Chapter 4
Bartholomew H. Allen observational notes:
My familiar has been walking in and out of "my" room since we got to Joe's while the door has been closed. The door to my room at home was always open so I never noticed it before. But they can sit on my bed or the chair in my room just fine.
They say it's a matter of perspective. Vertical things can be assumed to be doors, even if they aren't, like walls and the foot board of my bed, and horizontal things can be assumed to be sitting things, even if they aren't, like my desk or the science teachers work surface at school.
I set up two chairs in the dining room with Joe's help and put a big board between them. My familiar walked right through it while it was standing up. Then Joe helped me lay it on top of the two chairs and they were able to jump up and sit on it. It was pretty cool.
Joe was looking at me like I'd been telling the story of the man in the lightning again. You'd think he'd never tried to test this out with his own familiar. I wonder if other kids don't when they're my age?
---
Three more months had passed, and in that time Nor had wandered all over S.T.A.R. Labs and then left and wandered around Central and a part of Keystone.
One can only sit around for so long when they know their charge is going to be okafter all.
In a small section of Keystone Nor found several very high end shops that had items of all kinds geared to familiars, many of which he personally thought were a crime against the familiars. Who wanted to walk around in a bright pink argyle cardigan or a midnight blue parka. For that matter, what kind of familiar would need a parka anyway? Not that anyone but the human or familiar would see it once it was put on, and didn't that just rankle the designers, but the laws of Nature said no one got to see someone's familiar unless they were your soulmate. So yes, Nor thought the clothing stores for them were a bit on the worthless side, though Barry had argued that they weren't worthless to the pairs that liked them. Gods did Nor miss his human...
The next shop over though, that's the one he kept going back to. It had toys in it and claimed that the familiar could play with them when their human was too busy to play with them. There was a particular red and blue ball in a locked case in the back of the shop that Nor had his eye on and would need to show Barry...if his pup ever decided to come back to him. The brat was just being stubborn now.
Nor spent his time casing the shop, learning that even though it had some very high price tags it had some pretty gods awful security. Barry would be able to get in no problem to 'borrow' the ball for him.
Two months after Nor had started coming to the shop he noticed a car sitting at the corner of the street with two men inside, but it was the cheetah that he could see outside the driver's side door, perched on it and leaning in, that had him stopping dead in his tracks.
Soulmate.
The cheetah's head suddenly snapped up and over to where he was and in a shock of pale gold lightning the cat was in front of Nor, a soft exclamation from one of the men in the car following it and then Leonard Snart was was following quickly after with the other man right behind him.
Nor swallowed thickly, this wasn't how first meetings were supposed to work at all! Never mind that Leonard had already found Barry and just didn't know it.
"What's your name?" Leonard asked, looking right at him.
Nor swiveled his ears, pretending to listen for something that wasn't there, buying time before he answered, "Nor."
"Who you talking to, buddy?" The other man said.
"There's a familiar right here that Chain and I can see, it has to belong to our soulmate," Leonard said, turning to look at the man, his expression an odd mix of excitement and wanting to remain neutral.
"Ignore Len's partner, he's been jumpy about Len finding our soulmate since I went into the coma eight months ago, but I woke up two months ago and we've been trying to find out what we can about him since. Slow going all around though, but we only had one potential and he vanished just about the time I woke up apparently, so we don't know if he's still in a coma or not," the cheetah, Chain, rattled off at Nor. Definitely part of Barry's soul.
"Partner?" Nor asked and looked at the other man, his ears going flat back. It wasn't uncommon for humans who didn't find their soulmates to find others in the same boat to bond with, especially when they started to get older. Joe had done it young though because he and his wife had made a connection, and Iris was a wonderful result from that, but Joe's wife died and now Joe was alone again.
Nor bared all his teeth at this partner and that got Leonard's attention again from whatever he'd been saying to the man.
"Hey now, what's wrong?" Leonard asked, holding out a hand to try to calm Nor down.
"You have a partner! My human has been waiting for you and you have someone else?" Nor snarled. "I won't let you near my pack, ever, now."
Leonard narrowed his eyes and Chain let out a pained noise. Leonard moved to the big cat and placed a hand on the back of the cats head in a calming gesture. Nor recognized it as something Barry did to him and his chest ached for a moment, missing how often Barry used to touch him.
"You mean he isn't here right now?" Leonard said and glanced around. "How is that even possible? The farthest Chain's ever been from me has only been the length of a building."
