Still Figuring It All Out

After dinner, when the humans are settled together in the gathering-room and talking about things he neither understands nor cares about, Pak takes a strategic position in Yangchen's lap. She immediately begins scratching and petting, using both hands to crest across the fur covering his back. Contented, Pak purrs and chitters happily, arching his spine into her hands to get her nails deeper into his fluffy undercoat.

"You're so sweet," Yangchen coos softly, rubbing under his chin with one hand and scratching the base of his tail with the other.

I am so sweet!

"What about me? Am I sweet, too?"

Pak's tail lashes across Yangchen's lap at the sound of the boy's grating mouth-noises. He opens his eyes to send a withering glare in his direction, but is totally and completely ignored.

And what's worse — one of Yangchen's hands has stopped petting him!

Instead, her hand is moving to settle against the boy's, fingers twining together. She makes a snorting sound at him, but it lacks the vitriol Pak is hoping for. "Maybe every now and then."

The boy grins and squeezes Yangchen's hand with his own, obviously gloating at stealing it away from finally getting at the itchy spot he's had all day. "I think I'm pretty sweet, truth be told."

Pak can't watch this. It's sickening, absolutely sickening. He hops off Yangchen's lap, chirping in disgust. Who does this boy think he is, keeping half of his owner's wonderful petting power for himself? He barely even has enough fur to pet in the first place!

It's sickening, it really is. Which actually gives him an idea…

Oh, this will teach him.

~~~~

"WHY IS THERE LEMUR PUKE IN MY BOOT?!"

~~~~

"Sorry, you two," Yangchen's voice is apologetic as she places her lemurs outside, carefully blocking them from re-entering the bedroom with her foot. "You can't be in here for a bit. Go and find somewhere else to play, alright?"

The door shuts. Pak waits for it to reopen with Yangchen ushering the waterbender boy out as well, but with no luck. Once again, he is allowed to remain inside while the lemurs are left out in the cold.

There's a slight breeze down the hallway. It counts as cold.

Pik, for his part, yawns widely, spreading his wings in a nice stretch. He curls into a ball next to the door, nose twitching as he quickly resumes his nap. How he can stand to sleep in the face of this injustice, Pak will never understand.

Fine. If Yangchen won't force the boy outside herself, Pak will have to take matters into his own paws and convince him to exit, freeing up Yangchen's attention for her two most devoted companions. He starts scratching at the door.

No reaction. Whatever the humans are doing in that room is rather noisy, so they must not be able to hear him yet. No matter.

After the fourth screeching yowl, the human noises pause. Pak's keen ears can pick up exactly what they're saying, even through the thick wooden door.

"Is he still yelling out there?"

As if he would abandon his mistress — the audacity!

"Just ignore him, Kavik, he'll get tired eventually."

Of course not! When it comes to Yangchen, he will prove himself, always.

So, Pak keeps screeching. And screeching. Until finally, the bedroom door opens, revealing the waterbender boy with an expression of thunder.

"Fine!" He shouts as Pak dashes inside the room, jumping to the bed to reclaim his rightful spot in Yangchen's lap. "You win — this time."

