Geoff:
Geoff never liked snakes. Most of it came from watching too many programs about how dangerous they are, not to mention finding a couple out in his yard while growing up in Alabama. In any case, they are his greatest fear. The Crew knows this, of course, having found out when Ray played a prank on Geoff and left a rubber snake out. No one expected the man, the Kingpin, to freak out as much as he did. They still haven't let him live that down.
Naturally, when Ryan said he was at the door to Geoff's penthouse, the last thing he expected when he opened it was Ryan with a snake around his shoulders. Geoff shrieks and scrambles back. "What the fuck?! Ryan you know I hate snakes!"
"Yes I know, which is why I brought him. I'm gonna help you get over your fear." He comes in and closes the door, the ball python's tongue flicking out. At the sight of it Geoff shudders.
"No warning? Maybe I don't want this!" He shakes his head. "Ryan you've gone too far!"
Ryan cocks his head to the side, looking a little hurt. "Did you always say that we shouldn't have any weaknesses? If any rival gangs got wind of your fear, they could cripple us. And also, snakes aren't that bad." He reaches up and strokes the smooth head of the python.
Geoff shakes his head again, but he takes a couple hesitant steps forward. "I know the point you're trying to make... I'm guessing your weakness is your home, right?" Geoff asks, Ryan nodding, the face paint making it hard to read his emotions. "Alright... and to protect Griffon... not that she needs protection." He snorts.
"Thank you..." Ryan steps forward, Geoff reflexively taking a step back, before he shakes his head at himself and takes that step forward. "Would you mind if Edgar IV went on you? Or should this be a proximity thing?"
"Another fucking Edgar? And please, don't put it on me." Geoff shakes his head. "Please."
"Like I said, it snowballed. And alright, we'll do proximity." Ryan nods, holding out his arm and allowing Edgar IV to slither to the end of his arm, vein rather close but not touching Geoff.
"Nnnngh..." Geoff gives a little noise of discomfort as his eyes lock with the snake, fighting every instinct that says to run away. It lasts for a couple minutes before he has to take a couple steps away. His heart is pounding, eyes still on the snake. "Sh-shit." He swallows hard and shakes his head. "F-fuck I didn't realize it'd be this hard."
"Well you're fighting the natural instinct to run away from something you find threatening." Ryan pulls his arm back, Edgar IV curling around his wrist. "If you want to be done, maybe you could come over now and then? Some of the other Edgar's might be comforting to you as well." He chuckles.
"Sounds like a plan!" Geoff agrees, wanting to try and get over this fear now.
That began an interesting sort of therapy session, with Geoff going over to Ryan's house in more casual attire, not minding fur getting all over his clothing as he sits on the sofa, while Ryan has his three snakes approach him. The first few end with Geoff being unable to stand it, but as time passes he warms up to them. After a couple weeks Geoff can at least pet the snakes.
Ryan, meanwhile, is just happy that he can help his friend and boss. He refuses pay, but Geoff always gives it to him somehow. Even if it's from moving the money from his account to Ryan's himself. Ryan has a lot to take care of, and Geoff will be damned if he lets his debts go unpaid.
Jack:
Jack acclimates quickly to Pat residing in her home. It isn't that different than having a pet cat or dog, and the little guy sleeps most of the day anyway. At night he's active, however, but Jack just sleeps through it all anyway, leaving her bedroom door open. After a little while, she begins to wake up with Pat curled up on the bed beside her.
After that moment, Pat would rarely leave her. Jack, who is rather deft in needlework, sews him a little aviator hat, complete with ear holes and goggles. The red panda doesn't mind it, and Jack also gets him a little collar with a name tag too, more so he doesn't get carted off to a zoo if he ever gets lost. Or if he does she'll know about it.
