A mostly quiet building.
There are dogs waiting for their owners, current or future or former, and an examination room, and a wooden counter between the office proper and the waiting room.
It's quiet, now quite a while since sunset.
The only employee is doing inventory.
And then, suddenly, silently, he's not alone: A small furry... person? creature? certainly doesn't look like anything else in this world... appears among the cages, looks around, sits heavily on the floor, lies down, and doesn't move further.
He doesn't seem to be approaching the dog cages right now.
That's fine. This is fine. She'll just lay here, thanks.
One of the dogs barks at her, and then another joins in.
She winces when the noise starts, but doesn't move. That sure is some barking that's happening right now.
It sure is.
The door opens, and she can hear footsteps.
"Hey guys, what's wrong? Oh, don't be like that, I'm sure I smell awful, werewolves, what are you going to do."
He reaches into one of the cages and pets one of the barking dogs. He strokes his fur, and it stops barking.
Kobold: continues laying on the floor. Closes her eyes, takes slow deep breaths. Maybe she's sleeping?
Scott still hasn't seen her.
Now that he steps away from the cage, though...
That's definitely a small furry thing.
He steps towards it, but not too close.
"Hello?"
She doesn't move.
He crouches down next to her.
"You don't look like a dog. Are you lost?"
He keeps his voice measured, aiming for gentle and soothing.
Her ears twitch back, just slightly, and she tenses up a bit, but she doesn't otherwise respond.
"Are you in pain? Maybe I can help..."
Calming, calm, you're not scared, it's small and probably can't kill you-
He reaches out a hand to touch her.
She shudders at the touch.
His touch feels like nothing much.
He takes his hand back, frowning.
"Not in pain, not sick...did Dr. Deaton bring you in here, or did you sneak in? I've never seen anything like you before."
No response, though she relaxes a bit when he takes his hand away.
He heads to the back of the room, and comes back with a bowl of dog treats.
"Does this look even a little bit tasty?"
She doesn't open her eyes.
Well, it's not attacking him.
Will it bother the dogs?
He leaves the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
She continues with her plan of not moving.
Well, she has some time alone.
After ten minutes, he knocks.
No answer.
Well. He goes in.
He has water, also in a bowl.
He places it in front of her, and heads back out.
She does, after a little while, open her eyes again.
Doesn't move to even look at the bowls, though.
That's mostly her business.
After another twenty minutes, she hears a conversation outside.
Deciding what to do with her, she's sure.
She closes her eyes again.
Someone else comes in. He leaves the door open, and stands to the side, so he's not blocking the way.
"Are you alright?"
His voice is gentle.
She doesn't move.
He turns his back to her, facing the wall.
...okay.
"We don't want to hurt you. We don't know where you came from, but you're free to leave."
He modulates his voice, giving it a somewhat musical quality.
This completely fails to get a reaction.
Scott steps inside.
"What do we do if it won't eat anything? Or drink, it has to do something eventually, right?"
"I have no idea what it is or what it needs. I could examine it, see if there's a medical problem."
She opens her eyes and, insofar as she can without otherwise moving - which isn't much - looks at Scott.
It's looking at him.
Is it understanding the tone of his voice?
"I think maybe we should try taking it to the exam room and see if you can find anything out."
He approaches the kobold.
She watches him approach, impassively, and closes her eyes again when he gets within a few feet of her.
He lifts her up, holding her in his arms.
"It's going to be okay."
She shudders when he touches her, again, though more faintly this time. When he picks her up she leans into him, so subtly he could easily be imagining it.
He is very leanable.
He places her on the examination table.
"Dr. Deaton will take care of you, don't worry."
She's back to not reacting to things.
And he comes in, holding some herbs and chanting.
This person is kinda weird.
Whatever, it's not her problem.
"I can't find any obvious health issues. It might be useful to offer it treatment for some things, I think it might have worse medical care back home. Also, it's not any kind of animal from around here. Foreign species, and not an unusual supernatural creature, either. I'm still unsure of how intelligent it is."
The kobold has no comment.
He sighs, and leaves.
"Hey," he says, peeking his head in.
"Can I do anything for you?"
This time he has beef jerky and a carrot.
She opens her eyes again, and stares at the ceiling for a few moments before looking at him.
"I brought food, maybe? I don't know what you eat. Is it okay if leave it on the table next to you, or not?"
He tries to mime giving her the food, and goes closer.
She closes her eyes again, and looks briefly pained.
"I eat." She doesn't move, though.
?!?
Careful, don't scare it. Them? He can ask later. Can he? Do they speak English, is it a supernatural creature? Focus, focus...
"Okay. I can leave it here, and you can eat it. I'll come back later. Does that sound good?"
No answer.
He leaves them next to her.
He's still on his shift, so he gets back to work.
When he comes back, half the carrot and a chunk of the jerky are gone. Oddly, they don't seem to have been moved, and they seem to have been cut - and it'd be hard to cut a piece of jerky that cleanly - rather than bitten. The kobold also hasn't apparently moved, but there are crumbs on the table around her mouth.
He brings her the bowl of water again.
"Sorry, I don't know how you normally drink water, but this is all we have."
She opens her eyes and turns her head to look at him, and says a few words in a language that's definitely not English - some kind of statement, or assertion, from the tone. She sounds very tired, resigned.
Then she closes her eyes again, and the water in the bowl ripples gently as a trickle of water appears above her mouth.
Oh. Okay.
"Good, good. Water is good. You need water."
He points to the water. "Water."
He points to what's left of the food. "Food."
She hasn't reopened her eyes, but she repeats back anyway, "water, food."
He points to himself.
"I am Scott. That is food, that is water. That is Dr. Deaton," gesturing vaguely at the door.
He points to her.
She opens her eyes partway through this sequence. There's a long pause, when he stops talking, but eventually she sighs and offers "I am kobold."
Then she shuts her eyes again and turns her head to face the ceiling.
Okay. He steps out briefly, and returns with a cloth that he drapes over her as a blanket.
This doesn't require touching the kobold again.
"Kobold need food, need water, need shelter."
He's really not the best teacher.
He's really not. She doesn't answer.
Back to miming.
"Scott eat food, kobold eat food. Scott drink water, kobold drink water."
For the latter, he tries to demonstrate how she drank the water by waving his hands around. It's not very elucidating.
"I eat." She opens her eyes and turns to face him. "I drink, I ilva water, I drink water. I ilva food," she offers, and then closes her eyes for a moment and the remaining half carrot appears in midair and falls into her hand.
That sure is a thing she can do.
"Scott no ilva food, Scott no ilva water."
He closes his eyes and opens them, looking at his empty hands.
"Ilvak is kobold," she asserts. "Kobold no ilva Scott." She closes her eyes again and curls up a little, withdrawing.
"Kobold no eat food, kobold is hungry. Kobold is hungry, kobold eat food, kobold is no hungry."
"Kobold is no hungry."
"Scott eat food, Scott is no hungry. I eat food, I am no hungry. Kobold eat food, kobold is no hungry. You eat food, you are no hungry."
"I am no hungry. You are..."
He nods.
"I speak Scott. You speak kobold. Ilya is kobold speak, food is Scott speak."
He points to his mouth as he talks, hoping she gets the idea.
"I speak amarinen, ilya is amarinen. Food is no Scott, food is..."
"Food is English, I speak English, you speak amarinen. You speak English, you learn English, I teach English. You speak amarinen, you teach amarinen, I learn amarinen? I teach, you learn, you teach, I learn."
"I no teach. I kobold."
"I hungry, I want food. You no speak English, you want learn. You no want teach amarinen?"
She snorts. "I no want."
"Okay. I eat food, I am no hungry, food is good. I no want bad, I want good. I want learn, I want kobold good."
She was actually showing facial expressions for a minute there! And now she's not again. "Kobold no good teach speak."
"Kobold no want teach, I no want learn!"
"If I am hungry, I eat food. If you eat food, you are no hungry. If you no want teach amarinen, I no want learn amarinen. If you want learn English, I teach English."
"English good. Amarinen no good. I kobold, I am no good teach amarinen. If you want speak kobold, teach English. I am good learn."
"If I speak English, I speak English words. 'Food' and 'water' and 'good' are English words. 'Amarinen' and 'ilya' are amarinen words."
Nod. "Words."
"I want food, I want teach, I want water. I want food and teach and water. I want learn, I want teach, I want learn or teach. You learn, I teach or you teach, I learn."
"And, or. Food and water, kobold or Scott."
"Scott is human. Dr. Deaton is human. Kobold is kobold?"
Nod. "Kobold is kobold."
"I am human. Dr. Deaton is human. We are not kobold, we are human. You are kobold. You learn English, I teach English. We learn or teach English."
"Mm. I learn." Kobold: sad.
"If I am hungry, I need food. I want learn or I no want learn amarinen. You need learn English or teach amarinen, so I teach English and you learn."
"Mm."
"I no need learn. You no need teach. If you no want teach, I no want learn."
He pauses, thinking.
"If I teach English, and you learn English, you understand English. If I say English word and you learn English, you understand word. If I say I am hungry, you understand I want food."
Nod. "I understand."
"If you understand me, and if I understand you, we understand."
"Mmhmm. I understand." And she rolls back over to face away from him.
Oh no.
Okay.
"If you need, speak me."
He heads outside.
And she curls up into a tight ball under the sheet and stays there.
He returns a few minutes later.
"I need you and me go."
He demonstrates by walking out the door, and back in.
She waits for him to stop moving, teleports to the floor by the door - sheet and all - and then stands, draping it over her shoulders. "Okay."
