[PRP] Walkies (Evan/Nora/Puppies)

[Inle-roo]

Evan hated Wednesdays. Wednesdays meant a break in routine and no late morning nap. God forbid he try to sleep in after that first time when he had accidentally slept all day and paid for it with a migraine that lasted the rest of the week. He knew that, ultimately, he was the one holding the leash, but Gir could pull awfully hard at the other end when he wanted to.

/I wanna gooooo-ooooo-oooo!/ he whined pathetically, scrabbling frantically and impatiently through Evan's mind. /Lemmeoutlemmeoutlemmeoutlemmeout--/

"Knock it off," Evan warned, his head too full of Gir's thoughts to make room for his own. "We're going." They were, actually, on their way to the Life labs, but they went through this every week.

/YAYAYAYAYAYayayayayayyyyyyy eeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeheeheeheeeee~!/

Evan could feel the headache building already, but knew the only way to get rid of it was to give Gir what he wanted. On his way to the labs, he had a sudden thought, and he finally found a use for his phone.

Ol-j-man

Text to Nora:

Time to walk the dogs. Come to Life labs.

 

[medigel]

Inle-roo

Text to Evan R.:
time to waht now

Nora had actually been ready to settle down and take a break for once rather than indulge her workaholic nature--thought that alone should have told her something was going to happen. Beatrix, however, caught on much quicker and began yipping with glee to her disgruntlement.

YASSSSSSS O-M-J YASSSSS comeoncomeoncomeon norrie Norrie you said we could walk so let's walk I WANNA MEET CUTE BOILSSSSSSS--

Quote:

Text to Evan R.:
Right meet you there

The commentary didn't stop once as she made her way over, entering the labs with a hand to her temple to ward off the headache. "Please tell me the golems process is quick and painless," she whined at Evan.
 

[Inle-roo]

Evan was already in the process of removing Gir's tag when Nora arrived. "Guess that depends on your definition of painless."

Speaking of: What are the rules for being outside?

/No biting anyone,/ Gir replied in a rush, obviously eager to get out.

And?

/And keep all of my clothes on!/

And? A pause as Gir hesitated. And?

/But if I don't pee on things, how will other creeple know they're mine?/ Gir whined.

You're only a weapon in a golem, you don't have things. Just use your words if you're using something and someone tries to take it from you.

/Okay okay okay outsidetimenowplease!/

"At least it gets them out of our heads for a little while. And we get paid for it. Just don't let them break anything." It was with a great deal of reluctance that the Lifer on duty took the proffered tag. Evan wasn't too sure on the science of it all, and he didn't much care. All he knew was one second Gir was a metal tag, and the next he was a teenage-looking boy pounding on the glass in the formerly-unoccupied pod, screeching and desperate to get out.

As the pod hissed open, a high-pitched eeeeeeeeeee escaped with the compressed air. The door slammed open as Gir launched himself out of it, a pale, frenzied blur. He flailed excitedly as he ran in circles around the lab tech and Evan and Nora and Evan again, and then he caught sight of his own wildly wagging tail and just started running around after it. Evan managed to catch him by the back of his shirt mid-turn, and he shook him to get his attention.

"Behave," Evan warned, turning Gir around to face Nora. "And be polite. Remember what we worked on. Gir, this is Nora; Nora, this is Gir." Now that Gir was standing still--relatively, for him, which meant fidgety at best--he could have resembled any teenage boy in an obscure band tee, jeans, and sneakers. He was unusually pale, though, and most people didn't have floppy red dog ears, a mop of snow-white hair, or a rapidly wagging tail.

"Hihihiyeshello Iwannagooutnowlet'sgolet'sgoooooo," Gir whined, alternately scrabbling at Evan's hold on him and reaching out to Nora for help.

Evan sighed. This was not what they had worked on.

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

True, diverting the noise from her head straight to her ears wasn't that big of an improvement . . . But she supposed, like actual pets, the only way to get rid of some of that energy was to make them use it up.

