#backup santa

[op-secret-santa-2021]

Backup Santa Forms!

We're delighted to see so many fun applications! We also have a 'Backup Santa' form if anyone is interested! In this position, you get to create gifts for others who's Santa has dropped out! Please keep in mind that there will be no extra compensation (art or fics) for this role.

Here is the link to apply as a backup santa!

Remember to read the rules!

[op-secret-santa-2020]

What are back up santas?

Generous souls (volunteers) who decided to also create for Secret Santa’s that drop out suddenly and make my life a lot easier <3

Link to apply to be a backup santa!! 

Please read the FAQs and Rules before applying!

[kellanved-ammanas]

Pet Owners

I am the backup Secret Santa for @tf2vines Merry super late Christmas! :)

Pauling frowned down at her desk and the injured cat laying atop it still wrapped up in her jacket from when she’d brought it in from outside. How bad its injuries were and whether or not it could recover from them with just a little bit of care and attention or if it needed a lot of care to get better, she didn’t know. So she should probably take it to the vet. … But it was past midnight and she really could leave her work long enough to drive all the way to town.

If the Administrator were here, she’d probably advise to just leave it be; if it recovered on its own great, if not then too bad. Pauling didn’t quite have the heart to do that though, animals were her weakness, especially cats. So, what should she do? … Well, she knew a doctor who also had a soft spot for birds, maybe he’d be able to take care of a cat too.

She sat at desk and pet the cat’s head with one hand while she grabbed the phone with the other. She quickly dialed the number to the phone in Medic’s lab. It was late so he might not be there, if so she’d have to…

“Hallo,” he said as he answered it. Of course he was in his lab; he was the kind of idiot who routinely worked late into the night if not all night despite knowing how unhealthy it was. … She was one too though, so she couldn’t really judge.

“Medic,” she said with a smile. “You should be in bed by now, you have battle tomorrow but for once, I’m glad you’re not. I need your help with something, come to my office please.”

“’I should be bed?’ Nah, Frau Pauling, you should be bed. You overwork yourself; you should sleep.” If only she could.

“Yeah, whatever, we’re both idiots. Get your ass over here. And don’t bother knocking, just come in, door’s unlocked.” She hung up.

With a sigh, she resumed petting the cat, careful about only petting its head. It stirred and meowed at her, its voice weak. Poor thing! Hopefully it would pull through.

Thankfully Medic could be quite speedy when he wanted to be as he arrived less than five minutes later. He knocked twice before opening the door and coming in. “What do you need?”

“This cat,” Pauling said. “I found it outside on my way back in. It’s injured, can you help it?” If not, she was going have to send him down to the vet despite the time of night because she was attached now and there was no coming back from that.

“Hmm… let me see.” Medic bent down to pull aside the jacket and inspect the cat. “It looks like it’s been in a fight with another cat and lost… pretty badly too.”

“Can you help? I know you do stuff for your birds, it’s not a bird but…”

“I can help.” Medic looked up to smile at her. “I am the greatest doctor to ever live, I can fix it.”

Pauling was tempted to contradict his claim but well… as far as she could tell it was true or very close to it. He was certainly the best doctor she knew, personally or otherwise. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

Medic carefully lifted the cat, bundling it back up in the jacket and holding it securely against his chest. “I… did not think you were the type to have a soft spot for animals?”

“Well, we all have our weaknesses. Please keep me updated on its recovery.”

“Will do.” Medic gave her a nod of acknowledgement before leaving.

 -

Turns out the cat was a male cat. At Medic’s suggestion, Pauling chose to name him Tom after a cat she’d had as a child because his colouring was similar. To know this, she may have gone to Medic’s lab after the day’s battle to visit with the cat instead of calling for an update like she should’ve done and had done that morning.

“He’s surprisingly friendly,” Medic said as they stood side by side, petting Tom who was purring and seemed much better – a relief for sure. “Meaning you should be just fine keeping him as a pet, certainly better than Soldier’s raccoon anyway.”

