ninefox | Fine Zinc Teeth

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Fine Zinc Teeth

There was a time Jedao would have said that half a century was barely any time; less than a mortal life, not more than two generations. But the world has changed so much since he first put the Americans' uniform on. Even the uniform has changed - they don't call dance halls dance halls any more, for another thing. But the smell of the place - sweat, desire, alcohol - that much is the same.

He slinks in under a stranger's face, although he doesn't disguise his own scent when he smiles, glittering, at the bouncer: a flashed lure that Fives might not even notice or recognize, let alone pursue. It took a few months to get someone to handle all the things which apparently needed handling for his "retirement", and a few more to track down one particular squad of decommissioned weretroops, out of thousands, mostly paperless, in the busiest city this side of the Pacific. But Jedao did find them.

He dances without keeping track of the time, lets his face slowly slide back to its default arrangement, lets his spine relearn how to hold him up without being army rigid. He has several drinks - people buy them for him, which is nice; one or two of them he even dances with until they can't keep up with him any more. Fives rotates from the receiving line onto the floor as the night wears on and patrons get drunker, and he maneuvers himself into Fives' line of view, always moving, twisting, flashing glances that catch on Fives' eyes as the beat hits. Slowly, as if by the whim of the music, he draws closer.

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"Less messy than getting dirt all over your clothes, I guess," Jedao speculates. "Or easier to wash, at least, before all those machines."

"I just want to know how it didn't turn into an orgy." He can't imagine doing that and not being hard as a rock and panting for it.

"Humans are weird," Jedao says with a shrug.

"They are, but the little ones are cute." Fives grins at him and turns them left at the corner, then takes them about half a block down and stops them in front of a slightly ramshackle looking five story apartment building. It's clearly from at least the 19th century and doesn't look like it's been renovated since halfway through the 20th.

"I hope you don't mind stairs, we're on the top floor." Jedao can probably tell it's the right place by the heavy scent of wolf wafting from the building, he might even be able to identify some familiar scents if he remembers them well enough.

Fives is guiding them towards the stairs when a familiar face pops out of a top floor window. "Oh man, you're gonna be in trouble, little brother!" Hardcase hollers down, grinning, and then disappears back through the window before Fives can yell back at him.

Fives scowls up at the window then huffs and... tightens his grip on the General's shoulders as they head up the steps. "Ignore him," he mutters, but he's blushing a little bit and doesn't actually look at the General. "He's just being an asshole because he didn't pick up any work today."

"I don't think I could have gotten out of shape that quickly," Jedao murmurs, amused. "If I keel over like a delicate flower from the strain, you'll just have to carry me."

"Well now I'm just going to spend the whole walk up hoping for that," Fives teases, then finally drops his grip on the General's shoulders to hold the door open for him, and not take up the entire width of the narrow, scuffed stairs leading up and up and up. He keeps turning his head back to smile at him, though, and occasionally turns entirely to walk backwards up the stairs as he talks.

The building's just as ramshackle on the inside as the outside, but it's rich with the smell of cooking and people as the dinner hour approaches, and the scents of spices from all over the world fill the halls and stairwells as they make their way up. There's the sound of families behind many of the doors, and signs of children in the halls, as well as the presence of a few of them, running through the hallways or up or down the stairs, heading back to their own apartments for dinner to the tune of small thundering feet, parents' calls, and slamming doors.

"It's a good building," Fives tells the General as they make their way up, grinning at the children they pass and smiling a little more reservedly at the occasional adult neighbor. "Lots of families. And the rent's cheap because there's no air conditioning and it's not in the best shape." Or in a very good area. "But it's not actually dangerous or anything." He doesn't think. "And we got a huge space at the top for not too much money because it needed a lot of work and no one wanted to hike up and down all these stairs and do the repairs it needed. Everyone can use the roof, but no one minds Echo and Tup having a corner for a garden."

"Faithless sedition," Jedao accuses, with no heat. With all the glances and turns, Jedao has to be quite quick to keep Fives from catching Jedao watching is ass as they ascend, but the rewards are more than worth it.

