"That's...That's the fruit?" She asked, trying to hide her disappointment.
"Titan Berries are enormous." Mika explained. "I can't carry a whole one back. So I scrape the flesh from the bottom and bring that instead."
"It doesn't look appetizing, but it's edible."
Before Anya could respond, the adults were there. Of course they were. They had heard Mika's return, and they came swarming like flies to carrion.
"You got it! You actually got it!"
"Give it here! I need food!"
"I'm starving—move aside, let me through!"
They snatched the bucket from Mika's hands before either child could react.
They didn't thank him. They didn't ask if he was okay.
They just grabbed the food and started eating, shoving handfuls of blue sludge into their mouths like animals at a trough.
"This tastes terrible!" One of the nurses complained, her face twisted with disgust. "It's bitter! And salty! And the texture is all wrong!"
