Honestly, a thousand things should have occurred to me about being brought semi-willingly into a group of the very species I was and hated. The only thing that I had thought about was how it was almost certain to bring back a few murderous tendencies due to the fact I hated my own species.
I hadn't thought about the dozens of eyes staring at me, watching my every footstep and their gazes following mine as though I might uncover some incredible secret only they knew about simply by walking. Nor did I expect the range of emotions behind said gazes. My biased mind had just classified all prime apes as lazy, stupid, selfish, and horrible, which had blinded me to the fact they were living things just as I was. I really should have been more prepared for this. I realized, glancing at Roslyn. I've been with her for about a day and she is certainly not lazy, stupid, selfish or horrible.
The prime ape who had attacked me in the forest, who Roslyn had introduced as Chase, stood on the side opposite to where she was padding with his chest puffed out as though he owned me. I'm bigger and stronger than you, bud. I flexed my claws as we finally stopped in the center of the camp. I would have killed you no problem if Roslyn hadn't intervened.
As I remembered from my old troop, each den was made of leaves and expertly woven twigs and was big enough for a mother, father, and child. A few smaller ones were scattered at the edge of the clearing which I recalled were for prime apes like me who had no family. I preferred it when it was just me. I didn't have to be all orderly and stuff... then the others started appearing and whoa! Now everyone must be all smart and fancy!
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a few younger prime apes playing, reaching for each other's tails and tackling each other, but eventually, even they stopped at their game and stared at the stranger in their midst. Unable to hold it back any longer, I betrayed my uneasiness with a jittery wave of my tail. One of the braver ones stumbled away from his friends, puffing out his chest even though he was still young enough to be clumsy on his paws, and stomped right up to me.
"Who are you?" He demanded.
A low growl rumbled in Chase's throat as he scooped up the protesting infant. "None of your business. Go with your friends." He placed him again and the little one fled back to them, whispering among themselves.
I cleared my throat to break the unnecessary tension and stood a little taller. "Greetings! My name's Wilbur! For those of you who don't know me, I'm the one who took out the spiders and claimed the volcano for... us..." More whispering, now a few half-admiring half-cautious looks being thrown my way. "Um... Roslyn helped me because I got attacked by dragoons, and I only freely mention that because if I don't, she will very soon." She let out a snort of amusement.
"He was so brave and strong the way he failed." She confirmed.
Now everyone was speaking normally, sans a couple who were shifting on their paws as though they were the uncomfortable ones.
"You know what?" Roslyn clapped her paws together. "I got an idea." I looked at her, hoping for clarification. "Come with me." Completely ignoring the crowd of curious looks and questions and bounded the way we came. I took one more look around before following her. Once we were out of the stares of the other prime apes, she slowed down massively. Once we couldn't even hear the others anymore she stopped completely. "Sorry. I didn't expect them to act so curiously. Usually, they don't care when I bring another prime ape to the troop to recover." She looked down at her paws. "I don't really know what to do. I just wanted to get you out of that."
"I'm glad you did," I let out a sigh of relief. "Why were they so... starey?"
"Perhaps you should not have introduced yourself in such a way," she mused.
"They were looking at me weirdly before I introduced myself," I protested.
"Sorry..." She shrugged, an embarrassed smile making its way onto her face. "Well fine. You can just... stay around here somewhere. I can still help you recover!" Joy sparkled in her eyes. "Does that sound alright to you?"
"I can't stay," I told her firmly. "I said I would stay until I met your troop- I've done so and I hate them as much as I thought I would, no offense- but now I need to go."
"You don't even know where your group is!" She pointed out.
"You don't know that!"
"Now I do." The joy drained away to be replaced by that awful pleading look she kept giving me.
"No. Don't. Stop giving me that look- ROSLYN!" I took a deep breath.
"I don't mean to give you a look-"
"FINE, it's not like I have ANYTHING better to do." I couldn't help but notice that the majority of my burns were already gone, and surely she noticed it too... so why was she so set on keeping me here longer than I should be? Is she trying to exploit me? Does she have something to gain by keeping me here? Judging by the look on her face, she wasn't thinking of personal gain. She just wants to keep me here...
"Yes! You're the best!" Almost as though she didn't even realize what she was doing, she leaped forward and hugged me. It didn't last long, but long enough for me to feel the unnaturally fast way her heart was beating. She should probably talk to someone about that. She's not been running or anything, maybe something's wrong. But the thoughts disappeared as soon as she released me, rubbing the back of her head and blushing like crazy. "I'm so sorry," she apologized instantly. "I have no clue what that was about..."
"No. It's alright." I smiled. "...I've... uh... never been hugged before." I wrapped my tail around my paws. "...it feels nice..."
She giggled. "Well don't worry." She grabbed my front paws in hers. "Think of it this way. I have a feeling that as long as you stay here, you've got a lot more of those coming your way."
"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked.
She smiled again, turned around to start walking again and lightly tapping my nose with her tail. "Oh... nothing."
OH MY GOD WHAT?
IS SHE FLIRTING WITH ME?
I CANNOT TELL.
WHAT DO I SAY?
"Okay... I guess."