Dave looks at the path over, and then looks at Klaus. “You don’t wanna?”

“No,” Klaus says, “no, no, I’m more of a duck guy, myself. Isn’t that right, little fella?”

Klaus squats down and hands a pellet to a duck that’s been lurking nearby. Dave waits until he stands back up to say, “You should come with me. Or do you not like horses?”

“Horses are great.” Klaus still isn’t moving. “Dad used to take us riding, did I ever tell you? Ali and I fought over the one with the white stripe on its nose, so he gave it to Ben. Fuckin’ asshole.”

Dave hums, and still doesn’t move. Allison and Claire are on the other side of the enclosure, Claire’s hands cupped full of pellets, feeding … the various things that the enclosure is full of. She sees him looking and waves with one hand, which spills the pellets everywhere, which gets her swarmed by-

“Ohfuck,” Klaus says, taking a half step forward, and then glancing over to meet Dave’s eyes.

Claire just giggles and reaches out with her little arms while Allison takes pictures with her phone.

“Do you,” Dave says, slowly, “not like goats?”

Klaus swallows.

“I hate goats,” Dave tells him.

Klaus spins and grabs Dave’s shoulders. “It’s their goddamn little demon eyes.”

“I hate their eyes.”

“And their - they chew sideways, Dave, it’s not natural.”

“Uncle Klaus!” Claire shouts. “Look, it’s a baby!”

“That’s not a baby,” Klaus whispers to Dave. “That’s a small adult goat.”

“Yeah, Uncle Klaus,” Ali calls, grinning behind her phone, which she’s pointing steady at them, “come see the baby.”

Dave scopes out the enclosure again. Claire’s pellet drop has most of the action in her area. “If we go wide,” he says, “we can make it to the horse.”

“Okay, but can we make it back out?”

“I have enough pellets left for a diversion if it comes to that.” Dave looks back at Klaus. “I do really like horses.”

Klaus sighs. “If you told me five years ago - goats, David.”

Dave holds out his hand. Klaus takes it.

“You’re going to miss breakfast!” Tenmyouji called again, cracking a couple of eggs into the frying pan.

“I’m coming!” 

Tenmyoji smirked to himself, knowing that before long he’d have a teenager to contend with. The thought was simultaneously amusing and terrifying as hell. 

The door to Quark’s bedroom creaked open. The boy emerged mostly dressed. He wore a khaki pair of shorts and a t-shirt. His arm was in one sleeve of a jacket.

“Finally. I thought I was going to have to eat all of this by myself.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I don’t know, I’m feeling pretty peckish.”

Quark slumped into a chair by the kitchen table, leaning his head in his arms and muttered something in audible.

“What was that?”

“I’m going to eat them!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Tenmyouji placed a plate of eggs and toast and beans before his grandson. He knew he’d perk up a bit once he’d had some food. Mornings had always been a bit of a struggle with the boy, and Tenmyouji had a sneaking suspicion they’d only get worse the closer they got to Quark’s teenage years.

He joined his grandson at the table with a matching plate of food and a hot drink he’d like to say was coffee, in that it was dark and brown and bitter, but was actually a rather horrible root tea. He did enjoy the warmth and habit of it though.

“Where are we going today?” Quark asked, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth.

Tenmyouji put his fork down. “Well, I was thinking of maybe trying something different today,” he said slowly.

“Yeah?” Quark asked, looking curious.

Tenmyouji nodded. “I’ve been thinking. I’m not getting any younger and I might like to start thinking about retirement. Now don’t give me that face, nothing to get worried about. I’m just thinking an extra day off or two every week might be nice.”

“What does that mean?” Quark inquired, studying his grandpa incredulously.

“Well, what do you say you go out by yourself today? No supervision. I won’t be breathing down your neck or micromanaging what you find. I trust you.” 

“What? Really?” “Sure! You’ve been at this for how many years now? I think it’s time for a promotion.”

Quark immediately perked up--it was as if his sleepiness were totally forgotten. “So where should I go?”

“Hmmm.” Tenmyouji took a swig of his tea. “Where would you suggest going if you were in charge?”

“Well.” Quark looked thoughtful, scratching the back of his neck as he thought. “There’s that old food processing plant in the next town over we saw last time we were there. I could start there.”

“Yes, I suppose you could. It’s an awful long walk though.”

“What? Aren’t you going to give me a ride?”

“Nope. I’m going to be enjoying my day off here.”