Pak snorts aloud, whiskers twitching. We'll see about that.

~~~~

The waterbender boy is proving more difficult to shake than Pak gave him credit for, he will admit. He learned to ignore the yowling every time the door is shut, and he's started to lock his boots in a drawer or a closet at night to prevent further vomit shenanigans.

Still, Pak refuses to be deterred. He will not lose Yangchen to this lemur-tossing monster.

He just can't seem to figure out exactly why his master is so enamored. Even Pik is on his side these days, willingly curling at the boy's side while he works — he actually heard him purring the other day.

Pak, on the other paw, can see through these charms. He really isn't that great, all things considered. Not as fluffy (already established) and he doesn't even bring good gifts back to the room he and Yangchen use as a nest. It's just paper, paper, paper. And he's so big — he could do better if he actually tried. He just doesn't care about Yangchen the way Pak does.

To prove this, he decides he has to show it. Show his master that without a doubt, this odd boy clearly doesn't have what it takes to remain at her side. She should choose someone better. Better yet, she shouldn't choose anyone. Is Pak not enough for her?

Holding back the yowl he so desperately wants to give, Pak creeps across the wooden floor in the darkened sleeping-room, hopping deftly onto the bed. The two humans asleep on top of it don't register his presence, allowing him to crawl all the way to their heads, totally unnoticed.

They did their odd grooming ritual earlier, though Pak always cringes to see it. Did neither of them ever learn how to groom one another properly? For how little fur they have on their heads, they somehow miss it completely every time, instead focusing their mouths and tongues on every other bit of the body except the most important part. The fur is where all the best bugs hide!

If he really is a good companion, Pak reasons, the boy will have plenty of bugs trapped in his head-fur for Yangchen to enjoy. And she does enjoy bugs — she always pets and praises her lemurs when they leave them on her pillow.

Reaching a nimble paw down, he grabs into the waterbender's fur on top of his head. His fingers meet scalp with no tagalongs to be had. Just as suspected.

But to be sure, really sure, he probably should check the rest of his head. And check it well, at that. He goes in with the second paw, grappling around and tugging.

"What the —" the boy's sleepy mumble turns into a high-pitched yelp when Pak tugs his hair again. And again. And you know, he should probably check with his teeth, too —

More shrieking. The waterbender boy sits up, trying to yank Pak from his head. His fingers dig deeper into his scalp, holding on with all his might. He will not be tossed away by this boy a second time.

Yangchen is awake now too, rubbing at her eyes and yawning. Her voice is soft, but it holds all the command in the world. "Both of you, stop it."

The boy stops tugging, though he gives a long groan of frustration. "See? I'm telling you, he has it out for me!"

Yangchen rolls her eyes. "He just wants to snuggle, Kavik."

Snuggle?? The boy repeats Pak's sentiment aloud.

"Just let him lay down with us for the night. He can't get to know you better if you're always pushing him away."

"Yangchen, his claws are in my head."

"If you relax, so will he."

Slowly, the waterbender boy lays back down on the pillow. Pak's paws remain in place. There are no bugs hiding in his fur, as he knew all along, but Yangchen taking his side has given him hope, warm fuzzy feelings in his equally warm and fuzzy chest. Maybe there's still a chance!

"Yangchen, he's still not letting go."

"Something tells me you're going to survive."

Pak does let go, eventually. Holding on so tight isn't very nice on his paws, and being half smothered by the boy's big head isn't exactly pleasant. He gets up to settle in somewhere more comfortable.

That somewhere, being, naturally, directly on top of the waterbender boy's face. He receives a muffled groan from his action, but no move is taken to push him away this time.

He curls up into a tight little ball, smug to the very tip of his tail. Domination at last!

~~~~

Pik, for his part in this battle of wills, has fully and completely joined the dark side.

Pak glares at him from up in a rafter, watching his brother purr and rub along the boy's ankles as he makes his way to the desk. The boy laughs, reaching into his pocket to grab something: a piece of seal jerky. Pik chitters and flies to sit on his shoulder, receiving the treat with a happy lash of his ringed tail.

The traitor!

Pik glances up into the rafters, chirping softly in Pak's direction. You could get treats too, if you were nicer.

He's stealing our mistress from us, Pik!

The other lemur yawns, wrapping himself around the boy's shoulders. Suit yourself. More treats for me.

So he's on his own now. A minor setback.

The waterbender boy sits down at the desk, scratching Pik under the chin. He sweeps aside the many papers, brows beginning to furrow. He opens up one drawer, and then another. "I could have sworn…"

Clearly, he never needed Pik for his plans, anyway. Pak grips the pencil in his paws tighter, hopping quietly between the rafters until he reaches the corner of the room, the one concealed in darkness even during the day.

"There's no way — it was just here! I can't have misplaced a pencil that quickly."

