The Halfling and the Exile

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Isaac sighed and rubbed at his forehead as Niari put the puppies back, and turned morosely to lead the way out of the store and back onto the street, wondering if she would even want his hand anymore. "We just can't take them now. . . We have nowhere to keep them, and no resources to feed them. They're not natural wolves. They're domesticated. Raw meat would only make them sick." Dogs were just different, in too many ways to justify taking any of them just to have them fall ill and possibly die or be given to shelters that might kill them. Hesitantly, Isaac offered a small smile. "Whenever we leave this place, maybe we'll come back and get some, and bestow them upon Casius as thanks." The children would love it, and the vampire would likely pretend to hate it. More little ducklings to look after.
 
"Make them sick? Meat?" Niari repeated, confused. Weren't the puppies just like Arcady? She didn't understand how they could be so different, and she wasn't sure what domesticated meant. It sounded awful. How could the Humans harm pups in such a way? She frowned worriedly, giving a slight nod as Isaac pointed out that perhaps they would come back and rescue the puppies later. Maybe.

"Okay," she agreed quietly, taking his hand again.
 
Isaac opened his hand for her when he felt her touch, curling his fingers gently around her hand and nodded a little. "Humans breed dogs for pets," He explained, trying to think of the explanations he'd been told when he was a child, "So the dogs you see here aren't wolves anymore. They haven't been wolves in hundreds of years, probably, so they can't stomach raw meat like they used to, and sometimes they get sick in ways that most wolves don't. They're pampered, so they've gotten weaker, and grown more receptive to human ills." He shrugged slightly. "But when they find nice homes they live good lives, I think. They find human families to love them and care for them." He wasn't going to tell her about animal cruelty.
 
Niari pondered that. Dogs were pets and always cared for, so they couldn't live alone in the wild. That made sense. Any pup that did not learn to hunt would die. So these puppies had been trained to expect Humans to cater to them, and the Humans enjoyed it. Now they were weak but well taken care of. That made her feel much, much better about leaving them behind, though she still disliked seeing them in cages.

"Why are they in cages? Why don't Humans just keep them with the mother when they are born?"
 
Isaac shrugged again, unsure of the answer to that one. "I suppose the cages are just there to keep them from running away, or from hurting each other accidentally or on purpose. Not all dogs like other dogs. Sometimes pups end up somewhere without their mother because she's passed, or they were found abandoned somewhere. I'm not sure. I didn't learn everything about it." He knew that sometimes mothers were kept only to produce pups, but that was sad and he didn't like thinking about it. He knew she wouldn't either.
 
"Oh.. okay," Niari said simply, nodding. She was glad that Isaac knew more about the Human world than she did. It was vast and confusing, and he was able to guide her through things that she did not understand. She would have gotten in trouble a long time before now if she hadn't had him pulling her along and she knew it. Relaxing, she gave him a bit of a smile and nuzzled his cheek gently as they walked in silent thanks.
 
Isaac gave Niari a bit of a nudge back as they walked, but had to pay attention and keep them clear of crowds as much as possible. It made their walk back a little slower, but he wanted Niari to be able to calm down since they were going to have a stressful night ahead of them. He hoped, at least, that Casius had a decent enough strongroom, but couldn't quite pin down the memories in his head. Maybe if he'd been inside as a child he'd blocked it out. In any case, he knew there had to be one somewhere, and when it got closer to twilight Isaac would go and tell Casius to lock them in it.

"We have a few more hours left." He said as he buzzed for someone to come open the gate since it had locked behind them. "Do you want to spend some time with Arcady again, or do you just want to leave it how it was?" It would probably be hard to say goodbye again.

((getting ready for work, might be last reply))
 
"I don't think I should," Niari admitted. "If I see her again, I won't want to leave her, especially now. I already feel.. anxious," she murmured, glancing up at the sky. It was not dusk yet, but it was close enough that she felt incredibly uncomfortable. She didn't want to risk losing it on Ronan.

[okie dokie]
 
Isaac nodded, smiling a bit for Lucy when she came out to get the gate for them. "I'll just hand off the formula and give Ronan instructions, then. You can wait upstairs for me, and we'll see Casius afterwards. All right? We'll be okay."
 
Niari hesitated, then nodded a little. She had to let him go alone. No seeing Arcady. She took a deep breath, giving Lucy a half smile before walking inside. Instead of following after Isaac, she went right up the stairs. After dodging the landmines that littered the stairs thanks to Felix, she made it to the top. She lingered on the landing for a few moments, torn. On one hand, she could go say hello to Felix, but he would probably want to chat. There wasn't time for that. On the other hand, she could go to the room she was sharing with Isaac, or she could meet him by Casius' door. All he had said was 'upstairs'.

Decisions, decisions..

In the end, she just sat on the top step of the stairs. She put her chin on her knees, gazing down through the bars of the railing as she listened closely, trying to hear what was going on downstairs. If Arcady whimpered, she'd be down there faster than she could form a thought.
 
Once inside, Isaac let Niari go without complaint or protest, knowing it would be better for her not to see the pup again just yet. Despite their both caring for her, Isaac had a harder time of getting quite so attached to something that could so easily be taken away. He had learned that fear in the last months of his life, and wasn't even quite sure how he had let Niari and the pup get so close.

Felix and the little ones were still playing outside as they came in, and Isaac took the formula to find Ronan in the main living room, idly watching tv. Arcady was snoozing beside him, curled in her blanket and pressed against his leg, and Isaac stayed quiet so as not to wake her. According to the human she had been sad at first, but played a little while they were gone and eventually dozed off with him. Isaac was at least glad that she was warming up to Ronan so she would be well cared for until morning.

Finally, Isaac made his way back to the stairs after leaving strict instructions, and took Niari's hand on his way past her. "One more stop. Then we settle in for the night."
 
"Okay," Niari agreed as Isaac approached her, reaching up to take the offered hand. She stood and followed him closely, her fingers curling around his own. What was the one stop? Oh, right. Casius. This was probably going to be unpleasant. Was the Vampire going to give them a hard time? Did he even have a place to put them? Isaac seemed to think that he did. Hopefully he was right. She sighed softly and looked up at her Alpha, tense and worried.
 
Isaac squeezed her hand gently as they walked up the rest of the stairs and towards Casius' room. It was getting closer to twilight, though not quite there, so he knew the vampire wouldn't be quite happy about being woken up. But they needed help, and they needed to keep people safe, and themselves safe, so they had no choice. "We're going to owe him a lot of questions after this." He mused, without much enthusiasm, and knocked on the door.

It took a moment, but footsteps came from the other side and Casius pulled the door open just enough to glower at them. "What now? I do still sleep, you ungrateful -"

"The moon is full tonight." Isaac interrupted, wanting to get to the point before the vampire had time to spew more angry words at them that Isaac was beginning to think he didn't even mean. ". . . We need your saferoom."

There was a long moment of silence, Casius' expression shifting from irritated to understanding to blank, and he drew himself up to his full height as he opened the door. ". . . Follow me."
 
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