Prodigal Son [Ailera]

[Ailera]

Mitzi Stahl

Max adjusted the kitten in Koah's arms, and I saw Riika relax significantly when the kitten rested itself peacefully, thankfully not scratching anyone. "If you'll let me take him with me tonight, I can have a look at his eye," Max said. What did he mean by that? I knew Max was an avid animal lover, but I hadn't known he was so knowledgeable about them. Then, my internal question is answered as he adds, "I'm a veterinarian." Of course he was. What else would have been? What had I expected? Nothing, really. I never thought about what he did as a peacekeeper, just that he was one and that he wasn't home.

I caught Riika puffing and deflating her chest two or three times, and when I met her eyes she looked away immediately. Even if I hadn't automatically assumed the worst, I knew she had, and that she felt bad about it. My son looked as us questioningly, and I grinned. I knew he'd be pleased knowing his uncle worked with animals. Before I could answer, Yvonne jumped in. "That means Max is an animal doctor," she said. Koah turned away from us at lightning speed, facing his uncle with new eyes. I felt the baby kick, and my grin turned into a loving smile.

"Really?" Koah squeaked, pushing himself forward on his toes and looking between Kaiser, Max, and the kitten falling asleep in his arms. He was a sight to see. "Can I be a ve... ve-tri.. ve-tri-nar-ican with you?" Riika's eyes grew wide and she looked at me as if to say Your brother is corrupting our child. In response, I shake my head and look back at my brother and son. Of course they would get along. They were carbon copies of each other, if not for the difference in ages. If you ignored the qualities of Koah's genetic father you could even see a resemblance between the two. Was Koah going to get a little sister to be his friend? After the thought, a cold pang rang through my spine. Was he going to abandon that little sister? No. Stop thinking about it.

There was another minute of watching Koah and Max interact, then Riika interrupted it as she addressed me. "Mitzi, mind the rice." I turned around quickly and looked at the rice, which looked like it had finished a short while ago. I put the lid to the pot off to the side and grabbed a wooden spoon and a plate to get some out. Riika entered the area and put the spinach in a little bowl. Then she began to make a plate for herself, but nudged me as she passed by. I glanced behind me at Yvonne and Max.

"I made enough," I said, meaning the food, "Not any meat in it but we can consider it an early dinner and talk about things at the table." Koah clutched the kitten closer to his chest and I sighed. "Max can tell us about his job, if he wants to." I grabbed the fish sauce and Riika pulled over a stool from the kitchen for Koah.

[Artemis]

"Really?"

Koah's eyes were wide and bright, like the news that his 'new' uncle was a veterinarian were of equal importance and occasion as meeting a Victor of the Games or some childhood hero... To which Max warily wondered what Mitzi and Riika thought of their son's apparent passion for animals.

Damn near anything would be better than Heinrich's when he'd initially found out Max's disinterest for continuing family tradition in that regard.

"Can I be a ve... ve-tri.. ve-tri-nar-ican with you?" His nephew asked, stumbling over his words in his eagerness.

Max didn't honestly know how to respond, or really have any idea what to think. Few people that weren't already in his field expressed any interest (especially once they found out working with animals wasn't all fun and games), and those that did were put under Max's infamous scrutiny to determine whether or not they were being sarcastic.

He decided it was flattering, especially catching the look Riika aimed at Mitzi.

"When you're a little older, sure."

Being told 'not yet' didn't deter Koah in the least, launching into every question that crossed his mind now that he had an actual veterinarian in front of him.

"Do you get to see lots of animals? Do you ever get to take them home? Does Kaiser help? Can I see where you work?"

Not that Max got a chance to try and answer any of them, as Mitzi interrupted her son's onslaught of questions with the announcement of dinner. Koah scrambled for the table, stopping a few steps away before looking down at Pirate, seemingly having forgotten about the now soundly-sleeping kitten in his arms.

"Kaiser will watch him for now."