“I… wasn’t planning on keeping him,” Pauling protested. Having a soft spot for animals didn’t mean she suddenly had the time to care for one even if she’d like to be able to. “I’m way too busy for a pet, especially since I have to leave all the time for work. Once he recovers, one of you guys can take him in if you want or if not, I can take him to the adoption center in town.” And hope he found a good home.

“Or, you could keep him when you’re here. When you’re out, you could give him to me or someone else on the team to watch. Cats are low maintenance most of the time and having a pet is good for one’s overall health.”

Pauling looked at him and then down at Tom and back at him. “Uh… I actually didn’t think of that. You’d really watch him for me when I’m gone?”

“Of course. I may have a preference for birds but I also have general fondness for most animals. So I wouldn’t mind cat-sitting for you when you need it. I imagine a few of the others would also gladly care him when you’re out as well.”

“That’s a great idea, thank you!” She hugged him. He froze in response; she didn’t give him time to recover before letting go.

“Uh… uh… anytime.” He recovered with a smile.

“All right, I… will see you and Tom later,” Pauling said, already back pedaling towards the door. “I really need to get back to work now.” Before the Administrator got mad and called her because she was not in the mood for that.

“Farewell. I will call you later with an update on Tom’s health.” Good, she had a phone call she could look forward to for once.

[saki-blackwing]

Sorry for the delay and merry christmas @dailysbr-redacted !  Here is my little gift for your @jjba-secret-santa, i hope u like it <3 Happy Holidays dear

[creativebloon]

Not From Around Here (Kacchako)

Rating: G

Word Count: 1265

Other Notes: My KacchakoSecretSanta gift for @lupizora!!! Firstly, I'm sorry this came late. I had worked on your gift, didn't like my first draft(s), and haven't been feeling very well this week. I'm extremely happy with what I came up with though. I hope you like it, and if you don't, I can always make you something else. This is Fantasy AU Kacchako, one that I really like.

There were few things in the world that the Uraraka family did not possess. They have enough wealth to last them and future generations; plenty of land to live on and sell; a reputable social status built decades ago. One of the many content families in the small town where everyone knows everyone else. Either by relation or gossip, the Uraraka is one of the wealthiest families to keep their line clean, yet one young adult feels unsatisfied with all that her family has.

Sitting on the low wall, Ochako stares out across the pond with an ache in her chest. The air is still, having been unmoving she jumped onto the stone wall hours ago. Water lilies float across the water of the pond as she stares, the moon’s reflection giant. When she isn’t staring thoughtfully across the small patch of grass that separates her from the pond, she is staring down at the ring on her finger, frowning. It’s a family heirloom. Orbs and diamonds dotting the silver band with the characters for her family name spelled out in an ornate design. It is one of her most prized possessions. Yet as she studies it in the bright moonlight she can’t fight the feeling of missing out on something just as valuable as her inheritance.

The wind picks up after a long while of studying her ring. Ochako, so deep in thought, would have barely noticed if it weren’t for the proximity of the wind and rise in temperature so suddenly. Turning on her spot on the stone wall, Ochako searches the visible clearing behind around.

“Other side, angel face.”

Jumping in surprise at the rumbling voice, Ochako finds herself face-to-face with a smirking teenage boy. As she jumps back, Ochako at least hopes he is a teenage boy. She looks from his wild blond locks to his crimson eyes, which stare hard at her. As he stands back, her gaze travels down his tilted smirk (is he laughing at her?), down the curve of his neck, down even further--and gasps. “You’re shirtless!!” she yells, averting her gaze immediately.

Seemingly unbothered by this reacting, the boy gives a snort. “Is that how you greet people here? That’s weird.” As he speaks, he moves around the stone wall until he is in front of her. She still refuses to look directly at him after seeing his sculpted--after seeing a part of his body a stranger has no business seeing.

Still, what he says strikes as odd within her mind. Ochako risks a glance in the spot she hopes to be his face and asks him what he means.

