Bakery smells

[Tysk]

Tysk had managed to find actual clothes for once. They had come from a large metal box, but he was more than capable of getting in and out. It did, however, look like he'd gotten dressed in the dark. Which he had. He was now the proud owner of a pair of too big jeans that he had to hold onto so they wouldn't fall and a shirt that was more a rag than a shirt. Tysk had decided early in the day, close to lunch, to take a nap on a sidewalk. What he hadn't expected, was for people to start throwing things at him. Small metal things.

At first, Tysk had sniffed them, then bit them. They weren't edible, so he just put them back in front of him. That seemed to make more people throw more of them at him when they passed. What was this even?! Within half an hour, Tysk had a small pile of the metal things and decided that they were to be collected. He pulled the pile close and started playing with them, not really sure what else to use them for. When people threw one or two at him, he would lean forward, growl lightly and drag the coins back into his pile.

When Tysk thought that the pile was getting too big for him to protect, he picked up half of his coins and shoved them into one of the pockets. The coins jangled together and Tysk looked from his pocket to the smaller pile he had and jangled the coins in his hands. He looked up excitedly, wondering if anyone else had found out about this amazing trick. No-one else seemed as interested, but he just noticed now that a few people had the same jingling sound on them. They didn't seem to care.

Gathering up the rest of his coins, Tysk tried to hold them in both hands while also trying to keep his pants up as he followed one of the janglers. Perhaps they would play with theirs in a more private place. The man he had decided to follow stopped at a cart that sold coffee. Tysk watched intently as the man spoke to the cart owner and then pulled out his coins and hand some over. It was like discovering fire.

Tysk had never seen someone give coins to anyone else before. Did it work everywhere? Why did people him coins though? He couldn't make coffee. They hadn't seemed to want anything either. No-one had stopped. This also meant that he would have to give over his coins to someone to test it out. Stepping away from the cart, Tysk followed his nose, and his stomach, until he found a bakery. There he stood, staring at the products in the window, unsure of if he should enter and part with his toys.

[Crow]

Crow strolled along a street in Manhattan, for once doing nothing more than taking in the sights and sounds. She had no place urgent to be, and no one particularly intimidating trying to kill her. Although she didn't have any work lined up at the moment, she had a feeling things were going to be getting very interesting soon. SHIELD was searching for their missing agent, but the Brotherhood hadn't yet realized it. There was a good chance that both would end up looking to her for help. It was a good position to be in. For now, however, Crow was content to just survey her city. It was rare that she got a chance to be human in public. In broad daylight, nonetheless.

It didn't mean, however, that she was letting her guard down. Being out in public also meant that she was vulnerable, and she kept up a mental scan to help pick up on anything out of place. As good at noticing abnormalities as she was, having a small army of eyes and ears on her side definitely helped. So far, the coast had been clear, but she was very aware that the longer she stayed out in public, the more likely it was that someone would notice her. So she stayed vigilant.

This time, her quick mental scan picked up something familiar about a half-mile off. Oh hey, that was Tysk again. The weird dog that might or might not belong to Fury. There was something a little off about his mental signature, but she couldn't quite place what it was. Abruptly she took a right, headed towards the dog. Maybe Fury was with him this time. Having a talk with him that didn't involve breaking into his office might be nice.

Keeping up a brisk walk, it didn't take her long to find the mental signature, and she slowed down to try to spot him—and Fury—before they spotted her. Just in case Fury hadn't come alone. Crow didn't see anyone else suspicious, thankfully, but...she didn't see Fury either. Or the dog. Huh. She did have enough coffee today, didn't she? Crow shook her head, focusing again. Nope, still couldn't see the dog. She approached slowly, tracking his thoughts. It seemed he'd just figured out how money worked, which also made absolutely no sense, considering dogs didn't tend to need it. Before long she was nearly on top of the mental signature, and found herself staring at a teenage boy. Huh. Okay. Well, that would be why she didn't see a dog, earlier. It also explained Tysk's weird mentality, but it still raised more questions than it answered. “Hey Tysk,” she greeted him cautiously, not quite sure what to make of the situation. As soon as she had the chance she was going through every memory he had.

[Tysk]

Someone walked into the store and Tysk made a step to follow them, but returned to his spot at the window, unsure. He didn't want to go in and get beaten out, as he had before. It didn't translate that he wouldn't get kicked out now as a people because he'd never attempted to go back into one after that first time. He whined quietly and shifted on the spot as he felt his stomach tighten at the possibility of getting food. He hadn't eaten much in two days and, especially as a person, he was starting to feel it.

