[PRP] Anything can be bought (Muerte & Athera)

[Melancholies]

 

[Melancholies]

Muerte's hive was slowly filling in, most of the furnishings being handmade and salvaged, like weird frankenstien creations. It was cozy, in a weirdly morbid way (maybe it was because most of the things in there were made out of bone. Maybe).

He'd set up accommodations for the child thing. Did he know how to raise a child? Absolutely not. Did he have any intentions of doing so? Hardly. Bumbs seemed alright with helping, sort of, but it was obvious that the lusus didn't view her as a second charge or anything of the sort. Mostly he seemed to want pets. This made Muerte slightly jealous, because he wanted to pet Bumbs, and also because he generally had to keep Bumbs very far away from what was, essentially, an extremely feral animal.

Anyway.

It looked like a large rabbit hutch from a distance. The... container for the sopor slime was small, and it didn't look comfortable from within the cage, but until he could get the spirit in that child broken, he couldn't go wheeling it around and presenting it to Byakko, heavens no. This was a direct reflection on him and his ability. Besides, he had samples to take, and while he had already taken some... he planned on taking more.

So now it was merely a waiting game until the child woke up. At least he gowned her in a makeshift sack-turned-dress, that made it a little easier to deal with. He wondered how long that would last until she gnawed it off or did something equally stupid with it. Stupid child.

saedusk

things i proofread: not this

 

[saedusk]

Said child was indeed still asleep, her sack-dress rode up around her chest and balled under the hornless side of her head. Tossing and turning looked to be second nature to her already with the mess she'd made. Sopor slime was sloshed over the side of the container and pooled around the base, but it remained within the cage, at least.

A small grunt, she tossed again, but this time her eyes snapped open like the flip of a switch. With a sharp roll, she nearly flipped the sopor container in her bid for freedom—from what, she didn't know, but something was holding her at the neck!

Or perhaps it was just the makeshift gown. By the time she figured that out, she'd tangled her hair up with slime. To her credit, she managed to get the clothing smoothed back out where it should've been.

Now her eyes were wide, her grubby little paws pressed to the sides of her prison-hutch.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Well, Muerte supposed it had been useful to literally watch the child, as she made herself more than known upon waking up. The hutch held strong—a fact that made him smile, not that he was worried (this WAS Muerte Perist)—and he slowly wheeled his chair over to the tiny prison.

"Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life." Muerte seemed... amused, actually. His elbows propped up on his knees, his chin on his fists. "You can't understand speech yet, can you? Well never mind that. I'm positive you must be starving."

He rolled away, returning with a glass jar full of individually wrapped objects, each one more colorful than the last. Candy was a bit of a commodity in the swamp, but Aprife kept him stocked—he was good to him like that. Plucking out a peppermint, he waved the bite sized piece tantalizingly at the child. Just as he was about to offer it through the bars, he stopped.

"Silly me." He allowed himself a laugh, "You'd probably eat the wrapper if I gave it to you like this. Allow me." He unraveled the piece and attempted the same motion again.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Covered in slime and still frazzled, the child scooted as far to the back of the hutch as she could manage. It was hard to tell without the costume, but her tiny, developing mind tried to connect the dots between this figure and what had caught her back in the caverns. What he was saying only registered as much as he bothered to add inflection to his voice.

When his hand got closer, almost right up to the cage, her eyes went wide and unsure. Unfortunately, there was no where to go. Despite the bars between them she waited to be grabbed again—

That time never came, though. The girl's eyelids relaxed, but her gaze never left the hand as it came at her, then went back, then came at her again. She watched him wave the candy around with no idea what it was. Even so, the smell was tantalizing. Her mouth watered, but her body refused to move.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Yes..." Muerte drawled softly, "The squeakbeast wants the cheese. Come now, I'm not even trying to tease you anymore." He wiggled the piece of candy again.

"Perhaps something with more scent..." He leaned back to inspect the jar again (the peppermint treat was left behind on the wrapper, safely awaiting imminent consumption), only to produce a small piece of foil wrapped chocolate.

"If this doesn't sway you, then I regret ever giving you a chance at life." He tried to offer the object again.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

The response was certainly more significant this time. That smell... it was something the child found she couldn't resist despite still having no idea what he was offering. Her nostrils flared and her stomach made an audible grumble as if she hadn't eaten in nights. Well, realistically, she hadn't.

A sound like protest warbled in her throat as she sat against the back of the cage. The chocolate was a prize she wanted, but the hand that fed felt as dangerous as it had before. What was she supposed to do?