As she waits impatiently for an answer, Ochako keeps her eyes on the planes and details of his face. She sucks in a sharp breath, swearing by the stars above her that, just for a second, she saw his eyes literally glow. It vanished before she had a chance to stare any further, which is surprisingly disappointing. For a moment, she struggles to decide whether or not to believe what she saw. She squeezes her hands into fists, feeling as if this is all somehow just a dream. “This obviously isn’t the dragon realm.” His tone sounds curious, a slight confused undertone to it. It catches the her attention. Then his eyes begin to roam up and down her body, lingering on the details of the light dress she wears. He frowns. “I haven’t seen anyone dressed like that since… Oh fuck.”

She bristles. She watches in astonishment the boy with a red cape pace back and forth, cursing unlike anything she has ever heard before. Her fascination grows with the more she watches him. What had he been about to say? Where is he from? What did he mean by the “dragon realm”? How did he get here? Who is he? Why does he still not have a shirt on?

“Round face.” Snapping into attention, Ochako locks gazes with the mysterious boy. “Answer me this,” he makes his way back towards her slowly, watching her carefully. Why are you staring at me like that? Like she is the the only thing he sees; his focus point.

Their stare lingers on to the point of sending an unsettlement in her stomach when he finally breaks it. Eyes up to the sky, Ochako isn’t sure if the wistfulness in his eyes is because the sky may look different for him, or if he misses something.

Ochako clears her throat. The boy blinks. “Where am I?”

Where else would you be, mystery boy? “Earth. You’re on Earth.” The way she says this, matter-of-factly, sends a slight panic through her as the boy’s expression darkens for the first time that night. Part of Ochako wants to back away from it; another--possibly stupid--part of her stands her ground--well, stone, at the moment--and stays where she has been for the past four hours. On the stone wall. Alone, until recently.

Seething, the boy’s stare on Ochako gets to the point to where she feels as if his eyes are stabbing her with one of the hot pokers in her father’s office. She shivers and averts her gaze. “Who is in charge around here? And don’t fucking tell me it’s you, angel face.”

Right. He had called her that earlier. A different kind of heat spreads across her body as she fumbles with an answer. “Uhm--no. It, uh, it isn’t me. But if you’d like I could--”

“Take me. Great. Lead the way.”

“Wh--”

Cutting her off for the second time, the boy looks towards the path that opens up to the clearing they are in. “I haven’t been here in ages and need a guide. So are you going to do it or do I need to go around knocking things down until I find what I need.”

He poses it like a question, but it doesn’t sound like one at all. Still, would rather not risk calling him out on a bluff. Especially when he looks as if he really could destroy her town without much effort. The muscles packing his arms and chest are certainly something she has never seen before; and the glittering bags across his body could contain anything. Potions. Those are dangerous.

Feeling suddenly bare as she jumps from the wall, the boy’s hard and curios gaze on her as she walks up to him. “I don’t know who you are,” she begins a bit shakily. “But whatever happens, you absolutely cannot hurt anyone. Or destroy anything.”

He quirks up an eyebrow. Then he begins walking towards the path that led Ochako to her hiding spot without so much as an answer. Just a raised brow. Not sure how to react, Ochako just stands there for a moment.

“Hey!!” she shouts.

“Oi!!”

Jogging to catch up to his pace, Ochako takes another unconverted look at his face. From the side, she catches the moonlight outlining the sharpness of his chin, touching the curve of his neck.

Just as quickly as she got into the details of his body, Ochako snatches herself out of them. “At least tell me your name. So I can introduce you to Yagi.”

“Bakugo.”

Glancing up at him in confusion, Ochako furrows her brows. They begin to enter the short bit of forest on either side of the path. Ochako is unbothered by it, knowing that she has no reason to be afraid, even with this stranger. Bakugo.

Bakugo meets her confused stare. He sighs. “That’s all you need to know, princess. Now tell me about this version of Earth of yours.”

[danganronpasecretsanta]

Backup Santas needed!

Hello! I know some were willing to before but please send an ask that you would be willing to and what you are able to do! Some people may need backups already, so if you’re able to do that, that would be great! :) 

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Too cute to function

@allamaly or @fireguardiankeith, I’m your backup secret Santa for @voltron-ss. I got inspired by @cinnieminni‘s art dump with college klance on top, animal klance in the middle and then hot waiter klance at the bottom. I’ll try to do justice to the college au part, and I hope you enjoy.

