Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

[puppy_fair]

Zack had been maybe a little leery of coming in to the shelter today, but to his relief, all of the birds and fish had returned to their usual health, there was no longer a bomb shelter in the basement, the upstairs was, in fact, an apartment, and the chickens on the roof weren't dinosaurs!

But...

"Once I get into my ball again, I'll destroy you alllllll!"

... Zack was learning Some Things about the disposition of Mr. Winkles, his gerbil.

"Really," Girl sighed, giving a small whuff of disapproval as she leaned against Zack's leg in support, "don't listen to him, Zack. He's always like this."

"He is?"

"It's the desperate rambling of a pea-sized, insecure mind."

"Should've taken control of the world when I had the chance!!"

"When did he have the chance!?"

"Never, Zack. He's a gerbil."

It was going to be an interesting week.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[died8yearsago]

Rosa all but stomped into Furnado fairly early that day, with Arlo 2 tucked under her arm, filling the space around them with a seemingly endless stream of babble in a voice that could only be described as...ugh...cutesy-wutesy.

"Mama! Mama! Did you see it, did you see it, there was a squirrel out there! Lots of squirrels! I like the squirrels, even though they smell funny, but they're real nice to chase, except they always run up the trees, and I don't think that's fair, because I can't run up the trees, but I'm trying, I am! Like when I'm gonna learn to climb up the walls and get to that vent, and then I'm gonna go through that vent and into Pancakes' aparetment so we can be friends, Pancakes and I are friends, we're best friends, even if I don't even know what she looks like because we have that silly wall between us, and you know what we should do, Mama, we should get rid of that wall so Pancakes and I can be even better friends, and hey, look at this! We're at that place! That place with all the other friends! Hello, other friends! OH, and hello, Mr. Man! You look like you have great boots, Mr. Man, do you have good boots?"

"Don't answer that," Rosa warned Zack as she got to the counter and put Arlo 2 down on it, shaking her head with a warning glint in her eye. "She'll lick them."

"Yeaaaaah," Arlo 2's voice was almost giggling and lacking in any shame whatsoever. "I'll totally lick them. You can learn a lot about a person by licking their boots! Where they've been, and...and...and, well, that's pretty much it, but I've licked a lot of boots, so I know a lot about a lot of people! Mama says I shouldn't, because it's gross, and I don't know where those boots have been, but that's the whole point, Mr. Man! So I can know where they've been and then we'll be friends, and you and I can be friends, right, Mr. Man? We'll be really good friends, but not as good of friends as me and Pancakes, that's my neighbor, she's a cat, but that's okay, I like her anyway, even if she hisses, but I think that's just her way of saying 'hello, Arlo 2! It's good to see you again! I missed you!' That's my name, Arlo 2, that's a good name, isn't it? Isn't it? What's your name? Mama's name is Mama, and my name is Arlo 2, and--"

And Arlo 2 was being shut up quickly with a treat extracted from Rosa's pocket as she looked over the dog at Zack with desperation in her eyes.

"You guys have a kennel service here, right?"

If the answer was anything other than 'yes,' God have mercy on your soul, Zack.

[puppy_fair]

Zack huffed a small laugh and Girl stared at Arlo 2 in barely contained awe. Girl was decidedly more wordy this week than usual, but not by much. Arlo 2 seemed to have the talking thing mastered.

"We do," he replied. "With playtime and walkies free of charge."

He was starting to see why people used to call him a puppy.

Girl was getting up on her hind legs, putting her paws on the counter, and peering at Arlo 2 a little more closely, giving her a curious sniff.

Yup. Definitely a puppy.

[died8yearsago]

" NEW FRIENDO!" Arlo 2 all but shrieked the moment Girl's paws were on the counter, and Rosa, deftly, managed to catch the puppy mid-air before she managed to finish that eager leap forward to give Girl a faceful of over-excited retriever. Arlo 2's legs still swam in the air as if still running forward, tongue hanging out as she strained in Rosa's hands, like someone swimming against a current, until Rosa tucked Arlo 2 back under her arm and fed her another treat before she could start talking again. Arlo 2 happlily munched away on it, filling the air with happy little sing-song nomming sounds...even after the treat was obviously gone yet she was still chewing on it as if it wasn't.

In fact, the sing-song nomming and the pleased little treat wiggles seemed to get stronger and louder once the treat was gone.

"Nom nom nom! ~Nom nom nom~! NOM NOM N--"

"Where do I sign?"

[puppy_fair]

"... Oh, dear," Girl murmured, glancing up at Zack, who was still just kind of laughing as he pulled out the paperwork.

"Here," he said, sliding a sheet with contact information and such on it toward Rosa and offering her a pen. "We'll take good care of her until you're ready to bring her home again. Girl's a herding dog, she's great at this sort of thing!"

