The Lout's Pet Squirrel (og alcale)

Part 6

One week.

Alver had never in his entire life, or more accurately within his memory, spent such a long stretch of time being utterly useless.

He'd also never spent such a long period of time in the body of a squirrel.

It was strange how fast the days went by while he did absolutely nothing. So strange that he'd been shocked to hear Cale announce to no one in particular. "Hm... been a week since I caught you. Should we celebrate?"

How could it possibly have been a complete week?

The passage of days had been a little bit fuzzy to Alver. For starters, he had no idea how long he'd spent unconscious when he was first unexpectedly rescued, but beyond that he'd just been... listless. He spent a great deal of his day napping uselessly and the time he was awake, he would spend avoiding thinking about his life.

An unexpected cowardice from a man who always faced his challenges directly and never shied away from difficulty.

His recent losses had been too much and he just couldn't bear to think about it. It was so much easier to distract himself with the Henituse family drama. To puzzle out Cale's strange and contrary personality.

However, it was nothing more than a distraction and a pointless one at that.

Guilt weighed down on Alver's heart as he frowned at the calendar and thought about all the time he'd wasted here doing absolutely nothing of worth. It was frustrating to imagine that he could fall so low so fast.

A now familiar finger poked his pouting fluffy cheeks and Alver turned sorrowful brown eyes toward his distraction.

Cale Henituse was an effortlessly attractive person. Even as he laid casually beside a squirrel, there was something enchantingly beautiful about the way his crimson locks kissed his cheeks, tousled and unkempt, his piercing brown eyes and sculpted nose. He was continuing to poke Alver's cheek with a thoughtful frown.

"Ya know, for a squirrel, you're really gloomy."

Alver nipped at the offending finger but Cale was quick enough to avoid his buck toothed wrath.

"What should we do today then?"

Alver's gloom deepened. Should was a word that he used to always have the answers for. But what 'should' he do under these circumstances? Even if he decided to stop being useless, what should he do with his time?

Cale poked him again and Alver chittered with annoyance, grasping Cale's offending finger in his paws and glaring at him with all his squirrelly fury.

"You look like the kind of guy who doesn't know how to cut back and relax." Cale sniggered affectionately. "A bit like Bassen."

Strange to see Cale refer to his sibling with such open affection. It was just distracting enough that Alver chittered curiously for more information. From what he'd seen of the brothers, there were tense mealtimes and very little else. Bassen looked like he feared his older brother and Cale looked like he hated his younger brother.

Cale smiled softly and it was another unfamiliar expression, wiggling his finger inside of Alver's paws in a mock bid for freedom. Alver kept a firm grip to avoid being poked further. "Bassen overworks himself." He explained, using his free hand to scratch behind Alver's ear. "He doesn't seem to know the meaning of patience. The damn kid is so stubborn about it too. I would worry about him less if he could put the stubbornness he puts into studying into defending himself." Cale sighed, concern knitting between his brows as he escaped Alver's paws and poked him once more.

Alver chittered indignantly and turned away, his tale swishing irately.

Cale chuckled. "I can sort of imagine you behind a little desk surrounded by nuts and grumbling about paperwork. Really, just like Bassen."

Alver grumbled but settled down.

It was hard to stay properly annoyed at Cale. Aside from the natural charisma that the man positively oozed, he was so gentle with Alver that it was just hard to hold a grudge.

If you worry about Bassen so much, why are you so cold to him?

Alver couldn't understand it. He was cold to his own brothers, in a tight political way, but there was no love between them. They had never been a family.

Even if the memory of Robbit's awkward expression sometimes nagged at his heart.

It was also hard to stay awake when Cale was so intent at scratching and petting him in such a beguiling way. Cale's comforting scent nearby and the knowledge that at least here, he was safe.

It was the first time in his life that he didn't have any reason to fear for his survival. How strange considering it happened after he was supposed to die.

Alver drifted back to the land of consciousness with a feeling of confusion in his heart.

Cale was nowhere to be seen. It was strange because Cale normally tucked him away in a pocket or a satchel when Alver fell asleep like that but now he was left alone. Luckily, there was no sight of the unnerving servant but there was also no sign of anyone at all.

...it reminded Alver of the days after his mother died, alone in the mourning palace...

The servants left, his father didn't visit, and all that remained was an impossibly empty space all around him that made him feel so very small.

Until the day that his aunt arrived to save him from that agonizing silence, he'd been alone with his thoughts.

Alver didn't want to feel small. Not right now. Not with the emotions assaulting his senses all at once. And a tiny squirrel in Cale Henituse's vast bedroom was indeed a small thing.

It was probably panic that drove him to transform but he breathed a little bit easier to be humanoid in this expansive space.

Of course, everything also felt suffocating as well.

Alver stumbled over to the balcony and collapsed there, breathing in the fresh air and closing his eyes as he allowed the emotions to wash over him slowly.

He felt unbalanced in his own body, likely a side effect of spending so long as a squirrel, but most of all he felt the pain of loss hit him all over again.

How had such a small child comforted himself while he was trapped alone in that palace? How had he endured the indescribable grief and lack of comfort? How had he endured feeling so very alone while surrounded by luxury?

Alver promised himself that one day he would bring glory to his mothers name. Alone and scared and lost, he promised he would become king. Promised he would show the world how wonderful she was. Promised that he would become a great person that she would be proud of.

And now he had failed in every single one of his promises.

Alver closed his eyes to fight the sting of tears that threatened to spill forth.

How had he let it become like this? How had he lost so much? Now what was he, a pet squirrel? Why should he care about the strife in the Henituse family? It was all a lot of stupid people who didn't know how to communicate and none of it was any of his business.

They didn't know what true grief even meant.

"Asshole."

Alver's eyes snapped open and he looked at the angry figure of Cale Henituse in shock. He hadn't even heard the man return, much less approach his prone form. Just how out of it was he? A thread of panic ran through him as he realized that he might have lost his only refuge with the impulsive decision to transform.

How long had Cale been there? What had he seen?

Cale sneered at him and kicked him sharply in the shin. "You damn asshole!"

This didn't bode well for him.