"Oh, I've been around for thousands of years. I've honestly lost count." he shrugged. Only six? Dammit, Sigurd, don't get atattched or sappy or any of those things.
"So, why were you out in the woods?" he asked. Keep them both distracted, so he could figure out what to do next.
"Wowww… that's a lotta years." Cerulean stuck out his tongue a bit, clearly tired. "I wanted to explore and I haven't been in woods before! The trees are real pretty, but we don't have any woods near my cave. And dad doesn't really care where I go, so I figured I could find something new today!"
Dammit, he'd gotten attached. The one thing he knew he couldn't do.
"And you're not… concerned your father leaves you so often? Don't you go to school? The Magistrate must have gotten into contact with him for that, at the very least." Sigurd reasoned, hoping desperately that this child had some other support system.
"School?" Cerulean asked, clearly bewildered. He'd never heard the word before. "Whatever that is, I've never gone… and why would I be… uhm… con sern… d…?" He asked. "Dad has to work a lot. He says I'm not allowed to talk to people because I 'shouldn't exist' or something like that, but I get lonely if I don't talk to people…"
(OM- Heart breaking inside)
(Sigurd: I am concern)
Sigurd sighed. Okay, he had to keep the kid. No matter what happened, he wasn't going to let the cycle of abuse continue, this was wrong. He stood up, leaving the bowl of broth for Cerulean to either finish or ignore, and groaned. What was wrong with him? He couldn't take care of a kid, he was an unspeakable eldritch horror!
"Hey, get some sleep. I'll wake you up when the storm passes." he said, as rain began to patter against the windowsill.
"Mmkay, sir… g'night…" Cerulean yawned a bit, his sharp teeth exposed for a few seconds. He curled up again and soon drifted off to sleep. This cot was far more comfortable than the cave he slept in, so it was really easy for him to fall asleep.
Sigurd stayed up. He couldn't sleep, not anymore, and he wanted to watch over the boy either way.
When the storm passed and dawn had broken, Sigurd gently shook Cerulean awake.
"It's time for us to go… to go back to your home." he said remorsefully.
"Mmm… I dunno how to get back…" Cerulean yawned as he stirred and looked up at Sigurd sleepily. He still looked like he didn't feel well at all and he was too weak to get out of bed. "But I guess I can try… mmm… five more minute…" He mumbled.
"You said a cave, yes? How far away is it from the nearest town? I'm sure I can navigate our way there." he wanted to get this confrontation over with, once and for all.
He just couldn't bear seeing this sweet, innocent little boy get emotionally abused and mistreated by someone who was supposed to care about him more than anything in the world.
"Uhm… I dunno… it took me like the whole day to get here, so…" Cerulean whined softly as he tried to get himself out of bed, going paler as he tumbled out onto the floor. "Nngh… owie… do you know how far away that is if I walked for a long time?" He asked weakly.
(AGGRESSIVE STALKING)
(Yes.)
"On second thought, let's get you something to eat. As for the jorney… It won't take long, I can… manipulate us there. Now, do pancakes sound okay?" he asked, piling wood into the stove and lighting a fire, warming up the house nicely.
"What's pancakes?" Cerulean asked curiously from the floor, trying to push himself up on his elbows so he wasn't just sprawled out. "I pretty much just eat fish all the time… I catch all my own food, sir."
Dammit. "Well, they're food, and good food at that. So why don't I make some, and let you judge, okay kid?" he asked, preparing the batter. When it was finished, he poured it into the pan, flipping each side of the pancake as it cooked. When he had prepared a reasonable sized stack for them to share, he place it on the small table in the middle of the room. He carried Cerulean to a seat, poured him some water and placed two steaming hot pancakes on a plate for him.
Cerulean eyed the pancakes curiously as he gulped down his water. After he'd finished the glass, which didn't take him too long, he looked at the pancakes more closely. He considered for a few seconds before grabbing one and sticking into his mouth. "Mm~… what kinda animal is this?" He asked.
"It's… not an animal. Not everything one eats is an animal." Sigurd clarified. This poor child, he barely understood anything. It was to be expected, with an upbringing like his, bu still.
"Really? What is it, then?" Cerulean asked curiously as he shoved more pancake into his mouth. He seemed pleased with it, at least, even if he didn't really understand what it was. He soon finished his first pancake and started on another, clearly having been pretty hungry.
"I… don't know. Flour? Water? Some vanilla? It's really not much." he said.
"What's nilla?" Cerulean asked, his voice muffled from being stuffed full of pancake. "Is it an animal? Am I allowed to eat things that aren't animal? Dad says I'm s'posed to be a car nivor." He hummed thoughtfully to himself. "And when I asked him what carvinor means, he said I eat fish."
"Oh. Vanilla is a type of plant, it's rare in the area but I managed to cultivate some of my own in the garden out back." he explained. "And if you're a carnivore, that would explain a lot. I don't think this will affect your diet much, but I can prepare you a steak if you'd like."
"Oh… what is steak?" He asked, swallowing his pancake so he could properly speak. "Is that a kinda fish? I don't think I've heard of that before, but I also don't really know fish names… I just know what they look like."
(Bump)
(Bump again?)
(Sorry! Ahhh!)
“No, it’s a land mammal. I can show you sometime, they’re awfully nice things so I don’t usually feel good about maiming them.” he said. Sigurd didn’t know how to talk to children, so speaking to them as people was usually his best bet.
"Oh, okay… what's a mammal?" Cerulean asked. He really just didn't understand much of anything at this point. He'd been secluded from society by his father and had no opportunity to learn about any of this stuff in any form of schooling. All he really knew was how to fish and keep himself alive.
Oh shit. This was worse than he’d thought. “Well, it’s a group of animal. You know how some animals look really different from others? That’s because they all belong to different groups, or species, but some species have very similar traits and get to all be part of special groups.”
"Uhm… I guess…" Cerulean sighed softly as he kept eating. "So you're telling me that this isn't some kinda fish?" He asked, still clearly pretty confused about it.
“No. It isn’t.” Sigurd said, this close to losing his patience with the boy’s father.
"Mmkay." Cerulean soon finished eating and slipped out of his chair to go curl up on the bed again. It was way more comfortable than the stone cave he usually slept in, and he clearly enjoyed it.