A Day of Planning

Excitement filled the day. Just outside of Aylesbury was a farm that had a mooncalf close by. If all went well, Bran Anwyl would have it on film tomorrow night. He was practically counting the minutes until he could go home so he could begin packing for his late night excursion. He looked down and saw that he still hadn't finished his paperwork for the day. This was the end of his second week working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and he already felt at home. He was also pleased that he had a considerably smaller amount of paperwork to be done each day, so more of his time could be spent doing research, his passion. He attempted to feel guilty at barely having worked today, but failed. He was just too eager for the next day's adventure, so, unable to bring forth so much as a frown, he simply continued doing his paperwork.

It was well after lunch when Bran decided that he needed a break. He had stopped only to eat a sandwich that he brought from home and had then continued working, vowing to finish early so he could start some research. He finished only one hour before his shift was over, which wasn't enough time to start a new research project, so he decided that he would go to the library and pretend to be working.

On his way to the library, Bran began planning his quest for mooncalf. He would leave his apartment at ten o'clock and drive to the farm. As he didn't have a broom and absolutely hated Apparition, he didn't have any other options. A portkey wouldn't be authorized for this kind of event, and he couldn't think of any fireplaces to travel to by floo powder. When he arrived, which would take about an hour he would approach the big hill on the farm and wait for the mooncalf to arrive, which would hopefully not take long. He realized that he had only gone five steps, so he continued walking.

Bran walked past Chase's desk and turned to see what she had been doing. This was not a good plan. Bran yelped as he tripped over his own feet and landed flat on his face next to her cubicle. He groaned. He didn't think anything was broken, even his nose, which sure felt like it from the pain. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and shook his head, still amazed that he didn't have a bloody nose. "Well, that was unpleasant," he said, clearly stating the obvious. Unfortunately Bran had inherited his mother's clumsiness, and although it didn't show as often as hers did, his was usually worse.

Chase was working intently on filling out some paperwork. She had put off a lot in order to take care of her newest inhabitant in her house. Which, at that moment sat on her shoulder. It looked like those small fuzzy balls that Fred and George had once sold in their shop in Diagon Alley, but it was a dull brown color, and had a weird crooked tail, which had a small bandage around it. It seemed to use this tail to balance as it sat on Chase's shoulder, looking down at her paperwork as she filled it out. Gently licking a scar on her chin as it did. It's small beetle black eyes wee set pretty far back in the fur, but it could still see alright, it had a weird attraction to scars, and Chase had been trying to get it to be comfortable somewhere besides her neck, until she had given up and let it sit there, it's tiny tongue stroking across the razor blade scar that it had access too.

Suddenly there was a loud thump, and a groan from just beyond Chase's wall. "Whoa!" Chase jumped and ran over to see Bran sprawled on the ground. "What are you doing down there Bran? You're supposed to use your FEET to walk, not your face." she laughed and held out her hand to help him up. "It's alright, I once tried to get through the Three Broomsticks... managed to knock over EVERY TABLE on my way to the door.. lets just say the people sitting at them weren't to happy... I fall down a lot, I've just gotten better at balancing lately." She said giggling and pointing at her shoes. "New Shoes help too, better traction, anyway, what were you doing? Weren't you working on something for your upcoming trip?" She asked, and then gestured him into her cubicle, where she had set up an extra chair so she could talk to people.

Bran slowly stood up, his head spinning slightly, and frowned. "I know I'm supposed to walk with my feet, thank you very much." He then grinned, as if he had just made a joke. Bran chuckled slightly at Chase's story. She was even clumsier than he was, which surprised him, as he sometimes tripped so hard he couldn't tell up from down. From what she had said though, Chase gave a whole new definition to the word "klutz."

He raised an eyebrow when she suggested that he buy new shoes. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, slightly amused. "I was on my way to the library," he answered when she asked what he was doing. "Oh, and I guess I was working on my trip, though there isn't much left to do except for pack when I get home." He frowned, feeling slightly ashamed. "Honestly, I was just going there to pretend to be working. I'm just too excited to get much done today." He gave a half smile, hoping she wouldn't think he was abandoning his duties. He knew that she wouldn't care, but subconsciously he was still constantly surprised that she was his friend.

