Hair of the Dog

Marching purposefully, Annaleise stomped through the hallways. She was in quite a good mood, recently having acquired a babysitter that didn't suffocate her every moment. Her soft white leather flats padded across the floor easily, making little noise. She was dressed in her happy little usual, a brightly patterned dress trimmed with ample amounts of lace, ribbons and glitter. She looked every bit the poster child for a children's department store, and she absolutely knew it. Her naturally curled hair was allowed to stay loose, a small ribbon perched precariously on top of her head, keeping her forelock out of her eyes.

Rounding a corner, Anna could practically smell a new student. She had recently started hanging around the admissions office, curious to see what types of people came to her school. She was without Sylvi today, and felt a little lost without her adopted sibling. She had given up looking for her early on, figuring that the elder girl had better things to do than hang out with her all day.
The chirrupy voice of a secretary caught her attention, and Annaleise immediately sped up her steps. Her short little legs worked a little harder as she pushed herself into a little trot. Unsteadily, she pranced her way into the hallway where the voices were coming from.

Her eyes wide, she stopped to watch as a strange man exited the main office, staring openly even as he collected himself to sit on a bench outside the office. He was rather interesting looking, and Annaleise had never seen a trenchcoat in action before. The only place she had seen them before were on the villains in her cartoons. The idea to question this stranger immediately struck her as a good one, and Annaleise jumped at the opportunity.

Bouncing towards the stranger as he sat, Annaleise stopped in front of the stranger, her fists clutching at the material of her skirts. Her cheeks puffed out, turning a light pinkish colour as she deprived herself of air while she studied the man. Frowning mildly, she remained silent, inspecting him with an air of authority. "You're new." Stating this matter-of-factly, Annaleise accompanied her statement with a solid nod. With that simple statement, Anna felt perfectly warmed up to the man to interrogate him fully.

"I'm Annaleise ! What's your name? I've never seen you before, so you must be new. Where do you come from? I love it when people come from real far away and bring me back things when they go home. When are you going back home? Are you gonna stay here forever? Lotsa people wanna stay here forever b'cos its good and they don't gotta hide. Do you gotta hide? I gotta sometimes because I am a dragon. Well, I'm not a big dragon but eventually I'll be able to eat people ! I don't wanna eat very many people, though maybe just one or three. Have you ever eaten a people? Murtagh says he eats bad people. Murtagh is a great big wolf, bigger than a horse! He is good. You should meet him one day. Unless you're a bad people, then he'll eat you. Are you a bad people ...?" Panting a little, Anna finally made the pause to resume breathing, and allow the stranger to talk.

Annaleise fidgeted a bit more, excited to meet a new friend and relay stories of her incredible prowess as a dragon. The new people usually didn't want to be impolite by quieting her, and suffered through her mostly made up stories about her life as a dragon. "It's nice to meet you! I bet it was hard to switch schools. This school is big." She was sure that even she had gotten lost in the wide expanse of halls and rooms. Perhaps if he wanted, she could try to drag him around to her favourite spots.

"Vampire !" The exclaimation came out in a squeak, and for perhaps the first time in her life, Annaleise felt cowed by a stranger. He said he didn't eat people, though, and she was immediately disappointed. Frowning in a petulant pout, Anna's lip inched up in frustration. Eating people was a good trait to have.
"He is a good wolf! He is Sylvi's brother. He only eats the bad people that are mean to her I wish I had a brother like that would you like to be my brother? My family is far away from here." A faint pause for what she hoped was a disappointed expression. "But that's okay! I like building my family, you are my brother now, okay?" Nodding shortly, Annaleise forsook the spot beside Kaisu, wriggling instead on top of his lap.

Feeling unnaturally comfortable on top of strangers, Annaleise quietly and quickly made herself comfortable, scooting and wriggling backwards until she was safely perched on his legs. "Have you been anywhere else on campus yet? It's big, so there's lots to explore !"

Nodding, Annaleise didn't really expect the boy to reject her. No one ever said no to her. In her own mind, she was a princess, and therefore always deserving and always right. Tilting her head down, Annaleise tucked herself into the boy's chest, casually forgetting to check for any boundaries. Certainly, she had never asked, and would probably never bother. "Warmth sounds weird. Does that mean you're cold a lot? You don't feel cold."

"Exploring! I like exploring, it's my favouritest thing to do around here. I'm not 'sposed to go far, really, but no one's been able to catch me yet. Exploring is much funner than sitting in a classroom, anyway." Quiet for a spell, Annaleise allowed the temporary silence to sink in for a moment.

"Okay! This is boring. Let's go exploring. Maybe we can find Murtagh! He liked it when I petted him. He is nice to pet." He felt coarse and brushy, not like a pet dog might, and the foreignness of it excited her, even now when it had happened so long ago.
Hopping down off of Kaisu's lap, Annaleise ruffled her skirt a little, shaking out any wrinkles that might have appeared while she was perched atop her new companion. That settled, she grabbed Kaisu's hand and tugged, an expectant look on her face.

Anna didn't know what to think about this whole feeding off energy business, and therefore didn't bother to think about it at all !
Nodding violently at Kaisu, Annaleise was happy to see that he had accepted the big brother role easily enough. Usually it took a little bit of force and insistence to make sure that people understood their position in her life. Slowly but surely, she was building her family, and absolutely would not take no for an answer. It wasn't her fault that everyone needed to love her.

Tugged forwards by her newest adopted sibling, Anna galloped obediently behind Kaisu, her small hand clutching his larger one desperately. Her chin lifted as she stared wide-eyed up at the man. A race sounded like an excellent idea. Another avenue to drag an unsuspecting stranger into a caffee in the city." She and Alfredo had attacked one not so long ago, buying sweets and spending time together in the large city centre. She had not been out to the city since then, and was fiercely determined to return back to that friendly little building. "Okay! Where are we racing? Let's race to that door over there" Without really waiting for his approval, Annaleise took off like a hare, running full tilt at that door. She really wanted those sweets again.