Living in a Fantasy (Httyd/Pjo) ON HOLD FOR A VERY LONG TIME

Chapter 6

     Turin was sketching on a bit of parchment. He remembered all of the things Percy had told him about. Cars, trains, things they called pools and plushies.

    Percy had explained what pools were and Turin was confused as to why Berk didn't have those. It was just some hollowed out ground filled with water. Maybe it was just because the water wasn't clean enough.

     Turin drew a thing called a "cheetah." His friend had said that they were long, skinny felines with spots. It looked like black water was dripping from their eyes.

     He didn't really know what a feline looked like. There weren't that many cats on Berk, and most of them had somehow made their way to Gothi's hut.

     When Turin finished it looked more like he'd drawn a page full of demented potatoes. He tore the parchment out of the book, crumpled it, and threw it to the ground. Dumaad helpfully sent a puff of fire towards it and the paper crumbled into ashes.

Turin stood up and left the room. His bag was still on his bed. One more day until he left. He'd spend as much of that time as he could with his mother.

     As soon as he opened the door Turin could hear yelling outside. His stomach flipped. Geir, Dad, had found out.

"You can't just send away our son! Who knows what's out there? Who says he'll come back!? Who will represent our family when I'm gone?!" Geir roared.

"Why do you care!?" Devyn screamed back. Turin flinched, as he'd hardly ever heard his mom yell or even raise her voice. "It's not like you love him anyways!"

Geir's face turned to an expression of rage and he struck Devyn. Turin must've been absent for a lot of the argument for it to get this far. There was a small gasp then a minuscule gap of silence. Geir looked at Devyn for a second. His expression changed to one of remorse and guilt. He stormed out of the house not wanting to show weakness and slammed the door, rattling the frame.

Devyn allowed herself to collapse in a chair as Turin rushed down the stairs. She was a small woman and Geir was a "battle hardened warrior," as one might say, and the blow had affected her harshly. Geir's bracer has left a thin scratch along her cheek.

    Turin crouched down next to her. "Mum? Are you okay?" Devyn put her head in her hands and began to cry. Turin put an arm around her. He didn't really know how to comfort people and found it slightly awkward.

They sat there for a good five minutes. Eventually Devyn stopped crying. Turin wanted to ask what had ignited the fight but knew now was definitely not a good time.

Devyn stood up. Turin's arm slid off of her shoulder. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm just...making you dinner."

"No, not you're not. For once I'm doing it for you." Turin lightly pushed on Devyn to lead her back to the chair. "Stay there, okay?" Devyn just nodded, her eyes still red.

Turin took a wooden cup and filled it with some water. He set it on the table beside his mother.

     He didn't really know how to cook. He put a fish over their indoor cooking spit and lit the fire. He grabbed some bread and cheese and grabbed two apples. The fish finished cooking and he cut it in two and put it on some plates.

     Turin set a plate in front of Devyn. The fish was slightly burnt but still mostly edible.

     Devyn ate a few bites then left the table and went to her room. At last Turin knew what she must've felt like when he wouldn't leave his room after Percy left.