He grinned, glad to see he could make someone so excited. “I look forward to it.” He almost felt spoiled, being able to do all of this on Midgard. He was actually surprised that no one had stopped him yet. Surely from his post on Asgard Heimdall could see Fenrir’s every move, could he not? The once-wolf allowed the thought to pass from his head, not wishing to allow it to spoil his time here on Earth. He followed Summer out of the dressing room when they were ready to leave.
She sang for him, on the way home, the lyric and tune to every song that came up on her iPod, sometimes flicking glances at him out of the corner of her eye and laughing. For herself, Summer felt like she hadn’t had this much pure fun in ages; the chance to show someone all the things she loved about the world. She let the happiness spill out of her, let it dance along her empathic senses, and hoped the mere brush of it would brighten someone’s day.
At her apartment, she unlocked the door quickly, pushing importunate cats out of the way with her feet. “Come in!”
He had listened to her sing in the car, temple propped on his knuckles whilst his elbow rested on the car door. She seemed quite happy, and he briefly wondered if all beings in this world shared her enthusiasm for life. Surely it wasn’t just his presence that was making her so chipper.
He was brought to a building with many rooms that all looked the same, save for some which bore decorations of welcome or mats on the floor. All had numbers on them and people came and went occasionally. He followed her into one of the many rooms and found it to be a living space. For a moment he wondered if this was what all of the rooms beheld behind their closed portals. He was surprised when a soft, warm figure bumped into his shin. Fenrir looked down to see a cat rubbing against his legs. Absentmindedly he bent to scratch the creature on the head, though it retreated from his touch. Not surprising. To them he probably still reeked of wolf—and of whence he came.
His eyes wandered about the apartment as he stepped further into it. “Is every Midgardian in this building your family? You all live together…” Or perhaps this was a type of inn? But then some doors would not be adorned with wreaths, he suspected.
Summer smiled, scritching the head of a big, fluffy seal-and-cream cat, who kept looking up at Fenrir with big blue eyes and an absurd expression of pleasure. “Not here, no. This is an apartment complex. Each door outside leads to a little private home. I actually don’t know many people who live here, because our paths don’t often cross.”
She plucked the bag out of his hand and rummaged around inside it, pulling out a pair of jeans and a green shirt. Deftly, she popped the tags off, dropping them on the floor, and offered them to Fenrir. “Do you want me to wash what you have on now? I don’t … this is a little awkward.” She made a moue. “And, um … customarily humans are a bit … shy about unclothed bodies. Don’t get me wrong, yours is … very nice, but if you take your clothes off in front of me again I’m not responsible for my actions!”
He nodded. A strange living arrangement, though he supposed that he had little room to talk. He glanced at the absurdly fluffy cat. The thing looked pleased where it was and the once-wolf made no move to pet it.
He was glad to see the obnoxious tags removed from the clothing, relieved somewhat to know that he wouldn’t have to wear them about. He accepted them from her, glancing down at the rags he had scrounged up before. He shook his head. “No need. They appear to be falling apart, and at any rate I’ll have little use for them now.” He raised both brows in mild surprise. Oops. “Forgive me, I knew not that I was causing discomfort.” He smiled slightly, gesturing to the clothing she had given him. “Is there a place in which I should change? I wouldn’t wish to cause another dilemma.”
That elicited a laugh. “Down the hallway at your back, first door on the right. I’m going to feed the cats while you get ready.”