(It's) Always There - Ch. 20

*JINGLE, jangle*

Visuals adjusting to the lack of sun, Navy saw a different man at the front desk, alerted with reluctance from what he read by the door's swinging bell. The sandstone and white colored Singapura cat, figure slender, blared his large eyes at them, feline pupils slit paper-thin. As Case entered, the clerk pronounced, "Can I help you?" phrase common but its sound hostile.

This was her plan, so it was her to reply. "No, I don't think so, we're here to browse. Or, actually... Y-yes; I'd like to know how to check out books."

Distaste in his mouth was put forward, unveiled. "Just because you're allowed to be here doesn't mean you're welcome. These books are irreplaceable, other people will read them, you two won't be the only ones in here, and I'm within my rights to detain problem-causers. Please... comport yourselves with that in mind." He stopped viewing them as though it was a pleasure. "You want one, I write it down here, we decide a time, and you come back before then."

Ex-ACTLY what she needed right then. That was so putting things in her favor.

"Prick," the wolf insulted - she was going to head them off but... he wasn't wrong. Lucky them, all the librarian did in kind was flick his hand, in so short a way telling them once more to piss off. SO, she grabbed Case's wrist and pulled him along until they walked together normally, Navy's first intent at that point to go however far away from that guy as they could, regardless of what section they ended in. Actually to her benefit (praise be), between rows of bookshelves in the carved-out home showed no other patrons, not even obscured by boxes laid and stacked mostly neat all over the carpet... or they could be, just not seemingly. Minus that interaction, and that it was public but supposed to be quiet, and it being stuffy and dusty, and her ideas for what to do on a date ending, hm, here, and... other downsides... yeah besides those it was great. There was... atmosphere.

Once they reached the building's rearmost point, he asked in their corner of books, "What'd you have in mind?"

Justify it justify it justify it. "... I don't know." That didn't count. Rightfully, he wasn't sure where to take that response. Explain, perhaps? "You let me pick but I couldn't come up with, like, anything, so I don't..." Do what people do in libraries. "How... about we pick a few that interest us then meet up," Navy searched for an appropriate rendezvous, "over there? The table with the..."

"... Chairs?"

That was the one. Hopefully by saying that Case was trying to differentiate the two places Navy could be referencing, and didn't accurately suspect her of forgetting such a word, even if briefly and under pressures she wasn't usually. "Yep." Glancing at the genre signs, Navy spotted "Ancient History", so informed him, "I'll go this way...?" as a question... for some reason.

He gave an agreeable, casual nod, hunching to spy the titles further away from them... and Navy did say she'd get going, so best do that sooner than later - like immediately. Some short distance away, she turrrr - yep right aisle - she turned into and went a bit down the lane, him passing to someplace he'd picked a few moments later.

So on the shelves were tags fo-

No.

So on-

No.

Walk forward. Look. So on the-

No.

Tags on the shelves; pre-history and early man shared a spot and often books, then ancient empires, then later BC societies, Rome, Greek culture, whatnot... early-ish AD now there were titles about Sasanians and the Umayyad Caliphate... and about three-fourths down the section reached its most recent eras, line drawn at the Byzantine Empire. Someone that wasn't her could argue about that split between ancient and... whatever hung over their other section(s). Rough timeline order was good enough as a method to sort and plenty easy to search through.

Earlier was her fancy at that time. First order of business was to see if they sorted by fiction/non-fiction or if it was jumbled all together. Second was to...

She'd be reading this in front of Case. There'd be questions for what it was about, the structure, the portrayal, her knowledge on the subject, if it was interesting, if Navy was enjoying it, the history around it, if he should read it. They were on their first date. He asked what she wanted to do, and she picked this (and she picked this).

...

It was her-

No.

Thi-

No.

Shut. up.

...

...

...

Their proposed activity was to take a walk, pick a few things, and come back. That was the plan. The tiger had suggested to do that.

In a library, early in the morning, on a date with Case, Navy found the ambience - the sensation it gave her mind and body... Redundant; feeling is the mind's job. Point was, such a predicament had its very own appreciable senses. Relaxation. Quiet. An occasional shuffle of a patron or the desk clerk... covers opened... pages flipped... swish of dress on her thighs... Someone cleared their throat... Slim skylights, cut-out for this very purpose, soothed warm light... Dust was common enough to mark any touch, and the building's interior was ordered by a careful hand. Then, Navy searched, interested yet drawling, for something she would like to read.