He leads her to his motorcycle.
He puts on his helmet, and hands the other one to her.
He's not sure if it'll fit, or even have the same value. He offers it anyway.
She tries to put it on. It doesn't even come close to fitting.
Yeah, that's fine. He takes it back, and starts the motorcycle.
He waits to see how she reacts to that, trying to look calm.
She's watching carefully as he does so, but the result is still a painful-looking flinch when it starts making noise.
He is not entirely sure he can explain to her the importance of holding on.
He shuts it off, and makes a call.
"Hey, Stiles? Something weird happened and I need a ride. It's kind of important. Yeah, thanks."
"We no go yet."
He sits on the bike, waiting.
She sits on the ground, still watching him.
He gets off, and crouches down next to her.
"Kobold want learn English?"
Shrug. "Okay."
"If I eat food, I no hungry. If I drink water, I no thirsty. If I sleep," he closes his eyes, and mimes nodding off.
"If I sleep, I no tired."
"Mm. Go, sleep?"
"I need sleep or I am tired. I need food or I am hungry. Kobold need food, kobold need water. Kobold also need sleep?"
"I need sleep. I no tired, I -" she thinks through her vocabulary for a moment, doesn't come up with anything even slightly useful, and instead reaches for his hand. "Ilva," she warns, stopping short of touching him.
He reaches for her hand tentatively.
And now they're in a clearing in a forest. It appears to be midmorning. The kobold winces.
...
"I want understand. You and I go, you and I are where?"
Shrug. "Words. Kobold where." She hasn't let go of his hand; she puts them back by the motorcycle.
"I am here, you are here, we are here. We go there, we come here. We go there, ilva?"
This time he seems less tentative when he holds out his hand.
She doesn't seem happy about it, but she puts her hand in his and they're back in the sunlit forest.
"Home where I sleep and eat. Kobold home here?"
She sighs deeply, and then they teleport again. It's very dark, after the sunlight, and smells of woodsmoke. The kobold lets go of his hand and he can hear her moving around a bit.
"Kobold want be home? I want be my home, you want be your home?"
She doesn't answer. After about a minute, a fire flares up, and he can see that he's in a roughly oval cave, with tunnels leading out at each end and various objects - bowls, tools, firewood - stacked neatly along one wall. There's a pile of furs by the fire, and the kobold goes to sit on it, hanging her head between her knees. "I eat here, sleep here. No home."
"Kobold want my home, sleep and eat there?"
She shrugs, and sort of slowly collapses until she's lying on her back.
"If kobold want sleep my home, kobold can go there. We go there. If kobold no want, I no want."
She doesn't move. There's a long pause. "Scott speak kobold want - speak kobold want food, water, sleep. Scott no. Kobold no want. Kobold want no."
"Kobold not want anything?"
"Mm."
"Want kobold, kobold no want I." She curls up in a ball again.
If he tries to hug her does he ruin everything?
He approaches the curled up kobold and wraps his arms around her.
Slowly, and lightly. Because if she wants to get out, she should be able to.
She shudders and starts crying but doesn't move.
That's probably not much better?
He doesn't know how to read this at all.
He leans back from the touch, leaving just one hand on her shoulder.
She whimpers, when he moves away.
Well. He strokes her fur, and leans a bit closer.
He's almost as warm as she is.
She feels less tired; more alert and full of energy.
He seems to flag slightly, but the touch doesn't stop.
She snuggles back against him, and after several minutes her crying slows.
"If I want food and I eat food, I am happy. If I want learn and I learn, I am happy. I want kobold be happy."
She doesn't answer.
He hugs her.
And he yawns.
"Scott tired. Scott sleep?"
"Scott sleep."
Scott sleeps.
He probably does not wake up before the kobold.
The kobold mostly doesn't sleep. Naps, some. When the fire burns low a few hours later she wriggles carefully out of his grip and goes to fix it.
And then he wakes up.
"Kobold sleep good?"
"I no sleep." She did lay back down next to him after fixing the fire; now she sits up again. "You hungry?"
"I hungry. Kobold want learn English?"
Shrug, "Okay."
She stands, though, and lights a torch from the fire, and moves toward one of the tunnels out of the cave, looking back to see if he's going to follow.
He follows.
"If I am hungry, I eat. If I am hungry, then I eat. If I am tired, then I sleep."
"If I am thirsty, then I drink. Water."
The tunnel slopes downward, mostly gently. After a few minutes, the air becomes moister and begins to cool, and a few minutes after that, the tunnel forks, and the fork she takes opens up into a smaller cavern with a stream flowing across it. The floor of the cavern is piled with food, most of it in inexpertly-woven baskets - pumpkins and squash, oats and flour and rice and potatoes, nuts, dried fruit, jerky of several kinds of meat. There's a pile of carefully cleaned bones, too. "Food," she gestures to it.
"If I am no tired, then difficult sleep. If I am tired, then difficult no sleep. If I am hungry, and I want food, I eat. Home I eat, food no difficult. I eat home if food difficult here?"
She shrugs. "Scott eat."
Yeah he's totally going to have to feed the kobold and all their friends.
"Scott eat."
He goes for rice and potatoes, hoping they're fairly easy to get.
"If I am tired, then I sleep. If I sleep, then I am no tired. If I am tired and I no sleep, then I am more tired. If am hungry and then I no eat, then I am more hungry. If I am more hungry I need more food."
"Here more food," she comments. She takes a squash and some jerky and hands him a small bowl of dried fruit.
"No more food. I teach, no need. If I no hungry and I eat, then I less hungry. I am hungry, I eat less food, I am less hungry."
"Less. Okay." She shrugs and puts the fruit back and leads the way back to the main cave.
"I no want kobold hungry. I am hungry. I eat less food, kobold eat more food."
"I eat, I no hungry." She gestures demonstratively with the squash.
"Okay."
He heats his potatoes.
"If I sleep, then I wake up. If I wake up, then I am tired. Then I sleep, then I no tired. Then I wake up, then I am tired. Understand?"
She sets her squash up to roast and then starts preparing his rice with water from a large container near the wall while she puzzles over this.
"Tired then sleep then wake then eat then go then eat then tired then sleep?"
"Yes. If you hungry and you want food and I say food, you say yes food. If you no hungry and I say food you say no food."
Nod. "Yes. I understand."
"If I want food and you say no food, I want no food. If I want food and you say yes food, I eat."
"Scott eat. I say."
"Okay. If I eat now, then later I am no hungry. If I no sleep now, then later I am tired."
Nod. "Eat now, go Scott home later?"
"Yes. If Scott eat and sleep, Scott happy. If kobold eat and sleep, kobold happy. If Scott home, Scott happy. If kobold home, kobold happy."
She wilts. "Kobold home kobold. I no home."
Oh no.
"Kobold need home?"
Quietly: "need, yes." Sigh. "Need eat, no food, word? Need drink, no water, word?"
"Need food is hungry. No food is more hungry, is starving. Need water is thirsty, no water is more thirsty, then is dehydrated. Need home and no home is homeless. Need and no have food and home is starving and homeless."
"Mm. Starving or dehydrated, word?"
"Hungry or thirsty or tired is uncomfortable, is bad, is no happy. Starving or dehydrated or exhausted is painful, is more bad, is more no happy."
He sticks his hand in the fire and pulls it out, making the appropriate face.
"Is painful."
She yelps, when he puts his hand in the fire, and teleports him across the cave. "No no no no no -" there's a sudden splash of water onto it, and then she runs to him.
"Okay, okay, look," he says, pointing at his eyes and then at his hands.
Not only is the damage more contained than she was expecting, but it already seems to be healing.
She still makes a face at him. A face that says 'are you, in fact, an idiot?' "No okay. Bad."
"Bad, yes. Painful. Now you understand painful?"
The kobold is not amused. "Understand."
And then she rather pointedly closes her eyes for a moment. "Scott no go," she points to the fire. "Ilva Scott."
"If kobold say, and Scott want kobold happy, Scott promise to no go fire and painful. I promise no go fire."
She continues making that face at him for another moment, then goes and pokes at the rice.
Okay.
He checks on the potatoes.
...he tries to do that thing. When he gets to about half again within arm's reach of the fire, he's teleported back across the cave again.
"...Kobold ilya Scott?"
"Kobold ilya," she pats the cave floor. "Scott no go painful."
"Okay. Kobold and Scott eat, Scott no go painful."
"No! Scott go home now. Scott late. Late if I hungry now and then I eat when more hungry, I eat late. Scott go home now, Scott late."
"...okay."
She takes the food off the fire - teleports it away, in fact; it disappears entirely - and then offers him her hand.
He takes it.
"Sorry sorry sorry. Scott no want kobold sad or painful, Scott say sorry."
As soon as he takes her hand they're back by where the motorcycle was.
There is a search party.
"Go," he points at the vet's office.
She disappears.
She appears among the cages.
Some of the dogs bark at her.
It's quiet outside, but after a minute of this she hears footsteps.
"Hello?"
"Hello."
"Scott?"
"Scott there." She gestures in the relevant outsideward direction.
"Do you need? Do you understand?"
"I understand less. I no need, Scott say I go here."
"You here, Scott there?"
Nod. "Yes. Scott say."
"Scott say...I go, I come. Come is no go. You understand?"
Nod. "I understand."
So he goes.
And after ten minutes, he comes back.
"Sorry. I go, now I come. If I want you understand, then I say. If I want understand, then I ask. Now I ask kobold understand. Understand?"
"I understand. Scott okay? No painful?"