It wasn’t fair. It really wasn’t. the one time Lance firmly says to himself ‘I’m not going to date, so I can improve my grades’, he shows up in his black framed glasses, pierced ears and good looks. It wasn’t fair. How did it even get to this? Lance had been fine, he had proven his friends wrong about not being able to date anyone for a short amount of time and while he, Pidge and Hunk were walking across the quad, there he was. The dark haired mystery man was talking to Shiro, Allura’s boyfriend. Lance had stopped moving and just stared. Hunk and Pidge noticed and started asking him what was wrong, but Lance didn’t answer. He was still staring at the guy who had his hands tucked into his red jacket, looking completely relaxed. Pidge was the first to figure it out.

“Of course. You actually win a bet and then go right back to your habits right after. Why am I not surprised?”

He didn’t want it to happen. He tried to play it off but Pidge had dragged them over and introduced them, because apparently, Pidge knew this guy. Even though he didn’t really talk to him much, just being in close courters make Lance’s brain haywire. He tried ignoring it, he barely knew the guy, it was a bit fast to fall for him. But somehow he kept bumping into him or he’d be around when everyone was hanging out. It was safe to say, that Lance had a big crush on Keith Geyong, Shiro’s younger brother and also astrophysics major.

Lance never felt so flustered around someone. He could pretend to play cool but with Keith around, that went completely out the window. Lance was starting to feel like one of those anime characters who’d run away from their crush to avoid them, but would still get their attention anyway. One of those instances was when Lance was leaving the dining hall from the side entrance. He started down the steps when he saw Keith heading up. Keith was looking down at his phone, other hand tucked into his pocket and Lance was sure he could dart past to avoid any awkward situations. But no. Lance tripped over his feet and almost flew off the stairs but thankfully only missed one before steadying himself. He had stayed still, the incident making his heart pound and took a glance in Keith’s direction. Keith was looking right at him, stopped as well. He looked like he was about to say something but in his embarrassment, Lance took off without another word.

It continued like this until Lance couldn’t take it anymore and started ranting to Allura during one of their pampering sessions.

“I mean, what’s wrong with me? I’ve only saw the guy, like what once and then I’m suddenly heads over heals for him? I’m not like this.”

While focusing on Lance’s nails, Allura said, “well, there was Nyma and Rolo and that guy from your Japanese class plus that girl who works at the front desk of the library, but you did act like your flirtatious overconfident self around them. When around Keith…”

“I act like a clumsy idiot not worth his time. OW!” Allura dug her nails into Lance’s hand to get his attention.

“That is not true. I think Keith would be very lucky to have you.”

“Except, half the time I can barely talk to him without stuttering over my words.”

Allura sighed and turned back to Lance’s nails, wiping off any excess with her clean nails. “Well, there has to be something different about Keith that makes you like him, other than his looks.”

Lance thought. She was right. Lance had fleeting crushes, nothing like this. “Well, he’s really smart. Like I’m in one of his classes and he always get the questions right. Plus, he might seem standoff-ish, he knows how to be ok with people. Like there was this girl who asked him to help her with this question and I didn’t think he’d agree but he did. And it wasn’t like, 1, 2, 3 there you go. He actually asked her what she couldn’t understand and explained everything to her. Then, I guess there’s his love for the campus cats, you know, the ones that are always running around? I’ve seen him spend his pretty much all his free time feeding some of the cats and just playing with them. And then,” Lance spent the rest of the time it took for Allura to finish with his nails and for them to dry talking about the things that he noticed about Keith. When he was done, he noticed Allura staring at him with a mischievous look on her face. He knew that look and he was not looking forward to what would happen after.

“Do you have a test coming up?” she asked.

Lance felt very confused but he could still see the mischievous look on her face, but answered anyway, “well, I have one in English and in our astronomy class.”

“The same one with Keith?” at his nod, Allura smiled, “good. You should ask Keith if you two can study together.”

“What? Allura, no. I can’t talk in front of him remember?”