Beatrix's enthusiasm was barely contained as Nora watched the process herself, once again marveling at the sort of technology this place had. She was also at least a little relieved that she wasn't the only one suffering from a teenager permanently stuck in her head. It was her first time ever seeing a student, though, so Nora was caught off guard by how strangely humanoid it seemed; she'd literally expected dog walking, not dog . . . person . . . walking . . .

Her first impulse was to pull out the authority voice and tell Gir to sit, but instead she (after deliberating) offered her hand--to to pet him where his scruff (hair? this thing had hair like humans?) lied. This was going to be an awkward process. "You calm down or we can't do this thing properly, Gir," Nora told him. "Can you stand still for us? If you're a good boy, I'll get Beatrix out faster than you can say treats."

TREAAAAAAAATSSSSSSSSS! the black dog howled triumphantly, and her totem, the fang earring, seemed to light up.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Evan tensed as Nora reached for Gir, ready to intervene if Gir decided to use her as a chew toy--it wouldn't have been the first time he had bitten someone because, whoops, he forgot to lead with his tongue.

Gir, for his part, perked up at the sight of Nora's outstretched hand. He obligingly pressed his head into it and let her pet him, his wagging tail slowing to a more sedate pace. "I'll be a good boy if you keep petting me," he bargained. He enjoyed being petted, being more dog than human, and both of them liked Nora, besides; she was friend, not food.

Evan's jaw literally dropped as Gir just stood there and let himself be stroked. He'd never seen the hyperactive mutt so still--but then, he had never tried petting him, either, thinking it was too weird even for Deus. "Okay, I'm impressed," he admitted quietly, afraid to break whatever spell Nora had on Gir. The flash of light on Nora's ear caught his attention, and he grinned. "Looks like someone's eager for you to make good on that."

"Treats," Gir chirped in agreement.

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

"Eager is putting it mildly," Nora sighed, but it was clear she was content to keep petting Gir regardless. He wasn't a cat, but at least they both shared the same need to be stroked, and she found teh obedience a welcome change. Gods, she was starting to miss her pets, though. "All right. Er, stay." She gave Gir a meaningful look before turning and trying out the machine herself.

Or, rather, unhinging the earring and passing it on to the tech. The process was painless, thankfully, and her head grew quiet as the golem was activated. Sweet, sweet silence--

"AWWWWWWWWW YEAHHHHHHHHH~"

Beatrix strutted out of the pod with a wicked grin and looked for all the world like the 80s punk movement had come back in style. In contrast to Gir's pale form, everything about her was a foggy black color, save for the colorful strips in her hair and pigtails, though she too sported the obvious signs of being part-canine. Her tail swished (and Nora checked subtly to be sure that yes, thankfully, the skirt the ghoul was wearing had left an opening for the appendage) as she eyed the guys.

"Well, you're still totally hot," she told Evan happily, ears perking. "We're walking, right? I am so so sososososo down with hanging out with you. Like put me on a leash, big boil, I will bark up your tree any day~ And youuuuu--" Beatrix's eyes swiveled to the other canine, losing some of their spark. "Youuuu you you you're . . . Oh. I mean, cute, but like . . . you know . . . ?" Not hot like his owner. Disappointing.

Nora was having second thoughts about this almost immediately. "Beatrix," she introduced, making the name a sigh.

Inle-roo

what have we done

 

[Inle-roo]

Gir whined unhappily as Nora withdrew her hand, but did as he as told and stayed still. He was eager to see who this Beatrix was when she wasn't being a pretty hammer--and was not disappointed to discover that she was, indeed, a pretty, pretty, "Pretty ghoul," Gir cooed, ears perked and tail wagging. He straightened and unconsciously fidgeted with his shirt, straightening it before his hands wandered to his--

"No," Evan said firmly.

"But--"

"Nope."

"But--"

"Rules."

"Rules are dumb and you are dumb," Gir muttered, having to content himself with brushing his hair out of his eyes so he could better appreciate the vision that stood before them. She was beautiful and radiant and--and she thought he was cute. A pretty ghoul thought he was cute! It was hardly the lavish praise she had heaped upon his other half, but Gir would absolutely take it. "Ithinkyou'recutetoo," Gir replied in a rush. "He is dumb. I'm not dumb," Gir added, because ghouls cared about that or something, right?