"Scott okay, no painful. Kobold okay?"
Nod. "Kobold okay."
"When I want understand, I say and ask, when you want understand, I say and tell. If you ask word for,"
He points at the dogs.
"I tell the English word is dog. Dog and dogs. If you ask word and I tell word, you learn and I teach."
Nod. "I ask."
"If I am hungry and I eat, then I am no hungry. Then I was hungry. If I am tired and I sleep, then I was tired and am no tired. Understand?"
She nods. "Was kobold there, am here?" She looks from Scott to Dr. Deaton.
"Yes. Kobold want me go?"
Shrug. "If you want."
So he goes.
"Yes, kobold was there then, kobold is here now. Scott is no hungry now, Scott will be hungry later. Understand?"
She takes a few seconds to puzzle that one out, and then nods. "You are hungry now, you no eat then. You will be eat later, you will be no hungry later?"
"I will be, I will eat, I will drink, I will sleep. If I am hungry now and I no eat now, then I will eat later and I will be no hungry later."
"Okay."
"We were there before, now we are here. Later we go my home, if kobold want."
Shrug. "Okay."
"If I can eat and I am hungry, I eat. If I can sleep and I am tired, I sleep. If kobold want understand, kobold can ask. Understand?"
"Yes."
"If I can but no understand if kobold want, I ask may I."
He goes to one of the cages, and unlocks it.
He picks up the dog, and pets it gently. It whimpers, but calms down as he continues stroking.
"Is dog. Dog was there, now he is here. I pick up dog. "
"Okay."
"I look at dog. I can see dog. I do see dog."
He points at his eyes and at the dog, staring at it.
"Can kobold ilya go there no see? Can kobold ilya kobold and Scott home?"
"Less no. If I go there and ilvamem there, then I can ilva there, later. If there less there, more here, no go there, ilvamem there, ilva there. No need see, need ilvamem."
"Okay. I no ask kobold difficult. May I pick up kobold and go my home?"
Shrug. "Okay."
So he picks her up, and tries to carry her as gently as possible outside.
"So that's your new friend?"
"They don't really speak English, but they learn fast. Good at picking up cues from tone of voice and stuff."
"Sure. Deaton says everything was fine, you just disappeared all night."
"Stiles, I'm fine, really. We're going home, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Love you too."
Scott puts her in the backseat, unless she protests.
"Kobold okay?"
Nod. "Okay."
And so they drive.
The boys chatter amicably and accusingly by turns, but nothing too serious.
The kobold - who has never ridden on an animal before, never mind in a motor vehicle - quickly concludes that lying across the back seat is the best way to deal with this situation.
They arrive. Scott opens her door.
"Does kobold want pick up or can ilya?"
He points at the ground next to car, assuming the seat is too high for her to get off.
"Ilya."
She takes another second to get her bearings, then stands and teleports out.
"Okay. I go inside my home. You want go inside my home?"
She looks up at it, then back to Scott, and pauses a moment before shrugging. "Okay."
"Can go if want, can not go if want. Kobold okay?"
Stiles waits by the jeep.
Shrug, nod. "Okay."
So they walk to the door.
Before they get there, it opens.
"Scott! I was so worried, your boss called and explained but how could you just leave like that?"
She hugs him tightly.
The kobold startles and freezes when the door opens, then takes a couple cautious steps away from Scott while his mother hugs him.
She unhugs.
"Hi. Is this the kobold?"
"Yeah. Uh."
He faces the kobold clearly, crouching so it's clear he's talking to her and not the others.
"If I was there place then, and am here place now, this place is new, that place is old. To understand new is to learn. To understand old is to know or remember. Understand?"
Nod.
"You are kobold, you are kobold person. I am Scott, I am human person."
He points at the grass.
"Grass is grass, grass is no person. When see new person, we say we meet person. You can meet my person. I want her happy, she want me happy. I want you happy, she want you happy. Understand?"
Lovely. She refrains from making a face. "Okay."
"We go inside now. When I want person to be happy, I say I like that person. When I more want person to be happy, I say I love that person. I love this person. I like kobold. I love Stiles, I like Dr. Deaton. I love mom. Understand?"
Nod.
"Go here is come, go there is leave. Kobold okay if I leave now and come later? Mom will food and water."
He points at Melissa to clearly identify ''mom.
She looks dubiously at the stranger.
"Hello. Scott says you need a home. This can be your home now."
This does not in fact make her any less dubious. More, actually.
"Okay."
"Kobold okay? If I ask where, I want to understand here or there, your home or my home. Where to go. If I ask why, I want to understand okay?"
"Okay." She takes a few seconds to think. "My home painful. Your home - more painful? less painful? No understand. I am painful you? I am painful mom? No understand. You are painful I? Mom are painful I? No understand. More more no understand, new, no see."
"My home no painful. I am no in pain. My mom is no in pain. Home is no painful. You are no painful to me, I want no be painful to you."
She's still dubious, but less so. She shrugs. "Okay."
"If Scott say Scott want pick up kobold and kobold want understand, kobold can ask why. If Scott say am hungry but Scott say no want food, kobold can ask why. Understand?"
He leads her inside the house.
She follows.
"I understand."
"Ask why, ask where. If kobold want understand or know new person, ask who. If want know then or now or later, ask when."
Okay, now she's confused. "Understand or no?"
"If I have food and water, I have food, I also have water. Yes or no, also know is understand now."
This language. "Okay."
"If I say 'yes', I say one yes. If I say 'yes yes' I say two yes."
Nod nod. "Scott need go?"
"No need go. Scott sleep and eat and drink and come and come here. I live here, is my home. Need go later maybe. Maybe is yes and or no."
"Okay. You say you go now."
"Now is now. Later is later. Less later is soon, more later is later. Now is now, soon is less later, later is more later. I will go soon, no now, and come later. Then I need go later maybe."
"Okay. One, two, more?"
Scott heads to the kitchen, keeping in sight of the kobold, and grabs two oranges.
He hands one to Melissa, who takes it, raising her eyebrows.
"This is my food, that is mom food," he says, pointing appropriately.
He offers his to the kobold.
She takes it, a bit hesitantly.
"That is kobold food, that is mom food. Understand?"
Nod, "okay."
"Food in this home is your food!"
"Okay."
"Our water is your water. Our beds are your beds."
"Beds are sleep. If want understand person, who, understand place, where. If want understand what person, who, what place, where. If ask 'what that'," pointing at the couch, "I say 'that is couch'. If kobold ask 'what this'," pointing at the orange she holds, "Scott say, 'that is orange'."
"Okay."
She looks around for a moment, closes her eyes, and disappears.
There is some worrying while she's gone.
They don't really have a way to handle this, though.
Well, they don't have to worry long, at least about that. She returns in about a minute with a furry animal skin draped over her shoulders and curls up on the couch, facing away from them.
"When kobold go then, you were alone. Now you are no alone. Kobold and Scott and mom are together. Kobold want be alone or together?"
No answer.
"If kobold need me, only need ask."
He leaves the house.
She stays there. After a little while, she falls asleep.
And eventually, Scott approaches her.
If she doesn't stir, he gently whispers, "Kobold wake up?"
Nope.
"Okay. Good sleep, kobold."
And about seven hours later she wakes up. It's now late afternoon, local time, or very early morning, by the kobold's internal sense of things.
She doesn't get off the couch but does roll over to face the room.
"Hello. Good sleep?"
"Mmhmm."
She shows no inclination to move. To be fair she's pretty cozy, snuggled up under the fur like that, though.
"What kobold want Scott, now and later?"
"You go where you want."
"Scott will go now. Kobold can eat food and drink water and sleep here, and can go her there."
"Okay."
And she is alone. For a few hours, anyway.
She doesn't get up. She spends some time getting a feel for the house with her mage-sense, and another while poking at her intuitions about it to see if she can figure out why she landed here.
She's hungry; she barely ate yesterday. That's fine, she can ignore that. She's thirsty, too, and that's less ignorable; fortunately her mage-sense gave her enough clues about where things are that she can fill a bowl with water and teleport it to herself without having to get off the couch.
And Scott is home.
"Kobold eat, drink, Kobold okay?"
She's still wrapped in the fur, but she's sitting up, now, leaning against the arm of the couch with the half-full bowl sitting on a nearby table. "I okay."
"More food and less food is amounts of food."
He points to the bowl.
"Is that amount water good kobold?"
"...yes?"
"If kobold need more water, Scott want kobold have more water. Scott have water, give kobold water, kobold take water, kobold have water. Understand?"
"I ilva water." She closes her eyes briefly and a little stream of water appears in midair over the bowl for a second and then stops.
"Kobold ilva water, okay. Can I stay? Stay is no go, is be here."
"Okay."
"Kobold want say why came here? No my house, my...world. World is all places, here and there. If no ilva."
She sighs and curls up tight under the fur again.
"I say, kobold home kobolds? Is, kobold home kobolds."
"Was, I home, kobolds. Kobolds go, I go, see more kobolds. Go, more go, more go. Will be see more kobolds, go see."
"Was, ...that. That come I, that ilvak I." She's even more unhappy about this. "Ilvak painful, kobolds say I go, I no come kobolds."
"I go. I homeless. I no happy. More later, more no happy. Later now, more more more no happy, need kobolds, no kobolds."
"Want no stay. No understand ilva. Ask ilva no here, no there - go, no come. Ilva do come here." She shrugs, miserably.
"Understand who new person is meet. More more is many. Scott and mom and kobold is not many, is few. Outside home is many humans. Why kobold meet many kobolds? Your home kobolds want meet for give food, for take water? Give and take is trade."
