Waking Up

When I woke up we were both lying in my bed. The little girl was clinging to my arm. It was something I was used to at that point, only… She wasn't asleep. Her eyes were wide open, staring at me. When I turned to look back she opened her mouth but didn't let out so much as a squeak before closing it again and hiding her face behind my shoulder, gripping onto me even tighter. 'She warmed up to me pretty fast I guess. Judging from her grip I'd say she's at least feeling some better… My head feels like it's splitting in two though…'

"Mo…" I groaned, trying to sit up, but being weighed down as Rune held onto me, wrapping her legs around my wrist and making me realize just how small she really was. My body was too exhausted to try and pick her up so I just rolled to my side. Wrapping around her to look across the room, I made her let out her signature squeak, shuddering before relaxing again. 'Les like a puppy and more like a mouse… Well, Mo's gone, and the room is pretty well-lit, so I'd guess it's around midday. Definitely midday, Isy's gone too. So it's just me and Rune?' "Are you feeling better?" I asked, resting a hand on her head as she continued to hide her face.

She still didn't say a word, just let out a small groan.

'Should I not have touched her? Her hair feels just like an animal's fur.' I rolled onto my back, relaxing again and lifting my free hand over my forehead. 'I'm starting to feel better already… So that's a good sign. My whole body feels stiff.'

"Don't get up yet…" She mumbled.

I nearly gasped, covering my mouth. 'Her voice is so cute!' "Uh… Yeah, sure…" 'Not that this is the worst thing… But she warmed up to me a little too fast didn't she? Now that her gate is closed her manna is warm and soothing, just being near her like this… No wonder I slept so long.'

After a while more I started to feel her tail swaying back and forth under the blanket, hitting my leg. 'Does this mean she's starting to relax?' She finally let go of my arm only to jump onto my chest and stare deep into my eyes.

'What's this about? She's suddenly not shy anymore?' I stared back, almost mesmerized analyzing her without even realising it. Getting a better look at her unusuall apearance, she seemed just as weird as me, though certainly not in a bad way. Despite her curly light blond fur that was thicker and softer than a blanket, her skin was perfectly smooth, and more like the complexion of someone from the middle east, as if she came from somewhere more like Egypt, and certainly not the more european area that allowed for someone as pale white as me to be born. 

Her skin was pale too, from never going outside, but still naturally much more tann than mine. She had the small ears, nose, and mouth of more east asian ethnicities, but with the full lips and soft round jaw of a native american. It almost confused my brain seeing such a combination of features that felt like they didn't naturally go together… Although, that certainly isn't to say she wasn't the most adorable child I had ever seen.

Her Peircing eyes were inhuman, shining like those of a wolf instead. Her entire eyeball was a bright blue instead of white, with large black dots for pupils that seemed to almost invite me to stare into her soul, which was now somehow a peaceful and sunny place.

As we continued to stare at each other she suddenly turned bright red and hid her face again, diving under the covers next to me.

'She's not clinging to me anymore… So…' "Is it ok if I get up now?"

"Yes…" She whined.

I slowly slid out from under the blankets to leave them wrapped around her and then carefully jumped over her, making sure to not hit my head on Isy's bunk above me. 'Has she been in bed this whole time?' "Uh, hey Rune. Do you need to use the bathroom or anything?" 'I guess she's moving pretty well though, so she can probably walk on her own now right?'

She peered her head out from under the blanket and looked up at me. "No… I'm alright. I went last night."

'So like… 16 hours ago…' "That was a long time ago though."

Her ears fell flat on her head. "Uh… Yeah… I usually–" She suddenly coughed, her eyes starting to water as her voice broke apart.

Grabbing a glass, I quickly filled it with water and handed it to her. "Sorry… You don't have to talk if it hurts."

"N-no…" She muttered, her eyes falling to the floor. "I'm fine… I just haven't talked for a long time…"

"In that case don't worry about it… Talking is… Kinda hard sometimes you know…" I chuckled, a little embarrassed myself, thinking about how my awkward mouth got me into situations I hated all the time.

Her ears perked up again, although she continued looking down. "What I was trying to say was that normally I only have the strength to get up and walk once a day… And I really didn't want Him to have to help me… So… I trained myself to only go once a day!"

'She must mean Bear… I wasn't aware that was something you could train… But I'm pretty sure that's like bad for you, right? Although…' "Yeah… That makes sense… I would have probably done the same thing honestly." Of course that wasn't the case for me so I left it at that and used the bathroom, washing my hands and coming back out, giving my mind a moment of peace to finally wake up applying cold water to my face and feeling a sense of ease as my head cleared.

"Wait, so what did you do for baths then? I mean, your skin is clean and your hair is super soft."

"He gets the bath ready for me, so I just get right in. Then when I'm done he washes my hair… It's too hard for me to do that by myself, but it's way too embarrassing to have him help me with anything else…"

"I guess that makes sense. You have energy now though, so you'll be moving around a lot more, which means you'll need to drink a lot more water, which means–"

"I'm better now, right? So… Does that mean… I'll be alone again?" She intensely locked eyes with me, her tail stopping still as she waited for an answer. Instead of begging, it almost looked more like she was ready to bite me… Not that it was anything but cute, instead of threatening.

'Looking at her face I almost want to adopt her…' I sighed. "Bear called you his sister, so I doubt he'll kick you out or anything, and even if he does you can just come stay here and become my little sister…" 'I'm already adopting Mo… Anyway…'

"Can I really stay here with you?" Her eyes suddenly sparkled as she slowly stepped forward, dragging the blanket behind her before jumping in the air and wrapping around my arm again.

"I'm not telling you to stop… But why do you like me so much? I mean, hasn't Bear taken care of you for the past several years? What about him?"

She groaned. "He's nice… I guess…"

'If he heard you say that I might actually see him cry…' "But?"

She rolled her eyes, her head following with them until it tilted to the side, her ears with it. "Well… Some days were worse than others… And it would be nice if he could forget that he had to help me change my clothes and use the bathroom…"

'Yeah… I mean… I get where she's coming from… But that's not going to happen, even if she stops living with him…' "You can do whatever you think is best and I'll help you. How does that sound…" 'Although… With how cute this kid is I have a feeling Bear's heart is about to break.'

"Then I want to stay here."

'But why…' "You never said why you like me so much?"

Her whole body straightened out and her eyes started to sparkle again as she nervously let go of my arm, placing her feet back on the ground and lightly holding onto my hand. "Oh, well that's…" She slowly slumped over, hiding her face again. "You made the rain stop…"

'Like… In her soul… Was it a bad idea to mess with her like that? I mean… She seems happy about it… So it's probably fine right?' "And that's why you're so clingy?" 'Did I force this girl to instinctively like me by messing with her soul… That has to be some kind of ethical violation right?'

She quickly took a step back, but her tail kept wagging until she grabbed it to make it stop. "S-sorry… I-I didn't mean to make you upset."

'Right… So the rain stopped… But that doesn't mean anything is actually fixed yet…' I sighed, stepping in closer and giving her a hug. "It's fine, I'm not mad at you. Whenever I'm around you can come give me a hug ok? And the other two girls that stay here, you can give them hugs too. I might not always be here, but you won't be alone. And none of us really get mad anyway… So I wouldn't worry about stuff like that."

I wouldn't have been surprised if she started to cry given the situation. But she just let out a satisfied hum, hugged me back, and closed her eyes. "That's good then. I don't like being alone…"