[fic] Our Environment - Chapter Two
It had taken a lot more walking and cajoling from Fons to get Ward out of his sulk. The Edward had been determined to stay quiet and kick every single rock, plant and clump of dirt they passed after their encounter with the strange metal monster with humans inside. Eventually Fons had rolled his eyes in exasperation and grabbed a hand tightly, chattering softly to his Edward about everything from the nice weather to what the city might be like. When Ward finally relaxed a little and offered the Heiderich a sheepish smile in return, Fons was relieved. Edwards were so uptight and no harm had been done, it was good to have Ward back to his less sulky self.
They trotted along the grey river, hands swinging between them. Ahead of them, Fons could see more of the monsters and the giant hive of many humans. The metal monsters were roaring their ways in and out of the hive, humans walked around the monsters unharmed.
The two paused as they surveyed the city. Fons felt intimidated by the busy atmosphere and so very many humans. He glanced sideways at the smaller Edward. Ward’s face was still, but his eyes were shifting over everything and taking it all in. The Heiderich tightened his hands around his Edward’s, shifting himself slightly closer. When Ward gave him a startled look, he managed a weak smile. All his earlier bravado has fled at the sight of so many humans.
Fons had so little experience with humans, and suddenly there were so many.
Ward squeezed his hand back. <’Well, here we are.’> The Edward pointed out. <’We go in, right?’> Yellow eyes looked at Fons’ grey.
<’Yeah.’> He replied reluctantly.
<’It’ll be fine.’> His Edward reassured him, disturbingly perceptive for once. <’Most humans are…okay. They don’t do much; feed you and ignore you mostly. Not very many are like the human-predator.’> Fons felt the shudder through his hand. <’If anyone of them bother us, I’ll bite their hands off!’> Ward finished with a cocky grin.
Fons smiled back, his determination returning to him. This was their courting journey, something generations of Edwards had done before - even before the human hives took up all the good courting places. If others could travel safely through and complete their courtship, so could they.
Together they quickly made their way to the human’s hive, eventually hovering around the entry at a distance. Fons eyed the nearby humans warily while Ward slowly edged his way closer to the entry all those monsters used. The yellow head darted this way and that, red pelted form stiff as he sidled his way around a watching human.
<’It’s clear!’> Ward chirped at Fons, <’Let’s get in before they try to stop us.’> Fons had no choice but to follow as his Edward grabbed his hand and quickly darted around the humans, ignoring their nonsense cries and chatters in response to the sudden movement of the animals.
Once through the entryway, the Heiderich and his Elric stood uncertainly near the first wall they could find, watching the human movement renew itself now that they had passed through. There were square shaped dens of varying sizes everywhere, all of them clustered around the hard rivers that wound and sprawled all over the place. Humans were everywhere, walking alongside the grey rivers and sometimes crossing them. Fons threw several suspicious gazes at the humans, nose twitching as he watched them go about their business with only a few actually stopping to stare back. Ward shifted his spare pelt of food and shrugged at him.
<’Humans are weird.’> Ward explained to him. <’Outside in the forest they all come up to you and stare.’> Or kill, Fons supplied in his head. <’In their dens and hives they mostly ignore you and do…whatever it is they do.’>
Fons regarded the strange humans. Some of them could almost pass for one of them or the gunbu they had left. It was odd how similar, yet different they were. He flicked an ear uneasily.
<’We should set up a temporary den.’> The Heiderich said plainly. <’We’ve been walking all day and I’m tired and thirsty.’> He turned an expectant gaze to his Edward.
Ward blinked at him a couple of times, eyes lightening with realisation. <’Of course! Let’s go find somewhere nice and secure, right?’> The Elric sniffed the air twice, twitched his tail and began to briskly walk along.
Fons whuffed back happily as he trailed after Ward, tail swishing. His Elric was proving to be surprisingly adept at understanding humans, moving with quick confidence near walls and hissing at the ones who got too close. His heart fluttered proudly as he followed the red pelt past dens and humans, a safe feeling curling around him. This was so unexpected after the trials of the forest, but Ward appeared to be in his element as he avoided two humans and ignored the small one.
Soon they were looking down a strange hole. It was like a tunnel into a den, only much larger and the floor was at weird angles. Fons glanced down into the dark, assessing the level of threat. Aside from the odd human - not nearly as many as near the grey rivers - it seemed relatively safe.
<’I thought we could go down here,’> Ward jabbed a finger at the tunnel. <’We could find a corner and make a den. There’s not very many humans and it will be dry. Then we can find some water and eat our food.’>
Fons nodded, pleased with the plan. <’It looks good. Let’s go.’>
They descended quickly down into the tunnel, looking around in amazement as it flattened out into the largest and emptiest den they had ever seen. A few tatty looking humans were drifting around and there was the biggest and longest metal monster either of them had seen yet. Fons quickly cast a concerned glance at Ward, but the Edward seemed more curious than threatened by this monster. They idly wandered into the den, ducking around some odd metal fences that were rather ineffective at keeping them out.
Ward rolled his eyes at the metal fences. <’Humans won’t go through them without little pieces of paper. They don’t seem to realise that they can go around them. Humans are weird.’> The Edward shrugged. <’Master had some in his den entryway, from when I lived with the humans.’> He explained.
