Jay nodded. "Yeah. And as he gets older, maybe he can hunt for himself." He watched the puppy for a moment, then came over. He gently picked up Leo, turning him over onto his back and holding him with one arm, examining Leo's paws with his other hand. Leo growled,trying to nip at him, squirming.
Delia sat up and watched Jay, sticking a hand out and petting Leo so he didn’t nip at him. She didn’t mind if he nipped at her, the puppy was probably teething anyway. “See any reason why he would be limping?” She asked, watching from where she was as to any cause of the limp.
Jay frowned. "Not yet…sorry for stealing him, by the way, I just figured I may as well take a look." He kept examining Leo's paws, running his hands down Leo's legs to check for any breaks or fractures. Leo squirmed, growling at him softly.
“It’s alright, we’d have to figure out why he’s limping eventually and why not now.” She tapped Leo’s nose lightly and made a shushing noise, letting him chew on her fingers to keep him occupied while Jay checked, “You be good, we’re trying to help you. I don’t think you want to live with that limp forever.” It was no secret, she had a soft spot for puppies and kittens, though she preferred dogs. Leo was in for as much as a spoiled life as he could get in this time, courtesy of Delia and somewhat Jay.
Jay frowned slightly. "Oh, found it. He's got a pretty bad cut in his left front paw." When he touched the paw, Leo yelped, growling again. Jay sighed softly. "There's little bits of gravel stuck in it. I think it might be infected, too…" He pulled out his water canteen, rinsing off the cut and pulling some of the gravel out. As he did that, Leo kicked and squirmed, biting down harder on Delia's finger. "Hold still! I'm trying to help!" Jay told the puppy.
She almost pulled her finger away but kept it there, tapping Leo on the nose again, “Be still, we’re helping.” Grabbing his other front paw lightly, she tried to keep him as still as possible so Jay could work, “If you cooperate buddy this will work a lot faster and better.”
Jay sighed softly. "Delia, can you grab me some cloths please? So I can bind this up?" He kept rinsing off the cut, his lower lip caught between his teeth. Leo whined, whimpering and squirming. Jay gently held the puppy still. "Sshhh, it'll be okay little guy." He murmured.
Delia nodded, pulling her finger from Leo’s mouth and leaning over. She grabbed a few strips of cloth and shimmied back to him, holding them out before she went back to helping Jay keep Leo occupied.
Jay took the clothes, and finished cleaning the cut. He started binding up Leo's paw. "I normally wouldn't do this to a dog, but since it's on his got and already looks close to infection…I don't want to risk it. Problem is, he might chew on the cloth." He said as he tied the cloths in place. Leo whined again, staring at Delia mournfully.
“Aww, he’s almost done honey,” She said, reaching over and petting Leo, “And then he’ll set you down and I can pet you some more, he’s just trying to help you so nothing bad happens to you.” Delia nodded and petted Leo while she talked to Jay, “I’ll try my best to make sure he doesn’t chew on them, otherwise we might just need to find something tougher to wrap around the cloth so he can chew on that and not the cloth.”
Jay nodded. "Yeah." He said. Finishing up the last knot, he set Leo down on the ground. "There you go, little guy. You're done." Leo stared at Jay mournfully for a moment, then looked down at the cloth covered paw curiously. He sat down and immediately bit at the cloth, as if trying to figure out what it was. Jay reached over, and poked Leo's nose gently to get him to stop. "No, don't chew on that, bud."
Delia smiled at the little pup and reached over, starting to pet him, “Don’t bite that, alright? Otherwise I won’t give you part of my food tomorrow morning.” She shifted back to her spot and patted her leg to try to get Leo to come over, “Well, what should we do now? Do you want to explore a little bit? Or just sit around and talk?”
Leo followed Delia, giving Jay the stink eye. Jay shrugged, sitting down. "Up to you." He replied. "I don't really care either way." He pulled off his hat, raking a hand through his hair with a soft sigh. Leo lay down, quiet.
“I’m in favor of the staying here option,” She said, already petting Leo and pampering him. With the fire still going but slowly dying, she had no desire to go explore at the moment, her legs hurt from the day as well which made the idea even less exciting.
Jay nodded. "Sounds good." He said, reaching out to scratch Leo behind the ears. Leo's tongue lolled out of his mouth as he lay on his stomach, paws sticking out in front of him.
A small smile crossed her face at how happy Leo seemed, his tail wagging uncontrollably. “So, anything you want to know about me? I figure we’re going to be traveling together a while, might as well know each other more than just our names.” She opened her pack and pulled out her blanket, laying it out on the ground and shifting on top of it so she was more comfortable.
Jay leaned back on his hands, looking up at the ceiling. "Well, I just realized I don't actually know how old you are." He said, glancing over at her with a small smile. "I'm 20, by the way." Leo was quiet, laying still except for his wagging tail.
“Dang it, you're older than me,” She said, scrunching her nose, “I’m 19 and counting, don’t really know how long until my birthday since I really can’t remember what day or month or it is.” Delia looked over at him and shrugged, “You can take this as a compliment or an insult, but I gotta say, you don’t look like you’re twenty, you look like you’re seventeen or eighteen.”
Jay nodded. "I see." He laughed softly. "What do you mean?" He asked. "Is it because I don't have a beard?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that my hair follicles got messed with, because my hair didn't used to be white. And if I had a beard, it would be white, and I would look old as hell." He chuckled.
She laughed and shrugged, “It might be because of the beard thing, and yes, your white hair with a white beard would make you look like a crazy old man.” Looking over at Leo, she pet the dog for a moment with a smile, “What color did your hair used to be before it got messed with?”
He chuckled softly. "Mm. My hair was sort of…ashy brown. Hard to describe. And my eyes were more of an amber color, not…gold." he waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Basically I'm not sure anyone I used to know would recognize me. I've changed too much."
“Your eyes are really pretty,” She admitted, looking away with a tiny smile, “Plus they look really good with your white hair.” Delia sighed and looked around, “Let’s see….what do you like to do for fun?”
He smiled slightly. "Thanks." He looked down. "Well…read, for the most part. Although there aren't a lot of books left." He chuckled softly, shaking his head.
She chuckled and shook her head, “Not any more, though I’m sure there’s a library somewhere with hundreds of book that have survived.” Leo seemed to have fallen asleep, still besides his breathing and still laid out on his stomach.
"Yeah, probably. So what about you? What do you like to do?" He asked, looking at her. "Or used to like to do, before all of this." Leo snorted softly in his sleep, rolling onto his side.