Luck of Nines

14

     "Hello, what are you doing out here by yourself?"

   The voice was soft, feminine and he looked over to find a young woman, at the end of her teens most likely, looking over at him. He'd ended up falling asleep in his human form given it was such a warm night and he'd needed his opposable thumbs for the task of prying a piece of glass from his foot. It had been easier to assume a wholly human form and he must have passed out after removing it.

     For once he wasn't quite sure what to say.

     "Does your momma or papa know where you are?"

      He could try to reason with her, try to pull the being lost card, maybe even attempt to play a foreigner? But he could tell her assumptions had already been made and without solid proof of otherwise, which he very distinctly lacked, she would continue to believe that he was stranded on the streets.

     He got up to run, nearly falling again with a pained whine as the deep wound on his barefoot was put under pressure.

    "Wait!" Her voice was still kept soft, "Wait, please, I won't hurt you, you're injured. Let me heal you, maybe get you something to eat?"

      "You won't tell anyone?" He asked cautiously.

     "No, of course not, come inside and I'll get you something warm to eat."

     He hesitated, he was not going inside the building.

    Seeing that, she corrected herself, "How about you stay outside here, and you can watch me through that window there while I heat up some soup for you." She pointed to the window which now had its pale curtains drawn open to reveal a kitchen, some sort of restaurant or café just beyond that. "You can eat it out here while I see what I can do for your foot, okay?"

      "Okay..." he agreed hesitantly. He knew, and had seen, many people go out of their way for small animals they deemed cute or defenseless children, it seemed they were the one, occasional, exception to the every man for themself rule. Even easy prey, in the defense of their young, could be vicious.

So he stayed there, watching carefully as she heated up some stew, took a loaf of bread while she waited and cut some slices up to be placed on a plate, some grapes were set on the plate as well as a small chunk of butter and a banana, once done, the stew was poured into an empty bowl. Grabbing a spoon and a dull knife and adding it to the plate, she walked down the handful of steps and set the plate and bowl down on one of the steps.

"Come, I'll heal your foot while you eat." He did not move, so with a sigh, she cautiously moved closer, setting the plate and bowl down not far from his side and then taking a slow seat. "Better?"

It was, this way he could keep his back to the wall. With an unsteady nod, he sunk down onto the ground, carefully extending his foot, at her motion, to be examined. He flinched when she cast the first spell, but it didn't hurt so he let her continue, casting a few more before a pristine set of bandages appeared expertly wrapping themselves around his foot.

      "There we go," she smiled warmly at him and, hesitantly, he smiled back. It was comforting. She had one of those gentle smiles some people had, the type that didn't bare teeth or read as fake.

       "Thank you." The words came out as a near whisper as he glanced away.

       "No problem, just... come back again tomorrow or the day after so that I can check how it's healing...?"

      He shifted uncertainly in response and, at his silence, she pressed a little further, "No need to come inside or anything, just stop back here again; I'll get you some more food, maybe a warm cloak, okay?"

      She seemed so nice and genuine, nothing sending his internal alarms ringing. In a sort of painful way, she reminded him of Goldilocks before everything went down, untouched by the suspicion and dangers of the world, looking to help and just being overall friendly with everybody they met.

         "...Okay."

       So hesitantly he agreed, and the next night he slipped back over. It had been considerably more difficult this time, with his foot bandaged he could not use his animal forms to make traveling through the crowd easy, and dressed as he was, he stood out.  Still, he managed it, hopping down from the wall that sat a good three or so meters from the end of the stairs with more grace than most humans could manage sometime after dark fell.

        The lady was waiting for him again, sitting quietly on the steps, "Hello again, I don't think I got your name last time? I'm Analyse." She paused, waiting for him to respond.

        "Chipper," he answered causing her to blink in surprise, "Is what I'm called." It was the name Rosy had called him, and the only thing he had ever heard himself called lovingly. The only name he could think of as his own.

       "It's nice to meet you then, Chipper," she recovered quickly. "I suppose you still don't want to go inside?" He shook his head immediately. It was too easy to get trapped in there. "That's fine, here try these on while I go get you some food." She pulled from her side a pair of nice, leather looking boots accompanied by tough looking socks. He could tell instantly; they were brand new. "I'll check your foot again to make sure that it's healed while you eat."

       All he could do was stare, wide eyed, as she left at the pair of boots.  They were of good quality, the same- or at least similar- style which most everybody else wore too. He would blend a lot better with these since he would no longer be walking barefoot. Curious, he pulled them onto his uninjured foot and stepped on it, balancing with one leg.

       Not long after Analyse came out with another plate of food, this time rice, chicken, and a vegetable mix. He hesitated at the smell of chicken, but ultimately reprimanded himself for being a coward when nothing was off about it and sat down by Analyse to begin eating the food.

       He was less worried about the spells that were cast this time, although he never stopped paying attention to the process until new bandages were wrapped and he had placed the sock and boot onto his foot.

Once finished she spoke quietly with him, occasionally asking questions, but never pushing too far when he took more evasive routes to answer. When he left, it was once again with the promise of good food should he come back the next day.