Surprise Foster-Care

Chloe needed a second. Just to process that this had been happening to a child. A middle school aged kid, who'd been going through monstrous abuse for eight years. And he was grown for that. That aura couldn't have been an accident. He was meant to suffer, never given a choice or an opportunity to avoid his fate.

"...You deserved better than that." Chloe said. "So... I'll get you another shirt. One of mine should probably fit for now, and we can take you shopping when you feel up to it. Is your stomach still upset, or was that just the summoning?"

Nona wordlessly finished her healing and backed off, seeming to pour herself into a new location several feet away before entering a human form.

Chloe smiled back at him, just as weakly, and nodded at him. A lot of suffering was behind him, yes, but healing from that would take time. If he could ever heal from something like what he went through.

"Stay here for a bit," Chloe said, "I'll be right back." And she vanished into thin air.

In less than half a minute, a hole in reality would seem to form on the doorway-sized piece of canvas hanging on the wall. It opened into a portal, and Chloe stepped out as it closed behind her. She was holding a t-shirt, and she handed it to him.

The t-shirt said "This is our home too!" with an old DSU logo under it.

"Just so you don't have to be topless," she said. "Also, do you like..." wrong question, "Have you ever heard of pizza? I'm thinking of ordering some for lunch, and I think you might like to try some."

While Chloe was gone, Nona wordlessly got up and stepped out of the room.

Chloe just shrugged at the mess. "No problem. I can take care of it in a little bit. I appreciate you trying, though!"

Now she had a few things to explain.

"The logo is from a club I started for demons at Starlight Academy. The Demonic Student Union. Demons don't have the best reputation with everyone here, and I've been trying to fix that."

She would gently lead him away from his mess, into the next room, where there were couches, a TV, and a kitchen. In a word, the interior design was extra, full of the weapons that Malara loved to collect. Chloe would try to get him settled on one of the couches.

"Anyway, you'll probably like pizza. It's like a flat disc of bread, with cheese and a tomato sauce on top of it. And it has... herbs, and you can put other toppings on it too."

Chloe had that same sad smile on that she made earlier at him.

Soon, she would turn to Ozzy, the large rhino-man who had been shadowing them, ready for trouble. "Would you mind going to pick it up?"

"Sure." He was already pulling out his big headphones and plugging them into his phone. He knew the plan - when he got the pizza, he would text her, and she would summon him back with pizza in tow. It was a good system.

As he left, she would turn back to Izziel. "I'm... not going to hit you for anything. In fact, if anyone else does, you should tell me about it so I can make sure they don't do it again." This kid was so used to being walked on...

He wanted to watch TV...

Well. It was consistent with what he'd talked to her about, and Chloe couldn't blame him. He'd gone so many years without taking a break, and now he had the chance to just relax for a little bit.

"Sure. I need to make a few calls, anyway." to the pizza place, the immigration person, the school... they had a few minor ordeals ahead of them. So she showed Izziel how to work the remotes, and told him about the good local channels.

Nona came back through the room, wearing a towel and carrying cleaning supplies. She was headed right back where Izziel had thrown up. She and Chloe spent a moment fussing at each other, and Nona acknowledged that yes, Chloe would have gotten to it, and no, Nona didn't have to do it, but she was going to anyway because she felt like it, and so Chloe parted with her, grateful, with her dignity intact.

The phone calls would start now, and Chloe started asking Izziel for his input here and there. What kinds of toppings did he want to try. The immigration people wanted to know if he had any diseases or if he'd taken any vaccines. Stuff like that.