God, you hoped you were going to reach his connection soon. You had to wake up Xefros and go to sleep yourself. You were less relieved when he refused to let go of his bat. You wouldn’t tell him this, but you were almost relieved. Xefros looked like he was in pain through it all, and it couldn’t have been more than five seconds before his hand unclenched and the spice ran down the troll’s face in rivets as they stood up. You had backed up, looking down at your own hands as the troll collapsed to the ground, clawing at their eyes. His other hand clenched as the magic spice mix on the troll’s face suddenly slid into their eyes. But Xefros looked at the teal troll with wide, wild eyes and gripped his bat with one hand. The dog treat trick wasn’t going to work, and all you could do was hold your precious flashlight with two hands and hit them, again and again. They were stronger than you, Xefros had said, and he was right. You had even thrown some magic spice mix in their face in an attempt to blind them.Īnd yet, the troll hadn’t been fazed. With your tap shoes, you had kicked them in the gut. You can do some sick tap dancing, and pirouette your way around danger, and even shine your flashlight to gain some semblance of control.īut back with the teal troll, you hadn’t actually done much.
Since then, he had refused to sleep during his night watches. You kept looking at his cuebat, sparkling clean. You asked him if the Terrace or Tetris or whatever - if Dammek had done anything like what he had just done. But it was all you two had, so you kept your mouth shut. The fact that they were going to die together, either from culling or just naturally, was not an upside. He was guaranteed to live as long as you, he said with a half-hearted smile, so at least there was that. When the mood fell into dismayed silence, he spoke up again. It would be a death sentence to fight one of the highest casts. Not just death from culling, he had said, downcast. Much higher up than him, he had said, and he had been taught his whole life that standing up to a higher class didn’t only mean disapproval - it could mean death. Xefros had explained, after the whole thing, that the troll was a tealblood. You’d honestly prefer to heal rather than hurt, but these trolls.they aren’t exactly wanting to listen to you. That was also the first time you ever really injured someone. Someone else had heard them as well - a shadow. Reasonably scared, considering this planet.īut last time he stayed awake he fell asleep with you, and had such a horrible nightmare you woke up to his cries. He’s terrified of looking at the sun, but it’s nice to have some company, even if they are incredibly scared of most things. Sometimes he stays awake through the day too. Usually you just find somewhere abandoned to hunker down in and Xefros keeps watch. It’s stay awake and ride through the day, then Xefros takes over and tries to pass through the dangerous areas without getting shot. You really don’t want an alien sunburn - it won’t be good for the multitudes of trolls you will have to inevitably avoid. The sun is setting, and while that will be good for your new friend Xefros Tritoh and his alien sleep schedule - as well as your skin. You shake your head, much like the deercat. Some of the stuff you have in there is all you have left of home. Which is currently stuffed in your captchalogue along with several other things, including your now partner in veterinary actions Byers. That wasn’t covered in the Big Book of Monsters. The deercat shook its head, as if it heard your thoughts. Nothing made sense anymore - especially not when you’re riding a sort of alien deercat with an alien half-asleep behind you.
Your name is Joey Claire, and you’re waiting to go home.