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 Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:42 pm
On the whole, boarding at Crystal Academy suited Lydia well. She had a greater degree of control over her life than she would get at home, under the watchful eyes (or watchful Skype in some instances) of her parents, but she had enough discipline from the school protocol to keep her from running amok. There were, however, things from home that Lydia missed. Her parents didn't top that list, nor did her friends from elementary school or the luxury of living at home. What she missed most weighed about eight pounds and was covered in fur.
While Lydia did get to see Mariposa on holidays and the occasional weekend she went home, it still bothered her not to wake up and have the papillon asleep by her feet. From what her mother told her, Mariposa missed her as well. To make up for her absence, Lydia made sure to bring something nice whenever she went home, whether it was a nice treat or a new toy. It was a treat for her too, to browse pet stores and pick something she hoped her dog would like.
And something that she hadn't already bought, which was getting to be tougher and tougher. Lydia sighed as she examined a new toy promising to keep puppies engaged for hours, trying to get the treat out of the center. "But Mari isn't really a puppy anymore," she reminded herself. "And I don't want her to get upset if she can't do it." That decided, she put the toy back on the rack and continued her search. Surely the perfect present had to be there somewhere!
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:39 am
Ridley made a face as she wandered off from the dog school area of the Pet Store. Her eldest brother Max had brought her along, for some old reason, while he brought their overweight dog Dodger for obedience classes. Frankly, in her mind no amount of training could get the dog to really shut up and behave - but to her parent's thinking, if training could work on Ridley, then it could work on just about anything that walked.
It was just the simple fact that Ridley was not a dog person, she loved everything but dogs were just low on her list especially when owning the most awesome cat ever! So, walking through the store was going to be just more entertaining than watching several dogs attempt tricks to gain a treat as a prize. She had already wandered through the fish, which were colorful and awesome but sadly a little boring, and was making her way towards the cat toys - maybe to find another toy for Priss and beg her brother to buy it - and then the small rodents, when she spotted Lydia in the dog toy aisle.
The girl looked contemplative, unsure of what to get. And she had awesome purple hair to boot. Those were reasons enough to go talk to her, so Ridley detoured down towards the other girl and pointed at a simple rope toy, "my dog really likes those!" She offered.
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:23 pm
"Oh!" Lydia turned around, looking up, then down, to see the person giving her advice. And she was so cute! She smiled and looked at the toy the girl was pointing at, studying it for a moment before shaking her head. "That looks like a lot of fun, but it's too big for my dog to be able to play with." The idea was good, though, and Lydia glanced at the nearby shelves to see if they had a similar toy in a smaller size. A few rows down was a rack that boasted a description of such an item, with a sign saying "OUT OF STOCK." Lydia sighed.
Then, an idea occurred to her. Since this little girl seemed to like dogs, and since Lydia did like to show off... "Would you like to see her?" she asked, pulling her iPhone out of her purse. "Maybe then we can find a toy for her together!"
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 12:12 am
So, the purple haired girl apparently had one of those - what did her mom and dad call them? - frou frou dogs? That's what her parents referred to the dogs across the street, they were smaller than her beagle Dodger and really fluffy but liked to yip at her whenever she got anywhere close to them. Pampered and spoiled was what they were and Ridley had to wonder if this was the type of dog Lydia had.
"Oh, she's a small dog?" Ridley simply asked, feeling not up to elaborating on her thoughts on smaller dogs. She still didn't like dogs but she would feign interest for the sake of seeing cute pictures and exactly what the older girl had. The orange haired girl leaned a little closer while Lydia pulled out her phone. "Dodger also likes just chewing on old toilet paper rolls and cups. Have you tried those?" she suggested, 'cause she really didn't know what else to suggest. Priss liked those well enough too.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 1:01 pm
Lydia frowned. "See, why does everybody say that?" she asked, not really directing her question at the girl. "Boys think that the only cool dogs are big ones, and girls think that small dogs are just for decoration. I don't get what size has to do with anything. Mari's small, but she can outrun a bigger dog if she wants to, so there."
Clearly, the girl had hit a sore spot. Lydia toyed with her phone, pulling up the pictures she had taken the last time she was at home. The silence while she was working gave her enough time to calm down, and she was all smiles again by the time she tilted her phone towards the other girl. "This is Mariposa," she said proudly. The picture showed a mostly white dog, with a couple of patches of reddish-brown on her back and the same color masking her eyes and large ears. While the ears were very silky and furry, the rest of the dog's fur was on the short side. She wore a simple red collar, and was sitting daintily. As Lydia moved her hand across the screen, the image changed, showing the dog running across a well-manicured lawn, poking her head out from under a blanket, and crouching in a flower bed.