His Edward had lived with humans? Fons hadn’t been told this by anyone - it was an uncomfortable surprise. He eyed Ward. The red pelted Elric was sniffing his nose and looking around intently. The Heiderich shrugged. He had known there was something off with his Edward; this must be the source of the strangeness.
<’I see a place we can make a den,’> Ward pointed at another entryway. <’We can make that our den. None of the humans are using it.’> He suggested.
They trotted over and eased the den-cover out of the way. Inside was very white and empty, with an odd smell that had the Heiderich wrinkling his nose. Ward seemed quite happy.
<’It smells funny. Everything here smells funny, but this smells really funny.’> Fons lamented.
<’We’ll make it smell like us.’> Ward reassured him. <’This is a good place. Master’s den had a place like this. The white things in the smaller dens make water.’> The Edward pointed at some flimsy dens leaning against each other across the entire side of one wall. When Fons wandered over for a closer look, he found the white things - almost like very smooth rocks - and in each one was a small pool of water. He lapped at them thirstily, mouth grimacing at the funny, metal taste of the water. It tasted how the den smelt.
Rubbing at his mouth, the Heiderich grabbed all the weird paper-rolls on the flimsy den walls and padded over to his Edward. Ward was methodically clapping his hands and transmutating half the strange den into a proper, circular den for them. Soon they had an opening just large enough for them to crawl into, quickly occupied by Fons crawling in with all the paper-rolls and letting them loose everywhere. The Alfons didn’t understand why humans kept perfectly good bedding attached to walls instead of on the floor of the spotless den. He rolled around in it a bit, forming the appropriate nest while Ward watched on curiously.
<’I want to try something.’> Ward announced to him. <’I’m going to move the water!’>
Fons raised and eyebrow and edged into the entryway of their den inside a den to watch. His Edward had marched over to the nearest white water-rock and was cocking his head side to side as he regarded it. He watched as Ward clapped his hands and pressed the white rock, making it twist and move closer to the den and away from the door. Fons shoved his hands over his mouth to stifle a giggle as water went everywhere, his Elric chattering and cursing as he clapped his hands and redirected the spray. Another series of claps and the smooth, white ground had been carved into a small river that winded towards a hole in the ground. Fons blinked bemusedly as Ward stomped over to him, shaking his pelts and hair free of water.
<’It was meant to do that!’> He grizzled at the Heiderich.
Fons groomed him sympathetically. <’You’re much better at clapping now. It was the weird way humans change things and had nothing to do with you.’> He reassured, carefully tugging the Edward into their smaller den and his hastily made nest. <’Come lay down with me and I’ll groom you.’>
Ward settled down against him, humming contentedly in the back of his throat while Fons appreciatively undid then braided his hair. He was just finishing up the final touches of his grooming when the den cover of the white den slammed open and the two creatures went stiff in their nest. Ward growled deep in his throat at the disturbance.
Crawling forward, they peeked their heads out of their smaller entry. One of the dirty, tatty humans from outside had entered. The worst thing, Fons noticed, was that it was relieving itself in one of the water rocks. The Edward and Heiderich shared a look of disgust, Fons amazed at how unhygienic the humans were.
<’Ward.’> Fons looked at his companion seriously, <’Get it out of our territory. It smells and it is peeing in our water.’> He huffed, appalled at the human’s behaviour. They hadn’t even managed to go a whole grooming session without a human interrupting them, and the manner of interruption was horrible.
Ward nodded. <’I’ll be right back.’> He gave Fons a pat on the back while the Heiderich returned a glare to the human.
The Edward let out hisses mixed with growls as he crawled the rest of the way out of their den. The human appeared to finally notice their presence and the den, as it startled and turned around. Fons twitched an ear, observing that at least they knew it was a male now.
The human male was making loud noises as it leapt back, tripping over his pelts as Ward hissed at him. Fons watched carefully as his Edward paced backwards and forwards, slowly driving the loud and smelly human out of the white den. When the human eventually slammed his way out of the white entry, the Edward posed and puffed his way around - even giving a little twirl with his red pelts flying.
Fons purred admiringly from the den, shuffling to the side as Ward excitedly wiggled his way back in. <’Did you see what I did? I chased him away!’> He babbled at the Alfons, <’That human will never bother us again. I made sure he knew it was our den and he left.’>
<’That you did.’> Fons confirmed, fussing over the Edward. <’Come lie down now and eat some of our berries.’>
After much convincing, the excited Elric managed to sit down without too much fidgeting and nibbled on the dried fruits and berries they had brought with them. Their stomachs filled up quickly and Fons curled up next to his Edward, purposely tangling their legs and pressing up tightly against Ward’s warm body.
Together the two animals closed their eyes and relaxed, noses twitched and ears flickered at the weird noises of the human hive. The loud roars of the long monsters made the entire den shake, but they quickly learnt to ignore it. Soft breaths from Ward puffed against Fons’ ear as he gazed at their transmutated walls.
<’I can’t believe he peed in our water.’> The Heiderich whispered quietly in disbelief.
Ward snorted behind him. <’Yeah. Humans are weird.’>
Breathing evened out as the two slowly went to sleep.