Are There Any Aminals in Here?

She seemed to be accepting his explanation... that was a start, Cody figured, at least. It could just be that she didn't know what to say about it; but the girl didn't give the impression that she was preparing to make fun of him. Then again, it was more often other boys who did that; the idea of helping animals seemed, kinda, to be more accepted by his classmates of the opposite gender, even if they still thought he was a bit strange. He... could accept that, Cody supposed.

Of course, that line of thought was entirely disrupted as Lilo loudly cut in with expressing her own interest. Cody slid back a couple of steps to let the darker child get her own look, watching her curiously. Was... did she have the same kind of interest in animals as he did? She hadn't said as much; but it seemed at least implied by her vocal enthusiasm, even as it left him at a loss for words for a moment.

Only for a moment, though, as her accusation reached his ears.

"That's only because you startled me!"

His voice rose for a moment, indignant, before Cody caught himself. He wasn't... used... to having another child actually show an interest in what he was doing, and quite honestly didn't know exactly how to adapt to it; but while he might, still, be feeling a little nettled by her, Cody didn't want to just blow the girl off. It could be nice, even, to have a human friend who shared his interest in animals; even if the gentle-natured boy found her just a bit too pushy for his liking.

He was patient and compassionate with animals of all kinds, no matter what their disposition... with only the occasional exception, like Joanna who deliberately allied herself with a poacher and so got no sympathy. But apart from that, he could learn to apply that same degree of patience to human interactions too, right?

Leaning over to take a closer look at the prints himself, Cody found himself instead face-to-face with the girl as she abruptly whipped back to face him. As she started off by proclaiming that she recognised the tracks, then proceeded to stumble over her explanation, Cody's own expression shifted from surprised curiosity to a more complete bafflement.

"I don't know, I've never seen any dog tracks like that. They look too round..."

Her way of wording it, too, was odd - one of her dog's relatives? Not just another dog like hers generally? - but Cody didn't press that particular point. Maybe she was a local, and knew that her dog's family were the only members of that breed around here, making it not such a great leap of logic. Maybe they were just a breed with very distinctive pawprints.

Still, dog paws tended to follow at least a vague standard, and these didn't match that at all. Cody's head tilted as he scrutinised them over Lilo's shoulder, trying to measure them against what he remembered of the examples shown in his very comprehensive animal encyclopedia back home.

He still wasn't seeing very much similarity, even if he squinted.

His attention shifted back to the girl, as she spoke again. Somehow, Cody wasn't entirely sure he was surprised that there was a secret involved; there had to be something, after all, to explain why a dog would leave such un-dog-like tracks and, whatever that reason was, the other child seemed rather guarded about it.

He nodded earnestly, it not even occurring to the boy to be sceptical right then.

"Yeah, I can. I promise."

He was good at keeping secrets; he'd never told McLeach where Marahute was, after all, even when the poacher had been literally throwing knives at him... and the fact that he had eventually found out anyway had far more to do with McLeach's trickery than any willingness on Cody's part to give up that fact. Where animals were involved, the youngster could always be counted on to keep a secret.