Challenge #04987-M238: I Wanna Be Just Like You
Published on HivePostify by @internutter · Wed Aug 26 2026
> "I want to be a Hellkin." > Why? > "Because they're the only ones who ever showed what real kindness is." -- BKF
Everyone thinks 'Hellkin' when they hear the phrase "Unwelcome People". The thing is, they're not the only Unwelcome People. It alters according to realm, politics, and local prejudice. But you can rely on Hellkin being among that number[1].
They accrete in ghettos or spend their years wandering from one locale to another. Trying for the most part to find somewhere that life is at least tolerable. Some form into circuses worth of traveling entertainers out of self-defence. Medicine shows, strolling players, actual circuses... they arrived, they stayed a while, and they left before their welcome wore out.
Sometimes, they picked up additional members of the troop.
Most were young and capable of joining the troop on their own. Some even asked politely. A rare few were sold to troop members. A handful were left at caravan doorsteps in baskets. Those children were also Unwelcome in the places that surrendered them. A great number of them were Halfbred.
The lies told about their conception are all remarkably similar. All claiming the sire had overpowered the birthing parent. Those lies are not retold to the Halfbred children by their new Unwelcome parents.
Traezur barely remembered their genetic donors. Mama and Rennie were devilborn, and the traveling family had three other children from six other donors before Traezur came along. Until they turned seven, Traezur honestly believed that every child in each family was a different mix of species.
Seven was the year that Traezur noticed that the Settled families all looked a lot more like their parents. It was also the year that Mama and Rennie had a baby from their own bodies.
She was small and red and had a tail like both the Hellkin. She had Mama's nose and Rennie's hair. She had Rennie's hooves and teeny-tiny copies of Mama's claws.
The older siblings were fine, but Mama had to explain to Traezur. "Sometimes, people are born to parents who aren't ready to be parents. When that happens, the babies are given to people who really want to be parents. That way, everyone is happy."
Traezur was happy with Mama and Rennie. And eager to help after Rennie had had Baby Zora come out of hir. There was still another question. "If you're both Hellkin and Zora's a Hellkin... What am I?"
"You're half Drakkonbred, my love," said Mama. "It's why you have a beautiful tail like us."
"And horns like you," added Traezur. "But I have more bumpy bits than you."
"They're called 'scutes'," said Mama. "And they do look like they're overdue for another oiling."
"Ma-ma-a-a-a. I oiled last week."
"So it's right on time then. My mistake."
They stopped at a city to work their show that afternoon. The following morning, authorities tried to take Traezur away and into a "proper family". Drakkonbred were welcome there, but Hellkin weren't. The authorities saw Traezur as a pure and innocent child until they cussed out the Watch in Voulspeak.
The family moved on a little more quickly than normal, that time. Traezur sulked for a week, barely speaking. No matter how often the family told them it wasn't their fault, Traezur kept stewing.
Until the silence broke with, "I wanna be a Hellkin."
Rennie said, "Aw, sweetheart. We don't even know where to start asking. But we can ask anyone willing to talk to us, all the same."
"Gonna be a long time hunting," sighed Mama. "I need to ask all the same... Why?"
Traezur honestly said, "Because of how Hellkin are the kindest people in the whole world."
[1] Except for Whitekeep. Hellkin are both welcome and protected in Whitekeep.
[Photo by Eduardo Ruiz on Unsplash ]
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Tags: #fiction#instantstory#alfarell#unwelcome-people#aspirations