He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't on his own. No parents, no real friends, just him and his life - for a few months, when he was learning to read, he had someone for himself, but other than that short-lived friendship, there was nothing.

These days, though, he technically wasn't on his own anymore. Even if he didn't share a house with anyone, he still lived in this clan, full of oddly personable people spending their lives interacting with each other. It was such an odd change from his previous living standards that sometimes he felt like he was experiencing some sort of existential vertigo - as if his world was flipped upside-down. Truly, it was the sort of harsh change in climate that he found himself excited to adapt to, to grow and change to fit its needs. The peak of experience was, to him, evolution - and this was a place that essentially forced him into it.

And not just from the radiation, either.

He was walking about the clan now, taking a stroll to browse through all the empty houses and see if any caught his fancy, when he ran across the very frustrated child that interrupted his plans quite thoroughly. Frankly, the spider was tempted to move on, ignore him - it was quite cold out, even if it wasn't chilly enough for snow today, and he didn't enjoy the thought of practically freezing for any amount of time. He didn't know what stopped him, what whispered in his ear "not a huge problem, you can fix easily." Perhaps it was some phantom of one of his clanmates like Aurum or Moth, a shadowy doppelganger influencing his thoughts, or perhaps he was just in a good enough mood to feel some empathy towards the kid. Either way, the massive spider stopped, lowering his face to examine the bag and the root in full.

"Greetings," he grumbled coolly. "Does subject require assistance?"

tags - "speech"

Aurum had been friends with Piers's mother, and still was, even if he hadn't particularly seen Indie in quite a while. That was why, from the moment he had met little Piers, he had decided to make it one of the things on his – already very long – mental list to protect Piers, offer him advice, and make sure he didn't go down the wrong path. This was especially relevant, considering the fact that Piers was Kydobi's son, and while Kydobi hadn't come yet to interact with the boy at all, Aurum could still feel faint anxiety over such a future event if it ever occurred. To say that Aurum had inserted himself into a sort of "Dad" role would probably be accurate, but honestly that wasn't particularly new for him, since he tended to be fatherly to practically the whole of Tanglewood. Needless to say, however, when the lion was strolling through camp and saw Piers struggling to drag his bag over to the house beside his Mother's, he felt a sense of both confusion and vague worry. Thankfully, Abathur came up before long to offer his help, but the Captain was still curious, and he found himself padding up alongside the large spider, his wings tucked in firmly to his back as he settled nearby. He rumbled as he tilted his head to one side, figuring that Abby pretty firmly had the whole helping out part covered, "Also... what are you doing, Piers? That looks like practically all of your stuff. Why are you taking it out of Indie's house...?" He couldn't even begin to imagine such a young feline leaving his parent's side already, even with the way his childhood had been. Sure, maybe as a cub Aurum had wished that he could've run off and gone somewhere to be happy, but... it wasn't as if Indie was as bad as Aethelred or Judith had been to Aurum, so why would Piers feel the need to leave? Immediately the thought filled Aurum with worry not only for Piers himself, but also for how Indie possibly could've been treating him, if she was even around.

The sheer open disgust that appeared on Piers's face as Abathur walked up to him... well, it was enough to make Aurum wince. He knew that Abathur probably wouldn't care, since he never seemed all that bothered by what others thought of him, but Aurum still felt like scolding Piers for being so open about his distaste for the large arachnid. After all, they were clanmates, and Piers openly viewing a clanmate with disgust wouldn't exactly be great. Aurum watched the exchange between the two before suddenly Piers's attention was on the Captain, and it wasn't exactly positive. Aurum immediately drowned as he heard Piers spit out his explanation, his ears pinning back a little at the harshness reflected in the child's words. What had made him so... angry? Tail twitching anxiously behind him, Aurum rumbled as he moved his head forward, gently gripping the bag in his jaws and carefully untangling it from the root, "Calm down, Piers. I was just asking because I was curious. Most kids your age don't just move out of their parent's home for now reason... did you even tell Indie that you're doing this?" Aurum heavily doubted it, although that honestly might not have been the kid's fault. After all, he hadn't exactly seen Indie around much lately. Still, even if Piers wanted to strike out on his own... why not room with someone else? It wouldn't be all that different, not to mention that it would probably offer some nice companionship for the small feline. Aurum had so many questions, but he kept his mouth shut, biting his tongue and trying not to anger Piers further.

To say that the agression from Piers was surprising would probably be one hell of an understatement. Up to this point, Piers had been fairly friendly, if not outright unemotional, so Aurum almost recoiled when the young male pulled his lips back, flashing fangs as he proudly proclaimed that he hadn't told his mother he was leaving. Aurum could definitely see why the other would have reason to be somewhat angry. After all, the angel hadn't actually seen Indie in what felt like months now, and Kydobi showed no signs of trotting up to the border anytime soon, so it wasn't exactly unreasonable for Piers to not want to return home to that. However... Aurum couldn't exactly see why being in another different house where he would still be alone would be any better for Piers. He desperately wanted to bring up more of his protests, but... it didn't seem as though it would do him much good, since the male was already stubbornly moving forward. Sighing heavily, Aurum glanced at Roy and rumbled softly to his son, tail flicking along the boy's spine, "You help him out, Roy... you're a good kid for offering." He touched his nose gently to his son's head before turning to head off, seeing full well that sticking around wouldn't actually accomplish anything – Piers had no intention of listening to him.

Shit, okay, he did something wrong, or something - frankly, he was a little rattled by the pure disgust on the child's face. It gave him an irrational fear that he was about to be persecuted, which was silly, because he could easily thrash the tiny one in a fight, by his analysis. What did he do? Was it the way he talked? Not much he could do in that department, unless he practiced not calling people subjects - though he supposed he could start doing that now. Maybe he was just offended by the whole spider thing, which would be... unfortunate. Very much so. He didn't like the idea of someone disliking him for the way he looked. He didn't care that much, but it made him... not uncomfortable, and not angry, but some in-between, some form of irritated, like someone was playing jazz at 2 AM (even if he never slept, it would still drive him insane). It was an itch he had to scratch, and to scratch it he had to fix the problem - and the best way to get over your fears was exposure therapy.

Aurum and Roy popped up after him, the former leaving, which he considered a cowardly move due to his new stance on Piers, and the latter actually making some leeway in befriending the child. Why was that, he wondered? The child-like attitude of subject - rather, not subject, but just Roy? Or perhaps his nervous manner of existence? The best route would be if it was what he said - the idea that certain words could influence how people reacted was very intriguing to him. He would have to research it later. Regardless, Roy was here, his father was leaving, leaving him and two kids to figure out, one of which he was on good terms with, the other... well, not yet.

"Has self offended... you, in some way?" he asked, the pronoun an awkward fit on his metaphorical tongue, but the question lingering in the air all the same. He wouldn't give up without a fight. No good scientist would.

tags - "speech"