As she switched between photos, she considered the girl's suggestions, but had to dismiss them. "I don't think Mana and- er, my parents- would let Mari have anything quite so... messy. Is Dodger your dog? A big dog, right?"
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 11:57 pm
Even though Lydia didn't direct her question to Ridley, being as she was the only one in the aisle lead the little girl to believe she had. So, one thin eyebrow raised in confusion. "I though boys thought all dogs were cool anyways." Came her innocent enough reply. She had yet to encounter any of the male species that owned just a cat or even favored cats over dogs. Clearly she hadn't met many a people in Destiny City and obviously she didn't catch that Lydia was a little displeased over the idea of the size of a dog.
But regardless, Ridley kept quiet as the purple haired girl searched her phone, eyes glancing about trying to find something to gain her attention until the screen of the phone came to her direction. The little orange haired girl leaned a little more closer to get a bigger look at the fluffy dog and its fluffy ears and grinned. "She looks super cute!" And not like a dog at all, almost cat like... which was how Ridley really liked it; though dogs didn't purr so that took the dog a notch down.
"Well, a lot of toys tend to be messy and all," Ridley shrugged as it deemed her time for show and tell. "But yeah. Dodger is my dog," she explained as she slide her finger to unlock the phone. "Well, not my dog. But my family's dog." She never staked much claim on the beast, not with which household pet she favored more. Which was evident in the pictures she was currently sliding through. She had to have at least one picture of Dodger on her phone. Was that- no, still Pris. "Dodger is a beagle. Pris is almost bigger than him." Ridley explained, not looking up as she kept looking. Oh, wait, there was one.
Ridley held up her phone, almost intrusive into Lydia's face to show off - probably - the sole picture of the Pendergast dog; a pudgy dog with a white under belly and paws, lemon colored face that receded onto his back with a big slotch of deep brown in the middle like a saddle. His ears were flopped over and his bright pink tongue was lopped to the side of his mouth. He was clearly pleased in the picture, basking in the grass.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:55 pm
"Really? Huh." Lydia's experience with boys and dogs was different, but that didn't mean much. "Mari hasn't met too many boys," she admitted, "but whenever I talk about dogs with them, they're like 'is that a dog or a ball of lint?' Or some other silly comment." It was really frustrating. Lydia loved Mari, so why didn't everyone else see how wonderful she was?
It was hard to stay mad after the girl's next comment, though. "She really is! See, you understand!" Lydia beamed. "I miss her a ton. It's the one thing that I really don't like about the dorms; they don't allow animals." Unless they were service animals, and while she had often claimed that Mariposa was theraputic- citing resources on therapy dogs- since she wasn't essential for Lydia's day-to-day life, the rules stood.
Messes were part of the reason they weren't allowed, she supposed. They went hand in hand with dogs. She knew that, and didn't usually mind, but everyone else seemed to. For a moment, Lydia wanted to complain. Then the young girl took out her own phone- and iPhone too, she noted with some amusement- and all complaints went out the window. "Awwww, you have a cat AND a dog! How lucky! Do they get along, or do they fight?"
The pictures finally turned to the dog. He wasn't the most attractive one ever, but he was still adorable, and clearly a sweetheart, which was what really mattered in Lydia's mind. She smiled and awwwed some more at the pictures, missing her dog even more.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:38 pm
How boys could call a small dog, even if it was a small fluffy dog, a ball of lint was a little beyond Ridley. Eh, probably a stupid boy thing, she figured with a shrug and thought nothing much else of the statement.
"Oh, you live at one of the dorms?" Ridley turned to instead, finding that idea a little more interesting. She hadn't met too many girls, or even boys, that resided at the other schools aside from Meadowview; that's where her brothers went, so thats who she was associated with, and it probably meant that's where she wold be going herself. Taking a good look at Lydia again, the little girl had to guess she probably went to Crystal but she couldn't really rely on her limited insights alone, "which school do you go to?"
Directed to the next question, Ridley couldn't help but grin. This gave her a chance to go to a subject matter she really liked; cats. "We do! Pris is older than Dodger, so she doesn't really like him." Though, if she thought about it, "Dodger seems to want to be her friend but Pris kind of.. hisses and walks away from him."
Another glance at Lydia seemed to be a signal that she could collect her hand again and she pulled it close to her body and almost cradled her phone.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:53 pm
If Lydia had known what Ridley was thinking, she would have agreed wholeheartedly. It didn't matter that there were several years between their ages. Some things never changed, and the fact that most boys were just plain stupid was one of those things.
