Chapter 4
"Not with the wrapper still on!"
Yet'rin turned to face the child that hovered at his right elbow with a dismal expression and a very meager quantity of comprehension. The boy smacked a frail arm against his own with mingled frustration and surprise, until finally he seemed to surrender the battle of what he proposed was common sense and snatched the package from the hunter's hands. With a practiced gesture, the child ripped off the silver material enveloping the two rectangular pastries.
Yet'rin just watched, puzzled and silent, at the contents of the boy's hands for a moment before they were shoved into his own.
"Now you can heat them up." Trent smiled.
Yet'rin cocked his head in the direction of the heating device on the counter, watching the boy's response. An energetic nod was issued.
Yes, it appeared that he should now heat up the rectangular objects.
He was about to place them on the rotating circle within the electrical box when a grumble made him stop.
"Not in the MICROWAVE."
Melody lay in the middle of the kitchen floor, her knees bent and small hands folded across her chest. She glared up at the large being beside the counter, having been watching his progress for the past five minutes after scooting across the floor tiles had become boring. When he turned around and cocked his head in her direction, she frowned.
She pushed herself into a sitting position as Trent began explaining that the pastries needed to be cooked in the toaster, as opposed to the microwave.
"What kind of dumm-dumm doesn't know how to cook a pop-tart?"
Yet'rin glanced at her again as the pop-tarts toasted. Trent shot her an angry look. She poked her tongue out at him and stood up. She moved forward as the hunter pulled another package of pastries from the box. He held it up for a moment, watching her, to see if it was what she desired for breakfast.
He took her lack of response as a yes. She was more prone to vocalize against what she found to be distasteful. That much he had picked up by now.
Shick!
Yet'rin turned around to watch Trent pull his breakfast from the toaster and unwrapped the pastries in his hand. He placed them in the vacant, smaller heating contraption and pressed down the latch on the side as he had seen the boy do.
That done he dropped the wrapper on the counter and moved away, leaving the little girl access to her breakfast when it was done. He watched as she waited for him to move to the opposite side of the room before stepping over to stand in front of the toaster. She pulled them out and dropped them onto a plate and sat down cross-legged to eat.
A faint prod at his leg prompted the warrior to lower his line of vision. The boy was sitting on the floor beside him and caught his eyes, having just smacked Yet'rin with the side of his plate. He held up a pop-tart.
Yet'rin looked from the object in the boy's hand to the boy's face and back again.
Was the child offering him the remains of the rectangular substance?
Trent continued to hold up the pop-tart, motioning for the hunter to take it.
Yes, it appeared that the boy was concerned about his lack of eating whatever it was that he made for the two of them.
Unwillingly, the warrior smiled. He declined the food, but patted the boy on the head to let him know the offer wasn't misconceived. The boy smiled brightly and consumed the rest of his breakfast as Yet'rin watched.
Unbeknownst to the yautja, he too was being watched. The large hazel eyes took in the entire scene between her brother and the large creature. And as a devious plot formulated in her head, Melody came to the realization that she would have to make this being eat something at lunch time.
If he did, in fact, eat.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"We need more milk."
"And eggs, and bread. And cereal." Melody closed the refrigerator door and looked at her brother with a raised eyebrow. "But I don't think he knows where to get them." She pointed a thumb at Yet'rin over her shoulder.
"Need...more?" Yet'rin asked, eyeing the two children questioningly. Trent nodded while his sister kept her back turned.
"Yeah. we're out of milk." He raised the empty jug and pointed at it. Then to the vacant egg-carton, bread bag, and cereal boxes littering the counter. "And those."
Yet'rin took the empty jug and nodded. He understood what the children were saying, but had hoped they would show some sort of knowlege as to what to do about the shortage of food supplies. It appeared he wasn't that lucky.
"More food. Where?" he asked.
"The store." Melody replied absently and went to go climb on the couch. She jumped on it a few times, getting higher with each bounce.
Grinning, Trent sped off in her direction and mimicked the action. When he got to the point wher he was bouncing even with his sister, he turned to her and shouted.
