Hello Sunshine

...this is the best day. I love you, Corrie.

Sunshine happily hugs Corrie's soul.

 

"I came back for- no, no I don't want to fight you-!" Okay, take a moment, stop freaking out just because basically everything that's happened to you today is completely impossible and start thinking for a change. "Look, what are you, for a start? And why do you want my bag specifically?"

 

"Uuuh. Eirik Gunn? I'm half-jotun on mom-dad's side an' dad's a demigod." He puffs up, looking proud. "I'm gonna be super big when I'm old an' I'll start an even better rock band an' everyone will love me."

He pauses, then pouts. "But learning instruments is booooring.."

"...uhm. It was here? And there was jerky?"

 

Corrie sighs audibly. Maybe this is happening because she's possessed now? Is she just going to keep being beset by weird from now on?

"Clearly not the god of attentive parenting. Okay, Eirik, if I just give you some jerky, will you leave my stuff alone?"

 

"...nnnh. Dad hovers too much." Eirik pouts. "Mom-Dad already lost an arm when he was my ageish! I'm totally okay to be on my own!!! I'm practically a grown-up." He asserts loudly, then squints at her.

"...how much jerky?"

 

Corrie reaches into the pack and hunts up a generous fistful, some of which is admittedly packaging, but which should be plenty for this lizard-boy while leaving her some room to add more if he rejects it. Honestly, she can afford to lose all of it- she's heading toward civilization as soon as she can, to let Lee know she hasn't... well, at least that she isn't dead. She'll have plenty of opportunity to buy more before she comes back out. But she's had to do too many rights negotiations to start out with everything.

"That look good?"

 

"...more?" He asks hopefully, guile gone and childish hunger lighting his eyes.

 

"If you let go of my backpack, you can have more," says Corrie.

 

He immediately lets go, watching with big, eager eyes.

 

"Thanks." Corrie, magnanimous in victory, opens up the zippers further and even the lunch bag that she had with her. All but one small package go out and into Eirik's scaly hands. "I'd say don't eat it all in one go, but I have no idea how lizard-person metabolism works. -Oh, but don't just leave the wrappers everywhere, okay?"

 

Eirik has already stuffed the jerky into his mouth, wrappers and all, and looks up with a guilty, stricken expression, as though being chided for tablemanners.

 

"...Or you could do that."

She really should get going, now that there's no lizard people hanging onto her stuff. But... there's lizard people. Demigod rocker lizard people. How can she not try to find out at least a little more?

"So... demigod, huh?"

 

He nods, swallowing. "Yeah! He's a sun god, he's all fwoosh and everyone is all woooah and then they cheer and Shok starts singinging and sometimes they let us up on stage, too!"

 

It doesn't ring a bell, but maybe they're just not on Corrie's radar. "Sounds fun. And also a 'jotun'? How does an ice monster plus a sun god equal a lizard?"

 

"There's lots of kinds of Jotun," Eirik sticks his nose in the air. "Dad-Mom's a lizard, too, he's really big and he can carry lots of stuff and I wanna be that strong when I'm big..."

He looks upset. "...right now all I really do is not get hurt by hot or cold stuff."

 

Sunshine is curiously rifling through Corrie's knowledge, following threads of her thoughts so he understands more of the conversation.

 

"That's plenty helpful in the desert," Corrie points out. "Is that why they left you here? Is it like... your room?"

She can feel Sunshine back there. It's weird, but fair enough on this, she supposes. The more general knowledge he gets, the less she'll have to be explaining to him all the time.

 

"Uuuh.... nnno. I kind of. Decided to prove I was a grown-up..." He peers at her bag. "...do you have more food?"

 

"Oh." Rebellious adolescent monster people. What will the universe think of next? "There's only a little, if you're an obligate carnivore... Hold on. Have you been hunting? Been having any luck?"

Because if this is a starving rebellious adolescent monster person instead of just a rebellious adolescent monster person with an appetite, that's a pretty big difference.

 

"Uuuh..." He goes a dusky blue. "I'm... I'm... notasgoodathuntingasMedusais." He whines plantively, shuffling one foot in the dust. "An... I like other food? I mean meat's really tasty and stuff..."