The Retriever Institute

Hints and Horror

Cross watches Horror sink tiredly into the couch, pulling one of the blankets over to him and wrapping it around himself. He seems... Upset. Nightmare is in the kitchen making lunch. So, Cross sits down beside him. He's not exactly scared of Horror. Not really. Horror may have him beat in sheer size, but like this? Cross could easily win a fight. Horror doesn't seem like he'd start a fight anyway. He's only been staying with them for two days, but he definitely doesn't seem like the type to make snap judgements.

Despite his size, all his touch is distinctly gentle and polite. Even a little pat on the shoulder while he encourages Cross to eat a little more, was astonishingly gentle for someone so large. Even if his voice is gravelly and deep, and sort of intimidating, it's also quiet and broken, and he stutters a lot. He's not as intimidating as he looks at a glance.

In the two days he's been here Cross can't say he's seen Horror do anything that seems intentionally intimidating. In fact he seems to do anything but intimidating things. Honestly Cross would argue that Nightmare is more intimidating than he is. It's like he doesn't want to make anyone nervous. Cross can understand that, he tries to be gentle with everyone. But Horror is just— well he acts like he's living in a glass house. He's so careful with everything he does. Still, it's a little startling to see someone so big and clearly strong to cry. Which is exactly what he does right now.

"You want to talk about it?" Cross asks, soft.

"S' okay, 'm s'rry..." He rumbles, wiping carefully at his working socket.

"Nightmare told me to not apologize when I cry."

Horror laughs a little, sniffling. "Yeah... Right. F'rgot."

"Are you sad because you can't cook?"

Horror frowns a little and nods.

"It is okay. Nightmare will take care of us. Do you want eh... Um.. snack! The snack?" Cross asks, smiling.

That makes Horror laugh a little, but he still cries even with a wavering smile on his face. "I dunno... jus... Feel bad, makin him do everything."

"You do everything all the time, no? Why not let him do everythings for just little bit?" Cross asks, glancing to the kitchen archway.

Horror pauses and seems to think about the idea for a while. "Cause... 'f... I can' do it 'm useless."

Cross pauses, he doesn't understand that word, but he thinks it's bad. "What does that mean? Useless? No, doesn't sound right."

"Eso significa inservible," Chara answers quietly.

Cross gasps, frowning, "That is not true. Nightmare say that you give great hugs and make people very happy. And I trust what he says about you," he says quickly.

Horror pauses, glancing at him sideways. "What?"

"He say that you were important to him and you are sweet little guy, and you give great hugs, and are very nice," Cross answers. Nightmare had sung him many praises before he met Horror and after.

Horror snorts a little, covering his mouth while he laughs.

"What? What's funny?"

"I can' believe he was so sappy about me..." Horror rumbles, he seems happy about that, though.

Cross thinks about it for a moment, "Hm, well— He likes you a lot. That's what I think. He trusts you to be good, too."

"M not a rebellious type like... The rest'a the team," Horror agrees. "They like gettin' into mess... I'm jus... Doin what I can."

"Getting... into mess?"

"Causin' trouble... They like to give Night a run for his money. Make it hard for him ta do stuff," Horror elaborates.