Challenge #02499-F309: A Different Key
I have a highly adaptive tendency to assume that the people around me know better than I do. -- Anon Guest
Anthe had spotted the weakest link. It was hard to avoid, really. A beefy boy not nearly yet a man, perhaps twice the size he should be and clumsy with it. His tasks were always the ones with heavy lifting. Take things in, take things out. Take things up, take things down... and always, always, take the blame. They called him Marvin when they weren't calling him curses or disparaging his intelligence. Anthe watched all of it with her own past acting like a knife in her heart. This is what the world had done to her before Wraithvine turned up and helped her prove she was worth more than spit in her face.
All this, she absorbed whilst playing Stupid Kobold. They had her crammed into a bird cage and hung perilously high from the ceiling. High enough to make her concerned about jumping down. Worse - they had taken her lock-picking tools before they shoved her in. She had heard Marvin the apparently incapable muttering about saving damsels in distress several times. If he just knew she was a lady, he might yet get his wish. But first, she had to gently divorce him from the idea that this gang were his friends.
Marvin had a new black eye, still swelling and darkening. One member of the gang had evidently objected to something in Marvin's orbit. He was mumbling to himself again and fencing shadows. "...guard the kobold," he mumbled, "Anyone can guard the kobold. They're stupid creatures, stupid boy..."
Anthe had to remember to keep playing the fool. "Humanman gets ouches?"
"Aw shoot, I forgot it talks," he murmured. "Uh. Hi. Yeah. I got an ouch."
"Pack no fixing?"
"No... uhm. Pack giving."
Anthe tilted her head. "Pack is bad pack. Pack no hurts pack. Pack helps pack. Is good way, pack way."
"You don't understand," he began, and out came the excuses. It was always his fault, of course. They said so. He was wrong even when he did what he was told, and stupid when he asked if they were sure they wanted him to do that. He was constantly afraid of getting into trouble.
"Needing new pack, Humanman," announced Anthe. "Anthe knowing. Anthe getting wizard pack. Best pack. No more hurtings. No more bad times. Wizard good. Old pack bad. Making Anthe hungry, saying, lady no worth foods. Bad lady Anthe. You nothing. Much-bad." She watched him. Hoped for the message to reach. "Is much better now."
"You're a lady Kobold?"
"Humanman not seeing? No head-spikes. Is lady Anthe."
"Lady Anthe," he breathed. "Ladies get chained up in dungeons, or... or sealed in towers guarded by dragons..."
"Lady is dragon," said Anthe. "Rules not same, maybe?"
Marvin didn't repeat the common slur for Kobolds, trash dragon. "I dunno. They said I should watch you. They said you're clever..."
"What Humanman think?"
"Uh... I think..." he frowned. "I think I just assume everyone around me knows better. I don't check or anything and -no offense? You don't sound clever."
"True, true!" cheered Anthe. "Clever Humanman. See what being there." And speaking of what was there... "Humanman looking in Anthe backpack. Anthe having salve. Make good eye from bad."
He did as he was told, because that was his default, and might have used a little too much of her Salve of Healing and Restoration because it not only healed his black eye, but also repaired his broken nose to its original state. "That's some good stuff," he said, and noticed that he sounded different. "Uh... what?"
"Much good salve," said Anthe. "Much good for pack. Humanman? Humanman take salve and giving to wizard Wraithvine? Anthe worrying. Small pack. No wanting alone again."
Marvin had found a mirror, and was marvelling at his reflection. He looked up at her birdcage, down at the salve, and at his reflection before checking the door. "Um." Birdcage, salve, reflection, door. "They said to make sure you don't get out of that cage..." Birdcage, salve, reflection, door. "They didn't say anything about taking you in your cage to see your friend. I mean... you fixed my nose. One good deed deserves another. That's what everyone says."
Anthe clung with sheer determination to her role as Stupid Kobold. This young man had just handed her the keys to his mind. Keep doing good deeds for him, and he would soon be her friend. No magic spells required. Besides, what good she couldn't do for Marvin, Wraithvine would certainly be able to contribute.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / joywang]
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LoL how hard is Anthe having to concentrate to keep playing stupid kobold XD
Also Marvin did a good job with the technicalities XD