(September '17) Prompt #2 - "That's why she shies away from human affection" [Archive]

ArtisticVicu

09-19-2017, 03:18 AM

He woke slowly, feeling groggy but well rested. Too comfortable and pleasantly warm, he was rather determined to go back to sleep. May have succeeded too, if there hadn't been movement and then chaos from one side, then the other of the bed, both warm bodies on either side of him the cause of such chaos. He raised his head, first looking to his wide-eyed lover beside him, before looking to his companion who was - to his surprise - against the far wall. He pushed himself up fully, calling out, "Ano?"

Her blue eyes snapped to him, fur settling as she slowly deemed it safe. He frowned, looking to his lover for some insight.

Still wide-eyed, his lover clenched the sheets in his hands in a show of discomfort. "I, ah, had reached over you and my hand had found her fur. I just petted what I could touch. I didn't mean to upset her."

He relaxed, sitting back on his ankles. So that was all that it was. He was grateful for small miracles, as small as that miracle was. He started to climb out of the bed. "Stay put. I'll go talk her down."

His lover didn't say anything but his confusion was written all over his face. As soon as he had gotten himself untangled from the sheets he swore were trying to eat him alive, he quickly leaned forward and gave his lover a kiss. "In a second. Her first."

Boyfriend sated enough, he moved over to his companion. He only came as close as was deemed safe. While she would probably never harm him in an episode, he didn't need her disappearing in the manor quite yet. "Hey girl," he spoke softly. "its alright. Drew didn't mean you any harm."

He reached out a hand but she bared her teeth. He was certain that if she hadn't been mute, she would have been growling since the chaos on the bed, whatever that had been. His hand stilled but he didn't pull it back. She settled a bit.

"Come on, Ano," he encouraged, though his exasperation with the situation slipped in around the edged. "It's me. It's Solace. Sol? Nothing?"

He inched forward a bit more but she bared her teeth again, pressing into the wall. He sighed and flopped onto his butt, running a hand through his hair. "Great. So we're going to play this game."

"Sol?"

Solace looked over his shoulder. Andrew was still on the bed but he had settled on the edge closest to Solace and Ano. He looked uncomfortable but Solace wasn't sure if that was due to the situation or from worry. Solace looked to the ceiling, annoyed. He had been so comfortable and now he had to deal with this. With a sigh, he got up and walked over to the bed. He took a seat between Andrew and the head of the bed before flopping back. It wasn't quite as comfortable as it had been earlier but that may be in part due to the sheets bunching up oddly beneath his back. He shifted, yanking the sheets out from under his back. Once comfy, he patted the bed beside him. "Lay down, Drew. She'll be fine. She won't go anywhere."

Andrew glanced towards Ano before settling beside Solace. Solace could feel his boyfriend's eyes boring into the side of his head but he was having a hard time putting his words together. Giving up on trying to make this as painless as possible, he took a deep breath and dived in.

"As you know, Ano is my companion assigned by my father." He raised a hand, pressing his fingers to Andrew's lips as the man opened them to say something. Solace gave him a flat look. "Questions, comments, and concerns wait till the end of me talking." Andrew looked a bit put out but settled down to listen nonetheless. Solace was grateful for it as he situated himself to continue his tale.

"Everyone knows that my father appointed her to be my companion. It was the talk of the town for years, sadly. But what people don't know is the reason why.

A year before she was made my companion, I was a different man. Foolish, arrogant, and just beyond the age of maturity, I was anything but mature. I saw things the way my grandfather and my uncle saw things; that we needed to be the ones with the largest stick to not only wield, but sell. I had grown up believing there was nothing wrong with that, despite my father's attempts to teach me otherwise. It would seem I wouldn't understand till I took one hell of a life lesson.

It was supposed to be a demonstration of our latest "largest stick" and, yes, that is in air quotes because behind closed doors, my grandfather and uncle and myself all called it that. The weapon itself wasn't a stick but, by the end of it all, I had wished it had been.

The demonstration went without a hitch and the weapon a massive hit. Literally, in a way, and then the laws came to play; for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We were ambushed on our way back. My grandfather and uncle were supposedly killed in the attack and I somehow managed to survive only to be kidnapped and tortured.

As well you know, I still have nightmares from that time. I wasn't alone, per say, but I was the only one that spoke the common tongue and I was not adapt at any language the others spoke. There wasn't even a decent translator for my kidnappers and I never could figure out what they wanted. Eventually, they got fed up with them and tossed me into a room void of windows and void of light when the door slammed shut. I was too tired from my latest round of torture to care, though, and succumbed to a fitful sleep.

