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 Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:25 pm
The library was certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas, as the saying went. And Tony couldn't help but hum the accompanying song in his head as he worked to decorate. He used spray on the windows, to make it look like snow, and curtains that had a homey feel. The outside was decorated for the season, with lights and a Christmas display some of the more artistic members of the staff had put together.
Inside, things were just as wintery. Snow flakes of all shapes and sizes hung from the lights and the signs inside, and decorated the tops of lower shelves. Everything seemed to glow with the blue warmth of the winter and Christmas season, and it made coming to work that much more enjoyable for a man who already loved his job.
The donation box for the food and clothing drive was set up near the front desk, next to the drop boxes for book returns, with signs for it on the front door and outside, as well as around the library. There was also their own Letters for Santa program, where kids were able to write up letters to the Christmas icon. For each letter, the library donated a book in the kid's names.
Tony was decorating one of the sitting alcoves, humming while he worked, and Dogby, his corgi, was sitting on one of the chairs nearby in her elf hat and green bow. She wasnt causing him any trouble, at least not yet, but he knew if he dropped one of the baubles he was hanging and it rolled she would be off like a shot, thinking it was something to play keep away and fetch with.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:31 pm
Kail wasn't one of the terrorists...if they were them. (After the cat incident he was less sure about any of it. Maybe that one guys explanation of WEIRD ALIEN -beep- wasn't so far off.) Why yes, he did censor bad words in his head. They were bad! But anyway the mayor's speech had made him think about all the people who were worse off because of them. He was okay. A week spent as a cat was BAD, but...it wasn't terrible. He'd got chased by a dog which was terrifying and he had been cold and wet until he had shelter...but he was okay NOW...so.
Taping up the box had taken perhaps more time than thinking about what would go in it (that was pretty much everything-mother-buys-me.) He had more to give. You know. If they wanted it. And he would like to tell other people to donate too only being awkward made that hard. But still. He would help. And so here he was, lugging a box that was possibly more tape than cardboard, wrapped up in a big coat and a hat, with his new mobile phone in his pocket (dad was being a LITTLE bit paranoid after the missing-thing, but he didn't mind), ready to help out and donate! ...And...stuff.
Okay he was still going to the library which he liked rather than anywhere else but hey...he was trying, right? As he cautiously opened the door, admiring the christmas decorations, he broke into a confused grin as he saw a familiar Corgi fashionably attired for the season.
"...Dogby?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 2:15 pm
Tony was very glad that things seemed to be getting back to 'normal'. The fact that he considered anything in Destiny City was kind of sad, but he did. It was just the way a knight had to live, or a senshi or a nega or anything else, really. They had a leg up, at least, as civilians had to try and find normal while not knowing what was going on at the same time.
At least he, and others like him, could at least accept and almost explain when weird things happened.
Dogby's ears perked up and looked around when she heard her name. She basically assumed that she knew everyone, whether she really did or not, so if they called her name then they were definitely one of her friends and she loved them immediately. There were many scents in the air that she recognized and she yipped excitedly. She tried to jump down off the chair, but it took her a very long time to work up the gumption, and her little legs made all the effort she put into making a big jump look fairly pathetic as she flopped off the chair. Still, she could scrabble over to him, which was the goal.
Tony looked up when the dog barked, smiling. She seemed to be taking her job seriously, alerting him whenever someone came over to donate. He had no idea her real intentions were simply to get pets out of everyone, and she hadn't even noticed people were carrying boxes or had generous intentions for the community.
"Hello, there," he said, brightly, "have you met Dogby before?" He tried to place the young man's face, but he sometimes had trouble remembering some patrons over others. He wished he had a better memory for it, though it usually was passably good at least.
Still, remembering everyone right off the bat would be helpful.
"Here to donate for the drive? The drop box is by the book return," he motioned to the display, which was decorated as well, and not too far from the door for convenience sake.