“Can I drive the truck then?” Quark asked eagerly.

“How are you going to push the pedals and steer at the same time? Nice try, kiddo. Maybe once you’ve got a bit more height on you.”

“Aww. So I guess somewhere I can walk to, huh?”

“Unless you’re planning on hitchhiking.” Quark opened his mouth. “I’m kidding. You’re absolutely not hitchhiking.”

“Well. In that case, there’s that old abandoned radio station. That might be a good spot to start with.”

“That’s not a bad idea at all.” Tenmyouji rubbed his chin. “I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone else having gone through it. I think that’d be a good place to start.”

After cleaning up breakfast and feeding the chickens, Quark got packed up to go out on his mission. 

He looked a little as if he were about to set off for school, and it gave Tenmyouji a weird sense of misplaced nostalgia. 

“Alright, you got everything you need?”

“Yes, Grandpa!” 

“You got your lunch?”

“In my pack.”

“Radio transmitter?”

“Over and out,” Quark said pulling the radio out of his pocket and speaking directly into it.

“Okay. I think you’re set. If you run into any trouble, be sure to give me a call. Or you can give Red or Marco a call if they’re in range. But don’t bug them unless you need to.” 

“Okay. What are you going to do today?”

“Hmm. Well I might drop off a loaf of bread with Clover and Alice and see how they’re doing. But mostly I think I’m going to catch up on some reading.”

“Sounds good! Tell them I said hi!”

“Will do, kiddo. Take care now.”

“Bye, Grandpa! See you later!”

--

Quark set out with a spring in his step. It was a good feeling, knowing his grandpa trusted him enough to send him out to work by himself, and quark was confident he’d be perfectly fine by himself. Really it wasn’t too much different than usual. Usually they’d travel together to a scavenging location, and then split up. They’d meet up for lunch and then go back to scavenging.

Quark enjoyed scavenging with his grandpa--well at least when he wasn’t getting in trouble for messing around. He liked when Tenmyouji found something particularly interesting or unique, he would call Quark over and explain exactly what it was and how it worked and how it could be used to turn a profit. 

The novelty of striking out on his own was still fresh; however, so he was really looking forward to being totally in control.

The abandoned radio station was only about a 45-minute walk from their home. Three of the station’s call sign remained: K LV.  Quark decided it must have been a Q. Ever since he was a kid, he always enjoyed recognizing his initial on buildings and signage. Q for Quark.

Breaking in was fairly easy. It seemed a lot of offices and commercial buildings weren’t secured during the radical-6 outbreak. They found so many that were simply left unlocked and ready to be explored.

Tenmyouji had trained Quark well and he knew the first thing he had to do was check for signs that the building might not be safe to enter. But this one seemed to be structurally sound.

Quark pulled his lantern from his backpack and switched it on, illuminating the hallway before him. The halls were dark and musty, dust floated up through the air as he entered. An ancient fire escape map on the wall gave him his bearings, outlining where there server rooms were and where he was likely to find the sound equipment. 

He was aware from a theoretical standpoint that fear of the dark was pretty common, and he liked to tell himself that he wasn’t afraid of the dark at all. Why would someone who spent their life exploring dark rooms and who found a thrill in discovering the most remote nooks and crannies be afraid? The truth of course was that he still felt a little flutter of anxiety whenever he entered a new room.

Steeling himself, he turned the  handle to the recording room. 

“Huh,” Quark said aloud to himself, filling the hallway with the sound of his voice. “Won’t budge.” He turned the handle again and shoved his shoulder against the door. But still it remained stuck.

“Guess this calls for a little back up.” 

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small crowbar. Wedging it between the door and frame, he leaned his weight against the metal. 

Finally the door gave way and there was a whoosh of air as the seal on the room was broken and the pressure between rooms equalized. 

He stood in the doorway, an apprehensive chill going up his spine and shone his lantern into the room. The light bounced off the large glass window in front of the control panel. There was a work chair turned slightly towards him and it gave him a start when he realized it held the remains of a slumped skeleton.

Quark was used to seeing skeletons. He knew many of them were victims of the radical-6 outbreak. He knew it was harder for his grandpa to see the skeletons and be reminded of what it was like to live through the fall of humanity. For Quark they were relics of a bygone age. Sad, but no more sad than a mummy in a museum. They did startle him every now and again though. 

