✧°. ── lionheart

✴︎ — “ I’m very competitive, now you have to win, ” Regula grinned jokingly. She nodded, “ well the nice thing about decorating is, you can totally make painting and that stuff a group project for everyone. it could be like, a bonding activity to promote… good relations between… well, everyone ? ” Regula offered. “ I’ll pay for some of it. Like, if you need money, I’ve got to pay for stuff for my kids and my- Kris, but I can help pay for it. ” Regula laughed at his scowl, “ we have hedgehogs, but no cats. ”

“Well one of my sisters has already called dibs on decorating the playroom” Which was technically more of a redecoration since it was currently the dining area “the bedrooms are my mothers domain, so the only part we have to do really is move the dining furniture over to its new home.” August smiles a little sheepishly, though they required on donations to keep the place running it always left him feeling a little awkward to discuss it so openly “We’re always open to donations, I couldn’t just take your money it would feel a little bit odd.”

✴︎ — “ Well anything I can do to help you get the title of sibling of the month !! ” Regula grinned. She nodded as he spoke, head tilting, “ how much does it cost to renovate it ? ” she asked. “ I’ve never really, built anything before. Other than helping to fix ships occasionally, ” she shrugged. She couldn’t help but laugh at his response to her mentioning getting cats, “ we’re not getting cats, and I didn’t turn into a crazy cat lady — thank God. I think I would’ve gone mad. ”

“Very much appreciated. There is quite the competition with the amounts of siblings I have to get to the number one spot” August’s wide smile betrayed his words being mostly in jest, as a family and a pack the Prattes were incredibly close which meant that any actual competition between them was all in good fun. “It’s hard to say” he replies with a sigh, running a hand over his tired face “it’s not just the actual renovation, it’s the building of the expansion plus the decorating the rooms. Plus we have to keep this place running in the meantime. We burn through money with this place, worth every coin.” His scowl remains “Good. I would be seriously reevaluating any possible friendship if there were actually cats involved.”

✴︎ — Regula shrugged, “ I don’t always like them, but some are quite enjoyable, ” she replied. She was quite certain the girls knew more about film than her, and most of the things she’d seen either one of them had shown her or Kris had shown her. “ Well let me know when it’s all set up. Narcissa could use some more actual friends her own age, ” Regula chuckled. “ Well sometimes we all need to take our time with projects, even if we’re not human, ” she laughed. “ I sort of just picked up a couple of ‘em while I traveled. I never expected I’d have kids or anything of the sort. Maybe a cat. ”

“Believe me my sister will be thrilled to already have interest, I might win sibling of the month for pulling in kids from town to join in” Or at least it would balance him out in the fact it was taking so long on the actual renovation work. Werewolf sisters could be scary. “It’s more the fact that we’re running low on building supplies, unfortunately we rely on donations for that too so it’s just a lot of stopping and starting.” August couldn’t help but scrunch up his face at the mention of the cat, it may be a huge stereotype but he definitely didn’t care. Cats are big fat no.

“I’m glad I brought them by.” She concurred with a small nod of her head. The brunette felt herself relax a bit as he gave her a smile and followed him into the kitchen. Batty hadn’t had very many interactions with supernatural beings, not that she knew of other than the short encounter when she was a child, and had never discussed supernatural-ism with anyone. It was quite interesting to her to hear the man talk about his species and while she had many questions, she was too nervous to ask anything that might be taken offensively. “Babies in general are quite something.” At least, the dozens of babies that she’d babysat growing up could drive a nun to curse with their crying when the parents first left. Of course, she didn’t have any problem with babies or children, but could imagine that having one in a house full of people, or werewolves, rather, that were seeking shelter could be stressful. Still, she tried not to think of Charlotte, the only baby she’d ever lived with. Her little sister had cried, like any baby, but her parents soothed the baby back to sleep, sometimes even with the company of Batty. 

Shaking her head of the thoughts and the sadness, she followed the man’s suit and set the boxes onto the counter. The mention of his sisters only served to make getting Charlotte out of her head all the harder, but still she gave a smile. “That’s really nice, that she’s doing that, I mean. Well, the house as a whole is really nice.” Those two sentences were a lot for a normally quiet girl, but she felt the need to emphasize her admiration to the cause. It gave her a way to contribute to the werewolf population, a species she’d forever feel indebted too. And despite the fact that she wasn’t rich by any means, or terribly well off, she felt like she need to repay them for a decades old deed of one. “I’m sure I could find some gently used ones online. I’m not sure how many garage sales they have around here, but I haven’t seen any so far.” That’s the main reason her furniture only really consisted of a futon and a cheap fold up table.

“The little tike is adorable and already has all of us wrapped around her little finger” He chuckles to himself at the thought, such a small being could bring so many big werewolves to their knees with little more than the toothless smile. He casts her an appreciative smile as he continues setting everything out, knowing that it would be found by their guests soon enough “We’re really proud of this place, its helped so many get their lives started in Echo.” They all worked themselves to the bone to make sure the place ran smoothly, in August’s case it meant overworking to the point his stump became gravely sore in his prosthetic. But life went on. “Probably because most people just donate straight to us, no one has anything to sell in garage sales” Without the generosity of the people of Echo, whether they had passed through the Safe House themselves or not, had been phenomenal and vital in keeping the place going for as long as it had. 