She doesn't appear to be listening.
"Kobold want hug?"
He demonstrates by hugging the air in front of him.
"Mm." She leans over onto him.
The kobold can have hugs.
He lets her lean against him, petting her fur gently.
She shudders, almost violently, when he starts petting her, and quietly starts crying.
Hug or unhug?
...Hug.
"Kobold okay, kobold happy, kobold good."
She mutters something in her own language that sounds like a disagreement, but she doesn't move; in fact she's staying very still.
...Unhug. He keeps petting her, tentatively.
Her breath catches when he moves away - not quite a gasp - but she still doesn't move.
They'll just sit quietly like this for a while.
His mother doesn't interrupt.
The kobold cries. After a little while she stops.
"Kobold say what kobold want, Scott give."
Silence.
He gets up, and comes back with sliced peaches and a sandwich.
"Kobold can eat if want. Scott will eat."
And so he has his sandwich.
She takes a peach slice. Just one, though.
Up to the kobold, really. He finishes his dinner quietly, and only gets up again to wash his hands.
He pets the kobold.
She stays still, but if he's paying attention he'll notice her gradually relaxing under the touch.
He keeps petting the kobold.
Eventually, he yawns.
"If kobold give Scott happy, Scott thank kobold. Thanks kobold."
"Good sleep."
"Good sleep!"
He...does his homework, and then sleeps.
She lays there for a while longer, but when it's fully night, she teleports up to the roof to look at the stars.
There are stars. They might not be as clear as at home, but they're there.
She'll lay there for a most of the night, if nothing happens, with her fur blanket under her, watching and listening.
Not quite nothing. A little bit of screaming in the distance.
That's, uh. Not so much okay?
She can't teleport directly there, but she can get there pretty quickly anyway with the short hops she can do - within three or four minutes, unless she runs into trouble along the way. She'll look for cover to appear behind, for the last 'port.
There is a tree to hide behind.
There is also someone slashing a young man's throat.
!!!!!!!!
Can she get the knife away in time to do any good at all.
In time to prevent the...being...from slashing all the way through.
The damage is done.
It turns, searching for the interloper.
Yeah, like hell she's sticking around to be found. She casts a single-use teleport trap under the victim, and she and they are gone in an instant. They appear in the McCalls' living room, and she screams for help while trying to stop the bleeding.
And here's Melissa, applying first aid, and her son, speaking to an arcane device, apparently describing the nature of his emergency.
And here goes Scott placing a hand on the victim.
His face contorts in pain as the veins on his arm turn deep black, instead of their faded blue.
She backs off when Melissa takes over - she doesn't actually know first aid for this species - and watches, still panicking.
When Scott starts changing color she attempts to drag him away.
"Scott want him less painful, will take pain."
The man does seem to be in less pain, though the benefits of this may seem dubious. He keeps bleeding onto their carpet.
That part of his job done, Scott fetches his mom what she needs. She keeps working.
"Kobold hide, kobold go alone, no humans see kobold."
She hisses at him under her breath when he tries to shoo her off, but does shoo, and then disappears back to the roof when told to hide.
And after a few minutes, there are sirens, and many humans rushing into the house.
They come out a few minutes later carrying the man on a stretcher.
One lingers inside for a while, and comes out looking more stressed than when he went in.
She winces at the light and sound, and waits for the ambulance to leave before checking with her mage-sense to see how many humans are now in the house.
Just one, now.
She doesn't quite know Scott well enough to identify him via mage-sense, yet. She finds a spot she can teleport to and check that it's him, first.
"Scott okay?" She sounds very worried.
"Scott okay. That human will be okay also. Kobold okay?"
"I okay." She's kinda, uh, bloody, but it's plausible that none of it is hers, and she's not moving like she's hurt.
"Kobold want clean? Kobold ilva water kobold clean?"
He demonstrates clean by washing the blood off his hands.
She blinks and looks down at herself. "...yes. Where?"
"Kobold see, I show. If I show where clean kobold see where can clean. I go, kobold come where I go, this is follow. Kobold follow where clean."
He leads her upstairs.
She follows.
He shows her the bathtub, demonstrating its use.
"Kobold want be alone and clean in water? In is word means, Scott in Scott home, Scott hand," he waves, "go in fire, kobold in bathtub," he says, indicating it.
"Yes." Also a little glaring at the mention of the fire incident.
"Sorry. I say sorry if I give kobold no happy. No happy is sad. I say sorry if I make kobold sad."
"Mm. Scott okay, okay." She gestures at his previously-burnt hand with her nose. "If I see Scott painful, I sad."
She pokes at the blood drying into her fur. "I clean now, I soon speak Scott."
"Soon. I go."
And he does.
'Soon' might be a bit of an overstatement; she's pretty fastidious about getting all the blood out of her fur. But eventually she comes out of the bathroom, still slightly damp.
Scott is sitting on the stairs with his homework, and waves at her.
"Mom and Scott did speak. The person will be okay now."
"Okay, good." She sits next to him. "I see person painful person, need see?"
"Maybe? How will I see?"
She reaches for the pencil he's using to work on his homework, hesitantly, but stops several inches short of actually taking it.
He doesn't stop her.
She is really not inclined to get any closer to taking it from him. Seems kind of stressed about something, too.
He places the pencil between them.
She takes it and looks pointedly at the paper he was writing on.
Now she has paper.
She makes a couple of test marks with the pencil and then produces two little sketches, one of the entire scene and the other a close-up of the attacker's face, what she could see of it. She didn't have a very good viewing angle, but the drawings are fairly good renditions of what she did see.
"That person tried to kill this person. Kill means more than starving or painful, it means no more person. That person may be killing more people, may have killed people. Can you see that person now?"
"No."
"Okay. This may be bad. Kobold no sad. I will understand why and what this is."
"Can ilva there," she taps the drawing of the scene, "maybe person."
"See is with eyes," he says, pointing at his eyes.
"Smell is with nose." Point. "If I go there, I can smell and go bad person."
"Okay." She stands and offers her hand.
He takes her hand.
Ilva?
Yup, here they are at the scene of the crime. She doesn't let go of his hand.
That's fine. He doesn't need his hand to track.
He catches a scent, but the trail ends in the woods.
"Understand then and also now, or now and also later, is remember. If I smell this person now, I will remember later. I will remember later. Thanks kobold."
Nod. "I maybe remember ilvamem. Ilva Scott home?"
"Yeah. Thanks kobold. Sorry ask come here."
He's already holding her hand.
And here they are back at the house.
"Scott no have ilva. Scott take pain. If kobold have pain can give to Scott. Person have pain can give to Scott."
The eyes may be slightly disconcerting.
The kobold is very confused.
"If starving, pain. If fire, pain. If bad person want kill make blood, pain."
It takes her another couple seconds of puzzling, and then she bites down very gently on her hand, just hard enough to leave a visible dent, which she shows him. "Pain?"
"Yes. Pain. I can take pain, and if I have pain now I have less pain less later, sooner."
Huh. "Okay."
"Scott no have kobold ilva, Scott has pain ilva."
Nod. "English has word, ilva?"
"English word is magic...many humans no see or remember or understand magic. They say there is no magic here."
Nod. "I need hide magic?"
"No need hide from Dr. Deaton or mom or Stiles or me. May need to show magic if I say, if kobold okay.
Nod. "Okay."
"Want English word -" she touches next to her eye, "see," touches next to her nose, "smell," touches next to her ear and looks expectantly at him.
"Hear or listen sounds."
"Taste food," pointing to his mouth.
"Touch or feel", he says, picking up a peach, and slicing it.
Nod.
"Word, hear or taste or touch or see or smell?"
"Senses! Touch is one sense, taste is one sense. Touch and taste is two senses. Five senses, maybe more."
"Ilvamem is one sense, magic sense. Five? One, two, more?" She extends two fingers on her right hand as she counts, then a third.
"One, two, three, four, five."
He brings her a bowl of peach slices and half a grapefruit.
"Two fruit, one peach, one grapefruit. Eight peach slices. Five, six, seven, eight. Kobold learn numbers, is how many."
Up to four she follows along fine, showing the right number of fingers on her right hand. For five, she switches to one finger on her left hand, and then starts adding fingers on the right again. "Numbers, okay. One two three four five six ... seven, eight."
"Yes. Me and mom and Dr. Deaton and Stiles are four humans kobold met. I have five fingers, ten fingers, two eyes, one nose..."
He goes on, pointing out the relevant body parts, until interrupted.
She doesn't interrupt. She seems to be in a slightly better mood, actually.
They can keep doing numbers and fruit, then.
He brings out a banana and an apple.
She doesn't have a strong reaction to either.
"Humans see colors. Color blood is red, color apple is red, color peach is red here, color grapefruit is red here. Banana color is yellow and brown, Scott is brown, this is brown," he raps on the wooden table.
"Kobold see colors?"
She nods.
"See colors, feel texture. Peach is fuzzy, apple and banana are smooth."
"Okay."
"Fire feel hot, ice feel cold."
He heads to the freezer, retrieving ice to demonstrate.
This, she blinks at.
"Ice is more cold water. Kobold understand ice? We can make ice with that. That is freezer, freezing is word for water will be, becomes, ice."
"Huh."
She teleports an ice cube from the freezer to her hand to examine and then crunch between her teeth. "Huh."
"Ice is hard, fruit is soft. Fruit is no difficult eat, is easy, is soft eat. Ice is hard eat."