No, you couldn't. Pak tucks his newest treasure into the nest he's been constructing, settling it between more pencils, loose hair ties, and the shoelace he finally was able to remove earlier that morning. But I could!

~~~~

"Yangchen, he is doing it on purpose, I swear —"

Pak purrs in Yangchen's arms, fluttering his big, green, totally innocent eyes at her.

"I think you're just easily startled," Yangchen replies with a shrug. "Nobody else on the team is scared of Pak."

"Because nobody else on the team is being singled out by him!"

Then, much to Pak's dismay, Yangchen turns her cooing, sweet tone of voice to the boy! "Oh, you poor, poor thing. Being singled out by an animal barely the size of your head — however do you cope?"

The boy puffs his chest out — don't do that, it makes you look stupid — as Yangchen moves in closer, still holding Pak in her arms. "It is pretty hard work defending myself, I'll give you that."

Yangchen snickers. Pak doesn't like where this is going. "Would a little kiss help make you braver?"

"Well, if it's from the Avatar —"

"Oh, shut up." Pak barely escapes before Yangchen swoops in close to the waterbender, hissing furiously as he flies down the hall.

Seriously, how does the boy do it? Is he keeping something tasty in his mouth, and that's why Yangchen has to get inside it multiple times a day? Should Pak start keeping things in his mouth, too? Would that help?

He's almost at a loss, but he's determined to not give up. Time for another plan.

~~~~

The waterbender boy has grown lax about his shoes again, even with Pak having recently stolen the laces. They sit at the foot of the bed, nothing at all to guard them, exposed to all and sundry.

Pak spent the evening flying around the town, gorging himself on the ripest fruit he could find until his belly was so full it was a struggle to slip back in through the cracked window. Then he went into the washroom and drank the bathwater before it could drain away, leftover suds and all.

His stomach is definitely rumbling. Perfect.

Waddling himself over to the boy's shoes, he sets himself up. Head down, perfect angle. Feet nice and wide apart. And heave. And heave. And heave, heave, heave —

"Oh no you don't!"

Pak finds himself swept into the air, the furious gaze of the waterbender boy meeting his own. Unfortunately for him, he's exactly where Pak wants him; he's walked right into his trap.

The boy's shout is loud enough to make Pak's ears twitch as the lemur vomits right down the front of his bare chest.

"Are you — are you fucking kidding me right now?!"

From her own side of the bed-nest, Yangchen stirs, sitting up halfway. "What's wrong this time?"

"Your lemur just puked on me, Yangchen!"

Her only response is to roll over, pulling the blankets back up to her chin. "Leave me out this."

The boy just gapes. Pak tastes soap and vomits a little bit more, this time on himself. Whoops.

Something in the waterbender's gaze softens, just slightly, gone after a fleeting moment. "Fine. Okay. Let's get cleaned up."

He carries the lemur into the washroom, still holding him at arm's length, and sets him down in the sink. Sighing, he pulls water from the faucet and cleans them both off with easy, practiced motions, leaving them both spotless in just a few minutes.

"Look, Pak," the boy starts. He groans, rolling his eyes. "Spirits, I can't believe I'm doing this. This is stupid."

Saying that to the lemur who threw up on you less than ten minutes ago. I did it once and I could do it again.

"Look," he tries again, "I don't exactly know what your issue is, but whatever it is, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for throwing you out the window that one time, and I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you hate me so much. Can we call a truce? Please?"

For a minute, Pak almost considers it. His big blue eyes are somewhat compelling. But no, that's just the upset stomach talking. He can't call a truce, not while he's still ousting Pak from his rightful place as Yangchen's favorite.

"I'll let you lick my plate after breakfast tomorrow."

