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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 21, 2009 15:56:41 GMT -5
"I spent my high school years rolling my r's. German is over my head. So is French. With the exception of 'baguette.' And Freud works--at least you can say it in one breath." An-qi gave Bian Ly a brief glare from the rear-view mirror. "Noatak is surrounded on three sides. We haven't hit a forest, a mountain, or a body of water, so I think we're good." *** By the time they reached the other town, the van was silent save for a rhythmic crunching and the light sounds of snoring coming from the back seat. They reached the shelter with little mishap--MapQuest did its work--and spent a couple of minutes trying to find a nearby spot that didn't require the meaningless sacrifice of several hapless quarters to the parking meter god. "Hey." Poke. "Bian Ly." Poke. "We're here. Ai-yah, wake up or you will miss bus!"
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 21, 2009 16:13:27 GMT -5
“Oookay, if you say so, almighty goddess An-Qi of MapQuest.” Bian Ly pretended to bow a few times, laughed, and then settled down into the back seat for a long drive. She phased into her platypus form and tuned out what everybody else was saying, the steady rhythm of the road rocking her to sleep in five minutes. **** Poke. Poke poke. “Meh…” the little brown mammal in the backset wriggled a bit as its forehead was assaulted by repeated jabbing. It rolled onto its back and immediately fell back asleep, only to have more pokes rain down on the underside of its bill. It swatted rather fruitlessly at the assailant with a short flipper--quite a humorous sight--before finally giving an almost quack-like hiss and nommed on the digit. Thankfully for An-Qi, it was a light bite and platypus had leathery bills. Bian Ly let go and turned back into her usual, boring, top-hat wearing human form, rubbed at her eye and then poked An-Qi in the forehead. “Yes yes mother, I am up.” A quick glance around. “Hei, where’s On-Ji?”
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 21, 2009 16:27:32 GMT -5
"Here." Onji was already outside, a truly impressive set of lockpicks rolled out in front of her. The parking meter beside the van was partially disassembled and uttering faintly distressed clicking noises to nobody in particular. "This is an old model--barely even digital, if you can believe that--so it might take a little fiddling..."
Her voice trailed off as she switched wires and tweaked gears, and there was a moment of silence before she uttered a satisfied, "Ah, got it," and wiped the oil off the hinges before closing the meter back up. The digital readout now read FOREVER on it.
With surprising efficiency, she rolled the lockpicks back up and popped them in the trunk again, shrugging on a light jacket and nodding at the other two. "I'm stingier than I am lazy. Let's go."
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 21, 2009 16:45:43 GMT -5
An-qi jerked back her hand when the platypus bit and gave it a one-fingered smack on the bill before it transformed back into the human Bian Ly. She just grinned at her friend's question, setting the parking brake and stuffing the keys in her pocket without answering.
Stepping out of the van, An-qi examined the modified parking meter. "Nice," she said, nodding her approval. "My quarters and I appreciate your hard work."
The barking was the first thing that hit them when they entered the shelter. The receptionist's soft greeting could barely be heard over the din, and An-qi just grinned and bobbed her head up and down. "We want to adopt a dog," she said, voice barely short of a shout.
With a smile, the woman led them to the back.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 21, 2009 20:51:08 GMT -5
"Don't you think anyone'll notice that it now says 'forever'?" She poked at the little screen, but looking up and down the street and seeing nobody, she figured it would slide until the ground imploded under their feet.
Upon entering the shelter, the barking threatened to smash her ear drums. Not as much as Angelique's shrieking at the beginning of their meeting earlier this month, but it was loud none the less. A woman greeted them and began to lead the trio to the back, where the barking just got louder.
"Hey lady!" Bian Ly tried to call out to her over the mismatched symphony of barks and howls. Her voice was quickly drowned out. "German shepherds! Do you have German Shepherds!?" No answer from the lady, and Bian Ly glared at her back.
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 21, 2009 22:19:41 GMT -5
Onji barely heard the others--not because of the noise, although that might certainly be considered a factor, but because she had entered a world of her own.
