Once Julian and Blossom were in the hallway, the kangaroo could feel something in her pouch. She looked down to see the Neera getting more comfortable and snuggling into his friend and owner’s pouch. He continued to stroke her too, a sensation which the kangaroo found very pleasing. Blossom continued up the stairs and into her room. She closed the door after her and moved over to the bed where she placed the treats and sat down.

“Up we go!” The kangaroo giggled as she picked the Neera from her pouch. Something Julian wasn’t very happy about. He looked up to his owner, a mixed look of sadness and confusion on his face. “Wha? B- But… I…”

“Oh sweetie…” Blossom interrupted, “I just don’t want you getting cracker crumbs in my pouch is all. I’m not being mean for the sake of it, honest” Blossom deposited Julian onto her favourite, most comfortable pillow. Julian nodded, still unhappy, but there was nothing he could do about it. “Now, I’m gonna give you a cracker first, then you can have a nice sweetie for desert, okay?” Blossom opened the packet of crackers and broke away the corner from the top cracker. She placed it in front of the Neera. “Thank you Blossom” Julian said as he started to nibble away at his food. Blossom simply giggled and ruffled her little Neera’s hair before she finished off the remainder of the cracker and helped herself to a few more as she watched Julian eat. Blossom found it so adorable. He was so little that the corner piece would be enough to sustain his little tummy, whereas Blossom would have to eat nearly half the packet.

Blossom lay down in front of Julian; resting her head on her crossed arms as she watched him eat. Julian didn’t mind, it was obvious that she’d be curious about him, or just thought he was adorable. “Honey, my daddy said you’d been stealing from us for weeks… Why have you been doing that?” The kangaroo inquired. Julian looked at her as if she were dense.

“So I could eat…” he replied, as if the answer was obvious. Blossom cocked her head.

“Well, why don’t you just buy food?” she inquired. Julian cocked his brow.

“Because Neera don’t grow food”

“Why not?”

“Because we don’t have farms” he replied, starting to get slightly agitated by the unrelenting questions. Blossom didn’t quite pick up on that however.

“Why don’t you have farms?” She followed up. Julian gritted his teeth.

“Because we live underground, there’s no sunlight” he informed.

“Why do you live underground?”

“Why!?” he laughed sarcastically. “Because we’re Neera! Neera have no place on the overworld because Neko make it impossible! Because we are eaten! We are crushed! We are made slaves and tortured for the amusement of the Titan races!” He yelled. Blossom was shocked at Julian’s hostility. She’d never known a creature who was so cute and innocent looking to get so angry. She was only curious after all. Blossom bore a look of sadness and regret, she wished she didn’t push Julian the way she did. “Oh honey… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked so many questions… I’ve never been able to ask a Neera questions before, so I just wanted to know what your lives were like. I didn’t mean anything by it… honest” the apologetic kangaroo informed, backing away slightly in hope that Julian might calm down.

“Well now you know. And I’d like it if you didn’t ask about it again” he informed, turning slightly so he no longer faced the kangaroo before he continued nibbling away at his portion of cracker. “Okay little one, I want you to know I’m very, very sorry. I didn’t know the life of Neeras was so tough. I won’t ask about that sensitive topic again, well, at least until you’re comfortable enough to talk about it again” she informed. Julian did not reply. “Okay, so… what about your family? What are they like?”

“They’re like most dead Neera” Julian replied darkly, not offering any more of a response than that. Blossom’s facial expression turned from bad to worse as her eyes filled with sadness. She had poked her big nose where it didn’t belong a second time in such a short window. She remained silent for a few seconds before replying. “Honey, I’m so sorry…” she apologised. “I didn’t know…”

“No. You didn’t” Julian interrupted; he put the rest of the cracker down. Then, he lay down on the pillow with his back to Blossom; he was curled up and looked incredibly pitiful. His tail was tucked between his legs as if he were hiding it. Blossom edged closer and reached out to stroke Julian, she quickly retracted her hand as she felt it wasn’t exactly a good idea. “Honey. Again, I can only say I’m sorry. But I want you to know that you can speak to me about anything you want. Anything at all. I’d love to get to know you, you’re so cute and innocent, and one day I hope we can become good friends, heck; I want you to be my best friend. I want to know everything about you. I want you to know that you can rely on me. I want you to know that you’ll always have a place with me and that I’m going to look after you wherever we go. Because I love you Julian. You mean so much to me, and I want to make sure you’re happy…” Blossom’s voice quietened as she could begin to hear sniffles from the creature in front of her. She reached out and stroked his back, hoping that she was comforting him and not making the situation worse or awkward for the little Neera. Julian flinched when Blossom first made contact with him but quickly found comfort in her reassuring action. His mouse-like tail wrapped around Blossom’s finger tightly, showing the Kangaroo that he appreciated what she’s trying to do.

Blossom smiled slightly as she could see her efforts were not in vain, that she could still salvage their friendship. “There, there honey… Do you want to snuggle with me? You can go in my pouch again if you want… I know you like it in my pouch…”

“N- No… I want to hug you properly. But I can’t because I’m small and useless…” Julian sobbed. The Kangaroo pouted. “Honey, you’re not useless. You can do things a lot of people can’t…”

“Like what?” Julian replied sceptically.

“Like what?” Blossom giggled. “How many ‘Titans’ do you think can snuggle in my pouch - or between my boobs? How many do you think I’d let do that, even if they were small?” She asked, giggling slightly. Julian sniffled again. “N- None?” he replied, still he didn’t face the kangaroo.

“Exactly! You’re so fast and you’re really good at climbing; I bet you could get anywhere! And if there was something I needed but couldn’t reach, you could climb up and push it down to me” she informed. A small smile formed on Julian’s face. “Y- Yeah… I guess I could…” he replied, confidence building in his voice as his tail’s grip on Natalie’s index finger weakened. The kangaroo was making a tonne of progress. Blossom giggled, “Of course you could! Because you’re my little Julian! And you can do anything you want!”

“A- Anything?”

“Absolutely anything!” she giggled as she petted him lovingly. Julian relieved his grip on Blossom’s index finger before he slowly rolled over so he could see her. His face stained with tears. He didn’t say anything; he just let his tears flow. “Please Julian, I can’t bear to see you like this… You’re my little guy, my little Neera friend. To see you sad… well, it makes me feel like I’ve been stabbed in the heart…” Blossom paused for a moment before continuing. “Can I… can I pick up my little friend? I wanna hold you against me…” she informed. Julian thought for a moment before he slowly nodded. A small smile crawled onto Blossom’s face as she reached over and carefully plucked Julian from her pillow. She then crawled under the covers and held the little Neera against her cheek. Julian quickly fell into a peaceful slumber, the rhythmic little breaths made Blossom feel tired too. She also closed her eyes, content knowing that she had managed to save her friendship with Julian.