The dog's ears perked hearing his name, watching as Max carefully took the kitten from Koah and trotting over to sniff at it curiously. Pirate mewled, unhappy at the huge nose at his face, though they quickly dissipated as Kaiser gently picked the kitten up by the scruff of its neck (very much like a puppy) and carried it off to the corner of the room closest to the heating unit.

He didn't know yet how young the kitten might be, but it seemed significantly happier having another warm, furry body to cuddle up to.

Koah, satisfied that Pirate was comfortable, turned back to the table where his mother was pulling up a stool for him, demanding to be seated next to Max.

"Max can tell us about his job, if he wants to."

The man in question stood up with a huff of effort, joints stiff at kneeling on the hard floor; of all the scenarios he had imagined when he came home, sitting down to dinner with the family (or part of it, at least) had barely had the audacity to cross his mind.

Max still wasn't sure he really deserved it, and he desperately hoped his hesitation didn't show on his face.

If it did, nobody seemed willing to call him out on it; Koah was happily babbling a million miles an hour when Max sat next to him, looking excitedly between the animals and his mothers and his uncle. Yvonne, of course, was immediately comfortable at their table; Max was doing his best not to fidget now that the spotlight was on him.

"So..." He started lamely, "What do you wanna know? I wouldn't know where to start."

6f8498 - Koah Stahl
45583a - Maximilian Stahl
740000 - Mitzi Stahl
796b91 - Riika Moffett
246300 - Yvonne Stahl

[Ailera]

Mitzi Stahl

The troop of family began to settle into their seats, and after I put a plate in front of Max I sat down. Koah had taken one of the chairs so he could be next to Max, so Yvonne sat in the stool. When I glanced between her and Max she shook her head, and I was fine with that. Riika sat across from me, but she didn't look at me like she usually did before eating - instead she dove right in. "What do you wanna know? I wouldn't know where to start," my brother asked. I looked back to him, the only sound other than his question being Riika eating and Koah pretending to. Yvonne sat attentively to hear what Max had to say.

"How long ago did you become Captain Stahl?" Yvonne asked. I blushed, for I hadn't known Max was a captain. I'd assumed he was high ranking, because of his uniform, but I didn't know what any of it meant. I wondered how Yvonne knew. Then, after the idea worked itself into my head, I began feeling impressed. It must have taken him a while, so was it recent? I wondered if he'd done anything else that would make me proud of him, but I knew in my heart I'd never get to know it all. I remind myself to demand he write often once he leaves.

Koah turned to look at his uncle with interest, not really knowing the meaning of what Yvonne was asking. He looked at Max for answers and Riika had to tell him to sit on his bottom, not his knees. I looked towards Max to see how he was doing. Riika didn't look at all happy that the brother in law she already didn't take to well was influencing Koah's interest in animals. She was constantly telling him to get rid of them, and even more often being the one to pick up some little animal and walk it far away from the house. I didn't stop her, because I knew she just wasn't an animal person.

I, on the other had, had no problem with it. I'd grown up with Max's habits and I knew Koah was just taking home friends. I felt bad when I had to tell him to let it go. It would take a lot of convincing to get Riika to let him keep a kitten, but maybe since it already had a name she would react differently. In addition, she couldn't kick out the kitten right now unless she wanted to look like Old Granny Small Heart.

"Is Captain like captain on a boat? Whatsa captain do?" Koah asked, perfectly interrupting whatever reply Max had been intending to give us. Riika shushed him, and he sat back in his chair, probably annoyed at the unnecessary shushing. "I was just wondering," he muttered.

"Okay, Max, how long ago did you become Captain Stahl, and what does that mean?"

[Artemis]

Truth be told, Max had only held his shiny new rank for just over a week; the notice of his promotion had been slipped onto his desk beneat the notice of Heinrich's hospitalization. He shouldn't have been promoted from 1st Lieutenant for several months yet, but a number of decidedly convenient promotions had been handed out to those involved who had responded to the case of the escaped convict.

Not that his sisters and nephew could know about that; public relations had been running some very aggressive damage control to ensure the public never found out that the Detention Center wasn't the impenetrable fortress it was made out to be.

