OK, let me just say, so sorry it's taken so long. IRL i started a whole bunch of things at once, lots of projects needing focus and my attention is switching around over all these different things that i totally forgot i had a fic for a while.
ADHD brain go weee.
Also briefly had a concussion but that's a whole other thing.
So due to that, i have made not a lot of progress in the next coming chapters, i have drafts and outlines for the events for the next two or three parts, but not much else.
What i did have was a bunch of cut content that didn't make it into chapter 11. So i've taken those, rewritten and polished them off and compiled them all in one filler chapter before i try to start up again on the next chapter.
This is a chapter dedicated to various short (and some not so short) collection of a few snippets of story of a few nice days spread over the weeks between part 10 and 11 as Error tried settling down with his new kiddos.
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-1- Why Bert calls Error 'friend'-
-had a passing mention in a line in chapter 10, taken out as it was too long to fit comfortably-
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After their warm welcome into the village, Error had not expected or wanted so much attention to be on them. But he appreciated that after a rather messy night having not yet fully figured out the sleeping situation, the joyous face of a chipper Bert greets him at the door first thing in the morning. Nolan and Vesper were in the workshop with him sitting on the ground fiddling with some unfinished carved wooden doll they found.
"Hey stranger! I see things went well! you've moved in already!" He cheerfully chatted to the rather surprised skeleton, so Bert welcomed himself, not minding the frozen in place skeleton holding the door. Being mindful of the scattered wooden projects and the kids playing, he patted down a seat to free it off dust and sat himself down.
"I am so happy it all worked out with Chief, i knew it would" He did seemed rather pleased that the meeting with the village leader had turned out so well so quickly.
"I- y-Ye4h, i sup0se it d!d" Knocking himself out his surprised state he shut the door and stood facing Bert who made himself comfortable and seemingly getting distracted with looking over the old workshop.
"This place gives me memories..." He trailed off dreamily as he looked around before focusing on a partly finished carved wooden doll left on the table, tracing it's carved face with his paw. "i was close friends with the old owner for many years you know...it felt weird seeing this place empty after he passed"
"I'm...s0rry f0r y0ur l0ss?"
"don't be, life happens" Bert waved Error's awkwardness easily "I'm just glad this place is being lived in again, it will do well for you" He smiled up at him, really craning his neck to reach his eyes then looking to the children who were now focused on the adults speaking rather than their lump of wood.
"there's another thing i actually wanted to talk about, not just to reminisce on old times"
Bert leaned back in his seat and addressed Error, "I realized i've been very rude to you three, i haven't asked you your names have I?"
"ooh yeah! We know our names! we're Nolan" Nolan excitedly piped as he abandoned the toy on the ground and jumped to Berts side as he pointed to himself, then to his sibling still on the ground "and Vesper! those are our names!"
"And what fine names those are! Great names for some fine boys" Bert chuckled and laid a fuzzy hand on Nolan's skull and rubbed it affectionately, who puffed himself up proudly. Bert looked up to Error with a toothy grin. "And you?"
"My n4me?"
he knew this should be simple, just say Error. But...when he gave the kids their names, something Nolan had said really stuck with him...why should his name be Error? he had no real personal attachment to it and it was never really a name to begin with was it?
Error was the god of destruction, Error was a destroyer of worlds, Error was a mistake or whatever title people forced on him...among many things forced onto him.
But he didn't have to be that anymore. He could make his own choices now coun't he?
But then, if not Error...who was he?
"that's alright too" Bert's voice suddenly broke through his thoughts. realising he'd been frozen and silent for too long over a basic question. "You don't have to tell anyone anything...when you are ready, i'll be here...whatever your name turns out to be"
"I d0n't underst4nd" and he didn't, he didn't understand many things it seemed.
"look" Bert just sighed and leant back in his chair.
"I'm an old monster, i've seen many things, people who have been through something terrible..who want to make a new life for themselves and leave that awfulness behind"
"And that is what you want too, isn't it?"
