Rowan had retreated back into his shell. While he was by no means a social butterfly during his first few months at school he had at least attempted to be seen around the common areas. But now he was back to where he started in those first few weeks. Class, room, food, room, class. No socializing. The few times a friend spotted him in the hall, probably retreating to his room, he would feign illness. It was clear that his run in with the police had effected him quite badly.

But luckily the school had just what a young boy needed to mend his nervous heart. Man's best friend. 

It has started off innocently enough. With Rowan asking Ms. Sundance if he could take Zorro for a walk around the campus grounds. The young shifter wanted the company but without the difficult social interactions. This started becoming a common thing for Rowan, the young boy taking the dog out a few times a week.   

Today was special. Because today, when Rowan went to Ms. Sundance's office to request Zorro, he was given a tennis ball. Apparently Zorro was a big fan of fetch and the dog was just as excited as the boy to get outside. 

It was cold, and the ground was icy, but this didn't seem to bother Rowan. He was able to find a nice spot around the side of the school, secluded enough so that he wouldn't hit anyone walking by but close enough to the school incase he needed Ms. Sundance. As Rowan walked he tossed the bright green ball from one hand to the other in a high arc. Zorro walked alongside him, tail wagging, occasionally giving a little jump at Rowan as if to say 'okay! I'm ready! Throw it!'

Eventually Rowan stopped, scuffing away the crunchy snow with his sneakers. The last thing he wanted to do was slip and smack his head. He gave the ball a couple practice tosses in the air, unable to hide his smile as Zorro followed the ball with his head. 

"Okay Zorro! You ready?"

A silly question, of course Zorro was ready! He was born for this moment!

"Go get it!"

Rowan swung his arm forward, releasing the tennis ball at the apex of the arc. The neon ball soared through the air and Zorro wasted no time charging after it. The throw got some good distance, the ball eventually hitting the ground and bouncing once before Zorro caught it. The dog then looped around, heading back towards Rowan to show the boy his prize. Tail wagging, tongue flopping out of his mouth around the ball. 

It took a moment for Zorro to release the ball, far too excited to listen to directions at first. Once the ball was dropped Rowan picked it up with his thumb and forefinger, not exactly loving the texture of icy, drooly, tennis ball. 

"Wanna go again? 

Another silly question. And once Zorro was sufficiently hyped for another round Rowan gave the ball another good chuck. This time, however, he lost his footing slightly. Slipping for a moment, but regaining his balance before he hit the snow. Hopefully no one saw that. 

Kalos had forgotten an assignment. Okay, okay, she could admit to herself that she just hadn't done an assignment. It was hard and she didn't see the point of it. So she went to go hide instead of looking at the disappointed face of her tutor. She still wasn't in classes with everyone else, and the classes she did manage to be in were the baby classes which was fairly humiliating.

She thought that after so many years of learning, Kalos would know it all by now.

She also had, like, 4 more years. And then… what?

Something smacked against the wall next to the windows in her hiding spot and that was a far easier thing to investigate than some nebulous future. Kalos wiggled out from her super secret hiding spot, and peered out the window.

It was Rowan. He was walking toward a neon round ball and… and there was a dog after him at top speed!

Kalos popped open the window and it groaned from disuse, paint flaking around the edges.

”Watch out! There’s a DOG BEHIND YOU!” She pointed, her hand extending beyond the Mansion wall for the first time since she’d been adopted.

He watched Zorro run after the ball with a slight smile on his face. The young boy sighed, content. Winter was long and cold, but the quiet that came with it was very peaceful. So when a nearby window suddenly slammed open Rowan nearly leapt out of his skin.

>> ”Watch out! There’s a DOG BEHIND YOU!”

It took Rowan a second to piece the nervous shout together. It was Kalos warning him! And he needed to watch out for a dog! The panic in her voice was so...genuine that, for a moment, Rowan was on board with this whole 'dangerous dog' scenario. Luckily he got over that fast, as Zorro had caught the ball and was on his way to return it.

The dog rushed across the snow eventually skidding to a stop in front of Rowan. And the tennis ball was dropped, along with a pool of drool, at Rowan's feet. Zorro got low to the ground, haunches in the air, tail wagging excitedly.

Rowan turned to face Kalos again, giving her a friendly wave as he did so. He raised his voice slightly so she could hear him.

"Thank you for the warning Kalos! But it's alright! I know this dog, he's a good dog!"

