Sequel

I have been quite busy. Making a costume. Doing work. Being all ... sleepy.

Partners is not supposed to be this slow. It should at least be keeping par with Sequel. But tonight I'm tired and this chapter has been swirling around inside my head for three days now so it's best to get it out.

Partners will likely get its update tomorrow morning some time. Even though its my Tuesday/Wednesday thing.

If you want to suggest a name for the Sidhe, by all means, do so. I'm going to be searching my languages, Sidhe and people, to see if there's something fitting. But I'm open to suggestions.

Read, Review and Enjoy.





Rel woke the next morning, exhausted, sore and feeling as hollow as he had the morning when he found his wife and his lover in bed together. When he finally pried his eyes open, the Sidhe was watching him intently, curled under the one blanket, still on his pile of cushions.

His nest. That’s what Koln had called it. The Sidhe lay at an awkward angle but didn’t attempt to move. Rel stood stiffly, cracked his back and stretched, trying to ease the ache in his muscles and joints. Even a prison bed was more comfortable than sleeping atop a couple of cushions on the floor.

As he stood, the Sidhe stood as well, dropping his precious blanket atop the nest. The Sidhe looked Rel up and down warily and then glanced around the room as if wondering what to do.

Rel knew what he wanted to do. He went straight to the bathroom, took a piss, flushed the toilet and turned to the sink… coming face to face with the Sidhe. Swirled eyes looked Rel up and down, and then at the toilet quizzically. Rel blinked at the Sidhe and made a shooing motion with his hands. The Sidhe stepped back until his back pressed against the half wall. Rel washed his hands and walked back into the main room.

The tell tale sound of pissing and the Sidhe fumbling with the taps. The creature eventually figured it out and came out of the bathroom, looking quite proud of himself. He moved to the bed, still butted up against the door and dragged it back to the wall where it belonged.

Rel watched the Sidhe move the bed and then moved to the bathroom, suspicious. There was urine on the toilet seat and down the side of the toilet. A puddle of it on the floor.

“Oh fer crying out fucking loud and fuck sakes, why the fuck couldn’t he hit the toilet?” Rel shouted at the ceramic thing, beating down the urge to give it a stout kick to express his anger more thoroughly.

There were no cleaning products in the bathroom. And even if there were, he would have had to have watched the Sidhe to make sure the idiot didn’t try to down bleach or ammonia. All Rel could do, for the moment, was wipe up what he could with toilet paper and then wash the floor thoroughly with hot water and soap. As he did that the Sidhe came to the door and watched him.

When Rel stood to leave the bathroom, the creature cowered away from him.

Emotion showed in every line of a body. His clenched jaw, his words and his tone from earlier, told the Sidhe that he was upset and upset with the creature. Rel took a breath, schooled his expression very carefully and raised his hands just slightly.

“Just, get it in the bowl next time,” he made a motion to the toilet and as the Sidhe puzzled over the ceramic thing, Rel breezed by him and into the living area.

His stomach growled loudly. Just as the odd door thing to the side of the plasma screen clicked and a cart rolled on through.

With food on it. A plate with several different meats, cooked root vegetables and a selection of raw fruits and vegetables as well as a small loaf of bread with his name stuck to it with a small toothpick. Rel’s mouth watered at the idea of bread. When he picked it up it was still slightly warm. Rel moaned and bit into it, savouring the flavour, the salt, the butter coated crust.

By the second bite, the Sidhe was out of the bathroom and peering at the tray, surveying the food. Rel motioned to the cart, knowing that they would be fed every four hours during the ‘day’ and that all the food was to compensate for how much a Sidhe ate. The selection was to find out what the Sidhe liked to eat.

The creature looked over the food, looked at the bread in Rel’s hands and made a small sound at the back of his throat. Quizzical and almost like a begging dog. Rel sighed, looked at his bread and back at the Sidhe. The creature licked his lips, eyes on the bread.

Was that all he had been fed? Bread? Bad bread at that, considering the male was going gaga over a fresh loaf when there were all kinds of fruits and vegetables before him.

Rel sighed again and handed over the bread, knowing that more would follow eventually. The Sidhe daintily nipped a bit off the edge, showing a broken, gaping set of teeth. After chewing it thoroughly, the creature offered it back to Rel. Rel motioned that the Sidhe should eat it himself.

The creature looked Rel up and down with that look.

That same look Souse had had, the same look Rahluen gave Rel when the lawyer had last asked how much Rel was eating. Rel arched and eyebrow, folded his arms, pressed his lips into a thin line and returned the look as best he could. The Sidhe looked away first, looking down as if ashamed of himself, before biting into the bread in a very mopey, very sad sort of way. It was just the way everything seemed to wilt.

