A Ruby Gem in the Blizzard (Private)

[sleepZombie]

"Me too! Oh my gosh!"

Without a second thought Jade began shifting, holding the grub as gently as she could as it curled into her as she shucked out of her jacket. She eased the little thing away from her body long enough to get the snuggly squiddle jacket wrapped around it's little bug-like body and held it close to her.

It still shivered and snuffled, making tiny little foreign creature sounds that were at the same time alien and endearing. She held the little grub close to her and patted it's side.

The little grub continued it's unhappy sobbing sounds, little terror mouth open wide as he gave tiny muffled cries. It was calming down now that it was picked up off the cold ground and warm but there were other things that left it discontent.

[nintendonut1]

Wow, Jade seemed to have a knack for this. She seemed very natural holding the little troll-grub-baby-thing. John kind of stood by and watched with a worried frown, wishing he could do something to help.

“Gosh… where’d it come from?” he wondered aloud, his still-pained hands wringing a bit. “Maybe it fell into a portal and… oh…”

He looked at it sympathetically, then up at Jade. “God, where are its parents?”

John was torn up, seeing the grub sob and cry out in need. Even with those sharp teeth that would surely tear apart anything that threatened it, it was just so hard to watch. His hand hovered above his chin and he chewed a knuckle anxiously, fretting on what to do.

“H… hey…” Eventually, he braved a small pat atop the grub’s head, petting it very lightly with the tips of his fingers. “Sh-shhhh-shoosh shush… it’ll be okay, little guy…”

[sleepZombie]

Jade chewed her lip, trying more to make sure the little grub was warm rather than try and console it. One step at a time. Good thing it seemed really resilient.

The small grub hushed slightly, faint hiccups replacing the broken sounds of dismay previously given. It leaned into the gentle touch at it's head, nuzzling against the fingertips. Two bug like legs reaching up to latch at John's fingers, attempting to hold his hand and keep him close.

Jade gave a tiny half smile, reaching up with one of her hands as well to lightly push her fingertips against it's cold little cheek. It was soft and the baby grub gurgled and pressed against her touch as well.

"Poor baby... John we have to get it out of here. If it really went through a portal then it's probably alone and..." Her voice hitched faintly. She didn't want to think of this little thing out on it's own.

[nintendonut1]

John’s heart warmed when the grub accepted his gesture, even going so far as to hold his hand to its chest, easily smaller than his palm alone. The little bug legs felt a little sticky, but not in the gross way, more like a cat’s paw after it’s finished grooming. He curled his fingers closer, giving the grub a big warm smile.

“Hm?” he hummed lightly, glancing at Jade and suddenly remembering the gravity of their situation. “Oh…” He looked out past the cave’s entrance; the storm was still howling as strong as ever. “Well, not now we can’t, not in that storm.”

He would’ve been hit with guilt all over again, but his gaze came back to the troll baby, nestled tightly against its new caretakers. Had they not been forced to come here, it’d still be alone and cold.

“…c’mon.” Carefully, so his hand wouldn’t slip out of the grub’s grasp, John lad Jade back to the fire, idly grabbing another of his suits and tossing it in. “The best we can do right now is keep it warm until the blizzard calms down. Then we can take it straight home. Okay?”

[sleepZombie]

Jade followed John back closer to the fire, holding the little grub gently in the crook of her arm. It was so tiny and yet so much bigger than what she'd think of a normal bug. "Alright... if it looks like it'll last too long, though...?" She chewed her lip. She'd been fine when it was just them but now that there was this small little innocent as well... she sat down, huddling closer to John.

Gently she rubbed her thumb back and forth over one of it's segments. It was strange, it's carapace was a hard but flexible. It was chitinous and segmented for mobility around the legs, the little buggy feet looking more like a caterpillars legs. And yet despite being so insectile looking it was covered in an almost velveteen fur, short and so, so, soft. She wanted to lean down and nuzzle her nose into it. But of course despite the buggy body it had a head that was oddly human shaped, aside from the gray skin and pointed ears and the two little candy corn nubs that were it's horns.

"He kind of looks like a baby zipped up into a wittle sleeping bag." She giggled and shifted it a bit in her arms.