Some people became idiots in the presence of an attractive specimen of the other sex; others became idiots after the consumption of alcohol; others became idiots for simply no reason at all. For Onji it was animals--all animals. She turned irrevocably stupid. She had managed to control it on missions, but on all other occasions she was more or less beyond help. It occasionally became awkward when she confused someone with a talisman for an animal, but she had so far managed to escape relatively unscathed.
She made her way through the shelter in a daze, a blissfully happy look on her face, stopping to coo over and pet the nose of every single dog. It was some time before she regained control of her senses long enough to turn to An-qi and Bian Ly and announce, "Let's get all of them!" before turning back to a liquid-eyed beagle whose tail was thumping so fast it was almost a blur.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 21, 2009 22:54:04 GMT -5
An-qi gave On-ji a sturdy slap on the shoulder. "Not enough money!" she hollered in her friend's ear, then bent down to tickle the beagle on the nose.
The shelter woman was saying something, and An-qi had to lean uncomfortably close so that she could hear at all. "German Shepherd mix?" The woman nodded. "We're fine with that!" Motioning for them to follow, the woman led them further back amongst the cages.
An-qi grabbed On-ji by the arm and began to drag her along. "C'mon, as much as I want them all, we'd be turned out of our apartment along with our fifty dogs if we take 'em."
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 21, 2009 23:14:01 GMT -5
While An-Qi and On-Ji were going off to look at the German Shepherd mix or whatever, Bian Ly had become a bit distracted by another dog. It just sat there in it's kennel... Staring at her. With googly eyes. Tongue stuck out in a pant. It seemed to be looking two different ways.
Bian Ly crouched down and looked it in the eyes, but it kept sitting there, staring back at her in two different directions and panting happily. She gently gave the dog a poke on the nose, but it sat there and merrily wagged it's tail and panted, as if she had done nothing at all. She checked the tag attached to his kennel;
Nameless Boston Terrier Male Healthy Veterinarian Checked / Shots / Micro-Chipped Free
And then there was the description, which had been heavily scribbled out for some reason. She could just barely make out the words 'walls', 'idiot', 'hyper' and 'legs', but figured it wouldn't be anything too bad if they had scrawled it out. All the while the dog just sat there and stared all googly-eyed. Pant pant pant, happy happy happy.
"Hey guys!" Bian Ly opened up the kennel and took the dog, who squirmed a little in her arms but otherwise kept up his bug-eyed stare and cheerful tail-wagging and drooling. "Look what I found!"
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 21, 2009 23:24:29 GMT -5
Onji followed on An-qi's heels, her expression mirroring that of the beagle they had just left. "But if we got all of them and they loved us, there would be nothing stopping us from taking over the apartment complex--no, the town--no, the world! Cities would fall, mountains would tremble, and the earth would bend at our feet! It would be the--" "Hey guys! Look what I found!"Onji turned, fully expecting to see the aforementioned Shepherd mix. She didn't. She was silent for a very long time before she stepped forward and tentatively rubbed his belly. " ," said the dog. After a moment she said, in an awed voice, "Are his eyes pointing in two different directions at once?"
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 21, 2009 23:36:09 GMT -5
Turning at the sound of Bian Ly's voice, An-qi caught sight of the very... strange-looking, to put it kindly... little dog in the Vietnamese girl's arms. A pause. She waved a hand in front of the dog's face. No reaction; the same dopey expression remained on the dog's face, and it continued to pant and drool and wag its tail in exactly the same way it had been for the past minute. Or, as An-qi vaguely suspected, perhaps for the past few hours.
"What kind of dog is that?" she asked, then immediately answered her own question by looking at the tag. "Oh. Boston terrier." She fell silent as she scanned the rest of the tag, then started. "Whoa, free? I can't be reading this right. Tell me, On-ji, Bian Ly, does that say--?"