She looks amused. "Ice is maybe difficult human eat, is no difficult kobold eat." She taps the side of her head where her jaw muscles are.
"If kobold ask why, Scott say because answer. If kobold ask why human no eat ice, Scott say because ice is too hard for humans."
She nods. "Kobolds," she taps her jaw muscle again, "because kobolds eat hard food."
"Yes. If kobolds can eat hard food, they eat hard food, because they can eat hard food. I sleep if I am tired, I sleep because I am tired."
Nod.
"Hot and cold are opposites. Hard and soft are opposites. Here and there are opposites. Understand?"
"Mmhmm."
"Happy and sad are opposites, good and bad are opposites. Big and small are more and less size. Size is like this."
He gestures with his hands, indicating a small space between them and then larger ones.
"Peach is small, home is big."
Nod. "Human is more big kobold."
"Human is bigger than kobold, kobold eats harder food than human. Kobolds have stronger teeth, humans have weaker."
"Stronger? Teeth?"
He picks up the peach.
"Weak."
He picks up the chair.
"Strong."
"Kobold eat with teeth."
He points at his.
"Okay. Kobold strong this," she taps her jaw muscle again.
"Kobold have strong jaw, strong mouth, strong bite. Speak with mouth, bite with jaw. Bite is how eat food."
Nod.
"Scott need sleep soon. Kobold okay?"
"I okay. Good sleep."
And the next day, Scott wakes up around dawn and checks on the kobold.
She's back on the couch, wrapped in her blanket.
Okay.
He starts making hashbrowns.
She stays on the couch.
He enjoys his breakfast, and after handling some business (the frantic call from Stiles about his mom takes some time), he approaches the kobold.
"Kobold wake up?"
He keeps his voice fairly quiet. She has time to adjust her sleeping schedule.
Well, maybe.
She opens her eyes; she seems to have just been dozing. "Hello."
"Kobold have good sleep?"
"I sleep later. Scott have good sleep?"
"Scott had sleep. Kobold need understand where mom went. Mom go before and no come now, no come later. She may no come."
"Why?"
"Before now, before I sleep, was yesterday. Now before I sleep is today. Later after I sleep is tomorrow. Yesterday, people came here and saw mom and blood and person in pain and say she is why. They take her. I need show one person magic, then he may understand what happened. Happened is, yesterday I taught you, teaching happened, today I ate food, food happened. I ate food if I before eat."
"Okay." Nevermind that there are several words in there she's not sure she's guessing the right meanings of; she'll roll with it, whatever needs to happen.
"If I ask kobold show magic person, kobold want to show?"
Emphatic nodding. "Take no okay."
"Take because they no understand what happened, no because they are bad. They see blood, say mom bad. Person who needs see will be here soon."
She nods and hugs him. "I show."
They wait, for a while.
Then there's a knock.
"Hide, no go. Stay and hide. I say come soon, you come?"
"Okay." She goes to the living room and disappears behind the couch.
"Hello, Sheriff."
"Scott. Can I come in?"
"Sure. Last night, I said I had something to tell you. I started to explain, and I said I could give you proof."
"You did. Scott, you know how this looks..."
"Magic is real, people are in danger, and you and I both know my mom didn't do this."
"Okay. Show me the proof."
"I want you to meet someone. Don't freak out. Kobold, you can come now. No hide."
She peeks out from behind the couch, takes in the scene, and then goes to stand by Scott, being careful not to make any sudden movements and generally being pretty hesitant about the whole thing.
"Hello."
"Hello. Scott?"
"This is the kobold. It hasn't called itself anything else, so I'm just calling them that. We're learning English. Kobold show magic? Ilva water?"
"Okay."
Her water bowl is still on the table by the couch; she teleports it into her hands and checks the sheriff's reaction.
"Magic. Okay."
He sits on the couch.
"You realize this doesn't make things much easier. I still have to find out how this person got to your house, I have to clear this case up somehow. And you don't know who actually did this, if it isn't your mother."
"I can learn. I will learn why this happened, and how. Then you can arrest the real killer."
"How much does the kobold understand of what we're saying?"
"Kobold understands some words, but not many. I'm trying to teach them, but I'm not very good at it."
"Right, and I suppose we can't just find someone better because all this magic stuff is secret?"
"Yeah. What can I do to make this easier for you and mom?"
"It's going to be hard no matter what, Scott. But now I'm not so sure talking to you is going to get this solved any faster, when you know so much more about this. I'll drive you to school, and I'll drive you home later. Then we can talk. Got it?"
"Let me talk to the kobold first."
"Sure. I'll be in the car."
"Kobold okay? Kobold want understand?"
"I okay."
"Kobold will be alone, but soon I will come."
And he goes.
She curls up on the couch, and eventually falls asleep.
Unless she wakes up sooner, they return eight hours later.
She wakes up when she hears them come in.
"Hey, kobold. How was your day?"
"Kobold okay today? Eat, drink, sleep?"
She curls up tighter under her blanket, then intentionally relaxes. "I okay."
Then, to the sheriff, "I show where person kill person?"
"Show with magic?"
She nods, and stands and offers her hands to him and Scott. "Go-magic, go there."
He takes her hand, as does Scott.
"Second star to the right."
And here they are at the scene of the crime; behind the tree the kobold was hiding behind, in fact. The knife she teleported away from the attacker is a few feet away, and she points it out first - "this" - and then where the attack actually happened - "there".
"This knife was the weapon. The person you saw used the knife to hurt another person?"
"Hurt is give pain or sad. I hurt kobold if kobold is sad because me. I hurt kobold if kobold is in pain because of me."
She listens to Scott and then nods to the sheriff. "Person hurt person," she mimes the slash of the knife, "I magic knife, then I magic person and I."
"Good. You helped that person, the victim. It makes some things harder for me, but that's good."
"Opposite of hurt is help. Make happy, take pain. Victim is person in pain, no person why pain. Sheriff thanks kobold."
She nods, relaxing a bit. "Sorry harder. I no want victim kill."
"Sheriff, are you going to be able to get someone to the crime scene?"
"There's nothing connecting the victim to this location, not after the sudden...appearance in your house. I'll have to figure something out. Can it take us home?"
She understands those words, and offers her hands again. "Scott home?"
"Scott and Sheriff home."
They each take a hand, and they're back at Scott's house.
"I should go. I have a lot to get to work on. Stiles should be here any minute, you two should talk some things out. Send him home when you're done."
"Thank you, Sheriff. Kobold, you want to meet Stiles?"
She returns to the couch while they're talking. "Okay."
Scott waits by the door, and after a few minutes, opens it.
"So this is a surprise. Do I get to know what's going on now?"
The kobold watches quietly from the couch.
"Stiles, this is the kobold. They're from really far away, and they helped save a potential victim last night."
"Okay. Thanks for that, kobold. Anything else I should know?"
"They don't speak English fluently yet, I've been teaching them."
"Sounds like a really funny sitcom plot for all of three minutes. What's your strategy?"
"I don't really have one."
"Right. Okay, if the kobold doesn't speak any other languages, we can't just use Google translate. I'll see if we have any picture books at home, I guess."
"Yeah, uh. I mentioned this to your dad but maybe the kobold should stay with you for a while. I think the cops are going to be in and out of here for a while."
He turns to the lurking kobold.
"Kobold want go Stiles home? Many humans will come here, will be difficult to hide."
She looks dubiously from Scott to Stiles and back. "Scott okay here no person?"
"Scott okay alone."
"Yeah, Scott will be okay. Should we go?"
"Yeah. See you later, kobold."
"Okay." She brings her blanket with her and follows Stiles.
They go to his jeep.
The cops have not come back yet; they'll be waiting for the sheriff.
"You want help getting in? Ask if you need help to understand."
"I okay, thanks." She teleports up to the back seat.
They drive to the Stilinski house.
"Okay. Food is here, water is here, beds are upstairs. If you want to understand something, you can ask questions. Do you have questions?"
"If person kill victim and I listen, then I what?"
"You are a witness. If a person kills another person, then they are a killer, a murderer. Yesterday you were a witness to an attempted murderer."
He rummages through a closet.
That's not what she was trying to ask but okay.
"Yesterday I witness to an attempted murder, I magic victim Scott home. If tomorrow I witness to an attempted murder, I what?"
"Can you capture the killer? Hold her, trap her, make her stay, not go. And tell me where she is?"
"Maybe? If I magic-sense place, then I can go-magic person place."
"I can take you to the attempted murder place if you need. Ah, found it!"
He flourishes a picture book with a smiling cartoon banana on the front.
The book contains many words, some familar and unfamiliar.
There is a banana. He likes all his friends. Apple, orange, grape, and lemon. Apple is sad a lot, but very nice. Orange is always happy and moves around a lot. Grape is alone and misses her mom and dad. Banana cannot see lemon anywhere!
"Ask questions if you need."
She looks dubiously at the unfamiliar object and then basically ignores it.
"I magic-sense attempted murder place; I can take you to the attempted murder place. If I hear murder, then I go, and I take victim where, and I take murderer where?"
"You understand awake and asleep? We need murderer asleep. Can magic do asleep?"
"No."
"You can take the murderer here, and take the victim outside the hospital. If I take you to the hospital, can you magic-sense hospital? Ask questions if you need to."
Hm.
"Word, that or that or that or that? Opposite one that?"
"This book is here," he says, pointing to the book and picking it.
"That book is there," he says, pointing at one of the picture books still in the closet.
"You can say this if a thing is here, and that if something is there."
...not what she was asking for. She looks frustrated.
