Furnado Animal Shelter; Wednesday [01/14].

[hashtag_chocobro]

With riding lessons on the horizon in Noctra's near future (he was thinking it might be a good birthday present, actually, for when she turned three next month and he figured it was also a good incentive to really push her on that last leg of her potty training, which he felt kind of bad for, but also, he felt it was a parenting tactic that Ignis, the most parent-y non-parent person he knew, would approve of), Prompto had gotten her a few picture books about horses, and she was eager to come along with him to the shelter so that she could ask the vet all sorts of horse questions.

Grilling her, really. And when Prompto eventually suggested that she take a break so that the vet could get some work done, she pouted a little and insisted that she wasn't done. "I want Aunt Liliana to be inbreast."

If Prompto had been drinking something at that moment, he would have been spitting it out.

"Impressed," he corrected. "You want her to be impressed."

"That's what I said, Daddy! Inbreast!"

Closing his eyes, Prompto counted backwards from ten and was mostly just relieved that neither Gladio nor Ignis were here to expand on that furth--

Oh, no. Expand was a terrible word to use there, narrative.

Anyway, Furnado is open!

(And not the least bit sorry!)

Comments

[stykera]

Stark was going to do things he enjoyed today. Like visiting the dogs.

"Hello, Prompto. Noctra," he said as he walked in to Furnado.

[hashtag_chocobro]

It was always a good day to visit the dogs! And they would probably be pretty pleased to have some other company, because Noctra had gotten to the point where she wanted to pretend they were ponies, and Prompto was deftly trying to save them from that fate.

"Oh, hey, Stark," he said, a squirming Noctra under his arm as he nudged a poor old that hadn't yet realized he was about to have a kid crawl on top of him with his foot toward safer territory, "how's it going?"

"Pony!" Noctra insisted.

"No," Prompto insisted right back, "puppy."

"Pretend pony?" she tried.

"You'll have plenty of ponies later."

"Daddy pony?" Now she was looking up at him with Eyes, oh no.

Prompto faltered a little. "Not now, Noctra, Stark might need some help."

"Stark!" she now shouted his way. "Do you need help?"

Prompto had Eyes of his own now, silently pleading that yes, Stark, yes, you did.

[stykera]

"I came to visit the dogs, Noctra. Could you introduce me?"

That might occupy her for a few minutes, right?

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Okay!"

The answer was immediate and thrilled, and Prompto mouthed a thank you to Stark as he set Noctra down and she went off almost the moment her sneakers hit the floor. She rushed over to Stark first, to take his hand if he'd let her, and then start dragging/leading him over to the puppy pen as if he would need the assistance in finding it, after which he was immediately met with a litany of all the dogs, their names, their breeds, and some of their personality traits or favorite things like food or colors, about 75% of which she was definitely making up on the spot.

"Bosco's my favorite right now," she concluded, "because look!" The dog in question was now being cling to by a nearly-three-year old who snuggled into his neck and he handled it very well, really. "He's so soooooooooft. Which is your favorite?"

[stykera]

Of course Stark let himself be pulled around by the small child!

And then he sat down on the floor with a smile to be introduced to every. Single. Dog. He paid very close attention. This was all terribly important information!

"Bosco seems very nice," he said, reaching out to rub the dog's ears. "And very, very soft. Thank you, Noctra. Are there any dogs, do you think, who want someone to take them home soon?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"All of them!" Noctra said, with confidence and certainty and a nod, although then she frowned and tilted her head thoughtfully as she then pointed toward that had been keeping its distance the whole time. "Except that one. He always hides when I come in, so he must really like it there."

Yeah, sure, Noctra, that was definitely the reason.

[stykera]

"He might be shy," Stark said, looking at the dog in question. "Or perhaps you're intimidating?" Auntie Liliana would approve of that, right?
"Some of my favorite people are intimidating."

He lifted his arm so one dog could investigate his lap.

