Thunder rumbled in the distance as the storm rolled in. The first storm of the year; and from the sound of it it was going to be a big one. Evan added some wood to the fire that danced cheerily in his hearth, and settled down to have a dinner of rabbit stew he'd cooked up with dried vegetables, herbs, and seasonings.
All in all, he felt content. He'd finished patching up the kitchen and stormproofing what of his house was ready. He left the two bedrooms for now; they needed a lot of work before they were done. He sat on his couch as he watched the brilliant sunset. A sunset right before a storm was the most beautiful sunset one could witness; brilliant reds, oranges and yellows, as if the sky was on fire.
As Evan sipped at the flavorful broth of his stew the sky slowly faded in color until brilliant reds faded to purples and pinks, then finally to deep blue and black.
Tok tok tok... tok tok... A few rain drops hit his window. Followed by a few more as it started to sprinkle lightly.
The sharp crack of thunder followed by a brilliant white streak of lightening seconds later made Evan jump, almost dropping his dinner. Moments later, the loud hisssssssssssssssssss of heavy rainfall pounded against his window. For a moment, he wondered what the Enderman would do, or where it would go. Maybe it would go back into his mine. It was sheltered there, and dry. It had gone there once before. Twice, judging by the claw marks he had seen in the stone when he went back later to mine some more coal.
As he watched the storm, his concern grew. Should he go find the Enderman? He had an umbrella... but the quickly shook off the thought. Finding an injured and bleeding, wildly teleporting creature armed to the teeth with razor sharp fangs and claws? Not a good, nor safe, idea. Not to mention tracking him down would be damn near impossible. As frightened of the creature as he was, he actually felt bad for it. That particular one didn't deserve to die; it hadn't attacked him. Not even once. Not even when he'd looked right at it, as fleeting as his glimpses of it had been.
That was when he heard it. A cry of pain outside. It was sharp and staticy. There was another cry, louder and more desperate, closer. The sharp 'vwoomp' of a teleport. The sounds came closer, repeated cries of pain and teleports. Sounding erratically all over the place as those cries of pain grew more and more desparate. He could swear he could hear the fear and pain in each cry, and he wished he could actually do something, but he Enderman was not staying still for one second. He set his stew down, and went to add wood to the fire, trying to ignore those pained cries.
Vwoomp – Tssch! A teleport sounded a mere two feet away from him as a streak of black tore past him, nearly knocking him over. The creature turned to face him, shaking like a leaf. Its mouth was wide open, eyes wide. He swore he saw... tears. A few tiny, glowing gems dropped from its cheeks as it stood there. It growled, the growl rising into that shaky threat howl; but the sound was weak and quiet. It faded off into shaky keening whimpers. Its claws were long and sharp, and he noticed that it seemed to have a line of spines down its back. It was bleeding all over, as if it had been caught in a torrent of acid. Evan had his hand up defensively, as if his arm would keep him from being ripped to shreds by those razor sharp claws. The Enderman trembled and panted heavily, its breathing rapid and panicked.
Then... their eyes met. Evan felt his entire body go stiff as ice shot up and down his spine. He had just locked eyes with an Enderman... and it was not attacking him. It just stared back at him through wide, pained and frightened glowing eyes. But it still made no move to attack. In fact... the poor thing was more frightened then he was. Maybe this one WAS different... It didn't seem aggressive at the moment. It was just scared. He wasn't sure how long they stared at eachother, but it felt like an eternity.
The trance was interrupted as the Enderman's legs gave out on it. It collapsed to Evan's floor with a cry of pain. It closed its eyes tight and curled itself into as tight of a ball as it could. Its breathing was erratic and shaky; Evan realized it was crying. Sobbing, even, though the sound was odd. A soft, staticy keening. A stab of pity ran through him at the sight. The poor thing was so scared... it clearly thought it was going to die there, injured and bleeding, on his floor. Its dark aura and floating particles were diminished compared to his previous glimpses of the creature, though they were still all around it. He could tell where it had come out of its teleport, claw marks in his floor and streaks of blood markings its path clearly.
He rubbed at his arm and pulled his hand away, finding it sticky with purple black blood. His clothing was stained too, as was his floor. He stood, undecided. He wasn't sure what to do.
Leave it there, or try to help it? What if it attacked him as soon as he came near? But he shook the thought off. It hadn't attacked him yet and was clearly in no condition to do so. That was when he realized the desperate keening had stopped. The Enderman was quiet. Its breathing had steadied; no longer erratic and fast, but weak and shallow. He realized that the Enderman was now unconscious.
His decision was made. The creature was more frightened then he was, and it couldn't do anything lying unconscious on his floor. He went to the dresser and brought out one of his old shirts. He started to head towards the washroom, before he shook his head. No; it was water that did this. Wetting the cloth would just make it worse. He'd have to clean the wounds without the aid of water.
He slowly came closer, kneeling beside the shadowy thing. He noticed that its claws were much shorter now, and the odd spines he had seen on its back were gone. He carefully dabbed the cloth against the wounds, trying to clean the blood off. Judging by how badly the Enderman was hurt, it seemed as if every rain drop had left a bleeding hole in its wake. He had his work cut out for him; not one inch of that lean black form was uninjured.
