Subject: So in it went.
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Posted on: 2019-10-16 18:50:15 UTC

Gadrik nommed Thoth's fingertip with a satisfied mutter, only to pull his head back with a frown of intense confusion. (In that moment, it was possible to remark his burgeoning resemblance to his father.) This finger did not taste quite like the other fingers he'd encountered in his young life. It was weird. Weirdness warranted further investigation. He went back for another sample.

Derik let out a slow breath. He wondered fleetingly if Thoth's transhuman body chemistry might disagree with Gaddie's constitution, but that was the sort of concern that prompted Gall to roll her eyes and tell him he was being an idiot. She fully believed it was good for the boy to expose himself to things to build up his tolerances, and he had been assured by trusted external sources that she wasn't wrong, within reason, so he kept it to himself. Anyway, the image of his son and his best friend bonding was heartwarming enough to dispel it.

"I'd trust you with him more than I trust us sometimes," he said. "You're his guardian, after all."

"And if anything ever does happen to him on your watch," Gall added cheerfully, "Derik only gets to kill you if I don't get there first."

"Good luck with that," Derik muttered, casting a look of amused tolerance for the empty threat at Thoth. Again, he winced from the appearance of the implanted ports. Since Thoth had more or less seen through him, as usual, Derik decided he might as well explain. "Sorry. It's the thought of all the cutting that bothers me. A cultural thing. Surgery just wasn't done except in cases of extreme medical emergency, and sometimes not even then. I know it's not rational, and attitudes had started to change in my own lifetime, but still, the taboo runs deep. I'm glad they're not painful."

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