"Banana is a fruit. Fruit is a food. Banana is a specific fruit, fruit is a specific food. Banana is a kind of fruit, fruit is a type of food. Kobolds are a type of person, a human is a specific kind of person."
It is kind of impressive how he manages to be even worse at this than Scott is.
"Okay. If you take me to the hospital I can magic-sense the hospital."
"Sure. Should we go now?"
Shrug. "Maybe."
"Do you want to learn English or go to the hospital."
"Hospital."
"Okay, cool. You and me can go to the car. Follow me."
He leads her to the jeep.
And she teleports up into the backseat.
They drive.
They arrive.
"Do you need to go inside the hospital? Or can you magic-sense here and come here with the victim?"
"Need know take victim where."
"Take victim here, where we are."
They're parked further down the street from the hospital.
She pops up to the front seat and makes a face at him. "Here here?"
"Here here."
She continues making the face. "Okay."
"Here no people see where victim come from but see soon and help."
Ah, that's the problem. "Before, victim," she mimes having her throat slit. "Kill more soon, need help more soon."
"You can help victim before? How will you know? If yes, bring victim outside police station. I show you there now. First magic-sense here if can magic-sense two places."
This is: extremely frustrating.
"I go, I come here soon," she says, and disappears.
In that case, Stiles waits by the hospital.
She's gone for a few minutes, and returns with a skin, a flat rock to rest it on, and a stick of charcoal to draw on it with. She proceeds to draw out a timeline of the previous evening's events, with little drawings for each event in bubbles connected to the line showing when they happened.
"Yesterday this," she declares when she's done. "and victim okay. Tomorrow maybe this; if tomorrow this," she points to where the bubble showing Melissa helping the victim, "here," she points a quarter inch further along the timeline, "victim maybe no okay."
"Maybe sooner help if you want to meet a new person."
"New person, okay."
"Okay. We can go meet new person, maybe help."
Stiles drives. It's getting darker.
The kobold returns to the backseat and waits.
Here they are, outside an apartment complex.
Stiles steps out of his car.
Look, some guy.
"Stiles, what do you want."
"What, did you hear me pulling up?"
"I saw you, thought I should be ready to kick you out."
"Sure, sure. I have a friend I'd like you to meet. Kobold, this person can help victim maybe."
"Kobold?"
"In the car. Kobold, you can come out."
She peers out the window for a moment and then teleports to a spot roughly equidistant from the two of them, facing Derek. "Hello," she says, conversationally.
"Hello. Stiles, it's not human or werewolf, or anything I recognize. What did you do?"
"Nothing. It just appeared, and I don't know what to do with it. It doesn't speak English. It has magic and wants to help with all the murder."
"Sure. Hello kobold. Do you understand me so far?"
She nods. "I understand."
"Stiles, how am I getting to them exactly? These future victims."
"The kobold can teleport."
"Kobold, can you bring victims inside if I show you where? Do you understand?"
"Maybe understand. Take victims there?" She gestures at the apartment building with her nose.
"Yeah. I go in there, you see where to take them, and if you can help a victim, take the victim where I show you. I can help."
Nod, nod. "Good, thanks."
"How will you take the victim to me soon? Can you come here soon if you see the victim?"
"Stiles say take murderer Stiles home." Her expression shows how bad of an idea she thinks this is. "I magic victim here, I take murderer there, I stay there."
"Your house?"
"Kobold magic can't immobilize or capture, apparently."
"Kobold, you understand 'stop', 'stay', 'hold'?"
"Understand 'stay'."
"Understand 'force'? Understand 'want'? If murderer no want stay, kobold can force murderer to stay. That means arrest or capture or trap. Can kobold magic murderer capture?"
"Understand 'want'. Can magic murderer stay, maybe need stay murderer."
"If magic murderer stay, cannot come with victim?"
"No understand 'cannot'; I am one kobold."
"Cannot means no can. I can go and come, if kobold magic me stay, I cannot go or come."
Nod. "Thanks. If I magic murderer stay, murderer maybe cannot go, maybe can; I stay, I see; if need more magic I magic. Victim need help more soon."
"If I can touch the victim, I can help. I show you how? I can help you. Take pain is heal, I can heal victim."
"I okay. Take victim where?"
"Can you take victim here and then go back to murderer and magic stay there?"
"I can; murderer maybe go."
"Take a weapon and shoot the murderer, usually that goes well."
Derek ignores him. Mostly.
"If you stay here, can you take me to victim with you?"
"Can kill murderer - magic can be weapon. Can stay, take you."
"Stiles, we don't kill if capture works."
"Since when has that been your MO?"
"We kill if we can't stop these murders otherwise. Kobold, if you stay and take me with you, I can magic stay the murderer."
Nod. "I stay. I no want kill."
Stiles gets a call.
"How'd it go? Yeah, he's a decent guy but new to the position. No, shut up. What? Oh, does it have to, I thought maybe magic did that."
He covers the phone.
"Kobold, Scott ask if you need food soon. Derek, do you have anything?"
The kobold's ears go back - fear? annoyance? frustration? - but she doesn't comment.
"I have food. Kobold want to eat now?"
He leads them inside.
"Okay." She follows.
"Maybe it's not hungry."
"Maybe they're scared. We need to work on teaching them English."
He brings her some bread and peanut butter.
She appears to be unfamiliar with both, but after a bit of poking she nibbles at them.
Derek demonstrates the human ritual of spreading peanut butter onto bread.
Up to her if she wants him to do that, he certainly appreciates her approach.
Yeah, if they're going to make her eat adorned bread is preferable to unadorned, he can do that.
He adorns her bread.
"Eating can be difficult for me. Kobold understand difficult?"
"...maybe?"
"Understand pain? Understand walk, eat, sleep? Understand tired, wake up?"
"No understand walk."
"This is bread. This is a type of food. Bread is a type of food. This is peanut butter. Peanut butter is a type of food. Peanut butter and bread are types of food."
He walks across the room and back.
"Walk is a kind of go."
Nod. "Okay."
"If hungry or tired, walk can be difficult."
He mimes what a hungry person trying to walk looks like. It's not very realistic.
She gets it anyway. "Okay. Why difficult eat?"
"If murderer kill victim, victim is dead. If we help victim, victim maybe is alive. I eat to stay alive. Understand?"
Nod.
"If I want to stay alive, but I do not want to eat, I say eating is difficult."
Ah.
Well.
That's certainly a different problem than the one she has.
"Okay."
"I help?"
"Kobold help me eat, I help kobold eat?"
She hesitates, thinking, and then nods sharply. "Yes."
"Are we going to have a sleepover? I didn't bring my jammies."
"Good night, Stiles."
And then they're alone.
Derek takes some bread and some peanut butter and has his dinner.
The kobold disappears for a couple minutes and returns with two pieces of jerky and a small, inexpertly handmade bowl of dried berries; she keeps a piece of jerky for herself and offers the rest to Derek.
"Thank you."
He eats this supplement gratefully.
"If victim when I sleep, wake me up."
He screams, but it's more like a howl.
"Wake me up."
Well that's definitely a noise.
"Yes."
"Okay. I eat, you eat. Then I sleep."
So he finishes his food.
So does she, and then she pops back to Stiles' house to get her blanket.
"Hello. Nice to see you again. Happy to see you. Good. To see you."
Her blanket has been left untouched.
"Hello. I stay Derek today, okay?"
"Derek Hale?"
"You probably don't know his last name. Alright. Sleep well."
And she nods and grabs her blanket and goes back to Derek's house, where she looks for a comfy piece of furniture to curl up on.
That night, no scream disturbs her.
And when the sun starts to rise, she goes to her cave to cook; she returns after an hour or so with a baked squash and two small bowls of oatmeal.
"Thank you. No victim, no murderer?"
She nods.
Derek eats his breakfast.
"I no understand why not. Kobld understand feeling, emotion?"
"No."
"This is happy. I want and I want to want and I have what I want. Understand? You can see I am happy."
She nods, somewhat hesitantly.
"I am sad. I do not have what I want or I do not want to want it. Sad is painful. You can see I am sad. My face is a sad face."
If 'face' doesn't seem to be clear, he makes sure to point his out.
This nod is much less hesitant.
"I am angry. I want and you no want, or you want and I no want, is bad and we no have what we want. Anger is no I want kill you, is I want you understand I want kill you."
Nod nod.
"Happy, sad, angry. Happiness, sadness, anger are emotions. I am happy, sad, angry. If I no understand, I am confused. See confused face."
Nod. "Is word - you are angry, I want go, I this?"
"If I think you are hungry and you are hungry, I understand you are hungry. If I think you are hungry and you are not hungry, I no understand."
"...I understand 'understand', I understand 'confused'. I ask new word."
"New word...scared? If I think you will kill me or I no have food and I am starving, I am scared. I want go and cannot go."
Nodnod. "Thanks."
"I am not sad no death, no die, no victim. I am confused and scared."
Sympathetic nod. "Why scared?"
"I no understand why. If I understand why, I can predict. Predict is say what will be, because understand."
"Ah." She nods again.
"What kobold scared of? What scares you?"
She shrugs. "Word, dog is type?"
"A dog is a type of animal."
Nod. "Big animals, eat kobolds - magic helps. Big fire. Bad magic." She shrugs again.
"Animals no eat humans now. Humans kill humans."
"Humans scare me. Sorry kobold."
"Mm."
She considers for a moment, then stands and disappears. After another couple seconds, she's back, carrying a largeish flat pebble.
"Magic," she says, and holds it so he can see her squeeze it - when she does, she teleports a few feet away, to a clearer part of the room. She sits back down at the table and slides it over to him.
