Baird was incredibly amused by the young girl and her determination. She wasn't overly trusting, nor was she bubbly and vivacious, for that Baird was thankful. Girls like that gave him headaches, but the little red furred lass was fun, and almost as stubborn as himself. She seemed to be glaring at him, he was used to that, her glare was nothing compared to his sisters back home. Anya had perfected the withering glare, enough to scare him and his gargantuan brother Cole, so this girls lilac stare didn't have much effect on the tall dingo man.
Her tone changed though, when he mentioned his home country, she seemed to be curious and asked where it was, her eyes following the quolls movements and her tail wagging in excitement. She revealed that she was from Africa and Baird grinned widely, "Australia's a country, a long way away. It's on the other side of the world pretty much." He eyed the girl, trying to place whereabouts she came from in Africa, but he couldn't seem to recall any canines that looked like her. "I've been to Africa." He said, hoping that this knowledge would endear the girl to him, maybe make her a little less standoffish. "I spent a fair bit o'time there on me travels, fell in with a pack of maned wolves." He offered up little bits of information as the female quoll slid down his face.
He watched the others reaction as he held out the quoll, she recoiled initially, unsure of him and the strange little animal, but he watched her soften as the quoll reached out to her. He smiled as she took the little animal from him, stroking the fuzzy head and body of the quoll. Baird was confused for a moment when the girl kept a wary eye fixed on him, almost as if she were scared he would attack her at any minute, but then he realised it wasn't him she was keeping an eye on, it was Pan. Baird laughed aloud then, startling Pan and the two male pups, "Don't you worry about Pan Ma'am. She's sick and tired of these little'uns, she won't be bothered with you holding her." As if to agree with Baird, the mother quoll simply yawned and tucked her head down, nuzzling into the dingoes neck to sleep.
The little female quoll looked so content in the others hands he didn't really want to remove her from the situation. he nodded at the pup in the girls hands, "She likes you, you can keep her if ya want? She'll make a good pet." He realised then, when he was giving away one of his pups that this girl was a complete stranger, he didn't even know her name. He held out his hand-paw for a handshake, "I'm Baird, by the way. This is Pan, and that's Gelar." He said pointing to the adult quoll and then the kookaburra.
Photo courtesy of pierre pouliquin
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