Dani smirked and blew Robin a kiss, then left with Maggie.

Ish just raised an eyebrow at the puck.

"I didn't actually do anything," Robin said. "Nothing happened. We talked."

"So, you seem to like the puck well enough," Maggie said quietly.

"What did you talk about?" Ish asked, a bit pointedly.

"He's fun," Dani said, shrugging a bit. "Why, do you not like him?"

"Stuff. Work. People we know." Robin grinned. "Molting and down-feather pillows."

"I don't know him well enough to say I dislike him, but I distrust pucks on principle," Maggie said with a shrug.

Ish snorted a bit.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell her about the pillow you had made," he commented.

"Well, just give him a chance," Dani said. "Who knows, he may surprise you."

"I'll bring it along sometime and show her," Robin said with a grin. "It sounds like they're planning on staying for a little while."

"Maybe," Maggie allowed. "Want to pick up some ice cream on our way back?"

"It seems so," Ish mused quietly. He glanced at Robin. "I assume you have a hand in that."

"Ice cream sounds amazing," Dani said.

"Nope, Dani thought that Maggie might want to stay a while and get to know you. I just said I'd ask around for jobs for the both of them." Robin grinned. "See, I'm innocent in this one."

"Great. We'll stop and grab some, then." Maggie couldn't help but grin a bit.

"Perhaps in one definition of the word," Ishiah replied, a bit teasingly. He trusted Robin not to stray by now, and Robin knew it.

"Awesome," Dani said. "Did you see a DQ, or a Coldstone?"

Robin grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Ish. "And I've done my good deedfor the year, or I will have shortly."

"There's a Coldstone up ahead on the corner," Maggie said. "Good quality stuff, just what we need."

"Oh?" Ish asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, would this good deed be?" He did remember Robin mentioned finding the girls jobs, but he wanted to hear the puck's plan.

"Oh yes," Dani said, grinning. "That sounds wonderful."

"Find Dani a job somewhere decent," Robin said. "And see if I can't find something for Maggie as well. If she's anything like you, she'll want to earn her keep. Stubborn thing."

"Yes it does." Maggie grinned as she pulled open the door, letting Dani in first.

"Indeed," Ish said. "Though as I recall, her mother was rather spirited, as well." So not all of Maggie's stubbornness could be attributed to him, he was sure.

"You would pick a woman with spirit," Robin said, rather approvingly.

"Are you surprised?" Ish pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Not at all." Robin shook his head. "It is absolutely something you would do. After all, you put up with me." He grinned.

"A Herculean effort at times, I assure you," Ish replied. There was a teasing glint in his eye and one corner of his mouth quirked up a bit.

Robin spluttered a bit at that. "I am a joy to be around," he protested, although he was clearly also teasing at this point. "Fine, I'll just go home and you can close up without me, you'll get bored."

Ish snorted a bit.

"You wouldn't leave," he said, "you'd get bored waiting for me." He was confident in that statement.

Robin stuck out his tongue, because clearly that was the best retort he could come up with.

Two and a half weeks later, Niko and Cal came back into town after some much-needed hunting therapy. Nik was still feeling rather numb, but he figured things might get a bit better after they settled back into their routine.

Cal was already working on getting things back to 'normal.' Niko had spent the entire hunting trip silent and brooding, and it was about time that he came back a bit.

"C'mon, Nik," he said as they made it back to the city. "Let's go see about finding Goodfellow or something, I'm sure he's got some bullshit story all ready to go for you to try to pick apart."

Niko made a noncommittal humming sound. For once, it just didn't sound good to pick apart Robin's bullshit.

"You should check in with Ishaiah," he said, glancing at his brother. They both knew what 'check in' meant: let Ish know they weren't dead and Cal could go back to glowering at things.

"I'm dragging you with me, then," Cal said, not even giving Niko a chance to respond before he was tugging his brother along. There was no way he was going to give Nik the chance to go back home and brood.

Nik gave in without a fight, instead letting Cal tug him along to the bar.

He did pause and blink when he saw a new bartender behind the bar, though.

Maggie didn't even glance over when the door opened, too busy telling a Wolf to keep his paws on his side of the bar. She was emphasizing that with the point of her blade.

Cal glanced at Niko, a bit worried, when Nik passively followed him. He definitely needed to find something else to distract his brother with, and quick.

Going into the bar, he briefly paused to side-eye the new bartender (seriously, they weren't gone that long, there was no way Ish could justify replacing him that quick) before heading back towards Ishiah's office.