With a slight grimace Rowan picked up the ball. Not wanting to seem rude by shouting to his friend from across the yard Rowan started to walk towards the window. Zorro happily followed, his eyes firmly on the ball in Rowan's hands. It didn't take long to bridge the gap between the two, although Rowan almost slipped on the ice a few times, making their distance apart more conversation appropriate.

Rowan looked down at Zorro, who was still trying to get Rowan to throw the ball again. Remembering that Kalos was nervous around dogs, and probably didn't want canine coming any closer to her, Rowan turned away. He showed the ball to Zorro, getting his attention, and gave the ball a hearty chuck. Zorro got another round of fetch and Kalos got some space from the dog, win win!

With the dog occupied his attention was back on Kalos. Rowan shyly stuffed his hands in his pockets. He looked up at Kalos, and more specifically the room she was in. Class was done for the day, and she appeared to be in a kinda dim room...he couldn't immediately identify it. Maybe she had been taking a nap.

"Sorry for the scare Kalos. That's Ms. Sundance's dog Zorro."

He took a glance over his shoulder, the dog still chasing the ball. He turned back towards Kalos, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Whatcha up to? Hide and seek?"

It was coming for him. He was took the time to wave and while he was looking around a little alarmed, Rowan was not nearly alarmed enough. And then he... smiled?

Kalos sank down so only her nose, eyes, and hair cleared the window sill as she processed his words. Just because he knew who the dog attacked for, didn't mean he should trust it. She did notice, however, that the dog mostly kept its distance. And as an added bonus, the dog seemed to be training to attack the ball rather than its natural prey of children. Balls could be thrown away. And Rowan did that so that the dog would also go away.

Rowan came closer while the dog was away and Kalos realized her mistake. She hadn't saved anybody. Even worse, now she was in a conversation when she'd meant to be hiding.

"Uhm. You could say that it's hide and seek." She realized that she was still mostly hiding behind the window frame so she stood so he could better see and hear her. The window was raised from the ground enough that she was looking down on the outside. So, even if the dog came back, it couldn't jump this high, right?

"I'm hiding," she admitted, "but I don't think anybody's seeking." She stuck her arms out of the window to feel the chill in the air as much as her oversized hoodie allowed and ended up folding her arms outside while sort of draping herself across the Mansion opening. It felt rather daring, really. Even with the roof to keep her from falling up.

"So, uh, why are you training Ms. Sundance's dog to attack balls?"

Huh...playing hide and seek without a seeker...Rowan blinked slightly, trying to wrap his head around it. Well Kalos was different...in a good way! Maybe that was just her way of saying she was looking for some quiet time. Or maybe she was hiding from a responsibility. Who knew really.

Rowan glanced up at Kalos as she stuck her arms out the window, but quickly looked away. The boy huffed slightly.

"Well...uhm...sorry if I exposed your hiding spot..."

He glanced over his shoulder, seeing that Zorro was on his way back with the ball. Rowan winced slightly. Kalos was clearly nervous around the dog, but the boy really didn't want this conversation to end so...soon.

Rowan quickly turned back towards Kalos, muttering: "Oh...hold on Kalos..." He then turned back to Zorro and said, in the most authoritative voice a young boy could muster.

"Zorro! Stay! Wait!" The dog, although excited, got the message loud and clear, waiting about fifteen feet away from the pair.

The shifter then began to make his way to Zorro. He slipped slightly on the icy ground, waving his arms out to the side to regain his balance. He was suddenly finding it a lot harder to not slip knowing that someone was watching him.

Making it to Zorro, who's excited body language clearly wanted the boy to move faster, Rowan gave the tennis ball another overhand chuck across the school's yard, hoping the distance would keep Zorro busy for a bit.

With Zorro again occupied Rowan began to slide his way back to Kalos, brow knitted together in concentration. Soon he was back at a conversation appropriate distance, all without falling on his butt.

Rowan let out a quick exhale, the closest the grouchy boy would allow himself to a laugh.

"Zorro and I aren't really...training. He's playing." Rowan scratched nervously at the back of his head, still struggling to make eye contact with Kalos.

"I feel like I...owe him a favor. And dogs like chasing tennis balls."

