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Description
The stench of the room was almost as strong as the voices were.

"Little twerp." It said, its presence looming over him, pacing around him. His back throbbed as if it had been wounded. "I gave you two extra hours and this is all I get? Huh?"

Chival stayed silent, as always. Responding would only land him a kick in the face.

"Oh, look at that, he's crying." The voice sneered. "Do you think that'll make me sorry for you? Pfeh. Weakling."

Sure enough tears were running down his face and dripping onto the floor with a resonant plop. He panicked, blinking to try and clear his eyes. They kept getting blurrier. He wasn't weak. He couldn't be weak. It was just a stroke of bad luck. Gulping in air he stiffened his body and looked up at the voice.

He had only looked at it for a moment before he started to scream.

--
Chival woke up. Again. In the blue light flooding the room through the dormitory's window he could see his roommates all staring at him, wondering what had happened this time. His night terrors had almost become a daily occurrence, and half the time he would wake them all up. For the first few nights they had come over to him, offering to take him to the coop mom for help, but he refused. He could deal with this on his own. But the dreams still hadn't stopped, and his roommates were getting more and more annoyed.

"I think he's awake now," one of them said.
"Finally. Time to get some sleep again." Another one close by popped his head out of the covers, then began to mock-snore.
"Bramble, cut it out!"
The snoring stopped, and the room went silent again.

He rolled over in bed and stared at the ceiling. The dream would keep him from resting again, probably. Funny- it had been months and months since he had left the city- "Kingston" they called it- but only now was everything resurfacing. He had managed to suppress his thoughts then. Why not now? There wasn't a shortage of things to keep his mind occupied. In the mornings, especially. Ms. Chester, the coop mom, was teaching something she called "mathematics" (long word for something so simple), and he had caught on fairly quickly. Now they were learning about buying and selling things, how much a quality barrel of gummy melons was worth on the market, and other paraphernalia. Some of the other quoris were even selling things in the hallways like bits of string. One of them had offered him a really odd-looking bottle for his carat. He had declined, of course.

--

The morning bell-chimed, and Chival's eyes shot open again. So he had managed to get some rest. He put on his armor plate, leapt out of his bunk, and rushed into the hallway with the other quoris. Already the coop was buzzing with activity. Some of the early risers had already gotten breakfast and were chatting in the hallway. No roughhousing, though. Chester would make them clean out the gryphogem stalls if she caught them fighting. He spotted Esti across the hall, yawning, and gave her a greeting-nod-

In the second he had turned to Esti he knocked into someone. It was a large-ish green quori about his age. She flared her nostrils at Chival. "Hey, you're Chival, right?"
He nodded.
"You've been causing a lot of trouble, Chival. So I wanna settle this. Meet me at the back of the field during gardening time." She growled, and before he could even think of a response she vanished into the crowd.
---
Chival set down a pepper plant. Chester had suddenly decided to supervise the quoris more closely today, so he hadn't had time to sneak off. He had caught a few glimpses of the green girl anyways- at least a while ago he had. He wasn't quite sure how she had disappeared again. She was apparently better at being sneaky than he was.
"Make sure to bury that one nice and deep," Chester noted, swinging her paw in his general direction. "Flavroots need to be anchored in the soil."
A quori nearby groaned. "Ms. Chester, why do we need to dig in the dirt for so long? It's annoying."
She turned to the child. "Why? It's called life skills, honey. If you want to live around her then you need to know how to work with the earth. It's just the Sudbury way."
"Yeah, but what if I wanna live in Koko Resort? They don't have to mess with dirt."
Chester chuckled. "How are you going to get there? Walk? And what are you going to live? What are you going to eat? Once you go to the Cavern, a coop's not going to take care of you. You're going to need a job. And this'll give you some good experience in most of the jobs around here. In fact, a lot of farmers around here are willing to take kids from around here and give them some work once they leave here. Trust me, this is a good education."
"But Ms. Chester..." The quori continued to whine. Chival just rolled his eyes and began digging. It wasn't a job he really appreciated either.
"Hey." He felt a tap on his shoulder. The green girl. Her face was uncomfortably close to his, and she was snorting again. He turned around and took a few steps back just to get some personal space.
"Come on, she's distracted. What are you waiting for?" She hissed, then gestured towards the other end of the coop.

