fandomtownies | The Park, Friday Morning

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The Park, Friday Morning

Seivarden had been woken up early by a cute, fluffy cat. It was annoying that there had been no one around to make her breakfast, but she had found some cookies, and the cat had known where the cat food was and...

Here they were. The cat had insisted on going to the park, and since it was cute and fluffy Seivarden had allowed it, and now she was looking up at the cat sitting on a high branch in one of the trees.

"Come down!" She called, waving her arms. She really needed a proper breakfast, and a little tea, and...

The cat wailed.

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"I bet that cat could take it," Duke decided. "The fluffy ones are always the most vicious."

He knew basically nothing about cats.

"Yeah, right," Rosa scoffed, rolling her eyes a moment before settling a sardonic smirk on the boy who clearly had no idea what he was talking about. "If that was true, then how come it hasn't come down and done it yet? That cat's a coward."

"Why would it?" Duke asked. "Your dog'll tire itself out and the cat can just do whatever it wants. That's not being a coward, that's tactics."

"Sounds a lot like something a coward would say," Rosa retorted. "It's staying put because it knows Anna Pavlova is a ruthless attack dog. She's part wolf, you know!"

Nope. Not even close. 100% Purebreed Adorable Golden Retriever Forever-Puppy. Who had actually sort of lost her attention for the cat in the tree, anyway, because this other kid had something that Issa didn't have, and those were shoes, and she might just need to check those shoes out.

"If that dog's part wolf, I'm part moose," Duke said with a snort. (And managed to only back off a little when the puppy suddenly decided to come at him instead of the cat.) "If being a coward means being smart and winning, then I'm all for it."

"You knoooooow," said Rosa, who now turned her attention toward the boy a little, narrowed her eyes thoughtfull at him while Anna Pavlova took that first tentative lick at his shoes. Rosa tilted her head, even put a finger to her chin in consideration, "now that you mention it, I think I do see a little moose in your face. When do you think your antlers will come in?

"Also," she added, even though she'd considered not bothering because he was clearly just a dumb boy, "you can't win a fight if you don't even get into a fight."

"You can if you still end up the last person standing," Duke said, not bothered. "And most people don't grow antlers, honey. Sorry if your family's just troubled like that or something."

The troubles weren't that long ago for him. He wouldn't be at all surprised if there was a family out there who were troubled to turn into were-moose.

"Hey," said Rosa, "you're the one who said you were part moose." If Anna Pavlova was part wolf, which she was, and so therefor... "I won't believe it until I see antlers, buddy."

". . . Yeah, I'm really pretty sure you'll find the burden of proof isn't on me here, sweetheart."

Yes, he was ten and already knew how to use 'burden of proof' in an argument. Duke's childhood had been -- let's call it 'tumultuous'.

'Burden of proof' was the least of Rosa's worries at that moment, her nose wrinkling and her face scrunching up with distaste.

"Sweetheart??"

Yeah, she was only seven, and already knew that dumb moose-boys shouldn't be calling her sweetheart!

"GROSS."

Duke rolled his eyes. "Oh relax, it's just a word. You're not going to get cooties from it or anything."

"You shouldn't call girls sweetheart!" Rosa insisted. "It's gross."

There was a slight, glowering pause.

"And that sounds like someone someone who would give me cooties would say!"

Who then held up her fingers it a cross, which was a very well-known and effective ward against cooties that she just made up.

Edited 2019-11-15 22:49 (UTC)

"It's just a word," Duke said again. His dad had used it for people all the time! He rolled his eyes even harder at the cross, and reached out to poke it with one (rather grubby) finger. "Oh no. You're infected. Guess you're doomed."

"No I'm not," said Rosa, making a face at this moose-boy, and then deciding that a face wasn't enough, she was going to stick her tongue out at him, too, because he pretty much deserved it. "You can't infect me, I'm cootie-proof, but nice try."

Another pause, a moment of decision.

"Sweetheart."

There. If he was going to call her that, then she'd just call it to him back, see how he liked it.

"If you're cootie-proof, then why are you worried about them?" Duke asked, smirking. Entirely unconcerned by that tongue sticking out or being called 'sweetheart'. It mostly made her sound like the old ladies and the McShaws' restaurant who let him eat their leftovers.

"I never said I was!" Rosa insisted, throwing her chin up in defiance, throwing her hair back a little when she did it.

...and very slowly, subtly lowered her hands.

Duke just laughed. "Sure thing, kid." He shook his head. "Anyway, your dog's still never going to eat that cat. It looks like a walking teddy bear."

And also seemed to be more interested in trying to see how many licks it took to get to the tootsie roll center of Duke's shoes, so.

Rosa took a moment to look over her shoulder at that cat in the tree, and just sort of shook her head at it, before then looking down at where Anna Pavlova was really going at that shoes.

"I think she's moved onto feet," she said, wrinkling her nose a little, but only a little, because she was thinking she was okay with her dog eating Moose-boy's feet. Then maybe he could get himself some hooves or something.

"Those are my only shoes," Duke noted, looking down at the dog with a sort of absent despair that accompanied knowing that this was just how his life worked. Because why wouldn't his only shoes end up coated in dog slobber in November? That might as well happen to him.

Rosa's brow furrowed a little bit as she considered that and almost felt a little bit bad now. Granted, it wouldn't be a problem if Anna Pavlova at his feet, then he wouldn't even need the one pair, but still...

She reached down to try to sort of pull the dog away from her very determined pursuit of the boy's shoes, something that could only be accomplished by kneeling down beside the puppy and letting her lick Rosa's face instead, which she resisted a little only because that tongue had just been licking shoes and who even knew where those shoes had been?

But then she realized that he might have just been saying that, too.

"Are they really?" she asked, looking up at him dubiously while pulling away from Anna Pavlova's tongue. "They're not very good shoes..."

"Shut up, they're fine." They were not very good shoes. Even without the dog slobber. "Why bother having more than one pair if I'm only going to outgrow them in ten minutes?"

If he sounded like he was quoting someone, there, it was because he was.

"Ugh." Rosa made another face up at him. "You sound like my mom, only it's with hand-me-downs from my sisters. But my sisters are nerds, so then I get stuck with nerd shoes."

"I got that beat," Duke said. "I have to get my hand-me-downs from a church."

Or steal them, but he wasn't about to tell this rando kid that.

"Yeah," Rosa almost looked sympathetic for a moment there, "you're right. Church shoes are way worse than nerdy sister shoes. Maybe I'd actually be doing you a favor by letting Anna Pavlova eat them."

Even if Anna Pavlova seemed much more interested in eating Rosa's hair at the moment, which made her pull away slightly and try to fend her off a little with scritches.

"Knock it off," she told her, affectionately, "you dumb dog."

Duke looked down at his shoes, clearly considering this.

"Okay, but where would I get new ones around here? I didn't even see a thrift store."

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