She was learning many things now that her guest was awake. He drank water, lots of water, and seemed to not like the taste of water but drank it anyway. After the second trip up and back with a glass of water she had returned with the largest bowl she could find full of water, which he was now nursing. He had been perplexed by Smaug, who Hannah had taken out and put on her shoulder as a focal point to keep herself sane.
The bearded dragon would hiss at the alien every time he was in view, spreading out his bright beard imposingly. Hannah couldn't figure out why the lizard was being so aggressive, he was the most docile creature she had ever met, but the alien didn't seem offended by it at all, so she didn't think much on it.
One of the first things the creature 'asked' was the whereabouts of his weapons by indicating his wrist and tilting his head at her. She attempted to inform him that she hid them by indicating his same wrist, then taking her hand and hiding it under one of the blankets. The alien then lifted and searched the blankets probably expecting to find one of his possessions, causing Hannah to hide a smile, by busying herself with the fire.
This pantomiming made-up-on-the-spot sign language was entirely frustrating, but it was going to have to do since neither of them spoke the other's language. Hannah doubted she would even be able to replicate the complicated clicking and rattling that the alien used. She could feel Smaug's inflated spiky throat against her shoulder, causing her to shake her head and nudge her cheek against him in a half-hearted reprimand.
She put the guard back up against the fire and wiped the sweat from her brow, "hot as hell, I hope the jolly green giant's comfortable," she said to Smaug and turned, glancing at the alien who was drinking from the bowl again. He noticed her glance and ran his clawed fingers against his chest in a pinching motion before opening his empty hand and tilting his head.
She figured he was asking about his mesh clothes and she made the 'hidden' sign again with the blanket. This time he didn't look and just took another drink from the bowl, making another grimacing expression and looking at the remaining water. It was tough for him; there wasn't any purer water anywhere in the world, except maybe the arctic.
Maybe that was the problem, maybe the tap water with the hard minerals and such from the city would be more to his liking. She wouldn't be able to test for a while. She was pretty sure her door was half-buried by now. Moving towards the bed caused the alien to tense and glower at her, never blinking, but she pretended not to notice and adjusted the red lights to focus more on him in his new upright position. He tilted his head, holding his hand up as if holding the light in his palm, curling his fingers into a fist. She took it as an accepting gesture and moved away from the bed again.
She cleared off the nightstand to give him a place to set down the bowl so that he wasn't holding it all the time. There was definitely something wrong with his chest though. The wheezing hadn't fully gone away, and she saw him wince and rub his chest every now and then. She still didn't know what she could do for him. She could call up a doctor once the snow thinned, but she was sure she didn't have enough money to buy a doctor's silence.
She moved out of the room, hearing a growl behind her and looked over her shoulder, he had done this every time she left and she couldn't understand why, but he sat there, growling, obviously angry about something as he glowered at her back. She ignored him again and moved downstairs. Now it was time to find out what he wanted to eat. She figured he was carnivorous, if his teeth were any indication, but she knew better than to assume. Smaug's mouth was full of tiny sharp teeth, and he was an omnivore.
Petting the lizard's spiky back she headed back into the kitchen. The light fixture above gave of very clean bright white light, showing the dragon's orange, yellow and red coloring much better than under the red lights. She set him down on the counter, not wanting to take him down into the cold storage, and moved down. She returned with a piece of meat, which she cooked long enough only for it to be thawed. She put the meat in a bowl and with a bowl in hand fetched some of the kale lettuce from her stash of things for Smaug.
The lizard was picked up and put back on her shoulder and she moved upstairs with the two bowls. The alien appeared to be examining the room it was in, before being distracted by her approach. Every look and gesture he made was always swift and sharp, almost like everything was a reflex, it always gave her a bit of pause and a sense of danger. He tilted his head and rattled, looking at the bowls in Hannah's hands. She lifted the both of them and stepped inside, carefully approaching and holding out the two bowls.
"This one," she said lifting the bowl of meat, "or this one?" she said, lifting the bowl of lettuce. She felt Smaug flare up again but ignored the dragon. The alien looked at her then leaned to his side, towards Hannah. His mandibles flared and he breathed in deeply, wheezing and moving back, rubbing his chest. But he lifted his hand and snatched the raw meat right out of the bowl. Hannah blinked a couple times in shock as he tore a strip off of the meat and ate it raw, his mandibles flicking around the inner mouth, the same way a crabs mandibles flickered when it would eat.
"Okay you like it raw," she said and turned to take both bowls back down. The alien gave her another scathing glare and growl but distracted himself with eating more of the meat. By the time she came back up, drying off her hands the meat was gone, and he was looking at her in a way that she would consider 'expectantly.'
Her eyes widened, "more!?" she probably should have guessed, it was such a large creature, it would need a lot of protein to power that kind of body. Sighing in defeat she turned, earning another growl and whipped around, pointing warningly at the alien. He made a chattering noise and regarded her finger, she stepped away from the alien and turned to go downstairs and get more meat.
She had all four burners on and quite a bit of meat thawing. This time she would prepare several steaks, better to have too much than not enough; she would eat whatever he didn't.
