"You missed seeing Trizel sing."

"Bakaw?"

Ted sat on the edge of the bed with his back to Nugget. The hen was lying on a makeshift nest of blankets with piecemeal bandages wrapped around her. She had a brace on her leg and wing, and those seemed to be wrapped rather well, especially compared to the rest of it.

Ted smiled as he turned back towards her. "He's actually not half bad, who knew right? But I guess that's not the point of karaoke, is it?"

"Bawk?" Nugget tilted her head.

"Right. Right. Death and Sentenza got a karaoke machine somewhere and set it up downstairs. He made sure we all were there to try it out, but I figured it'd be better if you rested." Ted explained.

Nugget nodded her head slightly.

"Yeah, thought you getting better was more important." he continued. "You can sing some stuff later, but it's about time I cleaned your wounds and changed your bandages, isn't it?"

Nugget didn't struggle as Ted moved her to a fresh towel and undid the bandages. With a slightly damp cloth he cleaned her wounds. He worked slowly, and methodically as his mind started to drift.

How long had he been here? It felt like he just arrived yesterday, and like he had been here for years at the same time. So of course, his mind drifted back to the people he left behind. Estranged friends he had distanced himself from, family that was forced to put up with him, coworkers who whispered about him behind his back. He smirked unconsciously. He had done a good job putting people at a distance, so his sudden absence was unlikely to really affect anyone.

Although, he wondered if his family had any sort of life insurance put on him. He had looked into it once, and after two years of having a policy, most would even pay out for suicide. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it, but two years always felt like such an impossibly long time. Still, even just the thousand dollars from the one he had through his bank was likely worth more to them than he was.

"Bawk!"

"Oh, sorry. Sorry." Ted apologized as Nugget let out a small shriek. "I'll try to be a little gentler."

Ted wondered how he had slipped into this role so well. Things needed to get done, so he did them, but would he have done any of this in his last life? If he was faced with similar challenges, would he have risen to the occasion, or would he have given up like usual? What was so different about this place? Was it the entirely new environment? The lack of supervision or rules? Was it the memories of his uncle? The lack of expectations?

Ted sighed. He lost so much being ripped from his world. All of them probably did. But then why did it feel so natural here? Was it some magical complacency field that was put in place to keep them from trying to escape? Was this actually a prison? Did he get sent here as an accident? Or did he see something no one was supposed to see? Did he actually have dangerous knowledge because of realizing those two women were just puppets?

"How could I be a threat to anyone?" Ted mumbled aloud without thinking.

Nugget turned her head towards him and ruffled her feathers slightly.

This shook Ted out of his spiraling thoughts, and he smiled weakly at Nugget. "Oops, got distracted again sorry. You're right, I should focus. Why don't I...OW!"

She had pecked at his hand, and he withdrew it more in surprise than in pain. Ted looked at her in surprise, as she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

"What are you...OW!" as Ted tried to speak, she pecked his hand again.

Nugget faltered slightly as she stood up.

"Wait, you're hurt, you ca...OW! Stop it!" Ted spoke up again, and Nugget gave him a quick strike to interrupt him.

Nugget slowly spread her legs and lifted her beak up and down towards Ted. He opened his mouth, but realized what would come if he said anything, so he stayed silent. Sadly, he had no clue what she was trying to say.

As he stood there silently, Nugget almost seemed to roll her eyes. She limped over to him and nudged his legs until he widened his stance. After a few prods, she finally gave a curt nod and looked directly into his eyes. She spread her wings and winced only briefly. As Ted stood still again, she shook her head and hopped over to him.

"Wait. Wait. Wait! Ow. OW!" Ted cried out as Nugget slowly forced him into a specific stance.

Ted really wished that she could have just told him to do. Having her peck at him for each wrong movement was not what he woudl call fun. Not being able to verbally communicate definitely made things harder. For Ted at least. It almost seemed like Nugget enjoyed tormenting him.