- Magellan -

I'm having trouble sleeping tonight.

I mean, usually I have plenty of trouble sleeping. My sensitive ears are tuned to send a message straight to my adrenaline gland as soon as they hear the slightest sound while I'm sleeping, in case there's a predator about. Seeing as I live surrounded by predators, this makes for a restless night at normal times. If Asimo's having a nightmare and starts snarling, I know I'm not sleeping again for a week.

But there's none of that tonight. Dad and Asimo are sleeping in another room tonight like they do sometimes, and we kids are just huddling up with Mallory for warmth. Usually I don't get stressed around my siblings anymore.

But I don't feel stressed. I don't feel tired. I can't seem to focus my mind, pin down what's keeping me awake. Then I realise.

Evelyn. I'm thinking about Evelyn.

That clever Eevee from Calc. Our neighbor. 

I search my mind for some trivium to explain what might make me think of her to the point of not being able to sleep, and I'm not sure how I feel about what I find.

One, could be some sort of psychic thing, telling me that she might be especially dangerous or something. Unlikely, but not entirely out of the question. Any Eevee could reasonably become a psychic Espeon.

Two, she imprinted herself on my brain so I would get distracted and not do as well as her in Calculus. That seems even less likely, since she didn't seem really to be the competitive type. We were even helping each other with some Calc issues we each had.

Three, and most worrisome, I might have developed a crush. This seems the very least plausible, because why would my already constantly alert prey-brain suddenly pull a 180 degree manoeuvre and decide that, instead of avoiding the predator, falling in love with it would be better. That's how the Attract move works, and we all know how that ends up for the target... badly.

So I'll have to watch myself tomorrow. Mallory was floating the idea of inviting her over, and if she'll be here, I'll have to raise my defences before she gets into my inner sanctum. Or whatever. But for now, I'll try thinking of something else...

--

Apparently I did, eventually, fall asleep, because suddenly, I'm underneath something warm and fluffy and heavy, and I don't remember it falling on me. I can't see a thing and I'm beginning to panic. But I have to keep myself controlled. If I'm correct in my presumption, this is Asimo's belly I'm under, and he's chosen to fall asleep on me this time. He might not move for hours.

I hope someone comes for me before then...

Sure enough, I can hear something gurgling above. That's a good sign - it means he'll have to take a crap soon, and unless he chooses to be infinitely more cruel than usual when he does, I'll be set free.

Finally... he stands up and trots to the bathroom. Doesn't check to see if I'm okay after he dropped his thousand-plus pounds on my five pound frame. I'm fine, since most of that weight went into the floor and not into me, but still...

I shake myself off and head into the kitchen. I climb onto the counter and see Westin with a bowl of dry oat cereal, which he is launching via spoon at Odessa, who is catching and eating them. I stand up on my hind legs and watch.

"Magellan, catch!"

Suddenly its my turn now. Westin launches one of the seed clusters at me, a little high due to not having yet adjusted to my height with his launch, but I easily leap up and catch it. That's enough food for me.

"Aw, nice!"

"You aren't making a mess, are you?"

We look over, and there's Dad. Odessa, Westin, and Saskatoon all rush over to hug him. Mallory probably would too, but she doesn't seem to be here at the moment.

I'll stay here.

I hop down off of the counter and head out into the living room to do some more reading, when the front door opens, revealing Mallory and  Evelyn.

Just as I expected.

--

- Evelyn -

At sometime like 9 in the morning, I wake up and look over at Mum. She appears to be slorping a pillow. 

Good ol' Mumsi...

Thankfully, she's asleep, so I don't have to call the psychiatric ward yet. I hop over to the kitchen freezer and find a couple frozen hash browns, which I chuck in the microwave for awhile. Eventually they finish, and I set one between plates to keep warm, and I eat the other.

Then there comes a knock on the door, and I... well, I peed myself. Its morning, and I had to do it eventually, and I have a bad experience with people coming in when I'm the only one up, remember?!

Anyway... I quickly wipe up my mess, and go to the door. I'm still freaking out, but I'll be brave. I have my claws extended, and I get close to the door... time to try throwing my voice...

"Wh-who is it?"

Great job, me. I somehow managed to sound even more like a tiny Eevee alone in the house. If they were even thinking of busting in before, now they certainly-

"It's Mallory, wanna come over?"

Mallory?

Maybe I was overreacting... I open the door cautiously, and sure enough, there she is, her tail wagging happily. I think its a little funny that I'm taller than her.

"Uhhh... sure!" I say. "Just a sec..."

I run back into the house and write on a sticky note, then I put it somewhere that Mumsi will see. 

"Alright, I'm ready!" I hop over to the door and close it, locking it carefully with a key I have hanging from a ribbon around my neck. No one would notice it, cuz it sinks into my mane.

"Ms Warner's your mom?"

"Yeah... I would rather keep that secret for as long as possible though."

"Ah..."

We talk some on the way to her house, although there isn't much time between being at home and being at her home, so we don't get into a deep conversation before we arrive. As we go in, we step right into the living room. It's cozy, and I see Magellan sitting on the floor, kind of staring at me, before he waves. I wave back, and we go over to sit with him and talk for awhile...

--

- Mallory -

Talking with Evelyn is really pretty fun! She's an excellent communicator, and she gets to what she means to say quickly and clearly. We have a pretty good conversation, I'd say.

My eyes wander a bit, and they happen on her chest. 

I guess I reacted, because she blushed and looked down. But... how could I not?

Her fur on her chest is kind of patchy and thin. It looks like maybe someone took a razor to it or something... I want to ask, but then again, that seems kinda rude... but...

"What... what happened?" I point at the fur...

She sighs, and I can see her shuddering... "Well, back... in St Percival... um... someone broke into our house, and... he clawed up my chest... pretty badly..."

I can't really believe it... someone broke in and hurt Evelyn? I glance over to see Magellan, who looks furious...

"Who did that to you? Were they caught? This... that's terrible..."

"Some stuff happened. I don't like to talk about it... But he got... he got his comeuppance, don't worry," she says, after noticing Magellan's reaction.

"What was his sentence?"

"Death."

That might have dampened the conversation a bit... what can I say to bring it back...?

Fortunately, Daddy comes into the room, so I don't have to worry about that.