Farquahar was out of sight but not out of mind for the next day or so. Life in the MIO returned to almost-normal. Wufei was back at his desk, muttering irritated Chinese curses, his tail switching and his claws clacking loudly on his keyboard. Surprisingly, he had agreed with Duo, that the obliging Were-Tiger should be compensated for looking after the demon's animals.
"It isn't their fault their owner is a... a... feather-brained demon fuckwit," he had growled when everyone turned to stare at him. He even called the female to ask for a list of the type and number of animals the demon had collected, so that they could keep an accounting.
Trowa spent a good deal of time hovering near the recovered Were-Dragon, which only added to his irritation. Trowa seemed oblivious to the grumbles and insults thrown his way; only smirking in his Puma-ish way. He never missed a chance to pat Wufei's back or tail with his massive paws, or to curl his long tail against Wufei's scales, eliciting heavy sighs and eye rolls from the Were-Dragon.
The Elves did a lot of smirking at each other, and the rumor was that Zuma hadn't slept in his own room in several nights. Tiffany and Moira found that 'cute'. Some of Enrique's neighbors found it annoyingly loud.
Estaban spent his time with his nose firmly inserted into his parchments, trying to be as small and as unobtrusive as possible. He had enough trouble with a hysterically pregnant wife at home.
Duo volunteered to do the paperwork for the whole incident, and Inazuma and Wufei graciously allowed it. He also worked industriously on some bright green yarn, turning out a hat, a scarf and a pair of mittens during that time.
Heero was out of the office more than in, being involved in the 'examination' going on in the labs.
"Heero, are you helping the Freaky Five," asked Trowa at one point, "Or are you keeping them from killing him?"
"You know they can't kill a demon," he snorted. "But they want to use him to test some of their experiments. I have to continually remind them that he is not a lab rat."
If a decision had been reached by the higher-ups regarding what had happened to and what to do with Farquahar, the MIO was not yet privy to it. The five Wizards of R&D poked, prodded, spelled, charmed and potioned the demon every which way but inside out and there was some serious debate over trying that, as well. Heero and Q did their own examinations with no more success. This did not amuse anyone. Even Q was quite grumpy by the time they finished.
Finally, though, it was determined that Farquahar would be allowed to go back to his 'home', providing he accepted the presence of a minder. The demon agreed to every condition eagerly, even the minder part. It would be kind of novel to have someone to talk to occasionally. Maybe they could be persuaded to stay long enough to play Monopoly - he had the Wizards version, but it was boring playing alone - or even gin rummy.
Then Zephyrus arrived.
On to Chapter one hundred-three
Back to Chapter one hundred one