He glanced at her shoulder. "Is that a pygmy puff?" he asked, quite curious. "I've never seen one with a tail before...." Without even waiting for a n answer, he started thinking. Bran tried to stop himself, but he couldn't. His eyes glazed over as he began drifting off. His mind wondered and pondered the possibilities. This could be a new breed of pygmy puff. It could be a whole new species entirely. He would have to study it. He would have to see if there were more. Where did Chase find it? From where did it originate? What does its natural habitat look like? Does it have any predators? Question after question and thought after thought raced through his mind faster than the speed of light.

Chase grinned at Bran as he said he knew that he was supposed to walk on his feet. "I do like going to the library, it's a fun place. "She said grinning at him and her jaw worked as the tiny animal licked at her chin and looked up at her with fear of seeing the man it didn't like. It hid against her neck, staring at Bran now, shivering slightly at his gaze. "Oh.. it's a hybrid of a pygmy puff we're thinking... we got him in a raid not to long ago, and he's hurt, so I'm taking care of him for a while until people can properly start researching him." She said smiling at Bran.

She carefully picked up the small creature and held it in front of her. "He's a sweetie though! Aren't you! Yes, you're just a little afraid of mean people, especially men.." She said the last part in an undertone to Bran. "I've notices a few things about him already though." She said and smiling at Bran. "He licks scars, and he's afraid of men... I think he's been a little abused by them... which is why he is so afraid of the guys who pass.. and he just, licks my chin the entire time." She said running her finger over the scar on her chin. "I don't know what they did to him... and I haven't heard if they found more yet.. but he's a sweetie, and I would love to keep him if it was at all possible." She said grinning at Bran. "I'm worried for him though... no legs or arms, and just a tail to balance, he bounces when he moves, and usually needs help getting anywhere... it would take a lot of work to keep him happy.. which is why I would love to keep him." She said smiling at Bran.

Bran was pulled out of his semi-hypnotic state as Chase spoke. He frowned slightly when she mentioned that it was just a hybrid. It was disappointing, but not surprising. He smiled, though, when she showed obvious affection for the little guy. Chase definitely was a good healer. She did it for the work and the benefit of the animals, not for the pay, which was good, as the government wasn't exactly generous. The employees were paid enough to get by, but not much more than that.

Bran gasped at hearing Chase's next words. She said that the animal had been abused. It sickened him, disgusted him. Animal abusers were no better than child abusers, in Bran's opinion. It was just wrong to hurt anything innocent and defenseless. Bran still wanted to study the hybrid, but since it had been abused to the point of fearing men, that wasn't likely to happen any time too soon. "Animal abuse is just wrong," he said softly, both for the benefit of the creature licking Chase's scars and because he was too angry to talk any louder without yelling. He sighed, pushing aside his anger. "Does he have a name?" Bran asked, anxious to pass the subject of its injuries.

He turned facing the library. "Would you like to come with me to the library?" he asked. "I don't really have a purpose, but I'd love the company." He glanced at her desk. "I do see you have a lot of paperwork to do though.... Oh well, perhaps you can join me later sometime. We do need to hang out some time not at work." He laughed. That was really the only time they saw each other, in the office. They occasionally went to lunch together and left work together, but he had never seen her outside of work. He would have to fix that.

Chase nodded sadly. "It's really not good, I'm still trying to figure out what he can eat... I've asked some of the raiders to look around the house they raided and see what kind of food is in it.. what sucks is that I don't even know if he's underweight or not.. he's so.. new... there is nothing on them.. and I don't even know anything about them... I don't know what they were bred with.. or... anything." She said and pointed at some bags on her desk. "I've been trying to feed him... from milk to lettuce, I've even tried meat... he won't eat, and it worries me..." She said and then sighed. "I don't even know if it's a boy to be honest..." She said, looking at Bran with a sigh.

"I haven't picked out a name yet... I'm afraid he won't survive long enough if I can't find something for him to eat... or find out more about him.. I just want him to get used to me first.." She said and looked at Bran, carefully standing up and holding the tiny creature to her chest, facing it away from her skin so that it could see where she was going. "Sure, I'll come with you.. at the very least I can find a book about something similar to what could have been bred with a pygmy puff... I don't know... or something that pygmy puff eat... I'm hoping to find something soon... he must be hungry." She said sighing and leaving her paperwork where it was, she moved out of her cubicle and grinned at him. "It's true, maybe you should hang out at my house sometime or something." She said grinning. "Or maybe I could convince Calvin to let me go with you on your trip!" She said looking excited.