'Twinkle, twinkle little star...'

Loogman wasn’t sure he liked Eta replacing the words of nursery rhymes.

‘It’s tinkle, not twinkle, stupid.’
‘Then tell her, stupid.’
‘Uh…bad idea. Even I know that.’

Loogman gave Eta space, but not too much space. Mister Jenkens was…well, he didn’t want to enjoy that cunt’s company.

‘But you do!’

‘I don’t! It’s a game! It’s all a game, dammit!’

He knew he couldn’t approach her. Her self-loathing, it was a situation he caused. But he didn’t have a choice, no matter how regretful it was.  That cunt was hungry and she was his savior; Loogman had no need for a broken savior.

Instead, he played patty-cake with the cute-faced Domadinggone in the corner. That guy, since giving Eta that morsel of a finger, was attached at the hip to her. Best Loogman could do was distract him.

Fortunately, despite all Domadinggone’s scratching, he truly was Domading-Gone!

That guy didn’t have a cock, good thing for Eta. As scarily horny as she was, Domadinggone was scarier.

And strong.

Even in the body of a bunsack, Loogman could run circles around Dragon but not Dragon’s meat suit. That meat suit…Ugh.

That meat suit was proof a cute face had nothing to do with a nice personality. Domadinggone was a dick—er—he was a jerk.

That jerk hovered around Eta and Loogman could only distract it from its scratching with a game of patty-cake.

  ‘Patty cake, patty cake, bake my hand,
  ‘Roll it, pat it, stuff it with some bees,
  ‘Stick a bun in oven, make a baby with me!’

It was a lewd game, and the only one Loogman could think of to direct all of Domadinggone’s affections away from Eta. Alas, even that wasn’t enough.

The jerk stopped midway through the fiftieth round.

The unlikely trio was back in the cavern they met the adventurers in. Eta couldn’t go far, what with the cave in and all, so she came here, carrying her rescued bunsack all the way. She cradled and rocked him like a baby and Loogman could only think ‘That’s not helping!’.

It would be better if Eta didn’t show off her motherly skills in front of Domadinggone. It made him…extra itchy.

Stopping mid-slap, Domadinggone stood up and Loogman followed.

He began to walk towards her, but Loogman hopped around in front, blocking his path.  Loogman wasn’t much of a threat to the big guy, but he still had his gift to rely on if Domadinggone didn't back down.

Loogman was determined to protect his savior from that cute-faced beast.

Domadinggone, without taking his eyes offf Eta, sidestepped around Loogman, attempting to trudge closer.

'Put him down!'

'I agree.  This...this freak is a mad-dog.  He's gotta be put down!'

Loogman ripped through Dragon's border with a wave and hopped through that portal, teleporting himself in front of that mad-dog.  Before Domadinggone had a chance to react, Loogman immediately opened one more portal, except this time, it wasn't for transportation but a shield.

For as long as he'd used this trick, nobody could actually see his portals.  They were invisible to the naked eye, and Loogman had never encountered anyone who was an exception to that rule.

At least...until now.

Domadinggone side-stepped around Loogman's portal without any hesitation; he'd noticed it right away and avoided being teleported into Loogman's own world, far away from Eta.

'Alright...I don't have a pointy stick, but I got a free leg, dammit!'

Reaching down, Loogman snapped his crude bone leg out of the clay socket on his knee.  Ruining his prosthetic would be a disappointing, that is, if worked worth a damn.  Broomstick handles were way better...

He opened another portal, prepared to teleport above Domadinggone's head and drive his bone leg into that mad-dog's eye, unsure whether it would do any damage to the beast, but, right before he jumped through, a shrill whistle stopped him.

Dragon stood in the entryway to the cavern, clutching the intruder's explosion weapon in his hands.

Both Loogman and Domadinggone turned to eye that fat bastard.

"Come on, Domagon," Dragon said.  "Leave the poor creature alone, I believe I owe you your reward for herding those bunsacks."

At those words, Domadinggone's mouth fell open, then, spread into huge grin.  With leaping bounds, that mad-dog ran passed Dragon, egging the fat bastard to follow.  Seemed he was excited about something.

 

Before he followed along, Dragon glanced at Eta, then walked over to whisper in Loogman’s ear, “I hope this wasn’t too little space…I was watching, but not acting. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?”

Loogman poked Dragon in the chest. “I hate patty-cake, you dick. And you have one thousand questions left.”

“That’s not—you didn’t even answer me!”