Geoff called her to be at the hangar for a mission and Jack is reluctant to leave Pat behind. it should be an easier one, from what it sounded like, so he should be safe. She bites her lip, then she grabs a duffle bag and carefully puts Pat in it, the red panda giving a little squeak as she does so. "Sorry." She gives him a little pet and puts some bamboo in a backpack along with a few other things. "Alright... you ready?" She asks him, and he gives a small noise in return. "Alright sounds good." She chuckles and leaves the room.
She drives to the hangar and nods to Geoff as she makes a beeline for a chopper, being extra mindful for any shooting. Fortunately there is none
"Hey! What's in the bag? You normally don't have one." Geoff asks her.
"It's just some extra guns. So I just wait for the signal and head to extraction?" She asks, climbing and strapping herself in, the door open for Geoff to respond.
"Yeah. It shouldn't be too dangerous, but then again with Ryan and Jeremy working together things can get a little... unpredictable."
"Jeremy?" Jack raises an eyebrow.
"Ray's out for today. Has stomach flu. So we called in Jeremy. Now get going!" Geoff orders before he runs back to his car, leaving to bring backup.
Jack starts up the chopper and as she waits for it to fully warm up she takes Pat from the bag and sets him on the copilot seat, lowering the goggles and strapping him in with a special harness she made. "Ready?" A squeak sounds. "Good enough." She takes off.
The skies are clear and everything is pretty peaceful. She heads over to the waypoint Geoff had sent to her phone, and she mounts it to keep an eye on it. She's getting close... ah yes. She can see the pair on the ground, Ryan driving a motorcycle while Jeremy has one hand around Ryan, the other on that damned cowboy hat for his "Rimmy Tim" look. She rolls her eyes and follows them, getting a little higher to stay out of the way of police choppers. She's glad that there's a couple extra seats in the back. Pat's sleeping by this point, and she won't let the guys wake her little baby.
"Finally." She mutters as they make it to the point and she lands the chopper, Ryan and Jeremy piling in. "You set?"
"Just go!" Ryan orders and she takes off again, his order making sense as police cars begin to pool below them, a couple firing, but Ryan has the door open still and he fires a rocket from his rocket launcher, causing a massive explosion.
"You guys okay?" Jack asks as she flies. Both are in the back with weapons ready. Good.
"You guys do this shit all the time? What the fuck?!" Jeremy says in amazement. "Y'all are insane!" He shakes his head, more on lookout as he doesn't have a weapon to Ryan's caliber yet.
"You shouldn't be talking about insanity, Rimmy." Ryan retorts.
"Says the guy who wears a fucking mask and face paint." Jeremy quips.
"Police chopper on your side Ryan!" Jack exclaims, turning the chopper a little to let Ryan fire at it, it exploding in a ball of fire. "Nice shot!"
The rest of the flight goes fairly well, only a few more choppers show up before Ryan shoots them down. Then she believes the police gave up, not wanting to lose anyone else. Jack lands the chopper down carefully and the two men hop out. Jack goes over to Pat and unstraps him, taking some bamboo from her bag and feeding it to him before she picks him up and puts him back in the bag, before she heads out.
"Nice flying!" Jeremy pats Jack on the shoulder and she smiles, then freezes as Pat lets out a little coo. "What was that?" Jeremy asks.
Ryan comes over, having heard the sound. "Jack? What's in the bag?" He asks, having recognized the sound. "Did you seriously bring him?"
"Bring who?"
Jack blushes and opens the bag, Pat's head popping out. She raises the goggles and pets him. "What? He makes an excellent copilot."
Gavin:
Gavin swallows as he stares at the carnage. He had been in charge of negotiations, per usual. He didn't look it all the time, but he's actually quite charismatic and intelligent. A lot more than the others gave him credit for. He had been talking to a dealer, trying to get them to work with him, with the FAHC, and in his earpiece he had heard Geoff inform that they were in position. They would only strike if things when wrong.
"So why should I work with you? I've heard plenty of stories about you to know you're a dangerous bunch." The man asks.
