Friend-Shaped

His dad did stop when he reached out to him to protect the pumpkin eating rodent though he could tell pretty easily that his dad didn't really want to. That was cemented as truth as he was questioned over his statements about the capybara, his dad declaring it was a rat, a vermin, something that needed to be exterminated. His shoulders slumped a bit, deflated as his ears folded back and he glanced back at the big rodent that was perfectly content to keep eating pumpkins while the two wolves bickered over whether or not it had to die. The capybara finally noticed him looking at him and he turned his big, blocky head to look at him. Even though its stare was still pretty apathetic, it seemed to take notice of what was going on for the first time and acknowledged him. The capybara stepped away from the pumpkin it had been eating and moved closer to him, standing slightly behind him as if to show that he understood he was being protected by him right now.

How could something that was smart enough to pick up on clues like that without knowing what they were saying need to be exterminated?! He loved his dad and respected him more than pretty much anyone else–except maybe his mom–but he just couldn't let him kill this little guy. Chase him out of the garden maybe, but kill him?! When he looked back up at his dad with huge, sad, pleading turquoise eyes he could see his dad contemplating them for a moment and finally he saw his shoulders slump a bit with a sigh. When he asked if he really wanted to keep it that badly, Sol didn't hesitate to nod enthusiastically to confirm that he did. He could have been content with his dad saying he just had to get out of the garden, but if he got to keep his new buddy around then he could make sure nothing else hurt him either! "Yeah! I wanna keep him! I'll teach him not to eat all the pumpkins and I'll grow another whole pumpkin patch just for him! I promise!" he replied confidently, his chest puffing out with assuredness as he convinced his dad to let his new friend stay with him.

"Solaire Carpathius"