Nameless Ghoul

Sunflowers

Cirrus was in the kitchen when he got back to the lair. He had taken the long way round so that he could calm down before he saw Sunshine again. He felt stupid for even trying to get to Santos. Of course, Secondo would want to gain information from him. He had all kinds of knowledge that the Clergy probably didn’t have, valuable knowledge. Cirrus looked up when he came in.

“You okay now?” she asked. “If you need a break or need to vent, just come and get us and we’ll look after her. You’re no good to her if you’re a wreck, too. She will be fine with us.”

He sat down at the breakfast bar and nodded.

“Thank you. I appreciate everything you guys are doing for her. And for me.” He noticed the large pan that Cirrus was stirring. “Is she hungry?”

Cirrus nodded.

“Yeah, she said she fancied something from home, so I’m making Ghoulish porridge. I had to use regular oats, as we don’t have any of the proper stuff, but they’re close enough. Cumulus is still with her. There’s enough for us all if you want some too?” He nodded and put his hands on the countertop to push himself up. He hissed when his hand protested. “Oh wow, your hand. What did you do?” Cirrus said as she walked over to him. He looked at her sheepishly. “Show me!” she said, and he held out his hand to her.

There was a split on two of the knuckles, and it was swelling up. She raised her eyebrow at him in question.

“I punched a wall, okay? I just wanted to break something. Alpha and Ifrit wouldn’t let me get to Santos.”

She shook her head and told him to sit down again. She took the pan off the heat and went to grab a first aid kit.

“So instead of breaking Santos’ face, you broke your hand on a wall? Sensible,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “Will you let me clean it and strap it up for you?” she asked. “Or do I need to send you to see Secondo? You’ve probably broken something.”

He sighed and gave her his hand. She was quick and he hadn't had a chance to get too stressed at the contact before she was done. She smiled and went to dish up some of the porridge for Sunshine.

“Come on, she was asking where you were, so I told her you went to get some fresh air. You’ve been gone a while.”

Cirrus and Cumulus left them to it, and Sunshine decided she wanted to sit on the sofa to eat it.

Progress.

He wrapped the blanket around her and handed her the bowl. She looked at his hand and scowled.

“Itzal! What did you do?“ she said, some of her old spark coming back when she saw he was hurt. “Please tell me you haven’t been fighting with Alpha again.”

He smiled at that and shook his head.

“No, we did have a talk though, and he talked sense for once.”

She smiled and ate a small spoonful of her food.

“Mmmm, this is good. Almost like my mother used to make.” She had a couple more spoonfuls and chewed slowly. “We should go home and visit her. She would love to meet you, I bet. I haven’t spoken to her in a while, so she doesn't know about anything that’s happened since I met you.”

He felt a spike of anxiety at that. Since she met him, her life had been one long drama after another; a mad sorcerer and his crazy witches had hurt her. These things were not going to make him look good when meeting her family for the first time. Then, he had the fact that he was covered in scars and was pretty much an emotionally stunted social leper.

The thought of meeting them made him break out in a cold sweat.

“We could visit your mother too! I’m sure she would love to see you. Now that the collar is gone, there’s nothing stopping you from going for a visit. I’m sure we could get temporary passes to go, given the circumstances.”