---

*Tuk*

?!

... Oh. Case scrutinized over her crouched form, having knocked the wood to get her attention. Navy's, "Hi?" showed even through her smile how much that startled her, off-balance careen to the side fixed as she went for the book-spine on examination, primary expectations not taken from his response.

"Been taking your time."

Can't have... "How long?" she inquired, confused yet understanding the answer to come.

"Less than an hour - total. I sat at the table for about half that; not an issue, by the way, just a fact." He seemed to think that genuinely. "So... thought I'd see what you're doing."

Including the last of her picks, Navy stood with her stack of books, including also a sorry feeling to her words as a compromise for omitting the apology he... probably didn't want. "Time slipped a bit. Let's go, then - I was pretty much done, anyhow."

Indifferent, he said, "Okay." Not so indifferent, he pondered, "Curious what you've got."

... Cue. That was a cue to show him. "Sure, I uh... I didn't go past my usual deals. Found one on the Archean Eon that reads kind of dry but it's about the first life on Earth and how that happened, which is cool - so are the names; Eoarchean, Paleoarchean, Mesoarchean, Neoarchean, and those cover one-and-a-half billion years put together... And what- Right, history of Babylon told in a fictiony kind of way, the history of the Mongol Empire which is more non-fiction... then something... about a guy who's best friend's with a squid that... talks? I'm not... sure..."

Why did he have that.

... Finish the joke first, then do it delicately.

"They might be more than friends, so it could be porn. What'd you get?"

Shit joke; worse delivery; as deserved it flew by without him caring and now he would talk.

"Same as you, seems like. Porn."

Funny. Why did he have Sommerset.

Bit dropped, he explained for real, "And this comes highly recommended."

The cause wasn't a mystery. How does she tell him? Well, how does she tell him what, exactly? Case would read it because she'd done things to imply that would be thoughtful, and it would be. He could read it and that would be okay. She had not. She would not.

His lips moved, and they would speak, so Navy stopped him. "SORry, I was..." A library-appropriate volume returned. "Could you not tell me anything? I mean about Sommerset."

Caught off guard, he faltered, "... Because?"

... On Navy's mind came a response; on Navy's mind came another, and explanations with them. The wolf was not in her head. That novel would stay unread. Reason of some kind, of a convincing kind, with base in her real thoughts, had to be given. More time had passed than in a normal conversation - she was thinking to the extent that he must have caught on. And maybe he was curious. Their date, as Navy envisioned it in those sparse minutes before deciding, and as she assumed Case wanted also, involved them talking. Ideas and feelings could be spoken of, from her and him, then... that... would be that. They would be said. The other would know. Case would know.

"... It was my parents' favorite," and she couldn't say any more.

The tiger's rationale hadn't been conveyed. He didn't understand, so he replied, "Alright... If that's what you want."

...

Or he could. Foremost, like, logistically Case might understand what she's talking about so there's not a reason to avoid it in conversation - had she done something that would imply further context? Did it get across when that happened? Memory wasn't serving well... As her uh, main... conceptual thing, they were both adults engaged in a dialogue as it were, resulting in whether he understood before being irrelevant. The purpose of conversing was to convey ideas and thoughts the listener wasn't privy to, and Case was old enough to... That sounded condescending... Case was also capable of handling tough things just like she was... suggesting Navy believed he wasn't at any point; like, c'mon, did it require saying that he wasn't dumb or childish? Case was older. than. her... However, family and relationships and past-stuff wasn't a fun light topic for a library date. Whatever! Whatever? Their time with each other wasn't, "Whatever bro, who cares?" This was serious; they were serious. So... good plan or not? Subjects weren't springing to the forefront, or anyth-

"Should we go sit?"

... Yeah, um... Think on the way there. "Yep. Lead the way."

Sooooooo...

Navy wet her lips and quietly popped them while following. "*bop bup-bup-bup, bopbopbepbop, bop...**ah-hem**pop-pop, bipbipbip*" Okay stop.

Little short path to there aaaaand... they slid onto their chairs, chosen books stacked between. The small square table was under a section for aerospace mathematics and their practical applications yeah whatever, boring. Not actually, that was pretty interesting. She's no engineer, but the graphs were...