"Is Captain like captain on a boat?" Koah chimed in, mouth half full, "Whatsa captain do?"

Riika, who was looking slowly less and less pleased with Max's presence, shushed her son and told him to sit properly in his chair.

Koah pouted, once again sitting back down.

"I was just wondering..."

If it were anyone other than his family, Max might have been embarrassed at the intent, interested expressions directed at him.

"Okay, Max, how long ago did you become Captain Stahl, and what does that mean?"

Captain was a rank, rather than a title, in Max's case. But it assigned him a certain level of responsibility on top of his actual job.

They could know Max was a veterinarian; his sisters and nephew (and especially the sister-in-law who clearly didn't like him) didn't need to know that their baby brother, their Maxchen was trained to apprehend and interrogate suspects, defend himself with lethal force (using firearms, riot control gear, his bare hands... anything, really), and as friendly as Kaiser was with children, had trained the dog personally to guard against and even attack assailants.

No, they certainly couldn't know any of that.

"About a week, week-and-a-half ago," He replied nonchalantly, "Mostly it means I'm in charge of more people in my department; I had to go through several years of veterinary school to earn a commission and become an officer first."

Yvonne seemed sufficiently impressed, but then considering she had recognized his rank she probably had some semblance of an idea what a commission was too.

In retrospect, she probably would have gotten along well with Corporal Hayha; Max idly wondered what his rank was now, if he was still in District 8 or if he was still in the Peacekeepers at all.

"Is that good?" Koah asked, probably not understanding half of what his uncle said, "You tell people what to do?"

"I suppose so," Max replied, pausing trying to think of how to phrase his answer in a way that a young child could understand, "Captain's fairly high, so other Peacekeepers have to take orders and salute me."

Koah's eyes were wide again; so his long-lost uncle wasn't just a veterinarian, he was also a high-ranking Peacekeeper that had the respect of others. Riika looked even less happy, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at him.

"You catch bad guys??" His nephew asked again, excited by the idea that his uncle might just be a hero.

"Sometimes."

Riika's grip on the edge of the table was white-knuckled; it gave Max a twisted, spiteful pang of satisfaction that her son was absolutely dazzled by the brother-in-law she very clearly hated.

6f8498 - Koah Stahl
45583a - Maximilian Stahl
740000 - Mitzi Stahl
796b91 - Riika Moffett
246300 - Yvonne Stahl

[Ailera]

Mitzi Stahl

Max took a few seconds to respond, and in that time I watched Koah slowly inching closer to him. I turned back towards my brother in time to hear him answer. "About a week, week-and-a-half ago," he said, as if it wasn't anything special. It startled me, though, and I could tell Yvonne was more than a little interested.  "Mostly it means I'm in charge of more people in my department; I had to go through several years of veterinary school to earn a commission and become an officer first." Although I understood only barely what he was talking about, I nodded my head as if I fully grasped it. The other women at the table were making me feel bad for being confused, and for a few seconds I compared myself to my son.

"Is that good? You tell people what to do?" Koah asked. I wanted to smile at his question and what his young mind was more concerned with. In a slightly different form, he had asked the question that was on my mind. Max answered semi affirmatively, and explained a little more what his job was about. I nodded my head and looked down at my plate, only glancing up to see Riika staring at me. Imagining someone saluting my little brother was strange to me - sure, I had imagined him as a peacekeeper on multiple occasions, but I didn't usually think about how he was around other peacekeepers. Usually I envisioned him standing around looking daunting, which was hard enough to do to begin with! Of course, I could see It now.

Koah asked Max if he caught bad guys. He was saying much more than usual, and latching onto Max much faster than he had ever grown on someone before. He didn't like to be played with by anyone but Riika and I until he was three, and that was when Yvonne started watching him more. He still wasn't very fond of Erika and Katja - though he learned to like my mother. I had a growing feeling Max might outshine even me in the next few days, even if I were to pop out six babies onto the carpet tomorrow morning. In a way, I felt jealous of my brother's ability to hook Koah so fast.

