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 Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:07 pm
The end of another semester. A trip to the dog park was a welcome break from all the monotony and routine of lecturing, testing and grading. And Lady was a big fan of the snow, while Perry never minded it too much -- he could enjoy pretty much any weather. Not that this was the place for a snowball fight, and not that he was in much of a mood for one anyway. It still brought him a smile to see his canine companion bound enthusiastically out of the car, though, and that was with her having enjoyed the car ride just as much.
It was a sparse crowd today, and several of the park's visitors had been stuffed into some of those gaudy doggie sweaters. Not Lady. Her owner treated her with some goddamn dignity. Anything that was put on her to keep her warm was for function, not to make her into some kind of living fashion accessory.
Perry dusted the snow off one of the splintery benches and took a seat. He hadn't really brought much of an arrangement of toys. Usually it was just as good to let the girl run, and he was fine hanging back and watching until she approached him in a fit of boredom.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:47 pm
"Go get it, Aque!"
Aque, did not know what it was, but he knew that meant he should chase whatever it was. In a frantic and high pitched yip, he ran in a half circle, as if quickly attempting to seek out what his owner had located, before turning back to the blonde with an inquisitive and approval-seeking yip.
His owner grinned in amusement at her somewhat cruel game for her dog. She had repeated the same phrase at least 6 times now, but it didn't really get old. However, the blonde did notice that she was starting to get some looks.
"...Fine... Go ahead and piss to yer heart's content!" She wasn't ignorant. That was half the fun for a male dog when it came to the dog park.
She didn't really pay attention to where her feet shuffled to in the snow, and soon enough flopped her own a** onto a bench. A bench that was partially occupied.
Ellie would only notice it was occupied when her dog, rather than seek out plants to pee on, decided to push his black nose up against the man's knee, seeming to edge towards his crotch in an awkward investigation.
"Oh... sh*t... were ya savin' this seat?" she asked as her Aussie continued its investigation.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:10 pm
A snout nudged up against Perry's leg, and he knew instantly that it was the overly-friendly face of another dog. Curious little guy, at that -- a bit too curious. He shifted a couple of inches away to deter the stranger from further investigation, while at the same time knowing full well that this tactic never actually worked.
"Nope," he said to the young blonde sitting by him, by means of greeting. "Actually starting to think about standing back up," he continued, while doing the whole awkward dance of trying to get the shepherd off him without overstepping boundaries. It was wholly ineffective. So he followed through with his musings, and brought himself back up to his feet.
Lady, in a fit of attentiveness, was trotting her way back towards her owner. There was a new person he was talking to, AND a new dog! Those were her two favorite things.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:31 pm
The blonde smirked, shrewdly commenting "What, can't handle a dog sniffin' yer junk?"
And then she actually took a look at who she was talking to.
"Sh*t! Doc Wes!" The tomboy let out a laugh from deep in her belly. She totally said that to a teacher from her former school!
Rather than stay on her a**, she stood herself up, quickly shoving a hand out in his direction for a potential handshake. "I don't think I've seen ya since I graduated... so, ya out fer winter break?"
The blonde might not have noticed the dog approaching, but a pair of ears on the fluffy grey and white animal perked up. His mismatched eyes were soon enough upon the slender animal moving towards them, and his nose was already snuffling a bit in her direction. With his practically non-existent tail nub wagging furiously, he went to investigate, hopping a bit in the snow to make his way to the greyhound. He was already starting to whine out of excitement.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:53 pm
Shrewdness met shrewdness as he turned to give the stranger a better look. "Gal, I think you'd have a bigger problem if I didn't mind."
Perry pulled the loose locks of his hair back -- it had gotten somewhat absurdly long -- as he offered a familiar smirk to Ellie. "Yeah... you went to Meadowview a while back, right?" he offered. The man actually had little recollection of who she was, or if she had ever taken any of his classes, but he attempted to smoothly avoid that little social blunder. "Bet you're happy to be out. High school's a pain in the a**. Winter break just started, but it'll be over too soon for just about everybody. Lady, play nice."
He could sense his dog's curiosity from a mile away. The whining and chuffing of the pair helped, too. Lady was prowling towards her new playmate, her long legs offering her the luxury of not being slowed down by the snow to it. She offered a short bark as she approached, already prepped for a game of chase.