✴︎ — “ According to some mother I met ? ” Regula shrugged. “ That would probably be a good idea. I don’t know any other children though, ” Regula frowned. She’d not known many parents, and as a vampire, parents weren’t exactly keen on letting their children near her. “ I’m not exactly the first person to ask about children. I just, happen to have one. It’s honestly kind of terrifying, ” Regula chuckled. She’d pretty much been winging it, since she’d never had anyone quite so young before Narcissa.

“Well, now I’m kind of glad for all the violent films. How boring it would have been otherwise” August let out a chuckle, suddenly aware of the fact that one day he would like to share films with his own children. But that was a big one day, there was too much else to do. “Well one of my sisters is setting up a playgroup at the Safe House, I know she’d be keen to have kids from town come by too” He shrugs with his offer “we need to finish actually renovating the room first. Who knew werewolves could be so slow.” Though August generally was in no rush to have a family he can’t help but remember a few years prior when it looked that way, having a longer lifespan really played with his perception of life “Neither am I honestly, my marriage ended before talk of kids could even begin.”

Batty had come over to the Safe House with goods from the bakery at the end of the day. They were meant to be tossed, or taken home, at the end of the day, but Batty thought that maybe they could be used for good instead of to fill the garbage. She certainly couldn’t eat all of those carbs. Batty nodded, “I figured that I could bring them down when we close.” She explained, wringing her hands together as the man took the boxes of baked goods. Normally she didn’t have much to say, and didn’t want to stick around and talk to strangers, but it was the first time she felt like she was actually doing something to help someone. It felt good. “I don’t know if the residents would like them or if you already have them, but used books might be something nice for them to have access to. Especially if there are kids. Books were really comforting to-” She paused, almost getting too personal with that. “I mean, they’re a good escape.”

“These are very welcome, believe me. They will be very handy for apologising for the newborn baby we have causing a storm” August takes some of the boxes from her arms with an appreciative smile, nodding his head towards the kitchen as signal for her to follow “us werewolves as babies are quite something.” Setting out the boxes on the island in the kitchen area August looks over at the woman as she speaks further, his eyes softening as he recognised that her words were laced with pain of past experiences. He was more than used to seeing such things after running the Safe House for long enough “That would be great, one of my sisters is working on setting up a playroom for the kids that come through. She’d be grateful to have some books to have in there because you’re right, they are a great escape for them.”

✴︎ — “ See, I can’t pawn Cissa off on other parents for too long because she’ll get everyone all hyped up on watching the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter and parents apparently don’t like it when you get their 4 - 6-year-olds hyped up on violent films. I mean, what’s the worst that’s gonna happen ? ” Regula rambled. “ But occasionally we convince her to watch ‘ age appropriate ’ movies. Like The Secret Life of Pets, ” she made air quotes around the words age appropriate, since she really didn’t get all of it — she’d seen her brothers fight and get bloody when she was a child, and she figured with the exception of horror films, the films considered violent weren’t always so bad. At least in her opinions.

“Wait kids shouldn’t watch violent films?” August’s lips twist into an amused smile “I think my family missed that memo.” Films were still a novelty for the majority of his werewolf family, only the 3 youngest Prattes were born while the technology has been around in some form or another. The youngest had since become guinea pigs. “Might help if she hangs out with other children, might be more inclined to watch those age appropriate films if everyone else does” He shrugs, August really knew very little about children. Everything he knew came from the birth of his younger sibling and any kids that came through the Safe House.

✴︎ — “ I just saw The Secret Life of Pets — I’m housing a five-year-old, okay ? — and it’s actually quite cute. Although, if this becomes the thing I have to watch on repeat I might claw my eyes out, ” Regula said, taking a sip from her coffee before looking back at the person seated across from her. “ I don’t understand how small children watch the same film over and over again without getting sick of it. ”

“I’ve managed to escape most of the repetitive movies, stories and the like” Even when his younger sibling was born August had very little to do with the actual upbringing, he would have been fighting against various elder siblings and his parents for the duties when he just wanted to be a teenager. “One of my sisters takes the responsibility for keeping the kids at the Safe House entertained so she willingly suffers through it all, honestly I don’t know who is more thrilled - the kids or her.”

        Neat and tidy, Jesse placed the items down and took further care to align and center, make them visually organized even if they were to be moved in a matter of moments. “A family,” he echoed back, amazed to think an entire household uprooted to this place, dumbfounded that he hadn’t realized this place posed such an option. Echo seemed set for individuals and misfits, singular beings trying to prove a purpose with protection provided; it would make sense those in fear would join for the protection alone, no matter the requirements for joining. “I would bet your mother, if I were to guess. New blood brings hope, or it’s supposed to anyway. In a city like this, a looming weight and a future still uncertain, hope is needed and wanted. I can’t say I blame her– not that I’m rivaling the excitement but I know my mother would be looming a blanket the moment she heard. How often do you have children here? Can’t say I’ve seen many but I also work at a bar, where I shouldn’t see kids.”

“Not quite as big as the rabble that are in charge of this place” Since some of his siblings were centuries older than he there was understandably a fair few of them running around the place, and they had all uprooted and moved to Echo together. It must seem strange to an outsider that they had remained together as such a tight unit after all this time and all apparently shared the same passion, doing whatever they had to in order to help others. Perhaps it was just something they had all picked up from their alpha and mother. “My mum just loves babies, none of my siblings have had kids yet and that’s how us youngest Prattes came into being, to cure that need” But now that it has been mentioned he could very much imagine his mother making a blanket, if only she had the patience or the time to do such a thing. “We get a fair few coming through, it’s enough that one of my sister’s is itching to use part of the new extension as a playroom, once we actually build the damn thing that is.”