“Sorry to bother you,” Quark addressed the skeleton. “I hope you don’t mind, I’m just coming in to collect some parts.” His grandpa had taught him that the line between life and death is thin. Sometimes the only thing that decided what side you were on was chance. It was important to always be respectful of the dead.

“This is a pretty interesting set up you have here,” Quark told the skeleton, setting his lantern on the ground, and pulling out an additional flashlight from his bag. “I have a small radio, but it’s nowhere near as powerful as what you had going on here. I mostly just use it for calling people. Grandpa said you used to play music from here all across the city. We’re not allowed to do that anymore.” Quark affected a mocking adult voice, “‘Public radio stations are for official use only.’ They only play boring things like news and public service announcements. I think it’d be much cooler if they played music.”

Quark situated himself on the floor beside a control panel and pulled off the metal grating. “Ah yeah, I should be able to get a lot of good stuff from this. Thanks for keeping an eye on it for me.”

As Quark got to work he continued chatting to the remains in the chair, “You know, this is my first job out all by myself? Usually I travel with my grandpa. But he trusted me to go out by myself this time.”  He glanced over to the skeleton. “I know he’s not telling me exactly what happened on the moon--oh yeah! I went to the moon recently. 

“It’s a bit of a long story. Originally Grandpa thought we were going to meet an old friend of his, so we got all dressed up and everything, but then it turned out it was this weird game. It was actually kind of scary, but I didn’t want anyone to think I was a baby.”

He was silent for a moment, working through a tangle of wires. “You know, I think something bad might have happened to me up there. Apparently we were all infected with radical-6, and Grandpa said it was fine, but I don’t know. I was asleep for a lot of what happened. I think maybe it made me sicker than he wants me to know.”

Quark was quiet again. Working in the dark room by the light of his lantern and flashlight. 

“Actually, I think he’s still worried about me,” Quark confided to the skeleton. “He’s been a little more overprotective, and it’s very nice of him, but to be honest it’s been a little annoying. I know he feels guilty about the whole thing, but I wish he wouldn’t. I don’t remember anything bad happening, so it’s all fine, right?”

The skeleton didn’t respond, but Quark said, “I know, I should probably be telling him this, huh?”

Still no response from the skeleton.  

“Yeah, you’re right. But Grandpa can be so awkward about feelings.” Quark sighed.

“No, you’re right, it’s still better to say something. But it’s still a good sign that he’s sending me out on my own, isn't it? Maybe it means he’s getting over it.”

Quark sat back. “Okay well I think I’m good with everything here for now. Maybe I’ll come back on my day off, but I want to have a look at some of the other rooms while I’m here. Thank you for your company!”

Quark zipped up his bag and hauled it back onto his back. He briefly placed his hands together in a quick gesture of prayer for the skeleton, then headed on to the next room. 

--

When Quark got home that evening his pack was full of useful wires and connectors. He was feeling pretty satisfied with his haul. 

“Grandpa! I’m home!”

“Hey! Welcome back! How’d you do?”

“Really great! I found so much stuff! Do you want to take a look?”

“Hmmm. No, I think I’m good. How about tomorrow we go into town and you can try your hand at bartering? I’ll come along as your back-up of course. But I trust you. I know you did well.” He ruffled his grandson’s hair. 

“Sounds good! And then do you want to go back to the radio station the day after?”

“I think maybe that day we can head out to the food processing facility. You can save the radio station for my days off.”

“Okay!”

“Alright, now go wash up and you can help me cook dinner.”

“Hey, Grandpa?”

“Hm?”

“I just wanted to say, thanks for trusting me to go out on my own. I know you’re really worried about me, especially after the Nonary Game, but I really am fine.”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to say thank you.” He gave his grandpa a quick hug, then darted off to the bathroom to wash up.

Tenmyouji was bemused, but relieved. After the Nonary Game he’d been so worried that Quark would have come away from the experience clingy and paranoid. And truth be told--that was probably just a projection of his own feelings. Quark seemed fairly unfazed by the whole situation having been asleep for the most terrifying portions of it. 

It was a good time to just let his mind wander, take a break and eat his lunch. Today tuna fish sandwich was on the menu.

As he knit, his mind wandered towards his childhood. When he’d been in elementary school, he’d learned to knit as part of a home economics class. It had been during the last week in February. 

For Valentine’s Day that year, Akane had given him a small box of homemade chocolate, decorated to look like a mini-bento box. It had been really thoughtful. He’d been wracking his brain ever since to think of the best way to reciprocate. After all, what kind of friend would he be if he didn’t return her gift?