Nor snorted, "wouldn't you like to know."
"You can't keep me from finding him," Leonard said, anger threading through his steady tone. "He's my soulmate, you are a part of me! I will have what is mine!"
"The pack protects their own," Nor said to Leonard. "And until you find him, we are not yours. Your /partner/ is behind you!" Nor snapped his fangs for emphasis.
Leonard turned to look over his shoulder at the other man, an incredulous look on his face, "Mick is my partner in /crime/, you mongrel."
Man and wolf bared teeth and fangs at each other and the longer it went on the more each of their hackles went up the more Nor conceded that he was part of this man's soul. Which just meant he could never back down. Barry was going to either hate this game that Nor had just decided on or love it, because if his partner was just a fellow criminal, then this was a game now. If Nor ever found out anything different...well, he was going to be pissed.
"Hope you like to run, Leonard Snart, because you're going to be doing that a lot soon," Nor said, a wolffish smirk spreading over his face. "Come on, come on, catch us now. You can't catch us any how," Nor taunted with a truly ridiculous lyric from Barry's grade school days before turning and bolting through the wall of the familiar toy store. He made a sharp turn to hide behind a wall just in time to watch the cheetah bolt past.
Nor blinked at the lightning trail and wondered that if the cheetah could do that after six months, what was Barry going to be able to do when he woke up?
----------
Len went back to the car, Mick hot on his heels, and Chain not that far behind because, in the end, he couldn't be that far away from Len, and they both wondered just how far Nor could be from their soulmate or if he'd been bluffing.
He slammed the door, started the car and drove in silence back to the safe house. Casing the shops in the little familiar area of Keystone be damned tonight.
When they got back to the safe house, Len stormed inside, picked up the first thing that was within reach, and lobbed it across the room. The gentle thump of the pillow was not the noise Len had wanted to hear, but that's what he got for not looking at what he was grabbing.
"Buddy, what did the other familiar say that has you loosing your cool like this? You never get this worked up unless Lisa's involved," Mick said, still hanging back by the door, shocked.
"That mongrel said he was going to keep my soulmate from me because Chain called you my 'partner' and he picked the wrong meaning," Len all but snarled and then took a deep breath and held it. Mick was right, loosing his cool would get him nowhere.
Chain, the traitor, was lounging on the sofa, easy as you please. Belly exposed and waiting for Len to come over to him like he'd done something good.
"And why do you look so pleased with yourself," Len asked as me moved over to the low table in front of the sofa and sat on it. Mick snorted and sat on one of the nearby armchairs, now used to the ebb and flow of Len's conversations with Chain. Len had never really spoken to his familiar all those times they had ended up in jail together. It just wasn't the thing to do to show a potential weakness like that.
"Because, Len, Nor is you!" The cheetah chirped. "All over protective of his family and willing to do anything to keep others away from them. Look what you've done for Lisa! She's so good she's not even in the system! And now Nor is protecting my other half because he doesn't know the full story on you."
Chain flipped over so that he was sitting up right and bridged the gap between them, bracing on the table, his cleat like claws digging in for stability, and he head butted Len.
"I'm sorry that I upset him. I didn't know what else to call you and Mick. You've just always been partners to me, and in my head I know Mick loves fire more than anything else so that our soulmate has nothing to worry about..."
Len huffed and brought a hand up to cuff Chain on the head lightly, "probably could have called Mick my brother and the beast would have believed you."
"Don't flatter yourself, Snart. You don't look this good," Mick said as he started to pat his pockets down and dig in the inside pockets.
"If you're going to play with fire, Mick, do it in the kitchen or out back with the bucket of water near you. I don't want to loose this safe house to the CCFD," Len said with a put-upon air.
Mick flipped him off and got up, heading to the back of the house.
"Now what?" Chain asked.
"Maybe we should look into Allen again...," Len said thoughtfully.
"But there's nothing to really suggest that he has anything to do with us still. Sure he was in a coma for six months and then vanished. For all we know he could be dead and they just moved him quietly because he was a badge," Chain said softly.
Len looked at his familiar, the wide eyes, the ears that shifted so that one was angled towards where Mick had gone and one was solidly on Len and the long thick ended tail that hadn't stopped moving since he woke up.
"Our soulmate's alive, Nor proved that tonight. If it turns out that Allen isn't our soulmate and he's really gone...well, I'd need to see the body because I don't think that kid'd give up without one hell of a fight."
