|
Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 22, 2009 12:29:47 GMT -5
"Thank you!" An-qi called back to the woman as the door closed behind them, abruptly cutting off the frenzy of yapping. "And no plotting in German with Schadenfreude, Rena. At least, not without telling us."
Schadenfreude looked more than happy to see the decrepit old van. (An-qi was a bit worried that her tail was going to fly off even before they got back to Noatak.) Gobshite, on the other hand, just continued to drool and had his head pointing vaguely in the direction of the car, though whether or not it actually saw the vehicle was up for debate.
"As much as I hate to say it, dogs have to go in the back. I can't drive if Schadenfreude's tail smacks me in the face every half-second." A sigh. "The two of you, in the back with them, though I don't think I even need to tell--" On-ji scrambled into the back without hesitation, Schadenfreude bounding right along after her "--yeah."
And thus began the long and arduous trek home. "Bian Ly, you don't mind if they stay at our apartment for most of the time, right? You're the only one of us who has any steady working hours, you know."
|
|
|
Post by DesperateDark on Aug 22, 2009 18:49:12 GMT -5
Bian Ly hopped into the back of the rickety old van and placed Gobshite on her lap, petting him even though he did not react whatsoever. Upon An-Qi's suggestion that the two canines stay at their house most of the time, she gave it some thoughts.
"Yeah, I guess so, since that guy I room with might not be good for their brain cells... Especially Gobshite over here." She continued to pet the still oblivious dog on her lap. "Wonder why nobody wanted this one? He's such a cutie!"
And, seemingly at the world 'cutie', Gobshite was finally spurred to do something other then drool and pant and wag his tail. Before Bian Ly could grab him, he had already jumped off her lap, ran into the back of the front seat before jumping out into the front where An-Qi was.
|
|
|
Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 22, 2009 19:42:15 GMT -5
"What brain cells?" inquired Onji mildly, though she was already leaning over to scratch the terrier behind the ears. "Yeah, we'll handle him. I'm pretty sure our landlord won't mind--and if he does, well, we can make him not mind. I hope. Hey, come back here--"
She was momentarily distracted from Gobshite's antics by Schadenfreude, who had nosed in under her hand. Grinning, she gave into the impulse to lean down and wrap both her arms around him, burying her face in the dog's puffy fur. Schadenfreude wagged harder, although it soon became evident he was responding to Gobshite and not to Onji's attentions.
|
|
|
Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 22, 2009 19:56:46 GMT -5
"Oh hey, Gobshite. Guys, I thought I told you to keep the dogs in the back for a reasowhatthefu--"
The van lurched suddenly to the side. They drove off-road for a few seconds before An-qi finally pulled the steering wheel back. With a bump, they were back on the road again. The vehicle rolled to a stop, and An-qi tugged sharply on the parking brake.
Without a word, she lifted her right leg up for her passengers to see. Gobshite clung to her calf, humping merrily away. "This is so undignified," she said, trying to remove the terrier by the scruff of his neck. He held tenaciously on.
Schadenfreude barked. "Don't encourage him, Freud! Now help me get him off because there is no way I can drive with this bumping against my ankle."
|
|
|
Post by DesperateDark on Aug 22, 2009 21:40:34 GMT -5
Bian Ly was swung to the side and her forehead bumped into the window as An-Qi swerved for seemingly no reason before it jarred to a halt. "The hell was tha.... Oh..."
An-Qi had brought up her leg so both the passengers could see her calf, and Gobshite was attached to it and doing something quite unmentionable. Bian Ly proceeded to stare dumbly for several seconds before she snapped out of it and reached over to try and pull the terrier off.
No such luck, and the little black and white dog continued to cling onto An-Qi's leg. "Yo On-Ji, a little help here?"
|
|
|
Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 22, 2009 21:50:15 GMT -5
It wasn't that Onji didn't care about her friend's dignity, because she did care about it, or at least what was left of it. It was simply the fact that it is terribly difficult to remove a dog from someone's leg when you are laughing so hard you think your eyeballs are about to explode. She was sure the Shepherd mix was laughing too, now, and she managed a shaky, "You know, guys, I think we did right in naming him," before she collapsed into another fit of giggles.
