fandomtownies | Turtle & Canary; Thursday [12/20].

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Turtle & Canary; Thursday [12/20].

Turtle & Canary had a generator, of course, and it had been plugging along nicely since yesterday, when Summer came in and realized that it was much better to just stick around the store like Apu instead of her powerless apartment. Besides, it gave her something to do, in pulling out the significant backstock of supplies they kept on hand for emergencies, as well as all the warm winter gear and shovels and space heaters and blankets and firewood and whatever else might be needed. And she figured if anyone was braving the weather to make it over here to get supplies, well, then, she was definitely going to just give it to them, because who was going to be a jerk about making a profit off desperate people at a time like this?

Well. She could think of plenty of people, really. Which was exactly why she wasn't going to.

And things seemed to be go along great, up until the power cut off in the store, too. Which...shouldn't have happened, because, hello, generator, but then again, hello, ridiculous amounts of snow. So Summer, bundled up all over again and armed with a shovel and a butane torch that should help with any ice if that was the problem, headed on up to the roof where the generator was...

...or used to be, anyway. It still was, but it was very clear that it was beyond functioning at the moment as it was being attacked by snowmonsters.

"Oh, come on! Really?"

Well, at least it wasn't sharks.

Although she had a pretty good feeling that it would be pointless, Summer at least had to use the fact that she had a shovel and a blowtorch in her hands to fight off the snowmonsters, feeling particularly proud about having managed to just kick one off the side of the roof (hoping there didn't happen to be anyone passing by at just that moment), and once she'd cleared the area of them, she went to inspect the generator. Which was difficult, since the snow kept falling, and Summer didn't have much technical aptitude for this sort of thing anyway, and it looked...bad...real bad. And save maybe calling Amaya to have a look at it since she probably knew the equipment, there was probably no hope of it getting fixed any time soon, especially not out here in the cold.

Summer shivered.

"At least I don't have to worry about the frozen stuff spoiling," she murmured as she made her way back downstairs, into the darkened store, trying to figure out exactly what her next step should be.

[[open! feel free to swing by either before or after the generator kicks the proverbial bucket!]]

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Zack had so many loose ends to tie up. Too many. A shelter that needed to be run even after he left, a dog he could just leave at the shelter, maybe, but definitely couldn't bring with him to Gaia...

Both SOLDIER and dog were absolutely covered in snow by the time they made their way in to Turtle and Canary, either way.

"Don't suppose you carry camping gear?"

He hadn't had anything, the last time he'd been on the run on Gaia. It'd be nice if he could avoid some of that problem this time around.

"Of course we do," Summer assured Zack with a nod, a faint, almost sympathetic smile for them all covered in snow, trying to decide if she thought them brave for attempting the trek or just kind of stupid. Which lead into her next thought, which caused the smile to falter a little. "Wait, you're not planning on going camping in all this, are you?"

"Not in this, no," Zack replied, shaking his head as he crouched down, trying to dust some of the snow from Girl's fur. "I have a ticket home, and home isn't actually somewhere I can just... get hotel rooms in. But Iris has been missing for months now and I can't pass this opportunity up."

He blew out a little breath.

"Sorry, it's been eating at me for a while."

Summer blinked at him a little, before frowning thoughtfully. "Why would you even apologize for that?" she asked. "Months? I'd be worried if it wasn't eating at you, really. But, yeah, let's definitely get you set up with whatever you need that we might have. I mean, it's a little out of season, but it's not like we were selling out of the stuff over the summer, so if it's not still out on the shelves, we've definitely got some camping stuff in the back. Apu'll probably be able to find it like," she snapped her fingers, "that."

Zack looked so relieved that it was almost possible he'd start crying if he wasn't so damn hell-bent on turning it into a smile, instead.

"Thanks," he replied. "That'll make things a lot easier. Now I just need to find someone to keep an eye on Girl and handle the administration side of the shelter while I'm gone, and I think I'll just about have things handled."