Chain head butted him again, "you are so strange. Why was I born with such a strange and possessive human?"
Len smirked back at him and shrugged, he opened his mouth to reply but snapped it shut when he realized he was about to say 'a pack protects their own.' He groaned and buried his face in Chain's ruff, startling the big cat.
"We're going to find that wolf again and then the game is on," he said into Chain's back.
Chain chittered out a laugh and wrapped a paw around Len, wobbling a bit from still being stretched out from the sofa to the table.
----------
Nor was laying on Barry's bed, nestled between his body and his arm, head resting on his chest, right under his chin and half dozing. The woman, Caitlyn (Dr. Snow around anyone that didn't work for S.T.A.R. Labs) had somehow managed to talk Cisco (Cisco Ramon, dude, and don't worry, we'll take good care of your boy!) into playing something other than Lady Gaga for 15 minutes (but only 15 minutes Cait! His Facebook profile says he listens to her!)
Nor didn't care one way or the other, but the song on now was very familiar and he couldn't place it. He's sure though that if Barry were awake he'd know it in a heart beat.
The wolf sighed and blew out against Barry's neck, stupid human taking his stupid time waking up, making Nor's life boring as hell. There were only so many times Nor could wander around Central and Keystone, and he's stopped going to the familiar toy store after the run in with Snart and Chain, just in case.
The music built a bit, getting ready to crescendo and Nor felt something on his side. He opened his eyes but stayed still otherwise. He felt Barry's hand dig itself into his fur again and he felt himself sink onto he bed.
"What is that!" He heard Cisco exclaim from the central hub and then heard the sound of Caitlyn's high heels.
Barry chose that moment to groans and sit up, his hand shifting along Nor has he did so, not that the wolf was complaining, he was just as touch starved for Barry.
"Why is 'Hedwig's Theme' playing?" Barry asked as a flurry of motion started from the pair for scientists trying to move around him.
Cisco talking to him and Caitlyn checking things and then holding up a sample cup saying, "I need you to pee in this."
Barry was off the bed and backing away from her as Cisco was saying, through gritted teeth, "not right now!"
"Look," Barry started, "thanks for what you did and all, but I'm fine now and I should go and..."
"You were struck by lightning and doused in your labs chemicals 9 months ago," Nor said following Barry into the main room just as Barry stopped in front of an oddly placed mirror.
"Lightning gave me abs?" He asked bewilderedly.
"How did you know that it was lightning?" Caitlyn asked, Cisco right next to her looking like he couldn't wait to hear this.
"My familiar told me. Is it true that I've been out of it for /nine/ months?!" Barry gestured back to the bed he'd gotten off of and then looked back at them.
"Your familiar is correct Mr. Allen, you have only been with us for three of those months though," a new voice said.
They all turned and saw a man in a wheelchair drive into he room and settle, watching them, an amused smile on his face.
"Dr Wells?!" Barry said in disbelief and then turned to look properly at the room around him.
"Yes, this is S.T.A.R. Labs, pup, now close your mouth and remember to breath properly before you embarrass yourself in front of him," Nor said as he came over and nudged his human.
Barry shimmied a bit to keep his balance, the others looked at him strangely, but that didn't stop him from leaning down and pushing Nor in turn. It felt so nice to touch his wolf after such a long time, even though he hadn't know how long it was while he had been in the coma.
"Are you playing with your familiar?" Caitlyn asked, leaning forward a bit.
"Yes, he and I have always been like this. I don't really give a damn who sees me interact with him, they can't see him and don't know what he is. We were born together so we should be together, why should we let the outside world dictate how we have to act towards each other, you know?" Barry said, cocking his head to the side.
"Finally," Cisco said, "I told you I wasn't the only one that acted and reacted to my familiar in social settings!"
Barry and Nor blinked and looked at each other, S.T.A.R. Labs was a strange place.
Before anything else could be said on the matter though, Dr. Wells stepped in, so to speak, "perhaps we could find Mr. Allen some clothes to wear before this conversation continues?" He arched an eyebrow and gestured a hand in Barry's direction.
Barry looked down and realized he was, in fact, still only in his underwear, Cisco snorted out a laugh and quickly left the room and Caitlyn turned an impressive shade of red and quickly went the other direction that Cisco had gone.
Nor moved in front of Barry and boosted himself up, placing his fore paws on Barry's shoulders and rested his head next to Barry's on one side. Barry reached out with both hands to keep him steady.