“Cause you never had the excuse to be close to him. You hide yourself with the others whenever he hangs out with us and try to avoid him otherwise. Lance, you need this, trust me.”

Lance didn’t want to agree, but. The thought of actually being able to interact with Keith and not act like a total idiot, he wanted that. Then maybe he could tell Keith how he felt and maybe his feelings would be reciprocated. If only.

Allura picked up Lance’s phone and started doing something. “What are you doing?” Allura didn’t answer but did turn his phone around to see that she sent Keith a text asking if they could study together. “What the hell? Allura!”

“You’ll thank me later, trust me.”

Lance wasn’t sure about that.

Keith had responded agreeing and so they made arrangements to meet in the library to study. Lance tried to be calm. He could do it. He could be calm and get through the studying and maybe he could actually have a normal conversation with Keith. They met out front and climbed the stairs to the study areas on the top floor. They claimed a table near a window and started pulling out their books. Lance was opening his text book to the desired bag when he saw Keith pull off his jacket, revealing the tank top he had on underneath. God, his muscles where defined and then to make matters worse, Keith gathered his hair and pulled it into a ponytail, brushing away any lose hair. Lance felt his entire face turn red and hid himself behind his text book.

‘Forget it, there is no way I can be normal around this guy. He’s too cute to function.’

“Uh, are you ok?”

Lance refused to remove himself away from his shield. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just reading up.”

“okay.” He heard Keith finally take a seat, next to him, and started to turn pages in his own textbook.

Lance took more deep breaths and finally pulled himself away from his text book and opened his notebook to where the notes were. “So the test in going to be on the different ships, shuttles and satellites that were sent out right?”

“yeah.” Silence pretty much took over after that, as the two looked at their notes, making new ones with whatever info they found in their text books. Lance was brought out of his head when Keith asked, “Is that nail polish?”

Lance looked at the blue nail polish with white cat details and tried not to feel embarrassed. He uses to get a lot of hassle from other idiots about wearing something ‘girly’. “Uh, yeah.”

“I thought I saw with galaxy nail polish one time, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Yeah, I did.”

Honestly, Lance was waiting for crude comment or something along those lines, but Keith just said, “It looks good.”

“Oh, thanks.” He didn’t expect that. They continued studying till Lance heard his stomach growl.

“Hungry?” Keith asked

“Uh, yeah.”

“We can take a break and go down to the pub.”

While his usual reaction would be to refuse and run away, Alura’s words kept coming back. The added fact that actually being in close quarters with him weren’t that bad when he wasn’t fully focusing on Keith, Lance felt like he’d be fine eating with him. Like it was a date. Since Keith asked him.

‘I really need to stop that. Normal situation Lance, this is a normal situation. Not one of your animes where everyone falls in love in minuets.’

The two went to the campus’ pub and where able to get their food rather quickly. Lance didn’t look at Keith much as he ate is quesadilla.

“Hey, I was wondering if you’d do something for me?” Keith asked. Lance looked up from dipping his quesadilla in sour cream to look at Keith, who was playing with the straw. “This seems kinda strange, but could you help me paint my nails?”

“Wait, you want me to help you?”

“Allura’s been suggesting it and I know she won’t stop bugging me if I ask her. And you did the galaxy one really well.” Lance continued staring at him and Keith said, “But if you don’t want to, I get it. I know you don’t really like me that much anyway.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well you always run away whenever you see me, whenever we all hangout, you never talk to me, sometimes you refuse to look at me and to be honest, before this, you never made any sort of attempt to hang out with me. I just thought you didn’t like me.”

So while Lance had been running away with his stupid crush, Keith thought Lance didn’t like him. This was…

“Um, that’s not…uh…I never…ugg. Fuck me.”

“What?”

Lance realised what that must of sounded like and he backtracked. “No, that’s not what I meant!” fry an egg on his face, it was the warm. He tried to make sense of his thoughts and just looked away. This wasn’t how he was expecting anything to go. “It’s not that I don’t like you. I was acting that way, cause…well, cause I do like you. Like really like you.”

The table was silent with Lance not looking up, letting his food get soggy and Keith not saying anything. Finally Keith spoke up. “That’s why you kept running away?”