My head snapped back into reality when Max answered Koah's question. "Sometimes," he replied. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at him curiously. The expression on his face was almost unreadable. When I looked across from me at Riika, she had her eyes closed. I saw her hand on the table, gripping it, but quietly tapping her pointer finger at a steady pace. It was obvious what she was thinking. Max was making being a peacekeeper seem like a dream job, even an easy enjoyable job. With everything he was saying Koah would be trying to get us to play peacekeeper with him when Max left. I was with her, in some aspects. If Koah liked it too much he would leave, which worried me. I didn't want my son to leave me, too.

"It must be a very difficult job," Riika finally added. My eyes found their way back to Max. "Lots of difficult training, and being so far away from," she paused to look around, "Your family." Ouch. That one hurt even me. Yvonne, who was right next to me, put her hand on my side and rubbed it quickly, in a reassuring way. Riika wouldn't look at me, so I did what every other person seemed to do. Look at Max. However hurtful it was to say, I had a feeling it was true. Koah shifted uneasily in his chair. 

[Artemis]

Gratifying as it was that someone was genuinely (and enthusiastically) happy to see Max, he hadn't come into Mitzi's home intending to dazzle her kid and regale him with yarns about his time in the Peacekeepers; that was, it seemed, how it was playing out anyway. Koah was hanging onto his every word, and though Yvonne and Mitzi seemed to find it charming (sweet, even, since Mitzi had mentioned how shy her little boy typically was), Riika was looking more and more like she wanted to throw him out of her house.

"It must be a very difficult job," Riika finally chimed in, with no small intonation of deliberation about her words, "Lots of difficult training, and being so far away from your family."

To Max it was like a slap in the face, and even Koah seemed to sense the carefully-aimed jab at his uncle, fidgeting in his seat and looking from Max to his mother and back again. Yvonne's expression became ever so slightly strained, reaching over to Mitzi under the table in some soothing gesture he couldn't see.

His eyes narrowed at Riika. He wasn't about to bare his soul and pour his heart out to this woman who had shown him nothing but malice since he'd stepped through the door; Max hadn't expected a warm welcome, but even he didn't feel so undeserving as to think his absence warranted low blows like this.

There were a thousand jabs he wanted to throw back, to make Mitzi's wife eat her words.

According to Heinrich, I'm not family anymore. Not as hard as you might think.

But that wasn't any of Riika's business. But as much as Max hurt from having Heinrich tell him he wasn't welcome in the Stahl household anymore, he would be lying if he didn't say that he had dearly missed his mother and sisters, or that he hadn't felt guilt for leaving without so much as a goodbye.

Goodbyes were the last thing on his mind as he'd run out the door, still reeling at being disowned and desperate to find anything to get away from the knot forming in his chest.

"It is." He replied with a growl, narrowing his eyes at Riika.

He'd have far more to say on the matter if anyone but Koah had been there. Max hadn't gone seven years in the Peacekeepers justifying himself to anyone, and he wasn't about to start now, especially not to Mitzi's wife (as much as he was itching to bite her head off the way he would a rude subordinate).

"Being the head of the veterinary division doesn't afford me much time to take leave, either." He shot back.

While it wasn't the reason he hadn't come back in seven years, it wasn't entirely untrue; Max was still considered a junior officer (in rank, not seniority), but veterinary medicine wasn't a wildly popular field. More often than not, he was the person most qualified to perform operations, birth police dog puppies or perform the preliminary checkups on batches of muttations for lower-ranking, less-skilled Peacekeepers to reference.

It wasn't an easy job, and though Max didn't honestly care much for the Peacekeeper side of it he wouldn't trade it for anything.