Well, okay. Maybe there can be a ceasefire. Just for now.

~~~~

The ceasefire holds. At least, it does on Pak's end. The boy doesn't have the decency to leave Yangchen alone still, but Pak is letting it slide. He's running out of ideas for how to remove him from Yangchen's life.

The boy even offered him a piece of seal jerky yesterday. Which, much to Pak's chagrin, was delicious.

He had crawled under the bed in Yangchen's room earlier, intending to do some plotting, maybe jump out and grab at the boy's ankles, things of that nature. But plotting is tiring, even moreso when you're a five-pound lemur who's out of ideas, and he ended up falling asleep.

He's awoken when the bed above him begins to creak. He might have slept through it if it were just the single creak, the kind made by a body settling down onto it.

This creaking is different. It's loud, incessant. The bed frame almost seems to move in time with it. And what's more — the humans that are on top of the bed and causing all this creaking are being ridiculously noisy.

They must not have noticed Pak was still in the room. Usually they kick him out when they do… whatever it is they're doing that's so noisy and making the bed shake. The boy gives a particularly loud groan that makes Pak twitch his ears and wrinkle his nose. There's weird smells, too, like the normal human scents have been heightened.

Above him, Pak catches the sound of Yangchen's voice. Even his superb hearing can't make out the words, but she sounds happy enough. This human activity is strange. He curls back in on himself with a yawn, hoping to sleep through it.

Then — a sharp cry. Yangchen. She's crying out words he doesn't understand, but he doesn't need to. Something is wrong. He has to save her!

Scurrying out from beneath the bed, Pak can hardly believe his eyes. The waterbender boy is on top of Yangchen, pinning her down to the bed. Her nails are digging into his back, she's crying out — he's hurting her!

Pak sees red. Screeching with all the fury his tiny body can muster, he flings himself onto the bed, landing on the boy's back with all four sets of claws out. There's shouting, but he pays it no mind, hissing and yowling until his teeth meet flesh.

In the blur of his protective rage, Pak doesn't realize who the hands that grab him belong to. He keeps hissing, fighting back, fur flying until a voice he recognizes cuts through. "Pak, stop!"

He halts in his tracks, green eyes wide. He can taste blood on his tongue. Yangchen is holding him in place, her chest heaving as her own eyes flicker between her lemur and the boy in her bed, at a loss for words.

The waterbender is the first to speak, voice breathless. "What the fuck just happened?!"

Pak hisses at him, raising hackles only stopped by Yangchen's tightening grip. "We must have startled him, Kavik. I didn't even realize he was still here."

"Startled," the boy scoffs disbelievingly, "I doubt it. I bet he was lying in wait for us, just so he could get me where it really hurt."

Yangchen's eyes widen slightly. "Did he actually hurt you?"

"Yangchen, there are bite marks on my ass."

"Not the first time that's happened to you…"

The boy sputters. "Not the time! Just get him out of here — I'm not going to die of some horrible lemur disease now, am I?"

"You'd have to be really unlucky to die of lemurpox," Yangchen replies. Ignoring the boy's startled noises, she pulls Pak tighter to her chest, keeping him contained. "But no, he's not going out of here. Come on, put your clothes back on."

There's a frustrated groan in response, but the boy does as she says. Pak glares at him the entire time, a fluffy ball of unadulterated lemur rage. While the boy gets dressed, Yangchen carefully maneuvers Pak to still keep a firm hold on him while she tosses an orange robe over herself and goes to grab something from the desk.

Yangchen settles herself on the rug covering the floor, setting up a small dish with a particularly pungent scent. She gestures for the waterbender to join her, and again he does. Still, following orders now does nothing to erase what he did earlier, not in Pak's book. He deserves that bite in the tenderest spot of flesh.

"We're doing a cleansing ritual," Yangchen declares, flourishing an arm to light the incense sticks she grabbed.

The waterbender boy pinches the bridge of his nose. "This is so stupid."

Yangchen shoots back a withering glare. "No, what's stupid is that I'm having to do a cleansing ritual between a grown man and a flying lemur. I don't understand how it came to this."

"I told you, he hates me. He always has. Today was just another one of his revenge plots."

Yangchen ignores him, instead turning her attention to her lemur. "Pak, I'm going to let you go now. Do not attack Kavik again. I'm just trying to understand what's going on."

Fine. If it makes her happy. Upon his release, Pak curls up against her side, still glaring at the boy.

"Alright," Yangchen continues, "everyone is going to get their chance to air their grievances, and then we'll let the smoke carry it all away. Pak, did you bite Kavik because you don't like him, or because you got scared?"

"Are you seriously asking the lemur —"

"If you want any chance at finishing what we started earlier you'll hold that thought right there."

Yes, Yangchen, make him shut up!