Leading, the tiger hypothesized (low-volume, respectful, not wanting to get in trouble), "If it's not all hot 'n steamy, what'd you get really?"

One was retrieved for display as he premised, "Only two more 'cause... how long's it take to read a whole book?" Rhetorical; not supposed to be answered. Propped for her viewing, title "Safety Drift", more specifics were given. "Flipped ahead and read some of this one in the aisle; couple European guys do backroad... rallying, I think they call it, and they eventually do real events. Mostly I thought the racing and the cars were interesting. Couldn't tell you how much of it's fiction, but it reads good."

"Cool, cool. Next one?" Navy picked at her thumb.

"Sure." The other was retrieved and held so its name could be recalled, then read aloud. "Principles of Home Ventilation and Temperature Control by Hugo Starch. My math's crap, apparently graded eight out of twelve, last I was told, meaning I don't get any of these architect equations and parabolas or whatever. Did I say that right? Pair-ah-bole-ah?"

A grin escaped, but it wasn't mean. "Close enough. I say 'puh-rab-uhla' - parabola. Got that from a definition guide so I think it's more, um, accurate. And I don't want to be too correct-y, 'cause, I mean, I still understood what you meant, but I'm guessing someone was telling you you are... yur..." Mm. "They were saying you are in eighth grade - for math. It's tiered by age, not just difficulty... Past that mathematics isn't super practical." Her grin became slightly, jokingly maybe a little mean. "Kinda funny you're still in middle school."

"I know how school works, thank you. They didn't... They didn't frame it like that's what they were saying. Guess I didn't make the connection. Eight out of twelve... Think she was making fun of me. Too subtle for me to get, I guess."

...

Well she could ask. He brought them up.

...

Eyes tracked her gesture to the shelves at their side. "I was just thinking, actually, that these would be interesting because of all the technology and science and diagrams, which it sounds like you... like also. They're on flight in and out of the atmosphere. Pret-ty... interesting."

... Her eyes tracked only halfway back to the person sitting across.

...

Case said, "I'll take it back, and I won't read it, either. I shouldn't have assumed bringing it here would be acceptable to you."

Sommerset had become her focus, so she removed from it, instead looking to him. "No, it..."

Righter headspace might've guided her... to a path of some type - of some helpfulness. Wasn't gonna happen; the spots they sat ensured Navy wouldn't be capable of a scheme, or a plan, or a cogent sentence possible to use and develop, or anything beyond halfway-legible as a concept. Resulting from this, dug deep from recorded histories labeled, "These Work... Generally... Usually," Navy, with the fiery sensation of making each neuronal connection work one, after the other, after the other... pulled for use at her behest, "Ask the question politely."

The wolf awaited, and she most certainly committed. "S-seriously, I don't think it's a problem for you to read that. I get the gesture... at least, I think so. But the... What I'm..." Give it a moment, find the point, then continue. "... When you brought the book over, I was just surprised, is all; me and Sommerset have a kind of weird relationship that I didn't explain very, uh... v-very well." Navy couldn't pick between her books, his books, him, or nowhere as where to point herself. "Y'know... 'How do I bring that up? Do I? Why? Would it sour the mood?' The thing itself isn't that big a deal. Here, 'I don't read Sommerset because it's how my parents met, it's still their favorite book, and I like the idea of what's in it better than what I think it actually will be.' That's not a huge... thing to be weird about. Could've told you that; I could say more, just myself or you could ask. I want to. And maybe... you could tell me about yourself."

... Her will didn't hold out. Navy flipped to a page in her book and looked down at the words she had zero intention to read. With a flick of her fingers, she waved it all away. "This... I-I'm making it a thing. You know now. That was it. G-guess I'm conflicted because... No. Anyway. That's it."

In the same tone as always, Case asked, "... Do you want an answer to something?"

"Well that's..." There was an honest reply in her. Case gave permission. "Is it okay for us to talk? And I-I mean, not about daily normal things. Because... we still haven't spoken a lot about..." her laugh was fake, "anything? I don't know what you like, what you don't like, what you think of me, what you're interested in, where you've been, what you've done, who you know, what you wanted us to do here, what you're thinking just at, like, any time, and I don't... I don't know you yet."

