Chapter Text
Gricko was the first one in the room after hearing the glass break
It was quite the spectacle, glass shards and witchlight fluid flooding the floor, the mass of fabric in the middle of the room and the screeching ball of fur in the center of it all
“Oh shit” Gricko muttered, carefully making his way through the mess of glass to the screaming creature who was now beginning to soak the surrounding fabric in blood “Shit shit shit shit shit”
He played a few notes on his occorania in attempt to at least slow the bleeding before he continued his awkward walk through the maze of glass. Whatever healing he has done unfortunately didn't calm the creature as it continued it's pained shrieking. Now within a few feet of it Gricko pulled at the edge of the fabric and lifted up the creature
“Torbek? Buddy is that you?”
The little bugbear wriggled in Gricko’s arms as they made their way out of the mess of glass
“Hey hey hey hey, it's ok. You're safe, I promise”
“What the hell happened in here?” Kremy had arrived and was looking over the mess with mild disgust knowing he’d likely be the one cleaning it up “I mean seriously, can we not wreak places were staying at as guests for ONE-“
“Oh”
Kremy eyes had finally landed on gricko and the screaming furball in his arms
“Oh no no no no no” and he turned his ass around and walked out of the room
His silhouette in the doorframe was replaced by Frost who surveyed this situation for an awkward moment before turning back around “I’m going to grab you a towel”
Gricko shuffled the rest of the way away from the mess of glass and fluid and into the next room finding Kremy and Gideon muttering amongst themselves and saw frost approaching him with the promised towel
Gricko took the towel from Frost and spread it out on the floor placing the tiny Torbek in the center of it. Poor guy was still screeching his head off as Gricko looked him over
No cuts from the glass, that was good. In every spot that the witchlight tubing had once been there was very irritated just healed over scar tissue in its place, must've been where the blood had been coming from. He had no other visible injuries that Gricko could find which was a relief
Now, Gricko didn't know a whole lot about babies, he knew bits and pieces about goblinoid development from being a goblin himself and he had gotten a bit of experience with owlbears with hootsie but not much beyond that. Checking his mouth he could see two small fangs just beginning to poke out from his gums and there wasn't any raspyness to his screams so he was breathing alright. What concerned him most was how small Torbek was, Gricko knew bugbears started out little but he felt like this was too little
He could panic about that later, right now they needed to get this kid safe “Kremy, could you get dinner started early?”
“Wha-? Now?” He looked up from his position on the couch
“Yes now, something easy, and soft”
“I’ll- I’ll start some soup then”
“Alright, Gideon you and Twig find some clothes and I’ll get him cleaned up” Gricko wrapped Torbek, still crying, in the towel and carried him into the bathroom. He turned on the water in the sink holding his hand under it until it felt like about the right temperature
He lowered Torbek into the water as gently as he could, thankfully it seemed to settle the kid a bit as Torbeks cries faded to a quiet hiccupy sob.
“That's better, ain't it? You were just a little cold weren't you?” Torbek gave a little huff in response “Yeah”
Gricko did his best to clean up Torbek without jostling him too much, as the blood began to wash out of his fur so did a decent amount of dirt and grime. By the time Gricko had finished Torbeks fur had become very clearly blonde and was beginning to nod off
Unfortunately this didn't last long as when Torbek was pulled out of the water to be dried off he began to cry again
“I know, I know” Gricko wrapped him into a different towel (one that wasn't covered in dried bugbear blood) and rocked him as he ruffled his fur to dry it “We'll get ‘cha warm soon I promise”
Baby in arms Gricko walked into the kitchen to find Kremy pondering over a set of ingredients
“Gricko - he's so tiny, I mean what are we gonna feed this kid?”
“He's old enough to eat people food, or he should be anyways”
“Wait, really? How do you know?”
“He’s got teeth, what’s he got teeth for if he’s not old enough for food”
“Huh. I- I guess I'll just make some soup then, something simple right? If we still have those star noodles I'll toss em in a broth”
“Perfect, thank you Kremy” Gricko turned to leave
“Hey Gricko?”
“Hm?”
“Are you alright?”
Gricko turned back to face kremy again “I can be not-alright once this kid is safe, you understand?” without giving Kremy a chance to speak he walked out of the kitchen
He was met with Gideon and Twig who had scrounged around and found some old clothes that Twig had buried somewhere. They settled on a grey and white striped sweater and some pinkish sweatpants, both of which were a bit too big but hey it was something
By this point Torbeks crying had faded into very tired sniffles, still too upset to fall asleep but very near to it.
“Hey buddy, you gotta stay awake a little longer, ok? We still need to get you some food” Gricko whispered, Torbek gave a small coo in response as his eyes flickered but didn't shut. Gricko pulled him closer “Yeah, I know”
Kremy, timing never better, walked with a bowl of soup in hand and concern spread over his face. He set the soup on the coffee table the rest of the group surrounded watching Gricko carefully to see what he would do next
Gricko held a spoonful of soup to Torbek’s mouth who gladly accepted it much to the relief of everybody. He continued feeding him like this until they had made their way about halfway through the bowl when Torbek began to nod off
Gricko laid Torbek down on the couch, blanket on the edge to prevent him rolling off, and Torbek settled into sleep
“We deal with this in the morning?”
“In the morning. Yeah”