Fernando Poe Jr. Kept incessantly pecking at Gold's feet until it bled. This caused Gold to wake up and instinctively kick Fernando Poe Jr.'s cage.
Fernando Poe Jr. cawed and glared at him. Gold sits straight up and turns to the crow. Crows hold grudges, right? Fairies aren't the only ones who hate him, it seems. Speaking of which, what happened to the cocoon of the fairy they had? Well, it hasn't hatched yet and they just keep leaving it at the hut.
"Sorry...it hurts." Gold said while trying to reach for one of his feet. The wound doesn't seem to be deep so he should be okay. He tries standing up but ends up tumbling to the ground. "Ow." He's overreacting. It's not even THAT bad, right?
He tries to pick himself up and barely stands up straight. He goes outside, and with every step, he groans, so it's hard to understand why he's even trying. Also, doesn't the scar hurt even more when you're outside?
There are so many rocks that could make the scar even worse and there's also grass that could brush against the scar and maybe even worsen it. Or maybe some bugs could crawl into the scar, bite it from the inside, and inject some toxic saliva it could get infected since the forest isn't exactly known for being clean.
He picks up a large purple stick that's in the shape of a "T," and it's his leg-length, so it's perfect to be used as a cane. He's learning common sense at least. He tries walking with it and instead of using it with the side where his foot was scarred, he uses it to lean on with the foot that wasn't scarred. He's still stupid as ever, never change Gold.
I know I said it was stupid but the thing he's doing actually works. He doesn't even limp that much. If you think about it, the cane is supposed to help you ease the pressure that the weight of the body causes. Since we rely on the leg that doesn't have the injury, it makes sense.
He tries to reach for long pink leaves that resemble flowers but can't because he is too short. Or maybe the tree is too high. From the looks of it, the tree was at least 25 meters tall. What was he even trying to achieve?
He gives up on reaching the leaves and instead picks up leaves that are on the ground. The leaves on the ground were crumpled and stepped on. At least they didn't have any stool on it. He tries to wrap the leaves around the scar, but they don't stay in place.
He heads back into the hut and tries to wake up Kalbo with a soft push but when he doesn't wake up, Gold uses a bit more force. This doesn't work and he just gives up.
Gold sits in a corner and he sees a small hole between the straws and wooden frames. Like any curious monkey, he looked inside. When has curiosity ever killed the cat, right?
From an observer's viewpoint, they might assume he was a peeping Tom or a pervert.
While there wasn't anything of importance happening outside, at least the green sky looked gorgeous. It's really early in the morning, so the weather wasn't as hot as when they tried to climb up a random cliff; they could probably go out for a morning jog. Well, maybe not Gold because of his scar. He stayed in the same position for a good while staring at the sky.
A star finally came to greet the sky and the sky turned into a green-pink gradient. Gold watches in amazement and he looks even dumber than usual. That or maybe that's his "relaxed" look.
The clouds, which resembled paper that was shredded apart repeatedly, kept moving toward the star for some reason. It's like they want to eat the star or the star is sucking them in.
If you look at it very closely or if you're delusional, you might be like Gold and say things like, "Those...dragons?" Dragons have long been extinct, so what is he on about?
It's more surprising that he could even see the silhouettes of the clouds since the hole was really small and the hair covering the left side of this hair wasn't helping. His eyesight isn't even that good in the first place, as well.
It's hard to tell if Gold is having trouble speaking because his throat is dry from not speaking too often, or if he's just illiterate. The latter is less likely since he's wearing the clothes of a noble, albeit the clothes have loose threading, multiple holes, and are stained with a multitude of different colored stains. He's more like a fallen noble of some sort.
Outside, he could hear the mumbling of familiar voices. He scoots in closer to listen in and it was the voices of the twins, Gago and Gagi. The twins seem to be heading towards the entrance of the hut.
" Sigurado ka ba dito?" One of the twins said in a muffled voice.
"Oo." The other twin responded.
What are they planning? Surely they wouldn't burn the hut down...right? The tribe is pretty obsessed with fire, and the hut was made with flammable materials, after all, so best of luck with that not happening.
They arrive at the door and halt. One of the twins takes a deep breath before speaking. "Kalbo... Bakit mo ako pinakitaan ng tao? Alam na alam mo naman na ayaw na ayaw ko sa kanila."
It seems to be saying this to Kalbo but Kalbo is uhh... Out of commission. Gold painfully rushes toward Kalbo's side and tries to wake him up again but he's still out like a log.
"Galit ka pa ba?" One of the twins asks, only to be met with silence. It's a good choice not to respond because Gold might be hunted down instantly.
"Kuya tulog pa ata." The other twin says. Kuya means brother, so maybe the one speaking before was Gago, and this one was Gagi. It's still weird not to know what they're talking about, though. They leave, and their footsteps gradually fade into the silence.
That was odd. They didn't do anything harmful like burning the hut down to ashes. They didn't even shout or scream at Kalbo. Judging by their tone of voice, they didn't cuss him out either. Instead, they sounded like they wanted to talk things out.
A few more hours pass by, and the sky is fully green. Kalbo is still not awake. By this time, Gold's stomach was streaming from hunger. Gold tries to go out and search for food. His foot still wasn't healed that much; in fact, it's more open now. Well,, at least he still has the cane. Maybe because he ran to Kalbo earlier. It even leaves a trail of blood everywhere he goes.