Only, she knew he wasn't certain.

... His reply was delayed. "We can talk about anything. That's fine with me."

"... Alright."

Resolution gotten, silence expectedly fell. Case remained out of her view.

But the wolf readjusted, then started, "... You said you wanted to talk more about something, earlier. Did you mean Sommerset or your parents?"

Automatic processes filled her response, thankfully in a way she found natural. "Depends on what you ask."

Some glimmer of a smile fused with his tone, her bearing witness to most of the rare display, "If it's whatever I want, then..." though his jovial beginning was succeeded by a long, quiet think. "What makes your folks so special?"

... However to, uh... Lecturing would be excessive, and, actually, there was some direction already implied for Navy, so for that... "Well, I... You said, 'Special,' which is a good word to use, for me. Maybe a lot of parents are like them - I'm not sure; but anyway, mom and dad were always nice, and caring, and tried to make me happy. Before all this they met on the train ride over to college because they were both reading Sommerset, which is sweet, and they got the same degree in electrical engineering, too."

"Degree...?" Seemingly, Case had encountered that word in the past.

"Oh, it's a certificate schools made when you finished - like to tell jobs you're applying for, 'I am educated and can work.'" Memories slotted into place, and he nodded with understanding. Back on track, "Yeah I didn't know them, then, obviously. For when I did, they were... the only people I ever knew, so it's good they were, y'know, them, and we got along and we could talk and share and do things together; or, a lot of that was with mom, because when I was five dad... got, uh, killed in a parking garage. I was too young to remember much, but..." Navy tilted her head to mimic the back-and-forth. "They got cornered, they were on a level they couldn't jump from, dad wanted to distract whoever was after us, mom said no, he did it anyway, and we... got out okay. I don't want to make this all a whole... deal, so I'll try to keep it quick. Me and mom found the shelter a few months later, she did her best to raise me on her own, then she died also, eight months ago. So 'special' is a good word for them... if that answers your question."

..."Names?"

"Sure, mum's 'December' and dad's 'Hue'. 'H-U-E', like 'shade of a color' not 'H-U-G-H'." Having absorbed too much of the spotlight, Navy wanted to reverse the question. "What about your parents? Do you... Nah, just, you take it."

Mild sternness entered his complexion, directed not at her. "They're shitbags. They traded me for food when I was eleven. Admittedly, I didn't hear the 'negotiating', and they didn't tell me jack about fuck ever for any reason, so I guess they might've stopped the End of Days, or whatever. Best thing they did was cut the foreskin off my dick for some weird religious thing - 'cause I guess girls aren't as into how it looks un-trimmed."

Strange, not what she was expecting, and definitely too inappropriate to discuss in public. "... And who'd they leave you with?"

Case... almost spoke, then restrained. His reply would instead be thoughtful. "Same as you'd expect anywhere. There were still almost ten of them, because it was safer up north, and half of them were scum while the rest were... fine enough, and they were all competent. I don't have much to tell you; they trained me, and didn't get me killed."

This was the kind of conversation she'd hoped for. It was, and she was listening eagerly. Yet, this perhaps wasn't the right path. Maybe lighter? "... So since we met - sorry, this is kind of off-topic - I sorta assumed you were a wolf. The brow-markings kind of throw me off." Navy explained, "Are you part Japanese or is that... another trait from someplace else?"

His posture redirected similar to how their conversation did, abrupt to a stop, then aloof. "Guess nobody told me. There's different kinds of wolves, as far as I know, and I'm... one of them. Parents were; I am... And I was born in Canada. That's all I've got." Allowance - quietude - for Case to rack around and surface any more info was given, the comeback partly that, and partly another flip of the subject. "I only learned English, if that helps. And from what I do know about accents, and blood, too, I'm guessing your parents weren't quite the first to come from China."

Wow, that was... surprisingly astute! Tigers are prominently from China, and if her parents were the first generation, she'd have an accent, and her last name would be Chinese... then by 'quite' he meant her fur wouldn't be as orange and stripey if her ancestors came too many generations ago, so... Wow. "Right. Y-you'd be right. Mum's grandparents and dad's dad immigrated when they were adults. I'm surprised you noticed. Not that... you're dumb, or... something."

Skipping right over her choice words, Case tested, "You speak any Chinese?"