A few minutes in and Tysk started to smell something else familiar. Crow. He turned for a moment to look in her direction, but he wanted something to eat more than he wanted to find her and right now, pastry was right in front of him. It wasn't until she was standing right next to him and she'd said his name that he actually tore himself away from the window. Inside, he was excited to see her. She'd never been mean to him before and she knew all his signals and she sent him pictures.

A vocal whine was his only verbal response to her as well as slightly lifted eyebrows and large, pleading eyes. Just in case she was going to send him pictures, he had one of the window display and the money in his head as he stepped closer to her. Maybe she could help him out. He would be much more inclined to do words if he had something to eat. Just in case she could help him, he held out a fist, with the coins securely inside.

[Crow]

Almost as soon as Crow reached Tysk, he greeted her with a whine and a series of images. He was hungry. Of course he was; he was usually a dog. The picture of money was a little more surprising, however, and it took her a moment to figure out what he meant. As far as she could tell, he was just figuring out how money worked. Crow stared at him, once again trying to figure the boy—or dog—out. It was completely within a normal dog's mental capabilities to learn how to pay for things, but someone would have had to teach him. This seemed more like a spontaneous discovery, which was probably more human territory. Unless, of course, he had already known about it, and the information was simply repressed, along with the rest of his memories as a human. She'd done that to herself before. It was possible. It it was meant to hide that he was a spy, it was an impressive shield.

But there was no way to figure out which it was without going through every memory he had. She'd do that soon, but getting him food first was probably a good idea. It would get him to stop whining at her. Even better, it might get him to stay still while she looked through his head. Crow gave another glance around the street, still hesitant to try anything. This could be a trap. She'd be pretty oblivious to the world around her while she was busy; someone could easily catch her by surprise. But Crow didn't have much choice right now, as much as she hated it. She needed to know if her previous communications with Tysk had been safe.

Crow accepted the coins from Tysk, more to satisfy him than anything. She doubted it would be enough to pay for anything more than a cookie. “Stay,” she told him quietly, turning into the bakery. There was no line, thankfully, but Crow hesitated for a second before approaching the counter, unsure of what to order. Eh, what the hell. Might as well give him a variety. He'd probably eat anything and everything she gave him, and it would keep him still longer. “A half-dozen pastries, please,” she requested, dropping the coins onto the counter and pulling out a ten from her wallet. “...Nothing with chocolate,” she added. Just in case. A minute later she had a box of food, and left the bakery without bothering to collect her change. Hopefully this would get Tysk to cooperate.

[Tysk]

No pictures came to Tysk from Crow, at least, none that he could tell and he was starting to get worried. Did she not know what he meant? His nostrils flared and his eyes widened a little more, pushing puppy-eyes for all they were worth. His chest inflated as he was about to start whining again, but Crow took the money from him and his mood changed immediately. Crow said one command and Tysk stopped turning to focus on her. It was a good decision, he probably would have followed her in and started licking the glass if she hadn't told him to stay. Thankfully, Tall's friends had taught him all of the common commands in English too.

As Crow entered the bakery, Tysk watched her. He didn't understand any of what she was saying. He paid special attention to her pulling out a piece of paper. The paper that most people gave to other people and got food in return for. Like Fury. Tysk thought back to the hotdog stand and licked his lips. After Crow was given a box of food, she walked back out and Tysk watched her until she got close. He hadn't been allowed to move yet, but his eyes flickered between the box and Crow's face as he sniffed at the air. That food sure did smell even better when it was closer to him.

[Crow]

Blinking as she stepped into the sunlight, Crow glanced around the busy street once again. No sign of danger, which still struck her as strange. This was Fury's pet, or...something. He was either terrible at keeping track of it, or he'd gotten some better spies. She wasn't sure she liked those chances. Whether or not there was anyone tracking Tysk, though, she sure as hell wasn't going to try a complicated telepathic procedure on him in the middle of a crowd. Going somewhere more secluded would make it easier to spot anyone following her, too.

“Okay. Come,” she commanded Tysk, before turning and walking down the sidewalk. She had absolutely no doubts that he'd follow; she told him to. Also, she had a box of food that he desperately wanted. Getting him to go with her wouldn't be the difficult part; it was...pretty much everything else that would be a challenge. Making sure they weren't being watched by some SHIELD agent. Looking through Tysk's head. Deciding what to do with him if it turned out he was a SHIELD agent. Letting him go back and report to Fury wouldn't really be an option.

