The Unwanted Wendigo [ManxMan]

Chapter Fifteen: Because I'm a Wendigo

[Warning: For those of you who don't like the tag, brief insinuation of Mpreg, but it's not really something to skip.]

~Chapter Fifteen: Because I'm a Wendigo~

The prince-king paces his office while we wait for Giselle - Valentin has important work that he cannot miss to play chaperone - to arrive. Since the room is pretty spacious with limited furniture, he has a lot of space to walk around in, and while I am sure the spaciousness might help people who need to move in order to think, it seems to make him frustrated, if the gradually darkening expression is any indication. Considering the conversation we are about to have, I cannot say I am surprised that he is anxious, as I am not really looking forward to this either, but, at the same time, I get the feeling that this pacing is about more than just our impending talk.

I note the way Fish Man looks at the open door - until a chaperone arrives, we apparently cannot be in a locked room together - but I refrain from pointing out that the way he is acting suggests he would rather be anywhere but here. Instead, I just give him a very flat look that hopefully says everything I am not. And by that, I mean that his pacing is getting irritating, and I wish he would stop already.

Since he fails to even acknowledge it, though, I decide to take a more direct route. "Something's bothering you, and it's annoying," I state, making myself comfortable in my chair by swinging my legs over one arm and leaning against the other. Dropping my head over the side, I look up at him as he paces past me. "If you want me to stay here and not just leave, sit down or something. You're making my antlers restless."

The deadpan look Fish Man gives me as he pauses off to the side of the room makes me grin. "You're weird," Fish Man decides, and for a second, it looks like he might just start pacing again out of spite when he starts walking to the other side of the room, but he just sighs when he reaches his desk and sits down.

"Definitely," I agree, my grin growing until it almost hurts before I let it fall away to a bored frown.

If Fish Man has something to say in response, he does not get the chance to say it before a set of footsteps that I vaguely registered as approaching about half a minute ago - the hall seems to be mostly empty of guards, so it is not hard to single something like footsteps out - enters the room. Though I cannot see the person from how I am sitting, I can tell from the lightness of the steps and the hint of blueberries in the scent the breeze caused by their arrival carries that it is our chaperone for the morning. "Wendy-aum," Giselle greets, as soon as she steps far enough into the room to see me sprawled out over a chair, "Valentin and I were surprised to hear that you were not in your room this morning."

If I wince a little, that is only for me to know, as my mask hides my upper face well enough that it does not show. "Oops," I reply, not quite sheepish, but still apologetic. I do not regret leaving Valentin behind, as I did not feel like having him tut at me every time I said something rude to the prince-king, but even I know when I owe someone a debt of gratitude, which means that I should at least try to be good.

Should've left a note or...an apology cake.

The tiny Mer stops beside my chair and eyes me for a moment. "Sit up. It's highly disrespectful to sit like that," Giselle says. She does not wait to see if I will before taking the empty chair beside me and moving it up to the wall, where she sits down.

I would point out that I am a very disrespectful wendigo that does not care about conforming to social expectations, especially not since Giselle closed the door behind her when she entered the room, shutting us off from the rest of the castle, but at the same time, though Fish Man is not on my favorite person's list, he still did me a favor by letting me remain in his kingdom, selfish intentions or otherwise. Plus, I can be a respectable wendigo from time to time.