|
>>
|
470289.jpg
Princess Ribbon Bud
470289
Decided to try and do vignettes for the patreon (https://www.patreon.com/megido). I'll be putting a few in this thread as I feel they're relevant.
Also no update this week unfortunately, so hopefully this suffices.
Asher opened three bundles and dropped his small loaf of bread into one, his jerky into another, and the dried fruit he could already taste in the last. It was a kindness his first Asher had done for him, though he only realized it a later. He had kept it up once he got the job, even if it left him hungry a few nights. With his good hand he wrapped the bundles back up carefully.
His destination was the beds that ashers generations before him had crammed in some empty space near the flues, crawling through rocky tunnels and skipping across almost too hot metal grates on the shortest path there. It annoyed the hell out of him that there wasn’t a central place for every asher to sleep, but he knew how rare unused space was in their home. You did the best you could, and that meant he would be spending tonight hungry and crawling all over the place.
There were plenty of empty cots in the alcove once he arrived, with Marin was already sleeping on her personal hammock and Lunk was rubbing himself down with balm for his shift being the exceptions. Them and the new kid who was pretending to sleep in one of the bunks. He lifted one of the bundles and Lunk, in acknowledgement, lightly kicked the kid’s bunk to wake her up for her dinner.
___________________
“You know, in the right light your fur looks almost blue.” Ma’am says. “How about that? Blue. We don’t have any colors in this dorm, and it rolls off the tongue.”
“I’m Asher.” She answers again, not looking up from the carrot she’s peeling, slowly and carefully. The girl had only finished six in the quarter hour since she had started. Maybe emptying the kitchen so she and Asher could talk alone was a bad idea. Dinner would be late at this speed. She’d just have to work faster then, and try a different
“You don’t have to be. You can always change.” Ma’am tries for the last time.
Asher pauses, but only for a second.
“I’m Asher.”
___________________
“You got a name yet?” A small shrug answered him.
“Eh.” He copies her shrug. “Don’t worry about it, they come when they come. How high can you count, kid?”
“Six.” She mumbles through a stuffed mouth.
“You’re gonna learn how to count to at least a hundred down here. Timing’s important. They don’t wait for you to move before they stoke the fires, so ya gotta be outta the way by then. And always stick by another asher. If you get lost down here, we’ll be finding you in a year all crispy.”
“Okay.” He didn’t hear much fear in her voice. So, he took the glove off his bad hand revealing the cracked and melted skin. The kid froze in the middle of tearing off a hunk of bread and stared at it with her face twisted in revulsion. But she didn’t puke. Which meant they wouldn’t need to train it out of her.
“Every asher gets burned. But burns don’t kill you. Getting lost will. And when we find you after that this here,” Asher waved his hand for emphasis. “Is your whole body. So be careful. I ain’t lost a single asher in my time and don’t you dare make yourself the fuckin’ first.”
___________________
Asher, which Ma’am supposes will stick, stays in her corner with her bowl of soup already empty on the floor in front of her. She nibbles on her wrap and stares at the other toiler children eating and playing. Ma’am has been stealing glances at her while breaking up fights and stopping Mash from throwing her soup all over the walls.
“Go bother the new girl.” Ma’am whispers into Mash’s ear.
“And ya won’t stop me?” She asks, gnawing on a wooden spoon.
“Have at it.” Ma’am hopes she won’t regret this as a grin splits the little gremlins face and she rushes off.
___________________
Asher stood up, not bothering to dust off the ash he had sat in. The kid was still eating, but Marin had woken up and was already moving into his place to answer questions and show her how to get ready for her first shift. She’d learn more on the job tomorrow. Besides, he didn’t have all night. There were still two more kids who needed dinner.
___________________
Mash hadn’t managed to cause any bleeding to clean up or bruises to bandage, so Ma’am was satisfied. The children were sleeping now. Some in piles, others half hanging off their cots, and Ma’am couldn’t tell Asher apart from any of them while she was sleeping.
It was a start.
|