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When Taylor had signed up at a local animal shelter as a volunteer he'd expected it to be a lot more fun that it turned out to be. Animals especially shelter animals were a lot more needy than the boy had even known and they had way more pent up energy than even the spawn could drain in one good walk. Though he wasn't about to back out of his commitment, becuase he did enjoy it even if it was stressing, the pride spawn was dragging Shylock in to help him. He'd asked his friend to join him at least for today, not only would he get more pets walked in a shorter time but he'd have someone to talk to that talked back. Heck maybe he could even convince Shylock to fall in love with one of the critters and take them home. It saddened Taylor how few people seemed to want to adopt especially given that he himself was adopted.

Waiting for his friend to arrive Taylor rearranged the leashed animals he had in each hand putting the more manageable ones in the left to give to Shylock and keeping the more hyper and occasionally aggressive ones in his right.

Taylor stared up at Shylock and frowned a little as he wondered how and why his friend had aged before him. It wasn't the most important thing in the world but it did irritate the pride child a little. Still, he was happy to see Shylock again and given the other boy's superior size he handed over the hyper bunch of animals. "Keep an eye on Marble the border collie she gets nippy if she thinks you're not paying attention." He warned by way of greeting.

" Not a problem, we walk a pretty familiar route anyways," Taylor explained. " The dogs know where to go but they might test you." That said the younger boy began to walk, leading their little ragtag pack out of the parking lot. " Can I ask you a question?"He was a little curious about something and well Shylock was the best person to ask since they were sort of the same. Mareike was well she was wrath spawn and so that didn't really count and Trinkets aging hadn't helped much either for him.

" Did you get stronger just by growing or have you been training or something?" Taylor was a busy young man, he fixed things, made things and walked dogs and went to school as when when it was required. The spawn didn't have the time to work out unless he dropped something else and that wasn't acceptable, he didn't expect his schedule to change anytime soon either.

Still the green and blonde haired boy wanted to have significant strength when he was bigger, he wanted to be able to haul lumber and scrap metal from junkyards with ease or drag a skid containing some new contraption around without it being a problem. Taylor had dreams and they required him to be capable of completing laborious tasks on his own especially since no one else was interested in the things he was.

As he waited for answer and walked Taylor adjusted the length of his stride, his long sharp tow claws were getting a bit to close to the legs of some of the dogs that were just ahead of him.

Taylor nodded slowly "Okay then" he flashed his friend a cheeky grin " I'm going to be stronger than you someday and taller again just so you know." It simply wouldn't do for Shylock to beat him in those areas when the other boy wasn't even really working at it, if Taylor put his mind to it he was certain he'd reclaim the size and strength advantage he'd lost. Not that either thing seemed to affect the dynamic of their friendship anymore than age did. They understood each other and that was what was important.

"Mm Do you ever wish it was still just you and your parents?" He asked quietly. He knew Shylock loved his always changing family but didn't he ever miss the way things used to be?

Taylor was so lost in the comforting presence and conversation he'd failed to notice Cadbury a chocolate lab, lagging behind until the dog licked his tail leaving a slimy sticky feeling on the scales and skin there. The nearly teenaged boy shot the dog an ' oh gross' look and gently tugged on his leash to get the canine back up with the rest of the pack.

So more for maintaining a cool persona.

Taylor mock glared at Shylock " Oh sure it's funny becuase it happened to me." If it had been Shylock getting licked the pride spawn had a feeling his friend would feel different. Then again his sister had probably drooled all over him a few times.

He sighed a little and ran his free hand hand through his hair. " The house just feels really small now and I dunno I miss when I didn't have to worry about so many people's feelings." It sounded silly but Taylor always felt that he had to partition his time amongst people now unless they got upset about favoritism or felt like they were being ignored if he spent all day in his room or the garage. it was like everyone wanted a piece of him and there wasn't enough to go around.

Taylor stuck his tongue out at the older boy then shook his head . " I think if left that'd just make it worse I mean Mareike can't even fully leave or nickle and penny call her all the time to check up on her." He loved his family so much but he felt trapped by them sometimes.

The spawn looked down at the dogs happily padding along the sidewalk in front of him " Sometimes I wish my life was as easy as theirs." Things didn't flow they way they did in his comics and as Taylor matured he spent more and more time facing reality which reinforced that life was not as simple or structured as he wished it would be.

As they reached the small local dog park Taylor paused and turned his head to stare at Shylock " Is um is something wrong"" Oh god Taylor was really not good at this whole emotional comfort thing, if Shylock had a breakdown the best he could do was hug him and try to roughhouse him into feeling better. " Or do you just really love dogs and maybe you should adopt one or something?" Taylor didn't disagree that the life of a shelter animals wasn't wonderful but well he didn't think that smart as the dogs were they realized just how bad it was. Though the spawn suspected they felt loneliness and frustration like everyone else.