Apex Predator

Lammergeier VI

Warning: Mentions of pedophilia / adult romantically pursuing a child.

(≧ڡ≦*)

It was late into the evening. Miwa rubbed her head at the flood of new memories from her clone popping.

She had learned that the royal guards operated mostly separate from the rest of the ants. There was a distinct dissociation between them and the others. At a moment's notice Neferpitō, Shaiapouf, and Menuthuyoupī were prepared to sacrifice every ant in that nest for their goals. There was an inherent lack of empathy from them, despite them being the same specifies.

Narcissism? Or something deeper? Miwa couldn't tell.

While they were aloof with the ants ranked below them, they were on good terms with one another. They never argued. Even if Shaiapouf disliked Miwa and told Neferpitō to stop playing with her, he didn't put up much of a fuss. He didn't berate Neferpitō, or try to convince the cat-ant otherwise. He expressed an opinion, listened to Neferpitō's response, and left it at that.

Neferpitō, Miwa had learned, was the most sensitive between the three. Whimsical and playful, they were acutely aware of their own actions and how it affected Miwa. They would say or do different things to coax certain reactions out of Miwa. Most importantly, when Miwa had one bad day and didn't really want to play—but didn't want to not send out a clone in case they felt ignored—Neferpitō offered to listen to Miwa instead. They listened as Miwa ranted about how frustrating it was to deal with paperwork, and further probed about how it made Miwa feel. It was a moment of kindness Miwa hadn't expected.

Shaiapouf was... more difficult to deal with. He was stubborn. From their first meeting he had decided Miwa was only a troublesome toy, and changing that viewpoint was like dragging nails across a chalkboard. He would never initiate conversations with her, and would sometimes flat out ignore her. The only time Miwa could get him into a prolonged conversation was if she (unintentionally) provoked an argument. He was passionate about his future king which made it easy to accidentally trigger him. She tried to be nice to him. She was fortunate that she was already accustomed to one temperamental nine-tailed fox, otherwise she might have actually been hurt by the slew of venom Shaiapouf would snap at her if she aggravated him too much.

Still, she had very small moments of catching him off guard. Bringing him sweets or books elicited a haughty thank you, and sometimes, just sometimes, she got a teeny-tiny smile when he thought she wasn't looking.

Perhaps not impossible to be friends with, but golly gosh she had work cut out for herself.

Menuthuyoupī, blessedly, was the simplest. He was honest, honorable, and straight forward. He listened to whatever Miwa wanted to say, and if he liked it, he told her. If he didn't, he admitted that, too. If something confused him, he asked her to explain. He liked to play games, and he liked to listen to stories about battles and heroes going on quests. Miwa was becoming quite an excellent story-teller because of how often he requested them.

Miwa would be hesitant to say she had a friendship with them. She knew—and they knew—when their king was born, if he ordered Miwa's head they'd do their gosh darn best to bring it to him on a silver platter.

Miwa was... something to them. Entertainment? Acquaintance? A bit more than a simple toy for at least two of them, but anything more than that...?

She thought she saw potential, however, and that was what kept her going.

She hoped her instincts were right and there was a chance for a genuine friendship.

Even if they weren't fond of her... she was starting to get fond of them.

She'd really hate to have to fight them.