So help her if Summer didn't recognize that sort of smile, especially since Zack didn't exactly do the greatest job in the world of hiding it. Her attention turned to Girl in question for a moment, smiling faintly as she knelt down in front of her, offering out a hand for her to sniff. "Well, that first part shouldn't be too hard; who wouldn't want to help look after a cutie like this? Administration bits might be a little harder, but, hey, if you need, I mean...I don't have shelter-specific experience, but I've got this place, and with Apu, it basically runs itself..."

Girl was quite happy to sniff that hand, yes. She was off-duty at the moment, after all, and was welcome to make friends with whoever she pleased.

Zack chewed his lip for a moment.

"Are you sure? I mean... I don't know when I'll be back." He paused. "I don't know if I'll survive to come back. I cheated fate just coming here once already. I think that's why Iris had me locked out of my own world for so long."

And now that Summer had permission, she went ahead and gave Girl some little affectionate pets on her soft head. She really was a good girl, wasn't she? A lot more chill than Stance, but, then again, Stance was Stance, and Summer...only encouraged it with that one.

And it gave her something to put her attention into while she thought. She liked Zack, and Iris, even though she didn't know them nearly as much as she would have liked to, and then there were the things that were coming out of his mouth right now. Geezus.

"Lemme just see if I've got this straight," she figured she'd lay it out as she ruminated over it. "You've got a ticket home to a place you've been basically locked out of," by his fiance, but she so wasn't touching that one, in a way she'd have to admit she got it because so help her if they hadn't wanted to do the same thing with various members of her own family at multiple points in time, "where there's a good chance you might die and not be able to come back, but you still want to go, anyway?"

Zack pulled in a slow breath. And then exhaled again.

"Well, yeah," he replied. "She's worth it."

He could have gone on a long explanation about being SOLDIER, about honor and dreams and how he didn't really fear death, not if it was the price to pay for freedom.

But in the end, that was what it really boiled down to.

She was worth it.

Dumb. That sounded incredibly dumb.

But it was the right kind of dumb.

"Then, yeah, I'm sure," Summer decided. "I mean, getting stuck with a business full of adorable animals that need love and a home because you got yourself either stuck or worse killed back home doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world. Might actually be good for me, being all..." she waved a hand, "altruistic and shit. And if you don't get stuck or even worse killed, then, even better. I get some extra business experience under my belt, and everything's good in the world again."

"I'll keep in touch," he offered. "Maybe... weekly check-ins, to answer any questions you might have? Though the vet is usually pretty good about almost anything. She knows more about that place than anybody. All of the animals in the shelter are up for adoption except for the gerbil at the counter. That's Mr. Winkles, and he's," homicidal, "mine, too."

He looked quietly down at Girl.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to keep an eye on her, too? Or if you'd know somebody who might be? She's... um. I mean, she's a service dog, I guess. I'm former military. She's very well-behaved. Smarter than most dogs and she'll follow commands and keep focus if you need her to. I just... can't bring her with me. Not there."

Not when it would be him facing down against the infantry or the Turks or gods-only-knew. He'd barely survived while dragging Cloud around, and Cloud, he could just stash in the bushes until the danger passed. Girl would be trying to throw herself at it to protect him.

"Why are you asking me, anyway?" Summer asked with a faint laugh. "Who would you feel comfortable leaving her with? I mean, I'll definitely take her, too, that's not a problem. I used to have a dog, and it'll be nice to have some company, so I definitely wouldn't mind..."

Though, if she was honest, Girl was almost a little...too well behaved. When your planet was almost taken over by dogs because you went ahead and thought it was a good idea to give them full sentience, that could be a little unnerving.

"Someone who knows their way around dogs?" Zack smiled crookedly. "I don't get out nearly as much as I should, I guess, and the people around here that I know either don't do pets, or they're cat people. I can keep looking if you'd rather not, though."