6f8498 - Koah Stahl
45583a - Maximilian Stahl
740000 - Mitzi Stahl
796b91 - Riika Moffett
246300 - Yvonne Stahl

[Ailera]

Mitzi Stahl

My brother narrowed his eyes at Riika. It created an uncomfortable aura in the room, and I hoped the two would be considerate enough not to say anything that might affect Koah. I knew Max would be careful, but Riika had a loose tongue when she was angry. The tension grew stronger up until he replied. "It is," he said. Koah looked at me questioningly, wondering if he should say something. I shook my head. No. Sit down and wait a little while. "Being the head of the veterinary division doesn't afford me much time to take leave, either." With that, I looked away from my son and towards Riika. She was struggling.

I knew that wasn't the sole reason he didn't come back. As he was with us longer, my mind cleared, and I was making more sense of why he wouldn't come. Most importantly, our father. That alone made a thousand worlds of sense. The part I just couldn't get was why he would hold back completely. It didn't matter if it hurt him, and it didn't matter if he was embarrassed, I wasn't going to just accept that as a reason. I wouldn't hold it against him, but it still made parts of me ache when I thought about his reluctance. What made me forgive him was that he did come home - if at all, eventually.

"Mommy, he was making all the am-inals better," Koah said, starting out unsure but finishing his sentence confidently, as if he was such a more mature boy for talking with the grown ups. I smiled a little, because sometimes it was just too hard not to deny his ability to make every sentence adorable. I could only imagine what things would be like once the new baby came. Hopefully I'd end up with two adorable children and my brother back. Riika wouldn't drive him away, she knew where to stop. Most of the time.

After Koah sat back I was able to stop worrying. I smiled at him and looked back at Max, "Did you make any good friends while you were away?" I asked. What I meant was, Did you put yourself out there and actually talk to people?, but that felt rude to say out loud. It would be great to hear from him that the years hadn't just changedhis appearance positively, but perhaps it had enabled him to get out and meet people. To talk to more than just animals all day.

[Artemis]

There was a long, visibly uncomfortable pause before Koah, of all people, broke the silence.

"Mommy, he was making all the am-inals better," He chimed in, looking between Max and Riika.

Max didn't want to, but he was slowly losing the patience needed to keep from calling RIika out in front of hers and Mitzi's son. Seven years ago, he wouldn't have dreamed of speaking up; growing up, Max had always been introverted and soft-spoken, doing nearly anything he had to in order to avoid being in the spotlight like he was now.

Maxchen let people walk all over him. Captain Stahl did not.

"Did you make any good friends while you were away?"

Of course Mitzi would worry about her little brother making friends; almost all of Max's childhood companions were animals of varying size and species. Even now, that had barely changed.

There were a handful of people Max was fairly certain he could trust. Staff Sergeant Caius, for all his groan-inducing bad jokes, was a decent man who seemed genuinely loyal to his Captain. Second Lieutenant Devereaux wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but she was harmless as could be. Then, of course, there were all of the Peacekeeper canine handlers whose dogs were just as much their partners as any human.

But Max wouldn't really think he'd venture to call any of them his friends. Even the closest of Max's subordinates, he kept them at arm's length.

Mitzi didn't need to worry about that. She had enough on her plate with a son, a temperamental wife, and another kid on the way.

"A few."

She also didn't need to know that his best friend wasn't necessarily human.

Yvonne looked like she was about to ask another question, when Kaiser trotted to the table and deposited an unhappily-mewling Pirate on the floor next to his human.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Max asked the dog, leaning over to pick the kitten up.

Pirate's tiny claws dug into Max's sleeve, though the distressed meowing quickly abated as he settled into Max's lap and the hand rubbing the back of his neck. Koah scooted to the edge of his seat, watching anxiously and curiously to see what was wrong.

"Koah, have you fed Pirate since you found him?"

The boy looked thoughtful, which could only mean the answer was 'no'.

"Mitzi, don't you have some milk in the fridge?" Yvonne asked, looking at Max knowingly.

6f8498 - Koah Stahl
45583a - Maximilian Stahl
740000 - Mitzi Stahl
796b91 - Riika Moffett
246300 - Yvonne Stahl

[Ailera]

Mitzi Stahl

"A few," Max said, which, though it seemed less enthusiastic than I was hoping for, I took. I trusted him, or at least, I trusted what I remembered of him. Yvonne opened her mouth to speak, but the dog approached the table and drew the attention of everyone looking at Max. Which meant every except Riika. She was pretty interested in her rice. "What's wrong, buddy?" He asked, and picked up the kitten. Pirate fought a little until he settled into his lap, which made Koah look at me in slight disbelief.