Had he exposed her hiding spot? Kalos looked back into the dimly lit room before watching Rowan crunch across the hard white patches of ground. It was Rowan. She was pretty sure he was a friend. So she considered her spot intact, especially since he was still out there in the cold. "It's okay." She muttered to herself mostly. Did he think she cherished her hiding spots more than her friends?

And even more curious, Rowan took the time to walk over to the dog and then walk back. Kalos watched his every step while she puzzled over the why. It didn't exactly look fun to be out there right now with all the cold and wet.

"Playing." She deadpanned. Kalos had seen it crouching down. She'd seen how it ran and hunted and then she'd seen the ball squeezed between its teeth. Sure, the dog let the ball go, but only so it could go after it again.

"Why would you owe a-" Kalos stopped herself from derisively spitting the word dog out of her mouth as she remembered that Rowan said he had a dog inside himself in the same way that Aoi had a bear. That was hard to remember sometimes since she'd never seen it. Still, she tried again with a less twisted tone. It wasn't Rowan's fault he was stuck with a dog inside of him. "Why do you owe something to Zorro?"

There was a pretty heavy pause, Rowan returning his hands to his pants pockets, the boy not entirely sure what to tell Kalos. She was a...friend, sure. So he could trust her. But he was more afraid of scaring her. But at this point it would be hard to back pedal, and lying wouldn't be fair to her.

Rowan sighed, kicking a chunk of ice. He's just have to be vague.

"Some...mean people came to the school looking for me. And I was scared they would...take me away from here."

He paused, looking over his shoulder. Zorro had just about reached the tennis ball.

"And Zorro made me feel..." Rowan struggled a moment, looking for the right word. "Safe...I guess. Like I was a kid and not a monster."

Rowan finally was able to look up at Kalos, his lips barely curled in a smile.

"So I've been taking him on walks and stuff...and I snuck him a hamburger yesterday. Just...uhm, don't tell Ms. Sundance."

"People came after you?" Kalos picked at her fingertips. She knew what that was like, to be hunted. The problem was that their experiences with dogs fell on the exact opposite end of the spectrums. She'd been hunted with dogs being the method of her tracking and capture. Rowan seemed to feel that Zorro had been on his side in that process.

"Bad guys would have to fight through a whole lot of people to get to you when you're here at the school." And, though she didn't really know how to fight, Kalos hoped she would be counted in that number. Nobody was going to hunt kids here. Nobody.

"I wouldn't let people hunt you. But, I guess I'm nowhere near as scary as Zorro. Sounds like Zorro had earned that hamburger," she begrudgingly admitted. Kalos was just a girl. Zorro had some actual intimidation factor. She glanced back again into the dimly lit room. "I'd let you hide in a spot like this, probably."

As Zorro sped back toward Rowan with ball in mouth, Kalos had to squash the instinct that spurred her to run or duck behind the wall. The dog wasn't coming for her and he was a friend to Rowan. Still her fingers crunched as she gripped them tightly together. She was going to be brave and not move. Or maybe moving would make her a target? Either way, she decided it was okay with a wall between them.

Only there was a sudden, more important problem: a scraping near the door, the sound of heavily burdened footsteps.

No. It couldn't be...

The door handle made a sound and before Kalos could think too much, she dove head first out the window. It was a first-story drop so less than her own height, but she wasn't dressed for the cold, wearing shoes, or prepared to land.

Above, the light turned on in the little storage room and a box-laden adult moved through the space.

Rowan looked back down at his feet, bashfully.

"Yeah...the school did a good job protecting me...I don't think the...uh...bad people are gonna mess with me again..."

He blushed slightly. "But if they did, I'd pick you to be on my team. In...uh hiding that is...we shouldn't fight bad guys."

Rowan was about to turn, ready to stop Zorro a safe distance away from Kalos, when there was a sudden flash of pink behind him. And Kalos was FALLING OUT THE WINDOW! What? Why? Had she been pushed or did she slip? For a split second Rowan was torn, stop the dog from approaching or catch Kalos. It wasn't a long fall, but the snow wasn't soft and fluffy this time of year. Kalos could bonk her head, or scrape herself on the ice.

The young shifter let's out a yelp, eyes widening.

"Gah! Kalos!"

He ran towards the falling girl, arms outstretched. Catching her wasn't the problem, the distance between the two students was pretty short, the ice was the problem. As Kalos landed in Rowan's arms the boy hugged her to his chest, as a way to disperse the force of her fall. This sudden change in center of gravity knocked Rowan off balance. And the boy, Kalos still in his arms, slipped, landing on his butt.