Bert was indeed an old monster, and it was never so clear than this moment right now. His worn wrinkled face and graying fur never looked so aged until now. Error almost couldn't look him in the eye, those eyes that while they could never understand the horror Error's seen, or what he'd done...but knew enough that it was all Bert needed to know. But he still cared for such a broken monster that really needed a break.
Bert stood up from his chair and went to hold Errors shaking hands into his own.
"take care of yourself because there are people out there who really care for you" Bert looked to the kids, who had gotten back to playing with the doll, Vesper clearly not distracted enough and clearly listening to every word said.
Bert made his way to the door, but turned to say one last thing as he held the door.
"I'll be seeing you around, friend"
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-2- Error heads into the market for the first time-
-"There wasn't much left and he knew he'd have to head to market" line in chapter 10. But when i went to chapter 11 I realized i hadn't included this happening in my plan but couldn't find a way to write it in. So it ended up cut.
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This was the day...he would finally go to the market.
That morning the kids ate the very last of the food he had stored away. As much as he put this off, now he could not anymore. He might not need to, but the kids had to eat.
Both kids sat at a work desk and watched as he kept pacing back and forth in front of the door for a while, prepping himself mentally for what was to come. Dramatic, maybe, but he was very nervous about what he had to do, more so than he's been for anything else in his life...at least up until recently now he had children thrown into the mix, he's been nervous a lot lately about a lot of things.
Finally, he forced himself to stand still. Took in a deep breath.
"4lright...l3ts d0 this"
The kids, seeing that he'd finally stopped acting strange gladly hopped off their chairs and joined him at the door, Nolan's hand slipping into Errors. "are we going now? "
Error nodded and with his free hand reached up and finally opened the door and stepped out.
It was midday and the sun was high in the sky beating down onto his face, warm with not much wind...overall, a nice day.
With the kids in tow he slowly started walking down the stone rode as he followed the path out of this side street and onto the main road.
The small square was sprawling with people, humans and monsters of many shapes and sizes. All happily on their way through a bustling market. People came in and out of the shops or walked between a handful of stalls. Right in the centre of the crowd stood a light post standing tall and a group of small children swung around its base giggling and laughing with each other. Nolan looked longingly at them but remained glued to Error's side.
The moment he crossed into the square he realised he made a horrible mistake.
Error hopelessly wandering further into the market place with no idea of what he should do. All of the confusing maze of stalls, the noise of the people jostling past him to head their own way. All of it very easily started to become too overwhelming for the glitch.
Where is he meant to go? how is he going to do this? there's so many people, he can feel them staring at him, they're al moving to close to him and touching him-It's all too loud,he can't hear himself think of the noise and buzz of static starting to building in his head and into his vision.
Why did he think this was a good idea, what is he doing here-
"Are you alright there sir?"
Among the noise and his glitching vision a face into his line of sight, It was a young tabby cat monster, her mouth in a small worried frown and her whiskers twitched in worry.
It took several seconds for him to gather himself again, which only seemed to worry the woman, and the kids at his side even further.
"I-I i'm fin3-"
Her ears dropped as her expression changed to one that clearly spoke 'I don't believe you'. "are you in trouble?"
"N-n0! n0 tr0uble...i just d0n't..." He blindly gestured around them to the market, trying to ignore how a couple people who had stopped to stare suddenly looked away and darted off.
"oh" She had a look of realization across her face, her expression settling from worried to something warmer "having trouble finding everything then? first time being in this market i suppose"
She apparently did not need his answer, it must have been clear on his face. As she stepped out of his personal zone and indicated for him to follow her "follow me then, i'll tell you all about our little market!"
She seemed so eager yet still sort of stern so he did not have much choice but to follow where she was leading him. He reasoned he had a better chance with a guide through such an unfamiliar setting anyway. The tabby smiled as he moved to catch up with her, the kids at his side speeding up and eyeing the woman.
"You are not from here are you? what's your name?" She started conversationally, a clear glint of curiosity in her eyes about this mysterious stranger.
"We c4me fr0m s0mewhere v3ry f4r fr0m her3" He gave the same vague story he'd given anyone else who asked, without actually saying a specific location. He tactfully ignored the question pertaining to much to himself.