"The highest one wins!"
A smile was his response.
Yet'rin watched the human offspring sail higher and higher out of the corner of his visor. He vaguely wondered at their incredible energy reserves as he listened to the 'pop-corn' crackling in the 'microwave'. Taking the steaming bag out of the hot mechanical box, he pried open the bag and dumped the contents into a large bowl. Tossing a few stray pieces that had stumbled onto the table back into the transparent-blue container, he moved the bowl to the dining table.
"Time to eat." He proclaimed to the children.
Surprisingly, the girl was the first off the couch, and to approach the bowl. She bore a strange expression on her tiny face, keeping her eyes on him as she made her way to the table.
Just as she was pulling out a chair to sit on, however, her brother came running at full speed towards the pop-corn. With a muted crack the side of the chair she was pulling out connected with Melody's nose as Trent pushed it aside subconciously.
Yet'rin hopped over the table as she recoiled from the blow,grasping the front of her face tightly. A stream of red trickled between her fingers and she glared through watering eyes at her brother.
Realizing what he had inadvertantly done, he grinned sheepishly at her.
"Sorry."
She tsked behind her hand. "No you're not! You..." She stopped abruptly as her hand was pulled away, and the hunter's face appeared uncomfortably close to hers. She screamed and jerked backwards, but the creature's grip prevented her from going far. After a few more minutes of futile struggling, she gave up and sat numbly as he clasped his other hand at her chin. She averted her eyes, but didn't fuss anymore.
After a few moments of examination and gentle prodding of her face, the being turned and gestured at Trent.
"Towel. Water."
The boy nodded and ran to obey.
Melody, who had glanced up at the sound of Yet'rin's voice, now watched her brother skip to obey the monster who still had a firm grip on her arm. She glared at his back as he wetted a wash cloth. She hated the way he was wiling to do whatever the creature asked of him. And that he was acting like he hadn't even done anything wrong.
"Dummy..." she called after him.
Yet'rin noticed the angered look the girl-child was sending at her brother. He smiled silently at her childish anger, although he could understand where she was coming from. The other one HAD damaged her for no reason...
"Here!" Trent handed the damp washcloth to Yet'rin and went back to eating. He watched as the warrior wiped the blood off his sister's face, puzzling at the fact that she was letting him even touch her. Not that it looked like she had a choice in the matter...
Finished with cleaning the girl's face, Yet'rin released her arm and stod up. He noticed she was waiting for him to move out of her path to the table mutely. He marveled at her silence as he walked over to the sink and started washing the cloth off beneath the running water (It had taken him a while to get used to that little aspect of the human dwelling).
Once the cloth was rinsed, he walked back over to the table and sat down in on eof the chairs. Melody stopped eating, but didn't say a word as she watched him tap Trent on the shoulder purposely. The boy turned and faced the giant sitting across from him, pausing mid-bite. He set the bowl down after a moment, facing the hunter curiously.
Yet'rin waited until he had the boy's complete attention, the pointed at the child. Then at the chair, and then at the girl. He shook his head slowly, continuing to point at Melody.
What the boy had just done was to be labeled unacceptable. He wanted to make that clear.
He pointed once more at the boy. "Trent," he said. "Doesn't...break...Melody." He ended with a gesture towards the girl-child's face. "Understand?"
Despite the bad grammar, Trent felt the superior presence of the large being adressing him at that moment. The presence of someone he had come to admire greatly without really knowing why. And he was being scolded by said being. He hung his little head in shame.
Solemnly, the little boy nodded.
Satisfied, Yet'rin patted the boy on the head and glanced at Melody. He caught her eyes and nodded at her.
And then he stood up to walk outside.
Melody had watched the whole display with surprise. She had thought that her brother could do nothing wrong in the creature's eyes. After all, he seemed to like Trent a lot better.
Didn't he?
