Kankri Grub

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"The grub you will be watching today is named Kankri. He is just turning 2 weeks old.  He's pretty talkative so far, but isn't really old enough to have a grasp on sentences. I will warn you, he dislikes being touched, and he will let you know if you try. Dave worked with him yesterday, but the little grub didn't seem to like him. Though admittedly, it's hard to like Dave so I'm sure today will be different. The kitchenette is to the left, and there is food in the fridge. Good luck (f/n), not that you will need it." Rose gives you a thumbs up and exits, slowly closing the door behind her. The sound brings the grub out from under his blankets. He looks at you with a blank expression.

  "Hell9." He ventures over to you and stops about 2 feet away.

  "Hello Kankri. How are you doing?" He seems to think about his answer a moment before responding.

  "G99d. Where's Dave?" Pretty good 'sentences' for such a young grub.

  "I was told you didn't like Dave all that much, so he was reassigned. That's why I'm here." He nods, seeming to be pleased with the answer.

  "Y9ur name?" He comes a little closer to you, as though he is testing your boundaries. Though the truth is, this little guy is so cute it is taking all of your self-control to not pick him up and snuggle with him.

  "My name is (F/N). May I ask why you  didn't like Dave? I wouldn't want to repeat his actions." His eyes light up at this.

  "He's mean. He didn't listen. Are y9u nice?" He is about 6 inches from you. You decide to kneel down, slowly, as to not startle him.

  "I would like to think so. But you will be the judge of that." He nods again, and meets your gaze. "What would you like to do, Kankri?"

  "Hide and seek?" He has plenty of places to hide, this game could take forever.

  "Alright, but I need to add a rule is that okay?" He ponders this a moment and nods. "You have to stay on the ground, no climbing. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes!" His voice is sharp, but playful. He smiles up at you, waiting patiently and expectantly. Getting the signal quite clearly; you place your hands over your eyes. The countdown begins, going backwards from ten. You hear a scuttling noise across the floor, the tiny tap tap tap of his needle like legs making their way across the wood flooring. Due to this you have a good idea of his direction. Not that his blood color isn't a bright red target as it is.

Counting down to one, you hear a final small shuffle to your left. "Ready or not here I come!" You use a sing songs voice to announce this to the young troll. You can hear his stifled laughter, he is hiding behind the stuffed animals. So instead of going over there, you'll look, well, everywhere else.

First you check under the table. Small giggles muffled by stuffed animals break out, so you decide to get silly.

   You step near the curtains, grab the end opposite of you, and in a grand sweeping gesture pull it open with a loud "ah ha!" On the opposite end of the room you hear Kankri trying very hard to stifle the impending giggle fit. You check other places, each time getting closer and closer; exaggerating your movements to be entertaining. Which works very well. You approach the cluster of plushies that Kankri has surrounded himself with.

  You suddenly whip around and grab a stuffed animal right beside him. He bursts out in a fit of laughter, hiding his face with his small arms. His whole body quivers as he gasps for small breaths.

  "Again?" He questions once he regains his breathing. You nod and close your eyes once again. He shuffles off again, the pitter patter of his feet echoing in the room. He likely doesn't notice how loud he is being.

Before you can reach zero you hear a pained squeal, followed by sniffling, a series of sharp squeaks, and hurried clicks. You quickly turn your attention to the scene, Kankri is rushing towards you. A near gallop. That's when you see it. A trail of red.

Panicking you rush towards the first aid kit then run back to the small grub. The skin of a grubs body is thinner than a humans, and they also don't have proper veins yet. A cut grub is like a popped water balloon; Kankri needs help fast.

Once you kneel in front of him, he rolls over on his back revealing his stomach area. You see he has a small jagged cut near his middle leg. The blood is rushing out at an alarming rate. Applying pressure to the wound, he whimpers and tries to move his leg out of your way, but it seems to be causing  him more pain to do this. It takes a few moments but you manage to properly adhere a piece of gauze to his injury without removing pressure. You add more tape and gauze once you have two free hands.

  You sit back a little shakily, his red blood stains your hands, the young grub is still panicking. That's the worst thing he could do at this point, he needs to calm down and drop his heart rate to reduce the rate of blood moving to the wound. After wiping your hands dry on some excess gauze in the kit, you wave to Kankri and try to get his attention. He turns his head quickly to face you, red tears in his eyes. He lifts his front two legs toward you. He waits, but grows inpatient, so he squeaks.

  "You want to be held?" You weren't expecting this. You know you JUST touched him, but it was for an emergency. But now you suppose it's for comfort and warmth. He nods and let's out a small sigh, but it could have been a word of affirmation. Gently reaching out your hands to him you lift him. Cradling to your chest, he curls into himself, but squeals loudly, probably making the wound uncomfortable. He shivers and whimpers in your arms. He's still too wound up from this. He'll be fine if he can just calm down.

   You stroke his hair, then softly brush against his horns. He purrs softly and closes his eyes. You continue this motion for a little bit until Kankri is sleeping in your arms. You were told to touch horns sparingly because it can be taken as a red or pale action, however the situation demanded it. As he sleeps you shift him into one arm and clean up the first aid kit with the other hand. He only lightly fidgets in his sleep, but the outburst must have been exhausting.

  Taking Kankri over to the sink, you wet a towel with lukewarm water to clean him, his tear and blood stained face once again returns to its pale shade of grey. A soft coo escapes his lips as you dry his cheeks. Hearing the door behind you, you turn to face it and gesture Rose to be quiet. She looks stunned to see Kankri sleeping soundly, then she sees your first aid work and looks worried.

  "Is he okay? What happened?" Rose whispers, not above a breath. You nod and explain, still stroking Kankri rhythmically. "Well I'm glad you got him taken care of. I'll make sure to let his parents know of the minor injury so they know not to remove the bandaging. You've done really well so far. Jade just got here, do you want her to take over from here?" From the talking happening around him, Kankri had been stirred awake at this point. He mumbled out a series of protests regarding the switch in sitters.

"I like (F/N)." This is more audible than the rest, Rose smiles at the grubs words, and looks up to you, as if you still needed to answer the question.

"I'll stay. I like Kankri too." He snuggles his head into your chest, his horns dully poking into you, causing more discomfort than pain.

"He'll be going home at 4:30. Have fun you too." She reaches out to pet his head, and he turns away evading her hand. She lets out a small laugh before waving her good bye. Looks like Kankri has found a favorite.

Sorry I was gone so long, I've been working on over projects, and I work two jobs so it's been hard to write. Thank you to Nicetomeetyoubuddy for suggesting this, I hope you like this! The next will be an Equius Grub (:

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