A Darkening World And A Sleepy Protagonist

Chapter 10 (Unedited)

"Azarias!" Neal shouts, making the child jump and pause what he was in the middle of doing. He is not used to Neal raising his voice, since usually Neal was pretty relaxed and quiet.

"What is it?" Azarias asks, not understanding why Neal was walking over looking not very pleased with him.

Then again how could Neal not be upset after seeing Azarias covered head to toe in mud and grass, seeming to have decided to coat himself in it while smiling as if pleased with himself.

"What do you think? You're stark naked and covering yourself in mud, you will get sick like that!" He had washed some clothing earlier and dumped the water on the grass without thinking much of it. How could he predict this boy would decide to decorate himself in it? No wonder he didn't hear little feet following him anymore when he had gone into the cottage to put the clothes away.

Azarias was very attached to him since day one, and had no issues with napping most of the day as long as he could cuddle with Neal. So when he did stray from Neals side it was odd and made Neal uncomfortable. He began to worry whenever he didn't have Azarias within his sight.

Azaraias couldn't understand what was wrong with this. How could this make him sick? After all it felt so good to cover himself in mud, he felt so comfortable with covering himself in the earth. It made him feel at such peace, and the more he covered himself the more he noticed the life around him. From the chirping of the birds to the marching of the ants, he could hear and feel it all. It was such a blissful and mind filling feeling, so familiar to him.

 He shut his eyes, enjoying the sounds and feelings, wish them shut their would be no one to notice them become filled with a mint green color. It would be gone and back to normal by the time he opened his eyes.

Neal scoops him up in his arms, not caring about the mud that rubbed off onto his shirt. With his thumbs he tries cleaning some mud off his face, only managing to get a somewhat clean streak under his eyes.

"Your gonna need a bath" He sighs. Well it was going to have to happen at some point. He had been trying to post pone having to bathe the child intill he got a bit more confident in it, but it seemed today would have to be the day.

"A bath?" Azaraias was curious as to what this was, wondering if it was something to dread with how Neal showed no excitement in the matter.

"Do We have to?"

"Yes"

The child pouts, dreading something he didn't even know of. Despite not wanting to do this 'bath' he did not fight himself out of Neal's arms, since he very much liked being in his arms. He always got such a warm, energizing and comforting feeling. Even as he pouted he could not help but nuzzle his head into Neal's chest.

While carrying the boy Neal grabs a large barrel and fills it up with some water from the well, he warms it up with a small fire and pot of water. 

Azarias watches this process with curiosity filled eyes. Growing a bit excited despite his earlier distaste to the idea earlier.

Once it was ready Neal places him down in the barrel, the water going up to just below his shoulders. Then he pulls out a small container which after some experimenting found it was something like soap, or was actual soap, and began to use it to try and wash Azarias off of all the mud.

Azarias eyes seemed to sparkle, his hands moving around in the water making small waves. The feeling excites him, he can't help but begin to splash the water and watch in amazement as each droplet flew out of the barrel while some fell back in. He could see all this in a slow motion, able to keep track of each single drop as they moved and merged with one another as the water settled.