“Okay, then yes. It was the right thing to do. Get rid of that jerk, smash him to pulp, and leave Eta alone.”

Dragon narrowed his beady eyes. “For now…”

Then he poked Loogman back and walked out of the cave, Domadinggone bounding after him--that guy happy about something or other.

Loogman didn’t care. He waited until the two of them were completely gone and, very, very cautiously, hopped over to Eta, her butchered nursery rhyme stinging his ears all the while.

She cradled her little bunsack, that same intruder who tried to explode her head earlier. She rocked him back and forth with one arm and fed him bits of meat with the other.

Loogman dared not tell her where that meat came from.

Truly, truly, truly it was horrible. Yet, he was determined to show her the upside to life.

He plopped down on the ground and crawled over to her. She pretended not to notice. Sliding a bit closer, he leaned against the wall next to her. She still pretended not to notice.

Scoot, scoot, scoot, Loogman made his way even closer; she didn’t react.

His shoulder leaned over until it rested against hers and he watched.

Eta was working the bunsack’s jaw up and down, helping him chew the morsels, but it seemed the guy was having trouble swallowing. Loogman reached across and put a couple fingers on the little guy’s throat.

Eta worked the bunsack’s jaw while Loogman massaged the guy’s throat up and down. He could feel the bulge of meat stuck in there, but it wouldn’t slide down. He worked his fingers up and down, trying to coax the meat down through the gullet.

It took a lot of concentration, but he’d made a little progress.

Drips of water interrupted him. Eta was crying.

Sniffle, sniffle. Sob, sob.

“That’s your problem,” Loogman explained. “You don’t get it. You never get it. That’s why I can’t say nothing.”

Eta didn’t respond. Loogman kept working his fingers up and down the gullet, he was making progress.

“Look, see?” He said. “The goal is to get the snack into the stomach, that’s the point.”

She still didn’t understand.

“Get it?” He tried again. “It’s horrible...but you can't help that.  That's why it's gotta be a game, too.”

She stopped working the jaw.

“I fucked up.” She sniveled. “I really, really did. I ignored it all, and did what I was told, and because I was useless, all this happened.”

“Don’t be mad. You still don’t get it.”

Sniff. Sniff. “No, you don’t get it. Everyone’s not crazy, I am. I’m the crazy one.”

“Ah…” Loogman began. “I, uh, can’t really argue there. But hey, are you answering yourself?”

Eta shook her head.

“Then you’re not crazy! There’s still hope, yet! Good thing, huh?”

She cried and laughed and then she looked right through him. “You know, Scrub-bucket, it’d be easier if there wasn’t.”

“It’s Loogman, stupid!” He said.

“Okay, Loogman.”

And then…she kept rocking the cold, cold body of the little bunsack, working his jaw up and down while Loogman played his game.  Despite Eta's best efforts, that little guy didn't even last a week, sick as he was.

If only the bigger bunsack let the little one die; then, at least, he'd have a chance to make it.  Instead, he sacrificed himself to saved a doomed kid, willful ignorance.

Stupid, stupid decisions all around...

Loogman wasn't sure if Eta accepted that, but he thought she was a little better...maybe.  Still, he was determined to show her how to have fun.  The world was too cruel to always ignore the fun.

Unfortunately, there was something downright unsettling about his game; he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Oh well, best not to think about it.

 Nom, nom, nom.

End of Arc

 

Author's note: 

So, that happened...

Jimmy and Timmy's death wasn't pointless though, it really is setting up for future conflict.

It's not going to be a needlessly dark story just for the sake of driving home how cruel the world is...though it does feel like that to the characters right now.  Main character deaths won't ever be pointless or occur just for the sake of some forced drama that adds nothing to the story.  (ie "Let's get's married after this battle!" or the heroine dies at the end, because, why not?)  To me, this a story, not real life, so every main death needs both a purpose and a poor decision or character flaw leading up to it (Several, in Jimmy's case, and one, in Timmy's)--at least, that's going to be my formula for this WN.

I'm getting started on the next arc now that the first two are revised.  It's going to explore the purpose behind the camp of plants Dragon is growing and possibly his future ambitions as well as Prometheus's motivations.

Thanks for reading! 

Since these arcs will always be mass released, I'll keep an update going at the bottom of the latest one.  For a bit of reference on the timeframe, these two took about 3 weeks to write and I plan on keeping that pace going, especially with the all days off I got for Thanksgiving.

Next arc status:  Outlining.