"Pepper! Where'd you run off to?" Chester's voice boomed in both of their ears. The green quori jumped, then slowly turned her head to look up at the coop mom.
"I-uh..." Pepper winced.
"You were starting fights again?" Chester raised an eyebrow.
"But-"
"If you're worried about 'justice being served,' then just talk to me. You're not responsible for this joint."
Pepper whipped her head around to glare at Chival. "This one's been keeping my little brother awake at night. He's a nuisance, and no one's doing anything about it!"
"I see." The coop mom nodded. "Alright, you gather up your brother and his roommates, and we'll have a talk about this in my office."

---

Half an hour later, and Chival was sitting in Ms. Chester's office for the first time, nervous as ever. The rest of his roommates were there, playing around with some funny-looking stick they had found on the ground. They didn't seem mad at him, but Pepper did. She hadn't stopped staring at him since they entered the office, still blowing air out of her nose like a mad bull.

The coop mom walked through the door, then sat down in the chair behind her desk. "So what's going on here?"

"Well, Bramble says that Chival keeps screaming and crying in the middle of the night like a big baby-" Pepper began.

"I want to hear it from them, Pepper."

The green quori quieted down, and one of the boys spoke up. "What she said. He's just hollering for no good reason and he keeps waking us up."

Chester's eyes locked on Chival. "He's always been so quiet...Is something up?"

Everyone stared at him, leaning in, pressuring him for a reply. He dug his claws into the grain of the floor. He wouldn't tell anyone about this. He'd figure it out by himself. No one would find out about what happened to him. He wasn't weak- he'd sleep outside if he had to.

"Chival, I know you can talk."

A frown shadowed the golden quori's face, and he snarled. "None of your business."

The coop mom sighed. "Honey, your business is literally my job. What's the matter? You can tell me."

"No."

"Look. You know the rule is no loud noises after dark. You're keeping others awake. Either you tell me what's going on right now, or you stay in here until you tell me."

He shook his head.

The two of them sat there for at least an hour. His roommates left soon after they realized neither Chester or Chival were budging, while Pepper stayed a bit longer before huffing and vanishing again.

Chester groaned and slumped a little at her desk. "If you're going to keep this up I'll make you clean the gryphogem stalls tomorrow. By yourself."

Chival's frown faltered a bit. He was getting tired of sitting there, and just telling her seemed like a much better option now.

"It's a long story." He blurted out finally. "I-I ran away. From Kingston. I'm getting nightmares about it." He cringed, waiting for laughter or a cruel remark. He wasn't stubborn enough. He was too weak.

But instead, her eyes softened a bit. "Oh."

"Can I go now?" He stood up, impatient.

"Not yet. Why did you run away? Were you at the coop there?"

He could feel his breathing quicken, his heart hammering inside his chest. "No-" Something warm began to flow down his cheeks, and he whined softly. "No."

He felt something touch him, and almost instinctively he pulled back, struggling to get free.

"Shh. Settle down. It's me." He heard Chester's voice and felt her arms around him. Angrily he tried to claw at her, but she had already enveloped him in a giant squeeze.

"Just tell me what you can, alright?"

MY SWEET SOF SON AAAAAA

Esti belongs to meadowla-rk

Avi belongs to BlueFallDragon

Cobalt belongs to TheNeonPastel

Bow belongs to CasCasanova

Chester belongs to the Quorians group

Pepper is a personal NPC

+ x3 background (15)

+ x6 fullbody (24)

+ x3 gift (15)

+ x6 shaded (6)

+story (15)

75/239 EXPD

Description
The stench of the room was almost as strong as the voices were.