"Well, then you know we always need guns, ammo, and explosives." Gavin counters. Black market deals always go well for Gav, the Golden Boy. "So by working with us you would make a lo' of money."
"Very tempting... but the rival gangs could offer me more..." the man thinks. "They could give me a lot for killing you too. You and your buddies waiting outside."
Gavin's eyes widen and he dashes from the room, bursting into where the others were. "NO!" He cries out, watching them be picked off by snipers. "Micool!"
"Ga-" Michael had turned toward him and couldn't even get the word out as the bullet went straight through his throat, a spray of blood flying out of his mouth, then he slumped down, red puddles now growing from each member of the FAHC. Even Geoff.
"Now there's one left..." Gavin feels a gun pressed to the back of his head, but the shock and grief make him unable to move as the trigger is pulled.
"NO!" Gavin sits bolt upright in bed, panting and shaking. He puts a hand to his head. "A... A nightmare...?" He shakes his head, trying to clear it. It had all felt so real. He puts a hand to the back of his head where his dream-self had felt the gun. He swallows as he feels a queasiness and he gets up, dashing to the bathroom before he vomits into the toilet. After several minutes he slumps back, still shaking a little. He's never had a nightmare that intense before. He pulls himself to his feet and rinses out his mouth before he brushes his teeth to clean out the taste.
He returns to his bedroom, sitting on the bed, but is reluctant to sleep. He glances at the clock, curious as to the time: 2:36 AM. Too early to have gotten any healthy amount of sleep, but too late to be able to do anything. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, nightmare still haunting him.
He isn't sure how long he sits there, mind unable to rest, and he's too afraid to look at the clock. He feels like it's been hours, but he knows it's probably only been minutes. A soft shuffle sounds from the corner of the room and he flinches back, hand instinctively going to his waist where he normally keeps his gun. Naturally his hand only brushes the bare skin of his torso and his pajama pants. He takes a deep breath, shaking his head. It's only Vav.
"Sorry li'l guy." He says, getting up from bed and going over to the cage with the star-nosed mole. "I've been making a lot of noise." He carefully picks Vav up and brings him back to the bed, where he sits again. A couple fingers stroke the animal down his back. Vav doesn't seem to mind, snuffling around, those feelers ghosting over Gavin's palm.
Gavin pets Vav, looking at him, and he realizes that with each touch of the feelers he seems to be comforted a little. "Thanks Vav... ugh I don't know why my nightmares get worse..." he shakes his head. "And I'm sorry for how I reacted to you when we first met. I was a proper arsehole. I looked at you and dismissed you... I did to you what the other lads do to me. I'm sorry." Gavin swallows hard past a lump in his throat.
"I know that the lads mean well, but constantly being called dumb or stupid wears on me after so long... it hurts. No ma'er wot I do, it seems like they don't care about me as much. That I'm expendable, that I'm more of a liabili'y." He pets the mole again, the little feelers on his palm pulling a small smile from him. "I'm not sure you can understand me, but thanks for listening anyway." He stands and puts Vav back into the cage, before he falls asleep, no dreams plaguing him.
Ray:
Ray Narvaez Jr. is a man of simple tastes. He usually spends his days off from the missions and heists relaxing in his apartment, playing video games. Today is one such day.
He's gotten rather used to X-Ray gliding from thing to thing, and he finds it kinda cute. On the plus side so does Tina so she doesn't mind the sugar glider. X-Ray, today, is out of his cage, gliding from perch to perch and now and then landing on the sofa, which forces Ray to get up and put him back on a perch, a grumble coming from the Puerto Rican every time.
"God damn it X-Ray!" Ray exclaims as the animal lands right onto the controller, where he licks Ray's fingers. Ray pauses the game and picks X-Ray up, putting him on a perch again. "Now stay. I can't keep playing the game of you always make me pause." He scolds the marsupial, before returning to his place on the sofa.