... Hold that mouth shut... Yeah that'd be funny - properly enunciated! "One second... wǒ bú huì zhōng wén." Her smirk... could have been for anything.

"Translation?"

"Super useful, it's, uh, 'I don't speak Chinese.'" Okay, the smile had only one cause by then. "I could have learned... but that's all mum knew, and the word for... I think it was 'tree'. For reference later... if you ever need it for some... reason, the language is also called Mandarin, and if you want to get specific, Putonghua is standardized Chinese." It could be a sound idea... it was a good idea to let him possibly explain something he was interested in.

Navy poked, "You understand a whole sign-language... thing, though." Flashing some of the ASL alphabet, she poked a little harder, "I can do almost all the letters from memory now, and some phrases, like, 'How was your day?' but you guys have a whole layered, signing, signaling deal, or whatever it is."

"Yeah. It's useful."

... Little more. "How'd you learn that? What even is it? I don't think you're doing ASL or SEE, and I get some of the military stuff... so yeah what is it?"

"Hane's in charge of communication. My old group had something similar that was less complicated and I couldn't tell you where it came from. Hand signals are quiet, and we planned them for what we thought would happen. The method we use now changes based on what we're doing; if we're talking, part of the language is in his face, if not then it isn't but those can't be that detailed anyway. There's a lot of words we don't have in sign... It's all very practical." Unsure what was left to say, he redirected, "How did you learn about it from Before? Books, I'm guessing?"

"Here, yeah. And a couple DVDs at home about the history and some practical teaching. They actually showed how to do the motions, which is easier than interpreting pictures like I have to now." Well, both are picture interpretation. Leave out the pedantry.

... Sitting back as though the discrepancy just occurred to him, Case puzzled, "You had a TV and you still prefer books? Aren't they like, magic moving picture machines?"

Though his knowledge appeared lacking, the silly description was intentional, and his point gotten across. "I suppose so. They're cool. They've got good movies and... as the name suggests, yes they do move. Me and mum spent a lot of days watching things, and... really I did appreciate our TV a lot... If we're being realistic I probably wouldn't even be able to talk to you if I hadn't seen other people on a screen before, or go outside without fainting, or hear a noise more than twenty feet away without my brain rattling and spinning around. But books were detailed, and we had a ton of them, and I could... I... They're just more pleasant, I guess; that, and we kind of had to be interested or be bored. Mum was more of a doer, if you get me? Wh-what I mean is she did not enjoy too much reading, and when she did it was stupid romance stuff - Sommerset, for example... and she liked kung-fu movies. She was also convinced softcover was inferior to hardcover so let's not get too... I just went somewhere different to what we... Anyway. We had to get involved with books, so even mum came around."

"Canada's somewhere around ninety-five percent boredom. Almost nobody lives up there and weather's too bad and cold to go out much. A lot of sitting and waiting and inane jabbering from whoever you're with, if they're the type."

...

"So why'd you leave?" she wondered aloud, perhaps wrongly. Navy thought best to hone what she meant, "I-if you were mostly alone with your guys, then... why come down here?"

..."That wasn't my choice to make. I stayed with Hane for a while after we met, then he said we were going south. So we did."

"Did you ask why?" Last push, then she'd pump the breaks.

"... No."

...

The tiger adjusted her dress underneath to something less bunched and uncomfortable. Case's normal gaze unlocked from Navy, and lifted up. Someone was approaching behind her.

Greeting them with a grin and pensive wave, Mallory strolled to the open end of their table and said at her stop, "Hi."

Navy brightened. "What's up?"

Recognizably, her vibrance was tuned for their environment with continued effort. "I heard you guys talking and thought I'd... show up. I'm not interrupting, right? Sounded like you 'er done speaking for a second. No eavesdropping! *heh* Promise!"

..."Yep. Chattin'," Navy confirmed.

"That's cool." Mallory turned to Case. "I do that here with my friends sometimes, too. I see why you two would also. Have we met? I mean not on your first day."

The girl offered a shake of hands, he did so, and replied, "Nope."

"Well this is better because there's not any stuffy old people. So I can say hi and... Are you two out right now?" Her expression frosted with embarrassment. "Sorry; I was interrupting. This felt like a good chance to meet you but app-arently notsomuch. Bye. I'll go." The bulldog retracted her still partially outstretched arm, pivoted to leave, and immediately twisted back to the wolf. "We could set something up for when you're on break? Or if you don't want to be disturbed while you're working then that's fine too?" It felt the girl had pointed the entirety of herself at Case and would not unfix until he replied.