"Little twerp." It said, its presence looming over him, pacing around him. His back throbbed as if it had been wounded. "I gave you two extra hours and this is all I get? Huh?"

Chival stayed silent, as always. Responding would only land him a kick in the face.

"Oh, look at that, he's crying." The voice sneered. "Do you think that'll make me sorry for you? Pfeh. Weakling."

Sure enough tears were running down his face and dripping onto the floor with a resonant plop. He panicked, blinking to try and clear his eyes. They kept getting blurrier. He wasn't weak. He couldn't be weak. It was just a stroke of bad luck. Gulping in air he stiffened his body and looked up at the voice.

He had only looked at it for a moment before he started to scream.

--
Chival woke up. Again. In the blue light flooding the room through the dormitory's window he could see his roommates all staring at him, wondering what had happened this time. His night terrors had almost become a daily occurrence, and half the time he would wake them all up. For the first few nights they had come over to him, offering to take him to the coop mom for help, but he refused. He could deal with this on his own. But the dreams still hadn't stopped, and his roommates were getting more and more annoyed.

"I think he's awake now," one of them said.
"Finally. Time to get some sleep again." Another one close by popped his head out of the covers, then began to mock-snore.
"Bramble, cut it out!"
The snoring stopped, and the room went silent again.

He rolled over in bed and stared at the ceiling. The dream would keep him from resting again, probably. Funny- it had been months and months since he had left the city- "Kingston" they called it- but only now was everything resurfacing. He had managed to suppress his thoughts then. Why not now? There wasn't a shortage of things to keep his mind occupied. In the mornings, especially. Ms. Chester, the coop mom, was teaching something she called "mathematics" (long word for something so simple), and he had caught on fairly quickly. Now they were learning about buying and selling things, how much a quality barrel of gummy melons was worth on the market, and other paraphernalia. Some of the other quoris were even selling things in the hallways like bits of string. One of them had offered him a really odd-looking bottle for his carat. He had declined, of course.

--

The morning bell-chimed, and Chival's eyes shot open again. So he had managed to get some rest. He put on his armor plate, leapt out of his bunk, and rushed into the hallway with the other quoris. Already the coop was buzzing with activity. Some of the early risers had already gotten breakfast and were chatting in the hallway. No roughhousing, though. Chester would make them clean out the gryphogem stalls if she caught them fighting. He spotted Esti across the hall, yawning, and gave her a greeting-nod-

In the second he had turned to Esti he knocked into someone. It was a large-ish green quori about his age. She flared her nostrils at Chival. "Hey, you're Chival, right?"
He nodded.
"You've been causing a lot of trouble, Chival. So I wanna settle this. Meet me at the back of the field during gardening time." She growled, and before he could even think of a response she vanished into the crowd.
---
Chival set down a pepper plant. Chester had suddenly decided to supervise the quoris more closely today, so he hadn't had time to sneak off. He had caught a few glimpses of the green girl anyways- at least a while ago he had. He wasn't quite sure how she had disappeared again. She was apparently better at being sneaky than he was.
"Make sure to bury that one nice and deep," Chester noted, swinging her paw in his general direction. "Flavroots need to be anchored in the soil."
A quori nearby groaned. "Ms. Chester, why do we need to dig in the dirt for so long? It's annoying."
She turned to the child. "Why? It's called life skills, honey. If you want to live around her then you need to know how to work with the earth. It's just the Sudbury way."
"Yeah, but what if I wanna live in Koko Resort? They don't have to mess with dirt."
Chester chuckled. "How are you going to get there? Walk? And what are you going to live? What are you going to eat? Once you go to the Cavern, a coop's not going to take care of you. You're going to need a job. And this'll give you some good experience in most of the jobs around here. In fact, a lot of farmers around here are willing to take kids from around here and give them some work once they leave here. Trust me, this is a good education."
"But Ms. Chester..." The quori continued to whine. Chival just rolled his eyes and began digging. It wasn't a job he really appreciated either.
"Hey." He felt a tap on his shoulder. The green girl. Her face was uncomfortably close to his, and she was snorting again. He turned around and took a few steps back just to get some personal space.
"Come on, she's distracted. What are you waiting for?" She hissed, then gestured towards the other end of the coop.

