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Lettuce staggered into the courtyard. His body ached; cuts and bruises were covering his body as his vision splotched in and out of existence. He could see his enemies: Flame, Wemmbu, Spoke and Parrot. It definitely wasn't the best idea to walk into their arms, injured as he was.
Lettuce was done fighting, though. Done trying to stay in a server where no one wanted him.
His vision swayed, blood loss and malnutrition finally having an effect on his body. Lettuce's ears were ringing, blood rushing all too loud.
He knew what he was doing was stupid. Walking straight into the embrace of people who hated you and wanted you half dead never worked out for anyone.
Lettuce wasn't afraid of death. He was, however, afraid of them putting him through something along the lines of torture.
Maybe that was a selfish thought. He deserved torture, after everything he'd put them through. Put everyone through.
Lettuce was pretty sure someone was saying something, but the blood in his ears was much too loud. His vision was still dark at the sides and his head felt hot.
He swayed to the side, suddenly feeling very, very nauseous. Lettuce hoped he wouldn't throw up. That would suck to have to clean up and he really didn't want to be more of a burden than he already was to this server.
Lettuce heard someone yell something, but he couldn't make out the words.
Finally, his legs gave out.
Lettuce fell to his knees, chest heaving. It hurt like a meowtherfucker; the stone cutting his knees and making him probably bleed. He gasped weakly for air.
He fell to the side.
The last thing Lettuce saw before his world went black was Parrot.
The colourful avian was in front of him, saying something he couldn't quite make out.
Lettuce's body gave up on keeping him conscious.
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When Lettuce woke up, the first thing he noticed was warmth. Hands gently massaging his scalp.
It felt nice. He liked being pet, having hands scratch just the right spots behind his ears to make him purr softly.
Lettuce wished he could stay here forever, warm and cozy and relaxed.
The second thing he noticed was exactly how wet he was. He hated being wet.
Lettuce made some pathetic whimpering sound before slowly blinking his eyes open.
He was in a bathroom of sorts. In a bathtub.
Lettuce shot up from the partially-laid-down position he was in. He needed out of the water. Water was bad and gross and scary.
It was after sitting up with his ears perked, and being about to practically lunge away from the water, that Lettuce fully processed the situation he was in.
He was in a warm bath, naked as the day he was born. His main competitor in the election, Parrot, was directly in front of him.
Oh, this was bad. And embarrassing.
Lettuce's ears folded back instantly as he stared, frozen, at Parrot.
His brain was still lagging behind, refusing to cooperate with him. His instinct urged him to relax, to go back to how peaceful it was just seconds ago.
Back to Parrot's hand in his hair, petting and scratching just the right spots.
Parrot was still looking at him, his expression a mix of concern and fear. The avian's head wings were fluffed up slightly more than normal.
Lettuce wondered briefly if he was gonna have to be the one to break this god awful silence.
“Good morning Lettuce”
Lettuce blinked at Parrot. His brain was working over time to figure out what was going on. Parrot didn't sound angry or mad. He should be, Lettuce did everything wrong.
He wanted to be like Parrot, to help those who needed it. To make the server a better place. Lettuce had failed. He had failed himself, failed Parrot, failed the server entirely.
He deserved anger, deserved to be yelled at to be hit. He didn't deserve to be looked at like how Parrot was looking at him right now.
That weird mix of pity and adoration. Like Lettuce was someone to care for rather than a mistake of the server.
Lettuce wished he was never born. He wished that he could have just been killed, left for dead.
Parrot should have never freed him. He didn't deserve that.
At the same time though, Lettuce didn't deserve death. Death was a mercy to those who did nothing good or evil.
Lettuce was evil. He was pure evil, no good bad person evil. He deserved torture at best.
He forced himself to refocus on reality. Parrot was staring at him with a look that was much too soft for someone like him.
“Hi, Parrot”
Lettuce's voice broke halfway through his words. He felt weak, barely able to speak. Gods he was pathetic.
Parrot had this impossibly soft look on his face after that. He was looking at Lettuce the way one looks at a violent cat in a shelter.
Like he was something that could change, that could be fixed.
Like Lettuce had a reason to have done what he did.
“Can I finish washing your hair or are you gonna freak out again?”
Lettuce thought on that one, for once.
On one paw he did not deserve this at all, He didn’t deserve to be domesticated.
On the other paw he wanted to be easy, he wanted to be good for Parrot. Lettuce didn't want to die as much as he deserved it.
He stares at the avian for a while, his expression blank.
Lettuce doesn't know how to respond. He doesn't know what he wants, what he deserves.
He needs to be good but Parrots being too nice to him, Lettuce doesn't deserve how Parrots treating him.
Lettuce deserves to be hit, to be yelled at or to be berated for everything he did not cared for.
Parrot still needs a response. The avians simply watching him calmly, like nothing could be more important than this.
“Uhm I- I dont…Whatevers easier”
Parrot tilts his head at this but doesn't comment on it. Lettuce is grateful even though he knows he doesn't deserve to be.
Lettuce hopes Parrot kills him. He doesn't want to deal with the guilt of life any longer than he is forced to.
Clawed hands find their way back to Lettuces hair and he almost melts into the touch, almost. He stops himself just before he can, thankfully.
Parrots talons feel nice on his scalp, gently massaging in some product Lettuce couldn't name. His ear flicked uncomfortably as some soap got flicked into it, he doesn't like how domestic everything is.