At that moment, the shelter woman returned, leading the Shepherd mix by a leash. The dog took one look at the trio, then at the terrier in Bian Ly's arms. Its tail began to wag furiously.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 21, 2009 23:55:25 GMT -5
"Yes, his eyes are pointing in two different directions at once and yes, this little bugger is free." Bian Ly placed the terrier on the floor as the shelter woman brought a rather large dog into the mix; probably the Shepherd mix. It's tail was wagging crazily, and she just had to wonder if all the dogs here were put on laughing gas.
"Nice, very Shepherd-y looking for a mix, no?" The Vietnamese girl reached out and pet the larger dog, whom continued to wag it's tail happily with at least some intelligence. German Shepherds were smart dogs anyways. But she didn't bother to check the adoption fee; she knew An-Qi would beat her to it.
Bian Ly then reached over to poke the terrier in the side, but still no reaction except for the buggy-eyed expression that made her think that maybe this dog's been smoking a bit too much weed. "Hey lady, what's up with this little guy? And why's his tag scribbled out?"
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 22, 2009 0:15:01 GMT -5
What the woman said was lost in the noise, but the expression on her face was answer enough. Onji looked at the dog again. It was positively Habsburgian--that was a kind way of putting it, really--but at the same time there was something inexplicably endearing about its face.
She looked at it. It looked back at her, or at least it tried very hard to, but ended up looking at a point over her head and at Bian Ly at the same time. The Shepherd mix's tail wagged harder, if such a thing were caninely possible.
"For free?" she mouthed to the woman. It was in the blood; a free dog, however...special, seemed too good to be true. Every single one of her genes doubted it.
"Free," came the response, and the animated gestures that followed implied that if they took the Boston Terrier off the shelter's hands, the Shepherd mix would be free as well. Onji gaped for a moment, turning to her friends and shrugging in abject confusion.
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Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 22, 2009 0:32:15 GMT -5
An-qi responded to her friend with an equally puzzled shrug of her own, but suddenly broke out into a stupidly happy grin. She gibbered something unintelligible, not really caring if anyone heard. Scratching the Shepherd mix behind the ears, she finally gave in to the urge to hug it. Its tail continued to wag, though oddly, it seemed to be paying more attention to the Boston terrier than to her. An-qi didn't mind. Two dogs! And not even a quarter from their pockets (and that included for the parking meter).
"We'll take 'em!" she shouted to the woman. With an smile that looked almost relieved, the woman hustled off to find some forms.
Straightening, An-qi looked to her friends, idiotic grin still in place. "Name! We need a name for the little guy!" She reached out and tickled the terrier under the chin.
Its expression did not change.
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Post by DesperateDark on Aug 22, 2009 0:46:08 GMT -5
Before Bian Ly could say anything more, An-Qi already told the woman that they would take the googly-eyed Boston terrier and the more intelligent looking Shepherd mix. The shelter lady disappeared for a little while before reappearing with a small stack of papers for each canine, handing one to Bian Ly for the terrier and the other to On-Ji for the Shepherd.
"Googleplex? Protip? Pruumke? Oh wait, no, he's a boy..." A long pause as she tapped the pen on the paper and thought. Then she spotted the little clover leaves covering the pen, she thought of the Irish, and it came to her. "Gobshite! We can name him Gobshite!"
Yes, the black and white dog definitely looked like a Gobshite, even though he hadn't uttered a single sound in possibly several hours other then his panting. The Shepherd was already Schadenfreude anyways. Bian Ly quickly filled out all the papers and handed them back to the lady.
Yes, today was a good day.
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Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 22, 2009 11:15:06 GMT -5
"Gobshite is perfect," said Onji promptly as she attacked her own forms with reckless abandon. "Izzenitperfect? Oosagoodboy?"
The newly-christened Gobshite drooled on her papers.
"You'reagoodboy," continued Onji without missing a beat as she passed the dripping forms to the woman, who took them with a truly admirable poker face. She glanced down at the still-wagging Schadenfreude, who beamed back up at her.
"Du lachst über sie, ich bin mich sicher. Come on, let's go, guys. If we hurry, we can make it back to Noatak before sundown. An-qi may be a better driver than I am, but I don't like traveling at night, period."
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