lt_safe_house | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Time: April 27, the evening
Place: Library
Status: Public
Summary: Rose needs to return a certan book

Rose held the book in one hand, her fingers covering the teeth marks. Really, she didn't need a guest passing her noticing the marks and asking about them. It would be hard enough to explain things to Gabriel, the librarian.

Especially as I can't say 'sorry, I transformed and then the wind blew the book from the branch I had placed it on and I had to catch it and well...'.

The piece of red feather was still in her hair above her right ear. She didn't need a bookmark at the moment as she was done with this book and seriously doubted the librarian would ever hand her a book again, but she wanted to keep the beautiful feather.

Far too soon for Rose's liking she reached the library door. She inhaled deeply, knocked on the door and entered, her body language nearly as telling as if she had walked in as Cloud with drooping ears and her tail between her legs...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rose blanched and could only hope the angel took it as being afraid of rabid animals. But that wasn't the reason, oh no. If Gabriel thought that 'stray' was rabid he mustn't ever see her in fur form. It would be much too dangerous even if he didn't catch on to the truth!

"Rabid? You think so?"

She cursed her pressed sounding voice but she couldn't take the words back now.

Gabriel touched her shoulder, both concerned and suspicious. "You're not alright. Are you really that frightened of rabid animals?"

"No, I'm alright, really. It's just... it didn't even occur to me the dog might be rabid."

Which was the truth, considering she was quite sure she'd know if she were rabid.

He scrutinised Rose's face, biting his lip thoughtfully. "Have you seen it often, then?"

"What? No. But we have big dogs on our farm in Canada. My family has a sheep farm, you know? So I never thought of dogs, stray or not, as really dangerous, I'm used to dogs."

At least, having farmdogs was the way they explained them roaming the farm in their fur form. Which was also why the fur form had another name. It would look suspicious if there were a girl named Rose and a dog named Rose and a boy named Daniel and a dog named Daniel and so on...

"Interesting. I don't recommend the same familiarity with strays here, though. Hmm. There should be a vet in Lower Tadfield..."

He had the feeling Rose knew more than she was saying about this dog, and his last statement had been more to gauge her reaction than anything else.

Rose would have liked not to pale again but she couldn't do anything against her body's reaction. Still, she tried to sound calm as she answered

"Well, I don't hug them all or adopt them immediately. But a dog can't frighten me just because it's big or something. And why the vet? We don't even know if anything's wrong with the dog. And no one's been hurt, so wouldn't it be a bit extreme?"

If the angel really called the vet and who knew else and told them to look for a big stray dog that was possibly rabid she would have to leave here. She wouldn't be able to ever safely roam the woods again here, and she couldn't stay anywhere where she could never be Cloud. It was bad enough she could only change once in a while and in secret, but if there were people out there actively looking for a stray dog it would be completely out of the question.

She wouldn't be able to leave immediately, of course, or it would look suspicious, but after a week at the most she would have to tell Ms Hodges that she wanted to move on and would leave the manor. It was a pity, she liked Ms Hodges and she could earn good money here and she didn't know where she'd next find a job...

"Good point. I'll keep an eye out for it, then. Perhaps it's just hungry, the poor thing."

She looked so worried. Hmm.

Relief flooded Rose's body and she barely kept herself from breathing out deeply.

"Maybe. But it should be able to catch rabbits. Or at least rats."

She had to know as said 'stray' was her and she knew she was perfectly capable of catching rabbits, rats, frogs, ...

"It'll have to compete with Ta-Miu for the rats, then. I buy her proper cat food, and yet she simply enjoys hunting," Gabriel grinned.

"For such a big dog rats wouldn't be the preferred prey I'd say. THere's more meat on rabbits and the dog seemed big enough to get them."

Oh yes, rabbits were tasty. Rats were but a mouthful to Cloud. An appetizer of sorts.

"I should really warn Raphael to keep an eye on hs rabbit, then," Gabriel said. By now they had reached the library, and he held the door open for her.

"Wouldn't he keep his bunny indoors, in his room?"

Wasn't that what people did with their pet bunnies? Rose couldn't imagine the bunny running freely through the manor, not with all those different people here and the cats and the possibility of someone from the village catching the bunny if it left the grounds.

Gabriel shrugged. "He seems to have lost it when he was brought to his room, and I haven't seen any rabbits hopping around. I do hope he finds it before the dog does."

"We left the bunny in the bar because we didn't know where to put it - none of us has a cage or something similar - and were more concerned about Raphael at that moment. Joe or his friend should know where the bunny is now."

Rose saw no reason to tell Gabriel that the other reason she hadn't taken the bunny elsewhere had been that the bunny had been terrified by her.

Gabriel nodded. "I'll ask them about the bunny, then, if I see them. Thank you, Rose."

Rose smiled at Gabriel.

"You're welcome. Could I borrow another book to read in the evenings?"

"Of course!" Gabriel smiled back. "Would you like to browse for yourself?"

"Can you recommend something similar to the last book? You know your library better than I do."

Rose would browse the shelfs of course if Gabriel couldn't recommend a book, but the last book had been interesting and maybe he knew another interesting book...

"Of course." Gabriel mentally ran through an inventory of the new books, before making his way to one of the shelves. He quickly returned with a book in his hands.

"Er, if you like romance..."

"Romance won't be a pro-"

And that was as far as Rose got before she read the text on the back of the book.

A werewolf novel!? Does he...?

Was it pure coincidence that Gabriel chose that book? Or a hidden message? Or maybe he had a suspicion and was hoping she'd give herself away?

I most certainly won't!

"A werewolf romance novel? Well, why not. I'll tell you if the book's worth reading when I'm through."

She managed to smile at the angel.

Gabriel was slightly taken aback at the look on Rose's face. He blushed lightly. "I, er, that's not the sort of book I generally read. But if you don't like werewolves, there was this odd-looking vampire romance, and of course normal human romance."

"No, a werewolf novel is alright, I was just surprised. I'll try this book."

Why was the angel blushing? Was it forbidden to angels to hand out romance novels?

"I'll set a vampire novel aside for you next time, then," Gabriel grinned, willing away the blush.

"It'll be nice to compare those two. Thank you. And I'll take good care of that one and won't take it out of the house."

She wouldn't risk another incident like that, it was too dangerous. If Gabriel were told more about this supposed stray he might still call the vet.