When I awoke, it was with a warm, fluffy body pressed up against my side. I didn't dare move. I could feel hot breath against the back of my neck and, without sight, I wasn't sure if it would kill me or not if I dared to even twitch. Eventually, the creature got up and moved away, allowing me to get up as well. I placed myself in a corner, hunkered down, and waited. I was like that for what had to have been weeks. Water would appear every so often but food was scarce and only enough to barely keep the creature I was rooming with going, let alone myself, but I found that food and water always came while I was asleep and there was always some for me to consume. The creature would sporadically settle against me but I never dared to touch. It turned out to be what saved my life in the end.

The door was thrown open hard and wide, spilling light into the room. I had ended situated to the left of the door, meaning that the door bounded off the wall near me. The room was bathed in light and I blinked as quickly as I could to clear my sight to be able to see what was going on. There, against the wall farthest from the door, was what I had initially thought to be a dog. Certainly had looked like it when I had first seen it. Some rookie - had to have been a rookie or this dude was thick in the head - walked right up and grabbed the dog by scruff of the neck. That was the last time I ever thought of dog in association with the creature. It turned on the dude so quick, he was a pile of shredded meat before his screams even finished echoing off the walls. Blue eyes were still startling sharp, though, as they focused on the open, supposedly unguarded door before focusing on me. I just stared into those blue eyes, not knowing what else to do.

The creature came over and pressed up against me, nosing my hand. Shakily, I reached out, flinching back before I could bury my fingers into the matted fur. I was scared. Alone, in the dark, nearly starved to death, and having just witnessed a man get torn to bits by what I had presumed to be a dog at first made me very wary of touching the creature still pressed against me. But it insisted, this time not so gently as it gripped my wrist in its teeth and pressed my hand into the fur of its back. Malnourished as I was, the bite probably wasn't even all that strong to begin with but it broke skin and fractured my wrist. I hissed in pain but managed to keep from calling out. Hand now in fur, though, I was unable to get myself to let go as I gripped a fist full. The creature took a few steps away and I stumbled to my feel only to collapse onto the creature's back.

Most uncomfortable ride of my life. We were both bony, but man that was the worst. I was bruised all across my ribs because of it but it had been the fastest way out. I hadn't really walked much while in the dark room so my legs had kinda taken to just resting in a sort of curled up position. Worked better in the long run because my feet didn't drag and I didn't need to exert any effort to keep my feet safe from unbelievable harm that dragging them across a dirt and rocky surface could cause.

We made it about half way before we were cut off. The creature went at our assailants and I fell off somewhere in the skirmish. Adrenaline does wonders but a weak body is still weak. I did what I could and ended up taking a number of attacks for the creature because it was all I could do. Saved both our lives, though, seeing as that creature got us both out of there alive and in one piece once it had me on its back again.

"Later found out said creature was an inor and female with no name and no voice and we were both desperately lost." There was a new weight on the bed but Solace only lifted his arm. But instead of settling against his right side, Ano settled against his left, firmly between him and Andrew. He looked down at his companion, arching an eyebrow but only commenting, "Seems she forgives ya. You should be able to pet her now that she's actually awake."

Andrew did just that, though his touch was clearly cautious and light. "I don't understand," Andrew spoke. "She's never had an issue before."

Solace shook his head. "It's easier to manage while its daytime and she's awake. But for years, far more than you or I could imagine surviving such a hellhole, Ano was trapped in that room. The only touch she ever received for years on end were aggressive and painful. She was conditioned to retaliate against touch. That's why she shies away from human affection even during the day. The only one you'll ever see petting her for more than a few brief seconds is myself." A soft smile came to Solace's face. "Though, that is changing. She's an inor and, thankfully, she had known proper affection before that place."

"What does her being an inor have to do with anything?" Andrew inquired.

"I forget not everyone knows their cryptozoology. Inor is the all encompassing term for those of creature form that can speak and learn. In layman's terms, it means she has the equivalent of a human mind in that skull of hers. If she had a voice, she would be able to speak clearly and talk with us. She knows how to read and write, if just barely due to my lack of talent as a teacher, and she remembers. But it also means she's not as easy to "retrain", as it were, as a normal dog - or wolf, in her case - would be. It'll be years before either of our traumas diminish into bad dreams."