Evan, for his part, seemed merely nonplussed by Beatrix's flirting, not having expected it from such an unlikely source. "Just so we're clear," he said to Nora, "is your weapon actually hitting on me?"

Ol-j-man

tonight we unleash hell puppies

 

[medigel]

Nora groaned. "She does that, yeah. A lot. Not just to you, but most of the boys at the back of my head, along with a couple of gals too. Assuming we're not all busy trying not to die at least. It's like watching the telly, I suppose, if you're stuck as a head-voice with nothing else to do all day." Still didn't excuse half the things her partner ended up conjuring in her head.

"Heyheyhey, don't act like it's a big deal. There's, like, a lot of really hot people here okay," the ghoul defended with a shrug, winding a pigtail around her finger. "I'm totally, like, truthefying here. Best window shopping ever, even if she is a prude." Gir was then given a wink; "cute" was a good start.

"I think the faster we get them walking, the easier this will be," Nora muttered to Evan, putting a hand on Beatrix's shoulder and slowly inching her away from Gir before she got ideas. "Oy, you want treats, the both've you have got to behave for the hour."

Beatrix gave a salute and somehow still appeared devious while doing so. "Yes'm, miss lady constable cop."

Inle-roo

best hell ever then aww yeah

 

[Inle-roo]

"Aw, and here I thought I was special," Evan sighed dramatically. "Still, that doesn't sound too bad. At least you can hold a conversation with yours. Mine just babbles all day and night, and most of what he says doesn't make sense."

Normally, a statement like that would prompt some nonsensical reactionary response from Gir, but he was totally distracted by the pretty ghoul who had just winked at him! He wiggled in Evan's grip, his tongue lolling happily until he remembered that panting in front of ghouls was totally uncool. Treats were definitely cool, though, and he absolutely wanted some of those, but he was ready to get a move on, too! "Yes yes yes treats okay we'll be good we promise!"

Evan snorted in disbelief and let Gir go, expecting him to be down the hall and screeching wildly in half a second. He wasn't disappointed when Gir ran ahead, but was surprised when he doubled back. He watched carefully, ready to intervene when Gir grabbed one of Beatrix's hands and tried tugging her away from Nora.

"Let's go to the beach!" Gir suggested to Beatrix. "We can dig as many holes as we want, and sometimes there are things in the ground that we can take back with us, and we can throw stuff at the titans--"

"We're not throwing anything at the titans."

"And we won't throw anything at the titans and please pleeeeeeeease?" Gir didn't even bother asking Evan, he just turned his biggest, saddest puppy eyes on the ghouls because they had stopped working on Evan long ago and they were fresh meat.

Evan stifled a laugh and turned his own sad eyes on Nora and Beatrix. "Please?"

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

They could indeed hold conversations, though Nora would never tell what kinds.

She made a great show of eyeing both of them before glancing at Beatrix, seeing the eager light in her eyes, and sliding a hand down her face in fake exasperation. "Allllllright," Nora eventually gave in, using a tone similar to the one she used to give her kid. "We can go--"

"BEAAAAAACH!" Beatrix howled triumphantly, swinging her and Gir's arms from side to side madly as her tail followed suit. She hadn't even considered the possibilities of actually walking! Digging especially appealed, though as she dragged the boil forward (in order to prompt him to take the lead, of course), Beatrix sighed. "If only we could, like, digdigdig in natural forms...These hands are super duper not good for it. But what sort've stuff can we digdigdig? Is it, like, fossils? OOO WAIT WAIT can we dig in their cemetery instead?" she suddenly suggested. "I bet they won't miss a few bones--"

"No," Nora cut in.

"But--"

"No."

"Norrie--"

"Disrespecting them is grounds for no treats."

Immediately Beatrix clamped her mouth shut.

