Glossed Over (1/2)
Warnings: Angst and very light fear play
2.7k words
“Cabasa, would you get your sister, please? Dinner’s almost ready,” Ocarin called out to his youngest son. Cabasa’s thin, knife-like ears perked up hearing his dad ask for Tonette, the young Taur loved his younger sister to death and always jumped at any opportunity to hang out with her.
“Sure!” Cabasa called, already on his way down the hall to his sister's room, intentionally quieting his footsteps as he approached the slightly open door. Silencing his breathing, he became nearly undetectable from human senses as he approached his sister, engrossed in her studying.
Cabasa nearly dropped his cover, a sigh almost escaping his lips as he looked down with confusion and distaste at what his sister was doing. She studies more than me for heaven's sake, sometimes I swear she likes these books more than her own family.
“Tone,” he spoke, smirking as he saw his sister jump from the spook he gave her. “Dad says dinner’s ready.”
“Ah hell, Cab! Anyone ever taught you how to knock? You made me drop my pen!” She laughed as she turned around in her chair, lazily looking up at her giant brother.
“I know how to knock, this is just funner.”
He was barely holding back his laugh now, his sister narrowed her eyes looking up at him. He slowly lowered his hand palm up in front of her, an unspoken ask of ‘Can I pick you up?’ in their household.
“Sorry, not right now, I'm busy. I’ve been trying this question for the past 20 minutes but I still don’t get it.” She said, refocusing her attention back on the problem at hand. This time, Cabasa couldn’t hold back his sigh, a frown slowly growing on his face
“Why do you need to learn all this dumb school stuff anyways? I know Dad wants you to learn it but if you’re never gonna use it you should just forget all that boring stuff and spend more time with me.” Cabasa smiled at the thought. Tonette on the other hand did the opposite, a scowl now present.
“Who says it's useless? You learn the same stuff in school, and Dad says-” She began defensively, only to be cut off by her older brother's louder voice.
“Dad only wants you to learn that stuff so you have something to do while we’re at school or work. When I’m home, we can actually do fun stuff.”
But I want to learn it! Why is it useful when you and Dad study, but when I try I’m just wasting my time! She wanted to shout, his words hitting her like a truck. Even though he didn’t intend for them to be hurtful, they had fueled the fire of an idea she had been feeling quite recently.
“Fine, whatever… thanks for the help,” she muttered, turning away from her notes and stepping into her brother's hand, giving his fingers a good kick once she was situated. Cabasa’s hand awkwardly stilled for a moment, before rising up and exiting the door heading toward the kitchen.
Damnit, she's mad at me again for some reason… I don’t get her sometimes, it's like she hates fun, I would be happy if I never had to go to school again, but Tone, she just… ugh… His brain started to hurt.
Looking down at his hands, his sister wouldn’t even look at him. Sucking in a deep breath, he knew he needed to apologize. While he didn’t know what for, hopefully asking her would get his answer. Brushing Tonette’s shoulder with his thumb, he whispered.
“Hey Tone, I’m sorry for what happened back there. I just don’t get why you like those books so much,” he confessed, albeit a little nonchalantly. Tonette only gave him a side eye before choosing to ignore him outright.
Of course, you don’t get it! You get to be good at everything you do! There's no way I can compete with a Taur like you or Dad, just let me have this. She bit her tongue, despite the hurt she felt keeping these emotions bottled up for so long, she didn’t want to admit her weakness to them, they wouldn’t understand. How could any of them understand what it's like to be a human?
“Hey, kids! Tone, I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” Ocarin joked from the kitchen counter. Glossed over.
“Hey Dad, sorry for being busy,” She sheepishly apologized, quickly trying to spin the situation in a positive light, “I’m almost done with that biology textbook though! Just got stuck on Host-Parasite Coevolution, but I’m nearly there.”
“My my, It seems we have a little scientist on our hands,” he chuckled deeply while handing out plates for the two of them. Tonette beamed at her dad, always happy to get his recognition. “And what about you Cab? Anything interesting happen at school today?”
“Eh, David and I presented our history project today, but that's about it,” as per usual, school was boring, and he still had to sit through another 2 days of presentations. What a drag, maybe if I brought Tone to school she’d realize how good she really has it. He genuinely considered it for a sec, he was sure his sister would like it, she had practically been begging their father ever since Cabasa had started going. Going to a real school instead of studying through books alone would probably help her learn better too, not to mention it’d probably at least cure some of his boredom.
