The Veilwood Haven

“Muphyll Tecpurba,” the pangolin greeted gruffly, but followed Lizbeth’s example. Yes, she was read like a book—the pangolin’s stoic and serious nature hides something golden. To be described, Muphyll is an egg in a sea of rocks; surrounded by the harshness of her scales is something soft within.

Despite this personality, her hardness of her scales show she is a young pangolin—at least 21 of human years. A baby pangolin’s scales would be as thick as a human fingernail but just as soft as a pillow. Whilst an older pangolin’s scales would be thick and harsh, like a rough suit of armour. Muphyll’s scales were in between.

“You may call me Muffin, if you wish. My name is hard to pronounce to others.”

Relief washed over him as the others reassured him of rest and safety. And food. He gave a smile as grateful as his tiredness allowed for while he took the cup. She was very direct about it, but tea was tea. It already smelled amazing. He took a gulp, and maybe it was just his hunger making everything taste a million times better simply because he was hungry, but his eyes widened in pleasant surprise at the taste.

'Wow... this is some good stuff!' He drained the cup in no time as the others continued. The doe seemed much more talkative than the pangolin, but he held no doubt that both would welcome him in just fine. 'Lizbeth and Muffin,' he tested out their names, 'I can't thank you enough. And honestly I'd kill for a pancake.'

He returned Muphyll's cup with a hearty nod and moved towards the hut Lizbeth was talking about when she mentioned the others' names. 'My name's Julian. And uh, ladies first?'

Muffin took the cup. “Made it myself. Thank you.”

The pangolin glanced at the building. “How noble of you,” she replied. “But I prefer to trail behind. How would I know if you aren’t going to reveal our location, hmm?”

Muffin then laughed. “Ah, just joking. It happened once though.”

She went behind Julian and patiently waited for the two to go forward.

He blinked as he tried to imagine what that would've looked like. In a world of humans chasing animals out the door, the mere idea of animal people hunting down a human felt... absurd, yet hilarious actually.

'Yeah, fair... I still mean what I said though, I'm not out to cause trouble here.'

“We’ll see about that,” said the pangolin, her tail going around to quickly adjust the seaweed-like tie around her tail. It was coming loose, after all.

She then turned back, and glanced at the doe. “So, Lizbeth, shall we get this young fellow some food?” Her voice seemed to latch onto a more kinder tone, compared to the closed-off one.

Elenore saw the other people come in. She's seen Muffin around before but Julian was new. Elenore was a bit scared, she didnt know him. He seemed nice though. She cautiously walked forward "um....want a pancake?" She asked. She held out a plate of pancakes.

SaraBella smiled brightly "hi. Are you new? Do you need a place to stay?" She asked Julian. "I can introduce you to my dad...he can help find an open cabin or hut or somewhere. He's human...but you don't have to be afraid of him, hes the one that created this place for people like us..." SaraBella turned to Muffin "haven't seen you in awhile Muffin. How have you been?"

“Fine, thank you,” Muffin’s voice was a knife’s. “And make sure the kid won’t freak out when he sees a human here.”

She then glanced at the shy Eleanor. “…Eleanor,” she greeted with a nod. The voice returned to normal.

“I’ll get a pancake for you,” Muffin said to Julian. She then quickly went over to Eleanor and to try to obtain a pancake. Muffin seemed to remain avoidant towards SaraBella, and for a good reason.

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…