Ray plays his game for a little longer, the clock on his wall marking the passage of time. Soon it's past one in the morning and he doesn't even notice. But unfortunately for him, sugar gliders are nocturnal.
"Fuck!" Ray curses as X-Ray once again lands on his hand. "Now is not the time for that X-Ray!" He puts his pet into the hood of his jacket, hoping that'll keep him occupied. Ray continues on with the boss fight of the game. He's so close to winning...
"Yes!" He cheers as he beats the boss, and the next area opens up. He saves the game and goes to continue with he sighs as x-Ray is once again on his controller. "Fucking hell X-Ray what is your problem tonight? Do you want to be as annoying as possible?" X-Ray makes a chattering noise that's so cute Ray can't help but smile. "Alright fine."
He puts X-Ray on his shoulder before he gets up and turns off his xBox. "There. You happy?"
X-Ray chirps.
"Good enough for me." He sits on the sofa again and pets the marsupial. "I do have to say I like spending some time with you. You're surprisingly fun to talk to for being an animal." He chuckles as X-Ray nuzzles him a little, chirping again. "Yeah see you give responses like that." He pets his little animal friend.
"Y'know, I should get you a lady friend. Having a female companion makes things a hell of a lot more fun. Plus then you also have someone to spend time with. I've got Tina, who is amazing by the way. You don't see her a lot because you sleep most of the day. But she's one of the coolest, most awesome, loving, and kindest people you will ever meet. I got real lucky finding her. Still not entirely sure how I managed that." He chuckles, laying down with X-Ray on his chest. "I'll do some research tomorrow, you shouldn't be lonely." Ray yawns and his eyes drift closed, a content smile on his face.
Tina smiles from her place in the doorway to the living room, having heard Ray's words about her. She walks over and tenderly puts X-Ray in his cage, before she turns off the TV. She goes over to Ray and kisses his forehead, pulling a blanket over him before she heads back to bed, thinking about how blessed she is to be dating a man like him.
Michael:
"Hey Lindsay... how many cats is too many?" Michael asks his girlfriend, looking over to her. He's currently sitting on his sofa, his minigun in several pieces on the coffee table in front of him on towels, cleaning the weapon meticulously.
"Oh Michael. You can never have too many cats." Lindsay shakes her head, her artificially red hair framing her face cutely. "But so we don't get too many complaints I'd put it at a solid five or six. You scare the shit out of the landlord so he won't try and fuck with you about it." She chuckles, going over and sitting beside him. "Y'know, I'll never get past how impressively complex this piece of shit is."
"Hey! Baby is not a piece of shit. She's very important and has saved my ass frequently." Michael counters.
"You fucking named it Baby?! Are you cheating on me with your gun?" Lindsay exclaims, just teasing him.
"Hey it's important to me. But nothing is as important to me as you, Lindsay." Michael replies smoothly, and Lindsay rolls her eyes.
"Oh don't give me that cliché romantic bullshit. Thanks though." She kisses his cheek. "Why did you want to know about the cats?"
"Well you know how I have Mogar?" Michael asks, the large dog lumbering into view upon hearing his name. "Well Ry has a cat named Ruby, after you, and she's pretty good pals with Mogar. But she had just had kittens so she couldn't be moved."
"He named a cat after me? Awww that's so sweet! Maybe I should date him instead." Lindsay laughs.
"Yeah and okay, wow. Rude. I let you live in my nice apartment for free and this is the thanks I get?" Michael shakes his head. "Anyway I was wondering about asking him if I could bring Ruby and her litter home. I think she had four kits."
"So a momma and four kittens. That sounds perfect! It'd be so cute and there would be little cats everywhere that sounds amazing!" Lindsay gives a little squee of cuteness.
"Glad you like the idea." Michael laughs, continuing his work on cleaning his gun, Lindsay moving to the floor to play with Mogar.
††††††††††††
"So you want to take all of them?" Ryan raises an incredulous eyebrow. "Alright... but I hope you know it'll be a lot of work caring for them."