It wasn't long before she found an alley that would suit her purposes, and Crow turned down it. She found a spot behind a dumpster that would be out of view of the main street, and dropped into a sitting position against the dirty wall. It wasn't an ideal location, but it would have to do. She wasn't sure how long she could hold Tysk's attention. Waiting for dog-boy to settle down, she opened the box of pastries to examine the selection. They did look good, and she was pretty hungry, but she wasn't about to snag one for herself. They were bribery for Tysk. If she finished looking through his head, and if she wasn't vomiting everywhere by then, maybe she'd eat anything left over.

[Tysk]

Mmmm, Tysk could smell them already. Crow was looking around and Tysk could feel her tension, but it was water off his back. He was hungry and she was holding his food. Or food that would be his. Tysk stayed rooted to the spot though, an obedient dog, until he was told otherwise. Which he was. He ran over to Crow and bounced behind her every few steps. "Mmmmmm." Maybe Tysk would share some with Crow, she had gone inside the shop and gotten the food after all, it was the least he could do.

Eventually, Crow turned into an alley and Tysk followed along at her shoulder until she sat down. He crouched in front of her and tilted his head a little, watching her facial expression before he pawed his human fist at the box that she'd opened up. He didn't touch it though. She was probably just as hungry as he was, considering her thin body. Tysk found an itch on the side of his head to scratch while he waited. Getting a little bored of the "long" wait, Tysk then started to play with the dirt, thoughts of rolling it were pretty strong.

"Food." He mumbled, looking back up at Crow. She had taught him that word, and he looked pretty pleased with himself for remembering it. He nodded a few times at his own intelligence. Gosh, he was such a smart boy.

[Crow]

As Crow had anticipated, Tysk followed behind her obediently, crouching down in front of her before pawing at the box. She pushed it towards him mutely. It was interesting that he hadn’t immediately attacked the pastries; he’d been waiting for her. She was, apparently, his Alpha. That was a weird feeling. Crow gave Tysk a calculating look, simultaneously evaluating him and stalling the inevitable. She’d need to look through his memories soon. She didn’t have any other options at this point. Even now, though, he seemed significantly more dog than human. Hell, she hadn’t realized he wasn’t a dog until she was standing next to him, and she’d been looking at his thoughts then. At least it seemed like her earlier lessons hadn’t been completely wasted; he was saying a few words now. Maybe—if the situation wasn’t as bad as she anticipated—she’d teach him the rest of the language.

Reluctantly, Crow slipped into his head, deciding to start with the most recent memories: how he’d gotten off the Helicarrier and ended up here. It was the easiest place to start. Probably the least painful for both of them. Although, to be fair, she didn’t know if it would actually hurt Tysk. If he struggled against it, maybe. If he had real human memories that were repressed, almost definitely. She had no clue how he'd react, because she hadn't exactly tried this on him before. He hadn't minded any of her previous mental contact, so maybe he'd be fine. Crow knew she would end up with a migraine regardless; that was just one of the joys of her powers. Hopefully the incentive of food would be enough to keep Tysk from caring about her intrusion. He was, after all, still a dog. Mostly. Maybe.

[Tysk]

And there was a signal. He looked up at her, waiting for a verbal command. When none came, he hesitantly picked up a pastry and cradled it close to his chest before taking a small bite. There was no reprimand or attack, so his next bite was much bigger and finished more than half of what was left. With his mouth still half-full, Tysk breathed in deeply and blew out onto the pastry. The dusting on it flew up and Tysk's first thought was of snow. Who would put snow on food? In it, sure, but on it? A small smile still played across his mouth. He would like to play in the snow again, and eat these delicious foods while he was there if he could. Both were very good memories. 

While he was thinking of snow and deeply breathing in the smells of the pastries, he felt a familiar tingle in his head. Not quite like the ones when he got hit, or he couldn't move because his head was pounding. The only times it had ever happened had been when he was around Crow, so he didn't find the feeling to be hostile and just continued to eat. The only strange thing that happened was that he found himself thinking about his day so far. He licked out at the air a few times but was otherwise undisturbed. Besides, there was still more food.

[Crow]

Crow was glad she’d picked up food for Tysk; he was too distracted b y it to care about her presence in his head. As she began poking around, she could feel him chewing on the pastry, tasting the sugar as he did. He swallowed, and Crow’s stomach growled in response. She withdrew slightly, staring at him for a few seconds as he ate. Okay. It felt weird, but she could deal. Focus. Less tentative this time, she pushed her way back into his thoughts.