While he won't get lost thanks to the trail of blood, many monsters could easily smell the blood and follow it for a quick snack; although Gold wouldn't be delectable. He sees a bush with velvet-red berries, and before he can eat some, he sees a figure that causes him to freeze up.
At the corner of his eye, he could see the silhouette of Naoyoti. Why is she here? Oh. Then again, Kalbo did agree to give her a second chance so she might be here to talk to him. Gold tries to hide behind a tree but still gets spotted by Naoyoti.
She didn't really spot him, but she spotted the trail of blood. He freezes in fear not knowing what she might do to him. She stands before him and raises a hand, causing Gold to close his eyes.
"Kalbo..sleeping." He meekly explains. Is he sure she can even understand? They use two different languages, after all. Naoyoti picks him up and carries him closer to the hut. When she picked him up, he didn't have time to react and accidentally dropped his cane. It's such a shame it was a good cane, too.
He tried telling Naoyoti to go back so he could get his cane, but she couldn't understand him. The blood kept dripping on the way too. Just how much blood can a scar produce?
"Mama ka ni Kalbo 'di ba?" Naoyoti asks while putting down Gold near the tree he was trying to reach for earlier. The word "mama" isn't unfamiliar, and since she assumed Gold is a woman, then she's probably saying things like, "Are you Kalbo's mom?" Something along those lines.
Gold shakes his head in disagreement. So he can understand what she's saying? He's normally an idiot so that's unlikely. Or maybe... If it's the latter, then I might need to test the waters.
Naoyoti's eyes widen. "Kung hindi ka yung mama niya, sino ka?" She points at Gold.
It's a lot harder to assume what she's saying now. The word mama is there but it doesn't mean anything in context since Gold already said no. Gold looks at her with one of his eyebrows furrowed.
"Ah. 'Di mo pala ako naiintidihan." Naoyoti says, disappointed. Then she pulls out one oddly shaped yellow berry. The berry had black spots near the stem and was in the shape of lips.
She feeds it to him and comes closer to Gold's face, puckering her lips. Gold moves his face away from her, but she grabs him at the nape and forces a kiss.
Gold's eyes widened and he stood completely still after the kiss. He cries and wipes his lips. It's just a kiss, why is he so dramatic?
"Was I that bad of a kisser?" Naoyoti asks. Is she speaking human speech? Did the berry have magical effects too? Or was it the kiss? Maybe both.
" The berry was to help me speak your language like what Kalbo does! I do this with other monsters so I know what I'm doing." She tries to explain. "Other" monsters? Okay, Gold was not being dramatic at all. Her lips are probably infested with bacteria, yuck.
"While you can understand what I'm saying, I can't understand what you're saying, so it does have its setbacks from time to time."
Gold's stomach grumbles that he should stop what he's doing and go searching for food. Naoyoti grabs his hand and shows him a whole garden filled with bushes with green berries. She might seem like she's nice and caring towards Gold, but she really cares about them; she would help him with his scar first.
Nevertheless, the idiot grabs some and munches them down. It must've been tasty since his soulless eyes lit up, and he immediately grabbed some more. Thankfully the food stopped his pointless waste of tears.
She also grabs more berries from the trees that aren't as tall as the tree Gold tried to reach. She hands it to Gold. " We call these bayabas!"
Gold doesn't understand but refuses the berries she gives him. What if she's trying to poison him? Gold stops from eating any berries and Naoyoti looks both confused and worried. Interesting. The little test worked.
"Eat up! I didn't know what humans usually eat but, fortunately, you eat berries. " Naoyoti shoves a berry in his mouth. He's not like he could stop her so he just lets it happen. He also seems to like the taste of this berry as well.
Naoyoti seems to be amused by his reactions to the berries and so she shoves more. "You're so cute! You remind me of my brother when he was young. It's too bad your hair is in the way though. Oh, I know!" She leaves, and Gold tries not to eat more of the berries, but because he is hungry, he gives in.
Gold ate berries until his stomach was full yet Naoyoti still hasn't come back. He grabs a few berries and puts them inside his worn-out coat. He limps back to the hut, struggling without his cane.
There, Fernando Poe Jr. cawed loudly at him. It's fortunate for Gold that the crow was in a cage, otherwise his eyeballs might've been pecked out.
Surprisingly, Kalbo wasn't there. It was only a while ago before he was asleep so why is he gone? Did Naoyoti come to get him?
He searched outside, and they weren't there. He sits in his depressing corner. Fernando Poe Jr.'s caws are getting louder and more annoying. It's like a noisy mutt or an alarm. Is there a way to shut it up?
Gold takes out a dark red berry and tries to feed it to the crow. The crow takes it but pecks at Gold's fingers. Gold gains another scar, but this time it's on his finger, but at least it finally shuts up.
Noticing it now, Kalbo's other pets are always quiet or hardly moving. They aren't even BREATHING. Are they...dead? Why does Kalbo even have dead pets in his hut? It's more surprising that they aren't rotting or aren't getting infested with bugs.
Gold tries to avoid looking at the unmoving animals and he looks out again using the little hole earlier. After a few hours, Kalbo is finally back...with Naoyoti? Kalbo takes a sigh of relief when he sees Gold.
"You have been here the whole time?" Kalbo asks, scratching his head. Gold nods, looking a bit wary.
"We s-searched for you everywhere, but never mind that Naoyoti is going to l-live with us fr-from now on." Kalbo tries to sound reassuring but he's still shaking from being near Naoyoti. So, Naoyoti did talk to Kalbo when she left Gold alone.