The Maiden's Dragon

Love Languages

Red griped and grumbled for the day and a half it took for Anson's fever to break.  And then he growled and snarled for the week leading up to the full moon, insisting Anson could have given himself more time to recuperate before going through his first shift.  Anson attempted to remind Red it wasn't his first shift, and was met with a swift rebuttal that it was his first shift in this body.  That this body could take to the shift as badly as it had taken to the change.

The sniping and snarling between the two worried Vivienne, to the point she wasn't quite sure what she would be walking into when she got off work the night of the full moon.  She stepped gingerly into the house, wary but curious.

"Good evening my little one.  How was work?"  Red's cheerful call from the kitchen was just as much of a relief as the appearance of the huge black wolf thundering down the stairs to bound up to her.  Tommy came clattering down right behind with an energetic greeting.  Anson prowled around her, tongue lolling and dancing on his paws in obvious excitement as Tommy wrapped his arms around her waist in a hug.

Giggling, Vivienne hugged Tommy back.

"Anson turned into a wolf!"

"I see kiddo.  He's quite a big wolf, isn't he?"  She scrubbed her fingers through Anson's ruff and scratched between his shoulders.  He shivered happily and shook out his fur, trotting after Vivienne as she went to find Red.  "Work was fine.  I take it you two have resolved your differences."

Red grinned at Vivienne as she slid up behind him, pressing into his back.  "Well, the shift went easier than we expected so..."  He shrugged and patted her hands overlapping on his stomach.

"Smells good."  She watched Red cook for a moment, contemplating.  "Um, in an effort to not be dehumanizing or condescending, how do we intend to feed Anson dinner?"

Red chuckled.  "We fed Anson up at lunch.  He won't be hungry again until breakfast.  Though he probably wouldn't turn down snacking on whatever you decided to hand feed him."

Vivienne rolled her head against Red's back, smiling when she found Anson sitting patiently, watching them.  "He understands everything in this form?"

"Might not remember some of it, but yes."

"Hm."

"Hey, I was thinking, we should take a vacation."

Grinning, Vivienne loosened her arms from around Red's waist to hover at his elbow where she could see his face.  "Yeah?"

He nodded.  "There is entirely too much excitement going on here so maybe if we disappear for a bit it'll all forget about us and go away."  He smiled when Vivienne chuckled.  "So?  Think about where you'd like to go.  Snow, beaches, city, country, the Amazonian jungle for all I care.  Or even if you just want to go see your parents for the holidays.  Anywhere that isn't here."

"I will most certainly give it some consideration."  She turned to go sit down on the couch for a few minutes until dinner was done and let out a long exhale.  Anson came hopping up onto the couch a minute later to drop his head in her lap, and Tommy followed to settle on her other side, asking for help with his homework.  Vivienne absently stroked her fingers through Anson's fur as she tutored until Red set food out at the table.

Anson lounged beneath the table during dinner, and Red gave Vivienne a knowing smile when they caught Tommy slipping tidbits to him.  Tommy had some interesting suggestions for vacation destinations.  Red laughed and told him they would find a place that interested all of them.  After dinner was eaten and dishes cleaned up, they settled in the living room, playing a game with dominos.