Awakened

A Decision

He always preferred to stand in the corner when watching things. It gave him a better view of the room so he could easily survey everything. He usually didn't mind that, everyone typically preferred the chance to idly chat when it was just him and one other piglin, but today?
Today was.. weird.

Mostly because he was more or less on equal standing with most of the individuals present, capable of speaking what he once had thought was a secret language between him and his closest confidant. But no, it seemed a bit more universal than that. Inexplicably so. Those shared secrets could no longer be so secretive.

Cross could get over that. He'd accepted that it sort of made sense when they first met. A weird sort of sense. And now he had a massive creature that filled up the hall while affectionately greeting the few shoats brave enough to approach. One had even dared to climb into the pointy mess of antlers to admire the golden sheen.

Epic had taken up the position of loosely translating things between the others and piglins.
There was the weird ghast actually sitting on the floor, something he'd never seen a ghast do. At most, he'd seen one once drape tendrils over a ledge and pause there briefly, but never splay them out on the ground like this. Another pair of shoats were curiously poking at the squishy tentacles, a parent and brute standing nearby to keep watch. The ghast just stared in vague intrigue, occasionally lifting a limb to poke back.

Even the blaze was interacting with a youngling, tapping rods to small hands and keeping the upper halves out of reach. Grilby was surprisingly conscious of what was unsafe for others. He was gentle, and Cross could admire that.

Three shoats had also gathered around Killer, who was only a short distance away from the rest of the group and was incredibly awkward around the little ones, desperate to drop them off on someone else. Error was quick to keep his distance, simply keeping to the fringes of the gathering or even outright hiding behind Blue.

Which was actually rather cruel, because that had scared one of the shoats into squealing for their mother at the sight of soul fire eyes. Blue had immediately drooped at that, crestfallen. Not a lot of piglins wanted near him because of that simple fact.
And to be honest, Cross felt a little bad about that. The skeleton was actually really sweet, cold flames and all.

It was surprisingly lucky that one of the sows was hesitantly approaching him regardless- she wasn't a trained brute, but was a brave one nonetheless. Epic was visibly delighted when she'd asked about Blue. And soon enough, the skeleton himself was too.

However, to his surprise, someone ended up wandering to his side; the general in netherite trim. Not many did that much, though to be fair, it wasn't exactly common that there'd be a bunch of sentient and benevolent creatures in his bastion. Strange times.
They just stood in silence for a little while, surveying the scene.

Cross wasn't expecting it when the commander spoke.
“Like Them, you.”
He had to pause, glancing over for a second, but those red eyes were still fixated on the strangers in their home. An ear was still angled in his direction, though.
“Yes.” He admitted. “They are strange but good.”

Nothing else broke the silence between them for a little while, long enough for the other to pull out a carrot to snack on, but Cross jolted with a thought, pulling out one of the jars Horror had given him the other day after that shared dinner. He offered one of the cookies, cringing slightly at how many he'd already gone through- he wasn't sure what chocolate was, but it was practically as addictive as obi tears. Maybe a little more so.

The other hesitated, glancing over curiously.
“It chocolate cookie. One of the gifts.” He explained, knowing the name still kind of flew over their head.
“Is sweet.”
Taking it, they bit the edge off and blinked as it partially crumbled, though a moment later got distracted by the fact that yes, it was good.
“Is sweet!” They agreed approvingly.