dot.

14: Up!

  Dot fell to the floor with a heavy thud once again, sitting up and rubbing his head while staring at the branch above him miserably.

  "I don't think it's possible anymore." Felix noted while picking the younger boy up, "If you can't walk, why do you think you'll be able to hang upside-down?" Dot reached for the neon card and told the man to lift him up- which he did, but not without an exasperated sigh. "Seriously, it's not worth it. You're just going to hurt yourself."

  When his leg inevitably gave out and he slipped off the branch once again, Felix decided that enough was enough. "Okay, we're done now."

  Dot stared up at him with a furrowed brow, the light that shone off his necklace painting his chin a light purple colour. 'pik me up' He typed onto the card, his frustration at Felix's refusal to do so growing by the second.

  "I'm not going to put you back up there, you'll just fall again and hurt yourself."

  The pair stared at each other for a few tense moments before Dot kicked the ground, hissed at him, and then turned away to curl up into a ball.

  Felix jumped back in surprise- it was unlike Dot to show any signs of aggression. He was usually just this timid, shaking figure that needed protection, but recently he had been acting out a lot more. He supposed it was likely due to his frustration at his useless leg and the anxiety that had been steadily building up for the past few days about Nimue.

  There had been no sign of the woman since they had visited the room with ducks together, and while it had been relieving at first, her prolonged absence had struck a nerve in Dot. She didn't even visit them to feed- that had become Tiro's job. He would pop through the door every now and again (with a face laden in bandages) and throw some fruit in for Dot, and maybe some cereal or bread for Felix. The man never even wanted to look at a rice crispy ever again.

  Over the past few weeks, Felix had noticed a few changes in Dot- and he honestly couldn't decide if they were good or not. He'd been aggressive, protective of his food and possessions, quick to anger and less willing to let Felix touch him.

  On one hand, it was interesting to see how much he had changed after just a few weeks without Nimue's influence- he was significantly more confident, for starters. But on the other hand, Felix was starting to feel a lot less safe around him. Without their regular trimming his claws had begun to grow back, and they were growing back sharp. He was well aware that a jab from one of them (provided it was stabbed into the right place), could be the end of him.

  The cameras on the walls, which were usually staring down at them with beady eyes and blinking red lights, were now all droopy and unused, lining the wall like deflating decorations at some long-ended birthday party.

  'up' Dot had uncurled himself from his ball and was clinging to Felix's shirt for support and waving the card in his face wildly, standing on his good leg as the other dangled uselessly behind him.

  '  upupupupupupupupupup' He began to spam the letters on the card, becoming increasingly frustrated while Felix's answer remained a resounding 'No'.

  Felix took out a slice of kiwi from a nearby bowl and ate it, walking slowly so Dot could continue to use him for support as he hopped along. His claws dug into the fabric of the older man's shirt, tearing great holes in it that expanded more and more by the second as his pleas became steadily more frantic.

  "Okay, enough!" He flung the hybrid off of him in a fit of frustration and did his best to rearrange his shredded shirt. "I am not going to lift you back up the bloody branch, because every single time I do, you fall right back off again! It's pointless! You can't hang off it anymore and I am sorry but there isn't a single stupid thing I can do about it!"

  Dot, who had fallen to the floor at the removal of his support, stared at the man and blinked in shock. He picked up the yellow card and went to type something, slowly spelling out each word until he was finished.

  The hybrid stared the message he had written and chewed on his lip, thinking very carefully about what he should do next.

  Felix reached for the card so he could see what Dot had written, but instead of handing it to him, Dot threw it to the side and lunged at the man, pushing him over and digging his clawed thumbs into his shoulders while hissing like a man gone mad. When Felix tried to get out from under him he only pushed down harder, making the man grunt in pain as Dot's claws dug deeper into him, letting blood spill freely from the open wounds and onto the grass below.

  He struggled to get out from underneath the hybrid for a few fruitless minutes, only succeeding in making his wounds worse and tiring himself out. As he now knew, Dot was significantly stronger than he looked.

  Dot lent over his shoulder and gave a long, rattling hiss into his ear, scaring Felix in a way he had only before felt around Nimue.

  After a few more minutes of useless squirming to escape, Felix finally decided there was only one way out. He wrapped his calves around Dot's injured leg and pulled down sharply, cringing when he heard a small popping noise.

  The hybrid yelped and scurried away from him on all fours, backing himself into a corner and keeping a worried eye fixed on the man to observe his next move. Felix cursed and removed his shirt, tearing it into halves and using them to stuff his wounds like makeshift bandages.

  He walked backwards to the other side of the room as Dot, making sure to keep as far away from the continuous hissing he spewed as possible. The door was right behind him- next time Tiro came in with food, Felix was going to leave with him.