dot.

12: Ducks

  "Can you walk?"

  Dot had only woken up a few moments previously, and already was being bombarded with questions. He shook his head and flopped back down onto Felix's lap. Every time he tried to stand on it, his leg would give out and he'd collapse. He had managed to stand for a while, but only while putting all his weight on the unharmed one.

  Nimue had come in to watch briefly, tutting and turning away when Dot failed again and again. This injury would take a very long time to heal- if it ever did.

  He sighed and let his head rest against Felix's shoulder. There had been no sign of Tiro since the incident, which was nice. Dot wasn't sure he'd be able to cope with seeing him right now.

  The butterfly pendant slid across his chest and he brushed it with his thumb, delighting in the way its colours shone. Felix passed him the neon card, ready to ask a question.

  "How do they dress you? You can't exactly get a shirt over... those." He said, gesturing to Dot's wings.

  'butons' Dot typed out, gesturing to the button-secured seam running down the sides for his shirt. The item was in two t-shirt shaped pieces, which were put on either side of his body and buttoned up so that there was no need to pull it over his head or wings. For the bottom, he just wore skirts.

  "Huh." Felix undid one of the buttons then did it back up just to see how it worked. "All your clothes are yellow, or yellow patterned. Do you like it?" He ran his fingers along a few more of the buttons before saying anything else. "These are just like the buttons on baby clothes."

  'its my favrit culer and baby cloths' Dot typed out. He meant the last part to be a question, but that was difficult to convey with no punctuation so he tilted his head as he typed, hoping Felix would get the message.

  "Aw, that's adorable, I like yellow too. Baby clothes are just... clothes for babies? I dunno, it's pretty self-explanatory. They're softer than normal clothes, I guess."

  Before Dot had the chance to question Felix any further, Nimue burst in with a wheelchair and ordered him to get into it.

  "But he can't, he can't walk." Felix interrupted Dot's feeble attempt at pulling himself into the chair and scooped him up into his arms without hesitation. "I'll carry him."

  Nimue raised an eyebrow. "You are supposed to stay in this room."

  "How do I know you're no going to hurt him like you did before? I want to come with."

  "That wasn't me, it was Tiro-"

  "Still." Felix stared her down until she finally sighed and gave in.

  "Fine."

  The pair followed her, Dot shaking slightly in his arms as they twisted through the endless maze he lived in. Felix was spinning his thumb in little circles on the top of the hybrid's arm, so Dot focused on the soothing, repetitive motion to comfort himself.

  They stepped into a room that Dot had seen before, and he relaxed immediately. This was not a bad room. It was where he had spent most of his time as a very young child, before his body was stable enough to be able to take the experiments.

  He glanced around the space, heartbeat steadily slowing as he calmed down. There was still a slight air of anticipation for what they were here for, but he wasn't as stressed as he had been.

  The walls of the room were painted a baby yellow and were decorated with childish, cartoony painted ducks and daffodils. It was much like a child's nursery with the gentle lighting and soft toys, furnished with a well-used white wardrobe (complete with chipped paint at the corners) and a clean-looking white bed, laden with a duvet inside a pale yellow cover.

  Felix lowered Dot down onto the bed and Nimue pulled his skirt up so she could have a closer look at his injured leg. She moved her hands up and down the limb, gently prodding certain areas to see how it had healed and to check the extent of the damage.

  Finally, she sighed, tutted, and slumped down onto the floor. "I'll be honest, it doesn't look very good. His leg is in tatters on the inside, but the skin has healed on the outside so it looks fine at first glance."

  Dot squeezed Felix's hand as she continued to poke around, the sharp stabs of pain making him clench ever tighter.

  "Can you stop? It's hurting him." Felix pushed Nimue's hands away with his foot and glared at her again.

  She paused, not quite sure what to do. No one else ever disrespected her like this. Her assistants, Dot, even Tiro- they all did what they were told and didn't speak up against her. Most of the time, anyway.

  "I have to feel around to get a clearer idea of the extent of the damage to his leg." She spoke, keeping her voice level and trying to control her anger. She had let Felix come with them earlier because she thought it would have been beneficial to the experiment to see how the pair interacted in different environments, but now she was beginning to regret her decision. Felix was getting on her nerves.

  "I know that, but still- you could be more gentle. Why would you want to cause him more pain?" Felix matched her level tone in an infuriating calmness, making her want to kick him from the room and continue the process alone.

  Dot remained perfectly still during all of this, Nimue's rising anger making him uneasy. He tugged on Felix's sleeve in a bid to make him stop, but was wholly unsuccessful.

  "I just mean, he's already been through enough, so you really don't need to-"

  Nimue yanked down on Dot's leg, making him kick out and flinch in pain before grabbing Felix's wrist and tearing him away from her hybrid. "This is my ​​​​​lab, and my rules. Do you understand?" She spoke deeply and quietly, keeping her face uncomfortably close to his. Felix gave her a small nod and backed off, looking a little shaken.

  She continued the examination of a now petrified Dot, keeping in mind that Felix would have to be monitored more closely from now on.