"Linds will love them. She doesn't have a job right now since her boss doesn't need her for voice acting yet." Michael shakes his head. "I mean it'll give her something to do too."
"Alright. They should be old enough by now. Remember to get them fixed as they grow up. I made the mistake with not getting Ruby fixed, but I usually don't have to as all of the other ones are male." Ryan scratches the head of a small owl that lands on his shoulder.
"Alright thanks Ry! I'll get them all tagged to." He nods, and Ryan raises an eyebrow as Michael looks both very nervous and very happy.
"You okay? You seem a little off." Ryan frowns. "What's going on?"
"Oh! I, uh, I'm gonna ask Lindsay to marry me today." Michael scratches the back of his neck and pulls the engagement ring from the inner pocket of his brown jacket. He opens the box to show Ryan the ring. It's quite nice. The band is a rose gold with a rose design holding a diamond surrounded by blood red rubies. "I had it custom made."
"Really pounding in that Ruby Rose theme, eh?" Ryan chuckles. "It's a very nice ring though. She'll love it."
"Oh it's not just that, you cheeky fuck." Michael shakes his head. "Roses are her favorite flower, and frankly the first time we met and hung out was after a bar fight and my nose was broken. She tended to me while I licked my wounds. We were both covered in blood but fucking hell that was a good time." He chuckles. "That's why the rubies are blood colored than rose colored."
Ryan smiles and takes his friend to where Ruby is laying with her kittens. "They're all yours. Good luck." He gives a little salute as Michael puts the momma cat and her kittens into a box and carries them out to his car. He stops by and gets four name tags for the kittens as well as ribbons for little collars and tying them around the neck, putting the ring on Ruby's ribbon.
††††††††††††
"Linds! I'm home with presents!" He calls over, carrying the box.
"Kitties!" Lindsay comes over. "Oh can I hold them?"
"Yeah. I'll hand them to you." Michael takes out a kitten and hands it to her.
"Will." She checks the tag. "Alright. So did you name them? Did Gavin help?"
"No, all me." He chuckles. He hands her the next one.
"You. Alright odd name for a cat. Hey that's you. No not you the cat." Lindsay shakes her head and then she's handed another. "Marry. You spelled it wro- oh." She sees the tag on the fourth kitten. "Me. Will you marry me... Michael!"
Michael is holding Ruby, the ring glinting in the light. "I had the idea the moment I saw Ruby and her kittens. So Lindsay Tuggey, what do you say? Will you marry me?" He bites his lip, a little nervous that maybe Lindsay isn't ready for that level of commitment yet. Then she grins and kisses him, the cats around their feet, forgotten for now.
"Of course, dumbass."
Ryan:
"Jesus Christ! Go go go go go!" Jeremy Dooley gets on the back of Ryan's bike, one arm around Ryan and his other hand holding onto his cowboy hat. "Fucking go!"
"I heard you the first fucking time!" Ryan snaps, the bike tearing off down the highway. He weaves in and out of traffic, Jeremy keeping an eye behind them.
"I think we're losing them! Nice work Ryan!" He laughs, patting his friend's shoulder.
"We're not out of the woods yet! Left!" He warns, taking his hand off the controls and firing some shots to the left. A man flies off his bike, shot in the shoulder. He groans in pain but that's ended real quickly as a car hits the man's head, crushing the skull in a spray of blood and brain matter, the car skidding off the road.
"Holy shit! Did you fucking see that?! His head popped like a fucking melon!" Jeremy exclaimed with a laugh, the sight soon behind them and blocking up the highway. Perfect.
"No I didn't fucking see it, Jeremy. In case you haven't noticed I'm driving the bike." Ryan says through clenched teeth, eyes scanning for danger.
"Geez, someone is full of vine- shit!" Jeremy lets go of Ryan and shoots a biker coming up behind them. He holds on with his legs, hand still on that hat.
