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“Come on! Can’t you just try ?”
Dororo is talking again. Not that this is really anything new— Dororo, Hyakkimaru has been quick to discover, is always talking. They talk so much it’s a wonder they don’t get tired of their own voice. They talk to Hyakkimaru. They talk to the trees. They talk to random groaning people in the woods—seriously, Dororo. Sure it was annoying, but even Hyakkimaru knows you aren’t supposed to throw rocks at people, no matter how high-pitched the giggling. Sheesh.
…Though of course the giggling may have belonged to the ghoul, and okay, maybe it’s okay to throw rocks at ghouls (or knives, or arrows, or just… sharp things in general), but hey! In the end Hyakkimaru didn’t end up killing the ghoul either, so—his point still stands. Yep.
“Just say it with me! Do-ro-ro! Come on! ”
Anyway, Dororo talks a lot. At first Hyakkimaru thought maybe this was just, like, a sound thing—but no. Mio… Mio had never spoken as much as Dororo did. And—and neither has anyone else they’ve met, for that matter. So the chattiness isn’t a sound thing, it’s just a plain old Dororo thing. An annoying Dororo thing.
“Bro! Hyakkimaru!” A long pause. Then, “OI!”
Alright, that’s it, Hyakkimaru thinks, and finally stops. Dororo crashes into him and then grips his sleeve, tugging insistently. Hyakkimaru reaches out and puts his hand very gently on Dororo’s face… and then pushes them brusquely off his side.
Dororo shrieks and falls back onto the ground.
Whoops. He hadn’t meant to push them that hard...
“Hey!”
Ow, Hyakkimaru thinks, and claps a hand back to his ear with a sigh. Nope, never mind, he’s taking it back. No longer sorry.
He doesn’t push Dororo again, though. God, the shrieking. It rings!
“It’s just my name. Come on. Please? I say your name all the time! You gotta return the favor!”
Hyakkimaru has got to do what now.
“It’s only fair.”
Hey now. Hyakkimaru may be new to this whole ‘hearing’ business, but he’s already clued in that “fair” and Dororo are basically opposing forces. He’s being duped right here. This is lying. Blatant lying. Come on, tiny child.
“Don’t look like that! I’m right!”
Ow, volume.
“Oops. Sorry.”
Yeah, you better be.
But, well, he supposes Dororo does have a point. Sort of. A small, minuscule point. Also, maybe if Hyakkimaru humors them, they’ll give it up for a bit. Though admittedly that didn’t happen with the laughing. You snicker once at a kid trying to be nice to a spider, and suddenly they never let you hear the end of it. And here Hyakkimaru thought Dororo wanted him to laugh.
(What was even the big deal about that, anyway. Laughter. It was literally a huff of air. Kinda reverberated in his ears. Annoying and itchy as far as sounds went. Not nearly as fun as Dororo made it sound. Honestly. )
“Come on, it’s really easy! Three syllables! Do-ro—”
Hyakkimaru reaches out and places his hand solemnly on Dororo’s head—not pushing them, just resting there. Dororo shuts up at once, breath catching, stilling mid-motion. They seem excited, intent— waiting.
Hyakkimaru pauses, working the word on his tongue. He’s heard this before, many times now. He thinks he can do it. Just have to remember the sound, phrasing, where to stress the syllables…
Hyakkimaru takes a breath, prepares himself, and then announces, as loud as he dares:
“Annoying.”
A pause. Dororo doesn’t move.
Hyakkimaru pats Dororo’s head one more time and then turns away before the kid can see him smiling. Dororo starts, trips in place, and then splutters loudly at his back.
“Wait— I—did you—was that—”
Another beat.
“Hey!”
Hyakkimaru grins.