the dog carefully approached Jim obviously trying not to startle him. Jim smiled at the dog as it sat down in front of him and began trying to be adorable. Jim wasn't moved however, as adorable as the dog was he had been alive far far too long for such tactics to fool him. a fragment of memory leaped to the front of his mind, a pre-war memory. he remembered the family dog, Kal, and how he was outside when the bombs hit. despite himself a tear dropped from his eye to his rotten skin.
"Well, hello puppy." he said, slightly choked up.
then he noticed how the dog was looking at him, and Frank. when he realized what the dog wanted he clutches Frank close to his chest like it was an infant being threatened by a deathclaw. Jim looks wounded, as though some one said they had killed his dog, but then an anger bubbles up into Jim. "No, oh no. you. you don't touch frank" says Jim, calmly but firmly. he feels a pang of guilt as he sees, or what he perceives, as sorrow in the dogs face. "Well. ok, you cant have frank.. but.." he reaches back slowly and starts to dig around in his pack making sure not to startle the dog. he finds a slab of Mole Rat meat, "I was saving this for me and frank but, i suppose you can have it." he unwraps the slab and puts it down carefully "Yeah, there you go. Kal, can i call you Kal?"