Gladly she accepted the shrug and parted, "Sorry again. I'm gettin'. By-ee!"

... Did having to "use a polite voice" get to her? Navy mouthed, "'By-ee'?"

...

Them. Nobody but them.

Case, across, on standby for her recommence, was also... odd - as in somewhat stiff. Plying the earlier headspace to reappear, Navy wanted to resolve, "My reason for snooping doesn't have any relation to Cerise accusing Hane. He pih-, or, my bad, proved that wrong definitively. So don't take it like I'm wringing you, either; if it feels wrong to say, then you shouldn't have to. Not that you're required to tell me anything."

On the beat, oddly enough, "And we're in a free country. You're allowed to investigate."

True. Her elbows settled on their table, what Case said noted; beyond that, Navy began incorporating his opinion into her approach, rapid figuring and experimenting with how she ought to use... or cede grounds to talk. Maybe, "If so, you could investigate me, too. Or... tell me a story, or etcetera? Whatever else."

After a short second of registering her invite, his pupils drifted up, as did the canine's brow in accordance with his gaze shifting side-to-side like he was physically searching through his memory banks. In no long period, he found a reply and gave it. "Have you ever tried sewing?"

"... Yes? Mum taught me how to stitch and make clothes by hand, and with our machine."

"But you never made a dress?"

Oh, that... needed context. Long version; short version. Where to start-t-t-t-t... "Hm, I kind of have to backtrack to tell you, if that's okay?" His expression was patient. "So the shelter mum found was, as far as we can guess, built at the same time the house was. They got really, really close to finishing it, but sections of the storeroom weren't all-the-way stocked, and we think they skimped on essential furniture downstairs just to have something before they replaced it later." For further proof, she listed, "Upstairs has almost no loose furniture, our beds are crappy wireframe, the mattresses are... fine, but the most important and complicated things - food, lights, entertainment - are all perfectly functional for, well, living down there for decades." Enough details. "You saw inside. A lot of our main room was 'us', because we changed basically everything and made it how we liked, so, for example, even though we could decorate our bedroom, we hardly slept in there, and mum thought it would be good to have a 'quiet area'. In there was isolated, so if mum wanted to stay up watching the cameras or I wanted to sew on the machine, then the other could get to bed undisturbed."

"How does that answer me?"

"Uhmm... it does, because..." Navy shook her head and corrected, "Yes, I can make clothes, but no, I didn't make dresses. There wasn't enough material."

"Yeah, there was. You had racks of cloth."

"That was... Okay, we did have material, but how much of that would we need for something important? Pants wear, shirts fray, and all that."

"But you still made clothes? Making new pants uses way more fabric than patching holes."

"I... Y-yes, and... we had enough for me to try creating practical clothes. My dress is great, and I appreciate it greatly, but I don't wear it to work. Yes, we had a lot of material. Yes, I got pretty good at sewing and making things and I had designs for dresses I'd like to make and we had colors I could make it in that I couldn't wear outside anyway and we had a lot of clothes I could wear just fine even if I wasted cloth; I get it, yes. Mom would have even let me do that." Was this so fucking hard to get? "*huff* Dresses. are. not. practical."

Navy saw him angrily. A face of annoyance washed off before Case illuminated the tiger, "I should do that more often," and, worst of all, had done with a smirk at her expense. Never mind.

She made an ugly, displeased face, tongue stuck out and left bottom eyelid dragged to show the pink underneath - accompanying the insult, "Ass."

Privileges over. Done with. Navy decreed, "Alright fuc-" too strong, "... kerrr, I-I'm not gonna listen to you... unless, let's say, I gave you one chance to make me pay attention. Don't mess this up, or I'll plug my ears and hum if you don't shut it." His affront to her was simply intolerable. "... Making fun of a lady is considered rude, though I wouldn't expect a rugged brute to understand that." Yeah; yeah. Channel the kitschy British romance crap.

"Do you want kids?"

... Eh h...?!

...

Case made specific, "I mean generally, in your life, not like, 'With me, right now.' I couldn't tell if you begging 'ininin' was a fetish or not."