Instead, she realized that her offhand comment required some explaining. "Oh yes, I started at Crystal Academy this year. It's pretty cool too, being away from home, responsible for myself." The level of responsibility Lydia truly had was minimal at best; her parents still paid for everything and she had to live by Crystal's rules instead of theirs. Still, it was a level of freedom that was new to her, and somewhat intoxicating. "Just about the only bad thing is their 'no pets' rule." Lydia stuck out her tongue and frowned.
Then talk was back on the pets, where, she felt, it belonged. "How old are they? Did they always fight? It's so sweet that... Dodger, is that his name? That he wants to be friends. Beagles are supposed to be very friendly, I hear, so I'm sure that... Pris? That she'll come around sooner or later, especially since she gets so much love already!"
Still grinning, she let go, watching the girl reclaim her phone with some amusement, and scanned through another couple of images on her own before pocketing it.
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Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 7:10 pm
"I'd try to sneak my pet in even if they didn't allow it," Ridley replied with a cheeky grin. Really her thinking was simple and it would probably be easier said than done; given how strict some of these schools were. But in a perfect world, Ridley's idea would be amazing and totally work.
"Pris is nine, the same age as me!" Expression totally didn't falter when she shared the little but of information, "she's a little older than me by a few months but its still totally neat we're the same age. And Dodger is four I think... he's nice and all but not very smart and like barks at everything. I think thats why Pris doesn't like him so much, he's noisy and bothers her." Ridley almost had the heart to flip through her photos again, but she had always been told that looking at your phone - unless showing someone your phone - was terribly rude and Lydia seemed terribly nice and stuff.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:35 pm
The idea had occurred to Lydia before, once or twice, but only in passing. She had never really thought it would be possible. The rules at Crystal were strict, and she didn't think she could hide even a small dog like Mari for long. But to have someone else mention it, even if they were younger and not as wise in the ways of the world, made her give the idea another glance. "Really?" Lydia asked curiously, as if she'd never considered it before. "How would you do it, do you think?"
The other girl's pets were suddenly less interesting in light of this recent development, but she made sure to listen politely anyway. It was the least she could do. "Awwww, so you two grew up together! That's so sweet. And hey, Mari is four also!" Just like that, she found something to cling to, and it restored her interest in the conversation. "A lot of people think that dogs aren't as smart as cats, but I don't think that's true, really. It's less about how smart they are, and more about what they do with it. Kind of like people. Mari's also loud, but she's loud because she wants people to pay attention to her. Maybe that's why Dodger's loud- except that Pris doesn't like the noise, so she tries to ignore him. Which just makes him bark more, so they're stuck in a loop, you see?"
Just call her Lydia Sfakianos, pet psychologist.
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:06 am
Ridley twisted her lips to the side a little bit as she gave the idea a little bit of thought. Not like it really had a lot of thought to begin with, she really didn't know how strict the rules were at Lydia's school after all. "Through the front door, with them in a bag and going really really fast?" Simple really, Ridley had no other clever ideas. Though, she thought her idea was pretty awesome really, like a ninja or something. "And you just have to hide her and stuff, people in movies pass off noises as other noises all the time, right?" Clearly those were based on some truth, right?
Lydia's disinterest in Ridley's pet history went unnoticed. And as sneaking in pets sounded amazing - along with just getting to blab about her cat - Lydia's explanation of the vicious cycle that could be occurring with her pets was terribly confusing. Her brows knit together as she tried to really understand it, letting it run through her head and she responded simply with an, "... oh... okay..."
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:11 pm
Lydia couldn't help but smirk at how easy the girl made it sound. While getting Mari into Crystal would be no easy task, it still wasn't the part she was worried about. "I think I could manage to get her in, if I tried." If only keeping her a secret was as easy as it seemed in whatever movies Ridley had been watching. "I don't know if I could pass off her barking as anything other than barking. And I could never, ever put a muzzle on her." As far as Lydia was concerned, muzzles were cruel and unusual punishment if put on dogs without biting problems.
It seemed that her explanation was a bit too much for her companion, however. "Um... well, think of it like this. Are there any boys in your class that are noisy or not very nice, especially towards you? Or maybe to another girl you know?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:24 pm
Ridley really didn't have any clever ideas going off of that. She was sure something could be thought up to get Lydia to have her dog in the dorms, but really she was stumped. And then her mouth fell in horror, "muzzles are horrible." Even on her noisy dog Dodger would she never allow it. It was so mean! Like those leashes they put on kids - thank god her parents never tried that with her.
Ridley's mouth closed with a sharp snap when Lydia asked her next question. the little girl blinked a few times before she answered. "I guess? but I usually try and beat them up if they're being mean and annoying." Like Billy, the boy who always teased Istas. "But most of the boys don't really bother me," she explained. She got along better with them, in fact.
And why was she asking this? Did this have something to do with the other question?
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