fandomtownies | The Perk; Thursday Afternoon [02/06].

Entry tags:

The Perk; Thursday Afternoon [02/06].

Did they allow dogs inside the Perk? Did Rosa care? Not really. And since no one working that day seemed to think it was worth arguing with Rosa about it either way, it didn't really matter.

But Rosa needed to do something. Baby Linetti was back, which meant her cat was back, which meant that Anna Pavlova was going mad trying to figure out a way to get through the wall separating their apartments so she could go play with her friend. Honestly, Rosa was just glad her dog was too dumb to figure out a way to just get up into the vents.

So they needed to get out of the apartment, but the weather today wasn't exactly very condusive for walkies, and so they wound up at the Perk. Which was working surprisingly well, because Anna was quiet and settled underneath Rosa's table, dedicatedly licking at the bottom of a cup that hadn't contained anything for a good thirty minutes, and Rosa had a big black coffee (that didn't even taste like something else for once) and a book, and it was actually really nice.

...for now, anyway.

[[ oh, look! it's open! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Did the Perk allow cats? Seivarden didn't care either. She had taken Issa to the park, hoping it would be between rain showers, but here she was, a wet and unhappy cat in her arms.

"We don't allow..." the barista began, then Issa slipped out of Seivarden's arms and dived under a table

Well. It had been nice while it lasted.

But, of course, it couldn't have just been Hot Leaf Water, who Rosa figured she could just ignore if she really had to, but it was Hot Leaf Water and her cat, which Anna Pavlova seemed to have sensed even before they walked in the door, thankfully too small to actually do any damage or shake the table when she bolted up to her feet at attention.

Let out a small bark of a greeting, which probably didn't help with driving Issa underneath another table, and then Anna bolted out from her own. She only made it a few prances out before Rosa's voice cut out with an "Anna! Stoy!" And the dog stopped, frozen for a moment, but the power of the command seemed to be fading quickly as she started bouncing a little in place, big adorable puppy eyes dancing between two potential friends who she hadn't seen in a very, very long time as well as some footwear very clearly in need of licking right now...

Rosa grunted. "Anna. Priyti."

The dog let out a small sound that almost sounded like she was telling Rosa to hold on a minute, though she did take a few stilted steps back closer to Rosa. Still not willing to give up yet, though, she barked out another happy greeting, her tail wagging so eagerly that it was surprisin she hadn't lost her balance yet. Her front paws started to dance eagerly. This current hold was tentative, at best, and only existed because Anna couldn't decide who she wanted to play with more.

Which was just enough indecision for Rosa to decide that, while she usually did love chaos, she didn't want to deal with it in this particular instance, set down her book, got up grudgingly, and went to pick the dog up.

There. Problem solved. Anna whined and squirmed a little bit in protest, but with another quiet command in Russian, she settled down, tail steadily thwapping against Rosa's hip.

"What?" Rosa then asked Seivarden, her eyes narrowed slightly in a glare. "Your cat couldn't find a tree to get stuck in this time?"

Seivarden scooped Issa up from under the table.

"It's raining," she snapped. "Keep your dog away from my cat."

Anna let out a little whine almost as if in protest of this sudden restriction, but also, she was just as soon distracted by licking Rosa's face. Which turned the faint snort of amusement that Rosa had at the fact that Hot Leaf Water's reponse did not at all deny her dumb cat's proclivity for getting stuck in trees into a grunt.

"We came here trying to avoid cats," she countered. "I shouldn't be surprised you'd ruin it."

By now Seivarden could hardly deny that Issa had a habit of getting stuck in trees.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for ruining your day," Seivarden snorted, trying to calm down Issa.

Rosa's first inclination was to retort that Hot Leaf Water ruining her day wasn't anything new, but it actually had kind of been a while. So, instead, as she pulled her head back to unsuccessfully try to avoid another eager lick from the dog, she said, wryly, "Some things never change."

She turned to back to her seat and, when she got back, she set Anna down before sitting down herself. Anna stood there for a moment, clearly surprised by this turn of events and looked at Rosa as if expecting instructions. Having received none, as Rosa just picked up her book and her coffee again, she let out a happy bark and went bounding forward again, straight for Seivarden's shoes.