"Dammit Jeremy! Pay attention!" Ryan looks up and sees the helicopter. "Alright Jack has eyes on us. We're nearly to extraction."
"Good! Ah shiiiiit there's more coming! Where do they come from?!" Jeremy grabs onto Ryan again and Ryan speeds up. He makes it to the point and Jack lands the chopper.
"You set?" She asks, Ryan diving into the chopper and offers a hand to pull Jeremy in, before unslinging his rocket launcher from his back and loading it.
"Just go!" Ryan yells at her, watching as the cop cars pool below them as they take to the air. He fires a rocket and the cars explode, his rigged bike making the explosion extra large. That should keep the cops busy for a while.
"You guys okay?" Jack asks them, and Ryan gives a thumbs up, too focused on looking for targets to answer.
"You guys do this shit all the time? What the fuck?! Y'all are insane!" Jeremy shakes his head in amazement. Frankly he's impressed, despite his words. He makes a silent promise to work hard, to move up to this team, to get off the B team. It's insane, yes, but fucking hell it's exciting!
"You shouldn't be talking about insanity, Rimmy." Ryan rolls his eyes, voice heavily sarcastic. His focus is pulled from scouting for a moment.
"Says the guy who wears a fucking mask and face paint!" Jeremy retorts hotly. He's rather proud of the little character he made up, Rimmy Tim. It's to him as the Vagabond is to Ryan.
"Police chopper on your side Ryan!" Jack breaks Jeremy out of his reverie and Ryan takes care of it with his rocket launcher. An orange ball of fire flares up as it hits the mark. "Nice shot!"
"I'd thank you but most of it is the autotarget." Ryan shakes his head, Jeremy raising an eyebrow as the infamous Vagabond almost sounds… bashful? He thought the man would take pride in that. Then again Jeremy doesn't know the man behind the mask and face paint, not like the others do. Not yet.
Ryan takes quick work of the remaining choppers seen on the flight and as they touch down Ryan hops out and stretches. The chopper is rather uncomfortable for the tall man. Jeremy comes around with the objective: a briefcase full of money. "We made that assignment our bitch!" Jeremy gives a celebratory "whoop" accompanied by a "hap hap!" or two.
"Yeah… although it seemed rather below my level… normally Geoff sends me on jobs that he knows only I can take." Ryan frowns, it of course being hidden by his mask. While it may seem like he's bragging, it's true. Ryan has a special set of skills, all geared for killing, so a simple robbery like this was rather… small for him. This would be a job for Ray, who has the flu, apparently, or Michael.
"Jesus man lighten up! Team Battle Buddies finally had a mission together! We haven't had one since coming up with the name!" Jeremy shakes his head. He pats Jack on the shoulder as she passes. "Nice flying!" He grins. He frowns as he hears a cooing from Jack's bag. "What was that?"
Ryan hears the coo and he instantly recognizes it as a red panda. "Jack, what's in the bag? Did you seriously bring him?" He shakes his head. Of course she brought Pat on a mission!
"Bring who?" Jeremy frowns, confused. That coo sounded like some kind of animal. He stares at the little head that pops out of Jack's bag.
"What? He makes a good copilot." Jack shrugs.
"Dammit Jack you could have killed him!" Ryan reprimands her.
"Wait who is that? Ryan what is going on?" Jeremy looks between Jack and Ryan.
"It's Pat!" Jack beams, petting her red panda. "Oh! Jeremy, I think Ryan has a chinchilla named after you." She checks her phone, getting a text from Geoff: He's here, Ryan can come back.
"You have a chinchy named after me? Aww Ryan, that's so sweet." Jeremy teases. "So do I get to see him?"
"Oh! Yeah. Why don't you come over now?" Ryan asks, calling his mechanic to drop off his car for him. "I'll give you a ride. And Jack? Never bring Pat on a heist again." He gives her a stern look. He took care of Pat for a good three years before he gave him to Jack.
