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He winces visibly from the very first word, and at least he very clearly regrets his actions -- or, perhaps, regrets having to share the names with Rajani. Every sentence is punctuated by a wince, and he shrinks away from her as if she has lain into him, looking utterly miserable. He even goes so far as to take half a step back away from her, as if blown back by the force of her anger .. and he cannot think of what to say to redeem himself, so he just hangs his head.

Meanwhile, the little Guardian fawn of course does not know what is going on, so he looks up at Last, and nibbles his collar, and snuffles his ear, and surely he must know that something is making his Chosen unhappy, because he makes an odd series of noises, a gruff huffing little cough. Without the heart to push him away, Last can only glance at him in confusion, laying a hand tentatively on his little head while he glances over at his unexpected houseguest.

" .. m'sorry, Raj," he tells her finally, sounding sorrier than he ever has, especially as the Freds have never been particularly good at apologizing for anything.

Oh, he is sorry all right: sorry that he started this, sorry he named the fawn what he did, sorry that Rajani found out, sorry that he had to be the one to tell her. But when she looks at him his expression twists: a moment of frustration, which he does his best to suppress, replaced by an absolutely genuine confusion. Sorry he may be, but he does not apparently fully understand. "Fix it? You mean, like, call him something else ..? But he won't answer to it, we tried, and he just looks at me funny, or rolls over and goes back to sleep if I call him something else." He licks his lips, as if tasting the words to see if they are the sort that would anger her, and glances down at the fawn. " .. tell me you don't mean becoming some kind of fighters, Raj, you can't mean that."

There is a faint shuffling behind her, at a window which has been left open by several inches: a flash of pale cream, and Unwelcome ducks in under the sash. If she understands her name, it does not seem to disappoint her; she fluffs her feathers and peers inquiringly at them both: either she has come of her own accord, or First has sent her along to check on the situation.

"Yes, Raj." His voice remains low, but the agreement attracts someone else's attention. Across the room, Unwelcome has just entered in the half-open window, and she seems to like something in the tense situation. She fluffs all her feathers up, until she looks quite like a little ball of floof, then mimics the younger Fred in a deep, grating call.

"Yesraj!" she tells them both, clearly pleased, smoothing all her feathers down, fluffing them back up, and having another go at it. "Yesraj!" This time she even hangs her head as if she is just as sad as Last, shuffling in place and making almost a moan out of the word. Last's expression goes from shock to anger -- and Unwelcome seems clever enough to see that, too. Before Last can even yell at her, the rook has hopped off the window ledge and in a few quick flaps crossed the room to land lightly on Rajani's shoulder. There, she repeats it one last time, this time in an affectionate croon, much more softly. "Yesraj." Then, as if she hasn't a care in the world, she begins preening the hair just behind Rajani's ear.

Last makes a strangled sound, his face turning red, and doesn't say a single word.

Last is still red-faced, looking as if he's thinking of using all of Unwelcome's feathers to make himself a nice little pillow, but he doesn't give into his anger, not in front of Raj. Instead, making a visible effort to calm himself, he shrugs awkwardly. "Leastways the damn thing suits me brother."

At just this point, perhaps warned by Unwelcome not returning and beckoned by the sound of Rajani's laughter, the door cracks carefully open, and inch by inch First peeks inside. He's hoping to escape notice -- if Raj and Last are still going at it, he wants to be gone before they see him -- but if Raj is laughing, that's a good sign, right? But Unwanted's ears will perk towards him, his gaze may warn Rajani that the other half of this troublesome pair has returned.

But he's not been that bad, either; although he may not have been responsible for bringing Last home, he's got a set of paper-wrapped parcels under his arm .. perhaps the food that Rajani insisted he fetch for the new Guardian fawn.

"Yesraj," Unwelcome agrees, leaning into her caress; she is absolutely beside herself with happiness over the attention she is getting. Even when her hedge-witch reappears she does not leave Rajani's shoulder -- why should she? Here there are caresses and compliments! She does little more than fluff her feathers.

Caught, First allows the door to swing open the rest of the way, slipping inside. At least Rajani seems to be in something less of a killing mood now, though from the looks of First he means to remain cautious. The gypsy ain't one to run out of anger; when something displeases her, she never runs out, she just sets it aside for a time. " .. yeah. Greens and some other lot. Weren't no good market open, had to find some at a fancy tavern."

And it's doubtful, knowing these two, that he paid for what he took. But he assumes that Rajani will know this, and does not think anything of having committed a crime to feed the Guardian fawn.

In answer, the pair of them are finally moved to action; First goes to the little table that serves for all their meals to start opening his prizes, and Last goes to the cupboard for a set of chipped bowls. By the time First has begun to open the second parcel Unwanted has realized that something interesting is afoot, or has perhaps smelled the crisp green lettuce; he begins to pace back and forth underneath the table, making the most angry, insistent sounds, like a child's toy repeatedly sat on.

This worries Last when he hears it, and he glances down at his Guardian with hesitant concern, as if he worries that such noises mean something is wrong -- will Rajani yell at him again? -- but when a bowl is placed on the floor and Unwanted buries the whole of his head into it, Last relaxes again.

First is a lot easier around the little thing, and crouches down to gingerly stroke Unwanted's back as he eats. "Think we'll be able to teach him things?" He glances over at Rajani, their current expert on the animals they have so unintentionally acquired. "I mean, Obbie's pretty clever, right?"

At this answer the pair of them put on speculative looks, as if the possibility that their new friends might one day be useful has only just now occurred to them. They share a guarded glance, then as one regard Unwanted with the closest expression to interest that either of them have yet worn. First sits himself down on the ground beside the guardian, watching him pensively; Last takes it upon himself to unwrap and prepare a second bowl, in case Unwanted is still hungry when he finishes his first big bowl of lettuce.

"How long'll it take for him t'stop being such a .. " First trails off, plainly looking for a word that is not insulting, as he surely feels this would not go over well in present company.

" .. such a baby?" Last finishes, rather bleakly, for babies are no use to either of them, and they are obviously no use around babies, either. As they voice the question, Last frowns, leaning back from his task to look more closely at Rajani. "And hey. How is Obbie?"

"Yeah!" First seems to remember something about the same time as his sibling, and sits up straight to fix Rajani with a stare of his own. "We heard tell something'd happened to him. Weren't sure whether to believe it or not."

Rajani is rapidly becoming Unwelcome's second-most-favoritest person in the whole of the wide world. The rook sits in solemn silence now, her pink eyes half-closed, feathers fluffed with pleasure. The gypsy ought to be careful soliciting her affection; Unwelcome might take it upon herself to fabricate another such emergency, if this is the end result!

Both of the boys shake their heads, the movement as uncannily similar as ever. Perhaps they'd seen the shadow of the buck, recognized him, and skirted aside -- perhaps they'd deliberately avoided him on the way in, for fear that he might silently alert Rajani to their presence. "Naw," says First, now intrigued; Rajani does not seem worried, just irritated. "What's happened to him, then?"

"We'd heard he'd gotten .. queer," Last continues, pushing away a vague unease. Will something queer happen to Unwanted? Can he prevent it?