He muttered out a welcome, sitting against the cell wall besides her and staring at the ceiling again. As he sighed, the girl capped the bottle and set it aside, staring at him curiously. He was fairly tall, and tanned from days out training in the Scorupion sun. His wide hands had probably killed hundreds of innocent animans simply because he was ordered to. She wondered: had they ever met outside these cell walls, would he be this nice? 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPxK8d4w7p
She turned away, the thought unsettling her empty stomach. Despite being hours away from dying, he showed her unnecessary kindness knowing he would gain nothing in return. And his face never held disdain as he looked at her, not even an uncontrollable flicker of it. Was he really a Scorupi soldier, trained to cut out animan hearts without remorse? 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwicIuwAFXL
"So, ya were caught stealin’?" He broke the silence with a raise of his brow, seemingly impressed. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mpXCHZzLj
"It isn't what it seems. Someone was stealing from me, you see, but...” she let out a heated breath, already too exhausted from the scene at the baker’s stall to explain it again. “Well, I guess we both ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time." she shrugged away shyly. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyhq9U7Bpv
He chuckled. "Life must be difficult for people like ya, always accused of the world's darkness. Must be tiresome. Sorry." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh19WkEqVCb
The girl turned to him with a questioning stare of disbelief. "Why are you giving me your condolences? Shouldn't Scorupi warriors be preaching about how all the evil acts of the world are the faults of my people?" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpa3r5H2h6
"That was what I have been taught since I was a child, but I found no honest reason to slay innocent people. It was somethin’ I didn't understand." He shrugged, looking back at her with that puppy smile. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGbxMD7K4x
She relaxed the knot between her brows, calmed by his passive warmth. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyB45m22Pu
He beckoned her with a hand before crossing his arms behind his head as if he here basking in the afternoon sun. "Continue askin’ your questions. I quite enjoy them." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrecEbLLVyN
She shook her head at his conceited behavior, catching it by surprise, though something about his being in a prison cell still bothered her. "Scorupi can follow a vocational path, can't they?" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViyo1kigJv
His smile disappeared, his gaze suddenly lost. "Yeh, we can," he answered after a moment. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL5gPCkUR8
"Then couldn't you have escaped by now?" She looked at the metal bars. Even a weak spell or ability could break them. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTY5xt5IWV
The boy shook his head. "It's a bit more complicated than that..." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFx3NRJSt9Z
"Oh..." she responded, but asked nothing more of it. It didn't seem as if it was something he would want to explain. She turned to the barred window where the sunset clashed with the twinkling night sky, leaving the clouds a monochromatic, blurry mess, reminding her of the mess she was in only a few days ago with the priest boy.760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCuYL9t6LC
Her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought of the boy and his smile. She clutched onto the cardigan around her narrow shoulders, and she pulled it further over her body as if it would help her retain the image of his unwavering, kind gaze.760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFY9Bx7YzMI
"How old are ya, then? Since you've stopped askin’ me questions." She turned back to her prison mate who was smirking at her. It unsettled her, how perfectly fine he was with dying in a few hours. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMaqJQNFg5X
"A human of my age would call herself eleven, I believe," she answered anyway. "And yourself?" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcBxfOljZz
"How old do ya think?" He asked with a wink. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRjLZFDZT6
She pressed her lips together, thinking it over. "Sixteen at least. That's my guess." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZyitve4jU
The boy hummed in triumph, leaning back against his arms without answering. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1WBzrbeQgl
She pursed her lips. His cocky attitude wasn't what she expected from a stereotypically sly Scorupion. "Are you eleven as well, then? You aren't acting much older than that." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8SJt31CQE
"I'm fourteen!" He hissed, flames spewing from his mouth in rage, nostrils flaring. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Es8ORss8N
The girl smiled back, proud in having figured out his quirks so easily. But then, she finally registered what he had said, and she gulped at the morbid realization. "Scorupi soldiers are... I mean, do they usually start at your age?" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuF8N9sXcQ9
The boy chuckled, his eyes twinkling as he sat back against the wall. He was obviously excited about what he was about to say. "No. I started my trainin’ the moment I could walk. My grandfather is a very famous general, ya see. Maybe you've heard of him: General Thervesen?" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKIL87dweS
She shook her head. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqrptkKf8d
"Grandfather had high hopes for me, taught me everything he knew about followin’ the warrior path. We trained every day, and I think I dropped out of school by the time I was seven. I never even got to see my parents much." He smiled as if that were something to be proud of. "My grandfather said I would become a great General like himself one day soon, and that I would be promoted to captain or even lieutenant in a week or so with my abilities. I was excited to join the ranks. I wanted nothing more than to become one with Madam Lord's personal guard.760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLzoBnK3uV
“I was eligible to join the Scorupi military by your age, and was already doing as well as those who had been in for a couple of years. I could see that, with my advanced trainin’, my promotion should be a sure fire thing." Then he sighed, his proud chest deflating. "Yet here I am, still the lowly soldier. And it's the fault of that bloody jealous Captain Sike! He can't stand watchin’ me show him up, so he's kept me at the lowest bloody rank, that rat!" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYZS4TqAi0
As he huffed and puffed from his rant, the girl scooted a bit closer, handing him the canteen. He looked at her in surprise look before taking it. "Ta..." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8FxZiqnSc
She hummed in reply before sitting back, taking it all in. "I don't....I don't think your grandfather had any right in telling you those things."760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3WfOoRskN
He turned back at her, his expression twisted with offense. "And why not? Ya don't think I could become a great general like him??" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzwbJL6klHZ
"No it isn't that! I'm sure you could become a...a great Scorupi General...some day." She truly meant it, but saying it felt like stabbing her own chest. If he were to become a Scorupi general, then he would have to kill innocent animan like her. "I just don't think he should have told you those things unless he was going to see to it himself. He is a famous general, isn't he?" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcRyHwitKB
"The most famous in Scorupi history." The boy answered with a thoughtful expression on his face. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2qrqMhxtX
"Then why didn't he promote you himself? It might seem biased at first, I'm sure, but if you've proved your worth-" 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTw8X8jjDS9
"And I have!" He interrupted proudly. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7L2nA0n8i
"Ok, since you've proved your worth, he should have no problem promoting you to higher ranks. The way you explained things was as if he had left you on your own once you joined the army. It seems unfair to guide you for so long, and then suddenly pull the carpet from beneath your feet." 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSj0lwfEKc9
He stayed quiet, his hands over his tussled hair, before biting at his fingernails again. "I suppose you're right," he grumbled to his disliking. 760Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4NYFAiOj4
She watched anxiously as he bit at his nails. Was he angry or disappointed or exasperated? She couldn't tell while he gnawed his hand. Instead, her eyes trailed back to the window. The world had gone cold and the stars were twinkling brightly in the night sky. It must be a new moon.
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