"Ooh being mysterious are we sir?" She teased with a glint in her eye and sharp grin, but still shrugged off his vague non-committal answer and continued on through the market with him in tow.
She walked them through all of the stalls and showed him who sold what and introduced him before moving on to the next person. There was Lewis, a little human selling bundles of old crockery and unfamiliar tools.
"-Then there's Boris, he's a gruffy guy, he doesn't say much" Boris was a very broadly built wolf monster that tended to sheep for wool and meat for the village.
And it went on like that for some time, being led around under the hot sun to stall after stall winding around like a maze.
Each person he was introduced too seemed nice and welcoming towards him and explained what they offered and how trading worked here and talked him through his purchasing of what he did need...The whole time he'd felt rather embarrassed and confused at all this new information and fumbling with coins. Which only grew as he had the odd feeling that everyone they talked too seemed to find something about him very amusing for some reason, like they all shared a joke he was not part of but was still about him in some way.
He decidedly did not like that feeling but just brushed it off as him not really...understanding social cues and had not a lot of interaction with other people, so he must be misunderstanding something. But, that feeling was only compounded at the last stop he was led too.
The small bell over the door jingled as he, the tabby whose names he still doesn't know and the kids entered a shop. Looking around he saw a counter and behind it many shelves and drawers with written labels he couldn't possibly hope to read.
Sitting at the counter were two older women, who were gossiping away with each other. One was human with her black hair streaked with white tied into a loose braid while her friend was some sort of bird monster with dusty feathers and a pair of eyeglasses sitting on the tip of her beak.
They were so engrossed in their whispered chattering and giggling to each other, they barely looked up at the jingle and would only pause their chat when they walked closer to their counter.
"Oh what darling children you have with you today"
The elder bird monster cooed as she leaned over the table to look down at them through her glasses.
"Aren't they? they're such well behaved boys following their father out shopping" The Tabby woman complimented and attempted to pat Vesper on the head, but he ducks before she made contact and hurried back to Error knees glaring up at her. She just laughed light heartedly at the act and turned back to the two women.
"Now, Margaret, this gentleman has things he needs to buy"
The elderly human, 'Margaret' apparently looked over to him, her thin eyebrows traveling up into her hair as she looked him up and down. She shuffled her stool forward and smiled up at him "And how can we help you my dear?"
"Uh..." He looked over at the shelves and their labels couldn't make out from behind the counter hopelessly.
"First time dearie?" She smiled knowingly.
Rather hesitantly, he nodded feeling rather hopeless and embarrassed yet again today.
The bird woman tittered a little laugh, finally focusing on them both.
"Of course, trying to learn a wife's duties must be hard for someone new to parenting on their own" The tone while meaning to sound sympathetic and nice...to him it felt rather condescending. He also did not appreciate what was implied in her words about him.
It was then he realised why everyone seemed to find his flustered and confused state amusing. They had assumed that he'd never done this before, which while accurate, the people here had seemed to believe it was for a very different reason.
He barely managed to get a hold of his glitches before he ending up crashing in the middle of this store, remaining conscious and aware but stiff as a board.
The implication that he ever had a 'wife' who used to do all these things but is for some reason gone so he's hopeless doing 'wifely duties' as a 'newly single father' made something in his soul boil. He did not like that.
But, despite that, he plastered on what he hoped was a pleasant expression to hide how badly he wanted this to be over and remained quiet. It was for the best he not be tempted to say anything.
It would only make things difficult to explain what was actually happening, which would not go well for him. So, as much as he disliked the idea, he reluctantly thought that it was better they assumed this rather than they pry into it and asked questions he might not have an answer for.
All of the women in the room didn't seem to notice his discomfort, Instead shuffling around the shelves and tucking some smaller things into a bag. All the while carrying a conversation with him though he's tuned it out, only nodding when it felt necessary.
He felt a light tug on his pants as Nolan looked up to their guardian with slight worried frowns, seeing his demeanor changed.
Returning to the counter they finally passed over the bag over to him and he peered inside. A small bag of flour was most present, and assuming some other baking ingredients. Sliding over the appropriate amount of gold he picked up the bag and awkwardly and stiffly thanked the two.