"Thanks," he said softly, knowing that Dr. Wells would actually still be able to see him clearly, but to Barry himself he would look covered when he looked down. The only reply he got from Nor was a rumble that he felt in his own rib cage.
Barry looked back over at Dr. Wells and saw the older man observing him and out of nervousness he opened his mouth, a long ramble of anything all set to spill out, but he wasn't given the chance.
"Is your familiar standing in front of you, Mr. Allen?"
"Yes..."
"Why is it doing that?"
"Preserving my modesty from my point of view."
Dr. Wells cocked an eyebrow at that and leaned back in his chair, Barry hadn't realized he'd leaned forward or when.
"Do you have any questions while we wait for Mr. Ramon to come back with those clothes?"
Actually, Barry did have some questions...
He found out that he was moved to S.T.A.R. Labs from CCGH because every time he went into 'cardiac arrest' the hospital experienced power outages that they couldn't explain. Dr. Wells told him that he'd gone to Joe and Iris when he'd heard about the, frankly, bizarre timing between the power outages and Barry's cardiac arrests and offered to have Barry brought to the Labs to be looked after. Joe had refused, saying that Wells was the reason that Barry was in the hospital in the first place.
It had taken Wells months and in the end he had had Caitlyn and Cisco go to the hospital too to see if they could talk Joe into it. Eventually the three of them had gotten through to Iris, who then got through to Joe and by then six months had passed of Barry being in a normal hospital.
Barry was kind of floored that the remaining members of S.T.A.R. Labs had fought so hard to try to help him, but at the mention of Iris all he could suddenly think about was leaving and going to find her to show that he was ok.
The trio had no chance of stopping him once he got that thought in his head and not long after he and Nor were back at his apartment, thankfully still his with all of his stuff still there, and he was getting changed into his own cloths and heading back out the door and on his way to Jitters, Nor by his side and his hand buried deep in Nor's ruff.
When they got to Jitters it didn't take long to spot Iris and also for Iris to spot Barry. They hugged and Barry told her he hadn't been awake for very long and that's why she and Joe hadn't gotten a call yet, so they shouldn't be too upset with S.T.A.R. Labs over that.
Iris laughed at him and was about to say something else when the waitress behind her dropped her tray. Barry watched as everything around him shifted into literal slow motion, the sounds of the cafe were even distorted, but in the next moment everything was back to normal and Iris jumped and twisted around, asking if her co-worker was alright.
Barry blinked and looked down at Nor, but his familiar didn't seem to have experienced the same thing he did, which freaked him out more.
Iris turned back around and saw him looked at the fallen tray and asked if he was ok.
"Of corse, Iris, probably just not used to loud noises after being out of it for so long," he said, smiling brightly at her. She smiled back, pushing on his shoulder and told him he should go see Joe.
After they were back outside Barry took a less crowded path to the station so that he could talk to Nor.
"Just as I realized she was dropping the tray it seemed like, I don't know, time dilated or something, and everything slowed down around me, even the sounds Nor! I watched everything happen in slow motion until the last thing hit the floor and then everything sped back up. When I looked down at you you didn't seem to have seen it the way I had though," Barry said softly, in case anyone else was close enough to overhear him.
"You're right, I didn't see it that way, I saw it at...normal speed...," and Nor hesitated and glanced up at Barry, but the human had already been looking down at him so he'd been caught.
"What is it?" Barry asked, "have you seen something like this before?"
"Yes."
Barry stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and nearly had someone walk into him before Nor grabbed his cuff and pulled him off to the side and out of pedestrian traffic. They stood there for a moment, Barry looking down at his wolf and Nor uncharacteristically looking anywhere but Barry.
"Nor," Barry said softy, "please, tell me what happened while I was in the coma."
Nor's head dipped lower for just a moment and Barry knew he'd been right. Whatever happened, had happened while he'd been comatose.
Without looking up Nor said, "it started in your hospital room, not long after the accelerator accident happened. A man came in, snuck in really, and instead of staying out in the open I hid. He was your soulmate, pup, I know it as truly as I know you, and I didn't try to stop him from leaving."
Nor's head was hanging lower now and Barry knelt down and placed his hand on the top of Nor's head and softly massaged the space between the wolf's ears. Nor sighed into the touch and continued.