A little movement out of the corner of his eye diverted that train of thought, his sister adjusting herself in front of the enormous plate in front of her. She looked so small, he couldn’t bare seeing her hurt, it was up to her and Dad to protect her.
No, he wouldn’t take her tomorrow. It's for her own good.
****
“Does anyone have any questions for Trikiti? If not, I think we might have time for just one more presentation today.” Cabasa’s teacher, Mrs. Lemmings absentmindedly flipping through her page of notes spoke. To no one's surprise, not a single hand was raised. Trikiti’s pale face finally regained some color as she realized she was finally done, only for it to whiten again with the teacher's next words.
“Didn’t you say you had something for extra credit, Trikiti?”
Trikiti gulped, nervous about what the class would think of her ‘extra credit.’ Humanity in Taur lands was one of the most controversial topics these days, Trikiti would have never dreamed of bringing the kid to class normally, but with her grade tanking in this class, her parents had threatened to take away her human, Max, if she didn’t do well enough,
Sighing, she reached for her backpack and pulled out a live human boy, holding him in a tight grip for the whole class to see, her claws very close to his body. Everybody was surprised, most not having seen a live human in person before, they all gawked at the frail human in Trikiti’s fist.
“He’s not trained very well, b-but he's very smart,” She trailed off, everyone around her still in shock, Cabasa most of all. Never before had he seen another human besides his sister before, and this one looked… Are those finger bruises on him?
“Say hello, c'mon little guy…” she said, lightly squeezing the human's stomach, causing him to wince. Cabasa felt sick.
“What the hell… what the hell is this,” Cab whispered over to his best friend, David, barely believing his eyes.
“Yeah, pretty crazy, I think that's a human, look at its round ears,” David whispered back, clearly quite enamored with the boy. Cab could only focus on his friend's words. It? That kid is not an it! Humans are not things they are- They’re people! My sister is not an it!
No longer caring whether he got in trouble or not, he got up from his seat and headed toward the front of the room.
“Uhm Cab-”
“Give him here Trikit’, he’s not your pet, he's a person,” he spoke firmly, splaying his hand in front of the shorter Taur girl expectantly. Trikiti looked surprised, mirroring the small human boy's face before growing defensive.
“W-what? What the hell is your problem? You’re scaring my human! G-go get your own and leave me alone.”
“He’s not anybody's ‘human’ Trik, if anybody is scar-”
“Cabasa! That is well enough,” both students were interrupted by their teacher sternly glaring at them. “Trikiti, you know we do not allow humans on school grounds, and Cabasa, it is not your place to intervene.”
“But-”
*RIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG*
They were all interrupted by the sound of the end-of-school bell, Cabasa nearly continued his point but his teacher spoke first.
“Class is dismissed, Trikiti, put that human away, if I see it again I won't hesitate to call your parents and the principal, understood?” Mrs. Lemmings said. Trikiti quickly nodded, not willing to anger her teacher further. Grabbing the human in one hand and her backpack in the other, she gently stuffed him inside, the human making a little eep’ as the bag was zipped up.
“Cabasa, you-”
The young Taur wasn’t listening, already turning back towards his desk, he grabbed his backpack and stormed out of the room leaving the rest of the class in silence.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Class dismissed! I’ll see you all next week, go home…” the teacher sighed, clearly exasperated at the situation. Trikiti stood awkwardly at the front of the class, not sure if she would be allowed to go home so easily, but these thoughts were for naught as Mrs. Lemmings glared at her. “You too Trikiti.”
The Young taur nearly jumped, but all too quickly shuffled out the door, carrying her backpack and its precious cargo with her. That was a disaster, so much for extra credit. She wanted to get angry at herself, but the reality of the situation started to sink in, what she had done and what this truly meant.
Great… GREAT! I’ve scared Max again. And now Mom’s definitely going to get rid of him. It's not fair, he’s just a little kid! He can't survive on his own.
Is he really any better with you? The thought crossed her mind, making her heart clench as she unconsciously clutched her backpack a little harder. Remembering last night when she hurt him, he was just a child. She had scared a child, and then to make it worse, she forced him to come to class with her today, hold him in her fist, which she knew he hated, all so she could get a good grade.
She almost let herself get swallowed up by her emotions, but in the corner of her eyes, she saw something that might be able to help her. Cabasa. He… he must be good with humans, I mean, he spoke up when I…
Shaking her head, she needed to talk to him. Maybe… maybe if he wasn’t too mad, he could help her. Not wanting to cause another scene, Trikiti silently followed after him.
