a better day (not really)

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2021
"Speech!"
Medusa was an enigma for the cow-spotted boy. He lifted his head up a bit higher as his wounds would allow, tilting his head just a tad in curiosity as the woman had prepared a whole little fire and was steeping some weird stuff over it. And he companions were running around and lifting and carrying things, too. What a funny little bunch. He was almost amused; but he clearly wasn’t showing anger, or even the slightest upset. Perhaps they were alike in the way they didn’t always show the appropriate emotions for a given situation. He just didn’t have the emotional capability to feel bitter or pissed off. Perhaps he should be - maybe that’s what Medusa wanted to see.

He simply blinked instead, a blank expression on his face - or what could be seen through the bandages. Her companion shuffled over with the wooden bowl of that boiling hot stuff, adding some honey to it as Medusa explained that his mother ran off and hadn’t come back for any of his siblings. Just her newest pups - which he had no care for as he’d barely seen them prior to the challenge. And speaking of..his brow furrowed as he concentrated on the information he had, processing it as he glanced down at the bowl of warm tea-stuff and honey. "So if she ran away, that means she lost the pack challenge," he said simply. No anger. No rage. Not even pain. Just matter-of-factly, as if making a conclusion about a math problem rather than the realization that life as he knew it had fallen apart. "So you’re the new leader of Habari then. Or whatever you named it now." Her companion spoke gruffly about what the tea was, and to stay hydrated, something like that, and Medusa dropped some weird looking berries next to it as well. It was supposed to ease his cough, and as another fit shook his body and rattled the mucus in his chest with a few seconds of honking, wheezing, and gasping, he swallowed thickly, gingerly sniffing the tea. For all he knew, Medusa was trying to poison him; but she had let him live so far, and what reason was there to kill him now? He took a sip of the tea, trying his best to allow the honey to melt on his tongue as he did so. Still, it seemed a bit bitter.

She explained that Ghoul and Widow were being healed. Oh. So they were hurt in the pack challenge too? Maybe they also got messed up by some little guy with big raptor claws, themselves. He had no recollection of Ghoul’s limbs and Widow’s pregnancy, of course. She also said she didn’t know which of the twins she had - fair enough, he got them confused sometimes too. One was tall the other was smoll. Apparently, one of them was here, the other ran off. Good for them! He hoped he’d have a good adventure, though Medusa’s words implied she was willing to hunt him down and bring him back. Secretly he was rooting for his bro, of course, ‘cause family was important and such. The rest were with Misery and Eraithus, that guy that his mom liked. He didn’t really know him well, and Misery? He kind of drifted apart the more his brother went off on his spying missions, and clearly wouldn’t like what he’d gone and done to himself. So he really only concerned himself for his own siblings, because he could wrap his head around that.

"So, um. What’re you planning to do with all of us?" He inquired simply, nonchalantly. He sipped his tea, looking up at Medusa curiously with his one good eye. He and his siblings were hated by her, as far as he knew, and she despised their mother for her initial enslavement. So were they all at her mercy then? Funny how life turned the tables like that.