This time, Crow began to look for less recent memories: how he’d become Fury’s pet. Hmm. There was something about hot dogs, and just…following the Director of SHIELD back to his car. Then arriving on the Helicarrier for the first time, exploring Fury’s quarters and office, and shredding his furniture. Crow smiled to herself at that last memory. Good dog. As far as she could tell, there was no sign of Tysk turning human in front of Fury. Maybe he didn’t know that Tysk wasn’t a dog. It seemed unlikely, but Fury had been treating him as nothing more than a pet. If the director knew anything, he was keeping it well-hidden.

That was something of a comfort, at least. If Fury didn’t know what he had, then Crow could use Tysk to her advantage. He would make the perfect spy, and Fury wouldn’t suspect anything. It did seem odd that Fury just adopted a stray, however, and there was another, significantly less pleasant option she was considering. It was possible Fury knew exactly what Tysk could do, and had been purposefully keeping the dog from knowing. Considering Tysk couldn’t talk, there was only one reason to keep secrets from him: Fury was aware of Crow’s telepathy, and planned on using the dog against her. That prospect was terrifying, but there was no way of actually knowing.

As much as she hated to admit it, it was a possibility. Fury was almost as paranoid as she was, and even better at keeping secrets. He had Crow’s DNA on file, and maybe he could have gotten something out of that. The Brotherhood suspected that aspect of her powers; he could have gotten something from them. There was no way of knowing, as long as Fury wanted his secrets to stay that way. With a quiet, frustrated growl, Crow began looking through Tysk’s memories again. There was nothing else she could do right now, except hope he had something she hadn’t yet figured out.

[Tysk]

After devouring the first pastry, Tysk picked up a second, less focused on watching Crow this time. She hadn't bitten him when he'd eaten the first pastry, so he figured the rest would be okay to eat as well. The strange tingling thing in his head continued, and he was less and less interested in it as time went on. The newest pastry was far more interesting. It was filled with jam and had sugar all over it. Tysk was definitely not going be sleeping any time soon. It would be a close finish to see if he could stay still long enough for Crow to finish going through his memories.

When Crow's stomach growled, Tysk finally looked up at her and tilted his head. He was eating... but she wasn't. And she wasn't attacking him for the food between them. To him, that only meant one thing: he was an alpha. To her? That was confusing, they hadn't even fought for it. He leaned forward, resting carefully on one hand and holding the pastry close to his chest with the other as he looked her over. He would fight her for dominance if it came to it, but there was nothing at the moment that should instigate a need to assert dominance. Also, he felt very uncomfortable in this form if he had to fight.

Tysk rocked back into a crouching position and started eating again. It wasn't long before Tysk heard her growl and he sank further into his crouch, his own growl starting up in response, but kept fairly contained. Considering what he'd just been thinking, he wasn't sure if that was an aggressive growl, a warning, or just something offhand. There was no one coming into the alley that would cause a defensive growl, just the two of them. He would have to start paying more attention to her body's accents.

[Crow]

Crow began digging deeper through Tysk’s memories, finding a few humans he’d considered Alpha. Fury, one female—a police officer?—one male, and a couple. She skimmed through them briefly, surprised by how much she found on them. She hadn’t pegged him as older than two or three, but there were quite a few years of memories here. Hmm. No sign of any…experimentation, or something, and she’d already made sure that his condition hadn’t been SHIELD’s doing. Time to go look at his earliest memories, then. If it hadn’t been done by SHIELD or any of his owners, it had to be something that happened as a puppy.

A surprising series of thoughts from Tysk pulled Crow out of her focus again, and she frowned at the dog. He was making this difficult, and a headache was already beginning to wear away at her concentration. She was tempted to put him in his place—there was no way she wasn’t alpha right now—but fighting would just make this take longer. Instead, she grabbed one of the pastries from the box and took a bite out of it, glaring at the dog. Yeah. She’d like to see him try asserting his dominance. Crow chewed and swallowed, setting the pastry down before going back into Tysk’s head. Dammit, now she was seriously hungry. As soon as she found what she needed, she was finishing off the box of pastries.

Hmm. If the language was any indication, it looked like Tysk was whelped in Norway. Nice country; she’d been there a few times. Nothing recently. His earlier memories were a little fuzzy, but he was definitely a dog then. She was picking up more information from hearing and smell than sight, but Crow could still work with that. Most of his memories were centered around his mother and another littermate. She smelled familiar, oddly enough. Had she met the bitch anywhere? The place he grew up in looked a lot like one resort she’d stayed in while she was—oh no. No. This was bad. She did know that resort, and she did know that dog. In the biblical sense. How long ago had that been? Six, seven years? And Tysk’s memories indicated that he was about that old.