Hey, she'd said keep the dog away from her cat. She didn't say anything about shoes.

That was unexpectedly... Seivarden didn't know what, but she had expected a few more insults before letting it drop, especially since it involved Issa.

Then Anna was there licking her shoes and Issa tried to climb up on her shoulders, digging her claws in, then there was a cat on a table and a smashed but luckily empty coffee cup.

Cat completely forgotten for the time being, Anna was just a complete, slobbering mess of excitement, her whole body shaking from the sheer power of her wagging tail as she said hello to Seivarden, who she felt she hadn't said hello to in so, so, so, so so long! And she was so, so, so, so so one of her very best and favorite friends! She was so excited that she couldn't even stand in one place, she had to go and move all the way around Seivarden, greeting her in her typical fashion the whole time, until she came back around full circle and looked up excitedly at her old, dear friend and let out a cheerful bark.

Oh! That's right! There was a cat! HELLO, CAT!! What were you doing all the way up there? Maybe if Anna put her paws up on her best friend's legs, she could get all the way up there, too? It was worth a try!

Rosa, meanwhile, was just going to flip the page of her book, and was not hiding a smirk in a sip of coffee, don't be dumb. It was just good coffee. A good book.

So, now Seivarden had muddy paw marks on her fancy and very expensive new pants. Issa felt safe for the moment, and being in a position to stare down at Anna she did so.

"Rosa! Get your dog away from me!"

"Come on," said Rosa, with the slow, placid, carefree flip of another page, "don't be such a grouch. She just wants to play."

Anna barked happily. It was true, it was true! It was time to play! Why didn't they want to play?

"Aatr's tits!"

While Seivarden tried to lift Anna to forcibly return the dog to Rosa, Issa pushed a spoon with her paw closer to the edge of the table.

Now she was playing! This was more like it! Anna started to bounce away from Seivarden's attempt to get her, thinking it was all clearly a game and she was just finally getting into the spirit.

And Rosa needed to just let that go on a little bit longer before she decided to have a little mercy

"Anna," she looked up just in time to narrow her eyes a little at Issa; she saw what you were doing with that spoon, cat, "Vernis' ko mne."

Anna barked back reluctantly, gave Seivarden's shoes one last eager pounce, and then went loping back to Rosa's table, plopping her butt on the floor, and looking up eagerly for a treat for being such a good girl.

"You let her do that on purpose," Seivarden stated, trying to brush mud from her pants, which just made it worse.

Then Issa pushed the spoon off the table.

"Keep an eye on that cat!" the barista snapped, walking over to swipe up the broken mug. Issa watched intently.

"What about her dog?" Seivarden snorted.

"The dog's not knocking cutlery all over the place," the barista pointed out, but, really, it was because the dog belonged to Rosa while the cat...did not.

"She was also just being friendly," Rosa added, doling out the treat to Anna, who then curled up at her feet, content, for now, panting a little from all the excitement and watching Seivarden and Issa with bright, eager eyes, as if ready to go bounding after the both of them again at any moment. "Calm down. Go have some hot leaf water."

This was a dilemma. Of course calming down and getting a cup of tea would be the best thing to do, but now Rosa had told her to, so that meant she couldn't. And leaving the Perk was a surrender, especially since the barista favoured the dog instead of Issa.

So Seivarden picked up the cat and walked over to sit down opposite Rosa.

Which meant that Rosa was going to look up from her book, give a pointed glance around the coffee shop at literally all the other empty seats that could have Hot Leaf Water's butt in them right now, and ask, "Are you serious right now?"

Anna was just happy that the shoes were magically back, and went to gosay hello. Again.

"Your dog clearly misses me an my cat," Seivarden said, leaning back in her chair and fixing her eyes on Rosa.

Anna was welcome to lick her shoes. Issa jumped up on to the table and sat down in front of Seivarden, staring at Rosa. She had a good memory when it came to humans whom she had been locked out of the bedroom for.

