Another convulsion shook the earthen ceiling overhead, knocking loose bits of dirt and muffling the distant cries and sounds of battle. Feanor pursed her lips, flicking a bit of stray dirt off a polished hoof. "Well, this is rather droll, isn't it?"
Fluffy didn’t look up, nudging a pair of polished dice between her hooves idly.
"What?” Feanor complained, “We can't have a simple conversation?"
She was nervous, Fluffy noted, studying her from the corner of her eye. Most ungulates got quiet when they were scared, but with some it seemed to just build up until they had to let it out, some way or another. They got restless, they paced or got the giggles, some she had known to vomit, and others got angry. Feanor was a talker.
Many on the Council would say she just liked to hear the sound of her own voice, but that wasn’t true. Feanor talked because it distracted her from her own fear and doubt, because by acting as though things were normal she made them feel a little less out of her control. She told herself it was to keep those around her calm - that she was being a leader, but it was a lie. Fluffy knew this. In the same way she knew the dice would fall to floor if she tossed them in the air. It was just obvious.
She had always been different that way. She just wasn’t like others of her kind. Or any kind, she had come across. Sometimes it was like the whole world spoke a language she couldn’t fully understand - that perhaps she never would - and they knew it. Many even hated her for it. She was strange to them, so they feared her. No one understood… no one except Zack. But she understood them. She wasn’t like them, but times like these she knew she saw them more clearly then they saw themselves.
It was normal to be scared. She was buried in a cell deep below the ground, cut off from the grass and sunlight and open air that was life to her kind, surrounded by creatures who would gladly boil her for dinner the moment she ceased being useful. She was also trapped with Fluffy: a monster, in her eyes. A killer. So let her talk. All said it wasn't the worst trait in the world, everyone had their own ways of dealing with it. Still, it was making Fluffy's head hurt worse. She had her way of dealing, and right now she didn't want to talk. She wanted to stab something.
She returned to gazing at the dice gloomily. She had managed to snatch them off the Warden, when he had done his final search before throwing her in here. She had been hoping for something more useful. A key, perhaps. Or a weapon. She sighed. "My knives..."
"I'm sorry?"
Anger flared in her chest, "THEY TOOK MY KNIVES!" Fluffy’s scream echoed off the cell walls, so loud and sudden that she almost jumped herself.
"Ahhh." Feanor smiled thinly, trying to cover her alarm. "Tragedies happen. But seeing as we are prisoners..."
"Not for long!" Fluffy stomped her hoof, remembering the feel of rough talons in her fur, searching, plucking... She had fought them, even managed to give one of them a cut that would keep him out of the air for a good while, but then something had hit her over the head like a sledgehammer and she had woken lighter by several pounds of steel and with a stampede in her skull. Someone must have recognized her, because they had been thorough with the searching. She felt unnaturally light without the weight of all those blades, and vulnerable, naked almost. She touched a hoof to her coat and felt the reassuring cold of metal against her skin. Not thorough enough.
"I'll show them," she growled, "When I get outa here, they'll wish they never touched my knives. I'll give them more knives than they can--!"
"'EY! Shuddup in there!" There came an awful clattering at the bars, and the filthy, smelly cow that called himself Duo glared through at them, "What I say about talking?"
Feanor's lip curled in disgust. "You again?"
"Happy to see me, Pretty?” He grinned, “Yer starin’ again. See somethin' you like?"
Feanor smiled sweetly. "Well, since you ask, it's just that that hole in your face flaps grotesquely every time you speak. It's a bit appalling, actually. You should have it fixed."
The bull’s smile faded, "Careful, Pretty. Duo can forgive alot for a pleasant face... But don't push it." he put a hoof to the crudely stitched stab-wound on his cheek, "Besides, I already did. Medic lady put stitches in it, and somethin' stingy too..." He grinned again, "So I put stitches in her."
Feanor rolled her eyes, "Fascinating. But I wasn't referring to that hole."
"Huh?" The bull frowned in confusion, touching his other cheek, then his mouth as understanding dawned. "Oh, you got a smart mouth don'tchu?"
"And there you are doing it again. Atrocious."
The bulls already-narrow eyes narrowed alarmingly further. His hoof raised toward the key dangling from his neck.
Fluffy’s heart beat faster. It was working! Feanor had promised she could get the bull inside the cell if Fluffy could do the rest. Fluffy hadn’t believed her. Her eyes followed the progress of the bull’s hoof, a familiar feeling of joyful excitement building as she shifted to a position she could better lunge from. He reached the keychain, then paused. Slowly, his glare turned to a smile, then a laugh.