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:39 pm
Extending a thumb, she pointed it up against her chest. "Yup! Class of '11! School ain't too bad... but... I'd rather be workin' than sittin' in a classroom..."
Aque let out another long whine, which went noticed this time.
"...Aque's such a crybaby... don't worry'bout it!" Lowering her hand, she gestured to the dog to come closer, but the gesture went ignored.
The Aussie was too focused on the idea of a new potential playmate! He bounced in place before lowering his upper body and sticking his rump up as high as it could go. He was definitely up for the proposed game of chase. He was a fast dog. However, he didn't know what his new companion would bring to the figurative table.
The blonde glanced to the two dogs. "I take it yer 'Lady' is a friendly dog? Not gonna rip off my dog's face or anything?" There was a pause before she had to ask. "Why'd ya pick th'name 'Lady' anyways?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 6:20 pm
"Well, work n' class have always been the same thing for me," the teacher smiled with an accompanying shrug. To each their own.
Oh, yes. Lady was getting on in years, but she was still the champion chaser her owner adored. She returned the gesture in kind, offering a playful growl in lieu of the revving of an engine.
"Her whole name..." Perry replied, with eyes on the game that was about to begin, "is Lady Peppermint Stripe. Lady's just for short." He didn't seem to notice or mind that he had failed to explain anything about his name choice. "And don't you worry. She's got a heart of gold. Your buddy will be just fine."
And, they were off! Lady burst away from her opponent, kicking up large clumps of snow in her wake.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:45 am
Ellie couldn't help but cough at the mention of the full name, as if she had swallowed some spit the wrong way as a result of the seemingly ridiculous name. The cough broke into another laugh. "Um... Peppermint Stripe? Okay... is there a story to that name, or are ya just into weird names?"
Not that she had any right to accuse anybody of using weird names since she named her dog Aque, but that wasn't the point.
And then Aque got a clump of snow kicked into his face. The dog snuffed out an odd sneeze, then shook off before attempting to catch up. The effort would be in vain, but it didn't seem like he minded all that much. He attempted to gain any advantage he could by taking narrower turns where he could. Ultimately, he was just a dog who was kicking up a lot of snow for no real gain to his playmate.
The blonde cocked her head at the two dogs, and rather easily assessed the situation. "Wow, my dog sucks!" She was grinning, so it was obvious she didn't take such too seriously.
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Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:13 pm
Perry didn't seem to mind the laughter. He was aware his dog's name was a bit absurd. Heaven forbid his former student ever see the name -- "Buy One Get One Free" -- emblazoned proudly across the side of his boat, though. It would probably leave her twice as befuddled as she was right now.
Lady was loping ahead of her opponent with ease, her path curling around other dogs playing in the snow as the race went on. She was leading him in a wide curve around the park, with a definite purpose in mind -- soon, he would not just be the chaser, but the one being chased!
"Yeah, Lady's a real champ," he grinned. "She was a racer before I took her in. Hence the name... I've always liked racehorse names, though." It was a quirk Meadowview's old English teacher had been rather amused by.
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:01 am
Try as Aque might, he was no match for the greyhound. He wasn't the sort to give up, but he found out a bit too late what was happening. Lady was no longer in front of him, which almost caused him to pause in running, until he noticed something was somewhat behind him. Letting out a yip, he now had a new purpose.
He had to keep out of the other dog's reach.
"Oh, so yer dog was one of those 'racing greyhound rescues?'" Ellie squinted a bit as she tried to look at his dog as she wiped the floor with her own. She wasn't exactly an expert in the area of what a race dog looked like compared to a normal dog, but she attempted to see if she could notice a difference. When she yielded no results, she then turned to the man.
"My boy was a rescue as well... slightly used, just needed some attention and some space t'run. Dunno why a person'd get a dog if barkin' was an issue... I mean, gettin' a dog and not expectin' them t'bark is like bringin' home a baby and expectin' them t'not cry." She shook her head, as if she was scolding the previous owner of her dog. Of course, she had never met Aque's previous owners, but she had a mental image of them being the equivalent to wicked step parents.
Ellie wasn't the sort to remain in such a bad mood for too long over something so trivial. Soon enough she turned on the balls of her feet to face the teacher once more. "So did Lady come with th'name or was that one of yer own creations? And... if ya could rename Aque... what sorta crazy race-name would ya give him?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 8:45 pm
Perry nodded at Ellie's first question, while grinningly keeping an eye on his charge and watching her prove her background for herself. She was gaining fast. A playful bark was levied at Aque, warning him of what was to come -- any second now, and she'd be close enough to tackle him.