The knitting class had given him a spark of inspiration. He would knit her a scarf. 

So when Junpei got home from school he asked his mom if he could go with her to the department store.

“Why do you want to come with me?” his mother asked suspiciously.

“We learned how to knit today at school, and I want to get some yarn so I can practice at home!”

His mother deemed this reasonable because soon he was climbing into the back of the car and off to the department store.

While his mother was gathering groceries, Junpei wandered off to the craft section, the 500 yen coin his mother had given him safely in his pocket. The selection was incredible, so many colors and sizes he didn’t really know where to start.

‘First thing’s first,’ Junpei thought trying to break it down logically, ‘what color would she want?’

His eyes scanned the shelves and landed on a deep, royal purple.

‘Of course, purple!’ Junpei said to himself. It was her favorite color after all. But there were so many different kinds of purple yarn. The big purple ball that had initially caught his eye was kind of coarse. He couldn’t make the perfect scarf out of that. 

Wandering up and down the aisles, he touched every ball and bundle of purple yarn, until he found the perfect one. It was a light lavender color and by far the softest yarn in the store. The only problem was that it was a pretty small bundle. 

He checked the price. 

“Seriously? 450 yen for a ball of yarn?”

Well he certainly wouldn’t be able to afford two of them. Well, Akane was a small girl. She probably only needed a small scarf. 

So everyday after school that week Junpei worked on knitting Akane the perfect scarf. He had to start over once or twice but eventually he got the  hang of it. 

The moment he was finally able to cast off and finish the scarf he realized his mistake.

He’d used the entire ball of yarn, but the scarf wasn’t nearly long enough. He’d made it too wide.

He tried to wrap it around his neck. The scarf was about as tall as his head, but only wrapped around the back of his head from one side of his face to the other. 

Junpei evaluated his options. He could unravel it and start over, but he didn’t have the time. Akane was just going to have to receive the least perfect gift ever for White Day.

Oh well, showing up to school with a misshapen scarf was better than showing up empty-handed. 

So the next day before school started, Junpei approached Akane where she was reading at her desk.

“Happy White Day!” he said in a rush, shoving the gift onto her desk.

“You got me a gift?” she asked setting her book down.

“Well, I made it. So I’m sorry it’s not very good. It’s supposed to be a scarf,” he said blushing.

Akane held up the scarf, letting it fall open. 

“Oh, Junpei! It’s perfect! Just what I needed!”

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to lie. That thing won’t even wrap around your neck.”

“No, it won’t,” she agreed with a smile. “But it’s perfect for something else!”

She placed the scarf over her lap, wrapping it under her knees.

“See? This is perfect! It’s always cold in the classroom, and my knees get chilly. This is the perfect thing for that! Thank you, Jumpy. I love it!”

“Oh. Well, in that case–”

His memory was abruptly interrupted by a tugging at his yarn. Great, the ball must have gotten tangled up. He looked over at where the ball of yarn was resting next to him.

“What the–?”

His ball of yarn certainly had gotten tangled up. But not quite in the way he’d been expecting.

A little ginger kitten was tugging on the yarn.

“Hello, little guy. Where did you come from?”

The kitten flopped to the ground, the yarn in his mouth.

“You know, kittens really shouldn’t eat yarn. I think it’s bad for you. It could get stuck in your stomach…or something.”

He picked the kitten up, extracting him from the tangles of yarn.

“Here, you should try some of this instead.” He pulled a bit off of his tuna fish sandwich and fed it to the kitten. The cat ate it up hungrily. 

“Alright, kitty,” Junpei said setting the kitten down and giving him a pat before standing up. “I’ve got to get going, but take care of yourself.”

Junpei headed back inside with his knitting and sandwich, and leaving the kitten looking back at him. 

Junpei didn’t have pets. Even when he was growing up. His mom had been allergic to cats, and she was always saying they didn’t have time for a dog. Rodents were absolutely out of the question, and there was no way she’d allow him to keep a lizard. 

Once or twice he’d won a goldfish at the summer festival in his town, but they weren’t exactly what Junpei would call a pet. 

At this point in his life, Junpei wouldn’t consider himself a pet kind of guy. They were just too much hassle. And what with the state of the world these days, it was enough trouble trying to keep himself alive. 

Just because Junpei sometimes left food out for the cat, certainly didn’t mean he’d adopted it. It was a tough world out there and cats needed to know how to fend for themselves.