Girl gave Zack a look of absolute betrayal.

[died8yearsago]

And Rosa was giving a wary look at Girl, wondering if she was about to make a new enemy in all of this.

But the nomming had turned into a sort of giggling growling as Arlo 2 decided to fill them all in on what she thought she was nomming. "Grrr, growl!" Yes, she said growl. "Now I'm nomming all of New Sleepover Friend's shoes, chomp chomp chomp! I don't like New Sleepover Friend as much as Old Sleepover Friend, so I'm gonna eat aaaaaaaaallll his shoes!"

"Oh my god." Nope. Sorry, Girl. No remorse for this, whatsoever. Rosa sucked in a deep breath, set Arlo 2 down on the floor so she wouldn't go leaping off the counter like the idiot that she was, and went to get this done and over with and then she would be Zack's problem until this at least blew over. Look. There wasn't anything wrong with it; half the reason Rosa was all about having a dog instead of something, like, you know, kids, is that dogs didn't talk. This whole thing was a complete violation of the unspoken agreement she had with Arlo 2 that she didn't talk.

Rosa could not scribble her name on that paper fast enough.

Meanwhile, Arlo 2 was clearly being the Best Ninja Dog ever by sneaking around the counter in an attempts to catch Girl off guard so she could totally get her tail!

She wouldn't have been successful on the benefits of her sneaking skills, which were abyssmal. But it definitely didn't help that she was singing super sneaking stealthy music while she was doing it, either. It was really good music, though, really dramatic! And loud, too!

"Okay. There." Pretty sure she'd filled everything out, eyes dancing over the sheet quickly to make sure, Rosa slammed down the pen and was already turning toward the door.

[puppy_fair]

"Have a great week," Zack called after Rosa brightly, looking down at the two dogs. Girl was still giving him an imploring look, silently pleading for mercy, and Zack reached down to give her a reassuring scratch behind the ear. "It's alright, Girl," he murmured. "I've got something that'll keep her busy for the whole week."

Girl blinked as he made a reach for the gerbil ball.

"Hey, Arlo 2! I have a new friend for you to play with! You two can hang out just as soon as I set up a pen for you both!"

Sometimes, Zack was purely evil.

[intotheout]

Talking with Stance in class yesterday had made Tip terribly homesick for the chaos that was her family's pets, and as hard as J.Lo had tried, "put Lincoln and Pig on the phone" simply hadn't worked.

So, despite Bill's trepidation at potentially becoming a big brother, and her own awareness that she was only in Fandom for another year before she and whatever she may or may not adopt today had to find a place to live that was potentially either much less pet friendly (a college dorm, New Boovworld) or much more crowded (home, New Boovworld), she was at the shelter.

"Hi," she said, feeling slightly sheepish. "I think I might want to get a new pet."

[puppy_fair]

"Well, you've definitely come to the right place," Zack offered, smiling her way. "And no better time than the present to find out who here you'll get along with best, right? Did you have anything specific in mind?"

[intotheout]

"Someone . . . small," Tip said. "We have an enormous dog at home, and I love big animals, but I live in the dorms and I'm probably not going to be moving somewhere a lot larger after I graduate."

Unless she decided to ditch college and go live on a farm. Which she hadn't totally discounted yet.

[I haven't decided yet OOCly either, but currently I am thinking maybe a guinea pig?]

[puppy_fair]

"So, maybe something like a fish or a bird or a--"

"Murderkilldeathstab!"

"Not a gerbil. Trust me," Zack said, turning a glance toward Mr. Winkles. "Not this one, anyway. He's a little..."

Unhinged?

"Moody."

Sure.

"We have small furry pets too, if that's your thing," he added. "Rabbits, chinchillas, hedgehogs, guinea pigs..."

None of which were radioactive! All of which were chatty.

[intotheout]

Tip stared at the gerbil a little wide-eyed. "Did he . . . did something happen to him?"

Look, sometimes evil villains had tragic backstories. Even when they were gerbils.

"Any of those would probably be fun," she said. "Especially if they're not afraid of robots."

Bill let out a quick stream of bubbles.

"Or prone to trying to eat them."

[puppy_fair]

"I... don't think anything happened to him," Zack said, looking speculatively at the gerbil. "I mean... he was a gift to me from a Deadpool, but..."

Deadpool was a great guy! Zack shook it off and then added, "You could introduce your robot friend to a few of the animals here to see how they'll get along, maybe?"

[intotheout]

Tip nodded and looked up at Bill. "What do you think?"

Bill bubbled.

"Okay, I'm not talking to you if you're going to use that kind of language."

Bill landed on her hair and sulked. Tip sighed.

"Don't mind Bill. I think he's worried a new pet would replace him in my affections."

Bill blew a bubble-raspberry.