Rel picked up a small piece of meat, not caring what it was -as they had mentioned venison in the introduction- and bit into the strip. Eating with hands was not as neat as he liked, but he could make do. He hadn’t always been rich.

The creature followed his example, eating a chicken breast with his hands, before stepping away from the food.

Rel knew that the more colourful the diet was, the more nutrients were in it. White bread and white chicken did not make a full meal. Certain it could be a filling one, but not a proper one. So he picked up an apple and almost offered it to the Sidhe.

Bad teeth. Rel set the apple back down and almost picked up a banana.

Phallic shaped. Did he really want to go there?

No. Not with an emaciated creature.

Rel settled, finally, on a tomato. Soft, bright, full of nutrients. He held it out to the Sidhe expectantly. The creature took the tomato in both hands and studied it as if he had never seen such a thing before. Perhaps he never had. Rel motioned with one hand, tipping it towards his mouth and pretending to take a bite, insisting the Sidhe eat. The creature looked upset by the idea.

“Eat it, there will be more later.”

“More…”

“Yes. More.”

Basic words, right? Sit, lay down. Faster, more. Master.

Faster? Harder.

Rel turned as red as the tomato and knelt to inspect the bottom of the cart. There were doors on the side, and when he opened them, lo, there was another blanket and several plastic cups and a plastic pitcher. For. Water. When was the last time he had had water? Rel decided to set a good example and went to the bathroom, filling the pitcher and bringing it back into the living area.

The Sidhe was in the middle of stuffing a good deal of the food under the bed. Hoarding. Understandable and many children who grew up without a steady supply of food would do just that, when presented with an abundance. Hoard what was plentiful now, so that later when it was scarce it was still available. The Sidhe leaped away from the bed, afraid that Rel would take his food away. Rel motioned to the tray.

“Come eat some more and I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.”

The creature edged across the floor and back to the cart, eyeing the pitcher. Rel poured a cup of water and offered it to the Sidhe. The male snatched it out of Rel’s hands and downed the cup in one gulp before holding it out for more. Rel obediently filled the Sidhe’s cup once more before filling his own. The Sidhe drank what was left in the pitcher, four cupfuls of water, and only then turned to the food with some kind of appetite. A nibble here, a nibble there.

At the bottom of the vegetable tray there was a leaf of something. Just laying there, as if it had drifted in. Rel highly doubted that it had drifted in and had been prepared for the various offerings. The Sidhe would eat it if he wanted to, or leave it.

The creature picked it up, tore it in half and offered Rel half. Rel took his and watched the Sidhe’s eager look before sighing and popping the leaf into his mouth. He chewed for half a second before spitting the stuff back into his hand. He knew a hallucinogen when he tasted one.

Which had absolutely nothing to do with those two years of high school and him trying to fit in. None. Whatsoever.

The Sidhe ate his half of the leaf and reached over, snatching the battered half from Rel’s hand and popping that into his mouth as well.

“We need to find you a name,” Rel muttered, getting thoroughly tired of his own thought processes.

“Uh?”

“Name…” Rel stumbled for a moment before he tapped his chest over his heart and said, “Rel.”

The male tapped his chest and then cocked his head to the side, tilting his ear towards Rel. Wanting to know what Rel would call him.

“No. No, Rel not name …” Rel motioned to the Sidhe, “Sidhe name self. What is your name?”

The Sidhe frowned, pointing at himself, “Sidhe?”

Did he not even know his own race? Rel saw the confusion pass over the male’s face and knew for one startling moment that frustrating the creature was not a good idea. That moment passed as he ducked, pressing his head to the floor as the creature threw the cart across the room, bouncing it off the wall and across the floor.

The creature screamed his frustration and hugged himself tightly, stalking back to his nest and literally burying himself under the cushions, dragging his precious blanket along with him. Rel shuddered a moment on the floor, only too happy to thank his lucky stars that he had ducked in time. An idea occurred to him.

The Sidhe already had one blanket… Rel fetched the one from the rather dented cart and took it to the nest. He lifted a cushion that was covering the Sidhe’s head and placed the blanket very gently where the creature could see it. He then lowered the cushion and paced the room, wondering where the camera was.

“Give me a name. A name for him, he obviously doesn’t have one, he doesn’t even know what he is. So give me a name to give to him. Give me something to call him besides Sidhe, besides creature,” He said to the silent eyes behind the cameras.

It was all he could do. Likely it would be hours, if not days, before the creature ventured out of his nest again.


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