"...Thank you. Kobold no need this magic?"
"No need. Easy magic."
"Kobold need magic for animals at home?"
She looks confused, and takes a second to think. "If I have food and I eat, then I no have food. If I have magic and I give magic, then I yes have magic."
"If you share magic, you have magic and I have magic. Can you teach magic? Kobold understand the word 'teach'?"
"I understand teach. I can teach, but, bad, I no teach."
"Why teach magic bad? Share magic is good, teach is bad?"
Nod. "If I teach you magic, you maybe dead."
"If I do not eat, I become hungry. If I die, I become dead. If a person kills me, I become dead."
Nod. "If I teach you magic, you maybe die. I no teach."
"Okay. No teach. What kobold want to do?"
Shrug. "...sleep, soon?"
"Okay. Kobold sleep, I plan. Plan is think will be and decide what do. Decide is this or that, say which want and take which want."
She spends a few seconds puzzling this out, and then nods. "Okay."
She disappears again and returns with two more pieces of jerky and a little dried fruit - "you eat later" - and then goes to curl up in the living room under her blanket.
Derek eats, and broods, and plans.
And several hours later the kobold peeks into the kitchen.
"Hi."
Brood. Bite. Bristle. Bite.
"How was sleep?"
"Okay. You hungry?"
"I am eating now."
Bite.
"Kobold hungry?"
He has some paper in front of him.
Nod. "Go, see more food?" She offers her hand.
He takes her hand.
"We go."
They go. Their destination is dimly fire-lit; the fire is new and hasn't had time to catch properly yet. She takes a stick and pokes at it, causing it to flare up and briefly show her cave. "Kobold home," she explains.
"Kobold home. Kobold understand fire, understand light? You touch fire with," he gestures, indicating the stick.
"You make fire. You see fire light."
"Yes, understand." She moves around in the dimness and in a moment there's another flare of light; she's lit a torch from the fire.
"Not light is dark. If it is dark, it is not bright."
"Okay."
She takes the torch to one end of the cave, where a tunnel leads into the darkness. "Food there," she points. "You okay?"
"I am okay. Angry about murder."
She nods, then hesitates for a moment, and suddenly there's a human-sized patch of inky blackness on the cave wall near the tunnel. "New magic," she says, and then steps unhesitatingly into it; when the torch passes through it reveals a second cave on the other side of the portal with baskets of food piled on the floor. She turns back to look, not quite making eye contact - she doesn't seem to know where he is - and says, "come?"
He goes through. He looks around the second cave.
"New magic. Can not you person magic come and go?"
"Need word, if you do thing maybe you die, thing is word?"
"Maybe deadly. If do thing and maybe die, is deadly."
Nod. "Learn magic is deadly. Know magic is not deadly. I no teach magic, not-me person not do magic."
"Other people come with you magic and they no do magic?
"Yes."
"This is kobold food? Only this?"
Sigh. "Yes. Is okay. Only I, no other kobold." It's hard to see her face in the dim light, but she certainly sounds sad.
"Understand alone? Understand family?"
"Understand alone." She props the torch up in a pile of rocks arranged for this purpose and goes and sits against the wall, her arms wrapped around her knees.
"If I am alive, I live. If I live, I will die. If I live, I was born. Humans are born to parents from parents, by parents, with parents. Understand?"
"Mm."
"No."
"Understand live? Understand born?"
She doesn't answer.
He stares at her for a few seconds.
He sits in the corner.
After a few seconds she teleports next to him, still curled up. "Sorry," she says, quietly. "I not okay."
"I sorry. I no want hurt or give pain. Is difficult to say, I am not good at saying. And family is...big. Understand big and small?"
She scoots over and leans against him and nods. "Mmhmm."
"If thing means big, if it is big emotion, if we need it, it is important. Food is important, sleep is important, family is important."
"Mmhmm."
"Kobolds not you kobold were family. My family are gone now, they no come. I want make new family, with people I like. Understand?"
"...oh." She climbs carefully into his lap and rests her head on his chest. "I understand."
"Kobold have my home and my food if you need. No more sad Derek or kobold."
Hug?
Yes, yes very much hug.
Does he seem like he's crying?
Probably not.
She's not, but only barely. They might be here for a while.
With time, Derek does calm down. The hugs don't quite stop, but he does compose himself.
"Thanks kobold. We go home?"
"Yeah."
This involves un-hugging, and she's reluctant. But after a few minutes she stands up and puts a portal in the cave wall leading to his living room.
They go. He sighs.
"Murderer. We need help victims."
She snuggles up again as soon as that's possible. "I listen, I help. Not know other do."
"I can smell murderer, you can magic go...we can find murderer. Find is go and see if here or there, is...no understand where thing is and then learn."
She nods. "Go where yesterday murder?"
Nod.
She steps back so he has room to stand, and offers her hand.
They arrive in a clearing.
There's still some blood, but it's dry now.
Derek sniffs the air.
The kobold watches.
He seems unhappy with whatever he smells, because he kicks the ground a bit more than strictly necessary.
"No murderer here, not there. Cannot go go more go, needs to be here."
She looks confused.
"I no understand where murderer go. Is bad, I cannot help now. Maybe later."
She nods. "Home?"
"Home. Thank you."
And they go home.
Mmhmm.
She pokes around the kitchen looking for food for the two of them - she needs breakfast, and he should really have dinner.
Probably!
He has dinner. Peanut butter.
Weird human food. Okay.
She gives up when the cabinets turn out to be mostly empty, and pops back to her pantry cave for more jerky and dried fruit.
There's a knock at the door.
"Kobold want to meet someone?"
"Okay."
"Boyd. This is the kobold. They live here now."
"...Okay. Hi kobold. What's the kobold, exactly, some kind of weremouse?"
""Apparently, he's from very far away, and she is learning English. I should probably try to actually teach them."
"How much does it understand? Kobold, can you understand me? We teach you English."
She's been watching attentively. "I understand."
"He is called Derek. I call him Derek. You call him Derek. He calls himself Derek. He calls you kobold. I call myself Boyd. He calls me Boyd. You call me Boyd. You call yourself..?"
"I call myself kobold."
"You call yourself kobold, we call you kobold. I call this table," he says, pointing at the table.
He goes on to identify a chair, the carpet, the walls, the ceiling, and the floor.
"You understand?"
"Mmhmm," she nods, and repeats the new vocabulary back to him, gesturing to each thing with her nose and commenting on colors and textures where she has the vocabulary to do so.
It goes fairly well. Soon, she can identify furniture and wood and metal and bricks.
Boyd next attempts to explain artifical lighting.
"That is a light. It makes it bright or dark. Understand?"
Derek flips the switch to demonstrate.
"Okay."
Boyd...does not know how to explain electricity with this vocabulary.
"Lights make light because electricity. Electricity is hard to explain. Understand?"
"Electricity is difficult to explain. Explain is say why."
"Electricity. Okay."
He attempts to explain rooms.
He attempts to explain indoor plumbing.
She follows along well enough, and eventually says "okay, stop now."
"Derek, what's the plan here? Is it just going to stay with you?"
"She is staying here until he decides otherwise; I'm not kicking them out."
"What if someone sees them?"
"The kobold has magic. I'm not too worried."
"Right. Anything you need from me?"
"We're okay. Go home."
"Goodbye kobold."
"Goodbye."
"Kobold understand try?"
Headshake.
"If difficult to eat and I try eat, I maybe eat. Maybe yes, maybe no."
Nod. "I understand."
"Kobold want to try look murderer? We go outside, we look."
She looks somewhat confused, but: "okay."
"Derek want see murderer and capture. No more killing."
He leads her outside.
She follows, looking around curiously at everything.
There is plenty to look at.
The parking lot, trees in the distance, the sun...
He seems to be walking her to his car.
Yeah, that's not as surprising as it could be.
When they get there, she pauses for a moment and then teleports into the backseat.
Sure. Derek drives them from his apartment throughout town, with the window open.
He stops occasionally when he smells something suspicious, getting out to examine the area.
Like outside the school.
She doesn't get out of the car; that wouldn't be useful anyway, she can use her mage-sense to check things out just fine from there - she's mostly checking for people with obvious weapons or minds similar to the killer's.
There is in fact someone who resembles the killer outside the school, barely ten feet away from them.
Derek steps outside, oblivious.
...well, fuck.
She sets up a teleport trap between them and her tribemate and scrambles into the front seat where there's better cover.
"Ms. Blake, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"
"Oh! Hi, I was just, I mean, how are you?"
She approaches.
Derek...glances at the car but doesn't do much else. He sniffs the air, and this doesn't make him look less confused.
"How was your night?"
She seems about to answer, but she triggers the trap instead.
She's moved back to her original position.
"Uh, Derek, what's going on? Is this like that time you got hurt, is everything okay?"
"I don't know. How have you been spending the nights that you don't spend with me?"
"Derek, this is ridiculous. Sokething weird is obviously going on, maybe I can help?"
"I'm not sure you can. Maybe you should stay exactly still. Not make any sudden movements."
"Maybe not. Who's in the car?"
"No one."
"I can sense their presence. You could just tell me."
She might not know all those words, but the kobold is following along well enough that she definitely doesn't like this. And if this person already knows about magic anyway - yeah, let's get another ten feet between them and Derek.
"Derek, please tell me what's going on."
"I'm not sure I will, Ms. Blake."
"Run."
She runs.
"Kobold okay?"
She nods, wide-eyed.