"Koah, have you fed Pirate since you found him?" he inquired. I doubted it very much, and I saw Riika peer at Koah from the side. We waited a few moments for Koah to answer until it seemed obvious he wasn't going to answer positively. We didn't really have anything for the cat to eat, unless someone suddenly had the money and energy to run for cat food or a counterpart, fish.

Then Yvonne spoke up. "Mitzi, don't you have some milk in the fridge?" can't lie, when she said that I sighed internally. First of all, we did, but it probably would have filled a quarter of Koah's cup in the morning before school. Secondly, I wasn't sure if cats were supposed to drink milk. I remembered a long time ago my mother saying something about cats being allergic to it, or intolerant, or something along those lines. Besides, who would waste perfectly fine milk on a cat?

"Max?" I asked, looking for confirmation. "Am I supposed to do that?" I didn't want to make Yvonne feel stupid, but I didn't want to hurt the kitten. Or, more importantly, waste milk. It was something I just wasn't willing to do for Koah's cat, no matter how important it seemed to him.

Before Max could answer my question, Riika stopped eating to snap at me. He was getting to her, even when he wasn't talking. "Just do it, I'm not going out again!"

[Artemis]

"Max? Am I supposed to do that?"

Max sighed, rubbing his thumb behind Pirate's ears soothingly, though he knew it wouldn't do anything to ease the kitten's hunger; who knew how long Koah had kept Pirate a secret from his mothers. Kaiser snuffled at the kitten, concerned but not knowing what was wrong.

"Probably not," He replied, a bit gentler in his choice of words so as not to make his sister feel bad for suggesting it, "I know how to make a substitute formula if you have the ingredients. I'll replace whatever I use."

And then some, he thought as he looked around. With only himself to provide for and the military putting a roof over his head, there was relatively little else to do with his salary than save it; even now that he was temporarily supporting Olivia until he could settle her into a suitable foster home, it really wouldn't be much of a stretch to restock their pantry in its entirety.

Which, really, he should have been doing all along. In retrospect, the idea that they would reject his help was stupid; at the time, newly graduated from the Academy, he couldn't imagine anything else.

"Just do it, I'm not going out again!" Riika snapped.

Max didn't wait for any more input from his sister-in-law, one hand occupied holding Pirate (and really, the kitten was so tiny that he could have fit in Max's breast pocket) and moving about the kitchen; he didn't comment on the nearly barren state of the shelves, neither wanting to distress his sister or give Riika any more reason to go off at him. Koah had all but forgotten about the plate in front of him, watching Max prepare a makeshift formula.

In a matter of minutes, Pirate was lapping at a bowl on the kitchen floor with Kaiser sprawled out beside him, content now that the kitten was no longer fussing. Max rejoined the others at the table, desperate for any topic to keep him from commenting just how tight money seemed to be for them, that in preparing only a tiny amount of formula for a single kitten he'd used up their last egg and splash of milk.

He made a mental note later to ask Yvonne what to bring with him when he brought Pirate back in the morning.

Riika looked like she was going to explode.

"When he's a little older, he should be able to feed himself catching rodents," He commented offhandedly, "The veterinary office back at the precinct should have something to feed him until then."

Well, not really, technically the supplies of formula and kibble (since the Capitol did breed cats into some of their mutts) were for official use only, but it would hardly be a stretch (or a rarity) for the numbers in the books to get a little fudged... And Max couldn't bear the thought of imagining Koah's face being told he couldn't keep the kitten. Mitzi knew how many times Max had had to do the same.

6f8498 - Koah Stahl
45583a - Maximilian Stahl
740000 - Mitzi Stahl
796b91 - Riika Moffett
246300 - Yvonne Stahl