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:07 pm
Kail chuckled as Dogby flopped off the chair, placing the tape-wrapped box down with a crinkling sound (maybe he'd gone a...little overboard with the tape. maybe. and just a little. Better safe than sorry.) before leaning down and scratching the Corgi behind the ears, grinning as he did so and seemingly quite happy to carry on a somewhat one-sided conversation with the dog. He was quite happy to give her as many pettings as she wanted. It was a great bonus for Civic duty...or whatever you wanted to call it. (He was going for helping people plus getting rid of dusty things from the DEPTHS OF THE WARDROBE - with of course appropriate creepy sound effects.)
"Hey b-b-buddy. How're you?"
He was startled as Tony spoke, bringing his head up but not otherwise straightening, continuing to pet Dogby. She was so friendly, it was great! He'd seen Tony before. In the library. But they hadn't really met - though he must be Yvette's family friend who she had been dogsitting for.
"Y-yes. Yvette!" he paused, assessing his sentence. No, that hadn't made very much sense. At all.
"That is, I met Yvette whilst she was dogsitting with Dogby."
That had made much more sense. He nodded his understanding of the directions to the drop point, but hovered in indesicion - he needed to drop off the clothes...but...but..DOGBY.
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:42 am
Tony saw that the young man was fighting against the pull of Dogby's cuteness. It was a familiar battle, one which Tony himself was often engaged and rarely the winner. Dogby used her cute for all things, good and evil, and she could have her way more often than not.
She was very good at looking pathetic and hopeful, sweet and innocent, and always more than eager to please.
"Ah, yes," he said, nodding his head. That made sense, and explained away for him why he couldn't remember the young man's face very well. He hadn't seen him before, or if he had only in passing. It was a bit of a relief, at least, to know he wasn't just forgetting someone out right.
It Dogby could purr, she would have been, as happy as she was. She wagged her stump of a tail and shook her whole backside with its force, following his hand whenever it pulled away and yipping at him excitedly. Tony told her to be quiet and she began to whine instead of bark. It was quieter, at least.
"I'm very thankful to Yvette for that. I hope Dogby was well behaved when you met her," he chuckled, half wishing he could make friends as easily as the corgi could. He let the two hang out, not minding someone keeping Dogby company as it ensured she stay out of trouble. He moved to finish hanging an oversized, ice blue bauble quickly, which of course backfired and dropped the thing on his head. It bounced off, not breaking, and rolled away over the carpet.
Dogby, as predicted, tried to run after it like it was a fetch toy, though it was bigger than her head.
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:36 pm
Kail winced a little. The meeting had been um. Awkward. And he still thought he had creeped the girl out. But um. Dogby had been....relatively well behaved? She hadn't bitten or snapped or anything. I mean, she had been bouncing about and not staying still and being a little yappy, but judging by this encounter as well, that was her natural setting, so he could say yes with relative certainty, but it still might not be entirely truthful to say yes. But it would definitely be not truthful to say no. So perhaps if he half-evaded the question altogether? Yes. Yes. That would work. He smiled slightly.
"She was very friendly."
And then the bauble was dropped. Kail squeaked as it bounced on his head, half standing up as if to grab it, impossible though that would be across this distance, and Dogby rocketed off. Almost as fast as Dogby, Kail was over to Tony.
"Are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself, did you? Dad says bumps on the head can be very dangerous, and what if you got hurt, or if you died, and then Dogby was sad!"
Ah, not an uncharacteristic connection to other people then, instead more of an attachment to the dog. Still, it was polite for him to ask, at least? To try?
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:06 am
Tony was rubbing his head, looking at Kail in surprise. It had been a plastic-y bauble, not a lead weight. He cleared his throat and smiled, though, shaking his head.
"No, no, I'm fine. It did no damage," to prove his point, he pulled his hand from his head and offered it to him to look at. No blood, no gore, no injury to be seen. He chuckled, putting his hand to his head again only to smooth his hair back into place.