Jade was beginning to shiver a little bit, though. Her jacket was wrapped around the tiny grub who was preoccupied holding onto John's finger. It made an odd sound, tugging at him to try and maneuver the digit up closer to it's mouth, little mouth opening wide to...

Chomp!

[nintendonut1]

John was glad to be back in front of the fire, for certain, but right now he cared less about his own warmth. He huddled closer to Jade, but only because she was shivering and she seemed to need it. Both her and the little troll grub.

Besides, he was warmed up enough just by its friendly responses to his touches, its body soft and warm like a wiggly little pillow. Despite the seriousness of their current situation, he found himself giggling and grinning and making faces at the grub like a huge doofus.

The heir was making a kissy face when his eyes shot wide open, his puckered lips tightening.

“…yyiiiieeEAAAGH!!!” After a delayed pause, John let out a cry of pain and pulled away, nursing his damaged digit underneath bucked teeth. He tasted a bit of metallic blood, proof that skin had broken, but not too much. “Owowowow…!”

When the baby grub thing started to cry again, he at first felt bad, thinking he might’ve startled it. But then he inspected his finger, and looked back at the grub, then at Jade.

“…maybe the little guy’s hungry?” he ventured.

[sleepZombie]

Jade jumped when John yelped. It seemed to have startled the little grub as well because it'd promptly dropped John's finger, it's little face screwing up as red tears collected in the corners of it's eyes. She tried to gently bounce and sooth the little grub but it wasn't enough, it started crying pitifully again.

"Oh yeah, I guess maybe it would be hungry!" She gently cooed at the grub as she worked a hand free so she could look through her syllidex. "Uhm... what could it eat. It's a baby troll. Oh, maybe this? Here, John, you hold him!"

She deposited the grub in John's arms carefully and began to work on drawing the image of what she wanted to get from her 'dex. It's little legs waved disconsolately as it cried, big tears splashing down over it's ashen gray cheeks.

[nintendonut1]

“Huh, what—o-oh!” John straightened up in surprise when he suddenly found the sobbing baby troll in his arms. He bit his lip, eyebrows creased in worry as the grub kept crying, spilling red tears everywhere. He would have been concerned if he hadn’t remembered trolls cried their blood color too.

“H-hey… come on…!” he weakly insisted, bobbing his arm a bit on one side, rocking the grub softly. The little terror might’ve nearly bitten his finger off, but that certainly didn’t stop him for feeling awful about startling it. “Look, I’m sorry… come on, little guy, shhhhhhh, shoosh-shushhhhh…”

Though he knew he was risking further injury, he brought back his hand with the lightly-scabbed finger, petting across the grub’s soft, segmented tummy. At maybe an even more insane risk factor, he also leaned in to nuzzle his own cheek against the grub’s drenched face, placing a tiny kiss on the cheek.

“It’ll be okay… Jade’s working on getting you something to eat. Shhhhh, it’s okay.”

[sleepZombie]

It cried through John's shooshings and almost seemed like it wouldn't stop even at the gentle pets along it's tummy but then he pressed his face close and nuzzled his cheek against it. The little grub hiccuped, letting out faint little unhappy whimpers, tears still dripping down even as it lifted a little leg to press against his chin and rub-nuzzle it's face back against him.

Jade looked up from her drawing, seeing the spectacle in front of her and just about melting from the adorable. She quickly finished up her drawing, summoning forth the beef jerky she had stashed away. She moved closer, handing some of it to John. "Here, you try giving some to him." She didn't want to take the little troll away from him... not yet. He'd been so upset and lost just a moment ago and to see him feeling better, if only because he now had something helpless to look after and take care of then how could she take that away from him?

[nintendonut1]

John smiled a bit when the grub nuzzled back. It was a good sign among all the sobs, sobs that sounded foreign and strange, but still fully registered as sad noises, at least to him they did. He continued his shooshes and pets, leaving another kiss on its cheek before he glanced up at Jade’s words.

“Huh? Me?” Puzzled, John took the strip of meat into hand. He thought for sure Jade would insist on feeding it herself, and she’d probably be more qualified to do it than him. He met her sweet, but somehow still firm, insisting gaze, and he chose not to protest.