"Pepper! Where'd you run off to?" Chester's voice boomed in both of their ears. The green quori jumped, then slowly turned her head to look up at the coop mom.
"I-uh..." Pepper winced.
"You were starting fights again?" Chester raised an eyebrow.
"But-"
"If you're worried about 'justice being served,' then just talk to me. You're not responsible for this joint."
Pepper whipped her head around to glare at Chival. "This one's been keeping my little brother awake at night. He's a nuisance, and no one's doing anything about it!"
"I see." The coop mom nodded. "Alright, you gather up your brother and his roommates, and we'll have a talk about this in my office."

---

Half an hour later, and Chival was sitting in Ms. Chester's office for the first time, nervous as ever. The rest of his roommates were there, playing around with some funny-looking stick they had found on the ground. They didn't seem mad at him, but Pepper did. She hadn't stopped staring at him since they entered the office, still blowing air out of her nose like a mad bull.

The coop mom walked through the door, then sat down in the chair behind her desk. "So what's going on here?"

"Well, Bramble says that Chival keeps screaming and crying in the middle of the night like a big baby-" Pepper began.

"I want to hear it from them, Pepper."

The green quori quieted down, and one of the boys spoke up. "What she said. He's just hollering for no good reason and he keeps waking us up."

Chester's eyes locked on Chival. "He's always been so quiet...Is something up?"

Everyone stared at him, leaning in, pressuring him for a reply. He dug his claws into the grain of the floor. He wouldn't tell anyone about this. He'd figure it out by himself. No one would find out about what happened to him. He wasn't weak- he'd sleep outside if he had to.

"Chival, I know you can talk."

A frown shadowed the golden quori's face, and he snarled. "None of your business."

The coop mom sighed. "Honey, your business is literally my job. What's the matter? You can tell me."

"No."

"Look. You know the rule is no loud noises after dark. You're keeping others awake. Either you tell me what's going on right now, or you stay in here until you tell me."

He shook his head.

The two of them sat there for at least an hour. His roommates left soon after they realized neither Chester or Chival were budging, while Pepper stayed a bit longer before huffing and vanishing again.

Chester groaned and slumped a little at her desk. "If you're going to keep this up I'll make you clean the gryphogem stalls tomorrow. By yourself."

Chival's frown faltered a bit. He was getting tired of sitting there, and just telling her seemed like a much better option now.

"It's a long story." He blurted out finally. "I-I ran away. From Kingston. I'm getting nightmares about it." He cringed, waiting for laughter or a cruel remark. He wasn't stubborn enough. He was too weak.

But instead, her eyes softened a bit. "Oh."

"Can I go now?" He stood up, impatient.

"Not yet. Why did you run away? Were you at the coop there?"

He could feel his breathing quicken, his heart hammering inside his chest. "No-" Something warm began to flow down his cheeks, and he whined softly. "No."

He felt something touch him, and almost instinctively he pulled back, struggling to get free.

"Shh. Settle down. It's me." He heard Chester's voice and felt her arms around him. Angrily he tried to claw at her, but she had already enveloped him in a giant squeeze.

"Just tell me what you can, alright?"

MY SWEET SOF SON AAAAAA

Esti belongs to meadowla-rk

Avi belongs to BlueFallDragon

Cobalt belongs to TheNeonPastel

Bow belongs to CasCasanova

Chester belongs to the Quorians group

Pepper is a personal NPC

+ x3 background (15)

+ x6 fullbody (24)

+ x3 gift (15)

+ x6 shaded (6)

+story (15)

75/239 EXPD