InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "gimme cheese... and ham..."

Rose Zeller (_rose_) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2015-02-01 15:32:00

Entry tags:

character: rolf scamander, character: rose zeller

Who: Rose and Rolf
What: There’s a box of wrigglies on Rolf’s doorstep
Where: Rolf’s flat
When: Sunday, February 1, 2005
Rating: SFW

Never in her wildest dreams had Rose ever thought that she would have fun at a cake party. A cake party! Seriously! Cake, tea, and champagne, which sure, had been good, but it had all just added up to being loads of fun, with the inevitable sugar buzz, the champagne and the more potent drinks afterwards. Of course, going home with Rolf afterwards was always fun, and it had been a blast to sleep in, and even after that just lounging in bed, because neither of them had anywhere to be or go today. That is, at some point they did, because Rolf had to go feed the animals in the shop and Rose did not trust the take out place to properly Charm the boxes of food to stay warm while being Owled over, so she opted to go pick it up herself.

Wrapped up in her winter coat and scarf, she stepped outside, but didn’t get further than that, when a box that she knew, without a doubt, hadn’t been on the step the night before, caught her eyes. There was no name on the outside, the top was slightly open, and when there was a barely-there shuffling sound, she slowly – carefully – opened up, her wand at the ready, and found herself looking down into a pile of short-haired fur.

Rose was about to close up the box again to bring it inside, when what most of all resembled a wrinkle in the fur appeared to be shivering, and a tiny whine had her reach down and pick it up. Looking at the tiny wriggly she frowned, though the next moment when it started shivering, she did the first thing that came to mind; opened her coat and let the little thing rest against her chest to keep it warm. Quickly she pointed her wand at the box and levitated it along with her as she went inside.

“Rolf!” she called out, once she was back inside. “Rolf! I need some help here!”

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outofthewild
2015-02-01 05:31 pm UTC (link)

Rolf had been thoroughly enjoying their weekend thus far. Any time he got to spend with Rose was precious to him, of course, but the party last night had been a lot more fun than he'd ever suspected something involving cake would be. Though cake was good, and Sweet Nothings' was very good. He probably wouldn't eat any sweets for the next week, but he regretted nothing.

The languid, slow paced morning suited him too, giving him plenty of time to give Rose uninterrupted attention, something he always thoroughly enjoyed. They were going to pretty much lay about later, too, he thought, but food and other things were needed.

He heard Rose call from the door, and he came back from the back where he'd been distributing food with the help of magic. There was a note to her voice that concerned him, and he came quickly to where she was. "What's wrong?" he asked. He saw the box and took it in his arms, guiding it to a table so he could open it. Inside were several very young puppies, practically newborns, inside, a couple suspiciously still. He glanced over at Rose, seeing the way she cradled something to her chest.

"You have one of them?" he asked, going into protective care mode. He tapped the box with his wand, a Heat Charm that started out low and gradually strengthened. You couldn't immediately warm someone or thing without shocking the system, especially something as small and tender as a very young puppy. "Help it warm up, it'll comfort it to feel your heartbeat like that," he told him, sparing her a gentle smile at the picture she presented. "Though if you need to you can put it in the box."

Before going any further, he checked the charm about his wrist, but there were no notifications he could have missed last night. WHoever had dumped the puppies, they hadn't knocked or otherwise tried to get his attention. He growled under his breath; most people knew that he had a policy of no real questions so long as immediate care could be administered to the animal/s. These puppies needed nearly constant care, and left out in the cold so long without even a heating charm hurt a lot. He crooned softly under his breath at the tiny animals, finally reaching in to gently touch and check them.

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_rose_
2015-02-01 11:07 pm UTC (link)

Rose wasn’t quite sure how to explain the box, but Rolf seemed to understand and simply took over the box while she followed him. The tiny, furry wriggly under her hand felt more fragile than some of the ancient artefacts she had handled during her training, and unlike them, this one was alive; she could feel that fast heartbeat under the tips of her fingers and the faint breaths against the skin of her chest.