Rowan hit the ground with an "Oof!" the wind knocked out of him. After a moment Rowan groaned, still not entirely sure how Kalos had fallen from the window. "Are...you alright Kalos?" His voice sounded slightly slurred, the boy dazed from his slip. He could barely hear footsteps in the classroom, and...the lights were on now?

And Zorro, tennis ball in mouth, happily trotted over to the kids. Tail wagging.

She was unexpectedly cushioned by Rowan. Though they both still flopped down, it was poor Rowan who took the brunt of the fall. Kalos had been prepared to land on her hands and face. Instead, she clobbered Rowan to the ground. She wasn't exactly a comfortable person to catch with all her crusty patches. Well that was... nice.

Rowan tried to ask how she was, but Kalos panicked and put her hard hand over Rowan's mouth and put her other hand to her own mouth while communicating as best she could with her eyes that silence was needed. Once she was pretty sure he got the message, Kalos released him and glanced up at the window, waiting. She wasn't sure the adult would notice the open window, or even think to look out. She puzzled over the options until a panting sound alerted her to Zorro's nearness.

The blood drained from Kalos' face. She had absolutely forgotten there was a dog out there when she dove for it and now she was slow motion turning toward the approaching canine. She couldn't see its teeth. Not really. But it came close in an almost dancing sort of way. Teasing? Showing it was spry?

No. Rowan said they'd been playing. Zorro was... playing.

Kalos swallowed so loudly she was worried that the adult above them might hear. It was freeze or scream and screaming would let the person in her hiding place know she was out the window and thus would alert them that room was one of her hiding places.

A fine trembling began in her arms as Zorro slowed, flopping his head to one side at the strange display he'd happened upon. If he just stayed away... maybe it'd be okay?

"Did the windowsill break or some-mmpth!"

Rowan was silenced by a hand over his mouth. Immediately the boy was pulled out of his daze. His face erupted into a blush as it really hit him that he was holding Kalos. Soon the hand was removed from his mouth, his eyes following Kalos' gaze upwards. Now that he was actually paying attention he could really hear someone moving around in the classroom. It sounded like they were carrying something heavy, and struggling a bit.

Maybe...Kalos had been playing hide and seek?

The shifter was about to ask for more context when he felt her start to shake. Startled Rowan turned his attention back to the girl in his arms. She looked paled and she was starring, wide eyed, at Zorro. Shoot! Shoot! The dog! Rowan was immediately snapped out of his blush and fluttery-feelings. He had to put some distance between Kalos and Zorro.

Rowan rotated the two around, which was easy to do on the icy ground, so that Kalos was closer to the wall of the school and Rowan himself completely separated the girl from the canine. There was absolutely no way Zorro would attack, but if he did he was going through Rowan. And with an awkward, over the shoulder, motion Rowan grabbed the tennis ball. He couldn't really throw it, not without jostling Kalos. So he instead just put as much force into a roll as possible, sending the tennis ball skidding across the frozen lawn like a bowling ball.

Zorro trotted after the ball, tail wagging, happy that the game had continued.

And with the dog situation temporarily solved Rowan could turn his attention back to Kalos. In the softest whisper he could muster said:

"It's alright Kalos! I promise."

She was swizzled around and protected. Kalos liked her odds a lot better with Rowan between her and Zorro. She liked it even better being closer to the Mansion. Moore roof was never a bad thing. She would have done it herself if her muscles weren't all bunched up and stuck.

And Rowan actually reached past the dog's sniffing nose which was RIGHT NEXT TO the dog's mouth to retrieve the ball and then threw the (ooey gooey) ball away as best as he could so that Zorro would follow.

To Zorro's credit, he ran off right away.

He really did want the ball.

A semi-hysterical giggle tried to bubble up despite Kalos keeping her lips tightly shut and that made her expression extremely muddled, part relief and part panic. Zorro hadn't yet acquired a taste for runaway girls.

Somehow this whole day had gone a bit sideways. Rowan whispered under his breath that it was going to be okay and Kalos used the softer skin of her wrist to wipe at her face despite the fact that she wasn't crying. With one more glance up at the window to be sure they weren't in easy eye-sight, Kalos relaxed marginally. She had to lean close so that she, too, could breathe her words in the barest whisper.

