Day: February 19, 2018

mythsandmonsters:

Zeke nodded, acknowledging everything, but he stayed quiet for now, still working on processing the whole mess. If he and the pups were going to make it out of this alive, they’d basically have to disappear completely in terms of cutting ties to his family and the past, and that was going to be hard for Zeke to do when so much of his identitiy revolved around hunting and having all of that shit drilled into his head from such a young age. He didn’t doubt that Bailey and Molly would adjust to things much easier than he would, and he was glad they’d have a chance at a normal life, but his own life had been turned completely on its head.

“This isn’t going to be easy for you. I’m not going to lie or sugarcoat this shit. But, it will keep you alive and it’ll keep those two kids alive. More importantly, the three of you get to actually stay together without punishment. If you can’t getting hunting completely out of your instincts, you could probably work with my aunt. She’s sort of a living, breathing version of karma. There’s also Elise, but she’s more of a merc than anything. 

“Some of the kids in the family aren’t going to like or trust you for a long ass time. We’ve got a few adopted one who’s families were killed by hunters. Don’t take it personally. They won’t have anything against the pups though. I know this is a lot to take in right this second, but I’d rather you get it all at once so you can start getting your own shit together. Because the other option is just to wait until you start to do better than end up setting you back to square one and that won’t solve shit.”

He knew he was dumping a lot on them in a short time frame, but it was sort of needed. He wanted all of them to be on the same page.

“Once the implants are out, I’ll be gone for at least a week to lay down a fake trail for you guys. We’ll give you all new phones so you can get in touch with me or anyone else in this group that you want to. From here out, we’re basically your family and I don’t mean that in the same douchebag way the family you came from seems to.”

mythsandmonsters:

“Okay.” he nodded, backtracking a little when he felt like he sounded a little too eager. “I mean, if it stops her wandering off and getting into trouble, I’m okay with that.”

The barest smile touched her lips when he agreed. “I don’t think anything is going to keep her out of trouble. She’s a puppy and I really should get her back to Sable’s room before her brother wakes up and panics because she’s not there.” 

Arcadia stood, but she hesitated. “No matter how this all plays out from here, you’re not alone anymore.”

mythsandmonsters:

“Yeah. Why?”

He tilted his head a little as he asked, puzzled, the gesture only serving to make him look all the more puppy-like in doing so. Nevertheless, his immediate thought process did not connect to why she was asking.

“When was the last time you had someone tend to them properly?”

She knew it was hard enough to groom her own by herself and she doubted he had anyone close enough to him to do it for him. She was assuming, she knew, but she was usually a good judge of these things. 

mythsandmonsters:

There wasn’t really anything any of them wanted to ask right in that moment, things too confusing and emotionally charged for much clear thought. It was better to just give Zeke a chance to calm down some and get the kids settled again, maybe sleep on it, before they started digging any deeper.

Jeff came back into the room shortly after everything went quiet and leaned against the far wall. “Eli can free up time to get everyone unchipped today. My grandparents are cool with everyone crashing there until the dust settles and my great grandmother has a few places you can look at in terms of more permanent housing. Anything you need in terms of food, clothing, weapons, we’ll handle. New paperwork/IDs, everything.”

mythsandmonsters:

“I don’t know. I kinda remember him and Jeff arguing when I first got here about sedating me in the first place. It sounded like Eli was breaking rules just to keep the cops from getting involved.”

He’d been sort of in and out with his level of awareness, but the best Vaughn could pick out was that they were having to put extra measures in place to keep him hidden, probably because he’d already killed someone, so he wasn’t confident they’d be so quick to turn him loose until they knew the heat was off and he wasn’t going to be a danger to anyone else, which meant probably waiting at least until he’d had a psychiatric evaluation from the guy Cadi had mentioned earlier before they’d sign off on his release.

She fidgeted a little but was deciding to put her trust in Genesis’s instincts. If a scared child was more than willing to fall asleep on him, that had to count for something. 

“If you want, I can bring the pup to visit you while you’re stuck in here so she’s not sneaking around or getting anyone in trouble,” she offered. She knew there was no keeping the little girl away from him, the kid was stubborn down to her very core, but at least this seemed like a good compromise.

mythsandmonsters:

Again, more names that didn’t currently mean anything to him, but at least she was explaining that he would likely end up with close family to who she and the younger pups were with, so that was better than ending up with a complete stranger.

“We’ll find out for sure either way when Eli thinks I’m okay to get out of here, whenever that might be.”

“Layla’s okay, I guess. I don’t really like being around women much, but she seems nice,” she offered, knowing how weird that sounded with a little girl in her lap. But she didn’t see children as a threat. She had never been abused by a child. 

“You said this is the first you’ve been lucid since you got here, right? That’s a sign of improvement so he might not make you stay here too much longer.”

mythsandmonsters:

At least Cadi telling him he did good was reassuring, even if he still doubted his self worth. Vaughn couldn’t say he had any natural instincts in that department, but he was surprised that he apparently had some at least.

“I don’t know how possible that’s going to be. I guess it depends where I end up.”

“I overheard Jeff and Eli talking about that. Jeff thinks you should stay with his parents, Layla and Teddy. I’m with Chance and Sera, which are Teddy’s parents.” And she wasn’t letting them take the kids anywhere else. 

“I’m Arcadia by the way. But the little ones mostly call me Cadi.”

mythsandmonsters:

“She didn’t exactly give me a choice in the matter. I woke up and she was just here.”

Vaughn left out the part about being so completely unsure about how to deal with the kid that his behaviour was essentially him just sitting there frozen with fear in case he hurt it and they sent him back.

“I’ve never even seen another kid until her. What was I supposed to do?”

“A lot people that are around kids often are still mean to them. There are a lot of people that would have pushed her away, made her cry or feel bad for wanting to be close to them.” 

“She’s going to want to see you again.”

mythsandmonsters:

“Been fighting my whole life. I don’t know anything else.”

Vaughn wasn’t actually able to specifically name anything that was used against him. Literally every waking minute of as far back as he could remember was spent in hypervigilance, waiting to be attacked. His handler had made sure that the pup could never get a moments rest, even when he was recovering from from injuries that needed surgery to help repair, and it was a damn wonder Vaughn hadn’t gone even the slightest bit feral from it.

“You didn’t hurt Genesis when she decided to barge in and completely disregard your personal space,” she pointed out, smoothing the child’s hair tenderly. The love she felt for the girl was obvious, but there was a sadness that lingered in her eyes. 

“You were patient enough with her to not upset her. If anything, that’s proof that you can learn to be something more than you were forced to be.”