Damaged But Never Broken

Old fears don't die

"Nice to meet you Kesar!" the friendly male voice introduced as Blue smiled brightly. It only unsettled Kesar more. When the bad man laughed enough to show his teeth it never meant a good thing, but Blue's smile was different somehow. Nonetheless, Kesar withdrew and pressed against Orion.

Blue's smile fell as young Mer pulled away. Worried, he asks: "Are you still hurt somewhere?" Without thinking about it, he swims a little towards the two.

As Blue moves into Kesar's safe area, he hisses and his magic flares up again. "Go away!" Panic is written all over his face, but the one with the blue tail, Error, reacts quickly and pulls Blue back by his tail. "It's fine, little one. No one wants to harm you or your brother."

When the three kept their distance again, which was comfortable for Kesar, it occurred to him that he still had to answer the question. The bad man didn't like being left unanswered. "I'm fine!" It was mostly true, some scratches still pinched, but the Doctor never wanted to know about them, only got angry when they told him such things. So he kept that to himself.

Error frowned. The answer came a little too quickly, but he didn't press further, instead asking if Kesar was hungry and Kesar's eyesight darted to him.

Kesar, now that he was asked, was terribly hungry. Haven't gotten anything to eat since the evil man decided to move and transport them. But Kesar shook his head. He's afraid that there will be some medicine in there again that will make him sleepy and then they will separate him from Orion. But his stomach growled treacherously. He wanted to hide behind Orion, he had just lied! The doctor never liked that. But he must protect Orion! Desperate because he didn't know what to do, he whimpered and tears formed at the corners of his eyes, which he ignored and blinked away, they mustn't fall.

Error exchanged looks with Blue and Ink. They didn't expect such a reaction. Ink, who is just Ink, happily shouted, "I'll go get us all something to eat!" and left the cave.

Error shook his head. "It will be a while before he comes back. He will probably have forgotten about it in a moment... But we've got prey here..."

"Ink isn't that bad!" Blue turns to Error and puts his hands on his hips, earning him only a doubtful look from Error, who pulled out some seashells from a niche and placed them near the children.

Kesar observed the behavior of the three adults, they seemed so different from the Doctor's staff. He eyed the stones that Error placed in front of him suspiciously. That's nothing to eat!

"Why do you eat stones?"

Error and Blue look at the little shark mer as if he had just said that fish live on land.

Blue grabs one of the shells, "These aren't stones, these are shells. You have to open them to get to the meat. Look.” He hacks his fingers into the shell and pries the two halves apart until it snaps and the pink flesh is exposed.

"Here. But watch out. Some shells contain pearls. You can't eat them.” Blue offers Kesar the half of the shell. The scent of the shell's flesh is unlike anything Kesar has smelled before, and his magic growls even louder. Skeptical, he took the shell half from Blue and nudged the meat. It's slimy and sloshes around in the bowl. There doesn't appear to be any of these "pearls" in it, and no other drugs are seen either.

He looks up at the adults, unsure about this situation. Will they be mad if he doesn't eat it? But it smells so good. Maybe... Maybe he can eat it...

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Scents penetrate Orion's subconscious, intense, fresh, foreign and good! But there are others. Kesar's is very close and he feels his body against his, a bitter aftertaste mixes with the scent of Kesar. Not as bitter as when the doctor put them back in a tank to fight, but similar.