*****
“Cab” a faint, faraway voice called out to him. Cabasa was too lost in his own thoughts to think clearly, much less hear the distant calling.
“Cab!” He froze, he knew that voice, Trikiti followed me. The slow fire bubbling in his body began to rage once again as he remembered what had happened at school, how this girl showed a clear disregard for the human's safety and wellbeing, how she held up his bruised body, talking about him as if he were just an animal. And now she wanted to talk to him like nothing ever happened.
“What the hell do you want, make it quick because I am this close to losing it,” Cabasa growled. Trikiti, for her credit, only looked surprised for a moment, before averting her gaze to the ground, with a look that almost looked… ashamed?
“Cabasa, please I-”
“No, you know what Trik, I don’t even know why I’m giving you a chance, people like you don’t-”
“Cabasa please stop, you’re scaring Max” finally speaking up for herself, she clutched her bag tightly. She keeps him in a bag? No, he couldn’t yell again, she was right after all, his anger had gotten the better of him again. Tone always hated it when he and his dad fought, humans couldn’t take the loud noises as well as Taurs could. Last time he yelled in front of her, he ended up making her cry and ended up having to apologize profusely before she came to like him again. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he spoke again.
“What. Do. You. Want?” seeing that he had somewhat calmed down, Trikiti released her grip on her backpack and tried to face Cab.
You- in class you talked like- It seemed like,” Trikiti started, but just as soon stopped, barely able to hold herself together. “Max hates me. I know he does. Every time I enter the room he tries to hide, every time I ask him a question, or try to touch him, or even look at him, he looks at me like I’m going to hurt him. I know I’m not… I know I’m not…” She paused, a singular tear rolled down her cheek. Making up her mind, she gently lifted her backpack off her shoulder and lowered it to the ground.
“Please take him, he deserves to be with somebody who he feels safe with, he’s just a kid.”
Of all the things Trikiti could have said, this was the last one Cabasa would have expected. His dad had prepared him for situations like this, people who treated humans like trash couldn’t be reasoned with, they believed they were inherently superior by virtue of their race and that was period. Cabasa’s stony visage started to waver as her curveball of emotions continued.
“My- my mom said I wasn’t allowed to keep him with me unless my grades went up, so I’m going to have to get rid of him anyways, but… but it's not right that he has to go out on the streets because of my faults.” Trikiti was speaking from her heart now, finally able to find someone who understood humans like she did or tried to understand. She lowered her voice. “Please, he deserves better than me.”
Cabasa stood still, looking at his classmate in shock, his thoughts on her taking a complete 360 from the presentation to now. Shaking away his shock, he reached down to retrieve the human, unzipping the bag, he found the sleeping human, most likely passed out from exhaustion. Carefully scooping him up into his hands, he felt so light, even lighter than his sister. Cabasa met the eyes of Trikiti once more, not sure if this was some trick, but the look in her eyes showed she was serious.
“You did the right thing,” He whispered, waking up the human at this time would only make this whole exchange harder, even if Max didn’t like Trikiti, that didn’t mean he would instantly warm up to Cabasa either.
“Wait,” Trikiti whispered. Cabasa froze, would this be where she tells him it was all a lie? “His favorite food is meeloberries, I- I had some for him in the bag if you want them.” Cab eyed her suspiciously, not willing to chance anything.
“Thanks, but keep them, my family keeps hoards for my sister, she loves the damn things,” his voice grew a little fonder at the mention of his sister. Meanwhile, Trikiti’s head was spun on its head, Meeloberries are his sister's favorite food? They’re poisonous to Taurs, not to mention I’ve never heard of Cab having a sister… does, does that mean…?
“Your sister is a human,” she whispered, not noticing she spoke out loud until Cab glared at her. “Oh, sorry sorry! I’ll leave now.” Without another word, she grabbed her now humanless bag and scurried off toward her home. Cab meanwhile, did the same. Looking down at the human in hand, he still slept soundly throughout the entire exchange. You must be exhausted, gently stroking Max with his thumb, he started walking to his own home, Well Tone, looks like you’ll be getting a roommate.
Hey all, it's been a loooong time since I touched this universe. and that's a crying shame, cuz I really do love it, I'm just a slow writer. but yeah, I hope you enjoyed the first part of this two-parter. I can't wait to write the payoff for the buildup in this chapter, as per last time, the 2nd part is going to get a lot angstier, but that's what you're here for right :P
Anyways, thanks for reading, comments and questions really do make my day, so feel free to do so (or don't!)
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