It was another few minutes before she even attempted an assist, and even then her lip was quivering with suppressed laughter. One hand did absolutely nothing to dislodge the happy dog; neither did two. It was two hands and a foot pushing against An-qi's leg that finally did the trick, at which point the terrier flew backward for a bit before settling down beside Schadenfreude as if absolutely nothing had happened.
|
|
|
Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 22, 2009 22:20:01 GMT -5
"Oh, stop laughing and help, or we're never going to get back," An-qi muttered, still trying unsuccessfully to wrench the dog off her leg. He was as stubborn as a leech, except the bloodsucking was replaced by humping. "Freud, I swear you are enjoying this as much as Rena is." Another tug, to no avail; even with Bian Ly's help, Gobshite remained gleefully latched to An-qi's calf.
Only with On-ji's help did they manage to detach the terrier, who popped off like a cork from a bottle of champagne. It returned to its panting and drooling without further ado. The now-familiar bug-eyed, bi-directional stare was still in place.
"Be thankful that Noatak is so middle-of-nowhere that there were no cars for me to run into," An-qi admonished the dog sternly. "Now don't let him do that again. Or should I say: Rena, I swear I will run us into a ditch if you set him on me."
Reaching back, she tapped Gobshite firmly on the nose and scratched Schadenfreude under the chin before starting the car up once more.
|
|
|
Post by DesperateDark on Aug 23, 2009 21:56:42 GMT -5
Bian Ly only began to giggle to herself after the fact, when Gobshite was safely on the floor of the back seat and no longer doing the deed with An-Qi's leg. The car had once again started up and they were down the road once more, heading back to Noatak and hopeful to get there before it turned too dark. Schadenfreude continued to wag her tail and began to poke at the back of Gobshite's head with her paw.
Gobshite, of course, did not react beyond possibly drooling a little extra.
So the trio hauled their two new companions back to Noatak with little trouble beyond being slightly creeped out by Gobshite's buggy, two-way stare (didn't he blink?) and some restless sleep. It was falling dark pretty fast for spring.
|
|
|
Post by Fulong|Clara on Aug 27, 2009 22:04:09 GMT -5
Onji was the first to roll out of the car, barely catching herself as she dropped onto the asphalt. She straightened, leaning back and stretching, oblivious to the sound of her joints popping like machine gun fire.
"Home sweet home," she announced to nobody in particular, looking up at the shoddy apartment building. "I could go for a bowl of ramen right about now. Anyone el--"
The words died on her lips as she caught sight of a stubby tail vanishing into the darkness a block away. She blinked abruptly, looking around her and scanning the inside of the car. There was only Bian Ly, and An-qi, and Schadenfreude looking even happier than she had before.
"Oh, expletive," she said as the penny dropped, and began to run.
|
|
|
Post by Aras|Ofelia on Aug 27, 2009 22:15:29 GMT -5
With a sigh, An-qi stepped out into the cool night air with a stretch that could have rivaled a cat's. "Finally. I'm making one of you drive next time. Okay, maybe not Rena, but at least Bian Ly could--"
"Oh, expletive," On-ji groaned, and then darted off without a further word.
"What?" An-qi slammed shut the passenger's-side door which her friend had so kindly neglected. "There isn't much that'll make her run like that." She peered into the back. "Bian Ly, did you see--"
Gobshite was nowhere in sight.
"Ohsh--go after them you're faster than I am I'll take care of Freud runrunrun--"
|
|
|
Post by DesperateDark on Aug 27, 2009 22:34:41 GMT -5
"Oh, expletive," Was all Bian-Ly heard from On-Ji before she darted off in the general direction of a slightly brushy area. She shot An-Qi a questioning look as she got out of the car, closing the door unlike her friend. An-Qi then peered into the back window.
"Ohsh--go after them you're faster than I am I'll take care of Freud runrunrun--"
As soon as she heard the first command of 'run' from An-Qi, Bian Ly had already bolted after On-Ji and the runaway Gobshite. It wasn't really as if the girl knew what she was doing; running was just her general knee-jerk reaction to the command, despite being a platypus of all things.