"I see what yer doin' now." He tapped his head knowingly, "They didn't make Duo warden for being stupid."
Feanor raised an eyebrow, "Oh, deer. It took more?"
Duo ignored her. "Think I'll just waltz in through those bars, don't ya?" He put a hoof to the wound on his cheek, "I won't be falling for that one twice. Yer Prime Mincer already pulled that one on me.”
So much for their plan. Fluffy felt a stab of disappointment. The excitement faded, leaving her glum and annoyed.
“Minister.” Feanor said dully. Perhaps there came a point when it wasn’t even worth poking fun anymore. Or maybe she was trying to smooth things over, already paving the way for Plan B. They had talked about it earlier. Well, Feanor had talked, mostly. Fluffy had been too embarrassed at the idea to say much.
“Huh?” Duo looked confused.
“It’s Prime Minister, not Mincer. That sounds… Barbaric.”
“Minster?” Duo scoffed, “What kinda title is that? That ain’t gonna strike fear into his subjects!”
“It’s not supposed to strike--” she sighed wearily, “You know what? Forget it.”
Duo smirked, obviously assuming he had won the argument. “Don't fret though, there'll be time for us later, Pretty, once we've dealt with your friends." He paused, "If you are lucky, that is. You see, I don't mind a little feisty, but..." He turned to Fluffy with a toothy grin, "It's the cute ones that really get me."
Fluffy blinked back, uncomprehending. Why was he staring at her? She glanced to Feanor, only to find her staring as well, furiously mouthing something from the corner of her lips. Huh? She hissed something, covering it with a fake cough. It almost sounded like... Plan B?
Oh. OH! Fluffy recoiled in surprise. But Plan B was to… She gulped. This wasn’t supposed to be her part! "Oh! Um, you mean me?"
Duo laughed, "And modest too! Take some notes, Pretty."
Fluffy felt her cheeks beginning to burn. Suddenly she wished Zack was here, he would know what to do. The demon was choosing to remain hidden though, keeping his presence a secret from their captors as long as possible.
“Tell him what he wants to hear!” Feanor hissed under her breath, not-so-subtly gesturing toward the Warden. This was supposed to be her job, not Fluffy’s! But Duo was looking at her, and Fluffy knew she had to do something. She searched desperately for something positive to say about the big, ugly, stinking bull in front of her.
"You’re really, uh... Large." She heard herself say.
She caught a wince from Feanor out of the corner of her eye, and Duo took a step back in surprise. "I... Well darn. No one's ever told me that." The bull rubbed his head awkwardly, looking genuinely pleased. "I mean, I've always known it, o'course, but no one ever thought to tell me that before. Thanks."
Feanor gaped, but Fluffy pushed on, encouraged. "Really? No one?" She looked down at her hooves in un-feigned embarrassment, "No one ever tells me I'm cute either. At least, not after they find out who I am." She frowned, "They don't usually say anything at all after that..." She really wasn't good at this.
Duo didn't seem to notice, he was nodding avidly. "It's true! The world just ain't fair for us. You think it's easy being the Warden? I do my best to keep the prisoners happy, I don't hurt 'em much, and I remember to give them food and drink most days. What do I get in return? A knife in the face." He shook his head sadly. “Then there’s the others. They’re jealous of me, all of them. They think I cheat at dice, and they laugh at me when they think I can’t hear. Then sometimes I hurt ‘em when I’m not supposed to, and Ziege gets angry…” He gave an aggrieved sigh.
Fluffy gasped. "That's just like me! Zack is always saying I should think more and stab less!"
"Exactly! It ain’t fair! I mean.... Wait, who is Zack?"
"Oh, just a friend. He's my..." She paused. My demon. She had almost said it, but that wouldn’t do, would it? She thought rapidly, came up empty, "My mouse." she finished lamely.
"Oh." Duo seemed confused, but also relieved. "That's...nice. I had a mouse once. He died..." He cleared his throat.
Fluffy shifted uncomfortably. The silence was beginning to drag. What should she say next? Feanor was the talker, not her. She wished Zack would appear, but the demon was determined to keep his presence hidden until necessary. Her hoof touched on something hard and cold. Two things, actually. The dice!
"I'm sorry about your face. I don’t think it looks bad, though. Better, really!” That didn't come out right. Duo frowned, obviously trying to sort what to make of that, and she quickly continued, "I have something for you! Well, something of yours, actually." She gave a sheepish smile as she produced the polished wooden pieces.