"I didn't mean to land on you. I'm sorry. I just- someone was coming and I forgot about Zorro for a second there." She pointed up at the window, sparing some attention to check on Zorro's whereabouts— still not in easy lunge-at-her range.

"It's the surplus storage near the laundry. I don't think —" She cut herself off when the window above them abruptly shirred to a solid close and the lock clicked into place. She heard a voice say something from the other side, but with a whole wall between them it was impossible to say what was said.

Kalos blinked at Rowan for a heartbeat and closed her hanging open mouth.

"Okay. So. Going back in that way is no longer an option."

"Hey, you don't have to apologize. You didn't really fall on me, I was trying to catch you and slipped, we can blame the ice, I'm not very graceful."

Rowan was trying, and failing, not to blush again. Now the immediate danger of Kalos having a dog based panic attack had passed he was again flustered. But he couldn't just dump the girl off his lap, she wasn't dressed for the cold, and seemed to be lacking shoes.

"You said someone was coming? So...were you actually playing like...intense hide and seek? Jumping from a window is a bit extreme not to get caught in a game."

He took a glance up at the window to the storage room. It wasn't too high up. He figured he could give her a boost, or maybe prop up on his hands and knees like a little step-ladder for her. Just as Rowan was about to explain his plan the window was closed, and locked. The boy frowned. Okay...new plan...

The shifter scratched at the back of his head.

"Alright...well. I could...uh...carry you, if you're comfortable with that. It's a bit too snowy to be walking around without shoes..."

Rowan blushes again, looking away.

"And...uhm...if you don't want to be carried...you could take my shoes? It's not...uhm...that cold and it's not too far to the front door...and if you're still hiding we could try to find an open window, or back door, to sneak through."

He did catch her. She was caught. Kalos squirmed, realizing for the first time that she wasn't sitting on the ice, she was sitting on him. Between the dog and the window, she hadn't spared a thought for where she'd ended up until she'd noticed his face turning red.

Oh no she was smushing him! He had to be getting smooshed. Kalos tried to shift her weight so he wouldn't be flattened like a bug, but she didn't exactly have leverage without putting herself onto the icy snow.

"Intense hide and seek?" Dang. She was caught between a rock and a hard place. "No. I just... sometimes I want to be by myself. Like. When I might maybe deserve to be in trouble." Hence the willingness to jump out of a window rather than get caught. Kalos wasn't always the best at thinking ahead or making super sound life choices. She was more of a gut feeling and take action kind of gal.

And that's how she ended up outside with no shoes in the middle of a snowy winter day on a boy's lap with him offering to carry her back inside.

"No. Please. I can walk." Was snow even that cold? She hadn't exactly tried it. "You shouldn't be punished because I am being selfish." She wiggled her feet out and showed off her coral encrusted soles. Her feet were already protected, right? And she was wearing pants and a big hoodie. She wasn't going to just up and die unless the dog helped.

Kalos collected her feet back when Zorro came trotting back toward them, nose down and ready to sniff. Where she had relaxed before, again Kalos went rigid. Zorro was a good dog like Angua. That didn't mean Kalos and Angua hung out ever. But, they had a sort of truce to stay away from one another. Zorro just kept coming back.

The shifter frowned slightly. He understood the desire to be alone, in fact he had been isolating himself for awhile now. It was the second part that troubled him.

"Trouble? Kalos, no offense, but I can't imagine you doing something bad enough that it warrants jumping out a window to hide."

"Dummy! You sound like a creep offering to carry her!" Rowan mentally scolded himself. He took a moment to compose himself, still looking away from the girl he caught.

"A-alright, just, lemme know if it's too cold..." He scratched nervously at the back of his head. "I...I wouldn't call it a punishment, or you selfish, I'm just...uhm...trying to lend a hand."

And he did just that, bashfully offering his arm to help Kalos stand up. It was pretty icy near the wall of the school and he really didn't want her to lose her footing as she stood up. Rowan felt her tense up again, prompting him to look over at Zorro. For a moment he wished the dog was a smaller, slower, breed.

"Zorro! Wait!"

Rowan sighed slightly, relieved that Zorro took his command and stopped, but still worried about stressing out Kalos.

"I...I am really sorry about Zorro, he's just excited.

Realizing he was still standing pretty close to Kalos he took a shy step away.

"And, uhm...we - er...I mean I don't have to walk you back inside...I'm just...worried about you being cold..."