Lettuce wants so badly to just relax into the steady gentle rhythm Parrots made, to let his guard down and trust the avian. He knows deep down he doesn't deserve that though.
His head hurt, Lettuce was pretty sure he had a mild concussion. His brain was fuzzy, thoughts barely processing.
He was scared. Really really scared, Parrot or any of his friends could do anything and he wouldn't be able to fight back fast enough.
Finally Parrot seemed content with how clean his hair was, Lettuce couldn't care less about his hair.
He deserved to die. Lettuce did not deserve to be taken care of like a house cat.
He was lowered into the water carefully, it was warm and perfect and he hated it so so so much.
The shampoo was massaged out of his hair carefully, more careful than he deserved.
Lettuce moped as it happened, he hated every last bit of this. He wanted anger, needed Parrot to yell or hit him or anything but this.
Finally Parrot was done and Lettuce was free from the horrid water.
He stood, stepping carefully out of the water and onto the tile of the floor.
Parrot was holding his arms gently, trying to prevent him from falling.
Lettuce stood there shivering. He didn't know what to do, what he was allowed to do.
Hell Lettuce didn't even know where he was.
“Why are you doing this?”
Lettuce stared unblinking down at Parrot. The avian looked up, tilting his head at Lettuce like he was asking stupid question.
“Beacause you were injured? You're still a player on this server, I still care about you even if you made mistakes.”
Parrot was confusing, he watched as Lettuce hurt players, ruined lives. Hell, Lettuce even made two of Parrot's friends wanted criminals, Parrot saw all that and still feels bad for him.
Lettuce didn't reply to that, he just shuffled awkwardly, waiting for Parrot to do something or get him to do something.
“Come, I have clothes for you.”
Lettuce just nodded, following Parrot aimlessly. He was confused and annoyed at being damp. He hated water, hated it deeply.
He hoped there wasn't water in prison.
“Uh we couldn't really get fresh new clothes as no one was selling anything so it is donated clothing from other members”
That was…odd. Lettuce didn't question it, he didn't care. He had expected prison gear or just his old dirty work clothes anyway.
Wordlessly he continued following Parrot. He watched the avian, observing how relaxed he seemed. His wings were spread slightly, feathers looking soft and fluffy even.
Lettuce was used to Parrot looking stressed, wings held tight and close to his body, his brow furrowed. It was…nice to see him not look three seconds from a panic attack.
They turned down a different hallway and Lettuce realised he hadn't been paying attention to where they were going at all.
He just padded softly behind Parrot, towel wrapped around himself. Lettuce’s tail swished lightly with every step, water dripped off it.
Lettuce briefly wondered if he could take Parrot in a fight. Technically he was a predator and Parrot was prey, however Parrot had a lot more friends on his side.
Along with humanity of course. Lettuce could probably win if it was just a 1v1 but if anyone else joined on Parrot's side who could actually fight he would be cooked.
Lettuce flexed his claws out briefly, his hands hurt. A lot of his body hurt actually, he hadn't noticed it at first but it was becoming really obvious now.
He would live though, a few aches never killed anyone. Lettuce would just sleep it off, if he ever got to sleep.
They finally stepped into another room. There was a rather nice bed in the corner, a balcony and a desk. There was also a fluffy white rug in the middle.
“So the only people willing to give you clothes were, shockingly, Wemmbu and Flamefrags, however I'm pretty sure that was just because of how bad their fashion taste is…”
Parrot trailed off as he held up the most atrocious purple hoodie Lettuce has ever seen. It was neon purple with a massive black smiley face. The avian also grabbed these ugly pants up.
The pants looked to be sweat pants, they were black with flames licking up the side. Most noticeably was the giant wolf face on either side of the pant legs.
Lettuce just stared in horror at the clothes.
They were so ugly.
“Oh! Those are…uh probably deserved.”
Lettuce slowly took them. The cloth was even worse, they felt like they were fully made of polyester. This was going to be a long while.
He slipped the clothes on, at least something was better than nothing. The pants pooled around by his feet and the hoodie fell past his waist.
Both Wemmbu and Flame were much taller and muscular than him. Lettuce wasn't a fighter, he much preferred to stalk and attack with stealth. Because of that he didn't build much muscle.
He shuffled awkwardly in the spot, Parrot was just staring at him. Beady black eyes staring into his soul.
“Uh so do I go to prison now?”
When he gets to prison he can mope about everything. Prison is good, prison is safe.
Parrot laughs at him. A sharp sound paired with some bird-like clicking sound.
“No no, Lettuce your not going to prison. You’ll stay here for now. You won't run”
Lettuce is shocked at this to say the least. He might not run but he still doesn't deserve this. Lettuce deserves a lot worse.
He just nods though, Parrot is king. Parrot makes every decision.
“Rest, you need it. Ill come check on you in a bit ok?”
Lettuce smiles at that. Parrot is sweet, too nice for his own sake. Maybe he can convince Parrot to be crueler in the next few months.
“Ok, sure.”
He bows slightly, ignoring the pain that spikes from that. Lettuce watches the bird leave. Colorful wings fluttering from behind.
Lettuce turns to the fancy bed and sits on it. Its so soft, softer then anything Lettuce deserves. He lies down. The blankets are soft and fluffy.
He can feel his eyes burn from keeping them open. Lettuce gives in to the exhaustion. He falls asleep in seconds.
Lettuce sleeps, cleaned off and comfortable. He knows deep down how much he does not deserve this.