"It took months trying to find out who he was, because I figured there was only one type of person who would need to sneak into a hospital in the middle of the night. I was right. I saw his photo and name come up when one of the detectives were going mug shots for a case. He didn't have anything to do with that case, don't worry," Nor added quickly when he saw the look on Barry's face.
"He's almost as good at being a criminal as you are at being a forensic scientist, but I'm sure you're better at find the clues he'd leave behind."
Barry wanted to be upset at finding out that his soulmate was a criminal, and apparently a really good one at that, but the way Nor sounded worried him.
"Why did you sound so smug when you said that just now?"
"Because CCPD's files say that he leaves no evidence behind, so while he has a rap sheet it's all from his earlier crimes and not from anything in recent years. Even Interpol has files on him, not that I was able to look into them because no one in CCPD is curious at all," Nor huffed.
Barry sighed, great, not just a good criminal, an internationally good criminal.
"That doesn't explain why you've seen something similar to what I just saw in Jitters though," he said, quirking an eyebrow at the wolf.
"The second time I ran into him..."
"Second time!" Barry interrupted.
"It's nice to know that some things don't change," Nor said before he went on, "yes the second time. There is a shop over in Keystone that has toys for familiars..."
"Nor, no."
"Nor, yes. It's just borrowing with out the intent to return. You borrowed the last ball for me."
"And you lost the last ball in under a month. I had to listen to you whine and complain about it for nearly a year!"
"I still think Joe found it and took it away. But that is neither here or there right now, we're still going to that shop so I can show it to you. May I proceed with my story?"
Barry snorted at him and gestured for him to go on. The other people on the sidewalk had started to give Barry a wide berth to walk around him when it became clear to some that he was interacting with his familiar in public. Barry rolled his eyes at them.
"The second time I ran into him he had his familiar with him, Chain a cheetah...and his partner, supposedly in crime, but could be partners for other things. Both men are older and it isn't unheard of for people to find partners that haven't found their soulmates yet. He and I didn't see eye to eye on the whole 'partner' thing. I told him I'd never let him near you if that man was more than just his partner in crime and he said he'd find you no matter what. Game on I say. At any rate, Chain can run really fast, leaves a gold/white lightning trail behind him when he moves. He can't get too far from Leonard though, almost as if he's chained to him."
Barry was silent for a moment and then, "One, don't ever pun again, that hurt me physically. Two, 99% of familiars can't get out of their humans lined of sight, so the fact that we've been as far a part as Starling is the oddity not them. Three, did you really turn ME into a game of keep away from my soulmate? Four, are you telling me a piece of my soul has super speed?"
Nor was glad for the wide berth that the other humans were giving them at the moment, because surely everything Barry had just said sounded crazy to normal people.
"In order: no promises, we're not odd, it'll be fun, and yes. What you describe isn't normal, no one just changes perceptions like that. We should test it! See if you can run the way he can!"
"We might need some help with that," Barry said as he stood up and ruffled Nor's ears. "First we have to see Joe though. Iris has probably already called him to let him know I'm up and about and if I don't show up soon he might put out and APB on me."
Nor huffed as they started walking again, "he'd do it too. Silly, paranoid human."
"I was in a coma for nine months, could you blame him if he did?"
"Yes."
Barry laughed and buried his fingers in Nor's fur as they started back towards the station. The walk didn't take much longer and Joe was happy to see him when Barry walked into the bullpen, everyone was actually.
Barry's pit stop had lasted long enough that Iris showed up not long after he and Nor did and in the flurry of Iris showing up a man was also brought in by an officer. Barry watched as time slowed again and he saw the man go for the officer's gun. In a rush he dashed over, got the gun from his partial grip and cuffed him to the chair the officer had been trying to get him to sit down on and made it back to where he'd been standing, all with no one apparently having noticed that he'd moved at all.
Nor, however was not no one and he had noticed the quick motion and papers rustling. Felt the up-tick in his heart rate that he knew was somehow Barry moving and just looked up at his human when Barry looked down at him.
"You alright, Bar?" Iris asked after the commotion with the suspect calmed down some. "You seem out of it still. Maybe you better go home and rest or go back to S.T.A.R. Labs and have them check you out again?" She was giving Barry her worried face and he knew he didn't stand a chance against it.
