DJ Yellow: Worry not, I'm just glad you like it!
Penultimate chapter here, folks! It's kinda sad almost.
XV. Intervention A lot happened in a small amount of time. Qwerty watched as Ronan quickly intercepted Tristen’s father in the doorway and began making small talk with him. But Qwerty flinched when suddenly a giant hand landed over him, creating a dome of space from which he couldn’t see out. He settled his nerves in time to walk in step with Tristen slowly pulling him closer. As much as Qwerty disliked such a confinement, he didn’t want to be found out, either.
“Ronan, what happened here? This house is a mess!” came the adult Varan’s strong voice.
Ronan gave a small laugh. “Well, boys will be boys … Marius is home, you know.”
“And you say he did all this?!”
“Of course not, sir! Tristen joined the fun too. Had to calm the boy down, after all.” Ronan seemed all too relaxed; Qwerty heard Tristen groan slightly as he was ratted out.
“…. Fine. I’ll talk to you when I’m through talking to your brother.” Qwerty heard the adult Varan say.
After a pause, Qwerty saw light again. He turned to look up at Tristen, who had a frown in his eyes. At the moment, he directed his gaze at Ronan, who still stood in the archway, trying to look innocent. “You had to just rat me out like that?”
“A little honesty goes a long way …” Ronan replied lamely. “He won’t be so suspicious of Qwerty now, right?”
Qwerty didn’t like their caution. It made him nervous. “What would he do if he found out?” he asked slowly.
Tristen shook his head. “I don’t know, really. But I think it’s best that you stay hidden …. is my pocket okay?” He gestured to a side pocket on his jacket. Qwerty frowned doubtfully. It wouldn’t be fun, but he needed to stay out of sight. And he had to trust that Tristen wouldn’t let things escalate into a fight.
“… Fine.” Qwerty muttered with a shrug, stepping forward. Tristen slowly reached out to gently take the Tinic in his hand and placed him into the pocket. Qwerty put his hands to the sides to brace himself against the walls of fabric, looking up as the giant hand retreated.
“Now, I suppose I’ll head down and get his bag—“ Ronan began, but was cut off by a far-off voice yelling up the stairs. Qwerty winced as he heard Tristen’s father hurrying back up towards them. His voice sounded surprised, and a little angry. He curled into a tighter ball, nervous about the impending raised voices.
Apparently he’d been hidden in the nick of time, for soon enough Tristen stood just as Qwerty heard the adult Varan reenter the kitchen. Qwerty couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like Marius had followed.
“Marius here tells me you two got into a fight over a Tinic. Is this true?” the father asked sternly.
Tristen cleared his throat and shifted on his feet. A slight growl from his father prompted a quicker answer. “He’s just trying to get out of trouble. H-he came home and started acting out so I got ticked and—“
“I’m not lying, he really does have a Tinic! And he got mad ‘cause I played with it …” Marius protested, cutting off his brother with a desperate insistence.
“Tristen, where is it?” their father asked. Qwerty frowned at being called “it”.
Ronan cut in. “Now, sir, even if he did have a little one, don’t you think he’d have told you by now?” he asked confidently. Qwerty clearly heard Tristen groan, and got the clue to what the answer was.
“Hell no, he wouldn’t, you puff.” Though his answer was sharp, it also held a certain smiling tone to it. “Tristen … are you going to make this conversation easier or not?”
A long moment of hesitation stretched the next several seconds. Qwerty gasped when Tristen’s hand returned to the pocket. Though he tried to shrink back from it nervously, the gigantic fingers curled around him gently and fished him out of the pocket. He felt his heart pounding as he rose through the air. He quickly shifted to Tristen’s palm when the Varan opened his hand. Qwerty looked nervously at the new Varan. He essentially looked like an older, broader version of Tristen, with orange wings rather than red.
The elder Varan brushed past Ronan, who stood nervously twisting a lock of hair around his finger. He approached Tristen to set his intense eyes on the tiny person on his palm. Qwerty leaned back at his approach, intimidated. He couldn’t read the intentions in that gaze. “Tristen, where did you find this Tinic?” The man’s voice had quieted a bit, but he still sounded quite stern.
Tristen seemed to have lost the resolve to lie anymore. He drew Qwerty closer to himself protectively. “In the wild. That day I flew over the mountain range.” His father’s eyes narrowed at that. Apparently that area was normally out of bounds.
“Well, it’s illegal to keep him, you know that right?”
Tristen seemed to deflate slightly at that. “Yes. Ronan and I were actually just discussing what to do.” Tristen’s father barely threw Ronan a glance, who flashed an innocent smile.
“It’s my opinion that Qwerty—that’s the little one’s name—should be returned home as soon as possible.” Ronan announced haughtily.
The Varan man straightened up and shook his head. “You’re not going back to the uncharted wilds on your own.”
Tristen frowned and made an indignant noise. Qwerty noticed his hand curl slightly more around him as the Varan teen spoke up. “I have to take him home! Like you said, he can’t stay here …”
The adult nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right … why don’t you have Ronan just take him to the reserve? I’m sure they’ll take him in just fine.”
Qwerty huffed and stood on Tristen’s palm suddenly and spoke loudly, before anyone could answer. “Hey, do I get a say in this at all? It’s my life you’re talking about. I think you ought to let me give my opinion before you have anything else to add. Sir.” He faltered as the Varan turned his intimidating gaze back to him. Ronan smiled proudly, and Tristen and Marius looked impressed that Qwerty had the guts to talk back to their father.
“It may be uncharted wilds to you, but that’s my home out there. I don’t want to go to some strange nature reserve to be taken in by a bunch of people I don’t know. I don’t want to live here. My only way home is if Tristen takes me back over those mountains. He knows the way.”
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Like I said, this is the second-to-last chapter. Yay for wrap-up action! I have the other chapter written already and it only needs a little proofreading. I'd say to expect it tomorrow (later today depending on timezones) or Saturday.