"Oh it was my pleasure my dear!"
It was a relief to him when he finally got out of that store.He tried to remain polite as he held himself back from running out the door, though his speed walked wasn't far off with his long legs and the kids at his heels, just wanting to be out of there.
He sighed as he stepped out. It wasn't as hot as it had been all day and was later into the afternoon. The place was still busy, but most seemed to be wrapping up and heading on their way. The tabby joined him at the path, waving back to the women as she shut the door shut behind them.
"Alright sir, I believe that's about it, can you manage things on your own from here?"
"Ye4h...I'll just g0...kids must b3 tir3d, th4nk y0u f0r tod4y"
From the front of that shop, they turned and went on their separate ways and Error felt a little bad about feeling so relieved for it.
He just really wanted to be out of this market place.
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-3- In chapter 11 Error had noticed his magic not returning as much as it should, not enough for him to use his strings for sewing and weaving like he's used to. He made do with some supplies someone gave him.
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"Oh dear, such a frightening face you have!"
A small elderly lady with a full head of silvery hair and a few too many shawls for such a warm day was at the door with a rather surprising way of greeting one morning.
"i'm aw4re...it's my f4ce 4fter all..." don't snap at the old lady, don't snap at the old lady was what he chanted in his mind as the woman got herself together after the initial fright at his appearance, a thin shaking hand rested on her heart. He did feel a little bad he gave her such a fright...but he still felt a little offended, was his face really THAT bad?
...Never mind, it probably does look that bad, he hasn't see his reflection in a while so he can't really know.
It was then Error noticed she was carrying a bag stuffed to the brim and clearly too much for such a small old lady to carry on her own. The weight of the bag caused her to teeter dangerously on her feet for such a frail looking woman.
He looked out the door hoping to find whoever her companion would be, or anyone who could get him out of this situation...but there was no one, just this small woman was no taller than his lowest floating rib.
She seemed to finally get herself together and shakily smiled at him "Oh dear...i'm so sorry for my rudeness, I'm Ruth"
Rather casually she apparently decided to breeze past what just happened "I just wanted to drop by during my shopping and give you this"
She patted the bag in her other hand before attempting to lift it up to him, but the weight and her frail body couldn't raise it high enough. Before the lady could hurt herself, Error quickly reached out and plucked the bag away and rested it in his palms.
"There's news around our quaint little village that your interests lay in sewing and knitting, so I bring a gift for our new resident"
"...th4nks?"
She giggled a little bit with how genuinely confused he must have looked as he looked from the bag's contents and to her "They are all my old tools and materials dear....my hands are too shaky for this sort of work anymore so i give them to you."
"0h...th4ts 4ctually v3ry nice 0f y0u"
"Oh it quite alright...I'll just be on my way, take care"
She waved him goodbye before hobbling her way back down the street towards the main square, leaving him standing in his door dumbfounded at the interaction and holding a bag bursting full of supplies.
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-4- An encounter with the local children
this scene didn't make it at all into chapter 11, but i thought it was a fun moment and was a little disappointed i couldn't get it in.
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"4re y0u re4dy f0r scho0l t0d4y?"
"yess" Nolan stood there tall and proud, barely able to hold his excitement in his small body.
It was just yesterday that the lady from the church, Anne if he remembered correctly, had dropped by and made the offer of letting the kids attend the school in the local church. It started off as one day to see how it went, but one day was enough for Nolan to want to go again. As he had loudly proclaimed the second he walked back through the door just a few hours later after being dropped off "That was so much fun! i want to go everyday! "
So, just like the day before, the kids were up early, fed and dressed for the day ahead.
He had been told that this time that Anne would be here a little later in the morning than yesterday to pick the kids up, the route she took meant theirs was one of the last she'd pass by. That's fine, But Nolan was clearly restless and hung by the door, waiting. Vesper was sitting on some random chair and looking rather bored and trying to sneak in a nap. Vesper had been less stoked about this 'school' but it clearly made his sibling so happy so of course he was coming along again as well.
Finally, at last, there was loud chattering on the other side of the door and a light knock to put Nolan out of his misery. Vesper jerked out of his nap and finally stood up to join his sibling.
