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 Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:30 pm
Anthony Darrow was used to strange situations. This was Destiny City, after all, but this one seemed particularly... well, not surprising. It had nothing to do with monsters or super powered children or evil doers. It was not caused by magic or something he couldn't understand. It was his fault and he knew it.
He really shouldn't have brought Dogby to work.
Carol had been insisting on meeting the little dog, ever since Tony had mentioned that he had been given a puppy for Christmas. She told him he had to bring her, and he, being the pushover he was, did as she told him.
It was difficult to get a collar small enough to fit the little thing, he had realized the hard way. She had managed to slip out of her leash and was off like a rocket, barking excitedly and scrabbling away from the front desk as fast as he little legs could take her, her stump of a tail wiggling all the way. Tony chased, which turned it into a game, and now she was hiding under one of the bookshelves.
He was kneeling on the floor, looking under the shelf, calling for her to come to him, promising her treats and speaking in as sweet a voice as he could.
"Come on, little one! Who's a good girl? Come on, Dogby!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:54 pm
Ainsley was excited. She finally had made it to the library, the first time since she moved to Destiny City! She was on a hunt, she was looking for books about princesses. Any kind of book would do! If it had a princess in and a prince to rescue and/or cherish her then she wanted to read it! Her only problem was she hadn't a clue where to find them in this library she had never been to. She hadn't even been able to start looking because just didn't know where to start!
She was looking around, occasionally holding up Octavian Oswald her white plush bunny to help her see when she noticed a man at the front desk. She was quiet, and carefully walking over so she wouldn't surprise or disturb him when suddenly something ran very quickly from out behind the front desk and the small child jump and nearly squealed in surprise but managed to cover her mouth with her hands before she had.
Phew. She didn't want to make noise in the library! That was a no-no!
Wait.
Ainsley had to do a double take. There was a dog in the library?
Before the child could even question it, the librarian she was going to ask about princess books was chasing after the puppy, all around the library! She tried to follow him until he was actually on the floor. She had not realized the puppy was under the shelf and she just stared at Anthony for a moment before finally inquiring about his situation in a very soft voice.
"Why are you on the floor mister?" She paused. "Are there princess books under there?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:16 pm
Tony looked to the side when he heard a little voice, and saw little feet attached to, what he could only assume would be, a little person. He pulled back, already embarrassed, and then looked to see the young girl standing near him, watching him with curiosity. He couldn't blame her.
A grown librarian on his hand and knees in front of a book shelf was a bit odd, considering no books had been dropped. And the bookshelf seemed to be barking lightly.
Yipping, more like.
At the sound of someone new, Dogby poked her little head out from under the bookshelf, looking up at Tony and then at Ainsley. She padded over to the girl, sniffing and wagging her stump of a tail furiously.
"Ah, that's why I'm on the floor. My corgi," he smiled, watching as the very young puppy tried to lick at Ainsley's hands, but was too short and her tongue was just flicking up at the air. "I think she likes you."
He was sitting on his knees now, watching the two of them, eyes warm and friendly. His name tag hung on his jacket, marking him as the librarian.
"Are you looking for Princess books, then?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:55 am
Ainsley made a bit of an 'aw' sound as the little corgi popped her head out and then padded over to her, furiously wagging that tiny, little stump of a tail. It made a lot more sense now, the little corgi certainly explained by the adult had been on his hands and knees. She was curiously watching the dog though and when it tried to lick at her hands but couldn't quite reach, Ainsley giggled. She looked at the librarian who was not looking a little more presentable and inquired a simple, "Does she?" before she looked at the little corgi and put her hand carefully down towards the puppy. She didn't want to spook the little girl!
"Aw, you're so cute," she said, accenting the cu on cute.
Ainsley nodded her head at the mention of princess books before turning her head a little to look back at the librarian while keeping her hand down by the puppy. Her head raced with the idea of princess books, oh how many tales there could be! She smiled and made a new inquiry with the librarian, "I am, I love princess stories! D-do you have any?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 4:07 pm
The puppy was very excited when Ainsley brought her hand lower, licking at her eagerly and nuzzling her nose to the girl's palm in an effort to get some pets out of the deal as well. She whined happily, sitting back on her butt and lifting her paws off the ground as she looked at Ainsley with her big smile.
Tony shook his head, imagining Dogby was going to be a very attention-needy animal if she stayed at work with him for long. But the staff and some patrons had already mentioned how he should bring her every day, that it brightened up the place.