"Don't worry Iris, I'll take care of myself, and," and he paused to place his hand on Nor, "he'll make sure I do the right thing too." Barry smiled at her and Iris smiled back and nodded. Barry made a hasty retreat from the station after that and down into the back alley where some of the squad cars were parked. After dashing here, there, and into the linens van, breaking several windows in the process, he decided it was best to go back to S.T.A.R. Labs after all.
"This is SO cool!"
"Cisco...," Dr. Wells said in a long suffering manner.
"Sorry Dr. Wells, but it's not every day you find out that someone can run this fast! I mean, how are we going to test it!"
"I have some theories," Dr. Wells said, "but I'll need everyone's help to make them realities."
Barry, Cisco and Dr. Snow (please don't call me Caitlyn) all nodded. Each excited in their own way to see what, exactly, Barry could do.
Turns out that what Barry could do was break his wrist at super speed, but have it heal in a fraction of the time it should. While Nor was not amused by his foolish human breaking his wrist in the first place, at least the recovery times would be quicker now.
Dr. Wells and Dr. Snow seemed to think this was some great leap for medical science, Barry breaking his wrist and it healing so quickly. Nor thought it sounded like they were looking at his human like a science experiment and his hackles were going up.
Cisco was the one to interrupt the conversation, "dude, what's that bad vibe you're throwing off?" He was looking at Barry when he asked it.
Barry tipped his head to the side and cocked an eyebrow in confusion for a moment before mouthing 'oh' and looking down. "What's wrong?"
"Wait wait, you mean all that negative energy rolling off you is actually from you familiar!" Cisco said. He looked dubious though, like he didn't want to believe it.
"Yea, my familiar has done this before, but normally not when I'm this close to him," Barry said and then looked back down to Nor. "What's wrong? Why are you pushing out like this?"
"They're looking at you like a lab rat and not like a human with rights, like your wrist breaking and healing because of the accident they caused is now their property," Nor snarled.
Barry's eyes went wide and looked up in enough time to see that Cisco had stepped back, mostly likely because his own familiar was being effected by Nor the most and was having him move away while Dr. Wells and Dr. Snow hadn't moved at all, blank expressions still on their faces. Which was a little strange to Barry because he hadn't met anyone yet who didn't react to Nor at least a little bit. It was off-putting to say the least.
He was about to say something when Dr. Snow bent down and picked something up and moved to stand closer to Cisco, murmuring quietly to what was in her arms. So her familiar was just as upset as Cisco's, but she had tried to remain stoic. Barry could appreciate that.
Dr. Wells beat Barry to saying something first though, "Mr. Allen, could you please ask your familiar to calm down, they are upsetting my employees. The only ones to have stayed with me after the accident, thus their comfort is actually of great importance to me."
Barry waited for him to make any motion to interact with his own familiar, but when it became clear that he wasn't going to he turned back to Nor and knelt down in front of him, bringing a hand up to try to smooth him.
"It won't be like that," he tried to be vague so that the scientists around him might not catch on. "You have to calm down, you don't loose your cool like this if I'm near you."
Nor pulled his eyes off of Wells and looked at Barry and stared at him for a long moment before shaking himself and taking a deep breath. The tension in the room dropping in the same instant.
"I will protect you now the way I couldn't when we were younger. I'll figure out how, even if I have to end my self imposed game to do it."
"Atta'boy," Barry smiled and wrapped both arms around the wolf, hugging him tight. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," he whispered softly before he pulled away.
When Barry stood back up he saw everyone was staring at him. "What?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You and your familiar have a very strong connection, and when it was upset it was able to effect our familiars, who in turn, were able to effect us. It's fascinating to see such a strong bond, to cause the fight or flight reflex to kick in in others with no clear threat visible," Dr. Wells said and then looked over to his employees who didn't look nearly as thrilled.
"Well, maybe not fight or flight, maybe more unease," he amended with a chuckle. "I wonder, though, if it could become fight or flight?"
The discussion devolved from there over familiar dynamics and what they could and couldn't do. After an hour of that Barry took his leave, promising he'd be back the following day after work and so he headed home. Carrying Nor and running short distances so that his clothing wouldn't catch on fire.
Barry fixed himself dinner and landed on the sofa next to Nor while he ate, the wolf ending up sprawled in his lap before he was done. After that they sat in silence, Barry running his hands through Nor's fur, glad to be together again, just the two of them.
It was nearly midnight when Barry hauled himself up to go to bed and Nor followed behind with a devilish look on his face.
"So, let me tell you about that toy store in Keystone..."
Barry groaned and landed face first on his bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment