Time for Tea, 11th June

"You are very welcome, Zachary, and thank you for the tea," Vickery replied, getting to his feet. "As I have said, I do like to talk with my men from time to time. It has been very pleasant to visit with you."

"If you'n want t' tea come any time, sir. It'll always be ready fer you." He could not offer sugar, but if the captain might tell sooner of his visit perhaps he could.... he wondered if Vickery would disapprove of 'borrowing' of sugar, in such an event and if he would have even gotten suspicious for it.

The chick chirped her own farewell, fluffing up rather adorably.

"Thank you. I will send Cotton over to you shortly," Vickery replied, and grinned down at the chick. "You take good care of her, won't you?" he added before turning to head to the area of the bivouac designated the officers' mess.

It was a few minutes after Captain Vickery had left that Rifleman Cotton approached, looking disgruntled and annoyed.

"Got told to come an' see you," he said, feeling sour. "Dunno for why, though. So let's get it over with." He dropped to sit on the ground, feeling annoyed with Pye, the Captain and himself.

Pye returned his chick into his shako where he hoped she would not decide to poop but just to sleep. Carefully lying that down, he might have spent longer in preparation, than he needed to.

"...He.. believes we need to talk." The boy murmured , giving the older rifleman a frown of his own. "...'bout what went on...I think.."

Great. Just bloody great. "Do we?" he said flatly. "You an' me both know what went on, don't we? You put on a bleedin' Frog uniform an' damn disgraced us."

".. An' that's all that happened, didn't it." Pye's response was clipped. "You don't wonder why I wore that.. do ye? " His eyes narrowed on the other man and then he sighed. He was not angry, just upset and saddened because he saw how Cotton acted towards him. It hurt of course. He looked up to the man and to be shunned by him for no fault of his own, it hurt.

"What's there to wonder about?" Cotton said. "You... Ah, shit. You bleedin' betrayed us." And if that didn't explain why Cotton was being so short with him, nothing would.

God only knew why the Captain had been over here, talking with the boy as though it hadn't happened. Probably because he hadn't seen what the boy had done. Cotton had seen it though, and that was more than enough for him to regret ever helping Pye.

"I bloody didn't." Pye snapped. "I wore t' coat, that's true.. But that was bloody it. You don' remember do ye. I tole ye, 'fore I'd done it. I tole ye ter remember t' time back when I fir's joined. I couldn't tell yer wot' I was ter do.. but I hoped.. I damn well hoped you might figure it out." With this first lashing out, the lad seemed to flinch and withdraw, like a pup that dared to bark at the cat, but would just as soon hop backwards while doing it.

There had been so many new faces around the past two days. It was an endless adventure getting to know all of them. The dog shambled around the camp, thrusting his nose at humans whose scents he recognised and pausing long enough to bask in their attention.

The Human with the Shoes still hung about, though he was seldom with these earthy-smelling ones. Truth told, the dog was fascinated by these particular humans. They smelled of dirt, powder, and grass. And more than a few of wild beasts.

He interrupted his wandering to circle widely with his nose to the dirt, before resuming his course. There were a couple humans nearby buzzing away at each other in their silly language. With his usual sense of purposeful entitlement, the dog trotted toward them. Maybe these two, like their fellows, would have some Food for him.

"Bit much for a lad to take, seein' someone he'd thought he could trust show up all cock o' the walk in a bleedin' enemy uniform," Cotton pointed out, and huffed a sigh. "Say your piece then, an' I'll go."

And there was a dog sniffing around. Cotton couldn't even shy a stone at it, despite his black mood. It wasn't the dog he was annoyed with, but Pye.

He held his hand out to the animal to sniff.

What was that? He had barely noticed it. Right there, barely in his vision, he saw a small furry blur of feet, bounding towards them. It did not take long for Pye to realise what that furry ball at a merry trot, was. A dog!

He snatched his shako of the ground. He took several steps back, looking fearful and nervous. His argument and want of making peace was momentarily forgotten. The creature would attack any moment and he had to be ready to run, and run fast! So taken he was by the dog's arrival, that he had not said anything in retort to Gabe's own words.

Of the two, the one who offered his fingers was obviously the better. The dog approached him accordingly and ignored the other, and sniffed the outstretched fingers thoroughly before accepting that there was no Food to be had. At least not right then. All the same. He lapped at the fingers anyway before shifting so he could give this human a better sniffing-over.

