Chapter Warnings: pretty much none of the above warnings except alcohol, reference to torture, humans being treated like animals/pets, and swearing (and mild swearing at that).
Kryptos stares down at his drink, sighing. The Time Ice in the cup has long since melted, leaving his Time Punch watered down and unpalatable. Not that it matters, seeing as he hasn't touched his drink once since he got it.
He likes parties, he guesses...at least for the first hour or two. But this one has been going on for days, and the appeal has long since worn off. The music was fun to dance to, but he'd grown sick of that too, and now that he is standing around for a while the repetitive nature of the beat is beginning to get on his nerves. He sighs again, casting a glance to his friends. They all seem like they're having a good time right now and probably wouldn't want to be bothered.
His gaze wanders. He never really looked at the Fearamid...He supposes it's kind of cool, design-wise...There's a slanted ceiling that seems to go on forever, and the floors are shiny...It's big...and...impressive...and stuff…
His eye travels down to the opposite corner of the room, to where the human is chained. Bill's made quite a show of parading the little creature around, tormenting it and such, but he's been ignoring it ever since it died the last time.
It looks a little lonely, now that Bill isn't playing with it. Hectorgon had muttered something about it being nothing but trouble, but it doesn't seem like much of a problem. Maybe it'll make good company, or at least an amusing distraction.
Kryptos makes his decision and hovers over to the imprisoned being. It's not like he has much else to do, anyway.
Stanford wants to be anywhere else but here. His arms are chained behind his back and attached to a heavy collar affixed around his neck. All he can do is get as comfortable as possible, leaning against the wall he's been shackled to. The migraine behind his eyes throbs as the music pounds through his skull, hitting his brain with every beat. His arms strain to cover his ears, but all he can do is tilt his head awkwardly to the side to block at least one ear. It doesn't do much except make him look like a curious owl.
He groans as his shoulder cracks and the muscles in his neck strain. This was not how he planned to spend his retirement…. If he retired at all… If he even lived to see the day…
He curls his legs underneath himself, chains clinking musically. He manages to twist his body around and press his forehead to the cold wall. Anything to relieve the building pressure in his head. He shuts his eyes, grimacing.
Kryptos stares at the creature. He doesn't understand Bill's fascination with the thing. It's small, it's pretty much entirely made of meat, and it's so frail and stupid. That and it smells 'd slaughtered creatures like these by the thousands in other dimensions. What's so special about this one?
Well, he doesn't have many other options for company or entertainment right now, so he decides he might as well start talking to the thing.
"Hey there." he says casually, as though he was talking to any other being and not some little meat pet of Bill's. "Enjoying the party?"
Ford's eyes snap open, swinging around to the sudden voice. His hackles are raised and his teeth are bared. The creature that stands before him is a curious thing… A Diamond? His brain scrambles to process it. It must be a trap. Bill's got to be somewhere, watching him.
"What! What do you want from me?" He growls, fists clenching as he raises them.
Kryptos shrugs. "Just wanna talk to someone." Oh god..he's not good at this...his casual facade wavers a bit. He takes a drink of the Time Punch in his hand to soothe his nerves. It tastes as washed out and gross as he thought it would, but he swallows it anyway, his mouth twisting into a bit of a grimace. He coughs, the bite of the alcohol reaching his tongue. He shouldn't have gotten himself such a big helping of the stuff, but Pyronica and Hectorgon had been watching him, and he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it if he took any less.
Ford's eyes narrow suspiciously. "What about your 'friends' over there?" He nods over to the group of Henchmaniacs. The pink demon notices his gaze and waves frantically at him.
He quickly averts his eyes.
Kryptos shrugs again. "They're busy doing their own thing. And besides, they never just wanna talk." He swirls his cup, as though it would make the contents more appetizing. That's a normal, casual gesture, right?
Ford isn't convinced. There has to be some sort of play to this. "Oh yeah? Well… What makes you think I want to talk to you?" He snaps, instantly regretting it as the rise in blood pressure makes him feel queasy.
He slumps forward in the chains with a heavy sigh.
Kryptos watches the creature curiously. It seems...tired? He guesses? Though he's not sure why. It hasn't been doing much since Bill chained it up.
"Um...I dunno…" he says finally. "But like...what else are you gonna do?"
Sweat beads across Ford's brow and he slowly raises his head. "Fine… Just… I don't know… At least get me some water or something… Or food."
Kryptos stares, confused. "Um...ok…" he looks around. "Uh...what's 'wah-tur'?"
Ford blinks slowly. Oh for the love of…
"It's a liquid. Two hydrogen molecules bound to an oxygen molecule. Human bodies are seventy percent of it." He explains wearily.
Kryptos' confusion increases. "Then can't you just...use the stuff...already in your body?"
"... No. That's the problem. It gets used up."
Kryptos stares. "That's, er...o-ok…" That seems fake but ok . "Where do you get this...watur?"
Ford rolls his eyes in exasperation. "Lakes, ponds… Fresh water tends to come from taps but since you lot destroyed the town… Probably not happening any time soon…"
Kryptos' eye glazes over, his mind already beginning to wander. That seems like an awful lot of work to find. His gaze drifts, and eventually settles on the snack table. "Hey," he interjects suddenly. "do humans eat Time Food?"
