Annual Checkup

Listening to Lillith's squealing giggles and laughs while he tickled her brought a wide, humored smile to Romulus' face, his eyes twinkling mischievously. Oh, he was going to have fun with this new knowledge! His tail wagged excitedly, having far too much fun teasing and playing with his new friend. Coming from a large family, Roman had always been used to having lots of wolves to hang out with, play games with, tease and joke around with and just have company. Since he'd left his home, the solitude had been stark and deafening. Lillith helped to fill that void in his life that he craved. Family was the most important aspect to the Armada family, and he already considered Lil as part of his new family he was building here in Auster.

He enjoyed the way she sounded when she was giggling his name out—probably more than he should—but he respected when she began to squirm away from his tickling paws, letting her relax and recover as he declared her healthy. Sure, she was lighter than a wolf her age should probably be, and her muscle mass had some growing to do, but those were things they had both known already and were working on. He saw Lil for all the splendor she was now, and he could already see how she could become when he envisioned her a month, a season, a year from now. He was determined to help get his friend to where she wanted to be, damned be the diagnoses of the doctors and the overprotectiveness of her helicopter father!

He gave an airy laugh and shook his head when she spoke. "Oh, there's no way I could learn everything about you in a few minutes, Lil. But I'm eager to learn more about you every day," he remarked with his usual dashing, crooked grin that showed just a flash of his teeth and that rakish gleam in his eyes. Her kind heart and good nature was so endearing, and even though she was so innocent to the world, she had this thirst for knowledge and experience that he found alluring. "I guess we will. You'll have to let me know if they start getting too out of control." As if to tempt the fates just a little more, Roman leaned forward to close the space between them until his nose booped against hers with a light tap. He motioned with a flick of his head toward the door, deciding he'd probably sent the poor girl's heart into a tizzy enough for now. "C'mon, wanna get out of here?"

"Speech"