"Pak." He turns to look at his master, imploring her to understand. He was hurting you!

Her voice softens, and she strokes a gentle hand across his back. "He was scared. He thought you were hurting me, and so he tried to protect me."

Pak turns his gaze to the boy. His lips are in a tight, displeased line. "How can you be so sure?"

Yangchen scoops Pak back into her arms, scratching behind his ears just the way he likes. "Pak, Kavik wasn't hurting me. Thank you for looking out for me, but I was okay."

Are you sure? Are you sure it isn't just his mind tricks making you like him?

"Pak," the boy speaks, and the lemur glances back at him in surprise. "I wasn't hurting Yangchen. I promise."

His voice gets a bit lower, a bit quieter. "I would never hurt Yangchen. I care about her, the same way you do."

A hand is offered in his direction. Pak tenses, tail lashing. Yangchen scratches his head one last time and places him back on the rug, as if in encouragement.

The boy — Kavik — speaks again. "It's probably been hard to share Yangchen, hasn't it? Probably feels like I'm taking her away a bit?"

Pak blinks at him, but doesn't move. Kavik keeps speaking. "I'm not trying to take Yangchen from you, Pak. You're her lemur, and she loves you. Me being around doesn't change that."

After so long and so much time spent trying to get rid of him, trying to make sure Pik and Pak remained Yangchen's best and only companions, it's hard to hear. Hard to believe.

But then again, Yangchen likes him. For some strange reason he may never know, she really likes him. And Pak likes Yangchen — loves Yangchen. Maybe… this boy loves her too?

Tentatively, he reaches for Kavik's outstretched hand. He licks at it with a rough tongue, getting a small chuckle in response. He steps closer, letting Kavik pet him with a surprisingly gentle hand.

"There we go," Yangchen says, a smile in her voice. Her arms wave to bend the incense smoke, weaving it around the three of them on the rug until she sends it out the window, extinguishing the flame. "That's what I like to see. Feel better?"

Pak chitters back at her, allowing Kavik to pet him again. Maybe, just maybe, this boy isn't so bad, after all.

Yangchen grins at them, lighting up the room. As if drawn by the same invisible force, Pak and Kavik meet eyes, the same understanding transcending language and species.

If it's for you, we'll make it work.

----

This morning, the clouds were light and puffy, casting little dancing shadows across the grass. Zolt followed the trail, crossing the small bridge that led onto a small rise in the middle of the pond. At the high point of the islet, a young tree was ringed by a bench that faced over the water, and out into the park beyond. He picked a spot in the shadow of the tree and set the bag down beside himself.

He leaned his head back and took in a contented breath.

A rustle from the bag startled him.

Looking down, he noticed a scrawny owlcat swiping at the bag. The poor thing got its claws hooked in the bag through the slats in the bench, but then was caught. The bag was too big to pull through, and the creature wasn’t quite strong enough to extract its paw from the bag.

When Zolt twisted in his seat to see how to help, the owlcat’s efforts got frantic.

“Calm down. I'm trying to help you.” He got down on one knee, carefully watching the other three paws and that beak that could likely take a finger off if he wasn’t careful.

He kept speaking softly to the creature, not touching it until it stopped snapping and hissing at him. He reached out and stroked one finger down its back. It seemed almost to shiver, rustling its feathers and closing its eyes.

With his other hand, he tore off the part of the bag the cat’s claws had clenched so tightly. The animal lurched backwards into his hand, and he pulled it out from under the bench. It wriggled unexpectedly, and bolted away to hide in a bush.

A quick inspection of his arm showed only a few small scratches that he could clean up when he got home. It hadn’t even snagged his jacket.

The smaller dumpling landed just outside the leaves of the bush, only to be claimed immediately.

He smiled to himself and rocked back to sit on the grass, watching the spot where the owlcat had disappeared.

So he was startled when he heard a voice from behind him.

“What are you doing here?”

He looked over his shoulder to find a face he absolutely recognized, and not only from the papers.

She might be just as much older as he was, but the stunningly attractive woman he had met over twenty years before on a random weekend in Zigan City was staring back at him.

“Well ‘hello’ to you, too,” he said with a smirk and a wink.

She grunted and crossed her arms, holding a bag with a stamp from the same dumpling stand he had just left.

“Do you have any of the rhino-bison buns in there? I think my new friend is still hungry.”

As if on cue, the little owlcat was perched just inside the leafy perimeter of the bush. Its body was still so small, they could see it sway with the sweep of its tail.

His new human companion gave an amused huff, opened her bag, and pulled out a dumpling. She crouched and rolled it in the animal’s direction. Her face pinched a bit, and he watched her make a small motion with her fingers.

