[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She smiled, though she remained a little worried. "I'm glad there was no trouble, and I see Ebele's wearing a new collar. What did you trade for it?"

Cassus smiled, and grinned at the news he had for her. "It turned out they had a system for people who are in need of monetary aid."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealis couldn't believe it; it seemed lmost too good to be true. "You mean they're giving us money? Do we have to pay it back?"

Cassus grinned; "No - it's a system to help the less fortunate, and given our circumstances they were sympathetic. They said it's not spectacular, but it'll help - and it's more than we were expecting."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealis snorted and snuggled closer against his chest. "You can tell these people have never lived in the slums.

Cassus nodded his agreement and breathed in the smell of his family, smiling to himself when the pup he had scooped into his arm snuggled closer to his chest, where Borealis was resting comfortably.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

All of a sudden, a rumble came from Borealis' stomach, and she buried her face in his fur in embarrassment. Cassus chuckled, and handed her the pup before sliding out of the bed and arranging the blankets in a pile behind her to prop her up. He strode over to the bag he had left on the table and pulled out an apple that he had bought.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealus' face lit up as she looked at the rosy red fruit, and her stomach rumbled loudly a second time.

Cassus smiled at the endearing sight of her embarrassment and handed her the fruit.

"Eat that for now, and in a little while I'll make some dinner" he said, smiling fondly as she bit into the apple and held it out to offer him a bite.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealis smiled as Cassus took a bite from the apple; she preferred sharing food with him to letting him go hungry, and fruit was a rare treat indeed.

They shared the apple back and forth until only the core was left; Cassus pulled out the seeds to save them, and threw the apple core remains away.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

A short while later, Cassus lit the fireplace and found to his delight that it had a stand for a cooking pot, to hang it over the fireplace instead of resting directly on the fire itself.

He poured some water into the pot, and set about chopping the meat and vegetables he had bought.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealis watched him as she nursed the pups - their pups - and smiled as the room filled with the delicious scent of stew.

Cassus blew on the stew as he ladled it into the bowl for her, and sat beside her to hold the bowl and two of these pups as she fed herself.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

After dinner, Cassus set to cleaning up, as the room was quite dusty and clearly hadn't been used for a long time. They had been far too tired and stressed out the day before too even consider their living arrangements beyond relief at having a place too stay, and coming from the slums meant their standards were probably lower than those in the city.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Cassus winced when he thought of the Registry building and it's clean, well-dressed workers. Though they wouldn't be able to pretend to be on that level - and he genuinely had no desire to even try - there was no good reason not to be as clean as they could, especially considering the health of their newborn pups.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Cassus scrubbed the windows and floor with a rag and some hot water, some soapwort mashed in to give a lather and help clear the dirt. He hummed while he scrubbed, pausing only to remove his tattered shirt when he felt too hot, the effort and steam prompting him to open the window for the first time to let in a cool breeze.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As Cassus scrubbed and made the place presentable, Borealis took the needle and twine they had and began to sew some of their blankets together into a proper bed covering. It was slow work as there wasn't a lot of light to see by, but she had her pups curled up beside her and she hummed quietly in contentment.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealis also took some of their rags and sewed them together into tiny shirts, fearing that the doctor would not approve of newborns being left without clothes to keep them warm. She knew such things were common in the slums, but things were so different in this city, she feared anything that could cause the authorities to turn them away, or worse, deem them unfit to raise the pups.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

When they had both finished, the sun hung low in the sky and Cassus closed the window, enjoying the smell of the clean house. It felt a little strange to him, considering he was used to a shack with a dirt floor - he wasn't quite sure whether the stone floor was as clean as it should be, but he had scrubbed as hard as he could and hoped it would be good enough.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Borealis sighed as Cassus stoked the fire. She stroked her son's head with one hand while the other arm held his sisters close to her, tired after their feeding. She smiled as Cassus warmed some of the stew up for them, insisting that she eat as she had to feed the pups.