fandomtownies | Furnado Animal Shelter; Friday [11/16].

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Furnado Animal Shelter; Friday [11/16].

Prompto...didn't like the dorms. There were too many people in the dorms, and people made him feel awkward and uncomfortable and too big, and so he was making alternate plans to be away from them (and away from other people) as much as possible. Thankfully, it was snowing, which was...it didn't snow in Insomnia, and the snow was so pretty, and the town was, too, so at least there was an easy solution, he'd just go outside and wander and take pictures of everything. It was mostly what he'd do on a Friday afternoon anyway.

He'd made it all the way across the island, too, idly snapping a shot here or there, and, even though his pace had been pretty slow and steady, he was out of breath by the time he reached the spot where Furnado was. He leaned a little on the big glass window out front to rest up for a moment before the movement inside caught his attention.

And then his hands and his nose were plastered to the glass, eyes wide behind his glasses, as he stared in utter delight. Puppies. There were puppies in there! Finding a new burst of energy inside of him, Prompto headed inside. "I'm sorry!" he all but shouted when he came in and saw the vet there, bowing awkwardly in greeting. "I just saw your puppies, and I was wondering...I was wondering....I thought maybe...it would be okay if I....can I play with them for a bit?"

His face had gone red with the embarrassment of having asked, but the vet didn't seem to mind. She just sort of shrugged. "Sure, kid," she said. "It looks like the usual guy might not be showing up today, so, if you want, you could even help out a little."

Prompto's eyes widened. "R-really?" he stammered. "I...I can?"

"Mmhm," the vet nodded and Prompto laughed a little, then went serious as he nodded.

"Then I'll help," he promised. "Yeah. It's...too cold to walk around outside, anyway, so I'll just...stay here and help. With...with the puppies."

Puppies were better than people, anyway.

And 'helping' apparently meant just sitting down in the puppy pen and playing, but you could be sure that, in that regard, Prompto was an excellent helper.

Furnado is open!

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Katherine had never seen snow before. It just didn't do that in LA and she'd only been in Korea during the summer. So she was wandering through town, most of her attention at the sky.

At least until nearby, excited barking caught her attention, too.

And then, much like Prompto before her, she was pressed against the glass, staring in wide-eyed wonder. Puppies.

Well, puppies and a sad blonde lump, anyway. Even the power of puppies wasn't quite enough to keep Prompto distracted from the feeling that there were eyes on him (although, to be fair, he always felt like there were eyes on him), and he looked up toward the window and gasped in surprise, even if he'd expected it. There was a face looking in the window, and so that meant the girl looking into the shelter like he had had also seen the puppies, which meant she probably also saw him, and...

...wait. Maybe if he just sat there really still, she wouldn't notice him? Not likely, but he was going to try doing just that, hoping his face didn't look as dumbstruck as he felt.

Alas, unfortunately, it...kind of did.

Up until then, Katherine's attention had fully been on the puppies. Unlike people, puppies weren't scary or mean. Sure, sometimes dogs could be, but not puppies.

But where there had been movement and romping, now there was a pool of stillness and that attracted Katherine's attention in a way it hadn't when Prompto had been playing, too. Her eyes caught his and she gasped, mittened hands going to her face in surprise.

She did the only thing she could do. She ducked down, covering her head with her hands, somehow hoping that would also keep her from being seen.

...Oh children.

...Oh, silly, shy, stupid children.

But she was gone! Good! Well, she was gone for now, and Prompto knew he had to take this chance while it presented himself. He looked around for a moment, trying to find a spot where he wouldn't be as noticeable and figured the best spot was against the wall with the window, under the window, no one could see him there and he didn't have to leave the puppies. So there was Prompto, turning himself around a little and then scooting across the floor until he was against the wall, hidden from the window except maybe the top of his head.

THere. That was better. And the wall supported his back nicely, too, so that was kind of an added bonus.

He adjusted his glasses a little and nodded to the puppy closest to him. "You have to warn me," he whispered to it, "if she comes in, okay? You'll do that for me, right?"

The puppy flopped over and rolled onto his belly. Prompto would take that for a yes, sure.

After a few minutes, Katherine's head slowly raised back up again, ready to duck back down at a moment's notice. She took a slow assessment of the puppy pen, making sure that boy wasn't anywhere she could see.

Maybe he'd left? She'd had her head buried, so he could have left without her knowing. Or maybe he'd just left the puppy pen and was somewhere else in the store. Oh no. Maybe he'd be coming back though.

Katherine was nothing if not patient. She stood, nose pressed against the glass, for another five minutes, waiting for the boy to show up again. When he didn't - and...and maybe the puppies looked lonely now? Maybe it was her fault they'd lost their playmate? - Katherine quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

She didn't see an adult to give her permission to get into the pen with the puppies, but maybe it would be okay if she just...went over? Hunkered down? Even held out a hand to let them sniff?

