#dryad!kots

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“LET ME GO!!”

The Host reaches to his mouth, feeling blood on his lips. King of the Squirrels took a fierce swing and knocked him to the ground and the man’s anger is coming off him in waves, pulsing out into every corner of the room. Beside the Host, Dr Iplier is trying to get a better look, but the Host easily waves him back.

Wilford is stood before the dryad, using every ounce of strength he still has, while Silver’s arms are locked around King’s shoulders. Together they are barely able to keep him back and are shouting for him to stop.

“HE DID THIS!!” King spits towards the Host. He may have only got in one punch but the Host knows that if he has his way, King will attempt to kill him. He is angry. Understandably so, but the Host is not sorry for what he has done.

Reaching out, he takes the doctor’s hand, pulling himself to his feet and standing firm, setting his chin and scowling as he faces King.

“The Host did what had to be done.”

The small group lurches as King’s rage grows and he tries again to throw himself at the Host.

“What are you talking about!”

“SAY IT!!” King screams, his words drowning out everybody else, “TELL THEM WHAT YOU DID!”

Amidst the rage, the Host feels everyone’s eyes and focus turn to him, but he doesn’t waver. He will not apologise for this.

“Mark had to be stopped.”

He feels Wilford’s resolve weaken, though he doesn’t move out of the way. “Julien?”

“Bing knew what he was doing. He chose to-”

Of course he sees the fist connect before it does, but in trying to react before it happens, it manages to catch him unawares. Wilford’s fist has a lot less sheer anger behind it but from the crunching sound as it connects, it’s probably broken his nose.

“Everybody calm the FUCK down!”

The Host tilts his head. That glitchy broken voice can belong to no one but Anti but as he looks at where it came from, as he reaches out to sense, as he tries to ‘see’, there is nothing there. It’s an empty space, a distinct lack of anything in space. Barely perceptible and impossible to follow, or truly perceive. He’s never actually paid any real attention to Anti before this moment, and he gets a brief sense that he may come to regret that in the future.

Feeling truly blind for the first time in a long while, the Host reaches for the doctor, taking his hand and looking through his friend’s eyes. Wilford and Silver are still fighting to keep King back, the dryad’s eyes practically aflame with his anger, and in the middle, arms thrown to either side, stands Anti.

“This just what that shit wants us to do.”

“Mark, or the Host?” Wilford asks.

“Fuck you!” The Host shouts at the pink ass.

Anti glitches violently and screeches. “IT DOESN’T MATTER!!” The sound is piercing and everyone winces, reaching to cover their ears. “Beating the snot out of bambi,” Anti gestures towards the Host, “isn’t going to get your friend back. So don’t waste your time.”

The other egos, all except King of the Squirrels and Wilford, are present, even the Jims have their ears pressed to the outside of the door listening in. Dark has just explained Bing’s disappearance and what starts as a quiet grumbling amongst the gathered slowly raises in volume until the ringing that follows Dark everywhere raises to a near deafening pitch, drowning them all out, forcing them all into a worried hush before dulling again to the background.

“One at a time.” Dark grits through his teeth, rubbing at his forehead, willing his growing headache away.

It takes time to convince everyone present that there is nothing to be concerned with, that they are going to get Bing back, and that absolutely no one is breathe a word of this to King of the Squirrels or Wilford, both of whom are still on their tree retrieval mission. If they play this right it’ll all be sorted before they even come back and this situation is a mess without bringing the two of them in.

“Is that everything?” his question is dripping with finality, not really being a question, more of a period to the end of this nightmare of a meeting.

BLAM!

The door to the meeting room slams open, Jim stepping forward, daring to move into the room with his arm raised, Other Jim looking afraid and trying to pull his brother back.

“Why are you bleeding?”

Google’s smirk widens as Dark silently fumes, his shell cracking to show his barely contained rage to those gathered, everybody at the table shuffling back in their chairs. Other Jim manages to pull his brother back to the other side of the door’s threshold as Google stands.

“Dark learned a lesson.” Is all the droid says. It’s firm and quiet and final, though his smirk doesn’t help to assuage Dark’s anger roaring for everyone to get out now!!

Dryad!King is old. And I mean like old-as-balls type old.

His forest used to be huge and a long time ago, people who lived on the edge of the forest or in clearings within the forest would leave him offerings in thanks for allowing them to use the resources that the woods provided. King misses these days.

The forest is gone, all that’s left are the squirrels that stayed there until the last trees were torn down to make way for ‘progress’ and King will protect them to the ends of the earth.

King fucking looooooooooooooooooooooooves peanut butter and will survive most of the time off of various peanut butter based recipes. He will eat other things (he is very much of the waste-not-want-not mentality) but if you make him anything with peanut butter he will love you

He’s not as powerful as he used to be, having lost his forest, but he is still pretty damn strong. He just lets the others see him as weak because it’s better they underestimate him than try to use him for their own ends.

He needs to ‘connect’ with nature every day and will go outside in any weather to do so. He cannot abide staying indoors all day (except during the winter)

King is able to stay awake for days at a time during the spring and summer months, in autumn, he will sleep most nights, in winter he will be inclined to sleep almost all the time. He doesn’t fully hibernate but he spends a few months super cranky if people keep bothering him.