Social Order

Part 39

When Sean woke up, he inhaled loudly and pushed himself up onto all fours to stretch. He couldn't believe he had fallen asleep in an area that he didn't see as safe. You fell asleep like that in the Slums and people tended to take shit from you. Rubbing a hand over his sides, he instinctively checked for stitched up cuts. The thought of losing pieces of himself was frightening. The sound of crunching drew his attention to the side of the pool. There Al was standing in the water with the crawdad pot in his hands. Hefting the pot, Al tilted it to dump crawdads into his mouth. As Al chewed, his eyes locked with Sean's shaken up ones. Swallowing, Al set his pot down, asking curiously. "You alright, Cher? Bad dream?" Sean dropped his arm from his ribs, breathlessly answering. "Ya... Something like that... Where's Nate?" Al swam closer, folding his arms over the edge of the pool as he purred out in a gentle tone. "Over there." Sean looked to the far end of the pool to see Nate sleeping on the edge farther down.

Sean relaxed, listening to Al ask him in a deep voice full of concern. "Something happen to ya? I know the look." Sean sat back on his legs, mumbling out. "Don't worry about it. I'm handling it." Al huffed sarcastically, retorting seriously. "Are you though? I can smell the fear beneath those thick pheromones of yours." Sean rubbed his collarbone anxiously, glancing around before discreetly admitting. "I... I'll be alright." Al propped his jaws up on his hand, chuckling out. "I'm sure you will be. You're a survivor. Like me. Want some advice though?" Sean rolled his eyes but looked at him with fragile eyes as he uttered out. "Sure..." Al lowered his hand, his eyes gleaming with an intense confidence as he growled out lightly. "Life is never going to stop trying to bring you to your knees. The strong survive and the weak feed the strong. It's life's grand test. You can hide and lick your wounds... Or you can free yourself of pain and keep chasing the sun without looking back."

Sean licked his lips, asking him curiously. "Did something happen to you?" Al hefted a heavy sigh, before admitting coolly. "I wasn't always a Pet. I was born and raised in the Bayou by my mother. She was brought here by people that wanted to save her kind from extinction since our planet was dying. Poachers killed her for her albino skin when I was ten. They were going to kill me too... took a harpoon to the shoulder..." Al rolled his shoulder back to reveal a glossy scar that was barely visible against his tan scaly skin. Sean shifted to put his legs in the water to face him better, upon saying softly. "That must have been awful... How did you get away?" Al grabbed the pool edge on either side of Sean's legs, his eyes lost in a distant memory when he answered coolly. "I'm still not sure. I remember thrashing and snapping at them. Tasting blood and being stabbed. The boat sank as I pulled free of them and I swam as fast as I could into the depths of the murky water. I remember not being ok... Feeling afraid and alone." Sean put a hand on one of Al's hands, feeling them shake a little.

Al's nails clawed at the tile though, his hand steadying as he lifted his head up to look at him. Giving him a warm smile, he told him coolly. "I remember rising from the water to see a young human woman playing a fiddle on this little dock. Grandma-ma. She told me once that I tried to eat her... That I chased her to the house in a crazed state. I don't remember that... She laughs when she tells me that what saved her was her cooking. Crawdads. She tossed them to me from the kitchen window until I calmed down. She took care of me. I became apart of her family. And as I got into my teens... Her son took an interest in me." Sean smirked and Al nudged his arm with a hand to tell him seriously. "I still have nightmares of that night. It reminds me everyday how lucky I am to be alive. How powerless I was... How afraid... but I'm not that kid anymore. I'm not alone. I survived. My skin is thicker, I'm stronger and I'm wiser now. Life tested me and I came out stronger. So, when Grandma-ma's husband was killed by poachers wanting her house... I KILLED them."

Al's hands moved to Sean's hips, pulling him into the water before purring over his shoulder and into his ear confidently. "You're a survivor. Own it. You can't win every fight... but you can put up one hell of a fight. Don't forget that." Al sank in the water and Sean straightened up, chuckling out. "Is that why you've taken such an interest in me?" Al smirked wickedly, before casually telling him. "You Slum dogs have no fear. You fight when you should flee. I can respect that. Everyone fears looking at me... You look me in the eyes, and you kept your word despite thinking I was really going to eat you. Crazy kid..." Sean blushed, bowing his head to look at the water. Al's hand rose from the water to hand him the mask, telling him sweetly. "You don't have to like being a Pet... but I'd like to call ya a close friend of mine." Sean accepted the mask from him, smiling as he looked up and said honestly. "We already are." Al chuckled, helping to put the mask on him. The mask fit snug to him and made breathing above water hard.