The Warden's eyes widened. "My dice! Where did you get those? Give them to me!"
Careful, Fluffy. She studied the warden behind a mask of innocence. All trace of good humor had evaporated, and his greedy eyes flicked suspiciously between the dice and the two Reindeer.
"I found them." She glanced around, remembering Feanor's advice. Tell him what he wants to hear. "One of the guards dropped them, outside our bars… so I--"
"I KNEW it!" He exploded, before she could finish, "Those bastards have been scheming for my dice for months! Think they’re loaded! I bet they're laughing right now. Oh, I bet they're laughing their tails right off! Well, we'll see who laughs in the end!"
Feanor, who had been affecting an air of disgusted disinterest spoke up, "I believe he said he won them off of you in a fight." She smirked, "Is that true?"
"A-- A fight!?" He spluttered, eyes bulging, "I'll KILL 'EM! Who was it? WHO!?"
Fluffy cast a nervous glance at Feanor, but she only blinked. They had only been here a short time, and most of that she had spent staring at the floor and mourning the loss of her knives. Some shapes had passed, but they hadn't paused to talk, (besides Duo) and she couldn't call anyone to mind. She thought MAYBE there had been a Longma... She opened her mouth to say so, but Duo seemed intent on making this easy for them.
"Was it Crook?! I bet it was, ugly Sheep-kin bastard! Or was it the Longma, that lying bastard is all over this-- WAIT!" An expression of hateful certainty dawned on his beaten face, "TAK! It was him wasn't it!? The stick-necked Alpake monster! TELL ME!"
Fluffy could feel the spit all the way at the back of the cell where she was chained. She pretended not to notice. She didn't think she'd seen an Alpake, but the name sounded strangely familiar, and Duo seemed set on it anyway. Tell him what he wants to hear. Feanor seemed to be trying to get her attention, but she didn't dare look.
"Yeah, that was him! Big Alpake, with a big mouth! I knew he must be lying, anyway. No way he could have beat a big strong bull like you!"
It didn't have the effect she hoped. Duo looked at her strangely. Too calm, and with none of the pride or outrage she had hoped for.
"Yer right about that,” he said. “No way in a thousand years. Partly 'cause he’s my friend, and I'd mop the floor with his body if he ever tried, but mostly 'cause..." He paused, "Tak ain't here. He's dead. One of those cowardly prey cut him open on patrol duty." He smiled, but there was no humor in it, "I told you Duo ain't stupid."
"Oh…” Oops. “I must’ve--”
"Shut up! I don't need to hear any more from you, I've heard it all before. Let's play a trick on the big dumb cow, hardee har har! Well Duo ain't as stupid as he looks! Keep, the dice, I'll have 'em back soon enough anyway." He turned to walk away.
An ominous rumble went through the cave at that moment, and the ceiling shook again, harder this time. Somewhere, a rock fell from the ceiling to roll down the corridor outside. Fluffy watched in silence until it came to a stop. Feanor shot her a nervous glance. Even Duo was frowning now, grumbling something about damned miners.
Their chance was walking away. Fluffy stared desperately after him. She had to do something!
"Duo, wait!"
He ignored her, kicking the rock to the side and starting to walk away.
"Please!"
He didn't listen. In desperation, she tossed the dice toward the cell door, where they bounced off and clattered to a stop inside. Duo stopped.
"Take them back. I'm sorry."
Slowly, he walked back to the cell door. He cast a suspicious glance at them, then reached a hoof through. His shoulder caught an inch short, and he cursed, glaring at her. "Another joke?"
She scrambled to her hooves hastily, walking to the middle of the cell, as far as the chain around her ankle would allow, and stretched until her front hooves cupped around the dice. She scooped them into a hoof, and stood, studying the Warden's face. His glare hadn't changed; his expression was a mask of suspicion and anger. But Fluffy could see more. Beneath that, he was hurt, and it occurred to her that he had been telling the truth. This was NOT the first time someone had made a fool of the Cattle-kin. He was plainly not the shiniest oat in the bag, and with his size, it was only natural that he would be a target for mean jokes and tricks. The big, ugly bull with the slow wits. His childhood must have been hell.
A pang of something unfamiliar stirred in her, and it scared her. She didn't know a word for it, only that it brought back painful images and half-memories from her own past that she preferred buried. She pushed it away, focusing on the pain and resentment in his gaze. She could see the wall of contempt and anger he had built to mask his hurt as plain as daylight. But how to get through? There was only one thing she could do.