Woof! Tail-wag.

Out they can go, then.

He pads a little ahead of her, onto a veranda that stretches the length of - yup that is a very long house. He has his feet on the stairs when he looks back at her, and then comes back to her, and nudges her to turn to her left where there's the start of a ramp with a gentle gradient and a handrail.

Yeah, fair. She goes where she's nudged.

Tail-wag and padding down the ramp beside her. When the reach the bottom, he heads towards a bench, tilting his head at Denice again.

Yeah. She's doing better, but she's still pretty wobbly. And tired. She sits, and pats the bench.

He jumps up beside her again, and slowly lowers his head into her lap.

She's much less hesitant about petting him with nobody around to see.

He lazes there, tail thumping a steady rhythm again, eyes closing in obvious bliss.

The air is warm, but not overly so, and there's a pleasant, gentle breeze.

It's still strange, being outside; she stiffens just a little, sometimes, at unexpected birdsong or the rustle of tree branches in the wind. But she likes it anyway.

Drex cracks an eye every time she tenses, sniffs the air, looks around for a threat, but when he finds none he goes back to being relaxed on her lap.

Drex strolls around the side of the house about half an hour later, looking far more comfortable here than he had in the alley, or in the house. He spots Denice, and stops a good way from her smiling, and tilting his head at her, much like Esca, obviously asking permission to approach. He appears to be carrying two bottles of water and a wide-brimmed hat.

She smiles back.

He moves close enough to put one of the bottles of water and hat on the arm of the bench, and then retreats a few paces, and sits down on the gravel, tilting his head back. "S'nice out here, but too much sun to the head can be bad for you. Hat and water'll help."

She nods, puts on the hat, and tries to open the bottle; she doesn't seem to be able to get a good enough grip on the cap.

He shuffles a little closer, holds out the bottle still in his hands and shows very obviously breaking the seal on his bottle, leaves the cap on very loosely. "Swap?" he offers, holding the bottle out, into arms reach.

Sure, swap. She takes a sip and doesn't bother trying to put the cap back on.

Drex shuffles back again, pulls what appears to be a rubber disc from his pocket, fiddles with it to produce a bowl, and pours half of his bottle into that, pushing it closer to Denice's feet.

After that, he seems content to sit in silence, sipping on the remains of his water, head tilted back into the sun, eyes closed.

Esca slides off the bench, and stays close to Denice's legs, lapping at the water Drex had obviously meant for him.

It's nice. Even if she still isn't used to birds and things yet.

Good. She deserves something nice.

Drex stays where he is for a little while longer, but eventually he stands up.

"Can stay out as long as you like, but please go get a drink if you start feeling dizzy or anything." Pauses to check she got that.

She nods.

"'Ll bring you dinner when its ready."

He doesn't wait to see if she got that, wanders the off and disappears around the other end of the house.

Esca rests his head in Denice's lap again, still stood beside the bench.

She invites him back up onto the bench, and sips at the water bottle until it's empty, scritching behind his ears as she does.

When she's done, she looks pointedly at the corner of the house that Drex appeared from, and gives Esca a questioning look, with an accompanying querying sound.