"I don't think they could all come home with me. I don't have enough room. Or enough beds!"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"We have beds!" Noctra informed Stark, both proudly and importantly, as her arm shot out to point toward the pet supply aisles. "All sorts of them, so you could get lots! We have some for cats and dogs, but not for babies," there was a faint pout to show that this was a conversation that had been had already that had not gone her way, "but sometimes I nap on them, too, but that's okay, I'm not a baby anymore."

[stykera]

"I dont have any cats. Or dogs, yet. Certainly no babies."

Not now, possibly not ever.

"Of course you're not a baby. Babies can't work with animals, can they? And you do."

"Prompto?" Stark asked, looking up. "What do you need to do, to get a dog?"

He could make an impulsive birthday decision! Or maybe he'd wait until another day.

[not_a_haint]

After finally (mostly) getting the lay of the land, and (mostly) being settled into being a student, Caleb decided it was time to try to get a job.

And something he was most confident of was his affection for animals so here he was.

"Hello?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

With Noctra regaling the vet with another litany of horse questions (which did, of course, include the Fandom classic of if she had ever been a pony before), Prompto glanced up from the inventory checklist he was trying to get through before they were done, and smiled.

"Hey," he greeted back. "Welcome to Furnado. Was there anything we can help you with today?"

[not_a_haint]

"Well sir, I'm new to the island, I'm a student up at the University and I was hopin' you might have some work available."

He had no resume or references but look at him, doesn't he look employable?

[hashtag_chocobro]

"...Sir?" Prompto blinked a little bit, and then seemed to remember that, right, he was literally married, in his thirties, with two kids, had been in the (sort-of) military, and was definitely a sir by even the slimmest margins, but, man, stuff like that always threw him off a little. He still always just kind of felt like some silly little guy most of the time. And so he shook his head a little and chuckled.

"Sure!" he said. "We're always looking for help here, if you're interested! These guys always need plenty of love and attentions and there's always something that we could use some more hands for! What's your name? I'm Prompto. Prompto Argentum. I actually started working here back when I was in school here, but right now it's really just me and the vet over there..."

He hitched his thumb in that direction, which made him pause a moment and add, "And Noctra, kinda, but she's...you know..."

He made a gesture indicating her tiny toddler status, as if he couldn't see the little almost-three-year-old currently with the vet, but she did help as much as she can when they were here, so he felt he should give her some credit.

[not_a_haint]

"Aces! Pleased to meet you Mr. Argentum. My name's Caleb Dooley. A lot of my experience is with smaller livestock, but we had cats and dogs too. And a deer for a month or so."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Livestock?" Prompto asked, head tilting slightly, and then he turned a little, gesturing for Caleb to follow him to the counter so they could get him set up with...well, whatever counted as paperwork around here. He was a little rusty on all that, but he was pretty sure there was some kind of official documentation somewhere. If anything, he could always just call Summer, because she'd definitely know. "You mean like on a farm or something like that?"

[not_a_haint]

"Yessir, pigs and chickens mostly. We didn't have any cows but we got deliveries and such as often by folks with horses as by automobile so we had some facilities for 'em."

He was still a little sad they'd had no cows.

[hashtag_chocobro]

When Caleb said the word 'horses,' Prompto immediately glanced over to where Noctra was with the vet to see if she picked up on it, but she seemed fully invested in telling the vet some story, so he relaxed a little that her attention hadn't been triggered by it.

"The guy who hired me," he offered, giving Caleb a faint, nostalgic smile, "used to keep chickens on the roof. We don't have them anymore, but sometimes, you never know what's going to show up at this place. But it sounds like you've got a lot of experience with animals, so that's great!"

[not_a_haint]

"I've read about city-folk keepin' pigeons on the roof of buildin's but chickens is a new one. I suppose I could see doin' it though.

"Anyway yeah helpin' care for our critters was my favorite chore so I'm glad to help."