With a huff, she reached out for the candy, her hand unsteady and her fingers shaking. Instinct wanted her to hide those fears, to hold herself firm and unwavering, but she was only a child. She couldn't follow through.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"You pathetic little thing." Muerte made a tsking sound. Was he that helpless as a wriggler too? Perhaps, but he supposed he also had the guidance of a lusus. What a wealth of opportunity this would be if he could actually study the child, maybe test some theories about nature and nurture, but there were a number of trolls that would surely have his head. "Or you're just stupid. You can survive the numerous trials set forth in the caverns, and yet you can't bring yourself to accept a menial piece of candy."

He sighed.

"Go on then." He dropped it between the bars. "I was hoping to make you a little more presentable before bring you to Byakko, but I suppose that's just not going to happen, is it?" A shame, but really, what did Muerte know about children? "I'd suggest starting with a name, but you can hardly feed yourself. This probably all sounds like gibberish to you. To be blissful and ignorant again..." This time when Muerte sighed it sounded wistful.

He offered another piece of candy.

saedusk

tete berates a baby that can't even understand him news at 11

 

[saedusk]

As soon as the chocolate hit the bottom of the cage, she went for it, unable to resist. It was a frantic scramble for something that was already very much hers and when she shoved it in her mouth, it barely looked like she chewed before the treat was gone. Funnily enough, she seemed to calm then, at least a touch, because the flavor was like a heaven she'd never tasted and the adrenaline slowly ebbed once she'd accomplished her goal.

At least until the greenblood held out yet another piece of candy.

The child's bloodpusher beat faster in her chest again, but this time the outward signs weren't as severe. Instead of pressing herself to the back of the cage like a wounded animal, she managed to reach out and take the prize (albeit quickly and snappily) from his hand.  

[Melancholies]

Yes, good, "I suppose you aren't as stupid as you look." He noted dully. That or she was just warming up to him quickly, which made him wonder how well she'd take to other trolls in their society. If she proved to be naive, she'd just be stupid after all.

"How about... an A name?" He mused aloud. "It's the easiest one to go off in my opinion, but I'm not going to get pedantic about conjuring up a label for you. Actually, I suppose we might be able to change it later once you're capable enough to speak for yourself."

Pondering by himself for a long, long moment, he eventually dropped another piece of candy between the grated cage, "How about Athera? Not that you could tell me whether you liked it or not." He pointed at the mutantblood.

 

[saedusk]

Predictably, the child (now Athera) snatched up the candy almost before it hit the floor. Her captor was still talking and she looked up at him with chocolate smeared over her lips and vague curiosity beginning to mingle with what was fear in her eyes. She didn't really like the pointing, but it didn't make her shrink as much now as it would've before.

"Aaaaaa," she vocalized as if replying, mouth open wide. Didn't mean she actually understood what he was saying, but it was timely, at least.  

[Melancholies]

"Ahhh... yes... quite." Muerte copied the sound, only far more unenthusiastic. "You're a mess." At that he scowled, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"It's a step though, go on with the next part, thhhhhhh..." Muerte felt immensely silly as he walked through this process. He loved to teach to competent trolls who shared his passion, but this just felt humiliating on so many levels. Stupid wriggler. This time when he went to offer more candy, he opened the front door to the cage and held the prize in his hand.

"If you bite me, I'm going to kill you." He warned, knowing damn well it fell on deaf ears.

 

[saedusk]

It was easy for Athera to cherry pick those funny sounds from the things Muerte said. Understanding noises didn't take the same sort of brainpower—the kind she hadn't developed yet—as understanding complex strings of words with meanings she had no reference for. Her eyes went from his face to the candy, something like instinct slowly connecting the dots between these sounds and the stuff that tasted really good.

"Taaa..." she tried, her tongue not quite curling correctly for a th. "Ta taaaa tttaah hhhh thhh." Little Athera sounded like an actual mess as she tried to figure it out. At the same time, she tried to be sneaky as she fumbled the candy from Muerte's hand. It didn't really work.  

[Melancholies]

Muerte rolled his eyes. Maybe they should make the trials harder...

"Just come out with it." The greenblood was impatient for results; 'Athera' needed to be ready to present herself to Byakko like an actual, intelligent thing. He wasn't about to drop a half-developed child onto her doorstep, like look at what I found. Yes, look at what you found Muerte, you found a dumb baby. "Athera. Atheraatherastheraathera." He rambled on and on and on, waggling the chocolate piece around.

"You're really quite bad at this." He criticized before lobbing the candy bit along the floor.

 

[saedusk]

It would've looked fairly comical to the outside observer as Athera's head bobbed back and forth, following the treat. "Aaaateya," she mimicked as best she could, "Ateya Ateya Ateya!"

Though her conversational skills were still lacking, she could walk and run with the best of them. It was that or die in the trials, whether Muerte thought they were too easy or not. Huffing to her feet, Athera ran after the chocolate as if all her hesitation from before was gone. It was only when she realized how big the world outside her cage was that she froze to examine it.