Furnado Animal Shelter, Friday

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

April's boss texted her early in the morning to let her know that someone from Animal Control was coming to drop off a pug that had been found on the causeway, and could she get to the shelter to receive it?

While April had been planning on staying in and texting her boyfriends all day, work was work (which was a weird revelation to have -- since when did she feel that way?), and besides, pugs where the cutest kind of dog. Hands down.

What she hadn't counted on was that this pug would want to be her bestest bestest friend, so as soon as the Animal Control woman arrived and April made to lead the dog from its carrier into a cage, the pug sprung up and started clinging to her leg. So. It looked like April was hanging around the shelter today with a dog in her lap as she sat at the desk and worked on some numbers.

Honestly, there were worse ways to live.

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Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono just could not stay still today. After months of being constantly on the move in Glacia, being here on the island, sitting around in his apartment, was enough to drive him half mad. Clearly, the thing for it was to go out walking, looking around to see just what changes around town he'd missed since leaving.

Noticing that Everything But the Monkey was now a small adorable cyclone was enough to get him to pause, look twice, and then glance through the storefront window.

... Okay. He had to go inside, now.

"April!" A pause, and a glance at the dog that looked something as though it had run face-first into a wall. "April's small friend!"

Huh.

"New job?"

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"What are you talking about, I've always worked here," April deadpanned, but the way her mouth quirked upwards made it clear that it wasn't meant to be a convincing lie. "Look who's back from war."

The pug yipped. "I know, right?" April said, scratching its ear.

[furnaceface]

"There was a bit of a... thing," Jono replied. "Long story short, I was more or less run out of the territory by the Queen and her entire First Circle, at least until I can sing the Glacian anthem without running out of breath."

He had no idea if Glacia even had an anthem. But the slightly more gravelly tone to his voice than usual probably indicated that something went down. Even if it mostly just sounded like a glorified case of laryngitis, at this point.

"So... Looks like I'm back from war, yes." He frowned downward for a moment, and then glanced up again. "Has Joni been behaving for you?"

He could have also asked April how she was doing, sure. He'd get to that.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Were you that sucky a soldier?" April inquired, looking... well, at least infinitesimally more curious than she usually did. "Yeah, Joni and the frogs're good. I got her this new cat food I'm gonna give you to give her. Think she likes it better than your stuff."

Said completely casually, like she was always this responsible and this wasn't a completely bizarre happenstance.

"Think she's gonna miss sleeping on top of Cliff all day."

[furnaceface]

Jono tried not to wince at the first question, there. He knew April didn't mean it that way, but what had happened in Yllestad was still a little too fresh.

"I managed to keep half of my troops alive in the face of certain death long enough for a rescue," he settled on, because that was... probably the least negative way to put that. "And... whatever food you figure is better for her, I'll feed her that. You've been spoiling her while I was away then, hm? You and Cliff?"

That... wasn't exactly terribly surprising. He smiled faintly, at the thought.

"I'll have to bring her by for visits, if she's going to miss him so much."

Miss Cliff and, you know, April.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

Half alive meant... well, April knew what that meant. "Yeah, Cliff appointed himself her pillow," she reported. "She seemed okay with that arrangement. Think she likes the snoring."

[furnaceface]

"She certainly didn't develop that affinity from me," Jono noted, amused. "She does sleep on my chest a fair bit, though. At least now that there's less chance of her falling in."

... Always a legitimate fear when you were hollow.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Or getting scorched," April noted. "Good idea setting boundaries there."

[furnaceface]

"I don't think Joni will ever properly appreciate just how difficult it was for me to maintain those boundaries," Jono sniffed. "Of course, I really didn't know what I was missing out on, back then. There's nothing quite like having a cat curled up on top of you, is there?"

He leaned across the counter slightly.

"So, how did you end up with a job like this, luv?"

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

April hadn't had the opportunity to answer that question yet, but in truth she'd been waiting to be asked it. Thanks, Jono!

"Remember when I bitched out the manager when I was like 40 and cranky?" she said. "He called me a couple months ago, said they were transitioning to the shelter model and he thought I'd wanna help. Which I did."

She shrugged one shoulder. "It's pretty okay. Animals are nice."

Meanwhile, she idly scratched the head of the now-sleeping puppy in her lap. God, he was cute.

[furnaceface]

He was pretty adorable, wasn't he? Jono couldn't help but smile as he watched her give the pup a scratch.

"So what you're telling me is that one of Fandom's ridiculous weekends paid off?" Now that was a new one. "And that attitude of yours, no less. All the better for the animals here, though. You're good with them."