Callisto’s ears flattened beneath Xevon’s hand as he gave him a short pet, stopping in his pouncing to look up at him. He watched as the man walked back and forth, sorting out the fire. Only when Xevon had turned back to him, sticking near the fire did he stand back up. However, the movement made the feather shift beside him and his eyes darted towards it. Smacking down a paw and pinning it to the ground, his head turned back up to Xevon.

“I slept well.” He hummed, not feeling strange to talk in this form, at least to Xevon. He was far too used to it that he padded up closer, leaving the feather in his wake. Callisto lowered his head and bumped it against Xevon’s thigh before leaning up and placing his front paws on his leg, raising his head up to look at him.

At least Xevon looked..vaguely better. That and he wasn’t stoically standing there, with a seething gaze locked onto him, this was slightly more familiar. He did give one short look over at Alma, where she was paging through a book, his tail pausing in its lazy movement.

–

Lily’s eyes only reopened as Finn leaned up, drawing a groan of complaint from her throat. She turned onto her other side to face him, flopping an arm over his hips in protest to him getting up far too quickly. Her head pushing into the bundle of blanket and Finn beside her, giving another small groan.

“Good morning.” She spoke into the quilt, clearly disgruntled by being woken up. Her hand scrunched up the hem of Finn’s shirt, tugging at it gently.

“Sleep more.” Lily grumbled out her request, finally sleeping in a bed without the worry of heading back to face Veles had felt incredible. No haunted dreams that night, she prayed that if she slept more, she would continue to have uneventful slumber.

Even as he was lifted from the ground, his hard gaze was still fixed on Alma. Xevon had to be right about her, she was something else, different. Whatever it was, he wasn’t sure he was so keen on finding out now. Eventually, Callisto looked back up at Xevon from where he was being held. Strangely enough, this didn’t feel like any sort of dramatic interaction that made his head swirl with thoughts. Instead, he let himself go a little bit limp so that he was easier to hold.

He tucked his head down, letting it flop heavily into Xevon’s torso with a short huff of air. The growing flames of the fire where slowly reaching him, bringing a nice warm glow across the two of them. That in combination with feeling as though Xevon was, for once, relaxed. Even if it was only a little, it made Callisto comfortable.

–

Lily grinned into the covers as he relented and moved back down beside her, smug with her mission being completed. That was until he piped up again and she popped her head up to look down at him.

“You’ll survive for a little bit longer.” She tilted her head to the side as she peeked down at him, a content smile pulling at her lips.

“You look pretty in the morning sun.” Lily didn’t make any sort of flustered reaction to the words she had let out, it was true. The yellowed dawn light did compliment the red of his feathers and brought out the freckles across his face. The sound forgotten for the time being.

Callisto peeked over Xevon’s shoulder with the same suspicious look, matching the energy perfectly. The tip of his tail was flicking from side to side from where he was being held as he listened to the back and forth of the two people with him.

Xevon held a good point, a magical tea couldn’t be conjured up by a human, right? It was a book meant for gods, how could a mortal manage it. At her dismissive answer, Callisto’s short tufted ears snapped back against his head in disapproval. He would have returned to his human self by now but he was currently being cradled by Xevon, so it would make for an interesting scene if he just poofed back to normal now.

Instead of acknowledging Alma’s rather flimsy answer, Callisto turned his head away from her and let it flop down against Xevon’s chest, close to where he was being held.

–

Whilst her own comment hadn’t made her sway from embarrassment, the hand that appeared to tuck away a piece of hair made Lily’s eyes dart to the side to watch his movement. Only drawing her dark eyes back to Finntello as he spoke, drawing a breathy laugh from her throat. Her lips tugging into a smile that betrayed her happiness despite the rising colour on her skin.

She looked away, giving the brightly lit window a quick look. “You don’t need to flatter me, Finn.” Lily mused, finally bringing her gaze back to land on him.

“That and I’m nothing to be thankful about, I practically fell into your lap. I don’t think you had much choice in meeting me.” Lily attempted to draw the attention away from compliments directed to herself, making light of their rather gruesome meeting sounded like a better idea to her.

At the mention of the callsign, one of Callisto’s ears pricked up and turned to listen to the conversation. He was in agreement with Xevon, Alma had just spoken another language and not one that he could understand. With a small wiggle, he freed himself from Xevon’s hands and deftly landed on the floor in front of him. Just as quickly as his paws hit the rug, he stood up to his full height, one hand lifted to push back his hair from his eyes.

“He was using that weird rectangle thing to look at it. Whatever this internet is.” He stated rather than asked his words, casting a look down at Xevon where he was kneeling beside him.

“That is how we found out most things about you. I did not..know very much.” He conceded, lowering his hand to stuff it into his slacks front pocket with a small sigh. He felt guilty about not knowing much about his companion, but he had little to share back at the time. Callisto had his memories now, no matter how unpleasant they were, he had more to offer in return.

–

Lily lifted an eyebrow as Finn directed her eyes back to him, still misty eyed on one side. She took a moment to focus back on his face before giving a small smile.

“I’m smitten with you as well.” She met his sincerity. Still half hovering over him, Lily found herself dipping her head closer to Finn’s. Guessing that from this angle, she couldn’t muck up her placement. She felt the tips of their noses brush as she came closer, about to slid past and close to distance when a loud knock came at the front door. Her half-lidded eyes snapped open wide and she whirled around to look towards the cracked door to the bedroom, heart pounding.

None of their group would have knocked the front door of this cottage, it was someone else.

Lily frowned as she pulled herself from Finn and sat up on the bed to let him shuffle his way off before following him out into the main space. The soft padding of her feet on the floor the only sound for a moment before she locked eyes with Xevon. What on earth had those three been talking about? A witch, clearly Alma, had said something technologically advanced and bewildered the two old men disguised as younguns.

Her attention was immediately stolen by the older woman’s - wait why did she look like that? Lily was about to voice her discovery regarding Alma’s sudden youth when she had opened the door.

Callisto braced himself for all hell to break loose, they were going to be a mess in roughly one minute. Whomever owned this house had come back and was preparing to eviscerate them for the intrusion. He didn’t want to pray to any god for help , fearful of bringing about another Veles.

Florence stood at the door, the rucksack slumped over her left shoulder as she stood there staring at the door. Waiting for it to open before she spoke.

“It’s Florence.” Her words were simple as she locked eyes with Alma, narrowing them suspiciously. “Found yourselves a nice home to snuggle up in?” She asked sarcastically, ending it with a short laugh. “Renissa won’t be happy you’ve dirtied her furniture with your human small.” Florence cocked her head to one side, tapping the tip of her trainer clad toe on the pavers as she spoke.