"That dog starts missing someone the moment she turns her head and they're out of her field of vision," Rosa pointed out, lest Hot Leaf Water start thinking she'd actually accomplished something with that detail. She narrowed her eyes.

"And you're going to just let the cat sit on the table?" she asked. "That doesn't exactly scream civilized, does it?"

"There's nothing uncivilized with a cat on a table."

A bit eccentricity perhaps.

Issa began to lick a paw.

"Does it bother you?"

"How is that not uncivilized?" Rosa demanded to know, not directly answering the question, but still pretty much answering it anyway. "God forbid someone walks around without gloves," cue her setting her book down so she could lift her hands and wriggle her fingers around in probably what was a lewd and suggestive (or, if you weren't a weirdo, completely normal way), "but it's perfectly okay for a cat to set its bare asshole on a place where people eat?"

Because, newsflash, that was how cats sat on things.

Seivarden looked away from Rosa's wiggling fingers.

"There's such a thing as plates," she said. "If you're complaining about that you really can't make obscene gestures at the same time."

"Plates?" asked Rosa, who wouldn't bother arguing about the obscenity of fingers because she knew that, at least, would be a never-ending battle. "Seriously? So you'd be perfectly fine eating something served on a toilet, so long as it had a plate? Come on. Pets on tables are gross and uncivilized, and you just don't want to admit it because you know that makes me right. Or should I go ahead and put Anna Pavlova up here, too? Since, you know, it's apparently the civilized thing to do."

"She's a dog," Seivarden said. "And isn't she called Arlo 2?"

At least she had remembered the dog's name.

"Oh, what?" asked Rosa. "So now cats are somehow intrinsicly better than dogs?"

And didn't feel like it was worth her time to explain to Hot Leaf Water about Anna's namechange.

"They are just better suited to sitting on a table."

Seivarden scratched Issa's head.

Damn. That point actually was difficult to refute, especially as Rosa considered what would happen if she did go ahead and grab Anna and put her on the table with Issa.

Her glare hardened for a moment.

"Sure," she then said, "if you completely ignore the fact that neither of them should be suited to sitting on tables at all. Now let's here you excuse for why this cat is even sitting at this table when there are literally dozens of other ones she could be sitting on."

"Oh, we're just spending some time with your dog who's clearly missed us," Seivarden said, leaning back in her chair.

Rosa's eyes were pretty narrowed at the moment, so there was maybe just the faint glint of a hardening behind them, as she reached into her pocket and, without breaking her glare, she tossed one of the treats she'd kept there to the side, sending it skittering underneath another table.

"Anna," she said, although the dog had already snapped her attention that way, "idti."

That was all she needed to go tearing after the treat, almost skittering a little herself.

"Oh, look," Rosa said dryly. "She moved."

"She'll come back," Seivarden said, placing Issa on her lap.

"Are you sure?" asked Rosa, her brow furrowing with an attempt at concerned innocence. "I mean, if you two missed her so much, I'm sure you wouldn't want to even waste a second to time together."

"Oh, we couldn't keep up with her." Seivarden smiled. "Could you?"

"Obviously." Rosa snorted faintly. "At least you moved the cat. If you're just visiting with my dog, though, then you won't mind if I just get back to my book."

"Oh, good. I'll just get a cup of tea, then."

She put Issa on the table and got up to walk over to the counter.

And that, Rosa figured, was as good a cue as any. Taking a second to glare at Issa as if daring her to snitch on her, she quietly pushed back her chair, closed her book, and stood up. Then, using the last treat in her pocket to get Anna's attention so that they could then quickly (and silently) slip out the door and back into the rain.

Since this exit did not involve climbing out a window, it should have gone well enough that, by the time Hot Leaf Water deigned to turn around, they'd both be gone. It was, after all, one of Rosa's particular specialties.

It didn't come as a complete surprise to Seivarden to find that Rosa had disappeared. A bit unexpected perhaps, but mostly, and she preferred not to think about this, she felt disappointed.

Issa, on the other hand, seemed pleased and had already made the table all hers.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Perk; Thursday Afternoon [02/06].

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject