dot.

31: Lotion and Fatherhood

​​​ Once they had all finished their food, Dot and Felix barely had time for another card game before Crita came back in and ordered the bat hybrid to come with her.

  He shrunk behind Felix, hissing intensely, but was met with the treatening stab of an electric taser in his direction: not close enough to hurt him, but still, just the gesture was warning enough.

  Felix tried to keep in front of him but Dot slowly crawled towards her, whimpering quietly when she grabbed the back of his shirt and hoisted him up over her shoulder, taking him away from the others and humming nonchalantly as she did so.

  She took him through all the winding corridors of the place and took him into a small room, painted in all grey with many cupboards lining the walls.

  "Ah good, you're here." The boss looked up from the desk he had been hunched over and slicked his hair back, looking at Dot with what was supposed to be a warm smile but only came across as a smirk. "I trust you won't have to be restrained for this? You'll be good for me?"

  He wanted to shrink back and curl up into a little ball, to hide from this man that claimed to be his father at all costs. But he knew that reaction would only cause him grief, and so instead gave a meek nod, bowing his head in submission as he did so.

  "He was hissing at me when I came in to collect him." Reported Crita, dropping Dot to the floor where he landed in a messy heap of bat and boy.

  "Is that so?" Digorn held up the hybrid and placed him onto a plastic chair opposite himself, rolling up his yellow, flower-patterned skirt as he did so. "I told you I didn't want you doing that."

  Crita retrieved a small vial of a cream coloured, opaque substance and handed it to Digorn, who proceeded to put on some gloves and place some on Dot's thigh.

  The hybrid flinched, expecting it to burn, but was relieved when he felt no pain. The boss rubbed the substance into his thigh before starting a timer and observing the area.

  "You'll have to be punished for that, you know."

  Punished? Dot felt his insides squirm at the word. What was going to happen to him?

  Digorn raised his ungloved hand and slapped Dot across the face as hard as he could, making the boy shrink back in pain and hold in another hiss as his eyes swarmed with tears and his face reddened.

  "There. Although that was just a warning. Hiss or growl at me- or anyone else for that matter- ever again, and I will not let you off so easily."

  Dot sniffed and nodded weakly, biting his trembling lip. It was happening again. It was actually happening again, wasn't it? With Nimue being gone for so long and then not doing any trials on him once she did come back, along with the constant escape plans he had been making with Felix, he had dared to hope that he would be free before the trials began again.

  But he had been wrong, and the substance on his leg was a wet, uncomfortable reminder of that.

  Crita and Digorn talked between themselves for a few minutes, practically ignoring Dot as he held back tears, only looking back at him once in a while to check on how his leg was doing.

  There had been no pain, and the substance- lotion or moisturiser, he presumed it must be, seemed to be safe.

   When the timer started to beep, Digorn led Dot into a different, more pleasant space: the duck room.

  He sat Dot down on the bed and rested himself on the cushy armchair nearby, instructing Crita to fetch both him and the hybrid something to drink. Once she returned with some orange juice for Dot and plain water for the boss, he sent her away and they were alone once more.

  "So," he began, taking a sip of his water, "I suppose you don't remember me?"

  Dot shook his head and rubbed his thigh, eager to try and wipe some of the lotion off. He hated the sticky, clammy feeling of it on his skin- and although it didn't hurt, he wanted to be rid of it.

  Digorn saw him doing this, but decided not to comment on it. "As I've said before, I am your father. Now-" he took note of Dot's poorly disguised disgust- "I am aware you are not pleased about this, and likely do not believe me. Am I correct? Do not lie."

  Dot nodded and leant back against the wall, tucking his legs underneath him and wrapping his wings around himself.

  "I am Nimue's sponsor. We had a relationship, many years ago, but she wants nothing do to with me now. I can't think of why." He said the last sentence with a smirk, making Dot feel certain that he knew ​​​​​​exactly why Nimue had left him.

  "I dated her sister too, briefly. Just under a year before you were born. I could never decide which one of them I liked best. You've seen Cynthia a lot before, but that was when you were very little. I don't think you've ever met the girls' mother, though." He snorted and took another sip of his water. "She's a lovely woman, but happens to loathe me. You probably don't care about that though."

  Digorn leaned forward and pushed the orange juice closer to Dot, instructing him to take a sip so he didn't feel as if he were drinking alone. Deciding that compliance was the easier, less painful way of interaction; he awkwardly stuck his tongue into the glass and tilted it towards him so he could take a sip. His wings were pretty useless when it came to picking things up, and so he tended to use his mouth instead.

  "Very good." The man opposite him gave another smirk and clapped his hands. "Very intelligent. I wanted to see how you'd deal with a challenge." His words were encouraging yet the look he gave was anything but; the emptiness of his eyes made Dot feel as if he was being looked down on, treated as something lesser.

  He took another sip of his water and leant back into the armchair, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the hard exposed wood of the small table to the side of him as he stared at Dot.

  "You're a very impressive creature. Even more so now you have grown up." The constant tapping of his fingernails was getting on Dot's nerves, but the hybrid hid his frustration behind a small, fake smile that existed only to escape pain.

  "I knew I could trust my Nimue to create something as incredible. My Cynthia helped too, of course- your existence wouldn't have been possible without her- but in the end, it was Nimue that did the most important work on you. I suppose she must be my favourite of the two sisters."

  He looked up to the ceiling and stopped tapping his fingers in favour of taking another sip of water, folding his hands in his lap once he was finished. "I heard Cynthia got married, a few months ago. So she's off limits, I guess. At least I have Nimue." He peered back at Dot and scrutinized his face, making the hybrid edge away in discomfort. "She's the prettier one anyway."