After a generally quick starting spring, she slowed and finally took the bit of time to put together why An-Qi had told her to run. Oh yes, Gobshite had run away after being with them for a mere few hours. Bian Ly was really beginning to wonder if they were just horrible people, or that the little Boston terrier was simply an idiot.
On-Ji was just up ahead, so she began to flail her arms in the air. "Hey! Hey, where's the little punk!?"
|
|
|
Post by Fulong|Clara on Sept 4, 2009 16:49:20 GMT -5
Onji was a good enough sprinter, but being a swimmer and a fencer meant muscles in all the wrong places for extended running, and to top it all off, her talisman was growing irritable about having to move about on the ground. It was only a few seconds before Bian Ly caught up to her.
"No idea," she gasped, pointing with a wobbly hand at the alley where she'd last seen the terrier's stupidly wagging tail. "Went that way--fuck, he's a fast bugger and no--hah--mistake--"
That was enough of that. Without another word, she shifted smoothly into binturong, tail catching her as she swung up to a fire escape and then onto a windowsill. She couldn't speak in this form, but at the very least she could keep up with Bian Ly without too much trouble.
|
|
|
Post by Aras|Ofelia on Sept 5, 2009 2:04:54 GMT -5
An-qi clasped a leash to the madly wagging Schadenfreude's collar, led her out of the car, and locked the doors, muttering choice swearwords all the while. Okay, so maybe they shouldn't have been so eager to take both dogs, especially since the shelter had seemed more than happy to rid itself of the Boston terrier even at the price of another dog. There must have been a reason for that. An-qi had the sinking feeling that this was just the beginning of it.
"C'mon, Schadenfreude, we have to go after your stupid little friend." Winding the leash around her wrist, she took off after On-ji and Bian Ly, who had already disappeared around the corner many seconds past.
A full-out sprint was what it took for An-qi to reach her friends (she simply followed their shouts), and by the time they'd come into view, On-ji had already begun scaling the walls in her talisman form. "Guys, wh--the 'ell 's--wait..." She took several deep gasps of air. "Can't fly with--" She waved the leashed hand mutely, still huffing. "Bian Ly, can you...?"
|
|
|
Post by DesperateDark on Sept 5, 2009 17:24:02 GMT -5
Bian Ly followed the motion of On-Ji’s hand to the mouth of an alley. Then her friend shifted smoothly into her talisman form and climbed up to rest on a windowsill and looked back down at her just in time to see An-Qi catch up to them. She was huffing and gasping as she waved Schadenfreude’s leash towards her silently, and it took the Vietnamese girl a second to realize what she wanted.
She took the leash with the German shepherd mix on the end and began to head down the alleyway. Bian Ly was of no use as a platypus in this situation, so she was better off taking the dog. “Gobshite! ‘ere doggeh doggeh!” she shouted as she jogged down the wide alley, knowing full well she sounded like a drunk idiot shouting at shadows.
“Gobshite! The luck of the Irish!” Bian Ly continued to shout, but she saw a white movement in the corner of her eye and she headed towards it as it disappeared behind the dumpster.
|
|
|
Post by Fulong|Clara on Sept 7, 2009 22:53:01 GMT -5
Onji continued to push herself forward, surprisingly muscular legs propelling her across feet of open space as she raced toward the flash of white. It was more difficult than she'd thought; she wasn't in the habit of hunting down prey in talisman form for a reason. The binturong was balking noticeably at every jump, sheer natural caution overriding the recklessness brought on by adrenaline. It didn't see the use in launching itself at unknown ledges it didn't even know would hold its weight, and it told Onji so in as many wordless thoughts.
Eventually it decided to take matters into its own ethereal paws, and it tried to seize control of its own muscles just as Onji attempted another leap. It was sheer luck that the dumpster was underneath her as she toppled off the ledge. There was a crash, and then silence.
After a few seconds, the binturong emerged again, shaking a crumpled beer can and half a banana off its head. By then, Bian Ly and An-qi were almost out of sight.
|
|