And the stirring of puppies, the natural flow of them toward the opportunity for a new person and new scents, made Prompto look up and, with a startled sound, he realized that the girl had come in and his lookout hadn't said a word!

"You betrayed me!" he hissed down at the puppy, still on his back, legs in the air, waiting for more belly rubs, who looked over at Prompto with such a cute, innocent, confused look that he just melted into a puddle and couldn't be mad, even if he was pretty much the worst look-out ever.

But, then again, it's not like he had to talk to the girl, and so he wasn't going to, very pointedly putting all his attention in his betrayer and his belly. Maybe she'll just play with the puppies and leave him alone, and then get bored and go away.

Yeah, right. Like anyone could ever be bored of puppies.

Katherine had yet to notice the boy; he was neatly tucked up against the wall, sure, but also there were puppies and how was anyone supposed to look away from puppies to scout out anyone else nearby.

Especially when the puppies all crowded around her, standing up on their hind legs, wiggly little tails going wild, all of them trying to lick her hands at once. And Katherine, unused to animals of any sort, did something very out of character for her.

She laughed. Well, giggled really. The kind of giggle she only gave when her baby sister Sarah did something extra adorable.

Oh no.

She was being cute, too.

Just when Prompto thought he couldn't feel any more awkward, and he tilted his head back, face absolutely burning from blushing so much, and wishing he could just sort of disappear into the wall, because he'd really done it now, he was stuck. He couldn't get up, or else she'd notice him, but that would still be better than if she didn't notice him until it was too late, and now there was a puppy crawling on him, and licking his face, which was making it really hard not to move because it kind of tickled and it was smearing his glasses, and...and...

He snorted, and even though the snort was supposed to keep in his giggles, it only seemed to release them, and now he was swooping up the puppy and snuggling into him, because whatever happened now that he couldn't get away with not being noticed, at least he had a puppy in his arms, and that would make anything better.

Katherine's head snapped around at that snort, looking more like she was caught trying to smuggle the puppies out than just playing with them. All wide-eyed and panicky, moving up to the balls of her feet like she was about to run.

But then...but then the boy started laughing. He was holding a puppy and laughing. He couldn't be too mean or scary if he was holding a puppy and laughing, could he?

So rather than running away, Katherine did another unexpected thing. She offered him a shy smile and a tiny little wave, the move hesitant and small like she was worried that even that much might ruin everything.

Mortified. Prompto was absolutely mortified and he wished she actually did run away because then he would have't to deal with the fact that now she'd gone and waved at him, and he didn't know what to do with a wave!

Man, if only this puppy could just turn into a daemon and eat him or something, then he wouldn't have to worry about what to do with a wave!

The puppy didn't eat him, but it did lick his face again, which seemed to startle him enough that the next thing he knew, he was actually lifting a hand and...waved back. Sort of. It was too awkward to really be a wave, but he did lift his hand in acknowledgement, so....kind of a wave?

But he was mostly just sort of staring at her in shock the whole time.

Awkward wave high five, only not actually a high five because actively giving a high five was only slightly less mortifying than asking for a high five.

But he was waving and that gave Katherine the courage to ask, "Are...are these your puppies?"

She didn't want to get in trouble for playing with puppies that were someone else's.

Oh, no. Now she was talking to him!

Prompto figured he could just...ignore her. Not say anything. That's what he usually did! But he was looking right at her, that kind of made it a little difficult to pretend he just didn't see or hear her, and, oh, man, he was in for it now.

And before he knew it, he was nodding. Why was he nodding? But he nodded his head, and then realized that was wrong, and shook his head instead. "Err," he managed, "no, they're...they're not...mine. They, uh, they belong here, to the shelter? The lady who works here said it was okay to....to play with them, though."

Katherine nodded, a little sorry she just hadn't asked the lady herself. She was quiet and timid and polite, which meant she did well with adults. And while some adults were mean, surely no grown up who worked with puppies could be.

But she'd already started so looked like she was stuck. "Can I stay, then?"

And Prompto was really out of his element here, because it wasn't like it was up to him. If it was up to him, he'd tell her to just leave because her being here made him feel nervous and awkward and self-conscious, and he thought about telling her that, but then he'd feel really bad, because you shouldn't be mean to girls. He didn't want to be mean to her, either, so it was all just a really messy conundrum with no good choices one way or the other.

So he just shrugged his shoulders and paid attention to the puppy again, because puppies were easy and not nearly as complicated as people. "Sure," he said. "I guess. If...if you want to."

Maybe....maybe she wouldn't want to?

Unlikely, because, well, puppies, but he felt it would be important to give her the option.

Out of words for the moment, Katherine nodded her appreciation. Obviously she was staying, there were puppies here.

And since that's where she'd seen him originally, Katherine was going to slip inside the pen and sit down as far away from the boy as possible, making tiny, happy cooing noises at all the puppies who came over to sniff.

She was smiling again.

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Furnado Animal Shelter; Friday [11/16].

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