She nodded dumbly when Rolf asked her if she had one, because she did, and for a moment she feared that he would ask her to give it back. Unlike him, Rose had never really had an affinity for animals of any kind, and dogs even less so – one could almost say that she had an actual fear of them – but this little shivering fur…

Rolf obviously knew what he was doing, she didn’t doubt that, and the way he just changed, right before her eyes, into a man whose entire focus was on the content of the box only confirmed that Rose would have to do what he did. So, as he cast a heating charm on the box, Rose held the little closer, and exhaled slowly hoping to let her warm breath help stop the shivering.

Her head shot up when he suggested that she might want to put it back in the box. “No,” she stated firmly. “Why would I need that?” A soft whine had her look down, and before she could stop herself, she had cooed. Just a little. But then that odd fear was back; what if she was doing something wrong here? What if something was wrong with it? “You think it’s warm enough?” she asked, she looking at the critter, her finger drawing small, (hopefully) soothing patterns in the soft fur. “Or hungry?”

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outofthewild
2015-02-02 01:20 pm UTC (link)

"You don't need to," he assured her over his shoulder. He'd long hoped for a way to introduce her to dogs in a way that didn't have her freezing up, but he'd also decided a long time ago that he would never push her on the subject either. The tiny part of his mind that wasn't on trying to save these little things noted it down for later musing.

"It's probably a bit cold right now, but your body will help warm it." Rolf looked up for a moment, around the shop, and swished his wand. Several flannel rags flew towards him, and he caught them in his other hand. He paused for a moment to walk over to her. He helped spread it over the top of the puppy, keeping her hands cradled around it. "Just hold it like that, and it'll be reassured by your heartbeat and any sounds you make -- but it feels it more than hears at this point. See, its ears are still closed." He pointed it out, one long finger gently stroking down the puppy's head. "It is hungry, but I want to get them warm first, and I'll have to go do up the formula and get it ready. I don't have any nursing mothers at the moment -- it's really too early in the year. The mother must have been bred out of season."

He went back to the box, still focused. His face tightened as he handled one too-still, too-cold body. He was angry, very angry, but he couldn't show it right now because there were babies to attend to. There were four puppies in the box, and the one Rose held; he examined them, and found that cold and probably hunger had done in two of them. Oh, gods, he hated whoever had abandoned them; all they'd had to do was knock on his door, and the charm he always wore would have activated. He cast a charm twice, his thoughts confirmed though he had to double check.

"Bast!" he called almost sharply, a tone he never really took with his cat. His familiar. "Bast, I need you!" It was an unconscious repetition of what Rose had said to him earlier. Bast strolled around a shelf as if she'd been there all along, though Rolf had long since been convinced she could appear where she wanted at will. She chirruped at him and leapt up on his back. He didn't even wince as she flowed up his back to ooze slightly over his shoulder, peering with her head beside his down into the box. HE took a second to reach up and scritch her head. "Bast, can you help play mother for a bit?" It wasn't something he asked of her often; she had never been bred, but she'd occasionally, at her whim, helped him with an abandoned litter before, and this one was the youngest he'd dealt with since... well, probably since he'd found Bast and her litter tied up in a bag and tossed aside so long ago.

She mrowed, but then sneezed. "Yes, I know. Poor things," he murmured, talking to her like he often did when they were on their own. "I'll take care of them -- you keep the others company for a few minutes so we can get them a bed." He reached down into the box with another rag and wrapped each wee body, conjuring another box and placing them in it for now. Once that was done, Bast leapt lightly into the box and carefully lay down, starting to purr in a reassuring matter to the two little squirmy things left there.