"Kobold understand memory? Memories is understand before. I have memory of kobold home, of teach kobold English, of kobold help me eat food. Kobold have memory of kobold home, of my home, of learn English, of help me eat food, of murderer and victim before."
She nods again.
"Kobold want see my memories?"
"Okay."
"I will need scratch you."
He demonstrates by scratching the air with his claws.
Which have suddenly appeared.
She offers him her arm.
He scratches her. The eyes might be somewhat disturbing. The smile might be moreso.
Nonetheless, she holds still.
She's bleeding, collapsing in a parking lot. She can't get up-
He can get up, but he won't be able to move far. He's dying and alone and what else was he expecting, really.
This is as good a place to bleed out as any.
She whimpers, just quietly.
There's a figure walking toward their car- who would be at the school this late- he half-crawls, half-runs.
She's surprised, babbling incoherently about paranormal romance and spy thrillers and it's more charming than annoying, though that could be the blood loss talking-
She helps him into her car, and she takes him to his apartment. He gives her directions as best as he can. He is an alpha, he can power through this.
So he stays alive, she tends to his wounds, and the touch is...casually intimate, and she's self-conscious and awkward and he lets her touch him.
Even after the wounds close up he's still in pain, and they've barely met but...he decides they should see each other again.
And the kobold is back with Derek.
"Kobold understand more English now?"
She blinks, considers, nods.
"Kobold understand murderer now?"
"...maybe?"
The murderer is Jennifer Blake, beautiful and intelligent and she makes the kobold feel-
Makes him feel alive again.
"She is magic. Bad magic. She says wrong, she lies."
"Mm." The kobold hugs her arm to her chest, running her thumb gently over the scratch, and looks distressed and distant for a moment. Then she looks to where the woman disappeared from sight, and sighs. "Let's go home."
"Let's go home."
To the car once more.
It's an uneventful drive.
And when they get back, the kobold goes in and wraps herself up in her blanket again, still holding her scratched arm protectively.
"What now?"
"Kobold want me to heal scratch?"
Her ears flick back nervously. "I'm okay?"
"Are you sure?"
His hands twitch, but he doesn't approach.
"Pain is okay. I not understand magic."
"Kobod see, hear, understand my memory. My memory was my understand, what I saw and what I heard. Kobold is confused?"
She shakes her head. "I understand word, 'memory'. I understand magic do memory. I not understand... why, how, if stop."
"Answer why is because I want you understand murderer lies. Answer how is...magic. My magic, not your magic. Alpha magic, not werewolf or kobold magic. Alpha is werewolf, is big magic werewolf. Answer if stop is yes, no more memory. Before memory will stay, no more later memory."
She looks skeptical and doesn't offer her arm, but does relax a little. "Okay."
"Kobold want me do anything?"
Headshake. "What we do next?"
"Now we choose what to do with murderer."
He sits on the couch, scratching the armrest methodically. No claws, though. It seems to relax him.
She observes this and nods, solemnly.
"Murderer is dangerous, is scary. What kobold say we do?"
"...what you do before me?"
"I kill her."
"Okay."
Sigh. "Magic can kill. I want more know person is murderer."
"What kobold need know to be sure she is murderer?"
"She smell murderer? She not look murderer, she maybe magic-sense murderer."
"No smell murderer," he says, his voice taking on a growling undertone. It's somewhat disconcerting.
"Murderer use magic, she smell magic. No understand before, here is much magic. If she magic and no say, but she understand I werewolf, then she lies about magic. She hides magic. Murderer hides magic. Why hide?"
While he's talking, she goes to sit with him, settling next to him and leaning comfortingly onto him. "Scott say I hide, I not know why. Maybe scared? Maybe new magic? Maybe murderer, I not know, I not want kill if not murderer."
"We can learn more if murderer. Is here magic for learn and see before.
"Good. Do."
"I no use magic. We go speak to magic person?"
"Okay."
To the car they go.
And here's the expert.
He opens the door slightly.
"Derek, this is a bit of surprise. Hello kobold."
"Can we come in?"
"Of course, come in."
He steps aside.
"Hello." In she goes.
"So have you been?"
"We're not here for small talk. We need a way to be sure who the murderer is."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Something to let us see the past."
"Divination and clairvoyance are not usually things magic can do, and there aren't many safe or sane ways to do it."
"What makes you think I care about safe or sane? I need to know for sure."
He looks to the kobold.
"Do you understand? What do you think? What say you?"
"Understand some. Not want murderer do murder, not want kill person not murderer. Want safe. Say more, magic not safe?"
"Magic to learn is not safe. Need give energy-eating food and sleeping give you energy, magic to learn takes energy, takes life, takes future."
"Future is later, past is before."
"Okay. If murderer and not kobold, you do what?"
"Capture murderer, talk to murderer, learn what murderer wants."
She leans gently on Derek and looks up at him. "If we do that, you okay?"
"If she no say lies, then is good."
"The easiest kind of trap will be one that could capture anyone, regardless of who or what they are. I can set one up by tonight. I just don't have a way to get her to walk straight into it."
"Kobold see how to make murderer come?"
Headshake. "If Derek know where person, I can move person? Need go there."
"I think it's unlikely we can find the murderer with our magic. We'll need bait."
"I have something that could work. Where do you need him?"
"Derek..."
"I can set the trap based on where the bait is. Should simplify matters. Is there anything else?"
He shakes his head.
"Alright."
He glances at the kobold.
"If you're sure. It was nice seeing you again."
She nods. "Thanks."
Derek heads to his car.
He rests his head on the door, closing his eyes. He's mumbling under his breath. Some kind of calming mantra.
She looks around - it's not too crowded - and teleports up to the roof of the car, where she sits and starts petting his hair.
Derek remains a bit too bristly to be very pettable.
He seems to appreciate it, though.
"Thanks, kobold. We go home."
He gets in the car.
And home they go. It's pretty late, by now.
After a fairly short phone call to arrange their bait, it's time for bed.
Yup.
It's been kind of a rough day for Derek. She follows him up to his bedroom: "you want I stay?"
"Kobold no need to stay. I will be fine."
Nod, "okay."
She heads back to the living room and takes a nap and then teleports up to the roof, to listen.
It's fairly quiet. Just a howl or two.
Nothing very unusual, for a place with wolves.
Nope, not unusual at all.
She heads back to her cave when the sun shows signs of rising, and returns a while later with breakfast.
By this time, Derek is awake and appreciative.
"Thank you, kobold. Good sleep?"
Nod. "Sleep more later."
Nod.
"Someone come here now. For the trap, to capture the murderer."
"Okay."
And after some more quiet breakfast in, they have a guest.
Derek impatiently lets him inside.
"You understand the plan?"
"I look as fun to kill as possible, got it. Is that the whole thing, or is it as terrible as anything you've ever come up with."
"The druid I know is designing a trap. The kobold might help with that."
The kobold, who has only sort of been following the discussion since last night, ponders this.
"Bait?" she asks, indicating Vernon.
"Bait," he confirms.
"Murderer has a pattern. Murderer wants kill this person, not that person. He is the person murderer wants to kill."
She nods. "I can do safe trap, you safe."
"Thank you. How do trap safe?"
She retrieves a piece of paper and a pencil, and draws a series of concentric circles. "You here," she points to the innermost section. "You go here," she indicated the innermost ring, "magic take you here," outside the whole setup. "Murderer go here or here," the outermost ring and the ring next to the one that'll take him out of the trap, "magic take murderer here," the ring between the two of them. "Safe?"
"Safe. Doctor make trap, you make trap safe?"
"Maybe, need to ask."
"What happens after trap?"
"We talk, if no good, then we kill."
Nod.
There's not much to do if they're waiting to talk to Deaton.
Boyd tries to teach the kobold more words.
Scared, sad, happy, confused, angry?
Hot, cold, bright, dark, light, heavy?
She is an apt student, though she still hasn't adjusted to local time. She calls for an early lunch break and takes a long nap afterward.
After she wakes up, does she want to keep going?
"Kobold want learn?"
He suspects she understands the gist, anyway.
Actually what she wants to do is open a portal to one of the more crowded places they drove through yesterday and listen to the people there talk. She does that, and occasionally asks questions about grammar or word meanings.
Boyd is very helpful with that.
Derek isn't, really, but he'll pass the time watching the kobold learn.
And eventually she asks, "people say sometimes 'he', sometimes 'she', means same thing or almost same, what's different?"
"Are pronouns. 'I' is pronoun, 'you' is pronoun. Use pronoun to say who. 'I eat food', 'you eat food', 'he eat food'. 'He' and 'she' pronouns say person who not me, not you, person has gender. Gender is confusing. 'He' is for boys, men, males. 'She' is for girls, women, females. I no understand how to say...no want to say...kobold can see my memory explain gender, if want."
She looks at Vernon. Does he want to take a shot at explaining?
Not really?
"Some humans are young, some are old. Some are tall, some are short. Some are men, some are women. Humans can see gender, if is man, is woman."
Derek doesn't contribute.
"...okay. Is important for me to know?"
"No. Humans say it's important, but it's not very important."
"Okay." And back to people-watching.
People continue to be people.
After a while, Boyd decides he and Derek should eat.
"Kobold want stay or come?"
Ooh. "I'll come."
So they head to Derek's couch.
Boyd grabs the bag he brought.
"Soup sound okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
Boyd starts cooking.
"How's Isaac?"
"He's doing okay. You know you can talk to him, right?"
"Easier this way. Cora?"
"She's handling being kicked out pretty well. Not sure what else she'd want me to tell you."