Beyond The Fangs

Chapter 18

JAEGER

The exercise had been an absolute waste of time. Why did she always want to be doing something, saying something? A trust exercise? And why did she have to pick an exercise that was so physical, so involved?

I kept getting these weird sensations every time I caught her and every time she caught me. The sensations were foreign and I just wanted to get the drill over and done with, but when I caught her in my arms the last time, I felt a surge of emotions, enough to render me frozen, but as soon as she pushed away, I thawed. 

I wasn't sure what emotion I had felt at that moment, and I didn't think I wanted to know. 

I decided that since I was outside, I might as well look for something to eat. The nearest village was the village Derkshin, so I began making my way there, hoping to find some non-perishables. On the way, I encountered an animal roaming around and I decided to take it with me rather than going all the way to Derkshin. 

I returned just before the night fell, and a high-pitched squeal escaped Izzy, her eyes lighting up as soon as she laid eyes on the dinner. She really was a savage for food.

"A dog!" She squeaked and rushed to pet it.

"You're excited by a dog?" I analysed her. "Do you like dog that much?"

"I love dogs," she told me. "We don't have any in Lilliville, so yes, I'm very excited. I've only ever seen dogs once before, at Derkshin, and the sole reason I loved that village so much was because it was packed with dogs." She didn't take her eyes off of the dog once. "I wonder how many dogs are there now."

"I wonder," I said, not taking my eyes off of her. 

"Are you all alone little fella?" she asked the dog. "I'm sorry, buddy."

"Are you seriously talking to a dog?"

"Yes, I am. It's not weird," she added with a glare and then continued petting it. "Are we keeping it?" She looked under the dog's belly, "I mean her? Is she company? Oh, please tell me she's company." I couldn't help the tug at my lips which only widened when Izzy added, "I can't stand only your company any longer."

I realised that Izzy didn't love dogs in the context I thought. She loved them as pets, not as food. This was going to be interesting. 

"For now," I told her.

"For now?"

"Just until dinner," I said mischievously, "because she's dinner."

She gasped, horrified, "I am not eating this dog. And neither are you."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't eat dogs, only people from the Cher village eat dogs, which I find utterly disturbing."

"They eat dogs because dogs are delicious," I said even though I had never actually tried dog. I only took it now to save time but I started to feel sick at the thought of eating it. I didn't understand how the Cher people did it. Izzy didn't need to know how I truly felt though. "If you eat one you'll start craving them all the time, just like how I'm craving this one."

"You are not touching this dog," she stated, then looked over at the dog, "he's not going to touch you, don't you worry girl, he doesn't mean it."

I don't know why I found it so amusing watching her being protective of a dog and talking to it like that.

"I should probably name her, don't you think?" She asked. "You can't eat something with a name."

"How about Dinner?" I suggested, suppressing a smirk. She shot a glare at me, making my efforts to suppress a smirk fail.

"How old are you?" She suddenly asked, and it was only because the question sounded genuine and not like she just wanted to change the topic that I was surprised.

"What?"

"How old are you?" She repeated.

"Why?"

"I just got curious. When you do certain things with your face you look younger."

"Certain things like what?" I raised a brow.

"Oh, you know," she looked at the dog again. "Smile."

Both brows rose and I stared at her, unblinking. I had been smiling more than usual these days, and I didn't understand why. Despite knowing this I said, "I don't smile."

"Yah... you do," She told me, looking at me again. "I saw it just now."

"That was not a smile, you're seeing things."

"No, I'm not. That was a genuine smile, I can tell 'cause your eyes lit up."

My eyebrows creased now, "do you study my facial expressions or something?" She didn't answer and eventually looked at the dog again. "Do you know how creepy that is?"

"No, I—I only noticed, I didn't..." she stammered. "Forget about your face okay! We're not eating the dog."

That was such an obvious effort to change the topic.

"The dog was for dinner," I told her, "if you don't want to eat it then we won't, but that means going to sleep without eating, which I can manage perfectly fine."

"I can manage it too," she said, though I knew that was a lie. "I've gone a full day without eating before," she shot me a pointed look.

"Alright then," I said as I began walking away, "at least you have something else to do now. You can play with the dog rather than study my face."

"I wasn't studying your face!"

My lips curved upward at her efforts to justify herself, and then I noticed it. I was smiling again. I wiped the smile off my face, wondering why it even appeared in the first place. What she said wasn't even funny, yet I smiled.

Smiling wasn't the only issue, she even managed to make me laugh at times. Even when I tried not to, I did. 

And I really hated that.