“Damn thats a weird way to get into an um, relationship with someone.“ Cap’n said, scratching her head. She was still pretty confused about the whole thing. “Though that gauntlet thing sounds cool, where can i watch it :00”

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“I’ght so like,” she began, taking in a deep breath. “If you know what swatchlings are — I mean you probably don‘t— I‘m actually pretty short compared to one, hehe. Thats cos uhm- I’m not actually a real swatchling. I’m a human disguised as one,” she chirped. ”And no, it’s not like a fursuit.” 

“Oh…?” Their head craned around Captain, eying her up and down. “If you’re not a ‘swatchling’, then why do you masquerade as one…? It’s rather deceitful, you know…” 

Tannin scratched at their neck as they thought, but their eyes remained trained on her, looking as if they could pierce through her soul. They stepped closer.

“Why not show the Dark World what you really are, human…? What is there to be afraid of…?” Their voice had dropped to a whisper, just barely audible. 

“…are you scared that those ‘darkners’ will turn on you like your blood family…? Neglect you like those in your previous world…?”

“Hmm…I have to give fact…? I suppose I have one…” They pointed at the mouth on their face. “If I open this reeeaaalll wide and suddenly close it, it’ll make a loud sound…” Tannin demonstrated: their face lengthened as their jaw unhinged itself, stretching downwards and revealing row after row of jagged teeth. Then, they snapped it shut with a pop. 

“I can bite through steel like this…!”

Gris smiles.

“Very good,” they purr, taking the phone to read the article further. “This is quite impressive indeed. I see he was not an effective leader; nor much of a leader at all. He did not deserve his position. Good for you.”

But upon continuing down the page, they pause their compliments.

“He’s… still alive?” A pensive hum leaves their throat next and their eyes clear of admiration, focused on the boy before them like a bird of prey circling its next meal. “With mortal men like these you must remember this; they will run back, as rats do from the sunlight, to the one that gave them their millions, they will find their riches once more and hoard their wealth all the same! They do not learn from their lessons. Always, always ensure that they do not return to their old ways. Are you grasping what I speak to you, child?”

They knock a crooked finger under Wren’s chin, lip curling into a sneer to see him eye to eye to repeat themselves once more: “Do you understand? Try this again,” Gris brandishes the phone, the article’s headline boldly displayed across the screen to drive their point home, to drop it in the boy’s lap. “And do it correctly, this time.”

“I give,” they start with a hefty sigh, “a plot of land for an individual to begin with if they are permitted into the kingdom. Sometimes, they are acquired with the land we conquer through our battles won, and we do still treat them with kindness. Many of them use it to build their homes on or utilize it for farming. I don’t know what I would do with my land, personally, but I admire their dedication and hardiness. We have such a magnificent kingdom, if I may brag for a moment!”