Error opened the door to greet the woman on the other side, a small crowd of children already behind her. He saw little humans and little monsters in stripes among them. "Good morning sir! I'm so pleased your boys wanted to come with us again" She greeted cheerfully as she lightly tugged one of the more unruly kids back into their nice orderly line.
Unfortunately for her, the already rather rambunctious group of children spotted him in the open door. Within moments there was a cacophony of noise from the kids, all talking at once he could barely follow what they were all trying to say.
"woah!"
"You're their Dad??!"
"You look so cool!"
"So tall! how?!"
"What happened to your face!?"
"Did it hurt a lot?"
Error winced at the sudden noise and stepped back further into the doorframe when the wall of questions hit him. Among the noise he jumped when a very flustered Anne raised her voice above the racket.
"Children! that's not a very nice thing to ask! Don't be rude" She scolded the lot of them. They stopped their chittering at once and looked rather cowed in the face of an upset adult. "Now apologize to the nice gentleman at once!"
"Sorry sir" They all echoed as a group, looking pretty chastised, though the ones who made the more daring questions seeming to only follow along as to not get their teacher's ire.
"I am so sorry sir for my students" She spun to him and apologized to him,looking very flustered and embarrassed on behalf of the kids. "children you know...they say the darndest things"
"it's fin3...ma4m, i've g0tten us3d t0 it"
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-5-
Now that he has two mouths to feed Error has to do something he never thought he'd ever do in all the centuries of being alive...learn how to cook.
Unfortunately he's not very good so he's surprised when he gets help from someone he had not expected
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Error was surprised when one afternoon, a familiar head of dusty blonde hair showed up at his door and welcomed himself in. Those dark eyes looked over the room, the kids were laying on the ground drawing patterns into the wooden floor with a piece of charcoal they'd pulled from the stove that sat cooling.
"o-0h, h3y...4rthur" He will not admit out loud that it took him a solid second to remember the guys name.
Arthur nodded to him "Morning, heard your settling in" he mentioned conversationally but did not give Error time to respond before he gave a gruff "Good"
"ye4h, w3'd be3n s3ttling in 0kay"
"My Joan wanted me to come by and bring you something before it got too dark," Straight to the point as was apparently usual for him. Revealing something wrapped in cloth he placed it on the table and started pulling apart the knot "made fresh, she thought you'd like something special, she made it herself"
The last of the fabric fell away to reveal a round and perfect looking loaf of bread, still warm from the stove with steam wafting from it. The smell from the steam was mouth watering and enough to attract Nolan's and Vesper's attention from their improvised version of tic tac toe.
Arthur noticed and seem to hold back a smile and carefully tore the end of the loaf when he then tore in two and offered it to them.
It was then while Arthur handed the boys some of the bread which they dug into happily that his foot accidently knocked against something on the ground he hadn't spotted and both adults froze.
At Arthur's foot were two bowls. From Error's most recent attempt at cooking.
It was later in the afternoon and he had just feed the kids dinner.
If he was honest his attempts at cooking definitely left a lot to be desired. As someone who has never worked a stove or cooked once in his whole long life it was to be expected he would fumble. The kids would smile and pick their way through each meal but even he knew they weren't enjoying many of the things he'd tried to make. After several failed meals he had at least stopped setting the food on fire, which was the only improvement so far.
The remnants of that night's meal lingered in the bottom of two bowls sitting on the ground right by where they'd been laying down to doodle. The kids wanted to eat down here tonight for some reason. and he'd just shrugged and brought them down.
He had a rather ominous feeling of dread when Arthur reached down and plucked them both of the bowls off the ground.
As did so he must have gotten a glimpse or a whiff of what remained. He inspected them, his bushy brows wrinkled and grew into an unmistakable grimace of disgust at the bowls contents.
Arthur wordlessly places the bowls gingerly on the table where they were out of the way and turns to Error.
"You've been having problems with cooking" It would have sounded like a question but the tone was wrong and felt oddly more like an accusation with that dry tone.
"i-uH- w-w3l-l-!"