Trent was USUALLY the better-behaved one. They got along, after all. Well, of course he didn't fuss like her all the time. Yes, she could deffinitely see why the creature liked her brother more. Actually, she had just thought the creature didn't like her at ALL (Not that it was hard to imagine why. She did attatch some sort of purpose in her life with making the monster unhappy).
But he just...stood up for her? Not that he was ever cruel to her, just the fact that he had taken her side over Trent's made her feel...strange.
Was she..GLAD that...HE..had taken her side?
Was he really that...nice?
She had been pretty rotten to him after all...
"Wait!"
She stood up on the chair as the creature stopped his stride toward the doorway, and turned to face her. She could sense the puzzlement in his stance. Not surprising...she didn't address him directly often.
Melody paused for a moment and shut her mouth, a little shambled under his direct gaze. He didn't move, just kept watching her. Finally, she dropped her gaze to the table momentarily, then looked back at his face. She gestured to the table, carefully keeping any emotion from showing on her own face. And waited.
After a minute, he slowly started walking back to the table, staring at her curiously. When he reached it, she pointed to the chair.
Yet'rin raised an eyebrow and sat down. He was deeply confused by now. The girl had never, never desired to be within such a short proximity with him before. Now she was telling him to join them for their meal?
He was taken aback when she leaned over the table and took the bowl from her brother, then pushed it in his direction. The little boy seemed surprised at this too, but remained silent.
"Please...eat."
Yet'rin looked at her, amazed and curious at once.
"Eat some popcorn." She pressed, pointing at the bowl.
And he did.
Taking off his mask slowly (he recalled their reaction the first time he had taken it off), Yet'rin set it aside and picked up a piece of 'popcorn'. He delayed a moment longer, still staring at the girl, then plopped it into his mouth.
Both children watched what his reaction would be.
Actually, he was wondering about it too.
After consuming the piece and not having noticeable digestive pains for a few minutes, he shrugged and proceeded to eat another piece. And another.
Actually, it didn't taste half bad.
Trent whooped with delight as the hunter continued to eat, and he too began consuming more of the popped kernels.
Melody watched them both for a little while, then took a few more pieces for herself.
"Can I see your...mask?"
Yet'rin glanced at the girl who was now staring at his mask. She didn't look up, although she was fidgeting with her hands. Puzzled at her request, the yautja merely stared at her for a little bit.
Oh, what could it hurt?
He nodded and pushed the mask over to her. He wondered at her sudden shift in behavior, but didn't say anything. No sense ruining what could be a good thing...
"Yurrtren?"
Yet'rin blinked at the childish human-speech attempt at his name. He shot the boy who had adressed him a questioning glance.
Trent took that as 'yes?'. He scooted closer to the hunter across the table, grabbing another handful of kernels as he did so.
"Will you tell us a story?"
"Story?" Yet'rin was caught off guard by the request. Or maybe it was the casualty with which the boy had asked. He wasn't stupid. He could tell the boy had formed osme sort of...attatchemnt with him, for some unknown reason.
He still hadn't decided if that was a good thing.
"Yes, a story. About...monsters!"
Melody looked up at her brother instantly, pausing from scribbling on Yet'rin's mask with a cherry scented marker.
"Monsters?" Yet'rin glanced from one child to the other. The girl hid a small cylinder behind her back hurriedly, his mask cradled in her lap. She looked at him wide-eyed, innocent.
"Yes. Monsters! Like in the movies."
Movies? Yet'rin had heard that word before, but hadn't picked up on its meaning yet. He knew 'Monster', though. Oh, he was familliar with THAT one. That was the only name he had heard the girl refer to him as so far.
"Have you seen any?"
Yet'rin looked at the boy again. Monsters...
Yes, he had seen Monsters.
"Yes."
"Cool! Tell us a story!"
"With 'monsters'?"
"Yep!" Trent exclaimed, scooting even closer with interest.
Yet'rin noticed the boy's excitement and smiled despite himself. So they wanted to hear about scary things did they?
He looked at the girl to verify her feelings on the matter. She too was peering at him intently. Anxiously.
With a small chuckle, Yet'rin began to tell the tale of his first hunt.
