by them all as Tobias' hand returned quietly to himself, his gaze briefly meeting the other man's own.

Some things do not need words, after all. Some things were understood by them alone.

That deviant boys attention returned suddenly back to that calendar, his fingers tracing along those lines in delight, interrupted only by Pretty and her admittance that she had been wrong, Tobias so delighting in being told he was right, a grin of sorts working its way onto his features before his fingers extended to brush into Regan's fur as she passed- that sensation off her purr only further seeming to satisfy him, the gangly deviant so readily understand Regan in one way or another. She was...instinctive, her behaviour predictable to him, understandable- her lack of words only further inclining him to her silent presence in a way he found appealing. The boy letting his fingers run through that dark fur several times before his attention, at last, returned to Raven. His mate seeming only further distressed. Tobias so incapable of understanding that complexity of emotion within her. Why she was not happy that Tetradore had come back was beyond his ability to perceive, his features frowning readily at the notion she hardly desired to lick Tetradore's hand, her tears only seeming to distress him in turn. The boy holding some knowledge that tears surely meant sad even if the emotion was outside his own range. Those dark eyes trailed readily to her fingers, watching as they turned over themselves nervously. Tobias momentarily mimicking that gesture if only to test it in a fashion before glancing upward once more as Tetradore spoke and Regan moved to press against her.

"Birdie. Why are....you....sad?"

It was rare, in any sense, that Tobias was inclined to ask 'why?' and yet outside of Tetradore himself, Raven was perhaps one of the few beings he truly cared for, the woman his own mate, a part of the deviant displeased with her displeasure and the water that ran across her face. He hardly knew how to stop it, how to make it better, his mind seeking some method of repairing it before Tetradore handed her that card from the bag. Tobias rose easily then, readily inquisitive as to what Raven had been given, the boy peering at that card even though the words on it meant little to him. Tetradore's mention of wolves seeing his features scowl as he searched that postcard for these wolves.

"Not....see wolves."

That he had missed the point of it entirely was perhaps unsurprising. An irritable huff passing his lips before he shifted but slightly too lean down, the softest kiss placed suddenly on Raven's cheek as if this alone might steal away her sadness, his lips pulling into a grin as he regarded her once more, an evident...affection within his gaze, a look for her alone.

"You are...not sad now."

A kiss, he was sure, was all she needed in those moments. Tobias trying so desperately to rid her of the tears he didn't understand. The boy taking his seat once more beside his companion. That lack of gifts given to himself beyond that calendar only now seeming to have become apparent as his dark eyes fell back upon the man beside him, narrowing critically once more only to inquire as to whether or not there were more. That subtle nod of the other man's head hardly missed, Tobias' features adorned with that grin again before it so abruptly dropped from him once more. The young man never yet having managed to work out just how long he should hold an expression for before allowing it to falter.

"Can we...got to get them now?"

madness, as you know, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push