Ford furrows his brow. "Well… Sort of… It was illegal in the last dimension I was in."
Kryptos is already floating over to the snack table. He gathers up some random foods into a bowl and hurries back to the human.
He sifts through the bowl. "Ok, um...we've got Time Puffs, Time Eclairs, Time Popcorn, Slices of Time, Time Chips…"
Ford peers curiously into the bowl. "Fascinating…" He muses, in spite of himself. "Uh… Well I've eaten Dimension X Chips before… Are they the same as those?"
Kryptos looks at the chips in his bowl. Each one is half the size of the small creature. "Um...I think they're kinda the same? Like they're supposed to flaunt the laws of physics and stuff but they're really tasty..."
"I think I can eat those…" Ford muses, leaning forward in his chains before peering up at the creature. "Thank you, uh…. What's your name?"
Kryptos shrugs and sets the bowl down on the floor. He pulls out a shining, fluxing triangle and divides it into smaller pieces.
"Kryptos." he says, smiling. He crushes the last of the chip and hands it to the tiny human.
"Pleased to meet you, Kryptos. You seem nicer than your friends."
Kryptos shrugs again. He glances at Bill and the rest of his friends. "Yeah..." he mutters. What kind of Henchmaniac does that make him, lauded as nice by this skinbag?
He sighs. "I'm pretty sure they all think I'm the weak link. I guess they're not wrong..."
"Nothing weak about not following a crowd. That's what I always say!"
Kryptos smiles again. He never thought of it that way. Wasn't Bill always saying there weren't any more rules here anyway?
Ford goes to reach for the chip but is swiftly reminded by the clink of the chains that he can't move his arms. "Oh… Uh… Right."
Kryptos sees the human struggling and moves a little closer. "So...how does this...how do humans eat?"
Seriously? Ford sighs. "We eat with our mouths." He says, opening his up to show his teeth. "You just stick the food in there."
Kryptos bends down and looks over the human's "mouth". "Oooh...hey that's like what I have!" He nods. "Ok!" He shoves a wad of chip bits into the human's mouth.
Ford finds his cheeks to be suddenly stuffed. His overall annoyance at that is quickly overrun by the flavour in his mouth. Kryptos is right. It's delicious! It reminds him of an old bar he came across many dimensions ago... Must have been Dimension XIX...
"KRYPTOS!"
The demon jumps at the sound of his name. He turns. "Oh, uh...h-hey there...Bill..."
Bill clicks his tongue, his hands on his sides. "You know how I feel about feeding my pets without my permission!"
Kryptos hurriedly deposits the food back into his bowl. "Sorry it just like...seemed hungry?"
Bill sighs. "They always say that, but just you can't believe them! No matter how much they beg!" He eyes Kryptos. The diamond-shaped demon was always a little...off, somehow. Not that Bill cares too much, seeing as he still goes along with his plans, and had for millennia, but...
Kryptos looks to the side. "'k..." he mumbles.
"I beg your pardon!" Ford interjects. "I am not your pet, Bill! And you haven't fed me nearly enough food!" He snaps testily, rattling his chains.
Bill sighs. "see, this is what I mean!" He floats up to his prisoner and casually fluffs his hair. Ford growls, shaking his head.
"Sixer's just a gumpy little human because he can't handle the excitement!" Bill motions to the party. "You should join us, Kryptos! Pyronica was about to set herself on fire and run through the town! We're all taking bets on how bad the damage will be!~"
Kryptos wrings his hands. "Well...that does sound kinda fun... I guess..." He glances at the human, then back at his friends, then to Bill. "I just...I don't know..."
"That sounds stupid." Ford mutters. "I can handle excitement, but idiocy is something else."
He eyes Kryptos knowingly. The amount of times he had to politely declined when college 'friends' invited him to 'get wasted'.
Bill scratches the human under the chin. "Awwww, he's so cute when he's cranky!" He looks up at his henchmaniac. "So how 'bout it, Krypster?"
Kryptos squeezes his hands together until they shake. "I just...Maybe in a bit..." He finally decides on a shrug. "I think i'm gonna go get some more food..."
He makes a hasty retreat to the snack table.
Bill sighs and takes another drink of his punch. "Weirdo..." he mutters, then shrugs. "Oh well! His loss!" Bill floats back to the group. "Whoooo's ready for some arson?~"
The henchmaniacs roar in approval, chanting "ARSON, ARSON, ARSON!"
Ford rolls his eyes. Bunch of idiots.
Kryptos winces. Why are they so damn loud...?
He glances at the human. Kryptos knows Bill said he had enough food... but Bill isn't exactly the most trustworthy creature. Still, defying Bill would bring that friendly demeanor of his crashing to a terrible halt... Bill can have a truly horrible temper.
Kryptos sighs. It's not like he has much else to do. And what's the worst that could happen, all in all? Bill might disintegrate him again? It wouldn't be anything new. And besides, if he really pisses Bill off, Pyronica would probably help sort it out...he hopes anyway...
Kryptos turns back to the snack table. The human seemed to like the chips...but the demon isn't sure what else a human would want to eat. Smaller meat creatures? Didn't Bill say they did that, once?
He eventually decides to gather up a little more of everything and wanders back to the chained-up creature.