smiling critters

chapter 6 - new home

Today was like any other, Neil was sitting on a park bench, contemplating everything that led him up to the moment until he noticed someone walking up to him. He whipped his head to face them.

"Oh, hello little boy. I've seen you here quite a few times, and I was wondering if you needed a place to stay, or at least something to eat," he smiled and waved. Neil's creep alarm was ringing off the charts, he thought about calling one of his friends to ask if he could spend the night.

"Don't be alarmed, I just want to provide for those in need."
Neil stood up and backed away.

"Your name is Neil, right? I can help, I promise," he tried to be comforting as he held out a sandwich.

"I can give you as much food as you'd like, you don't have to be scared of me."
Hesitantly, Neil took it and slowly ate it. The rest of the month was spent with this guy, slowly building a relationship with him. The second day they met, he introduced himself and his cause. His name was Elliot Ludwig, and he wanted to give as many homeless children homes as he could, and Neil was going to be a part of the testing phase of the project. Neil smiled at that. He was glad he was doing something so charitable. But today, things were pretty different.

"Now that we've gotten to know each other better, how would you feel about coming home with me? I just had a room open up and I was wondering if you'd want it," Elliot smiled, running his fake prosthetic fingers over Neil's back as chills ran up the post-kitten's spine. He didn't like when Elliot got touchy with him, but he was so nice, so he didn't protest. He only really liked his friends getting super close and touchy with him, and maybe Georgia once or twice. Neil didn't need much time to agree to go with him, and they had a nice talk as they walked there. Once they got to the house, Neil saw a few more people, even some his age. there were two elastic yokai in their early to mid 30s with the girl holding a baby that looked like them, there were two sugar glider yokai who looked to be in high school with sock prosthetics (basically prosthetics with sock-monkey-like proportions and behaviors), a boy Neil's age with a protogen prosthetic body, a rabbit who looked to be in 4th or 5th grade playing with symbols, a pug around the same age watching him, and two cats also Neil's age talking to each other. One cat was white with light blue dyed hair, and the other was a bee drone hybrid.

"Everyone, meet Neil Chandler. He's going to be living with us," Elliot announced to the room. Everyone greeted him with a warm hello. Elliot looked around.

"Where is poppy? I want her to meet the new face. you make yourself at home, Neil. I need to find someone," Elliot told the post-kitten as he ushered him off before leaving. the pug waved Neil over, and out of awkwardness, he joined them.

"Hey, I'm PJ, what's your story?" he smiled.

"eh, not much to tell," Neil signed. It was only then did he notice that everyone in the room looked really weak. like, about to fall over weak. it was concerning, but maybe these people were just recently taken in and needed more time to recover. Neil was about to tell himself to ignore it when he noticed that everyone in the room had a sort of red pigment around their snouts, the only one who didn't have it was the elastic yokai baby. Neil shook his head and told himself to ignore it as Elliot came back in with a human that looked about elementary school age. She didn't have a red circle around her snout either.

"Neil, i'd like to introduce you to my pride and joy, poppy!" he announced, pushing her forward. She had this kind of sympathetic look on her face like something bad was about to happen.

"Sorry," she frowned, much to Neil's confusion.

"Sorry for what?" he asked. She shook his paw as soon as he stopped signing.

"For not being out here to greet you," she sighed and smiled. She seemed sentimental about something, but Neil couldn't figure out what. He quickly got acquainted with everyone before having to eat dinner and go into his room. He took that opportunity to look in the mirror with only his base layers, a tank top and shorts. he was so eerily skinny that he looked like some kind of ghost. his fur was so dull that it looked white instead of purple and it was so thin and damaged that it made him look like a zombie. he glared at his reflection as it glared back. he hated how his body looked. it looked like he was a dead cat walking, how did anyone not scream when they saw him? maybe it's because his clothes made him look fatter, or that you could see the purple in his fur better in natural lighting. he sighed and turned away from the mirror and got in bed. Elliot told him to stay awake because he had to give him something. He came back in with a gas tank and an oxygen mask.

"What's that?" he asked as Elliot walked up to him.

"Just a special medicine that numbs pain and helps you go to sleep," Elliot smiled. His smile always had a malicious undertone, and it always rubbed Neil the wrong way.

"Ok, would you mind if I didn't take it?" Neil asked, already pretty tired and just wanting to sleep, besides he wasn't in any pain, so he didn't get why Elliot wanted him to take the medicine.

"Oh, yes. I would mind very much! You need it to be happy and healthy. Don't you want that?" Elliot asked, his tone laced with something Neil couldn't quite pinpoint. According to one of his siblings, most sleeping medication was addictive to the point that you couldn't sleep without it, so Neil didn't want to go down that path.

"No thank you," Neil shook his head. Elliot glared at him slightly.

"I think you misunderstood. I wasn't offering for you to take it, you have to take it," he shook his head. Neil furrowed his brow. He didn't like how Elliot was acting. After a bit of pushing and shoving, Elliot got Neil to take the medicine. Elliot put the oxygen mask over Neil's face and began releasing the medicine. As soon as Neil got a whiff of it, he wanted to gag. It was a horrible smell; it made him try to pull off the mask, only for Elliot to hold the mask to his face until suddenly, everything went cold. Neil woke up feeling so lethargic that he didn't want to leave bed. It was like he was glued to his mattress.

"Neil, sweetie. It's time to wake up! We have breakfast waiting in the kitchen!" a female voice cooed as he was effortlessly lifted from the bed and rocked to and fro. Neil slowly opened his eyes to see Donna, one of the elastic yokai, smiling down at him. He smiled back at her before trying to writhe out of her grasp. She put Neil down on his feet, only for him to find himself unable to stand, Donna seemed to know this was going to happen since she was hesitant to pull her hands away from his body and wrapped her stretchy pink arms around him yet again.

"It's ok, darling. Eliot told me you got your first dosage of the medicine, and I know how nasty that stuff makes you kids feel," Donna cooed again as she carried him out into the kitchen where everyone else was eating and chatting without a care in the world. Donna sat Neil in a chair and patted his head before getting him a plate of food. He thanked her and slowly ate what little she gave him as he tried to hold at least a bit of conversation with everyone else.

1354 words

new part tomorrow (I am so sorry, I didn't notice I accidentally posted the same chapter again)