Arthur did not seem to register Error's fumbling, instead his dark eyes seemed to stare at some far off place seemingly deep in thought. What he thought or how he felt about it was unclear under that stony expression.
Without saying a word he gestured to Error with his hand, almost like a 'stay here' before he spun on his heel and walked out the door he'd just walked through.
Error was left standing awkwardly with the sinking feeling he'd done something wrong to anger him. After all, what other reason could there be that would explain why he left so abruptly so soon after he came? he must have been so offended by something about him and just couldn't stay a second longer. He didn't like the thought of offending the man though he was hopeless to know what he'd done. He's barely been in this town for very long and he's messed up so often.
As Error was consumed by his thoughts Nolan and Vesper were nibbling on some of the bread and watching their guardian with curiosity and swapping nervous looks to each other.Nolan thought everything seemed to be going so well, so why did the man leave without a word and why did his new dad seemed so upset? He didn't understand adults...
After a few agonizing minutes that felt like ages going past the door suddenly threw open again and Arthur strolled back through and across the threshold. In his thick burly arms was a rough and worn basket with its contents hard to decipher for the dumbstruck glitch. He'd come back? what was he doing?
Arthur looked right up into Error's nervous and confused face "The kitchen is upstairs...correct?"
Feeling very lost as to where this was going he just nodded to the man and gestured vaguely to where the staircase was that led up.
"Good, come up then"
"umm..." Error tailed after the human who seemed to be on a missed as he trudged up the stairs and into the living quarters and beelined for the kitchen, placing the basket down before inspected the wood stove still almost warm "I don't w4nt t0 s0und rud3 but...wh4t ar3 y0u d0ing?"
"you're having trouble learning how to cook right?"
Some part of Error wanted to be stubborn and indignantly deny that, he had this handled, he was fine- But, he had a feeling Arthur would not put up with that, see right through all of that and he didn't wish to upset the man further, so he sucked it up and gave a timid nod.
Arthur clearly saw through him and spotted that brief pause immediately and knew why, and he seemed just a tad smug when clearly Error thought better of his initial reaction. But at least he tried to cover it up for the glitches sake.
"well i'm going to teach you, brought some recipes of mine"
From the basket he pulled out some papers and presented them to Error to read, allowing the skeleton to pick them from his hand and held it up. Arthur turned back to pull what he could now see are ingredients from the basket and setting them on the table.
Not for the first time Error mourned the loss of his glasses as he held the paper up close to his face and squinted so hard his head hurt while trying to decipher the scratchy handwriting. The yellowed and aged papers crinkled in his hands as he purposefully loosened his grip and minding his sharp phalanges, not wanting to rip or damage them by accident.
He was interrupted by Arthur's face suddenly coming into view, attracting his attention away from the papers. His aged furry brows were pinched lightly, almost guiltily "My apologies, i hadn't asked...can you read? I know many don't"
"o-oh, ye4h i c4n" He felt his face grow warm with embarrassment as he admitted "my ey3sight h4s just alw4ys be3n...r4ther po0r"
Error vaguely gestured up to his face and Arthur's expression seemed to pale a little and his normally stern and sort of blank expression briefly took on a look of understanding and some amount of pity for the glitch. "Ah...my apologies, i hadn't thought"
Arthur reached up and lightly tugged the aged paper out of Error's loose grip, it coming away very easily. "how about i read them out, you just follow along"
--
Despite being alive for how many centuries he's lost track of, he had never believed he'd ever do something so...domestic as standing in a kitchen over the stove. Let alone doing so with another person, who admittingly, was a far better coo. and to his surprise was a very patient teacher and didn't seem to mind his many screw ups along the way.
The human never interfered, just stood next to him and showed him the steps and leading Error to do the same and explained the how and why. Never directly touched or interfered when Error inevitably made mistakes, but just verbally nudged him along the right path.
As Arthur talked him through the recipe and the dos and don'ts of working a kitchen and giving all sort of other useful advice, the kids had finally gotten bored of their game and followed them up the stairs and watched the two of them with great curiosity. Nolan had even come over and attempted to help the two adults with cutting ingredients, But Arthur just smiled a little, patted him on the head and nudged him back out of the kitchen.