"It feels like a good place," he says, and means it, the messiness of so many generations, the spices of half a dozen different cuisines, someone crying and someone singing and someone hanging laundry. It's warm with the rhythms of life.

Fives feels a quick spike of conditioned fear at the General's answer, but pushes it away immediately. This is the man who'd ultimately saved him from the firing squad, after all... and Dogma as well. He grins instead, laughs a little unsteadily. "Well, it is what I'm known for."

It's hard to make a joke of it, but he's worked hard to get to the point where he can, and then there's the building to talk about, and his brothers, neighbors to greet and skateboards and bikes left in the hallway to maneuver around. And he knows he has to be imagining it, but once when he turned back to the general he almost thought he caught the general looking quickly away from his ass. Wishful thinking, Echo would doubtless tell him, then give him another lecture about getting dangerously above himself.

"Yeah, it does," he agrees, and his grin is wider and warmer this time, pleased that the general feels the warmth of the place. "Mrs and Mrs. Cheong-Williams down the hall helped Rex learn how to cook, and took him and Cody to the thrift store on 8th to show them what kinds of kitchen things to get." He decides maybe he won't mention it was because Rex's first effort to feed them all after they'd moved in here had resulted in a fire on the stovetop, the smoke alarm going off, and all of them in the hallway with the windows wide open in the middle of winter trying to clear the smoke. The two women had taken pity on the gaggle of clearly incompetent brothers who'd moved in next door to them and taken them under the wing.

"What kind of kitchen things did they get? There's so many now." Jedao can do amazing things with one wok, a sharp knife, and a big spoon, but after almost sixty years of eating in mess halls, modern kitchens utterly bewilder him.

"Um... mostly some pots and pans. A couple big knives and some littler ones, and a cutting board for using them on. A, uh, a vegetable peeler and a... steamer? Some really big spoons for stirring things and a couple of flat things, spatulas? For flipping things over? Oh, and measuring cups and spoons, and mixing bowls. And a whisk." He likes the whisk.

"I learned how to make pancakes and eggs, so I can make breakfast most mornings. And Rex and Cody taught all of us to make noodles and rice." He sounds prouder of that than is probably justified, given what a basic skill cooking is, but it's not one that any of them had ever been given any opportunity to learn before coming here.

"You can live a long time on eggs and rice," Jedao says approvingly, vaguely relieved that they don't have anything too incomprehensible.

"Probably," Fives agrees. "But it's better with meat in it. And Cody always makes us put vegetables in it too... but they're not bad with enough sauce."

He grins as they finally emerge into the top floor hallway. He can hear his brothers bickering behind their door down the hall, which means the general doubtless can too. Hevy and Hardcase wanting to throw the door open and greet the General in the hall, Cody telling them to settle down and be patient and help Tup today, and Rex yelling at them--probably from the kitchen--to settle the hell down and quit behaving like undisciplined pups. In an undertone to it all he can hear DB and Dogma both whining, DB in excitement and Dogma no doubt with anxiety.

Fives gives the General a slightly sheepish look then, raising his voice pointedly, announces, "Welcome to our home, General," and throws open the door to barely controlled chaos.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite squad and a half," Jedao says, grinning expansively, hands tucked in his pockets as he saunters in, not remotely military posture. "How is everyone?" He crouches after a few steps and offers Dronebait a hand to sniff, their eyes almost on a level.

"And who are you, then? Nice to meet you."

The General is definitely the only one (besides Fives, anyway), who's not in perfect military posture. The rest of them have clearly scrambled to face the door and snap to attention, though Hevy and Hardcase clearly jostled for position to the last moment and Hardcase has his shoulder shoved in front of Hevy's, partially blocking him as he faces the door, and Tup seems to have tried to shrink shyly into the background, partially hidden behind Cody and Jesse.

"General Jedao, sir," Cody greets him without moving, even as DB wriggles and squirms forward to sniff excitedly at the General's hand and then lick first the hand, and then the General's face. "That's Echo's boy Dronebait, sir," Cody explains as Fives steps in after the General and crouches down as well to receive his share of the mostly grown pup's enthusiastic greeting, ignoring Cody's disapproving look as he does so.

