fandomtownies | Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

"Oh my goodness hello! And hello to you, too! And you! And yes, you! Hello little friends."

So Karla had stopped by the island a day early to talk to Zack, but he was clearly going to have to wait until she was done greeting the little fuzzy balls of joy that had decided to converge upon her feet.

That was fine. Zack totally understood. He was currently attempting to assemble the puppy pen with one of them tucked under one armpit as it was, and that one was doing her level best to lick his chin at every possible opportunity.

So it was with a blink and a little grin that he turned his attention toward Karla, earning himself an even more soggy chin in the process.

"Aw, they like you."

"They probably smell other puppies on me," Karla said, laughing a little bit as they started nibbling at her toes. Stop it, puppies, that tickled. "Which was what I was coming here to talk to you about, but now I'm not sure." She knelt and scooped several of them up in her arms, murmuring baby talk at them. "You seem like you might be full up on puppies."

"I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to be full up on puppies," Zack laughed. "Chickens, on the other hand... We have a lot of chickens."

They lived on the roof, now. So many chickens.

"You, uh, have some puppies you need rehomed?"

"Unfortunately, I do," Karla said reluctantly. "Have I ever told you about the Sceltie Puppy Program in Glacia for some of the veterans of the war?"

"... I think that would be a no," Zack said after a pause. "I mean... I kind of, uh, I missed that war and all the aftermath and, you know... everything."

He'd been otherwise occupied at the time.

Karla gave him an amused look. "Rhetorical question only, darling," she assured him. "I do remember where you've been and what happened to you."

It was why she was here after all. But, shh, no one needed to know that.

"I supposed a much better question would be, have I ever told you about the kindred? Especially kindred Scelties?"

Zack fidgeted a little. Well. As best as one could fidget with a puppy wiggling under one arm, anyway.

"If you did, I don't remember," he confessed. "What's a kindred?"

He kind of figured that Scelties were some kind of dog, what with the puppy program thing she'd mentioned a moment ago. So that was a start!

"I am Blood, if you remember," Karla explained, sitting down on the floor to let the puppies explore her to their hearts' content. "That's why I have my Jewel and can use Craft and whatnot. That's what being Blood is. But being Blood isn't restricted only to humans and other humanoid races, certain species of animals can be Blood, too. They're bigger than their powerless counterparts, smart as humans, and have Craft." She gave him a wry smile. "You should have seen the look on certain people's faces when they realized that there were bigger wolves out there, as smart as they were, and capable of making sight shields to hide behind."

Karla was a bad person to enjoy those reactions so much.

"Scelties are a breed of dog that has both Blood and landen members. And the Blood Scelties have been teaching the landen ones how to take care of troubled humans."

"I do remember what landen means," Zack realized, and actually perked up slightly at that. "So... the dogs who can do magic have been teaching the ones who can't? The landen ones are normal-dog smart, right?"

He felt bad enough keeping all these shelter animals in cages, there was no way he'd be able to keep a creature in one who was as smart as a human being to boot.

It would be an abomination and Karla would go on a murder-spree before she let that happen. So high-five! On the same side of morality!

"Exactly," she said nodding. "Smarter than your average dog, but still well within regular dog range. A lot of them have been trained and sent to Glacia to help out with war vets and the children who lost their families at that time and the like, but we've currently got four pups who have been trained but whose services aren't currently needed." She shrugged and offered him a What can you do? smile. "I mean, I suppose we could just give them away to a family that wants a puppy, but it seems a shame to waste all that training, you know? And they're so eager and such good pups and Ladvarian assures me that really want to help like they've been taught. So I was wondering if maybe you could help me find homes for them here."

You know. In case there were any folks on the island with various shades of PTSD or something. Like, say, half the goddamned population at any given moment.

"Having, like, one or two trained dogs after an invasion or when the island goes weird just seems like a damn good idea, if nothing else."

Zack blinked and tilted his head a little.

"I mean, of all the places out there, Fandom is probably the best place for a pack of service dogs," he admitted. "I'm not sure if there are many people who'll admit they're in the market. Everyone on this island is stubborn and likes to pretend they don't need help when they're bleeding out," et tu, puppy? "but it's usually only a matter of time before trauma comes around, anyway..."

Seriously, it was all Karla could do not to make comments about pots, kettles, and stone-throwing competitions in pretty glass houses.

"So even if you don't end up rehoming them, you could still maybe offer, like rental services or something? It's not as effective as pairing a service pup up with a single person, but it's much, much better than nothing. Trauma times come around and people can come and ask to spend some time with the dogs. They get the help they need without actually having to admit they need it."

And if, in the interim, Zack just happened to reap the benefits of having a couple of service dogs around, well, what a lucky and unforeseen coincidence that was!

