Bain felt... groggy.

Cracking his eyes open, he blinked hard, sitting up and encountering something obstructing him. Rubbing at his eyes, he blearily looked around at the large cave he was in.

What had happened again? Nahma had fired the death beam, he'd protected Stitches, and then... darkness. He had the faintest recollection of letting Stitches know he'd been fine, but after that everything was a giant black blur.

Shaking his head, he tried to stand and failed. Something was holding him down. Looking down blearily, Bain blinked hard, squinting at the ropy thing keeping him from moving. It felt familiar, and it was a moment before it clicked. His eyes widened. "Nahma?"

A dim yellow light suffused the cave, and Bain covered his eyes, acidic tears building up in the corners from the unexpected stimulus.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he discovered one of Nahma's antennae wrapped around his waist, looping several times to ensure that he would only move where and when Nahma wanted him to. The walls were writhing with sheddings holding casual conversation, and in front of him, Nahma was playing cards with the young monster girl with the tentacle-hair.

It was a bit surreal, and he wasn't completely sure he wasn't still asleep for a moment. The enormous centipede was using telekinesis to hold his cards, the young monster was holding hers with her tentacles, and a small stack of the brightly colored narwhal-themed cards was between both of them.

No, he was pretty sure he was still asleep.

Nahma glanced over at him and rumbled, "I am glad to see you awake, Bain. I am presently losing." The young monster waved her cards at him happily.

Looking down, Bain saw a hand of cards lying in front of his feet, face down. Coughing, he asked hesitantly, "Did you win? Did you beat him?"

Nahma snorted. "Of course I beat him. There is nothing left of him."

Bain nodded contemplatively. "Got it. So what am I doing here? I should be up in my territory helping people out."

Gently shaking his head, Nahma replied, "No, you shouldn't. You have been injured several times, so we are having a break from being a hero. Also, I am registered as a hero now."

Bain's eyes widened as he sat up. "Wait, what!? No, I've wanted to be a hero my whole life!"

Nahma glared at him, and Bain took a step back. He'd never seen Nahma even remotely annoyed at him - it was a new experience, to say the least. "I am aware you have desired heroism, Bain. And I have supported you along that path. But you lost an arm, you were attacked by those three-" he growled something utterly unintelligible. "-and then was injured from the meat monster. I will allow you to return to your territory after a short vacation, which we will spend having fun in some form or another. I heard cards were a good activity to perform during vacations."

It was very surreal.

Bain leaned forwards, arguing, "But Dad-"

Nahma's eyes narrowed. "Don't call me that."

It hit Bain like a truck. "Wh-what?"

Nahma continued, waving one of his front legs around. "I have noticed that you only call me Dad either when I need comforting, or when you wish to convince me of something. I do not presently need comforting, so you are trying to persuade me to allow you to return. I will not. Pick up your cards."

Bain picked up his cards.

Looking up cautiously, he asked, "What are we playing?"

The young monster girl looked up. "Do you have any fours?"

Nahma sighed, ignoring Bain's expression of surprise. He'd never heard the girl speak before. A card floated into the air and into her tentacles, and she beamed. "Go fish!"

Looking at Bain tiredly, Nahma told him, "I have lost five out of five games. I do not believe I am very good at Go Fish."

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Speaking slowly, Bain said, "I think it's the sort of thing that takes practice."

Nahma nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. Then I will practice frequently. I have plenty of time to spare, since you are gone all the time."

Bain noticed the hint of irritation at the edges of Nahma's voice as the centipede pulled everyone's cards to him, shuffling them in a complex pattern of telekinesis. He thought about it some more, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Nahma," he asked cautiously, "Are you lonely?"

Nahma stared up at the ceiling, the cards pausing in their movement. "Lonely. A noun describing an unfulfilled desire for company. Yes, I suppose I am."

Bain stared at his claws. Why was it that people could shout names at him all day for being a monster and never get under his skin, and yet Nahma only had to say two sentences and a word to make him feel like a bad guy? "Dad-" He caught Nahma's expression and hurriedly switched. "I mean Nahma. Why didn't you ask me to stick around?"

Nahma frowned at him, dealing everyone's cards. "You wanted to be a hero. I respected that decision. You seemed happy to be in that place, even after the corpse betrayed you. What is it about the tunnels that you like less than their tower?"

