"AAaaPHhhiiiiid," Kor sobbed and it made Aphid immediately drop to his aid.
"C'mere," the big brother gently scooped the boy up and sat him in his lap to both soothe and examine him, "C'mere, baby brother, let me see. Let me see."
"I-it huuuurts!" Kor cried and scrunched his leg up.
"Careful," Aphid softly spoke and carefully took ahold of Kor's leg, "Careful now. Let me get a look."
Aphid worked on getting Kor's boot off and pant leg up all while trying to keep a cautious eye on the two nearby.
When Freluff began to move towards him, Aphid almost made a snatch for his belt he had on the ground next to him. He wasn't sure exactly what he could do with it to fend off such a man, but he'd damn well be certain he at least left a welt before getting murdered.
But Freluff's gentle wave somehow put Aphid at ease enough to let the man kneel before him and his brother. The imposing man certainly had an unspoken kind air about him. Aphid sensed it whether Aphid knew it or not.
"Hey there, little man," Freluff addressed the crying boy, "I'm sorry my hot-headed farmhand knocked you on the leg like that. Hric tends to act far, far before he thinks. You want me to crack him back for ya?"
"What?" Hric's voice was heard questioning that proposal.
Kor simmered a little as he cautiously eyed this large man them before turning his eyes up at Aphid.
Aphid signified the man was safe with a nod and introduction.
"Kor, this is Mr… Freluff?," he said, "I believe he's the farmer of this farm."
Freluff nodded to this and outreached his hand for Kor to shake.
"Kor?...I like that name, little man," Freluff commented as Kor accepted the man's handshake.
"like an apple core?" Hric was heard questioning, but was properly ignored by everyone.
"Is this young man,…Aphid, I heard you call him, your big brother?" Freluff then asked Kor of Aphid.
"Heh," Hric was heard again, "….like the bug?"
His remarks were again ignored.
Kor nodded to Freluff's question. His crying having simmered quite a lot now, and Aphid realized that it was Freluff's intention to distract Kor while the big brother worked on checking the boy's leg.
"I had a big brother," Freluff continued to talk with Kor, "Kyne embrace him. He was one of the best. Derryk was always there for me, for good and bad. He always knew what to do. What to say. And, Shor's bones, I could never pull a fast one on him—Those big brother's sure know what you're up to before you even know what you're up to."
Kor actually smiled a little. Sounds like Aphid, for sure.
"And I bet your Aphid knows just how to get you to laugh," Freluff added, "….and it probably involves embarrassing you bit, too, doesn't it?"
Kor smiled a little more and finally responded to the man with words.
"Not always," he slightly chuckled.
"Not always?" Aphid repeated and teased, "What I can't always get a laugh out of you?"
"Noo! I mean," Kor chuckled a little more, "that you don't always embarrass me!"
Aphid gasped like he was a little offended.
"Oh, so I AM embarrassing," the older brother replied.
"Sometimes," Kor immediately retorted with a slyness.
"Som--! You little cheeky--You've become so cheeky lately!" Aphid feigned more offense, though he was honestly off guard for Kor's reply. The boy really has shot back some unexpected lip lately.
Kor openly chuckled at Aphid's response but quickly yipped in pain.
"Ow!" he yelped and then let out a whine and clutched his hand over the hand Aphid had on his leg. Aphid had been very gently moving the ankle about and had gotten Kor's pant leg up to look at it and his leg, but the squeeze of rolling the pant's leg up, combined with Aphid's slight distraction with the joking, sent a shock of pain on the boy.
"Oh, Kor, I'm sorry," the older brother apologized and took a look at the battered leg, that now had a nasty bruise from that damn Hric boy added to it.
Aphid was just about to send a glare Hric's way, but Freluff beat him to the punch with a stern voice shot towards the curly teen.
"Hric Gorvalder Svargrod, you step right over here, come here, and see what you've done to this boy!" the man demanded.
"What--I—He attacked me!" Hric defended, "And was stealing--"
"This is a child, Hric! You come look at what you've done to him," Freluff ordered again and put a comeuppance upon him, "I am docking your pay for two weeks."
"Freluff!" Hric exclaimed, his face flustered with this being scolded, or his loss of pay—very likely both, "….They're…they're thieves!"
Freluff was about to say something towards the teen again, but Kor suddenly spoke up…and on the teen's behalf.
"H-he didn't do all of it," Kor explained about his leg, "….a-and we were stealing."
"Hm?" Freluff turned his attention back on the brothers.
Aphid gave a wary smile. His brother was such a good kid, and Aphid loved his honesty, but….darn that honesty sometimes.
Kor seemed a little nervous now as he leaned a little more into Aphid, but he continued being an honest little lad.
"I-I stepped into a bear trap--"
"Deer snare," Aphid corrected, as the former would likely have left the boy with no foot.
"Yeah, that," Kor nodded, "…He did hit me, but I was already hurt….and we…were trying to steal your apples, sir…."