He wasn't sure. So far, it had just been a lot of chasing.
"We certainly do have them! I'll show you where."
He made to stand, picking up Dogby as he went. She wiggled instantly, turning around in his hands and licking at his face eagerly. He laughed, shaking his head and holding her away so she didn't get him.
"This way," he said, motioning toward the kid's section and walking with her. "What kind of Princess books do you like?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:00 pm
Ainsley was slightly disappointed when the librarian had picked up the little corgi puppy, but when the mention of princess books was brought up the small disappointment was covered with a bit of joy. She was an easy to read child. Her pale face lit up brightly when the librarian with a puppy friend had told her they had princess books.
He told her she'd show him wear, and the small child quietly followed behind him as he walked through the library. As she passed each shelf, her eyes would look left and right and up and down at all the books this library had stacked on their shelves. She was trying to imagine the sheer amount of princess books that hid in the shelves when her thought was interrupted by the question of her favourite kind.
Immediately, she said, "I like all princess books!" and after a pause she added onto it. "I like when they are rescued and meet their prince charming."
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 12:50 pm
Tony watched her and smiled, shaking his head. He always liked kids, as they were simple. Not in the 'wow, so easy to take care of' sense, as he was fairly sure that if he had a younger one, or had been around for Nate's childhood, he would have utterly failed in trying to keep up with the stress of raising a child.
No, he thought they were simple in an outside sense, because whenever he met one, they were either happy or sad, and generally let him know which one right away. Adults weren't that up front about their state of emotional being.
"Would you like to hold Dogby? She seems to like you," he offered, the puppy wiggling and trying to lick Ainsley despite the distance now between them, which her tiny tongue had no hope of crossing. Tony held her a bit closer, chuckling. She was a very silly puppy, he had already noticed that much.
"Prince Charming, right," he nodded, taking her down a particularly pink looking aisle in the kids section. He examined the shelf, scanning over the titles to find a few books that features princesses and princes. It really wasn't difficult, as these books were organized differently to the rest of the library, so kids would be able to find books they wanted easily. So the girly books, the princess books, were all in the same general area.
"How about some of these?" he asked, offering her the books.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:02 pm
Ainsley nodded her head a little when Tony offered the little corgi puppy to her. Of course she would like to hold her! Oh, she loved animals and this little puppy was just so cute. She put her hand out to the puppy whose tongue was trying to lick her even from such a distance and then held her arms out for Dogby as she announced, "I'd like that very much," she said as polite as she could.
The area they were in now though was very interesting. Ainsley didn't mind pink. It was nominated as the princess colour after all! Not to say it was her favourite colour, but the child would not object to it. Her eyes were glancing over the shelves as they passed and continued to do so even when they stopped and he questioned her. There were so many books! The child's face was definitely pleased. Puppies and princess books, oh my! Particularly she noticed what seemed to be a book called Tangled, based off the Disney movie twist on Rapunzel. She had wanted to see the movie, but her mother would not take her. Not far from that book, the original tale of Rapunzel was also on the shelf in a wonderfully illustrated hard covered copy.
"These are wonderful!" She said, her eyes continuing to find other titles such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty nearby.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:17 am
Tony smiled and carefully passed the little puppy to the girl. At least Dogby was small, besides her seemingly oversized head, which was just the way corgi's looked with their tiny stumps of legs. She wiggled excitedly, as always, whining eagerly when she was being passed and then licking at Ainsley immediately once she was in the girl's arms.
Tony laughed, shaking his head. Dogby loved everyone on sight. He had yet to see her dislike anyone, in any way, besides that evil snow woman in the park. But that had been... a different situation.
"I'm glad you like them! We've got plenty of books for you to look at. You can check them out and take them home, or you can read them here. Do you have a library card?" He was always very lenient on kids and checking out books, which often resulted in books going 'missing' or just not coming back, but he never learned his lesson. He was a push over: he just wanted to make the kids happy, even when they played him with surprising expertise.
No, kids were good and books did them good. And that was that.
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Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:28 am
Ainsley happily took and held the puppy in her arms, just on top of the white plush bunny named Octavian Oswald she had brought into the library with her. The puppy started licking her immediately once she settled into Ainsley's arms and the small child started giggling and squealing from the touch of the dog's small, wet tongue against her skin. The small child didn't mind though, she loved all animals and took to them immediately.
