Round Six: Free For All

[winklevii]

Until April 5th, 2012

Please read the community’s general rules in addition to the rules for this round listed below before prompting/filling.

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Round Six Rules:

-This round is a free-for-

Comments

FILL: A Curious Exchange (1/2) [FRT]

[avferreira]

Derek Morgan, sworn captor of the Bureau for the Attendance of the Unconstrained, used his keycard to open the door of the nook he shared with Spencer Reid, his par. Penny came rushing out of the kitchen, tail wagging and curly hair bouncing around her face, and threw her arms around him. “Hot Stuff home!”

Penny was a minimal, the first one they’d got. Morgan had been uncomfortable with the idea at first. Minimals might not be full humans, in fact, in terms of abilities and competence, they were more animal than human, but they still looked too human for him to be at ease with the idea of having one as a pet. Spencer had only convinced him to go to the local rescue centre and adopt one by telling him what was done to those who couldn’t find a new home.

From what the centre manager had told them, Penny had been owned by a couple who had gotten her as a cub as a companion for their four sons, and ended up treating her as if she were the daughter they never had. When the couple died, neither of the now grown children had shown interest in caring for her.

He hugged her back; he could understand why the old couple had come to think of her as part of the family. Even with her limited vocabulary, which was mostly parroted from what she heard the humans around her say, and her restricted intelligence, Penny was smarter and more compassionate than many full humans he came in contact with daily.

The BAU dealt with crimes committed by the fully human - the unconstrained - and it was a great promotion from his previous job at the Minimal Control Unit. Still, there were times when Morgan felt the job weighing down on him. Minimals could be brutal, especially if they’d been allowed to run wild, but there was a certain cruelty, a certain pleasure in pain, that only full humans seemed capable of.

He kissed Penny on the forehead. “Where’s Spencer, baby Girl?”

She nuzzled him and giggled. “Pretty Boy. Message.” She pointed to the com screen where an icon was blinking. “Pretty Boy. Pretty voice.”

Morgan sighed. There was no need to hear the message, he knew what it would say, what it always said. Spencer was a searcher at the BAU, that was how the two of them had met, and he was prone to get so involved in a case that he forgot about anything else. He should be thankful he had finally gotten his par to at least call home when he was working late.

He walked into the kitchen, with Penny padding softly behind him. Their other minimal, Hotch, was curled up by the window, staring out. He looked up, and acknowledged Morgan’s presence, but didn’t approach him.

They had found Hotch on the street, or rather Penny had found him. They’d been taking a stroll through a nearby park, when Penny had suddenly raised her head, perked up her floppy ears, and ran off, disappearing under a small ornamental bridge.

He and Spencer had followed, curious about her unusual behaviour, and had found her fawning and fretting over Hotch, who was seriously injured and painfully thin, but had still found the strength to snarl at them. They had taken him to the doctor, and when Penny refused to leave his side, at the clinic, they’d decided to take him home.

Minimals had DNA from all sorts of animals, but both Penny and Hotch were canines. Reid had been excited about the possibility of Penny having cubs, but it hadn’t happened so far.