Do you really think so?

The warm summer breeze calmed Eppard's nerves. His spines relaxing as he sighed. Roddy had sent him a letter earlier this morning. It was sloppily done, so he could tell it was urgent. Unlike the words she used in the letter itself.
Eppard finally had his new place, all he needed to do now was move in. The gro was a little annoyed with being called so early in the morning but he kept it to himself as he neared his former boss's house. "Hey Roddy!" He waved his hand in the air at her. "Hi Eppard!" Eppard finally reached her porch and rested his claws on his hips.
"Soooooo why did you want me to come?" Roddy pulled her ears back,"Come inside Epp..please." He followed her in and shut the door behind him. Eppard was a little confused by Roddy's sudden vulnerable body language.
Roddy lead him to the living room, and Eppard followed. He gasped when he saw a small brown wyngling wrapped in blankets. Eppard could see that her body was dirty and covered in scratches and blood.
"What happened?!" Eppard started getting angry with Roddy. How could she let something like this happen? Roddy held her ears down. "I-..no Emy and Delta found him in front of the house this morning...he won't eat and he hissed at me when I tried to bathe him. I thought, you could do it?" She looked down and then back up at Eppard. Annoyed, he agreed. "Yeah..ok."

Eppard had carried the brown, skinny wyngling to Roddy's bathroom. He filled her bath with the warm water from the old pipes connected to the nearby river. Eppard unwrapped the kid from the blanket that surrounded him and went to put him in the bath. The wyngling started screaming and hissing at Eppard. Clearly afraid of the water. He pulled the wyngling in for a hug and it stopped the noise.
A knock came to the door,"Eppard? Are you ok?" "Yeah...yeah I am!" His webbed ears could hear her walk away. "Come on kid. Just let me clean you." Eppard held the wyngling close, before trying to bath him again. Once more the wyngling screamed, but it cut off as soon as Eppard started splashing water onto him.
The wyngling sat as still as a stone while Eppard finished bathing them. Everytime the soap was rubbed over a cut, the wyngling winced. Eppard noticed this and was more gentle.

After the bath the small wyngling curled up on the other side of the couch where Eppard sat. "Wow you..actually did a better job than me for once." Eppard frowned at Roddy. "Heh...well now we should get him to eat. I think some mashed carrots would be good-" "Can I have him?" Roddy looked at Eppard, quite surprised with his question. "Excuse me?" Eppard frowned again. "I want to take care of the kid alright!"
"Eppard you have no experience with-" "I got him to take a bath and clean himself right?" Eppard argued. "Y-yes but-" "Then I should be the one to keep him!" "I-I guess that's fair...but..let Alvern and I help ok?"
Eppard crossed his arms,"Yeah, of course Rod."
"Heh you're going to be a good caretaker Eppard..I just know it!"
Eppard smiled at the scrawny wyngling glaring at him. "Do you really think so?"
___

Ugh I hate refering to Atlas as "he/him" because I've been refering to her as "she/her" for over a month xD

Atlas upgrades:
+ Hair Tuft

3/428

Art, Eppard, Atlas © CoUmbi