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_rose_
2015-02-03 10:54 pm UTC (link)

Rose watched intently as Rolf dealt with everything. She had always left the animals to him, and had never seen him in a situation like this before. The look on his face, though, she had seen that before, and the memory of that put the whole thing in perspective for her. Looking down, she could see what he meant about the ears; this thing really was helpless and in need of everything she could give it. Rolf, though, he knew what to do, and the last thing Rose wanted to do was get in his way or interrupt him. But she also wanted to help and comfort him, too. So when his long finger stroked over the head of the wriggly, she brushed her thumb against his hand and met his eyes with a reassuring nod. He could do this and she would do anything it took in this.

Dipping her head down, she hummed softly to the itty-bitty, her fingertips brushing back and forth over the soft, soft fur, as her eyes darted to Rolf. Two of the small bundles… even she could see they were too still, and seeing them put back in the box like that made the tears roll slowly down her cheeks. “That won’t happen to you,” she murmured, and shifted until she was sitting cross-legged on the table, cradling her own little bundle of fur while hoping that the shivering would stop real soon.

She looked up when he called for Bast, wondering how the hell the cat was going to help here. Bast was a cat! A cat who would smother you at any chance possible, and who was good for nothing but a good cuddle at the most inopportune times. Her intrigue only got higher when the cat simply curled up around the remaining two lumps of fur… “She knows what she’s doing…” she mused and looked for the twin furs to the one in her hands and back up at Rolf. “I want it warm, but… but would it be better for it to be with the others or doesn’t that matter?”

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outofthewild
2015-02-04 01:52 pm UTC (link)

Rolf gave her a brief, soft smile, letting her know he appreciated her comfort. It did help a lot. Everything to do with animals and people who had no protection always got to him keenly. In that fashion he was rather sensitive.

He noted where Rose and her puppy were in the room but for now he concentrated on the other two, knowing the one would be in the best of hands with Rose. He'd show her what to do. HE hated to know she was crying though, even though it made him want to cry and rage as well. He probably would, later.

"Bast has helped me with abandoned litters several times," Rolf told her. "Never one this young. She can't nurse anything as she's not yet had her own litter," his lips quirked faintly; it wasn't for lack of his asking a couple of times, but she wasn't ready herself and he would never push her on that, "But she can comfort them and help keep them warm for now, and she'll boss them around later on and teach them how to eat and drink when they're old enough."

He came back over to her and curved a hand over the pup in her hands. It was warmer than earlier, and it nuzzled faintly at his finger, trying to suck it into his mouth, which was an excellent sign. "Right now, it's warming up just fine. It's comfortable with you. It might want its littermates to sleep with later, and Bast will likely adopt it too, for general purposes, but if you want to be its mother, I welcome all the help I can get. This young, they're going to be a handful to care for, even with just three of them. They have to be fed often, and washed like with a tongue, to help their insides work and keep them clean, and kept warm and comforted, just to start."

He dropped a kiss on her cheek, sweet and comforting. "I'm not sure what breed they are yet, but I want to get them fed before I cast more diagnostics and set them up a bed and everything. A portable bed -- they'll be coming most all places with me or you or whoever is caring for them at the time for a while." He hoped it wouldn't intimidate her out of it, but he would need some help and he wasn't about to lie about the tasks either.

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_rose_
2015-02-10 11:28 am UTC (link)

A small smile twitched on Rose’s lips; she hadn’t been aware of just how helpful Bast could be in situations like this, but somehow it didn’t surprise her. She watched as the little one tried to feed from Rolf’s finger. It fascinated her, and scared her a little too, but it also made a determination begin to really take place inside of her.

“I can’t be its mother,” she said quietly, kissing the top of the furry head. “But I’ll be its Rose and do all those things. I just…” she sighed deeply, her breath shaking with frustration at the situation. “I can’t bring it to the bank with me. It’s too cold and too dangerous and I can’t let anything happen to it. But I’ll wash it like you say it should be washed and feed it at all times of day.”

She leaned into Rolf’s kiss, taking more comfort in the chaste gesture than she had thought she could. “Do you really think I can keep it?”

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