Rochambeau - who had very little self-preservation instincts - had started to wiggle almost as soon as Torram picked him up, causing the boy to adjust his grip on the fluffy monster as they backed up to let Jacopo and Bethany enter.
"Hey," Torram said to Bethany, his smile warmer than it had been for Jacopo. Not that he disliked Jac, just... He was pretty sure he was supposed to be manly, seeing as Birch had no other male relations to look after her (a thought that would no doubt earn him a smack on the head from her, if she'd heard it). Roch waited just long enough for Torram to swing the door shut before doing his 'let me down' wiggle; Tor returned him to his feet but, instead of immediately rushing towards Bethany, the strange little otter dashed away in the opposite direction. A somewhat loud noise from behind the couch followed as Roch dumped over his toybox with one well-placed thump of his paw. The rest of the group, aside from Min (who was busy rolling her eyes at Roch), had proceeded into the kitchen, so Roch scrambled to follow them.
Torram hovered in the background, watching carefully as Birch and Jac greeted each other. The way Birch's face lit up at his entrance, the way her smile was so instant and so bright... Torram felt himself relax despite himself; it was too difficult to stay suspicious in the presence of such obvious happiness.
"It's so nice to see you both," Birch said brightly, sharing her warm smile with Bethany. "Shouldn't be too much longer."
Roch, his small feet scrambling a bit on the slick flooring of the kitchen, managed to stop his cheerful bounce a few steps away from Bethany. There, he dropped a small toy - an otter-sized tennis ball with a happy-sounding bell inside - in front of her, then stepped back and beamed (clearly expecting Bethany to accept the ball).
"Welcome to my house, new friend!" Rochambeau said cheerfully, earning a snort from Min as the okapi entered. Roch's perpetual happiness was constantly at odds with her grouchy, stuffy persona, but they all suspected she had a (very) secret fondness for the beast. |