"Many sweeps ago..." Achina
Heh. Memories --
There was a commotion somewhere outside of the bedroom that the pair of them occupied, the gold blood kneeling on a knee in front of the younger bronze had a sad smile on his face. From the sounds of it, Lopard was putting on some sort of distraction for their captor in the kitchen.
That meant Persep was in one of his moods.
"Lets play a game, Zurv."
Zurven tilted his head, gaze trained toward the door that Achina was blocking with his body. "What's going on?"
"Lopard's just being loud while making dinner, just like always. I keep telling him to hush, but does he listen?"
The younger troll shook his head with a small giggle. "Nope!"
"So about that game."
"Okay!"
"How does hide and seek sound? I'll be seeker first."
A big grin spread across Zurven's face, one that lifted the act of worry from the gold bloods bones, despite the sudden silence from behind the closed door that made the corner of his smile twitch.
"I'm really good at hide and seek. You'll never find me."
"Hey now, I'm getting better at it." The kid had lived in the wretched hive for so long he knew all about the secret passages that connected here to there behind the walls and through crawl spaces that only he could squeeze into. "Give me a chance to redeem myself, won't you?"
"Okaaaay." Zurven said as he walked toward the nearest closet, "If you say so."
Footsteps down the hall drawing closer sent a shock through Achina that made him jolt straight up, he passed it off as a jittery bounce in preparation for their game.
"And Zurven?"
"Yep?" "Lets make it extra hard. Don't come out until Thuein says it's time to stop playing. Okay? Not for me or anyone else."
"Okay!" He chirped and disappeared into the closet, his brightness quickly swallowed up by the darkness within.
Achina sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then turned to open the door and step into the hall just as Persep reached it.
"Where is he?" He spoke calmly, though Achina would bet all the money to his name that if he chanced the eye contact all of the pent up anger would be concentrated in a glare.
"Lopard? He was in the kitchen last I checked."
"The boy."
"Oh. Zurven's not with him? That's weird."
Persep opened his mouth to respond but elected instead to snap it shut, contemplating the gold blood for a single moment before turning abruptly to continue search.
"Find him."
"You got it, boss."
Achina let out a relieved sigh once he turned a corner, melting into a slump against the doorframe.