"Alright! Hey I've never been to your place before. This'll be fun! What's it like?" Jeremy bounces from one foot to the other.
"It's a real zoo." Jack chuckles. "Well, I gotta go. See you later!" She waves and gets back into the chopper, taking off and flying away.
"She certainly knows how to leave in style." Jeremy comments with a hand on his hat to keep it from blowing away. "Anyway, what did she mean by your place being a zoo?"
"You'll find out. Come on, the car is this way." Ryan jerks his head in the direction of his car and walks that way, eyes on the map on his phone to see where it was parked. Once there he gets in and takes off once Jeremy is all buckled up. "Promise you won't tell anyone about it." He gives Jeremy a stern look.
"Alright, fine. I won't tell anyone." The shorter man is a little intimidated by that glare. "Jesus, I don't gossip." He shakes his head.
Ryan nods and then drives in silence, at one point taking off his mask so he's just in his face paint. Jeremy respects the silence until he sees Ryan's mansion. "Holy fucking shit…" He breathes in awe. "You live here?!"
"Yeah." Ryan pulls up to his garage and parks his car in it. He unlocks the side door and is greeted with a cacophony of animal noises. "Yeah yeah I know I'm late! God just give me a break!"
Jeremy comes in and closes the door behind him, before he freezes in shock as he sees all the animals. "Holy shit… Ryan how did you…?" He walks around, looking at everything.
"I have connections that tell me about shady animal deals or bad carnies." Ryan shrugs and goes to the chinchilla cage, taking out Doolz carefully. "Here. This is Doolz." He hands the chinchilla to Jeremy.
"Awww he's adorable! Did you dye his fur?" Jeremy pets the top of the animal's head, right on that little blue patch.
"Nope. Little guy dipped his head in my face paint and couldn't get it off. Chinchy fur can't get wet and the dust made it dry faster. I picked out all the sticky bits so now it's just permanently blue." Ryan explains, closing the cage. He turns to go outside when he freezes.
A sick and hurt tiger is laying out in his backyard, the other animals kind of avoiding it. "That's not mine…" Ryan frowns as he goes out and approaches it carefully. He kneels beside it and looks it-him- over. "Oh God…" He sees the burns on his paws and hurries back inside to grab some medicine. On his way back he hears a small, familiar snicker.
"Alright I know you're there Gav." Ryan turns and crosses his arms as Gavin comes out of hiding, followed by Michael and Geoff. "Okay why the fuck are you hiding in my house? And how did you get in here?"
"You forget I'm rather good at hacking." Geoff reprimands Ryan. "And we were here because we got you a present." He gestures outside.
"You mean the tiger?" Ryan raises his eyebrows before he goes out and over to the big cat, treating his burnt paws. "How the hell did you get him?"
"Heard some carnies were in town and figured we'd scope 'em out for you. Turns out they were burning this guy to get him to jump through some hoops." Michael explains. "So we went in and liberated this guy." He kneels and scratches the tiger behind the ears, the beast half-closing his eyes in contentment, feeling safe around these humans that rescued him,
"You went and stole a tiger from some carnies and brought him here… Alright." Ryan shrugs. "He needs a name…"
"We, uh, actually already named him." Geoff cuts in. He mostly wanted to prevent an Edgar XXXI.
"You did?" Ryan blinks in surprise. "What'd you name him?"
"Well…" Gavin starts, scratching the back of his neck. "You named so many animals after all of us…"
"Uhuh."
"So we decided to return the favor. Ry, meet Vagabond." Gavin gestures to the tiger.
"You… you named him after me?" Ryan's never felt more touched than he did right then. He runs a hand through that orange and black fur. "Th… Thank you."
"Ryan are you crying?" Jeremy asks, Doolz on his shoulder. He looks stunned.
Ryan wipes his eyes hastily. "No idea what the fuck you're talking about. But thank you. This means so much to me." He grins, so happy he has friends like these.