"Sorry, boy, ain't got any food to offer you right now," Cotton said as the dog licked at his fingers before deciding to give him a more thorough sniffing over. And of course he would decide to investigate Cotton's crotch. Why did dogs find it so interesting down there, he wondered vaguely, rolling his eyes.

"He ain't goin' to hurt you," he added, addressing Pye who looked as though he was on the verge of fleeing for the hills.

"Jus' keep it there! N' be careful else yer find yeself without that!" He was quite certain the dog would castrate Cotton. He took further few steps backwards to have some distance between himself and the dog, keeping the other rifleman to act as a sort of the inbetween man.

Presently, the dog found himself growing bored. There was no Food forthcoming and while this human had a couple interesting smells about him, there wasn't much to hold the dog's interest. Besides the fact that he felt a sudden urge to pee.

For a moment, the dog considered the wisdom of gifting this second human something that might make him smell better. But the silly creature seemed incapable of standing in one place. The dog spared a moment for a final, hopeful, sniff at the Friendly Human's fingers, then trotted away.

A minute or so later, a Rifleman's indignant howl brought a momentary halt to the low hum of conversation around the camp.

Cotton couldn't help grinning at the howl of protest. Obviously someone had just had himself or some of his kit well-watered.

"You goin' to talk to me or what?" he asked Pye. "'Cause if not, at least say so an' I'll clear off." He had better things to do than to wait for Pye to explain something that didn't need explaining.

The dog was gone and Pye settled down. He tried to pretend as if nothing happened just then. "...Yes. Wot' I want t' tell you Gabe, is that I wore that coat for no other reason, fer no benefit of my own.. but... but ter be able t' gather information which would enable us a certain, ..easy 'scape with t' wounded." Hep paused.

"Fer that I needed the freedom to move 'bout. " And then he continued: "Wot with t' fillin' o' canteens. Do yer think I was tellin' yer not to drink it all empty couse o' concern that you'd be thirsty fer t' rest o' yer stay with t' French?...Honestly?"

Cotton's shoulders slumped a little. It sounded plausible enough, even reasonable, when Pye said it. "How the hell did you think it'd make me feel?" he asked, staring at the small fire. He wanted to hold onto his temper, but what with the interruption by the dog, his natural good nature, and the simple plausibility of Pye's words, that wasn't as easy as it should be somehow.

"..Wretched, betrayed.. angry. Upset." Pye answered with a sigh. "I knew it would not make you feel very merry. But.. I could not risk telling you. You might have acted ...like someone who knew. Not convincin' enough and then.. then they could get suspicious, Gabe. I could not risk that else.. it would make it harder fer all of us ter escape." He nodded shortly. "An'.. I'm sorry it upset ye.. jus'... t'was t' only way."

Cotton found himself absently shredding blades of grass, and he scattered the pieces in the fire with a sigh. "Don't expect thing to be all roses an' cream now, though, all right? Ain't the sort of thing a fellow can just forget so easy. I dunno flat if I'm goin' to be able to trust you again."

"... I understand an'... I don't hold it 'gainst you Gabe..uh, Cotton." Pye did look hurt, even if he knew he had himself to blame for it. "...Jus'.. please know that I did not do it ter betray t' rifles, or ter gain somethin' for meself. I was not happy with havin' ter do it.. but... I had to. Joe was lookin' like he'd starve hisself rather than eat from a Frog and...." He turned quiet then, gazing at the rocks on the ground.

"If..it will make you feel better, yer can thump me. I won't tell. I won't fight back, I promise."

"Thump you?" The surprise was clear on Cotton's face - and in his voice. "Why the devil would you think I wanted to thump you? I ain't that sort of man. I hope."

"...It'd relieve yer stress... I know ..I am certain you felt like you wanted ter do it when you first saw me, Gabe. Bein' t' sort o' person or not. So...if you would have still felt like it..I'll accept it." It was better than to never be able to talk to Cotton in a friendly manner again. Both might not have felt fully justified, yet it was the second he would have regretted more.

"Yer can do it so it ain't visible.. so they don't see t' bruisin'."

"Don't need to." He didn't even really want to, any more. He sighed. "It's goin' to be a fair while afore I can trust you again, you know." If he ever could, but there was no point in saying that.