“Trust me, I don’t usually act like that with everyone. I’ve had crushes before, I just never acted like that with one. Sorry if I freaked you out. Won’t happen again.” Lance grabbed his bag and was out the door ignoring Keith’s yell. He didn’t want to have to stick around the hear Keith reject him. He had stayed silent for so long, even if the idea of Lance liking him was surprising. When Allura had called him, after he missed dinner, all he said was, “I got what I needed, utter rejection.” before hanging up.

The next day, Lance was having breakfast in his room, when someone knocked on his door. He knew it wasn’t Pidge or Hunk, they both had classes and Allura had an internship that went through half the morning. He opened the door and was stunned to see Keith standing there.

“Hey.”

“Uh, hi?”

Keith wasn’t really looking at him and pulled out a small bag from his messenger bag. “Uh, Allura told me it’s not the best to do your nails at night so I couldn’t talk to you. Do you think we can talk?”

He could have said no but Lance opened the door. He directed Keith to sit at his desk and questioned why he let the guy who didn’t like him in his room. Maybe it was the request to talk or the look of pleading on his face. He put his own manicure tools on the table and stole his roommate’s chair. “So you wanted to talk?”

“yeah.” He felt Keith watch as he put bottom coat on all of Keith’s nails. “When did you…?

Lance really didn’t want to answer but Keith did come all the way to talk to him. “When I first met you. I don’t usually get crushes that quick and I’ve never really acted like that with anyone, so it’s safe to say that this was the real deal.”

“But you never did anything about it.”

“I hide behind flirts and fake confidence, which kinda went out the window when I was around you. I got embarrassed whenever I was around you so I just ran off.”

Lance was mixing colours on one of the blobbing pads when Keith said, “Why did you take off yesterday?”

Lance was wondering if Keith was just dragging this out for fun. “I embarrassed myself in front of you and then told you I liked you. I wasn’t expecting a hearty ‘oh same here’.”

“And how do know that I wouldn’t.” Lance looked at him. “Well, not in those words exactly, but how come you get to decide that I don’t feel the same?”

That…was a good point. Lance had been quick to run off, but Keith hadn’t said anything. What was he supposed to think?

“If I can get you without running away, I’d like to get the chance to know you more.” Keith wasn’t looking at him when he said that. “I’ve been interested, but I never really got the chance to know you, so I’d like that chance, if that’s ok.”

This wasn’t turning out to be so horrible. He wasn’t being rejected and he noticed he wasn’t stuttering around Keith. It was still embarrassing that he had to go through all of that, but the outcome wasn’t bad at all. Then Keith decided to tease him about it.

“So was I really that cute that you couldn’t function?”

“Watch it mister,” Lance said, his face turning red. He had a feeling that their relationship would be like this, Keith teasing him just to turn him red. “I have a metal file in hand and I can hurt you with it.”

“Ok sure, but I guess if I just put my hair up in a ponytail, that’ll stop you. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

“Shut up!”

Later that night though, when he called Allura to tell her what happened, he said, “I guess if you had done his nails, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance.”

“What are you talking about? I never told Keith he should paint his nails. He never seemed like the type so I never brought it up. He barely notices when I do thing with mine.”

“Really? At all?”

“I’ve done Shiro’s before and he never said a thing so…”

Keith had noticed his, not just then but when he did galaxy nails and that had been a while ago. Keith had been paying more attention than he thought.

“Lance?”

“Nothing, just. I think this might work.”

[kellanved-ammanas]

Pet Owners

I had this queued to post but tumblr ate it. If it ends up reposting eventually, that’s why.

Back up Secret Santa fic for @tf2vines​ Merry super late Christmas!

-

Pauling frowned down at her desk and the injured cat laying atop it still wrapped up in her jacket from when she’d brought it in from outside. How bad its injuries were and whether or not it could recover from them with just a little bit of care and attention or if it needed a lot of care to get better, she didn’t know. So she should probably take it to the vet. … But it was past midnight and she really could leave her work long enough to drive all the way to town.