The earth under the dumpling seemed to ripple, pushing the dumpling a little further toward the owlcat. They watched it sniff once and jump forward to take a bite before backing under the bush again.

That didn’t last long.

The owlcat did its best impression of being a fearsome hunter, creeping forward slowly. When the dumpling remained still, the animal pounced and began tearing into the defenseless morsel.

The woman put her hand down, settling onto the grass beside him.

“Are you taking Bing-Bing home, or am I?”

He smirked at her.

“From what I saw in the papers this morning, you haven’t retired yet. So I’ll take the little monster. Maybe if we run into each other in less than twenty years, you can visit.”

When she turned a nod into a soft smirk, he found it hard to breathe.

A few weeks later, the hydrangeas had shed their blooms, and the heat was beginning to climb.

Lin had initially regretted keeping her armor on, but when passing by the park on the way home, she found use for it.

That handsome man she had met all those years ago and then recently again was standing under a tree, reaching out with a dumpling.

Another arm’s length over his head, a clearly terrified foxcat clung tightly to a branch that was swaying in the breeze.

“Keep this up, and I’ll have to put you on the animal control payroll.”

The man jumped and the animal overhead barked.

He pressed the back of his hand against his chest, preserving the dumpling from getting smashed across his tailored jacket.

“What are you doing here? You snuck up on me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I think you were too distracted with flirting with that poor animal.”

When he gave her an unamused side-eye, she just crossed her arms and made to continue watching his antics. But clearly, he had other ideas. He knit his brow and gave her an up-and-down look.

“Why don’t you use those famous cables of yours and pull the branch down? That way, you can take Bao-Bao home this time. We can set him up with Bing-Bing for a play date.”

She laughed, and his grin made his face light up. With a chuckle, she shook her head and took a few steps forward.

With a soft stomp, she lifted herself on a pillar of earth, until she was level with the scared creature. Making those annoying noises one made to reassure a small animal, she ensured her hands were covered by her uniform.

The animal, however, was possessed of its own mind, and leaped straight for her face.

She fell backwards, the cat somehow in her hands, just out of reach of her nose. In the two seconds it took her to fall, she had time to relive her first scars.

The man’s shout of surprise and pain was cut short when her weight pushed the air from his lungs. She rolled away, still cradling the stupid cat in her hands.

She punched the ground around the animal, closing it in to a small stone tent.

On her hands and knees, Lin scrambled over to the man’s side, where he was gasping for air. Some nearly-forgotten training kicked in. She took a huge breath, pinched his nose, and pressed her lips to his, pushing the air into his mouth.

He flailed in a panic, and she released his face. He labored to pull in a breath, but managed to sit upright long enough to roll away from her. On his hands and knees, he continued raking in breaths until he was able to even out the effort it took.

Lin rubbed his back until he took one very long, careful breath and sat back on his haunches.

He coughed a few times and rubbed his chest. “I guess I didn’t think that through real good.”

She scoffed and looked back at the cage, where little cat paws were snaking out to scrape at the enclosure. A quick look around found the somehow un-squashed dumpling, so she opened a small gap and dropped it in. The sounds of eating rose up, so she returned the cage to the ground.

The foxcat didn’t even look at them when it grabbed the food in its mouth and vanished into the same bush that Bing-Bing had used not so long before.

They watched in silence, but the foxcat didn't not return for more treats. Eventually, Lin turned to the man.

“Were you giving away your leftovers again, or was that your dinner?”

His rueful smile gave her his answer.

The proprietor of the Jade Dragon was happy to see them, and was surprised when they settled down at a table and ordered from the menu instead of carrying out their usual orders. Two bottles of soju later, he was happier still.

When he abashedly asked them to leave so he could lock up, Lin paid him enough to apologize, and Zolt ushered her out into the cooling evening.

They walked, side by side, back in the direction of the park, in no particular rush. Lin allowed that she would not be working the following day, and Zolt decided to let the kid who worked for him handle things, at least for a few hours.

They diverted around the edge of the park, long since closed for the night. Just as they waited to cross the street to continue on the way to Zolt’s apartment, they each felt something brushed their legs.

They looked at each other, looked down, and watched as Bao-Bao snaked around them, rubbing up against their ankles and purring.

Zolt crouched down and held out his hand with another leftover dumpling.

“What are you doing here, little one?”

He carried the cat all the way back.

Bing-Bing took one sniff, and began cleaning the smaller kitten.

Zolt looked at her.

“Does this mean we’re a family now?”

She laughed again.