The Veilwood Haven

SaraBella noticed Muffin was being avoident. She pulled her aside. "Het did i do something?..." she asked

He kneeled to meet the child at eye level as she approached. Only children could look this adorable, with that hesitant but well-intentioned gaze. He couldn't help a laugh as she held out a plate with those tiny hands and caused Muffin to move closer. But those claws were hardly the right tool for scooping up a pancake.

'I'll go get some plates.' He moved over to the kitchen and opened some cabinets -- was he being rude? or already feeling at home? -- until he found what he was looking for, then returned to the hallway with two plates. He held one out for Muffin to slide the pancake onto. 'Table manners matter, as my old man would've said,' he explained, then held up the second plate. 'You want a pancake as well, Muffin? Or you, Lizbeth?'

He might be tired, but that didn't stop him from making sure the people around him were also taken care of. Even if said people were creatures he'd never seen in his life before. And even if he had literally just been begging for refuge.

Speaking of which, he turned to SaraBella. 'Yes, I could use a place to stay. Lizbeth told me you were the one to talk to.' He frowned at the mention of her father's race. 'I never heard of a human caring about animal-folk, or whatever we're called. Is there a word for our kind? ... Wait, does that make you a human, too?'

Muffin remained silent as she was pulled aside, and the same silence was louder than words. She clearly had a reason, but was not comfortable of speaking about it. It was probably because why she’s rarely seen around, other than sometimes offering Lizbeth some of her tea.

Muffin turned to Julian, taking a plate. “Would be appreciated, thank you.” As she said that, she eyed SaraBella, before going towards Eleanor, asking her to hand a pancake over. Her scales almost seemed smoother than the way she was around SaraBella.

His brain was slow. It only took a solid minute of tension in the air before he noticed something was up with these two. It was not his place to ask; he was a guest, a newcomer, not even given a(n) (official) place within this little community yet. But it was certainly something to remember for later. He had a habit of rarely talking about himself besides the surface-level cheeriness, but that had never stopped him from asking others questions about themselves.

For the moment, he simply watched Muffin scoop another pancake onto the plate and handed it to her. He also decided to let his ignored question rest. For now.

'So, um, how long's this settlement existed?' he asked before taking a huge bite from the pancake. Goodness, it was the best thing he'd had in weeks.

SaraBella frowned. She has no idea what she had done and the pregnancy was already making her a bit emotional. "Um...no im...im a fox hybrid my dad adopted me when I was little...the place has been around pretty much since then I believe....hes not like other humans...he wants to protect us...ill...um...ill have him show you around later..." she looked over at Muffin with a confused hurt look in her eyes before leaving without saying another word. She didnt even say goodbye to Kalvath before leaving. She felt like crying but didn't want anyone to see. Her ears were flat and tail down as she hurried out.

Julian froze mid-bite as SaraBella rushed outside, his confused-as-hell gaze moving between Muffin and Lizbeth and the guy named Kalvath, hoping they would know what on earth just happened. Then he slowly started chewing again.

He gulped and murmured drily, 'I think I'm missing context...'

Should he follow the woman outside? Or maybe giving her some space would be a better idea? He shook his head to himself. He was clueless.

Muffin took the pancake and returned she did see SaraBella hurry off, but simply mumbled something and bit into her pancake. The satisfaction was plain on her face when she bit into the pancake, despite no words being used.

“The place has been here for a while, as far as I can tell.” Muphyll replied once her food went down the hatch. “Been here since I was 13.”

"i-is everything ok?..." Elenore asked looking up at Muffin with big innocent eyes as she shoved strawberry pancake into her mouth.

Muffin stayed silent for a hot minute. When she could find her words, she simply replied, “Nothing. None of your concern.”

Muffin had to admit, those puppy dog eyes Eleanor has are like wolves trying to pry her very being to see what’s inside and what truths hide. Reason why?: those eyes are adorable.

Wow, okay. None of the grown-ups in this room seemed concerned enough to check in with her. Julian finished his pancake in no time, like a hungry wolf, and set his plate down on the nearest surface, already moving towards the door. 'Y'know what, I'll go check on her.'

Once outside, Julian jogged to catch up to SaraBella but he kept a respectable distance from her as he called out, 'Hey, is everything alright? This might sound weird, coming from me, a newcomer, but do you need anyone to talk to right now?'

When SaraBella turned around their was tears streaming down her face. She smiled "im fine ..." she then shifted into her animal form and ran off.

From the porch, Muffin was able to see SaraBella run off. She watched as she transformed and run. As much as she wanted to stop her, her cold-hearted scales didn’t have the heart to do so. Perhaps it wasn’t her place.

So, her five-foot build turned and was about to head back inside to get more pancakes…

Kalvath scoops up lil nori and follows after sarabella using flight magic "come on nori we gotta catch her and see what's going on!" They began to fly at a low speed to catch up to sarabella to figure out what's happening he calls out for her to try and get her to slow down "SARABELLA SLOW DOWN PLEASE WHATS GOING ON?"

She came to a stop when she reached her den. She shifted back "im sorry....i...I just dont understand what i did....Muffins upset with me or something and she won't tell me why..."

"She seemed unstable to me" he lands holds her close while holding nori and he says "how about we go inside and watch a movie with some multiflavored popcorn

And just take some time to calm down and and destress" kisses her forehead

"I wasn't done eating pancakes..." Elenore said, pouting with her arms folded.

She wiped her tears away "i shouldn't be so emotional...lets just forget about it for now....I guess ill try to talk to her again later..." she started walking inside.

He looks at nori how about some magical pancakes?" Then follows sarabella inside

She was still pouting. "But I wanted strawberry pancakes...the ones me and Lizbeth made...."