"We managed to, ah, liberate him on our way out, General," Fives adds, grinning as he scruffs his nephew's ears enthusiastically. "Right DB? Did we come rescue you with Daddy? Huh?" DB wriggles more enthusiastically and butts right into the General's chest, apparently intent on knocking the newcomer over so he can give him a thorough greeting.

"DB! That's enough!" Cody orders and the pup immediately backs up a step and drops his backside to the floor. He can't quite stop squirming, but he's mostly doing it in one place now, with his tail thumping energetically at Hardcase's ankles. "General, sir, my apologies for Dronebait's behavior."

"Aw, he was just saying hi, Codes," Fives protests, cutting Cody off and stroking the top of DB's head once more as he gets to his feet.

"Oh, very good," Jedao murmurs after hearing news of the rescue. He definitely doesn't get knocked over - doesn't even wobble - and gets a good ear ruffle in himself before Dronebait reluctantly heels.

"I don't mind him," Jedao assures Cody, then waves a hand. "At ease, everybody, at ease forever, I'm retired," he announces, although there's no reproach in it for their hard-earned reflexes, and he flips Hardcase a Kennedy half dollar for winning the unspoken contest, because he is a terrible influence, grinning as he manages to catch it out of the air despite Hevy's scuffling attempts to intercept.

"Fives has been telling me stories about a roof garden, I'd love to see it," he adds, voice warmly hopeful without calling Tup out either by name or by gaze.

DB seems to be aware they're talking about him, and he wriggles his way a little closer, in obvious hopes Cody won't call him to heel again. Hardcase, meanwhile, is busily buffing his prize against his shirt, clearly just to rub it in to Hevy that he won and the General noticed.

"Hardcase!" comes Rex's voice from the kitchen, sharp and commanding, and Hardcase deflates almost visibly. "Get in here, it's your day for KP duty and these potatoes aren't mashing themselves!"

"Yessir," he calls, and turns towards a door to the left. "It's good to see you, sir!" he adds to the General before trotting obediently off.

"Jesse, Hevy," Cody adds. "Finish setting the table, we can all catch up with General Jedao over dinner. And Tup-" He turns and looks at the youngest member of their little clan, his voice going a little gentler as he smiles encouragingly at him. "Why don't you take the General up to the roof. Echo can help you show off your garden while Fives gets cleaned up for dinner." And he fixes Fives with a quelling glare, just daring him to protest being kept behind.

Fives rolls his eyes and sighs, prepared for the inevitable lecture on getting above his station. "It's Tup and Echo's garden, so they're the best to show it to you," Fives agrees, and even if he's annoyed at Cody he doesn't let any of it come through for Tup. "Go on, little brother. Take DB up with you too, he'll want to go see his dad now that we're here." He knows Echo had only left him behind because he'd have been beside himself trying to get down from the roof to greet him at the door otherwise.

"You too!" he calls after Hardcase, laughing just a little. He waves gamely at Hevy and Jesse, letting Cody herd everyone, and gives Fives a quick squeeze on the wrist and a warm smile.

"I'm really glad I ran into you," Jedao says, low but definitely not too low for Cody to catch, even though it was less "running into" and more "determinedly tracking down." Even if Fives might hope or guess, none of them know. Then he releases Fives and follows Tup, trying to look mild and unintimidating without any real understand of what could make someone be intimating other than "being an angry dragon." He's certainly not angry, at least.

"Me too, General," Fives answers with a warm, slightly soppy smile, and immediately turns a smirk on Cody as Tup leads the General out the door to the access stairs at the end of the hall, DB on their heels as the door closes behind them.

Tup, for his part, is just as tall and almost as broad as his brothers, though he's clearly not carrying as much muscle mass. Still, he would probably be just about as intimidating to a stranger, but there's something a little subdued, maybe even timid about how he holds himself that makes him seem younger. Smaller. Altogether less imposing than his boisterous older brothers.