[puppy_fair]

"Aww, Bill," Zack turned a little, reassuring smile his way. "I'm sure there's plenty of room in her heart for you and another pet. Affections are a bottomless resource, they don't just run out, you know. If she's here looking for another pet, it's because she wants something else to be loved alongside you. Not instead of."

[intotheout]

"See?" Tip said. "I told you."

Bill huffed, then let out another stream of bubbles and floated up off Tip's hair again.

"Okay?" Tip asked. "Want to go try to meet a new friend?"

Bill blew a particularly large bubble.

"We'll call that a yes," Tip told Zach. "Show us the critters."

[puppy_fair]

"They're all over here," Zack said, stepping out behind the counter and making his way toward the small animals.

Girl trotted ahead with a, "Listen up! There's a nice young lady and her bubble-friend here looking to meet you, so look lively and be on your best behavior!"

That was met with a small flurry of tiny babble, and little noses started peering out from under wood chips and behind little chew-toy huts.

[intraspective]

Iris had mostly been giving Zack time. Lots and lots of time. While that was not her favourite thing to do, Zack hadn't exactly reached out to her either, so at least, she could take comfort in the fact that if there was a failure to communicate it was one on both of their parts.

But then Silly had started talking and she'd made the mistake of mentioning Zack's name to her little idiot. (Because he was stupid. Silly was so, so stupid and it was doing nothing but endear him to her even more.)

So.

Well, at least Silly would make this amusing instead of just awkward.

She wandered into the shop around noon, hair loosely braided, and as soon as she hit the entryway, Silly launched himself off her shoulder and made a (very bumbling) beeline straight for Zack.

"Zackzackzackzackzackhiyouiloveyou!"

Yes, yes that was Silly. Did you mind a chicobo fluttering around your head, Zack?

"Hey," Iris said, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

[puppy_fair]

"Uh, hey," Zack said, glancing up from the very distracting little yellow bird and offering Iris a little smile. "Here for some birdseed?"

It seemed like a fair gue--

"--DEVOUR YOUR ENTRAILS WITH A SIDE OF PARSLEY!!!"

"Oh," Girl sighed, exasperated, "stick a tiny little cork in it, would you?"

[intraspective]

"Greeeeeeeeeeens," sang Silly, still bopping along but now with something suspiciously like a tune going on in there. "Greens! Greensgreensgreens! Yespleaseallofthem!"

Iris, meanwhile, was looking down at Mr. Winkles.

"I see you're just as evil as I knew you were," she said, since she'd been against him since he'd knocked her down the stairs in high school. Iris had spent the rest of that weekend as JENOVA. There was a bit of a grudge. "Spare everyone else your crazy, will you? Hey, Girl."

[puppy_fair]

"It won't be crazy when I'm the ruler of you all," Mr. Winkles muttered, retreating to sulk plot his evil plots from inside the little wooden gerbil house in his Habitrail.

Girl just sneezed in his general direction before inclining her head toward Iris.

"Hello, Iris. You're looking well."

Zack smiled crookedly as he went to fetch some greens.

[intraspective]

Silly weaved happily along with Zack, babbling about greens, how he wanted all of them, all of them.

"I try," Iris said, which was a blatant lie but, hey, it was a comfortable lie at least. "You been keepin' on keepin'? How's he been doin'?"

[puppy_fair]

"I'll give you all the greens you can handle, how about that?" Zack did not think that would be many greens at all. Silly was tiny.

"He's..." Girl glanced at Zack for a few moments, and then bowed her head a little. "He tries."

Which, at least, wasn't a lie. But it was about as reassuring as Iris' own statement in kind.

[intraspective]

Silly was tiny, it was true, but Silly was also very determined to have all the greens and Zack's words sounded an awful lot like Silly could have all the greens.

"Yayayayayayayayayyayayayay!" Loop-de-loop of excitement, right there! "Iloveyou! You'rethebest! Almostasgoodasgreens!"

Iris couldn't help but smile slightly at that, though she kept her gaze on Girl.

"Yeah," she sighed, "he ain't never been bad at that."

[puppy_fair]

"Almost as good as greens? Wow! I've never been called that before!" That was true enough, anyway. And to a chicobo? That had to be high praise, Zack was sure.

"He's had moments," Girl noted. She looked back at Iris. "But he's a good boy. And stronger than many give him credit for. I think the only one here who doesn't believe that is him."

[intraspective]

"It'struuuuuuuuuuuue!" Silly insisted. "Almostasgoodasgreens," with another loop, "butnotasgoodaskaakaakaakaakaakaakaasan!"

Honestly, Iris was mostly only surprised it had taken as long as it had for the random Wutaian to pop up.

"He ain't never believed that of him," Iris agreed, voice soft. "And I ain't sure what to do with him, myself, these days. I keep makin' things worse."