"S'the name she came with," he answered. "I liked it too much to change it, and didn't want to confuse the poor gal. She was a bit jumpy when I first got her, but now most things don't bother her much. Likes to get all up in new people's faces, though." Though, as far as he was concerned, that wasn't anything to complain about. Who didn't like a friendly dog? Besides shy people, but they came around.
"Good on you for being a fellow rescue ranger there, I gotta say." Perry gave an approving point in Ellie's general direction at that. "If I could rename the guy, though, huh..." He rubbed his chin, and gave Aque a look.
"Maybe... somethin' like... Beginner's Lucky Number."
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:52 pm
A laugh filled the air. "That's pretty fittin', actually..." There were many aspects which she felt was ironic in a sense.
Aque was her first dog, essentially her "beginner" dog.
The circumstances which led to Aque even being adopted by her parents could have been considered lucky at best.
Of course, she wasn't going to explain that sort of angle to the teacher. It wasn't like he'd understand some of the aspects she'd need to go into. He was just a normal guy. Well, mostly normal save for his odd preference for racehorse names.
Randomly, she lifted up her right arm so that it formed a right angle at the elbow. "T'be honest... my mom was th'one who decided to go th'route of a rescue foundation... she kinda surprised me with Aque after I broke my arm 'bout a year ago... I mean... I approve and all... but it was my mom... not so much me!"
The tomboy had stopped looking at her dog as he raced, but soon enough a surprised yelp echoed in the air.
More than likely, Lady had found her target.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:01 pm
Perry grinned again. He had to say, he was a bit proud Ellie approved of the name. They were on a wavelength now. A wavelength of dog loving eccentricity. He always loved a chance to make a connection with a student, even if it was a former one who probably had already forgotten most of what he had taught.
Normal, however, he was not. Neither was Ellie. But, for now, not knowing such things was not a problem. It was good to go out and do regular things once in a while.
"Hey, well, props to your mama then, El," he winked -- finally remembering the girl's name, and slapping a nickname on her so he wouldn't forget it again so easily. Might as well lose the formalities, too, since they'd no doubt run into each other at the dog park again. "And when you get your next dog, you'll be following her footsteps, right? That's how these things work."
A puff of snow flew into the air as Lady pounced into her rival. They wrestled playfully into the snow for a while, with a bit of cheering and clapping from Perry to commemorate the victory.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:59 pm
"L?"
She blinked and paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out what he was implying. L? The hell? Why would he call me... oh...
It clicked in place after a bit of thought that the spelling was probably with an E in front of it, like the word "the" in spanish (masculine).
"...So Ellie wasn't short enough? Now my nickname is 'Spanish the'?"
Her eyebrows quirked up slightly, but seemed to drop the subject of a nickname in favor of another topic.
"Well... I like Aque enough... he's the right size dog and the right mentality fer me. A real dog... so I probably wouldn't mind goin' fer an Aussie again!"
The blue merle, while being playful, was also quite submissive. Lady had won, fair and square, so she now got to have the top play position in the wrestling game. However, it didn't mean he could be a whiny puppy about it. He fussed and attempted to roll out from under her, his yelps and whines remaining ever so high pitched.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 9:08 pm
The nickname critique was responded to with a simple shrug. It was simply in Perry's nature to make nicknames of nicknames, or nicknames that were impractical. The late Ray Gordon had been called Raymundo. He'd taken up his former friend's duty of keeping the Meadowiew principal's nickname -- Billjo -- in as widespread use as possible. And now Ellie had been reduced to El. Just a day in the life of Doc Wes (a nickname he hadn't come up with himself, but liked regardless).
He whistled at Lady to stop harassing the smaller dog, but still gave her an approving pat on the head when she arrived at his side. "I think you've tormented your new buddy enough for one day, gal," he was saying. "But I'm sure he'll get a rematch soon. If there's one thing I make sure to do, it's keeping touch with someone who's got a hang of what a real dog is."
Oh, yes. That sentiment had just bumped Ellie into his 'bros for life' category, even though she was a girl twenty years his junior, and Perry never actually used that sort of vocabulary. Ray would have, though.
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