"I, uh... I don't remember if I ever thanked you, General," he murmurs about halfway to the stairs, only looking at the General out of the corner of his eye as he walks. "I don't... I don't remember a lot. From then. But Fives said-" He stops and chews at his chapped lips and reaches an open hand down that DB apparently recognizes as a request for reassurance, butting his broad head up under Tup's hand for him to ruffle his ears. "He said you kept them from, uh... putting me down. When I got sick."

"Mm," he confirms, quiet and a little more somber than before, unable to respond to Tup's nervousness with any flippancy. "I had - no promises, but some hints the stand-down would be coming. I thought you could make it, given half a chance. And so you have."

Tup swallows hard and chews at his bottom lip again and starts up the stairs before answering.

"Thank you, sir." He tips his head just a little, making tentative eye contact. It's nothing like the military bearing he was trained into, or that his brothers still display, but he's forgotten a lot of that too. Not all of it, but enough it's not his automatic default the way it still is theirs.

He pauses at the door leading out onto the roof, squares his shoulders, and finds the nerve to fully face the General, to look him in the eye and smile tentatively. "I wouldn't have made a soldier again, but... I love this life. My garden and my classes and my brothers. Thank you for giving me that chance."

Jedao smiles back, soft and strange.

"I don't...often get to save people. I'm very glad it could be you. Thank you for - taking it. For making something good."

Tup ducks his head, not embarrassed at all but suddenly hiding a smile. "If you don't do it often than you must have saved almost all of it for my family." Not just him, but Echo and Dogma and Fives... especially Fives. Because he's heard how the general kept him from the firing squad after the horrible the hellish mess with Krell that ruined Dogma, as well as when he'd fallen ill and Fives had come so close to getting himself decommissioned in his single-minded insistence on saving him. "So... thank you again. For my brothers."

He pauses with his hand still on the door, his smile gentle as DB waited patiently at his heels. "I think Dogma will want to thank you too, he just... needed a little more time." And so Echo had brought him up here, to the garden, and now Tup opens the door and lets DB bound through before following him out onto the sunlit roof, and the little corner of paradise he and Echo have been tending

"You were standing close together. It was a target of opportunity," Jedao says, at least a little bit true, but mostly tongue in cheek. Fives had caught his attention, and then - didn't let it go. And things happened so quickly, as war always does.

"Dogma can take as much time as he needs," Jedao murmurs, clearly enunciated, once the door is open. "I'm hoping to hang around for a little while."

He slides into foxform at Tup's heels, because it puts him more on a level with the plants, and it's convenient for sniffing and scampering around. Unlike the weres, he has a degree of flexibility with what happens to at least some of his clothes.

It's a typical old roof, flat and gravelly with a bit of a tarry scent, but it's a good sized building and one entire corner is taken over with planters all carefully constructed from scrap, and pots scrounged from curbs and dumpsters that have seen better days. But they've all been meticulously cleaned, and repaired where needed, and then filled with a riot of plants: vegetables and fruits and a scattering of flowers to brighten it all.

Echo's crouching down already as the door opens, arms spread for DB to run into them, wriggling and whining and licking his face. No one's quite sure if DB knows Echo's his father, but they've all made sure to encourage the unique bond between the two for Echo's sake. The only sign of Dogma at first is a pair of golden eyes looking through the greenery from behind a bed of tomatoes, but when the General slips into his fox form he pokes his head, and then the rest of him, cautiously around the edge, his head down and his tail wagging tentatively.

Tup laughs and follows after DB and the General, waving to his older brother. "Cody made Fives stay downstairs for a talking to," he tells Echo as he pauses to check on plants before passing by. "Dinner will probably be on the table in ten or fifteen minutes."

Jedao scurries around with a bubbling excitement that he kept mostly tamped down as a human, sticking his nose into a dozen different pots, dashing out to the windward corner to peer over the street feel the air ruffle his fur, then scampering back to lick Dogma's nose, his own tail swishing double-time.

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