[ID: A digital drawing of an alternate design of Cryptor from Ninjago. He is holding a hand out that is close to the camera and his cape is fluttering behind him. The image uses limited colors featuring black, blue, pink and grey. Pink is streaked across part of him.]
Toby thinks Cryptor looks very photogenic when he’s working, decides to take a few photos, checks his phone later to realize he took over fifty, is utterly confounded at how that happened.
Dareth yawned, begging his coffee to kick in as he took another long sip. He went to bed at a decent hour, only to be awoken by the kid sneaking into his room. Of course he bolted as soon as he was spotted, hiding back in his own room that he’d occupied for almost a month now.
A month. They picked that kid up in the garage almost a month ago and he still wouldn’t come out. Dareth wasn’t sure what to do with him anymore. He wouldn’t throw him out, of course not, but maybe it was time to find another place to put him.
One more sip of coffee. He didn’t normally drink it black but he tricked himself into believing it would work better that way. Dareth set the mug down and sighed.
The kid stood next to his chair.
Dareth jerked, almost flinging coffee across the room.
At least that woke him up.
“Wh--kid?” Dareth looked at him. “What are you doing down here?”
The kid stared at him, glaring, always glaring. If Dareth wasn’t aware he could pick the kid up with one hand he might find it intimidating.
“You’re talking.” The kid said.
“Uh...”
“You never talked before. Why now?” He pointed.
Dareth studied his hands while he could. His fingernails weren’t long but they were ragged, likely being chewed on, but there was still some dirt underneath. He could see a film of dust and old sweat on his skin as well, not even speaking about his hair. Probably only shiny from natural oils.
But getting him to come out of his room had taken a month how long would it take to get him to take a bath?
The kid puffed out his cheeks. “Answer me!”
Dareth sighed, his exhaustion coming back. “Me and Ronin trade the ability to speak sometimes.”
“Huh?” The kid lowered his hand and stepped back, eyes wide. “What? How?”
“Now that, is a personal question.” Dareth pointed back before drinking more coffee. “And since you aren’t inclined to tell me anything about yourself, I think I’ll do the same.”
The pouting face returned, hands clenched at his sides. Dareth just decided to pretend he wasn’t paying attention.
“What is that?”
He glanced over this time to see the kid pointing at his mug.
“Coffee.” Dareth said.
“Co-ffee.” The kid repeated the word slowly, moving his mouth with each syllable like he’d never heard it before. “What’s coffee.”
“Drink that helps me wake up.”
“Um... can I see it?”
Dareth blinked at him a few times before he held the mug out. The kid flinched at first, stepping away, but then crept forward and leaned over the cup. His nostrils moved before his nose scrunched up.
“Ew.” He covered his face and stepped back. “Smells bad.”
“You learn to love it.” Dareth finished it off. “You hungry kid? Want breakfast?”
Dareth stood. The kid scurried away, ducking behind a chair. Dareth just watched him, waiting, until he finally crept back out.
“You want some eggs? Bacon?”
“Ba-con... eggs... what are those?”
Dareth’s heart stuttered. “Huh? You don’t know?”
The kid shook his head. “What are those things you always put outside my room?”
“A... a sandwich?”
He nodded. “I want one of those.”
Dareth tried not to let his panic show. Kid didn’t even know what a sandwich was? What eggs were? “Well, hang on. Sandwiches aren’t always breakfast food. I just took those because I figured it’d be easiest to eat.” And less clean up later, but he didn’t say that. “Why not try something new?”
Pouty face. “But sandwiches are my favorite.”
“Kid, you don’t even know what eggs are. How do you know those won’t be your favorite.”
It seemed to present quite the dilemma. The kid almost seemed distressed, eyes darting around.
“Look, I’ll cut you a deal.” Dareth put his hands in the pockets of his sweat pants. “I’ll make some breakfast and if you don’t like any of it I’ll make a sandwich instead.”
“Um... okay.”
With that out of the way, Dareth headed into the kitchen. He opened the main fridge, snatching up half a dozen eggs, a package of ground sausage and a package of bacon. Simple, not too crazy. He almost worried he’d blow the kid’s mind if he tried to make pancakes or waffles.
He set the food aside as he turned on the griddle. They had a smaller home kitchen upstairs, but Dareth just kept using the one down here. Between him, Ronin, Harumi, the kid, and sometimes a whole grizzly bear, it was worth it just to cook in bulk.
The kid came into the kitchen, glancing around. Dareth let him wander but kept half an eye to make sure he didn’t pick up something dangerous.
“What... what are those for?” The kid sounded terrified as he pointed to the large sinks in the back. Three in a row all with faucets and a hanging spray hose.
“Washing dishes.” Dareth grabbed a bowl and started cracking eggs.
That got the child’s attention. That startled look over came his face and he shuffled closer to watch. “What is that?”
“These,” Dareth cracked another, “are the eggs. The shell isn’t edible so you break them open to get the good stuff.” When he emptied them all he let the kid look into the bowl.
Another look of disgust. “Looks gross.”
“Eh, there’s not really a way to make eggs look not gross.” Dareth grabbed a whisk and started to beat them. Scrambled eggs always were the best way to introduce someone to them, in his experience. At least Harumi and Ronin weren’t too picky about how they were cooked.