He glanced down again at Girl.

"Just knowing the shelter's in good hands is a great start. It's more than I had, I mean, and we do have kennel services..."

"So, in a way," Summer pointed out, with a faint laugh, "I'd pretty much be taking care of her, anyway. No, it's fine. I've got her, unless it turns out there's a problem with the other dog on my floor, but that dog is way friendlier than her owner, so I don't see it being an issue. I'll be happy to have her.

"We'll have fun," her attention shifted back toward Girl, ruffling her fur a little, "won't we, Girl?"

While giving her a very pointed look that, should Girl be telepathic in any capacity, would convey the message to her that she just please remember that she wasn't the one who spayed her...assuming she way.

...it was a thing. Snuffles's crusade would always haunt her in some capacity.

Fortunately, Girl was not telepathic! Though there were some dogs from the world she came from that were, she was just a regular, ordinary, very well-trained therapy dog. And so she gave her tail a wag, because there was fur ruffling and positive attention, and licked at Summer's hands in approval.

"You'll have fun," Zack replied, relief inching into his smile again. "And with any luck, I'll be back here in no time."

And, you know, still alive.

Well, if Sabine had to shoot puma thing to get here, she better keep going, right? Of course, by then the generator was out here.?

"Are you open?" she checked.

Summer sighed slightly, with a glance around and a shrug. She'd still been waffling on exactly what to do still; the only thing she'd really accomplished so far was adding progressively more and more clothes fr warmth. "For now, I guess," she offered. "Though probably not much longer. What did you need?"

"Not sure yet. I was going to see what was around of food to bring back to the dorms... Maybe some other places, considering." Some people probably did t want to be out in this, with the monsters and all.

"And food, we've got plenty of," Summer said with a nod. "Lots of stuff that won't need to be prepared, like fruit, bread, peanut butter. Canned food if anyone wants to go all Boy Scouts and cook over a fire or whatever. But that's a great idea; we can definitely put some stuff like that together for you."

"I'm sure some stuff could be kept for a couple days just by putting it in the snow," Sabine said thoughtfully.

"That is the nice thing about a power outage in a snowstorm," Summer agreed lightly. "You're freezing your butt off, but, hey, at least your ice cream's not going to melt. The whole frozen milk thing always makes me feel a little weird, though."

"I haven't actually run into that yet," Sabine said. "How long has the power been out anyway?"

That determined whether perishables were going to be a thing.

"Here?" Summer asked. "Just about...I don't know, about fifteen minutes, half an hour? We had a generator hooked up, but some jack-off snowmonsters took it out."

She let out a slow, slightly frosty breath.

"But at least it's not sharks."

"I ran into a couple of them doing that somewhere else. They're easily taken care of."
So far!

"Unless you're a generator," Summer pointed out a sigh. "Didn't find that out until it was a little too late."

"Yeah," Sabine agreed. "All right, is there anything specific I can take off your hands? Anything that might go bad?"

She was apparently Santa for food here, which was fun when she found Santa completely creepy.

Summer thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "I'll have Apu do a sweep; he's much better about knowing what's currently sitting out there, and he can put some stuff together for you to take back with you, if you'd like."

"Thanks. I figure it'd be worth stopping at the community center, too. I saw people around there, but I don't know how much they have."

This was probably all Kanan and Hera's fault.

Like any of it was a bad thing!

"Yeah, I figured I'd be heading over there pretty shortly myself," Summer said. "There's not really much more I can do here, after all, so we can divide and conquer. You help make sure everyone at the school's good to go, I'll make sure all these old farts in town are taken care of, too."

Both groups, she figured, were equally likely to just wind up doing stupid things, though.

"It's a plan. They might be less set on supplies in general there, too. Something to keep in mind." At least in the dorms you had access to blankets and every piece of clothing you owned.

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Turtle & Canary; Thursday [12/20].

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