Nora sighed and continued to rub at her face as she followed behind them at a short distance. "So, walk on the beach, eh? Starting to sound dangerously like a date, Mr. Roberts," she said as a brow lifted with amusement.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"Yay!" Gir yipped, starting to pull Beatrix away before Nora could change her mind. He paused at the prospect of digging up bones, disappointed when it was shot down at the risk of no treats but still happy to be out. "Maybe next time," Gir consoled Beatrix. "There's lots of things to dig for on the beach! No bones yet, but there's soap and--well, there's a lot of soap! Like, a lot a lot, and Evan said if I dig deep enough I'll get to China! I never make it but with both of us digging we can totally get there!" He bolted ahead with Beatrix in tow before either of their Hunters told them no on that, too.

"Don't run too far ahead," Evan called halfheartedly, knowing that his warning fell on at least one pair of deaf and furry ears. He kept part of his attention on the pair, listening for anything out of the ordinary and watching for discarded articles of clothes. The rest of it was all for Nora, and he turned a sheepish smile on her. "I figured he would have wanted to go to the Life labs to play with the minis. If I had known he was going to drag us all to the beach, I would have made us something to eat," he admitted. "Maybe next time? Just the two of us?"

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Beatrix sniffled disappointedly and nodded her head in agreement. "Next time. I bet Hunter boneses are real treasures," she sighed. "All nice and peppered and strong and...Siiiiiigh..."

But soap? Soap? She wrinkled her face in confusion at Gir. "Ewwww. Soap in the nose no goes," Beatrix whines, even rubbing at hers subconsciously to ward it off. "Or in the mouth, ew, ewwww. But what's a China?" She had a vague notion about it due to random perusals of Nora's mind, but other than good smelling food she wasn't sure. Speaking of. "Can we eat? Are we allowed to? They keep saying treats," Beatrix said skeptically, dropping her voice to a conspiring whisper and leaning in closer as they walked, "but now I'm startin' to wonder..."

Nora clicked her tongue at Evan, still thoroughly amused. "You thought pups would want to stay inside?" she asked, shaking her head with a little smile. "Never had a pet before, have you? Ah, well. Maybe next time like you said? I'm not going to turn down a free meal and some company. How's your cooking?"

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"I want to hunt one down, but Evan won't let me," Gir lamented. "But maybe someday he will and then we can have lots of bones! Fresh ones, too~!" His mouth watered at the very thought. He could kill that hunter and bring it back to Beatrix and then she'd really like him, because ghouls liked that kind of thing, right?

His tongue lolled in amusement at the idea of sniffing and eating the soap. "Well you don't eat the soap, silly, you just dig it up to have it! Evan says I don't have things but he lets me keep the soap I bring back." Unbeknownst to Gir, Evan used it, too. "I don't know what a China is, but all that's out there is sand and soap and water and titans so maybe, maybe if we find something that's not any of those it will be China!"

Gir's ears perked and he blushed as Beatrix leaned closer, his pale complexion making it blatantly obvious. "Um," Gir choked out, "um, I don't know, but this one time I ate a minipet and it tasted good but then I threw it up so maybe the minipet was bad or I am bad but Evan says getting to go out and play is a treat for if I'm good but he lets me go out anyway because I will give him a headache if he doesn't andand and you smell good and look there's the door," he said in a rush, eagerly shoving it open and pulling Beatrix through it. He squinted at the sudden brightness, tipping his head back and howling "FREEEEEDOOOOOOOM!" the way he always did when he got to go outside.

Evan shrugged helplessly, wincing as he heard Gir's howl all the way down the hall before the door slammed shut behind the golems. "I always wanted a dog when I was a kid. Now that I kind of have one, I wonder what the hell I was thinking."

He reached the door ahead of Nora, holding it open for her and fighting to keep his hope in check. "My cooking's not bad," he replied. "I don't really do a whole lot of fancy stuff. What would you want to eat? I'm better at breakfasts and dinners," he admitted, not hinting anything at all, nope.