He tossed in some pepper and salt, though not a lot in case the kid wound up not liking it. After tossing some butter on the griddle and letting it melt down, he poured the egg mixture on top.
They hissed when they met the hot metal. The kid jumped, but didn’t run.
Dareth flashed a smile at him. He grabbed two short hand spatulas off the wall and began to push the eggs around on the griddle. Sometimes he’d cut through them, other times he’d flip them entirely.
When the eggs were cooked he scooped them up and set them aside on a plate. Next came the bacon and sausage. He laid out the strips on the back of the griddle before dumping the whole container of sausage. Once again he used the spatulas to separate it and shape them into smaller patties.
While it was cooking he flipped the spatula in his hand and winked at the kid. For a second he swore he saw a smile.
Pyrite chose then to come inside. The smell of cooking meat must have inticed him to wake up. The kid looked at the bear wide eyed, curious, but not at all frightened.
“Morning buddy. You mind if the kid pets you?” Dareth gestured. “Looks like he wants to.”
“That’s fine.” Pyrite yawned, showing his teeth. “Just not the snout.”
“He says you can give him a pat, kid.” Dareth nodded. “Just not on the nose.”
“You can talk to him?” The kid gasped. He slowly approached the bear, hand out. His small hand practically vanished in Pyrite’s dense fur.
“Sure can. I can talk to the rats too. They talk about you sometimes.”
“What? No fair.” His voice turned into a mumble. “I wanna talk to them.”
Dareth laughed and flipped the bacon. “Hang out long enough maybe I’ll give you some pointers.
The kid sat on the floor with Pyrite while Dareth finished cooking. The bear gave him a few sniffs, making some humming noises that Dareth wasn’t fond of. It usually meant he found something unusual, but no point in asking about it right now.
“Alright.” Dareth made up two plates before piling some extras in a bowl for Pyrite. “Lets head back to the table, huh?”
He let them leave first--because stepping over Pyrite was more trouble than it was worth--and set the plates on the table before putting the bowl on the floor.
“Uh, what do you want to drink, kid? Milk? Juice?”
Once again, the kid stared at him, apparently not knowing what those words mean either.
“Okay I’ll try this. Out of all the liquids in cups I gave you beforehand, what was your favorite.”
“Um... actually that was um... the brown one. It was warm.”
Hot chocolate huh? With cinnamon? That was also Ronin’s favorite.
Curious.
“That was hot chocolate, but that’s also not really a good thing for breakfast. What about the white one?”
“Yeah, that one was good.”
Dareth got the kid a glass of milk and himself some more coffee before sitting down. He intentionally picked the farthest seat, making sure the kid felt as comfortable as possible.
The kid didn’t look entirely comfortable though. Instead he stared at the fork in his hand, obviously trying to figure it out.
“You uh... never seen a fork either?” Dareth asked.
The kid shook his head.
“Uuuh okay.” Dareth leaned over to one of the other tables, where he kept the rolled up silverware, and pulled out a spoon. “How about this one?”
The kid nodded.
“Okay, well this is a spoon. It’s a lot like a fork. Forks are just built to be able to stab food as well as scoop it up.” He decided to demonstrate, cutting off a bit of sausage and poking it. “Like this.”
The kid’s eyes seemed to flash with determination. He gripped the fork in his hand like he was ready for a fight. He stabbed it onto the plate--a bit too hard judging from the screech from the ceramic--but managed to get some eggs on the end of it. He made a face at it, obviously put off by the way it looked, but put it in his mouth anyway.
His face light up. He stared at the plate like he’d just struck gold. Suddenly he was shoveling the eggs into his mouth way faster than he should be. Dareth barely had the chance to speak before the sausage and bacon vanished along with it.
“Good.” The kid picked up the plate and licked off any stray bits of egg. “That’s so good!” He smacked the plate down, a huge grin on his face.
Something gripped Dareth’s heart and squeezed as he stared at that open smile, the crooked baby teeth with one of the front ones missing.
“Hah.” He tried to smile back, ignoring the lump in his throat. “First time I’ve seen you smile.”
Sadly, that made it vanish. The kid stared back at him, bewildered. He picked up the plate again and stared at it, as if looking at a reflection. “Oh.”
“Sorry, don’t worry about it.” Dareth forced a laugh. “Hey, if you want seconds I’ll gladly give you more, kid. If Ronin snoozes he loses.” He went to finally start eating his own breakfast.
“Toby.”
He almost dropped the fork. “Huh?”
“Toby, my name is Toby.” The kid stared at the table, hands now in his lap. Were his cheeks turning red?
Dareth smiled, that same tight sensation returning to his chest. “Nice to meet you Toby, I’m Dareth.”
“I know.” Toby tried to make himself even smaller. “I hear you and Ronin talking, sometimes.”
“Well...” Dareth finally took a bite. “I’m sure you have your reasons for being scared, Toby. But I promise none of us are going to hurt you. Not on purpose.”
“Mmm...I know.” Toby moved on his seat, probably rubbing his hands together under the table. “I just figure you’ll... kick me out eventually.”
“Well, we aren’t the most qualified people to take in homeless kids.” He forced another laugh before clearing his throat. “But we won’t kick you out either, promise.”
“Mmm...” Toby didn’t look convinced.
“Nevermind it right now. You want seconds? Or maybe something else? What about some fruit?”