"I..." He can't ask things like that. A chill forced the tiger's neck away from him and rotated back... Sounds didn't come. They hadn't for a while. They'd been whispering, and no one was around to listen. Fuck that, Case shouldn't... What...

... Navy found his eyes again. "I... *puff* No, I don't think so. Th-there's too much... Mom shared how I went - how she felt when she was pregnant with me, and all the things they had to do to keep me safe, and mom healthy. Then giving birth was... really hard, for her. She, um... She couldn't stand for weeks after, and I, uh... I almost died from some complications. Dad had to go alone for months until mom could move again."

"But it worked. And you're someplace safe."

Maybe he hadn't been close to anyone who had done it? That was reasonable. Navy didn't blame him for not knowing, or asking. "You're right; I'm here. Doctors could help, too." Having kids was never an option before.

Navy shrugged. "I'm not sure what to say... There's no guarantee they live, or I do, or they won't get sick, or I won't, or Ballinger has all the right medicine and tools, or they won't have to cut me open to get the baby out, or... whoever the, uh, father is..."

...

Enough had been said. "I'm not trying to shun you when I say this, but can we read for a while? It's... The idea hasn't been a focus for me... ever, so my words aren't the most formulated, or the best at conveying what's in my head. To not be rude, I'll quickly sum it up like, 'No, I think that's a bad idea.'"

Oh for... Case asked genuinely, "Was that inappropriate?"

"Ye-!" Toooone down the surprise, and volume. "Yes, Case, it was. You asked if..." whispering, "if I wanted you to... y'know, in me. We're in public. Plus it's a damn bomb already to just ask a girl if she wants kids. How would you feel if I said that?"

"I've never thought about having kids."

She confirmed regardless, "It's weird! I don't... mind us discussing this, but here, man? C'mon."

... Face gone warm, Navy plucked one of his books, opened to a random page, and shoved it before him. "Read, twat."

---

...

Yes, those footsteps had to be his. Someone (Case) made the bell up front chime, they didn't greet anyone, then made a line straight to the back-

The wolf ambled past the corner, viewing something on the wall opposite Navy, her sitting with tolerance until he was close enough to be spoken with. His look wasn't expecting hers. "Where the hell were you?"

Resuming a position at his book like nothing happened, he maintained, "I took a piss?"

More confusion entered her than aggravation. "Yeah, you're takin' the piss - right now. You left for an hour."

"Forty..." Correctly, he decided to not finalize that revision. "Someone approached me on the street and we talked for a while."

Baffling. "Dude, you can't just up and leave me in the middle of a date. I had no idea where you were, or if you'd... I dunno, forgotten? Apparently you did 'cause you talked to some guy for forty minutes."

An explanation went to the tip of his tongue, halted by something different. "... We're dating?"

"Wh..." What did he mean by that?

... Navy corrected her posture. "... I thought that's... Yes? This is a date. We're dating."

The boy sat back in his chair, arms folded, gaze from her, to the floor, to her again. "... Oh."

...

How he sat adjusted. Case realized something. "Oh. Let me... There was some miscommunication. Nobody I've met 'goes on dates'. If this is a date, then fine - can't say I've been on one before."

Christ.

Based on her experience living with Hane and them, yeah, it made sense people in similar situations and bigger groups would have even less or plain no privacy. Sucked enough for her-

NN! Wait a second. Off-topic. Case was supposed to be explaining himself. "What'd they want?"

"He - older guy - pitched a job. Basically I'd take move orders and... move heavy shit."

Navy... thought...

Interjecting, he commented, "Should I brace myself?"

... Ugh. The excuse given was acceptable; she could easily believe that delayed him for so long. However...

However, "You should. I can't... explain why you've done something wrong. Regardless, I'm still mad. Soooo for making me choose our activity today, I'll make you definitely pick next. You were all, 'I dunno,' this morning, and I won't have it again."

"Or what?"

The girl scoffed as though she'd absolutely committed after knowing what to respond with. The gap was deaf and damning. When a retort for him finally arrived, "Ain't making whatever it is any better by pushing my buttons. How about I tell you to put your face down and get to learning - again, 'cause the message wasn't gotten, apparently. This is for both our... own... good... s."

Zing.

