The Banditos

First Meal

He takes his hand off my shoulder and gestures for me to follow him over to the group of Banditos eating around the fire. They're all sitting on the ground, munching happily on food and chatting amongst each other. They all go quiet as I approach with Clancy, all looking at me now. Clancy gives me a reassuring smile and sits down in a free spot, gesturing for me to sit beside him.

I sit down beside him in the free spot, looking across the fire at the other Banditos. Most of them are just staring at me, watching me carefully. They continue eating as they watch me, though some of the look slightly suspicious or even a little hostile. Clancy glances between me and the Banditos as if trying to monitor the situation.

One of the banditos speaks up..

"Who the hell is she? And why is she wearing our clothing?"

Clancy holds up a hand to silence the Bandito.

"Calm down," he says firmly. "Her name is Bella, and she's a Bandito now. I've already discussed it with Torchbearer and she's been initiated. You might as well get used to her."

The Bandito rolls his eyes, going back to his food.

I look down at the ground, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. Clancy reaches over and pats my shoulder reassuringly again.

"Don't worry about them," he says quietly, so no one else can hear. "They're just being cautious. They'll warm up to you soon, I promise."

The other Banditos are beginning to turn back to their food and conversations again. It's clear that they've gotten bored of watching me for now. Clancy leans in and speaks again, still quiet.

"See? They're not interested anymore. You should go get some food for yourself, by the way."

"I'm too nervous to go up by myself. Also, I don't know where to go."

He chuckles. "Don't worry. I'll get the food for you if you want. You don't have to deal with the whole... 'walking through a group of staring people' thing just yet."

"That would be nice, thanks." I smile at him.

"Of course," he says. "Do you have any preferences for food, by the way? Like, do you want more meat, grains, that sort of thing?"

"More meat would be good. And if you happen to have fruit, that would also be appreciated."

"Yeah, that sounds doable," he says, standing up. "Just hang tight. I'll be back in a moment."

He leaves me sitting by the fire and makes his way to the food, gathering a plate with a hefty portion of meat on it. He grabs an apple, along with a bottle of water. He returns to the fire and hands me the loaded plate and bottle.

I take the plate from him. The silverware is stuck to the bottom of the plate. Kinda cool, I guess...

Clancy sits down again. "There you go. I grabbed an apple too, since you said you wanted fruit. The Banditos aren't much for fruit, so we don't have much, but I figured an apple would be good."

"An apple is good, yeah."

I pick up a piece of meat with her fork, putting it in my mouth. A few Banditos are watching me again.

Clancy notices that a few of the Bandito's are watching, but mostly they're preoccupied with their own dinners. Clancy keeps an eye on the Banditos, monitoring their watching as I continue to eat.

"Are you enjoying the food?" he asks, keeping his voice low so as not to attract the other Bandito's attention.

"Best meal I've had in a while, yeah," I said with a slight smile.

"Well, that's good then," he says with a smile. "What you had before probably wasn't all that great, especially if it's from Dema. There's not much good food from there."

"Yeah, it wasn't that great."

He sighs sympathetically. "Well, we'll make sure you get plenty of good food from here on out." He glances back towards the Banditos, then back at me. "Have they been bothering you?"

"A little."

"Sorry about that," he says. "They're just wary of you, since you're new. They're all kind of paranoid, honestly. But they'll warm up to you, just give them a little time."

"Yeah."

We continue chatting. 20 minutes later, I finish my meal.

Clancy finishes up his own dinner and looks over at me. "All done?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then," he says, clearing his empty plate. "Want me to take your plate for you?"

"That would be nice, thanks."

He reaches over and takes my plate, stacking it on top of his. He stands up and goes to deposit them into a crate with other dirty dishes.

After he's gone, a Bandito comes up behind me, yanking off my bandana. The Bandito scowls.

"You're not a real Bandito. You're not one of us. I bet you're spying on us for Nico."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT! IM NUMBER 3 on #youreamazing! thank you guys! i hope you enjoy the story <3