Not Your Dog

K-9 VI

Meals in Compound 9 were either porridge plain bread or nutrient fluid. When Allen asked why, they explained it was because the only crop that actually grew and could be harvested without problems, was barley. Although barley could be used to make many things, the only chef didn't have the resources to be very creative. Even cattle and such animals were scarce due to spacing issues.

The compound had a total of five cows, ten brooding chickens and a goat. The animals had been snatched off a farm during the early days. At that time, many animals had to be killed after mutating and becoming dangerous.

When talking about the food situation, Allen's interest was piqued. One of his missions involved solving the farming situation.

"Are there other types of seeds?" Allen asked. His wide eyes were sparkling with curiosity and Eoin couldn't help but rub his head and laugh. The rest of the group fell into silence, shocked by Eoin's gentleness. Niall just looked away. That was totally not his brother!

"Of course there are more seeds. However there are very few due to the compounds attempt to farm. Those seeds are guarded by the other scientists." Eoin explained. Eoin looked at Allen's sparkling eyes and, as though reading his thoughts, carried on to say "I can retrieve a few seeds for you to play with."

Allen nodded enthusiastically at the offer. If he could get a hold of some seeds he would be able to complete part of his mission.

After finishing the bland meal, Allen followed behind Eoin much like a puppy. No matter where Eoin went, Allen followed closely behind as if anxious at the thought of getting separated. In Allen's mind, Eoin was simply too close in resemblance to Asukai.

Finally returning back to Eoin's laboratory, Allen was clutching the precious seeds close to his chest with an invisible tail wagging enthusiastically. Allen did not look like a professionally trained assassin from the Institute. Eoin watched as Allen pulled out flasks and test tubes in annoyance as he looked for a container in which to germinate the seeds.

"Here." Eoin said softly as he handed a beaker to the young boy. Allen tilted his head slightly while assessing the piece of equipment. Determining that it would probably work for his purposes, he grabbed the beaker. Allen carefully lined the inside with paper towels before sprinkling a few seeds and then carefully padding more of the tissue like paper on top.

Eoin watched the process with mild curiosity. His work leaned more towards being a biologist rather than an agricultural scientist, however he was still proficient with the process of growing plants. To Eoin, Allen's actions were adorable but served no purpose as even the "agricultural scientists" could not achieve the result that the boy wanted.

It was only when Allen was adding water that Eoin noticed the soft glow surrounding Allen's hands. With his eyes narrowed, Eoin snatched the boy's arm, inspecting the golden and warm glow. Eoin turned his gaze to the boy's eyes and noticed the azure irises ringed with gold.

"So beautiful." Eoin muttered. A strong desire to dissect the boy up and investigate this phenomenon arose. Eoin shook his head trying to dispel the urge, but it continued to invade his mind. Eoin stumbled, pushing Allen away. No, he couldn't cut open the boy! Experimenting on the boy would go against all his previous instincts and desires. Allen watched curiously as Eoin left the room clutching his head in pain.

"System? Is he going to be OK?" Allen quietly asked.

[Replying to host, there are no anomalies detected.] Allen sighed slightly in relief at the systems perfunctory reply. Out of all the people he had met, Eoin seemed the most reliable. Allen smiled gently to himself before continuing to play with the beaker and the seeds. To him it seemed that the red hand print around his wrist meant nothing special.

Allen had long since noticed his affinity with nature. He knew that there were few people with affinities who were called the Gifted. Most of those that were gifted were research subjects or in positions of high power.

Allen had not originally been gifted in any way until after he transmigrated into Allen. When Allen had asked the system about it, the mechanical voice replied; [The so called "Gift" is the ability of a human's soul and cannot be inherited by host.]

Allen had briefly responded with an "en" of acknowledgement before returning his attention back to the seeds which had started to sprout under the warmth of his ability.

When Eoin finally returned to the laboratory, it was to find Allen seated on the floor expressionlessly cradling germinating seeds. When Allen noticed Eoin's presence he held the beaker up in presentation. His entire look was like that of a puppy which had found a new toy and presented it proudly to its master. Eoin could not resist the urge to walk forward and gently pat the soft head.

Allen shoved the beaker into Eoin's grasp, indicating that it was for him.  The soft smile melted Eoin's heart slightly.

"Little Allen is gifted." Eoin said, his voice seemed extra soothing and kind. If Niall were present, he would shudder in fear. Whenever Eoin smiled gently like that, it meant something terrible would happen. However Allen did not know about this danger, and so obediently nodded his head with a sparkle in his eyes.

A.N.

Thank you to all my patient readers for enduring so long for this update. It's been assignment after stressful assignment but now we're finally finished for the year! So hopefully this means I can update Not Your Dog and Temperamental more often! 😊