In the end,as the world outside started to grow darker 4 bowls of a steaming stew were placed on the table with what was left of the bread.
the four of them ate for a moment in peaceful quiet, the kids after their first bite smiled and dug in with far more energy than they had for anything Error had made for them.
His own bowl sat in front of him untouched, well until Arthur gave him that same stare that he'd given that first morning in the inn. He too would then start to slowly pick through his meal, begrudgingly thinking it tasted far better than his own attempts.
It was a surprisingly nice moment, and the food was good, if the gruff admission from Arthur meant anything.
With the dinner coming to a close, bowls empty and cleaned and the kids led to the bedroom, Error followed Arthur down the stairs as he saw the human to the door.
Just as Arthur was about to reach for the door, Error felt like he had to say something. "4rthur..."
The man paused and look back to him curiously as Error tried to think of what to say next "..Th4nk y0u f0r h3lping m3 a-4nd f0r the r3cipes" Said recipies sat on the table upstairs. A gift from Arthur as he claimed he knew them all off by heart anyway.
"It's no problem...if you start struggling again, remember my inn is not too far from here" And he was out into the darkened streets and walked briskly down the road, as to not be out by the time the bell rang.
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-6- And finally, to end the chapter off, a couple extra short snippets and some daily shenanigans with the injured bat Error dragged into his home-
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-1:-
Late one night Error found himself wide awake while the rest of the village was fast asleep. This wasn't a new thing as he hadn't slept since coming here, getting all of it out his system right after falling into the void...so he was restless, often bound to a bed that the kids insisted he share with them...If only they knew the whole night he'd do was staring up at the wooden ceiling beams counting grains and nails all night till his mind went numb.
Plain and simple, he was bored.
On nights like these, it's all he can do to keep his sanity as he sneaks out of bed and sneak around the dark home.
Like this night, he'd slipped out of bed and careful wandered out of the bedroom, gently pushing the door closed after him and sighed.
In an instant after he turned around he jolted and threw himself backwards and barely held in a surprised shout.
A pair of eyes were staring at him from the darkness. Large glassy black-
oh
"0h d4mmit...it's just th3 b4t"
Said bad simply remained where it was sprawled over the table, staring at him, mocking him with its silence.
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-2:-
"Y0u 4re a l0t 0f tr0uble y0u kn0w" Error groaned distafully to a bat who did not care about his feelings.
The kids were off to school once again and he went to give the injured animal in his home a feed before he went downstairs to start on some actual work.
So here he was, sitting on his dining room table with a bleeding hand and a hungry bat nosing into the bleeding cut. The feeling was no less unpleasant than the first so he waited impatiently for it to be done with it.
"such 4 m3ssy thing"
The bats pointed and wrinkled muzzle was covered in a glistening red when it finally pulled away, a thin tongue slipping out to lick the remnants and Error had to hold in his disgust at the sight. The bat, of course, did not care for his feelings and continued to casually lick its face clean and watching him with its too dark eyes.
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-3:-
"What happened to your poor hand?" Bert fretted upon seeing the fresh bandage on his palm.
The kids were out for their school and Bert himself didn't have any work for that day. So he was in Error's workshop with a pot of tea he'd brought with him. But seeing the fresh bandage he put down the pot and reached for the hand in question and inspected it. There were already spots of blood in the palm from cuts that hadn't closed yet, forcing Error to use a bandage.
"uh...i h4d 4n...4ccid3nt" It came out a bit more like a question as he cursed himself for not thinking that anyone would notice and planning a cover up story.
He...didn't really think to tell anyone of the injured wild animal he brought inside, or that it fed on blood of all things. Said injured wild animal was upstairs having a rest after a feeding session he'd done the moment the kids left the house for the day.
Bert seemed to see right through that, based on how he squinted up at the much taller monster and the twitch of his nose. But, thankfully, he seemed to decide it wasn't worth prying into and just inspected the hand to make sure that he was in fact ok. Finding it to be ok he releases Error's hand and goes to pour them both cups of tea.
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And there it is!
I hope this was enough of an apology for falling off the face of the earth for a while.