Crow stared at the dog-boy, trying to find some characteristic that they definitely didn’t share. He wasn’t a ginger, at least. The rest wasn’t promising. Hell, he even had her nose, and his green eye was close to hers. It explained his shifting. And, worse, it explained why Fury had adopted him; he had to know. Shit. Crow pushed to her feet, growling again. This shouldn’t have been possible. She had been male then. And a dog! What even.

[Tysk]

A few old memories surfaced as Crow continued to skim through Tysk's head. Nothing stayed with him for long as he was more focused on food than remembering any of his past. He felt a little sad when Blue came up though. She had been really nice. Maybe he could go back one day and... no, that would probably be a terrible idea. She wouldn't want to see him again. She'd been so angry last time.

Crow looked up at Tysk and he returned the look. What was wrong? Something seemed wrong. They stared at each other for a moment before she pulled out a pastry and took a bite from it before she put it back down. Tysk watched with interest. His previous thoughts of dominance all but forgotten. At least her stomach had kind of stopped growling now. She went back to whatever she had been doing before, and Tysk looked over the lid into the box as he finished off his second pastry. Well that one was Crow's, obviously, and he wouldn't touch any of the ones surrounding it. He ended up with a croissant. Deliciously fluffy.

The strangest feeling passed over him as he continued eating. He was feeling suddenly lonely, like he missed someone. He wanted to find the smallest nook and curl up into a nice warm blanket. He stopped chewing for a moment and started to frown. That wasn't normal. Had he touched Crow's food? Maybe she'd done something to it. He sniffed carefully at his own. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well, there wasn't much that Tysk could do about it.

Crow looked up at him again, and this time, Tysk knew something was wrong. He stopped chewing again, but didn't swallow. He still wasn't sure why she was looking at him like that. Oh, there it was, she was angry. He responded in kind to her growl and kept low. He didn't want to fight her. She was nice enough, but he'd seen what happened when people got angry quickly. They started yelling and kicking and he didn't like that.

[Crow]

Apparently standing up hadn’t been a good idea. The pounding in her head stopped suddenly, replaced by a wave of vertigo. Her vision was replaced by a series of black and white snow. She sagged up against the wall as she flushed hot, and the headache returned full-force. Crow gritted her teeth as the nausea kicked in, hoping that she wouldn’t start barfing everywhere. It was probably inevitable, considering her headache was working on turning into a full-fledged migraine, but she had just eaten. Also Tysk might eat it and then she’d probably vomit again because that was gross, even by her standards. Closing her eyes, Crow breathed heavily, trying to control her bodily functions. Okay. No vomiting. Maybe.

Slowly, Crow lowered herself back onto the pavement, hugging her knees to her chest. She stared blearily at the teenager in front of her. This was really fucking weird. It had to be some sort of setup, but…she couldn’t figure out how. Even if someone had managed to find a mutant with powers similar to hers, and knew she was a telepath, and managed to wipe his memories and replace them with ones that would match up to hers…no one knew she’d been in Norway for a while. So either she had a very powerful enemy that she somehow didn’t know about, or this was her kid.

Crow gave another growl, but it was far quieter this time; more a sign of defeat than anger. She knew her DNA changed when she did; it was how she avoided Sentinels so easily. Even if she did father some puppies, they shouldn’t have been…whatever the hell Tysk was. How many more were there? She wasn’t exactly choosy with her partners. She could have freaky mutant-animal-children on every damn continent by now. Well, not Antarctica. She hadn’t been there. Shit. What had she gotten herself into?

[Tysk]

This was the weirdest interaction he'd ever had with an angry person. He forced himself to swallow was what in his mouth as he kept his stance low. He was in a good position to lunge from where he was, which was about the only comforting thing he could think of right now. With his own anger bubbling up in response to what he thought was Crow's, he wasn't going to be able to change back for a while. While Crow hugged the wall behind her, Tysk moved away just a little. If all she needed right now was her space, then he didn't want to make her feel trapped. That would certainly lead to a fight.

Eventually, Crow returned to a crouched position, but Tysk kept his distance. He wasn't sure what to make of her now. She did get him food, but now she was getting angry, or sick. He wasn't even sure. Tysk stood up and turned around, heading over to the opposite wall of the alley before he leaned against it and sat down. That should definitely make her less angry. He avoided looking at Crow for a while, and then still only looked at her for a few seconds.

On one such short glance, Crow growled again. It was lower this time, and not at all aggressive, but he still looked away from her again. She was choppy. Tysk waited about a minute before he finally crawling back over near Crow. If she was going to attack, now would probably be the time, and he would back off again, but if not, he could try and find out what was wrong with her. Maybe she just needed to go for a hunt.