It did occur to Tony that the boy was more concerned about the librarian hurting himself because Dogby would be upset than anything else, but that didn't matter. He, Tony, would be upset if Dogby was left to fend for herself, as well, and he imagined if the young man had met her first then of course he would want her happy.
Who wouldn't want the corgi happy?
"I appreciate the concern though. Ah, anyway. Do you need some help with something?" He hadn't asked that yet, and though a lot of people just came in to the library to look around, it was still his job to ask if they needed help.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:53 am
[Derp, forgot to actually click submit.]
"Any item can cause injury it if has the sufficient forces acting upon it." Admittedly, the drop had been small, and even if the item had not been as light as it appeared, there would have been little damage - but he could have fallen off from the shock. Kail tucked his hands up inside his sleeves and shifted awkwardly all the same, though.
It would have to be a pretty strange person to not want the corgi happy. So...adorable. Really, her level of cute should be considered a superpower in and of itself. Dogby, Superhero of Cute! Not that um. Cute would be terribly effective against terrorists. But it was a pleasant daydream.
"Oh!" When Tony spoke, Kail remembered his box, and ran back to heft it upwards with some difficulty, carrying the tape monstrosity to the the collection box and hovering on the edge before placing it down with an almost...triumphant expression. Take that, fears!
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:27 pm
Tony considered that thought. Maybe that was right, but the plastic bauble would have had to have a lot of force behind it to do anything but bounce. Hell, the box had said they were shatter proof, and it seemed to be living up to its promise so far.
Dogby was basically a super hero of cute, if one asked her. And she suddenly gained the ability to not only talk, but understand human language. The chances of those things happening individually, let alone at the same time, were very small, however.
Tony smiled.
Then Kail ran off and he was left blinking. What had just happened? The young man returned in short order, though, carrying a... large, taped up box. He moved to try and help, but the young man seemed to have things in hand.
"Donating a lot of stuff, huh?" That, or he was a prankster that had wrapped one small object a thousand times. But Tony doubted that was the case, considering.
Right?
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:19 am
Kail nodded over-enthusiastically, pink hair fluffing up and giving him the appearance of a duckling as he nodded. Almost too-fast, he spoke.
"Yup. My m-mother is u-um. S-She's very fashionable."
Even if he hadn't continued speaking, a single look at Kail's outfit would be enough to notice that was somewhat at a perpendicular direction to him - a large warm coat, what looked like a hand-knitted hat poking out the pocket, a multicoloured scarf, and slightly tatty cords. Warm looking? Incredibly. Fashionable? As much as Tom Sawyer was well-behaved.
"So I end u-up with lots and lots of things because she buys me outfits that I use once and then n-never again. And I don't like getting rid of things!" This was said with a tone of voice that suggested that was an understatement.
"But....It's okay this time, because it means that people who don't have anything can have them. And I t-think that making them happy is worth a little nerves."
Kail paused at the end of this semi-tirade, looking at Tony for some validation of this.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 1:37 pm
Tony chuckled, nodding his head as Kail explained. That made him wonder if the young man's mother was a willing participant in this donation or not, but he was sure the kid wouldn't just steal things from his parent without asking.
Even with the good intentions of donating it.
Well, at least this young man didn't seem the type. If it were Nate, there'd probably be some kind of pretext and he would just either steal whatever he was 'donating' or steal what other people had donated in exchange for getting rid of Tony's things. It was sad that Tony was getting used to thinking in terms of Nate's bad behavior.
But he didn't feel too bad about it, because it was probably true.
"Oh, I see!" he said, nodding his head, "I'm the same way, I never get rid of anything. And I really should. I think this might be a good time to do so, really. You're on the right track." He nodded his head, grinning as if Kail was the only one who had the idea to empty out their closet with the excuse of donating to motivate them.
"And you'll be making a lot of people very happy, and giving them a better holiday then they would have had without your help. That's something to keep in mind. It is very worth it."
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