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Fresh bones. Beatrix sighed and let her tongue hang from her mouth in deep satisfaction at the thought. Nora's bizarre armor collection was sort of like having bones (they were hard to break and precious and even shinier), but it wasn't the same. "Yassssssss~" she breathed, tail wagging and lightly nudging him while doing so. "Yassssss. Perf. Maybe we can get all the boneses from China instead."

She was thoroughly happy to continue pushing Gir's buttons because okay he was being, like, a super cutie. But while one ear remained dedicated to hearing about the one time he tried eating a minipet (disappointed to know it probably wasn't an option either what the hell[/*W), the other ear turned backwards to catch some of their hunters' conversation. And oh did Beatrix grin.

Hot guy hookup with a cutiepie while finally being outside? Her howl was most definitely triumphant and loud, shamelessly AWOOOOOOWOOOWOOO-ing as she broke into a full run, her hand tugged out of Gir's grasp as she started trying to awkwardly bound forward on all fours.

"Cats are better," Nora said with disgruntlement, but there was a glint of affection in her eyes as she watched the pair freak out about the fresh air. "Less noisy, more independent, and definitely more adorable. What kind of dog's Gir again? He almost looks albino. Bea there's a black dog--the thing, not the color, though both're accurate. Explains the lightning bit if you know the lore, but I'm sure the golem won't actually let her do anything with it."

She was getting a little chattier, as she always did to mask some nervousness. It was one thing to joke about it and tease, but the actual approach...

"I can get pretty picky," Nora admitted shamelessly, watching her partner literally run in circles for a while before snorting as the momentum got to Beatrix and she fell over panting. Her hand still touched the door as if to hold it open as she went through, even though Evan was doing it just fine; then again, her gaze wasn't on him. "Depends on the type of cuisine, too. You can't go wrong with peaches, though. Er..." She thought for a moment. "Mashed potatoes, roast, vegetables, crisps...I have the odd combination of not being picky until it's right in front of me, I suppose, but I'll try anything once."

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Bones from China! Gir hadn't even considered that! "What a good idea!" Gir replied, wiggling happily as Beatrix nudged him. She was smart and pretty and she was a smart and pretty ghoul who was talking to him and not running away or anything like that and she was holding his hand! Today was a good day.

Gir shrieked a giggle as she howled and pulled away to run around on all fours. He had never tried it, being too long-limbed and clumsy even on two legs, but it looked like fun! He bent over and made it only a few steps before he tripped over himself and flopped to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. He managed to pull himself up to a sit, yipping encouragement as Bea continued to run around. It died into sad, confused whines as she flopped over, and he scooted to her side. "Hey, no, you can't die right now," he said, shaking her by the shoulder. "We haven't even gotten to China yet!"

Evan watched the whole thing with a bemused frown, wondering not for the first time what he had done wrong to deserve Gir as a partner. It wasn't that he disliked Gir--on the contrary, they were friends by choice more than necessity--but he could be so incredibly dumb sometimes in the way that he imagined an overly happy and less-than-bright real dog might be. Judging by Beatrix's current position, it looked like Gir wasn't alone in that department.

"I will definitely take your word for it," Evan agreed easily. "I imagine they're smarter, too," he muttered, ignoring the sad eyes that Gir briefly turned his way before remembering that he was supposed to be shaking Bea. "Gir is a cwn annwn," he continued, his pronunciation of his partner's species less than perfect even after all this time. "Some big kind of hunting dog. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to do anything but...dog stuff, I guess. Gets a little violent when it's time to go to work, but that's okay."

He glanced at Nora as he walked through the door, taking note of her preferences and already making plans as he continued on. He could definitely handle meat and potatoes, fortunately, and he knew it had to be peach season somewhere. "Anything you don't like?" Evan asked, considering his question before adding, "Do you like surprises?"

As he passed the puppies on the ground, he reached out and gently tweaked Gir's ear. "We're gonna beat you to the beach if you keep rolling around on the ground," he teased.

Gir gasped in horror and shook Bea harder. "Beeeeeeeea get up we have to beat them Beeeea Beeeeeeeeeeea!"

Ol-j-man