( written for the October cdc prompt "bat" !! )

It had taken a bit for Hushsound to finally decide upon a division of the Typhoon that he actually wanted to join, but eventually he had decided. The Grim Rays sounded like just the group for him, given that they were the group that was involved in all of the fighting and training and everything else of that sort, and Hush found that he loved all of that. Perhaps it was because of his past as a knight, or perhaps it was just because he found fighting to be a sort of catharsis, but he also knew that he could excel as a member of the Grim Rays, and so he had chosen the group, and now it was time to go through with all the rest of the steps of things. He knew there was some sort of ceremony that he would have to go through at some point, but for now his main concern was where he was going to stay. He was lucky in that he didn't have much, only having arrived at the Typhoon with a few books and his sword, along with the mark of Hylia around his neck. Because of this, he found himself looking for a pretty small place on the Tempest for where he could stay, since he really didn't need some huge room. Besides, if he found somewhere small, then it meant that he could stay all by himself, and wouldn't have to deal with anybody else being in his space. He did so enjoy his privacy, and he also liked not bothering somebody else with his own presence.

So, with all of his few belongings in hand – or bag, rather – the small feline had climbed aboard the Tempest, and descended below the decks to go and search for somewhere to call home. As he moved through the large inside area of the ship, he found himself moving past room after room of people, some sleeping, some eating, others just chatting. A few of them noticed him and waved at him, but he did nothing more than smile sheepishly and wave before continuing on, not really interested in getting caught up in a conversation whem he couldn't even really write with the wood flooring of the ship. Trotting along, it took a while before eventually he came to a small room near the end of the large inside area, the room squished up against the wall and covered to the point where Hush almost misses it as he was walking by, but managed to catch it before he continued on. His interest was immediately piqued by the small room, just like what he was looking for, and put his belongings carefully aside before moving to begin dragging things away from the door to clear the way inside.

Eventually everything was removed from his way, and Hushsound took a deep breath before gripping the handle of the door in his mouth, pulling it with a bit of effort. It was jammed from disuse, and took quite a few pulls before it eventually flew open, creaking loudly. That wasn't what startled Hushsound, however. What did startle him was the loud shrieking squeal of several bats from inside as they came streaming out of the room, going straight for his face before he screamed in surprise and batted them away. Eventually the bats were away from him, and flapped off back down the hall where he had come from, leaving him panting and terrified by the sudden appearance of the creatures. Shakily getting back up to his paws, the golden feline slowly moved forward to peek inside of the empty room, glancing around cautiously and slowly, his fur prickled as he readied himself for any more bats to attack his face. When he saw that nothing was left in the room except for a few cobwebs and barrels, he sighed in grand relief, his heart still beating quickly as he turned and moved to bring his bag of things inside, wondering where he might get a bed. He wasn't too worried about the bats, figuring that they had just flown up and out of the boat after he had set them free. Or at least, that's what he could hope.

It was sort of unfortunate that the first person to show up on the scene was Keona, somebody that Hush had practically no way of communicating with except for speaking. He had picked up a couple of books on Morse code recently, as Goldie has suggested, but he wasn't sure how much that could help Keona, unless someone read them out loud to her. When she came over and asked if he was moving in  he opened his muzzle, about to answer, when she said that he didn't have to speak, which... didn't exactly leave him with many options, now did it? When she mentioned that they should learn that tapping language, he nodded enthusiastically before pausing, realizing that Keona couldn't actually see him nodding. He sighed a bit at himself, frustrated that he kept forgetting about Keona's disability. After all, his muteness could've been considered a disability, and that really should've meant that he was more sensitive to others that also had their own uniqueness to them, not less. While he was thinking about this, Hush flicked one of his ears as Keona mentioned that her Father was a Grim Ray as well. Her father...? He wasn't entirely sure he knew who Keona's father was. He knew her, and found that he rather liked her despite the barrier between the two of them, but he didn't know her Father, unless he had met him without realizing that he was Keona's father.

Deciding that he didn't want to just stare silently at Keona and make her feel awkward, Hush rolled his shoulders before mumbling in his rough voice, wincing a bit as he did every time that he spoke, "Yeah, I'm moving in... I chose the Grim Rays because I'm far better ar fighting than anything else... He then glanced down silently at his paws for a moment, before tilting his head to one side and meowing softly, "Your Dad is a Grim Ray too? Who is your Dad? I don't believe I've ever met him before. At least I don't think I have..." Once he was done speaking, he snapped his jaws shut quickly, shifting his paws a bit anxiously before turning back to the box that he had pulled in. Sticking his head inside of the box, he began to pick up books in his jaws, moving to begin stacking them up in the corner, since he wanted to start organizing right away. He kept his ears perked up, however, intently listening for when Keona responded, or if another person came along, curious about what had gone on in the room of the Tempest, with it's shrieking bats.

© LEXASPERATED

Well, it seemed as though Hush had been right when he had thought to himself that perhaps he did know Keona's father, and just hadn't realized it. When Kian stepped inside the room beside his daughter, Hushsound looked up in surprise before smiling softly at the older male. He supposed it made sense that Kian was Keona's father, considering the family resemblance that the two of them bore, but he had never actually been in the same place with the two of them at once. When Kian gently nudged against Keona's shoulder, Hush felt a soft ache of jealousy on his chest, wishing silently that he had known his parents, in this universe or the last. However, it seemed as though Hush had been cursed to never truly know where he had come from, and would only ever really have parents in the form of those who were like mother and father figures to him, and he highly doubted anyone here in the Typhoon wanted to play mother or father to a 17 month old. Still, he shook off the feelings of sorrow and jealousy, not wanting to bring the mood down of him moving in. His tail flicked from side to side as he gently waved his paw at Kian, meowing softly after a moment and wincing at the scratchy tone of his own voice, "Oh, I didn't realize that you were Keona's father, mister Kian. That means that we have met. I think I recall you saying you were a Grim Ray when you helped explain the whole system to me... I think I should be alright without help, just cause I haven't got too much with me, just a few books and other trinkets, along with my sword... I do appear to have to go searching out a bed, from the looks of it." He glanced around the old little hidden room, not exactly surprised that there hadn't been a bed inside the place. He was sure he could make a bed of some sort out of something soon enough, since he was far from strong enough to drag a bed from one of the other rooms into here.