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It was a quiet Tuesday evening. Dream was attending to his duties, and Hob figured he’d better spend some time on his duties as well. Therefore, he was sitting in his usual spot at the New Inn, with his usual drink and his usual pen, grading papers, as usual. As he finally put down the last paper (with a sigh of relief), the door chimed and he glanced up. The new arrival was decidedly not the usual patron for the New Inn. For some reason, a little girl with pink hair in two little buns, accompanied by a large white dog, had just walked in. Hob signaled to his staff that he’d take care of it, and slowly approached as the little girl started intently around the pub. Her eyes locked on a back booth, where a cute couple were obviously absorbed in their romantic night out. This, Hob could already tell, was going to be interesting.
“Hey there!” he said, coming to rest at a safe distance, with his posture as non-threatening as possible. “Are those your parents?”
The little girl scowled at him for the interruption, then did a double-take and looked directly at him, intensely. Hob felt that her gaze was piercing to his very soul, so he was careful to focus on how very non-threatening and helpful he wanted to be.
“They left Anya behind!” she objected. “I wanted to see the kissy-kissy!” Hob swallowed a laugh, seeing how serious this was to her.
“You know,” he said, hunkering down to scratch behind the big dog’s ears, “most parents don’t really want their kids to watch them kissing.”
“Huh,” she sighed. “I know, but they are going to mess it up! They don’t get it!”
Hob was a bit confused by that, but figured he could go on to the next important point.
“Surely they left you with a babysitter, or some other adult?” Since the babysitter wasn’t in sight, he began to shepherd them toward a table near the door. No need to interrupt that gorgeous couple if the intended caretaker was about to walk in any moment.
“Franky is stupid.” The little girl was very definite about her opinion. Once again, Hob was very careful not to laugh at something that was so serious to her.
“Well, it so happens that I’m done my work for the evening, so if you want to sit with me for a bit until Franky gets here, we could do that. Would you like some water?”
“I like some hot chocolate. Do you have peanuts?”
“It so happens that we do!” Hob could tell he’d won a friend for life with that, as he signaled the bartender for a hot chocolate and some peanuts.
“I’m Hob,” he said as she settled into a chair, “and this is a very fine dog.” He smiled at the dog and petted it some more—it was very appreciative of the attention, its tail thumping the floor gently and its tongue hanging out in a big doggy smile.
“He is a good spy dog! His name is Bond. I am Anya,” the child volunteered.
Hob considered warning her not to give her name to strangers. She seemed very self-sufficient for a little one of her size. Suddenly a small hand fell on his head where he squatted beside the table.
“You are not strange, you are good. You have peanuts. Your hair is very soft and pretty.”
Hob almost choked on his laugh this time. It wasn’t every day someone other than Dream told him he had soft, pretty hair.
The bartender came by with their peanuts and hot chocolate, and considerately brought Hob’s drink and papers as well. Hob took a seat as Anya tucked in to her hot chocolate and peanuts. She polished them off in record time—not in hunger, but in enjoyment of a special treat. Then she started to wiggle and glance toward her parents again. They were sitting closer and closer, and Hob really hoped the babysitter would turn up before he had to ask them to get a room. In the meantime, though, he needed something to entertain their precocious daughter for a few more minutes. Maybe she liked to draw?
“Anya doesn’t like drawing. Anya’s not very good at it. Anya’s good at putting hair in buns. You should let me put your hair up.” Anya nodded decisively and began to dig in her pockets, while Hob took a minute to get his bearings. He wasn’t used to being ordered around by such a little one. It wouldn’t hurt, though, he supposed.
He took a seat on the floor by her chair, and Bond promptly put his head in Hob’s lap. As Hob gave him scritches again, he felt tiny hands descend on his head and begin stroking and pulling. It seemed like only a couple moments later that she had used the two elastics she’d pulled out of her pockets to hold his hair in two cute messy-man-space buns. He wondered if she always carried extra elastics in her pockets. It would make sense, he guessed, if she had to fix her own buns during the day.
“A spy is always prepared!” she proclaimed in a slightly ominous voice. Confused again, Hob glanced up at her.
At that very moment, the door banged open loudly. A frantic looking man ran in, looking around wildly until he suddenly spotted Anya. Ah, the babysitter, stupid Franky, Hob thought. Just as he noticed that Franky looked angry rather than worried, he realized that Anya had retreated behind him and Bond was standing and growing threateningly. How to manage this without interrupting the sexy parents? Hob wondered.
“Anya!” Franky yelled. Hob stepped around Bond and held his hands out warningly.
“Is there a problem here?” he asked, using all his de-escalation skills.
“That stupid kid ran off! I can’t get in trouble with the boss!” Franky exclaimed quietly, looking around and also spotting the couple in the back corner.
Hob scowled at him and glanced toward Anya.
“Look, mate, I don’t want any trouble, but I’m having a hard time convincing myself to hand over a little girl to someone who not only lost her but now looks like he wants to hit her, and who she is looking pretty scared of.”
“What am I gonna tell the boss, though?” Franky whined.
They all glanced over at the boss’ table, where Anya’s parents had finally succumbed to the charms of the evening and were making out like teenagers.
“Kissy-kissy,” Anya sighed, with hearts in her eyes.
“Oh, God,” Franky grumbled, looking away.
Hob forgot to look away, he was so busy day-dreaming about his own lover.
At last, the two broke apart and sighed, as though a long battle was finally won. Coming to their senses and looking around, the woman suddenly snapped to her feet.
“Anya!” she yelled, vaulting over the table towards them.
“Franky!” the man shouted, as he stood and turned their way.
“I’m in for it now…” Franky moaned.
“Mama!” Anya exclaimed, reaching her arms up with a bright, happy smile. Mama swooped her up and turned to glare at Hob. He was struck by a jolt of fear like he hadn’t felt since the last time he was fighting for his life. This woman was dangerous!
“Hob is nice, Mama!” Anya said, putting her hand on her mama’s cheek. “He gave me peanuts and hot chocolate, and let me put his hair up!” The woman moved her glare to Hob‘s hair, and seeing the buns that matched her daughter’s, her face softened and she smiled shyly at Hob.
“Thank you for taking care of Anya! I’m Yor, her mama.”
“I can see that!” Hob said with a brilliant smile. This was someone he would be quite comfortable sending Anya home with. They obviously adored each other, and she seemed very capable (he was already starting to forget that she’d been utterly terrifying only a moment earlier).
The man now stretched his hand out to Hob.
“I’m Loid. Thank you for taking care of Anya.”
As Hob shook his hand, he leaned in to ask “May I speak with you for a moment?”
Loid turned aside with him as Yor and Anya left the New Inn, Bond at their side and Franky slinking behind.
“Loid,” Hob began, “I’m not sure how to tell you this. When Franky came in, Anya seemed scared of him. And when I told him off for scaring her, he seemed scared of you. I don’t know what’s going on with your family, and it’s none of my business. But if it wasn’t for how strong Yor is and the love between her and Anya, I’d be threatening to keep an eye on her. In fact, I may still check on her.”
Loid, though, had gotten stars in his eyes at the mention of Yor’s strength, and it took him a moment to gather his thoughts.
“Hm. Yes,” he responded at last. “I thank you again for your care of my family. I will take care of it. I will go easy on Franky, but perhaps I will keep him in his proper position instead of making him babysit. It’s not his area of expertise, and Anya is not the easiest child. I will make sure Yor and Anya visit you occasionally, so you know they are happy and safe. Hm. Perhaps you’d be willing to babysit again? The buns are quite cute.”
Hob sighed, but, to be honest, he was already looking forward to having space buns again some day.