---

A lock clicked. Light from Navy's bedroom angled to further emit over the living area, darkening its furthest corners in the night then more still when she wound back to switch it off. Neck strictly angled low, sling off, she surfaced from pitch-black and plodded to Case's door. There was hesitation; the knock went through. "Hope I didn't wake him..." she whispered, catching that no illumination seeped to her end. And she was in that recognizing pose for dozens of mental ticks, each seeming to repeat the same conversation - "*Click* Should I bother him? *Click* Should I be here?" The stationary pose held... and eventually breached. Before he could have reasonably lifted from bed and answered the door, she retreated, dismissing quietly to herself, "Never mind."

... Odd.

The thunk of a drinking glass on counter-top jolted her, Case switching the kitchen's light on. Finding the wolf as who startled her, she unreeled as he speculated, "Need something?"

"Uh... Sort of." Crossing to be at the island's end beside him, she stammered, "C-could you help with this?" arm at extension to be... taken? The explanation for Case went, "I'm able to stretch most of the way, it's the last part that I can't make myself do. You could force it, though."

Body's usually good at telling its owner when to not do things. While true, he should check the injury regardless, this being a perfect example why her healing should have been more supervised and regimented - as the question, "How often do you exercise it?" would prove.

She'd been caught. "... I try to move it around... every few days."

An expected, preventable bullseye. He directed where to lay her arm out on the table, along with, "Sleeve up," while she seated to be looked over comfortably. All instructions were followed, a tiger-head leaning sideways to see over or under his arms soon placed on her wrist and inner elbow, feeling for the muscles underneath.

"Extend it, please," he said.

Slowly the angle widened from an oversized "V" to almost straight (not referring to the full extension an arm can do to slightly beyond an exact line, simply, "straight"). There, Navy winced in pain, additional tries resulting in her backing off as soon as she began. She gave up, "That's it."

"Move your fingers."

And she tried, obvious tension in her arm building with the huff in her mouth yet to come out, its end a brief curl inward for three of her fingers, the other two merely twitching. Long exhale let forth, Navy sat waiting for more instructions, stare at the extremities laid out suggesting she'd prefer anything but trying that again, several tries prior to Case's involvement showing their wear.

"... Your muscles are alright, considering. I'll move them, so focus on dealing with the pain. I promise not to let anything tear."

The tiger wouldn't enjoy it, and braced herself. Upper arm flattened to make the process simpler, pressure applied to the rest, beyond the furthest she'd been, her delicate and healing insides needing to strain but not dangerously so, Case needing to physically remind her once, then again, to stay in position. Her teeth grit. She made a line, then slightly more. His fingers slid up to match hers, and maneuvered them open first. Her body shuddered, legs tucked between the chair's bars, and her good arm gripped what it could. The orange palm and digits made it to what would be a normal resting pose, and she yelped - loud. Too loud.

"OW ST-OP STOp pl-lease..." and he released, gradually, to not make her pain even worse. The appendage retracted somewhere comfortable.

..."It hurts because you don't move your arm enough. Train out of the sling every day, and don't push it there until it gets easier."

The girl wasn't responsive. "I can tell you stretches to do, if that helps."

... At first Case assumed Navy was speaking to herself, and maybe she did the first time; she'd whispered too quiet for him to hear. But the second, eyes fixed to her broken hand, Navy told the man that helped her, "You don't have to keep the book I gave you."

"Come again?"

She gulped, and breathed. "The ocean one. I'm saying I'd understand if you don't want it," and the proof was pointed out, "You didn't bring it to the library, I've never seen you reading it, and you don't even have a bookmark. The book's just... in your room."

"... That's not it."

Navy, languid and weary, met him on her feet, and shrugged. "I don't mind."

That wasn't it. She couldn't get why.

"Goodnight, Case." She'd drop it.

...

"Can you read to me?"

Rounded from the path to her room, Navy... must have misinterpreted that. Except he went on, "My reading... could be better. There're words I stop on, and sound out, and that are confusing. If you did that with me, I wouldn't feel so... simple. It's embarrassing."

Don't smile. Don't make fun. He was being serious. "Wh-when do you... want me to? I mean, I will, but when?"

All on him. "Tomorrow?"

She accepted without having even fully turned to him, Navy unsure what to do but go away as Case put up the things he got from the kitchen. He'd asked nicely, and...