Zack smiled faintly as he took a seat on the floor beside Karla, rearranging the puppy under his arm so that it was sitting in his lap.

"That's actually really smart," he replied, nodding a bit. "I'd feel kind of bad leaving them here in the meantime, though. But I guess they could keep the other dogs company, too. We get some of them from some pretty ugly backgrounds..."

"They'll probably be happy tending to other pups that need their assistance as well," Karla said, nodding. "Though, if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could get someone to stay with them, the first week or so after they settle in? It's a major transition, going from Earth to Kaeleer, and I'll feel better if I know there's someone nearby who can take care of them if they need it. Once they've adjusted, I'm sure they'll be fine, here."

Zack chewed the inside of his cheek, frowning in thought.

"I could ask around," he offered, "and see if anybody is interested in fostering them for a while. Or there's an apartment upstairs. I suppose I could stay here for a week or two instead of above the Boards..."

He'd already tried to take a puppy home once. It had ended in a lot of "Oh god, whyyyy?" when Ino had come home from... whatever thing she'd been doing for the Turks. He hadn't asked. He didn't want to.

Maybe this one would be different! After all, it was just a temporary favor to Karla...

"Thank you so much for this," she said, reaching over to squeeze his hand in gratitude if he let her. "And I'll bring over all sorts of puppy supplies so I don't strain your resources. And I'm willing to pay the volunteer who stays over if that will help, maybe?"

"We'll see," Zack replied, offering her a small smile and letting her squeeze his hand. "It's for a good cause, I mean. And only for a little while, until somebody can give them a good home."

Zack sometimes needed things spelled out for him, Karla. He wasn't an idiot, but he could sometimes be particularly dense.

"At the end of the day, we're totally equipped to take care of four more dogs, though. It's sort of what we do."

Pffft, Karla was offering prayers to the Darkness for Zack's current bout of denseness. It meant she didn't have to work around his defensive 'I'm totally fine' nonsense to get him to accept the puppies.

And, fine, if they didn't end up with Zack but ended up with other people that needed them, Karla really couldn't argue with that outcome, either.

"I'm glad," she told him. "I don't want to strain your resources, but it breaks my heart to see these little guys trained to take care of someone and then not get to."

You know, if she was talking to anybody but Zack, somebody probably would have accused her of laying it on a little bit thick.

As it was, Zack was putting on his little smile and nodding in understanding.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem, here. And if it turns out you do need them back in Glacia and we still have any of them, feel free to come take them back home." He paused, and then added, "So, when would you be bringing them by?"

The important thing was to know your audience, dammit.

"Probably in a week or so," Karla said. "I have to make sure they're prepped and ready to go, have all their inoculations, that sort of thing."

"Great," Zack replied, nodding as he worked out a timeline. "Well, I'm in every Tuesday, but if that doesn't work for you, I can come in to see them in any time. I don't exactly have much else to do these days."

It was driving him bananas.

"I'll see if I can bring them around on Tuesday," Karla said. "But if I can't, would Wednesday work?"

She was already imagining her class with four puppies to love. Now just to figure out an appropriate tie-in to plants...

Zack pursed his lips a little, and then shrugged.

"Anders works Wednesdays," he shared. "But, I mean, that doesn't mean it doesn't work. I can leave a note or something for him and let him know to expect extra dogs."

Karla nodded and grinned. "Anders? I'll be glad to see him. He was a student of mine, a few years back. Glad to know he's still here."

And not rotting in a prison back home because he had magic.

"Here and on my payroll," Zack agreed, smiling a little. "I don't know much about him, except that he's a cat person and the vet staff seems to like him. He helped deliver some puppies a few weeks back."

And those puppies were now stampeding around the lobby.

"He's something of a healer," Karla said, being careful not to mention 'mage.' Not that Zack would care, but if Anders was keeping his powers quiet or something, she wasn't going to be the one to accidentally out him. "They all look like they came through the ordeal in excellent health."

"The vets are thrilled," Zack agreed, smiling faintly. "Clearly he knows what he's doing."

The puppy he'd had under his armpit was now asleep in his lap. He reached down to give it an affectionate scratch behind the ear.

Oh the sleepy pupper! Karla had to pause to give the puppy a fond smile and remind herself that, no, they didn't actually need any more pets at the estate, no matter how velvety and soft their ears were.

"Where's the mother?" she asked. "Off somewhere enjoying the blissful peace for a few while you entertain the pack?"

"Getting some well-earned rest," Zack confirmed, turning his fond smile down to the puppy. "I'll have to bring her out here for feeding time if I can't get these guys all rounded up first, but that's not exactly a hardship."

He could build the puppy pen up around them while they had breakfast!

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Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

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