He sniffs the paste, flicking the right part of his tongue against it. "I have no need for this, female, my breath doesn't stink."
Raising an eyebrow, I watch as he places it in his mouth like a toddler and moves it around slowly. "I would like to not find out if it does, but good job, you're doing well."
Athanasius shoots me a glare. "I am not one of your infants. I do not need your coddling." He brushes, spits, and rinses his mouth with the cup I offer. "It does feel nice."
"Glad you agree." He mimics as I wash my face, watches as I spray my hair and retwist a few strands. A few times he reaches out and fingers my hair between his thumb and forefinger before letting it drop back down. "You were talking about other primordials yesterday," I start as we walk down the stairs. "Are you going to look for them today?"
"I will send a message for them today." He replies, staring out of a window. "Why?'
"Curious." I answer, opening the fridge to remove eggs, butter, milk, and cheese. In the freezer are blueberry waffles, and in the cabinet are grits. "Time, Destiny, Life and Light." I'm saying this, but really I'm asking.
"Yes," Athanasius replies. "Your neighbor is looking over here again, she is frightened."
"What?" He has the blinds pulled all the way up, face in the window staring at her. "Change your fucking face! She probably thinks you're trying to scare her!" Realization dawns on me that he's not 'human-looking.' "Athanasius!"
"Do not speak to me so commonly," He sneers as I push him from the window to smile and wave at Ms. Taylor. She narrows her eyes at me and shakes her head, but waves back. "She is the one leering into my home."
Did he just? As I close the blinds, I turn back to him. "First, this is my home. Mine. I found you in the dirt and you have invadedmyspace, attached yourself tomyfinger, and insist that I take care of you so you can enact some legion of doom or world terror shit that you haven't fully explained and I am completely not on board with."
He crosses his top arms over his chest. "You put on the ring. You chose me."
"So we're ignoring everything else I said?" He shrugs. "Brilliant."
He huffs. "My plan is to make the people of this world suffer, however, to please my avatar, I will shelter the ones that are close to you." He's acting like I'm inconveniencing him. "Does that suffice?"
"I have an idea," Walking over, I take his hand and lead him to the couch. "This is a television, the people on it are for entertainment. Watch it and learn." Turning it on, I find cartoons and then decide against that before settling on a romcom. "This button turns the volume up or down. This button changes the channel, which means something new will come on."
He tries the buttons, raising his eyebrows as different shows appear before his eyes. Leaning forward, Athanasius hums softly. Good, he's quiet.
In the kitchen, I'm able to think about what's transpired over the night and into the day. I found a box, a ring was inside connected to a primordial being. I put on the ring, and because I did that, I am now his avatar or priestess, which is to me feels like a glorified servant. Now, I have a primordial with a vendetta waiting to take his revenge on humanity, instead of the avatars and mages who locked him away. As I set the plates of food on the table, I've overcooked for Mr. Yum-yum-eat-em-up, I sigh and sit down.
"Athanasius, come eat." He doesn't move, and it's now that I notice that he's watching some matchmaker show. "Oh my god, anything but that." Getting up, I turn the TV off only for him to glare at me like an angry toddler. "Come eat."
"Explain to me why human females are chasing subpar mates?" He asks. "I do not understand why they are doing that. Even a female who might be inferior among her peers is better than the average male." He sticks his finger directly in the grits, tasting them. "This is good."
What. The. Hell. "Why the fuck would you do that?" We can get to the conversation of women lowering standards for men later. "Really?"
"What did I do?" He sits at the table. "Serve me."
"No!" I can't deal with this. "You can't just touch food like that. I'm going to eat this too."
He grunts. "I am not a human. I'm not dirty, you can still eat it, female."
"That's another thing!" Setting his cup down harder than intended, I snap at him. "Stop calling me fucking female. Don't say human either. My name is Ione,and even though you're trying to use rabbit as an insult, I'll take it." He gets apple juice, since he wants to act like a baby.
Athanasius continues to stare at me. "You yell at me like it's going to change my mind." He points at the waffles. "What are these?"
Clenching my jaw, I sit down hard and ignore him making my own plate. Let's see what he does when I don't answer him. He has four arms, he can use them. He's quiet though, breathing hard, and grunting. I don't even look at him, putting syrup on my waffles, I bite into some eggs and hum happily.
"Stop ignoring me." He growls.
Still doing it. I sip my orange juice, and he moves about in his seat.
"Ione. Speak to me when I speak to you."
Nope. I didn't hear that he was sorry. Damn, these grits are good. Slowly, his lower hands move forward and he picks up the spoons placing eggs, grits, and sausage on his plate. He grabs four waffles, and pours syrup and holds up his utensils moving them around in his hands. Good thing I gave him 2 forks and 2 knives. He cuts into his food, slowly, decides that it's too much and then begins to eat the waffles with his hands.
I'm finished, standing up I notice that he's watching me with his lower eyes, and as I clear the table he continues to eat, devouring nearly everything. As I finish washing the last dish, there's something touching my back. His shadows, pulling my shirt, wrapping around my legs. I allow myself to be semi-carried back to the table where they deposit me into my chair.