If the Administrator were here, she’d probably advise to just leave it be; if it recovered on its own great, if not then too bad. Pauling didn’t quite have the heart to do that though, animals were her weakness, especially cats. So, what should she do? … Well, she knew a doctor who also had a soft spot for birds, maybe he’d be able to take care of a cat too.

She sat at desk and pet the cat’s head with one hand while she grabbed the phone with the other. She quickly dialed the number to the phone in Medic’s lab. It was late so he might not be there, if so she’d have to…

“Hallo,” he said as he answered it. Of course he was in his lab; he was the kind of idiot who routinely worked late into the night if not all night despite knowing how unhealthy it was. … She was one too though, so she couldn’t really judge. “Medic,” she said with a smile. “You should be in bed by now, you have battle tomorrow but for once, I’m glad you’re not. I need your help with something, come to my office please.”

“’I should be bed?’ Nah, Frau Pauling, you should be bed. You overwork yourself; you should sleep.” If only she could.

“Yeah, whatever, we’re both idiots. Get your ass over here. And don’t bother knocking, just come in, door’s unlocked.” She hung up.

With a sigh, she resumed petting the cat, careful about only petting its head. It stirred and meowed at her, its voice weak. Poor thing! Hopefully it would pull through.

Thankfully Medic could be quite speedy when he wanted to be as he arrived less than five minutes later. He knocked twice before opening the door and coming in. “What do you need?”

“This cat,” Pauling said. “I found it outside on my way back in. It’s injured, can you help it?” If not, she was going have to send him down to the vet despite the time of night because she was attached now and there was no coming back from that.

“Hmm… let me see.” Medic bent down to pull aside the jacket and inspect the cat. “It looks like it’s been in a fight with another cat and lost… pretty badly too.” “Can you help? I know you do stuff for your birds, it’s not a bird but…”

“I can help.” Medic looked up to smile at her. “I am the greatest doctor to ever live, I can fix it.”

Pauling was tempted to contradict his claim but well… as far as she could tell it was true or very close to it. He was certainly the best doctor she knew, personally or otherwise. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

Medic carefully lifted the cat, bundling it back up in the jacket and holding it securely against his chest. “I… did not think you were the type to have a soft spot for animals?”

“Well, we all have our weaknesses. Please keep me updated on its recovery.” “Will do.” Medic gave her a nod of acknowledgement before leaving.

-

Turns out the cat was a male cat. At Medic’s suggestion, Pauling chose to name him Tom after a cat she’d had as a child because his colouring was similar. To know this, she may have gone to Medic’s lab after the day’s battle to visit with the cat instead of calling for an update like she should’ve done and had done that morning.

“He’s surprisingly friendly,” Medic said as they stood side by side, petting Tom who was purring and seemed much better – a relief for sure. “Meaning you should be just fine keeping him as a pet, certainly better than Soldier’s raccoon anyway.”

“I… wasn’t planning on keeping him,” Pauling protested. Having a soft spot for animals didn’t mean she suddenly had the time to care for one even if she’d like to be able to. “I’m way too busy for a pet, especially since I have to leave all the time for work. Once he recovers, one of you guys can take him in if you want or if not, I can take him to the adoption center in town.” And hope he found a good home.

“Or, you could keep him when you’re here. When you’re out, you could give him to me or someone else on the team to watch. Cats are low maintenance most of the time and having a pet is good for one’s overall health.”

Pauling looked at him and then down at Tom and back at him. “Uh… I actually didn’t think of that. You’d really watch him for me when I’m gone?”

“Of course. I may have a preference for birds but I also have general fondness for most animals. So I wouldn’t mind cat-sitting for you when you need it. I imagine a few of the others would also gladly care him when you’re out as well.”

“That’s a great idea, thank you!” She hugged him. He froze in response; she didn’t give him time to recover before letting go.

“Uh… uh… anytime.” He recovered with a smile.

“All right, I… will see you and Tom later,” Pauling said, already back pedaling towards the door. “I really need to get back to work now.” Before the Administrator got mad and called her because she was not in the mood for that.

“Farewell. I will call you later with an update on Tom’s health.” Good, she had a phone call she could look forward to for once.