Ok, so it was a disaster, she was running at the mouth and nothing like sense was coming out. But he wasn’t running. Whether out of pity or kindness or some sort of masochism she couldn’t tell. But he was willing to play along and was being rather nice about it. The least she could do was hold her tongue and not run screaming from him, poor man. The latter was much harder than the former but she managed it. She turned and moved towards her shaky recollection of the route she’d chosen on the map trusting Mr. Eadoré to follow or flee as fit his mood. 

As she walked she ran through a variety of possible topics to fill in the quiet space between them but nothing felt like it wouldn’t feel forced. She could talk about her work she supposed but beyond owning Mowzer, or being owned by, she didn’t know how much interest he had in animals. She worried about asking after his life lest she bring up the loss they had all experienced. The loss that felt like an oppressive pallor to Stella at all times. The metal of the hallway, the distant hums and beeps of machinery wore at her and the silence that was anything but silent became almost too much. But they then they were outside her office which was blessedly empty. She wasn’t certain what the set up for the second shift was for Veterinary services but she imagined she’d have all sorts of things to read and make sense of. But notes, even on one of those horrible tablets were better than people telling her too much all at once. 

She opened the door and gestured Mr. Eadoré in and walked the few strides to the small medical kit by the door that lead to the animals, ignoring the desk with it’s blinking screen that no doubt had a million things she’d need to attend to. Not yet though. She’d petted one fine piece of tale and then embarrassed herself. She found she was needing a bit more fur therapy and maybe it could work into an effective round about apology. 

 It was a matter of seconds to open the box and pull out the small bottle of spray antiseptic and held it up to him.

“We’ll get you cleaned up and then if you like you can come along as I tour the nursery and see what’s new. Wanna pet a baby apex predator?” 

She pulled the top off and tossed it to the desk where it bounced of that cursed blinking screen and clattered into the corner. She ignored it. 

“Lift your shirt so I can get your back.”