“Okay… here you go, little guy…” Carefully, held up the jerky and presented it to the grub, holding it at the right length so that it could nip it out of his hand, but without shoving in its face and risking more biting to his flesh instead. “Give this a try! Mmmm, yummy meat!”

[sleepZombie]

Jade watched, a faint smile playing over her lips as she chaffed her arms for warmth as John offered the stick of jerky to the little grub. It snuffled, quieting a little bit as it was presented the food. It apparently liked what it smelled because it leaned in and chomped at it much the same way it had done to John's finger. It made little growly sounds as it gnawed at the jerky, little legs reaching out to try and grab at it.

Jade giggled, shuffling closer and taking a bite of the piece of jerky that she held and holding out a piece to John to bite at, almost like a perfect parallel the way John was feeding the grub. She also reached over to pick up another suit, holding it up for John to see and nod at before throwing it into the fire to keep it going.

"Hehe... I think he likes you." She leaned her chin into her cheek and watched, a faint smile playing across her face. "I think it's a boy! ...What should we call him, we can't just keep calling him 'grub'."

[nintendonut1]

“Thaaaaat’s it, good grub!” John praised happily after jerking his hand back a bit to avoid another injury. He grinned as the strange noises it made shifted to cute little rumbles, translating to almost perfect “om-nom-nom’s” and holy crap it was the cutest thing he had ever heard in his life.

He turned back to grin at Jade, pausing when presented when his own strip of jerky. He laughed, snapping at it with his own pearly whites and pulling it into his cheek to chew at. He wasn’t too hungry himself, but a little sustenance was always good.

“Haha… you really think so?” It was a silly question to ask, because John was pretty sure of it. He himself had grown extremely fond of the grub in the short amount of time he’d spent with it, that squishy face, those unearthly sounds… his smile came back down to the grub as he stroked its hair, and again, it was enough to warm up his heart just fine. Even if the stoked fire helped.

“A boy, huh?” He made a contemplative face; yeah, a name seemed like an appropriate next step. But… Jade had found him! He already had a chance with his sweet Casey, bless her wherever she was right now… frankly, it was his sister’s turn!

“I think YOU should name him, Jade.”

[sleepZombie]

Jade reached out to gently brush her fingertips across the little grubs forehead, swiping some fluffy hair out of his face. She giggled as it made little purry-chirpy-clicky sounds as it ate, obviously feeling in a better mood than it had been. It sounded like the radical clicks and whirrs of a...

Jade perked up a little bit, face brightening. The baby grub continued to chomp on it's jerky, starting to squirm a bit in John's arms, grub legs reaching out to catch at the front of his shirt and try to pull itself up. It was apparently more comfortable and ready to go!

"Okay, I think I have it!" She reached out and gently picked up the squirmy little bundle, giggling at the feel of it's little legs fluttering against her hands and the inquisitive little chirps it gave as she turned it to face her. "Geiger!"

[nintendonut1]

“Whoa-whoop!” John flailed a bit as the grub was suddenly getting much more active, squirming in his arms. He was almost afraid he would drop him, but then the grub clung to his shirt, still a bit stiff from dried dampness, and stuck to it like sticky tape, attempting to climb up his shoulder. He laughed, leaning forward to compensate weight and let the little guy climb around, but then moaned in protest when Jade plucked him off.

Then, an appropriate pause. “Uh… Geiger?” John blinked, tilting his head. At his sister’s eager grin, he tried to word his thoughts as least hurtful as possible. “…is that… supposed to mean something important? I mean… it sounds wei… well, interesting! I guess!”

Idly, trying to avoid any wrath on her part, his gaze nervously shot back to the cave entrance. The storm outside seemed to be… calming down a bit, actually.

[sleepZombie]

"Yeah! I mean listen to him all clicky and chirpy! And it's kind of like Becquerel's name and wow you know I'm not sure how he got his name BUT ANYWAY! Geigar!" She giggled and held the little grub up, leaning in without any concern or fear of having her face nommed to rub her nose against the little grub's.

She perked up even further once John mentioned the storm dieing down. Tucking the little grub safely in her arms again she looked outside and realized that she could actually see the sky. "Can we try and go back now? I mean... with this little guy. We could always come back out later to explore but I think it'd be a good idea to head back for now."

Geigar fussed only a little bit, not much liking being held on his back but finally went still in her arms.