"I'm going to have to hunt constantly if this keeps up," she said petting the lizard. She was half-hoping that this voracious appetite came from his three days of unconsciousness, and was not his usual diet. But she was fairly certain this was going to be the normal amount he would eat daily. She would work through her freezer very quickly. She would probably have to hunt a deer a day just for him. She began to plan the conservation of her herds, which ones could afford being hunted more, and which ones she could only take just one or two from.
If she wanted to trek further than her mountain and the couple of mountains surrounding she could maybe find the elk, and maybe feed her guest for two days instead of one. This seemed like a good plan, when the weather was a little better. If she had to leave while the snow was deep, it was going to have to be deer.
"We're going to have to be frugal Smaug," she said, stroking the lizard's spiny beard, "just until he leaves."
She returned to the room with the large bowl she had previously used for water, now full of bloody raw meat. The alien was looking intently over at something, glancing at her and the bowl of meat. It rattled again and extended his hands receiving the meat and began eating. He looked over to his previous point of interest as he stripped the meat. Eventually he pointed and Hannah looked over at the deer skull.
"Deer," she said and he looked at her, tilting his head, "deer," she replied, pointing, then put a hand on her chest, "mine. I hunted it."
His mandibles flickered again as he fed himself another strip of meat, then pointed at the skull and then turned his hand, palm facing up. He wanted to see it. She moved over and reached up, standing on her toes and unhooked the mount from the wall. He wiped his fingers clean on his skin and held out his hand. She realized she was giving him a potential weapon just as he took the antlered skull out of her hands. She tensed as he looked it over, clicking and rattling, touching the skull gently, reverently almost. He ran his fingers along the antlers, fingering the points as if testing the sharpness. He then turned it over and looked at the underside of the skull, touching the teeth.
He grunted and handed the skull back, seemingly displeased about something. She took offense, unsure of why she was offended, but moved and put the skull back on the wall. She turned and saw him pointing again and followed his gaze to a small black bear skull. She looked back at him, his yellow eyes focused on her, turning his hand up. She sighed, relenting and moved to the skull, taking it down and handing it back to him, feeling a bit better with this one as the skull was less dangerous.
He inspected it with the same careful scrutiny, touching the brow and the sockets of the animal, then turning it over and touching the teeth. He looked up at her, again with that sharp deliberate movement.
"Bear," she said and he looked at the skull again. He pointed at it, then at her, "yes, mine, I hunted it."
He looked back at the skull before extending his hand, returning it to her. He seemed more pleased about this one. She didn't get it, vaguely connecting his fascination with the skulls with the different ornaments that she had removed from him, but wasn't entirely sure what sort of connection it was. The skull was too large to make a necklace out of, well, maybe not for him.
She turned her back to him to put the skull back on the wall and she jumped, startled as he roared at her, but also because her own voice yelled at her, "enough of that!" as he smacked the bed. She was quiet, looking at him as he shifted back on the bed.
"You speak English?" she said quietly.
"Speak English?" her voice, growlish and a bit deeper than her tone, repeated back at her from somewhere behind the mandibles and he tilted his head. Hannah's shoulders fell despite herself at the revelation that he was just parroting her. Still, he had the capability of parroting, which she could use to set up some form of communication with him, and he had used the words in context. It was at the very least promising.
"Enough of what exactly?" she asked but didn't get an answer. She sighed and turned, getting a growl and looked back at him again, his mandibles flaring. She furrowed her brow and turned her shoulder so that her back was to him, but could keep him in sight. He snarled and flared his mandibles wide. He didn't like her turning her back to him. She turned so that she was facing him and stepped back rather than turning. Once she felt the wall against her shoulder she turned only so, so that she could put the skull back up.
Satisfied, he went back to eating. Her life was going to be difficult if she had to walk backwards everywhere around the alien. Maybe it was something she could negotiate with him eventually. She scooted around the bed, keeping her back to the wall until she stepped out of the room, the alien watching her movements with an intense stare but continued eating. She moved backwards into the hallway, and then carefully down the stairs, the alien leaning over to watch her until she was out of sight.
Letting out a heavy breath, she moved to the living room and plopped down in the chair in front of the fire. She looked at the flames, shifting out of the chair to add more wood and went back to the chair to think.
She was honestly surprised that the alien trusted her so willingly to drink and eat what she gave him. Ifs he woke up in a strange place, injured, being served by a strange creature, she wouldn't have eaten or drank anything she was given unless she was near death. Maybe it wasn't trust, maybe it was confidence, or maybe he could just tell that what she was giving it wasn't drugged. Whatever the reason, she was at least thankful. Hopefully he was on a speedy road to recovery, and she could take him back to his ship and he could leave and hopefully never come back.
She pulled the fleece throw from the back of the chair and wrapped it around her shoulders, having gotten rather used to the intense heat of her room. She stroked Smaug's back gently and nuzzled his head with her cheek. He tilted his head but otherwise didn't react. She folded her arms across her chest and heaved a sigh.
She was going to have one hell of a time.