Her face though shifted from excited, happy and giggling to worried, sad and giggling as she realized she hadn't gotten a library card for this city yet. What was she going to do? She hugged the puppy, crushing the plush bunny in her arms entirely between the puppy and herself.
"I... I don't have a card," she whispered before she continued a bit louder with a bit of a D: face. "I... can still read them here though, right?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 7:08 pm
Tony watched as Dogby nuzzled against the young girl. It seemed dogs knew, even when they were small themselves, that there was a difference between adult and kid humans, and were more careful with the latter. Or so it seemed to Tony, as she would be wiggling up a storm if he had been holding her still.
Instead, she was sniffing and nuzzling and licking relentlessly, stump of a tail wagging, though her ears went back a bit when she saw the rabbit doll. She didn't know what it was.
"You can read them here, of course! And I can give you a temporary card that you can show your parents, if you want to take one out, so don't worry about it," Tony said, smiling brightly. He wanted to reassure her, as he did not like upsetting kids or raining on parades.
And anyway, she seemed so happy with the books and the puppy: there was no way Tony could possibly be the 'bad guy' in this situation. he was a sucker for pouty faces, anyway, and avoided them at all costs.
"Go ahead and look at however many you want. Just bring them to the front counter if you want to take any out with you." He nodded, and Dogby yipped excitedly, like she knew what was going on.
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 7:25 pm
Ainsley was trying not to wiggle around too much as the little corgi puppy nuzzled and licked her relentlessly. She smiled at her before trying to look back up at the librarian in the midst of being licked. Her eyes were bright when he said she could read them here in the library and then even said she could take them home if he gave her a card. She could even get a permanent card? She wondered if Bell would count as a parent, otherwise, it might not go very well. It clearly shown on the child's face but she was happy just reading them here, she'd get to see the nice librarian lots and the puppy? Would the puppy be here too?
She nodded to him as he finished explaining and gave him a brief thank you before she asked him, "Will the corgi be here if I come again?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:54 pm
Tony looked at Ainsley, chuckling and nodding his head.
"Of course! She's probably going to be here all the time, any day I'm here. So long as there are nice people like you who want to play with her and keep her happy, of course." He smiled warmly, looking down at the puppy as she licked at the little girl excitedly.
At least the puppy changed the routine of the day, which could sometimes drag on if he let it. Unlikely now, at least for a little while, with a super excited dog running around like crazy.
Sometimes inside the library felt like a different world to the Destiny City outside, like routine and order belonged inside the door while beyond was all chaos and trouble. It was good and bad. Not that Tony wanted to philosophize on that at the moment.
"You can keep her with you until you're ready to go, or if you want to take out any books, okay?" He could see the kid's section from the front desk, so he didn't think they'd get in any trouble. Or much, anyway. Hopefully none.
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:10 pm
The child was already trying to pick out a book from the shelf when Tony had answered her question about the puppy. The answer she heard gave the small child another reason to want to come to the library often. She loved animals so much, and she didn't have one of her own. Now she would be able to come to the library and read a book with the puppy! Best of both worlds!
Pleased, the child lightly squeezed the puppy in her arms with excitement before she nuzzled her face into the puppy's fur when Tony told her that she could keep her with her until it was time to go home. So soft. She took a moment to enjoy it before she looked back up to the librarian. He was so nice! Everyone in this city was so nice.
"Yay puppy," she cheered. "Thank you Mister Librarian!"
"Do you want to read this book?" She asked the puppy as she held out the book she had earlier grabbed off the shelf. "It's about a princess who is trapped in a tower with nothing but her animal friend."
There was a pause as the child waited for the puppy to answer before she continued on. "Will you be my animal friend? How about we go sit over there and we can pretend that chair is a tower!" She had sort of run on with questions to the puppy and barely gave the puppy any time before she continued with a "You do? Let's go! -- Say bye-bye to Mr. Librarian for now!"
She whispered something about the librarian coming to rescue them later when the story ended to the puppy before she gave a smile to the librarian and carefully scurried over to the children's seating area. Her arms were full with a puppy, a bunny plush and a book all in her arms and her heart full of happy thoughts. It was a nice change for the child considering all that had happened. A puppy made a good friend, even if it didn't dance in the snow. Surely it would keep her secrets and listen to her sorrows as she sat down on the chair with the puppy and started to read the book.
"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess born with hair as golden as the sun..."
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