Various little blurbs about Kochev

"Scaredscaredscaredscaredscared", it repeated to its guardian as the strange liquid burned on Kochev's skin. With a jolt he awoke and instinctively grabbed for his friend, pulling him off without any care for himself. He could stop bleeding any time, but his friend would take much longer to recover. He protected him, held him by his chest offering it to latch onto a vital organ in case of emergency. The betrayal and confusion as he spoke and attempted to explain himself to people he deemed allies sounding in his voice. Meanwhile, the parasite continued with its one-note mantra. "ScaredAfraidScaredAfraidScaredAfraid", it said in his mind. He felt its fear intensely and attempted to calm it by protecting it with his hands as he replied to the parasite in his head. "I'm here, I'm here, you're safe, It's okay, I'm protecting you.", He said to it.  That entire day was spent in fear and waryness. Both of them sharing the same feelings and both of them communicating their thoughts on the situation. Usually they would simply run from the problem, and return when it did not matter anymore. But that was not possible here. They were stuck, having to face the people they didn't deem as allies. They were all outsiders. All of them. None of them could understand why he let the parasite be a part of him and why he keeps it with him.

They didn't believe that it was their collective choice to attack Chunky when their precious gem was stolen. He hadn't gotten it back yet, but he was afraid and tired at the moment and didn't see a chance to attempt anything yet. They had to get their head clear, and the parasite had to feed.  A few moments later and a small incident with groundbees solved the problem of the parasite hungering after aiding Kochev in battle. When the tabaxi, Chance, stepped up to him upon noticing the honey left from the beehive, they were both wary. "She had attacked us." , Spoke the parasite. "Yes, but she was being controlled by the puppeteer." , Kochev replied. "Do we still trust her? She doesn't believe we are one. She finds me bad for you. What if she tries to hurt me? Hurt you? We cannot deal with any attacks on us at the moment." It thought in worry, transferring the feeling and thoughts over to Kochev. He understood why it was afraid of this possibility. It doesn't quite understand people and that they aren't a constant threat. Wordlessly Kochev reassured it and laid down its worries. There were many worries shared to eachother, some through words, some through imagery, and others through feeling. All of them were slowly calmed. But anger towards the tortle grew. He had stolen so brutishly and so easily knocked them down. It was another testament to his weakening in this world. If the rest of the hive were here he would've easily destroyed that thief, but to no avail. 

He laid on the hardwood flooring of the ship, thinking and talking to his friend. The mimic had joined them for whatever reason, which he didn't shoo away. A monstrosity or an animal was usually better than a person anyways. An animal wouldn't ask you why you felt bad, it would simply try to comfort you. "They think that I am hurting you. I am not, am I?" , The parasite asked as it thought about the scarring it left on Kochev's neck. He had chosen to let it heal naturally. Whether it was as some kind of punishment to himself or out of lazyness was unclear to both of them. But they both knew it hurt. He slightly shook his head, mumbling to himself out loud. "You don't hurt me, you take what you need to survive and I let you. If you were hurting me you wouldn't be allowed to feed off of me." He told it to ease its thoughts. "You should heal that scar on your neck." It told him. He agreed, but he didn't do anything about it. The parasite accepted it. It knew that this was the prince's way of dealing with things if he could not isolate himself. It would protect him if he was going to go too far, but this was allowed.  "Apologize to the mimic for me, please. It was collateral that did not deserve to be collateral. It was unfortunate that the thief had decided to use it as armor." The parasite asked him. Kochev delivered on its request, not seeing a reason why it should be denied. 

Kochev pondered for a while if he should have refused to work with the parasite when his stone was taken, that the rage had been too much for such a thing. But he quickly refuted that thought. They both knew that they would do anything for the rest of the hive. Kill a person or two over a stone containing many useful souls was nothing terrible. Besides, the victims themselves would have been turned useful too. It was not like they would let them go to waste. "We can't be in silence to the group for forever." , Kochev eventually spoke.  "If you feel it is time to speak again, then do so. Unfortunately we need them to survive." , The parasite eventually replied. They both werent happy that they were dependant on the group. Especially with how they didn't get them. They didn't understand the hive. They just can't understand why the hive is good, and it is because they are outsiders. Inferior to the forest, inferior to home. But he could forgive them for their inability to understand the hive. They were single minded after all.

The thief chose to return the stone, for some reason. It was confusing for sure. Was it a joke? Would he come back later to ask it back? Obviously he would not get it back. It belonged to the hive. Even if they may not find ways to use it effectively here, it did not mean they couldn't simply alter the stone to work for them when they were home. They had the power, and if necessary a deity, to do that. Maybe it was a peace offering, the parasite suggested. After all, he seemed to symphatise? Or again, this time Kochev replied, it was a trick. Whatever it was, they were happy enough to have it back in their possession.