Ruggie, Trey: More and More
TWST once again picks the most INCRIMINATING villain shots to display in the picture frames 😭 I am BEGGING the museum curator to do better/j
A Tale as Old as Time.
A lion cub, a warthog, and a meerkat.
It was an odd trio, a group of animals that, under normal circumstances, would never be together. Certainly not like this—not grinning, snuggling up with each other. Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore. Sharing the lives they had, joined in heart and in song.
No worries for the rest of their days.
Ruggie snickered behind one hand. Man, ain't that the dream?
"They've got nice smiles."
The hyena's ears perked. His eyes shifted to a Heartslabyul student gazing upon the same painting. Tall, built well, in glasses.
"Come again?"
"Their teeth," Trey clarified, pointing. "You see? They have different shapes based on their diet. Warthogs mainly eat vegetables, so they have strong, flat molars for crushing plants. But lions are carnivores, so their teeth are sharper for slicing through meat. And meerkats--"
"Okay, I get it already! Now quit it, you sound almost as creepy as Rook." Ruggie groaned. "Can't believe you take one look at this and your first thought is what's in their mouths."
"You don't?" The joke fell flat, and Trey let it go "How about you? What's your first thought when you look at this? If I'm remembering correctly, this painting is based on a story from your country. Does it have significance to you?"
"Eh, it’s some story about a warthog and a meerkat coming together to raise a lost cub they found."
"Really." Trey's eyebrows raised. "How did they manage to feed a baby lion? They probably need a lot of protein, and I don't think a warthog and a meerkat could hunt enough for it."
"Nah, they figured something out." He pinched his thumb and index finger together, peering through the small gap between them and right at the vice dorm leader. "Bugs."
"Bugs?!" Trey startled.
"Yup, there's plenty of 'm and they're packed full of protein for a growing young prince.”
“Prince?”
“Did I not mention it before? Turns out that the lion cub was a missing prince, and they had no idea. When the prince was all grown up, he returned to claim his kingdom with the warthog and the meerkat. The animals were able to get over their differences and live together in harmony. It all started with bugs—that’s pretty resourceful, isn’t it?”
"I didn’t think there would be a twist that wild from a story that started with eating bugs. We sometimes eat flowers in the Queendom, but usually as a garnish or for a snack, not for a whole meal. Is it a cultural difference...?"
Ruggie shrugged. "Sometimes you don't have much of a choice in what you eat. If life hands you lemons when you're starving, are you going to turn it down? 'Course not."
I can't afford that kind of luxury.
"Well, when you put it like that..." Trey gave a light laugh. "You're going to make me hungry too."
"I'd kill for a big roast pork right about now. Fat, sweet, and juicy, the meat so tender if falls off the bone once ya sink your teeth into it..." Ruggie drooled at the thought. "Yeah, if you just shoved an apple into the warthog's mouth, glaze it with honey, and slow cook it over a fire, I bet it'd be real tasty."
"It sounds like you’ve always got food on your mind.” Trey folded his arms, lips tugging back into a lopsided smirk. “Kinda gruesome when you talk about the prep work like that though.”
“We wouldn’t have any food if we didn’t hunt and gather. ‘S how the circle of life works.”
His gaze slanted toward the painting of the happy trio. A unification, food shared from the same platter—it sparked some desperate hope in him.
A world where kings and hyenas can be friends… Heh, maybe I’m asking for too much.
But he was greedy like that. Seeking more and more, his hunger never fully satisfied.
Ruggie shook his head, letting dirty blonde locks fall across his face. “Maybe it’s news to you, but beastmen don’t exactly see eye to eye with other beastmen. That’s why it’s practically a miracle that those three get along. It’s a tale they tell us in the Sunset Savanna to remind us of what we could be, united under one true kingdom. It’s just that: a story.”
“It’s a nice story,” Trey said simply. “And it would be even nicer if it came true.”
It would.
“It’ll be a looong time before that happens. It’s about as real as my dreams of a roast pork dinner.”
Ruggie sighed as he drew his arms up, hands resting behind his head. He reclined back in that lazy, devil-may-care pose.
Trey watched him, his mustard yellow eyes shifting slightly. “… Are you baiting me to offer to make you some?”
“What?” The hyena feigned shock. “Me, trying to get my hands on free grub? Nooooo, I’d never!”
Trey stared at him indignantly. “You’re not being very subtle there…”
Ruggie showed his teeth. “Was I supposed to be?”
“Maybe you’d have better luck getting a formal invite from Riddle first. I don’t usually prepare whole hams for a single guest either—it’s usually a group meal, so you’d have to share.”
“Tch. Whatever, can’t blame a hyena for testing out a shortcut, can you?”
“Ahahah… I’m slightly concerned that you’d even attempt to have an entire pig to yourself. Your appetite must be legendary.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
More and more—he wanted it all. Gluttony, a sin to the common man. To him, a desire for something greater than this.
He saw it now, a kingdom built upon the jagged cliffs. His kind and other scorned creatures. creeping out from the darkness and into the moonlight. They all looked to the one that stood far above them, the one that would lead them to that shining future.
Someday, it will come.
Ruggie spun, his back presented to the painting. A spotlight upon the trio, and the shadows closing in on his own face.
Even so, his smile was as big and as bright as ever.
“Nishishishishi! Don’t worry so much, Trey-kun~ Just be happy—hakuna matata!”
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