"Oh, perfect," he smiles back, just as wide, "You are a good listener."
So while he starts to scrub the grime from Phalanx's fingers, he begins a story. He's a very good storyteller, having a lot of experience over many thousands of years talking to all manner of audience. This particular tale is about a young brother and sister who lived in a cave very, very far away. Their mother died of sickness and their father remarried, but the woman he married was secretly very cruel and despised the children.
As Robin reaches for Phalanx's other hand, he begins to tell of how one day, the stepmother killed the boy by cutting off his head, and then cooked the rest of him into soups and pies. The father ate of it, not realizing it was his own son. The sister would have as well, had she not had a dream where her brother's head appeared to her and warned her not to believe their stepmother for a second.
As Robin moves on to the rest of Phalanx's arms and shoulders, the mood of the story lightens somewhat. The sister is sad and lonely, yes, but she is visited by more dreams that tell her to gather and burn the bones of her brother so that his spirit may rest peacefully. Robin carefully wipes dirt away from Phalanx's face, explaining that she does so, and that that night, she was visited by a large, beautiful bat with soft, red fur.
By the time Robin is lathering up something to go into Phalanx's hair, he is telling them all about how, because of the sister's bravery and kindness in giving him a proper funeral, the brother's spirit was able to come back into the world as a bat. Once there, it was even able to surprise their stepmother--by dropping a large rock on her head and killing her.
The father, who had at this point found out what had happened, was happy to be free of the evil stepmother. Robin finishes up rinsing Phalanx's hair (shielding his eyes from soapy water, of course) by telling them that the father and the daughter, and the bat, all lived together happily ever after.
no subject
So while he starts to scrub the grime from Phalanx's fingers, he begins a story. He's a very good storyteller, having a lot of experience over many thousands of years talking to all manner of audience. This particular tale is about a young brother and sister who lived in a cave very, very far away. Their mother died of sickness and their father remarried, but the woman he married was secretly very cruel and despised the children.
As Robin reaches for Phalanx's other hand, he begins to tell of how one day, the stepmother killed the boy by cutting off his head, and then cooked the rest of him into soups and pies. The father ate of it, not realizing it was his own son. The sister would have as well, had she not had a dream where her brother's head appeared to her and warned her not to believe their stepmother for a second.
As Robin moves on to the rest of Phalanx's arms and shoulders, the mood of the story lightens somewhat. The sister is sad and lonely, yes, but she is visited by more dreams that tell her to gather and burn the bones of her brother so that his spirit may rest peacefully. Robin carefully wipes dirt away from Phalanx's face, explaining that she does so, and that that night, she was visited by a large, beautiful bat with soft, red fur.
By the time Robin is lathering up something to go into Phalanx's hair, he is telling them all about how, because of the sister's bravery and kindness in giving him a proper funeral, the brother's spirit was able to come back into the world as a bat. Once there, it was even able to surprise their stepmother--by dropping a large rock on her head and killing her.
The father, who had at this point found out what had happened, was happy to be free of the evil stepmother. Robin finishes up rinsing Phalanx's hair (shielding his eyes from soapy water, of course) by telling them that the father and the daughter, and the bat, all lived together happily ever after.