forum i think its closed now kjlsfdlk / oxo

Started July 05, 2020 by @saor_illust school

tune

(aaaahhh sorry it's been so long, idk why, but i really struggled to write this one?? I was not happy w/ it ig ><)

Arlath didn't answer immediately, not wanting to run the risk of her changing her mind. He took her hand and looked around one last time, and upon seeing the way was clear, he scooped her up and beat a hasty retreat back to his hide out.

Only once he was behind the security system did he relax, setting Andrea down and moving away, the situation fully dawning on him.
He now had a kid to take care of. This was literally the last thing he could have wanted, but there was no way to get her out. There weren't any routes out of Hell. At least, not one's he has privilege to.

He took his time setting the shotgun on a rocky shelf in his cave of a home. Better keep it out of reach. There were a lot of things littered around he realized should probably not be with a three year old around, but he didn't have the energy to deal with that just yet. He was still processing.

Andrea looked at him curiously, wondering what he was going to do with her. "Oh, are we going to see To-wi? I love To-wi," she grinned, spreading her arms wide to represent her platonic love. "To-wi's my fam-wie! Also, where are we?"

Arlath hesitated. Maybe the girl had wandered in from his old homeland. He might be able to return her home. He turned to look at her better, but realized she didn't look like one of his kind. Her eyes and skin weren't the right colors, and her clothes were odd. He stared down at her silently for a long moment, then sat down by his fire with a defeated sigh.

"We're nowhere near your…To-wi," he said quietly. Whatever that is. "You're in a bad place. But you're safe in here."

Andrea looked up at Arlath with her big, bright, innocent eyes. "What's a 'bad place?'" she asked, confused. "Also where are we? I was gonna pet a kitty earlier, it was a really pretty one!! But then something happened and I was here…"

(I give up trying to write in a kid voice, just imagine everything she says in a kid voice lksdlksd)

(Haha fair! xDD)

Arlath rubbed his face wearily. What am I supposed to do now? he questioned dully. He certainly didn't have the energy to keep up with a young, curious child. But there was no way he was sending her back out to a certain death.

You've done enough of that already, he told himself angrily, pushing aside the bad memories threatening to overwhelm him. Taking a deep breath, he stood and began mechanically cleaning up all the very not kid safe things littered around his home. Desperate to keep her entertained enough that he wouldn't have to actually expend energy, he finally started talking again.

"What color was the cat?" he asked. Just keep her distracted.

"Uhhhh… not blue I think!" Andrea answered, flashing a smile. Of course, she was only three but had recently started learning the names of colors. Though, one wouldn't expect a child of three years to be able to name all the colors, no, not yet. So it was only natural that when asked to name a color, she'd either say blue, or not blue, for she wasn't able to name any others. However, Andrea spied a small knife in the corner of Arlath's home and saw that the handle was black, and rushed over to it excitedly, pointing a finger at it. "This color!!"

Turning slightly, Arlath felt his heart seize for a second as Andrea ran towards the knife. In three quick steps he intercepted her, holding out one hand to stop her, the other picking the knife up and placing it safely out of reach and sight.
"Black, then. Look, don't just go running at stuff, it might be dangerous."

(HI IM SO SORRY LOL IM NOT DEAD)

Andrea looked up at Arlath, confused, but pouting slightly at the knife being taken away from her. She'd wanted to play with it, maybe put it in her mouth. "Black… what's black? What's… 'dangerous'?"

She went silent for no more than two seconds before piping up with another question: "When can I go home?"