Bain's torso was stabbed by a shaft of guilt and he almost coughed in surprise. "I don't hate the tunnels!"

The young monster girl spoke quietly, rearranging her cards. "Nahma didn't say you did. He said you liked the tower more." She looked up at him and smiled. "My name is Hetty now. I am working on my confidence because I am anxious around people."

Nahma nodded approvingly, returning his attention to Bain. "You left the tunnels on the day you became a hero and didn't come back down unless you required something of me or unless you were sad. I understood your being sad, but why is it that you spoke with Stitches and avoided me? Am I too violent for your tastes?"

He showed his considerable array of teeth as he said it, but Bain didn't flinch. Instead, he slumped. "Da-Nahma, I'm really sorry."

Nahma folded his front legs, settling in as he paid attention to Bain. Rubbing the back of his neck, Bain continued, "You've helped me through a lot. I mean, you adopted me, first off, but you did it right. I'm happy with the person I am today because you've taught me how to stand up for myself and how to not care what other people say about me."

Nahma relaxed somewhat, his legs lowering faintly. Bain hadn't even been aware that the giant centipede had been nervous - he'd always been invincible in Bain's mind, and it didn't seem right for him to be worried about anything. It hit him like a ton of bricks, and he reeled from the realization. "Wait, Nahma - do you think I'll leave you forever if you ask me to stop doing something?"

When Nahma didn't respond, the guilt intensified to the point of being physically painful, and he leaned forward, staring straight at Nahma's eyes. "Dad, that'll never happen." He realized what he'd said and backtracked. "I mean-"

"It's all right." Nahma turned back to the card game, but Bain saw the grin on his face. Nobody else would have been able to see the expression past the hooked mandibles and razor-sharp rows of teeth, but Bain knew his adopted dad better than anyone.

Hetty pointed at him. "See, now he's happy. Don't you like Nahma when he's happy?"

Bain smiled as the antennae wrapped around his waist unlooped, curling into its comfortable position behind Nahma's forehead-plate. "Yeah, I sure do."

Folding his legs, he picked up his cards, rummaging through them. "So," he started, "how do you play Go Fish?"

Nahma coughed loudly. "Actually, Hetty seems to a bit too good at Go Fish. I have another game in mind."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bain's eyes flicked back and forth across the four rows of cards in front of him, searching for a combination. In front of him, several stacks of cards ascending from ace upward were placed in a messy organization. In his upper left arm, Bain held a separate deck from which he pulled three cards, examined the top one, and then put all three to the side in obvious disgust.

Hetty's tentacles were holding all of her cards at the same time, her large golden eyes wide as she examined them for a pattern. Next to her, two tentacles had sprouted similar if not noticeably smaller eyes that were desperately looking through the second deck, yanking groups of three from its top and discarding them, occasionally selecting a card to add to the four columns in front of her. She looked up and growled fiercely at Nahma.

Nahma's antennae were twitching back and forth in a careful and yet incredibly fast series of telekinetic maneuvers, cards floating back and forth at blurring speeds as he selected his cards, every one of his seventy-four eyes looking back and forth between the stacks above the aces and his own cards. He didn't even have to look away - he could literally watch all of the subjects at the same time.

Whisking a king of hearts forward to finish a stack off, Nahma said with great satisfaction, "Pounce. I win."

Bain tossed his cards into the air, and Hetty hissed at hers. "You're cheating!"

Nahma grinned as smugly as a half-mile centipede could. "No, I am using my natural and supernatural abilities, much the same as you both are. If everyone is doing it, then it is not cheating."

Bain snorted. "Fine, then. We're all cheating."

Nahma laughed deeply, the gravelly rumble shaking the tunnels for quite some distance in every direction. "Very well. We are all cheating."

Chuckling, Bain watched Hetty as she pouted, her lip curling as she curled some of her tentacles around her body, then asked, "Is there anything else you guys want to do?"

Nahma considered the option, and Hetty chirped, "We could eat rats!"

Bain winced slightly. After having eating so much Tower food, he wasn't sure rats would ever taste the same.

Less than a minute later, he confidently retracted the thought.

Rats tasted amazing.