He went and got bandages, and a few more spare cloths. As he cleaned the wounds, he smeared a thick, strong-smelling healing salve over them. It would help with the pain, aid in healing, and prevent infection. As he worked, he got the chance to observe the creature in more detail.
Its anatomy was generally humanlike, but remarkably longer and lankier in proportion. Its torso was long and slender, almost unnaturally skinny looking. He could see the slight bumps of its ribs along its sides; but it didn't seem unhealthy aside from its wounds. He had heard Enderman were naturally very thin in build. The arms and legs were unusually long and thin as well. The arms were tipped in claws which looked oddly shorter then he had seen them before. Maybe the claws retracted when not in use... The legs were also long, and digitgrade. He noticed it had hair, short and a bit curly; though wispy and silky. It curled around its cheeks and swept back over its head. The feet had four long, sharp talons.
The mouth gape ended almost near the ear and the teeth were as black as the rest of it. They were long, and sharp. They didn't look very useful for eating. He found himself wondering what Endermen ate, if they ate at all. He carefully wiped blood away from its eyes, carefully smoothing more of the salve onto its skin. He found himself studying the Enderman's face. Its nose was sharp, and when he brushed the hair aside he found small, pointed ears. Its cheeks had a slight roundness, flowing into a nicely shaped chin. Long, wide mouth and inhuman features aside, the creature wasn't unattractive.
Gender was hard to tell. At first glimpse, he had thought it was male. It was flat chested and had narrow hips, and the facial features looked somewhat masculine. But at second glance, he was starting to wonder if the shadowy creature was female. There was a slit between its legs, though slightly higher then one would expect on a female. It had so many wounds... and he had now used five old shirts, and an old sheet torn into several pieces and had a pile of bloody cloth beside him. He winced as he saw the wounds so close to that sensitive area. No more putting it off. Hesitant as he was, the creature was injured, and he wasn't going to leave it's groin neglected due to his own sensitivities. He carefully dabbed the cloth against the remaining wounds, then gently rubbed the salve in. He did so awkwardly. It just didn't feel... right, to be touching the creature so near it's more intimate parts.
Suddenly, Evan jerked back and recoiled, clearing his throat as he felt his face go hot.
Male.
Most DEFINATELY male. The area just beneath the slit had swelled a bit, showing two small bulges that had not been there before; and the very tip of its... equipment as it were, peeked out ever so slightly. That was entirely enough for the human, who cleared his throat and pressed his lips together, bright red and embarrassed as he averted his gaze. The Enderman's equipment was the very LAST thing in the world he'd wanted to see.
He had never even THOUGHT of an Enderman having... that! It was just so strange to him.
Fortunately, he was done with his work. The bleeding had slowed, and the creature seemed a bit stronger. His breathing had evened out, no longer so shallow and weak.
He glanced back, and much to his relief there were no more signs of arousal; the peeking tip and slight bulge was gone. It meant nothing, he was sure; he'd been touching a very intimate and sensitive area and the creature was unconsious. Out of necessity, mind you; he wouldn't want his crotch neglected if he'd been hurt so badly. He was sure it would not have reacted as such had it been awake! He probably would have been on the receiving end of those sharp claws! But still... the whole situation was just so awkward! Especially with his budding curiosity on the rest of what that... thing, looked like. It was perfectly natural for the man to feel so curious, though; he was human after all. And curiousity was only human. He avoided looking at anything below the Enderman's midsection as he carefully lifted him.
He blinked in surprised. He was so... light. He had expected something so tall to be a lot heavier. He carried him to his bed, and carefully laid the Enderman on the soft sheets. Those would need to be cleaned later; he knew they'd get a bit of the creature's inky blood on them. He pulled an ottoman over, which he put the clawed feet on. It was longer then his bed so its feet hung off the end.
He sat down with a sigh, watching the sleeping obsidian creature on his bed. Just what he he gotten himself into? What would it do when it woke up? He hadn't thought of all of that; what if it attacked him once it regained its strength? He had his sword, but he saw the gouges the Ender's claws had left in the floor, and that had been from him running in fear of the rain. He could hardly imagine what he could do to him at full strength. But it was raining, heavily, outside. There was no getting the shadowy Ender outside, even to his mineshaft, without renewing all the wounds on his body. And he had barely survived as it was. Even the trip to the Mineshaft would be a death sentence. No.. he couldn't just leave him outside. After all he had done to tend to the Enderman's wounds, the human wasn't going to just leave him to die.
Evan was scared. Very scared. He had his sword strapped to his hip, ready to defend himself if he had to; but he wasn't sure he could do much against the Enderman should it decide to attack. Even weakened as he was, the shadowy creature could make short work of him.
He stared fretfully into the fire as the rain streaked and pounded against his window. The sky flickered and flashed with lightening and the rumble of thunder was almost constant.
About an hour passed with Evan deep in though, though he lost track of time. A sound, though, jerked him out of his trance and made him look up quickly.
The Enderman had shifted. He saw a slight glow as he drowsily opened his eyes. As their eyes met, the Enderman tensed and growled softly. Evan's heart leapt into his chest.