(A/N: WARNING there is a slightly gory description within this chapter and references to the wound mentioned in the previous chapter ;))
Arriving at her tent she placed the boy on the plastic covering outside her tent, where her and her parents would eat meals or play board games. His eyes darted around, inspecting her strange 'home' wondering if she had lived there her whole life.
"Wait here I'll go get the first aid kit" she quickly rambled, whilst scurrying into the large tent.
Listening to the rummaging going on within the tent, he smiled while comparing her to a little squirrel scampering around inside collecting things. Chuckling quietly, he glanced at his mostly healed foot wondering whether to tell her the truth about his species or remake the hole in his foot that by now had mostly healed.
Strangely, he felt as though he should hide the truth from her after imaging the scared face she would pull. Images of his father's repulsion to his kind flickered through his mind,
'she'll run away from me just like all the others no doubt'. Quickly he used his long extended nails to cut through the skin and bone in his foot pushing the pain to the back of his mind as he carved a similar hole to the one she had left.
"I'm back! I found it and also...this," she cheekily laughed as she held out a plate of bacon also known as her would-have-been-breakfast had she not allowed her curiosity to get the better of her.
"Have some" she urged, pushing the plate into his arms.
"emmm..." Charlie was internally fighting over whether to eat the bacon at the risk of throwing up his digestive system later or to let her down and say he didn't like bacon. She used her big doe eyes as she looked up at him expectantly. He swore he could see stars circling within the pools of darkness her eyes held. "umm...ok thanks"
Caving in to her puppy dog eyes he began eating the strips bacon of the cold ceramic plate. Feeling a gaze from the corner of his eyes he forced a grim smile on his face while quickly chewing the bacon in his mouth,
"mmm, it's delicious" he choked coughing on the bacon, quickly putting the plate on the floor as to not smash it.
"*tut* that's why you don't rush eating your food, I know your..." she sneered glancing him up and down looking at his underweight frame, "...hungry but don't scoff down the food that quick or you'll choke. Or worse... you'll get hiccups" she stated lowering her voice at the end as though it was a divine secret that people get the hiccups when they rush their food.
Charlie no longer being able to take her seriousness to such a childish topic started trembling while holding in his laughter. Lowering his head he tried to control his breathing, knowing she would find it strange for a child who has a hole ripped through his foot to start hysterically laughing.
Ebony who saw him shaking and gripping his arms, began to think he was going to start crying.
'Was it because I scolded him but I only wanted to warn him of the dangers. Hiccups are no joke.' Leaning forward to comfort him she held his arm,
"umm- don't cry! I was only warning you not to eat too quickly, I didn't mean to upset you... Sorry" she rambled while hanging her head in shame.
Charlie who just gained control over his emotions erupted into uncontrollable laughter. He lurched forward holding his stomach with one hand while using the other to wipe tears from his eyes. "S-sorry hahaha, it's just too funny, hahaha"
Ebony who jumped up hovering above him crossed her arms, whilst pouting with chubby cheeks. "Hmph, and here I felt bad for telling you off while you!- your sitting laughing at me you meanie!" she yelled while punching him at the top of his arm as her cheeks lit up bright pink. Embarrassed she stormed of into the tent to hide from his contagious laughter.
'what's wrong with me, why was I so worried about him? and him laughing so...that way, urghhh' she internally moaned in frustration at herself.
"Ebony?!" he called waiting for her reply, his wound would heal soon and she would find out his secret, "Eb-on-eee! I thought you were gonna treat my wound" he shouted louder. Still no reply from the tent.
' hmm was she that angry at me. I only laughed a little bit she should have known I was only joking with her. And after her patronizing and examining me the whole time, the nerve of her' he thought while standing up to go check she was okay.
He strolled into the tent while acting a limp so she wouldn't suspect anything. "Ebony you OK?" He whispered while lifting the thin fabric sheet that separated one of the bedroom compartments in the tent. He gazed around looking at the empty room lacking sentimental items, or so he had assumed most families had based of his movie knowledge 'huh I thought there would be more... Photos or something'.
Walking forward he accidently tripped on something heavy "nnngg" he held in the pain of hitting his wounded foot while mentally cursing whatever the object was. Looking down he saw a large suitcase that was bulging out from the sides.
Crouching down he slightly opened it without making a noise so he could see what was packed inside. Piles of clothes and flasks of water were packed inside along with smaller hunting knives. 'did they know?' he guessed while sealing the suitcase to it's original state.
Standing back up slowly, as to not make a noise, he padded along to plastic covering on the ground entering the next bedroom. He could hear soft murmuring coming from within the room so he guessed she would be in there. As he searched around his eyes darted to the heap fur blankets, he smelt the room concluding that it was real animal fur. 'what a wild family' he thought while dropping down next to the soft mound in the center of the room.
The small sounds became slightly louder as he got closer making Charlie realize they were in fact Ebony's snores. He sighed gazing down at Ebony's sleeping face. 'she looks so peaceful' he thought while staring at her long sparkling eyelashes as they fluttered while she slept.
'so her natural hair color really is white, surprisingly it doesn't look so bad, when I heard the leaders talking about it I had assumed it would be closer to being blonde or see through like that corpse-like old man. But it actually is really shiny and...'
"pretty" he whispered leaning in to stroke her cheek. Her skin was soft and fluffy like the petals on a rose. Charlie feeling the heat on his face grow reminded himself he can't develop any personal feelings or emotions or he'll break down eventually. His eyes began to water. He knew it was already too late and as he couldn't stop what was going to happen he could only apologize, he didn't deserve forgiveness so he wouldn't insult her by begging for it. All he could do was say,
"sorry"