"I told you!" Hric threw in.
"Yes, sir," Aphid confirmed, "….We're trying to get to Falkreath to find some work but got—well, we've been quite down on our luck lately and got a good deal off track, I think, and we're just--"
Freluff held up a hand.
"It's quite alright, young man," he said, "I'm a farmer. We can see under the surface; know the good spots under the dirt. Not to mention that you must be rather hungry to want an apple before it's ripe, heh…..And Hric? Three weeks no pay."
"What?!" the curly haired teen spout, "Why!!"
"You know I counted my snares, right?" Freluff said to him, "when you said you got 'em all up and back in the tool shed after your hunt?...two's missing. Think these poor lads found 'em. I've done told you about not getting them up, no less just putting my tools back where they go."
Hric seemed like he was trying to find some way to contest this scolding, but either knew he was had or was overcome with embarrassment again—likely both. All he could do while Freluff continued to reprimand him was open his mouth to say something then promptly shut it.
"You know I do not abide," Freluff continued, "leaving them snares out. Leaving some hapless animal to waste and rot and attract any sort of scavengers near my home. You want to fend off a pack of hungry wolves? How about trolls? And look at this. You c'mere and look. Snapped these poor lost travelers. A little boy and his—my the big brother's even bleeding. That snare dug into you real good, didn't--"
"A-actually," Aphid intercepted, snapping out of his glaze eye at the sound of trolls, "That's a wolf bite….we only found one snare."
"Wha—Oh my," Freluff replied, "You poor boys HAVE been down on your luck, and that danggum cat got ya good too."
Aphid's shoulder, shirt, and skin beneath did look like it had been put through a log shredder…..
"Hric," Freluff looked back upon the curly teen, "Will you go fetch my mending kit while I help these boys get to the house."
"I ain't gettin' paid to fetch now. Fetch it your damn self," Hric shot back and stormed off the opposite direction. He had started to throw the broken handle perilously close to Freluff and the brothers before he had stormed away, but thought better of it in the nick of time.
Freluff merely sighed with a shake of his head and put his attention on the brothers.
"Don't mind him," he said, "He's an alright kid under that hot headed mess of curls...Kersi? Would you fetch that mendin' kit for me, barn owl?"
"Yes, Papa," came a soft feminine voice from a bit behind the brothers, "Come on, Minky Dinks."
Aphid snapped his head over his shoulder. This whole time he hadn't noticed anybody else nearby. Just how many people were on this farm….and surrounding them?
But he only saw the backside of a woman-- or more likely a young lady due to her youthful voice and height--, dressed in a ruffled, oversized maroon work tunic, faded leather pants, and dirt clotted boots. She had turned away, before Aphid could see her face, towards the farmhouse with that blasted cat in toe. Her honey wheat braided pigtails swaying in sync, it seemed like, with the arrogant lift of that feline's tail.
"My daughter, Kersi," Freluff explained, "And you've met the cat….Milk Drinker. Or Milks. Or Minky Dinks, as Kersi likes to call him….You, Hric, and Kersi are probably all around the same age. How 'bout that? You're a tall one, though. Seventeen, eighteen?"
"Fifteen," Aphid replied somewhat blankly as he put his attention back on Freluff. He realized too late that he answered truthfully instead of his usual coverup.
"Fifteen? My, you ARE a tall one," Freluff commented, "…..Alright, now, mind a lift to the house?"
"Sir?..."
"I'll take the little guy here," Freluff explained, "And you can hop up on my back."
"Uhm…," Aphid only held Kor a little closer, "….I got him, sir, I can walk. But thank yo--"
"I understand, son, I do," Freluff smiled, "But you're looking a bit….pale."
Kor shot a worried gaze up at his brother's face at that, but Freluff set a hand on the boy's arm to assure him.
"Just exhaustion, lad," he said, "Wouldn't want him to drop ya, is all."
Aphid still looked a bit uneasy, but there was something warm about this Freluff. And admittedly, being addressed with 'son' brought about a sort of nostalgia. Aphid's father addressed him as 'son' quite often. Of course, Aphid WAS his son, but the endearment was one of the few ways the boy truly felt close to him. Arvid may have lacked the physical affection Aphid …could be overboard with….but whenever he addressed his son, Aphid could feel all that love Arvid struggled to show behind it.
"I won't drop…," Aphid began to say, but as his adrenaline was coming down, he could feel….everything.
He took a little breath and held Kor just a little bit closer before giving in to his gut instinct of this Freluff.
"Kor…," Aphid spoke to the boy, "…May Mr. Freluff carry you to the house?"
Kor only had one worry himself.
"Are you going to walk?" he asked.
Aphid almost gave a small chuckle to that but exhaled from his nose instead.
He didn't want to be carried, no. He does the carrying…..but it probably was for the best.
"….No, baby brother," he answered, "I suppose I'll saddle up this time."