Benedict Kaspin
Benedict's eyes watched Piper through the corner of his eyes throughout the rather short conversation. One thing he liked about having eyes like his, was that you couldn't see his pupils. This made it impossibly hard to track if he was looking at you or not. Sometimes it was annoyance to those he considered allies. Other times it was an advantage, like this one. Theresa reiterated her story to the young woman, a shortened version, but a story. And then the girl turned to him, stuttering over herself and looking genuinely uncomfortable with her words. As if she was trying to appear polite but wanted the conversation to be over as quickly as possible.
Ben's eyes narrowed and he rumbled, the vibrations coming from deep within his chest. His nostrils flared and his feature contorted into an angry scowl. She spoke about the hatred and disdain they had for her and god, it was just emanating
from her and towards him. He wasn't stupid. He had spent a long time getting those words and looks from people who thought they were better than him purely because of their species. This... runt, was just another one of them. He had met very few people who had shown him the milk of human kindness and proved to him that it had even existed. Theresa was one of them, and he would protect that in her with everything he could. But this tiny, ignorant, and judgmental person before him who was bumbling over her words like she was attempting to rush the conversation to a close like so many had when he was a slave? She was nothing like Theresa. She wasn't worth him time, and he was doing everything in his power to respect her purely to please the only person he really cared about.
But even that didn't stop him. At least, not entirely.
"I don't think who I am is what you're interested in. All you need to know is my name, and that we killed one of those things." Ben said, looking to Theresa.
He turned back to look at Piper and exhaled, releasing pent up heat and hate he didn't even know he was harboring towards the young woman in front of him. Maybe he was being too hard on her. Sure, she was the perfect poster child for everything that had ruined his life - but that wasn't her fault. She was a child. Subject to the views and manipulation of others. She wasn't stupid, that cant be fixed. She was ignorant, that COULD be fixed. But he stood by his words. For the time being he had no urge to speak to her, because he firmly believed that she wouldn't listen. He'd sway her with action, if he was given the opportunity to sway her at all. And if he couldn't, well, it wasn't his fault if she was killed for speaking out of turn.
"Please try not to ruin the pelt. I got that for Theresa so she'd had something to sleep on." Ben said, nodding his head towards the bear pelt Piper was sitting on. This child had no respect for other's possessions, did she? He had that beaten into his head as a young one. He wouldn't have survived in the tribe if it hadn't been. Baby steps, he thought to himself. This woman might not respect him, but she might respect Theresa. If she was ruining Theresa's stuff, whether he got it for her or not, she'd most likely listen. But if she was associating him with a providing ability, she might begin to associate respect for him too.
Baby steps.
@SepticGentleman , @Empour