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 Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 3:31 pm
Autumn was not typically one to gawk at strangers, but today she found herself doing just that. She had been on her way to grocery shop, and she saw her. It wasn't that Autumn was interested in women, or even that she was stunned by the stranger. Rather... it was what the stranger had in tow.
Which was basically the cutest ******** dog she'd ever seen in her life.
Awkwardly shuffling over, Autumn bit her lip, and waved the woman down.
"Hey! Um. So I realize this is totally crazy, but I just had to say, you have like, the cutest dog ever? And I'm usually more of a cat person," Autumn laughed, looking from the owner down to the dog. Still, she was smiling.
"I mean. That's probably cause I've talked to more cats, but that's not here or there."
...s**t. She was being weird again. Autumn internally winced, and made a note: stop telling people about other ashdown. Stop telling people she could sing and talk to animals. Basically, unless you've seen them in other ashdown, STOP ******** BRINGING UP s**t RELATED TO OTHER ASHDOWN.
Ugh. Seriously. But she could salvage this, maybe.
"...You know. Like. Being a dork and stuff."
Smooth.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:18 pm
"Oh, thank you," said Lara, who really liked it when people stopped her to talk about her dog. She smiled, her full pink lips curving upwards. "He's my service dog, though, so please don't pet him." She looked down at the baby. "His name is Cerberus the Deathslayer, but I just call him Cerby." Cerby looked up at Autumn suspiciously. Then he said, "Dork?"
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:23 pm
"Oh, of course not! I'd never interrupt such a handsome man performing his duty," Autumn chirped back easily, smiling. It was hard not to pet cute dogs, but like, she got it? When someone asked you not to do something, you did it. Even if it sucked.
Without realizing, Autumn replied to Cerberus, looking straight at him.
"Yeah, a dork is kind of... really enthusiastic nerd? s**t, I don't know how to puppy-explain it," She laughed, not realizing what she'd just done.
In her defense, it had been a hell of a two months.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:27 pm
Lara's brow furrowed. "Are you... talking to my dog? Like for real for real?" Cerberus considered this. "My ward is a dork," he decided, sitting in the middle of the sidewalk quite dignified for his size and stature. "How can you talk to me? Even my ward can't talk to me."
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:30 pm
Autumn froze. The stranger had caught it before she had. Her mouth twitched nervously, and she debated just ******** bolting for a second. But then... if this lady got wrapped up in this s**t, and Autumn had just ditched her? She wouldn't forgive herself.
"Would you believe me if I said yes?" She winced, so incredibly full of regret. Looking down, she couldn't help but laugh at Cerberus.
"This town is a weird place, little man. I can talk to a lot of animals, now," she replied. She was in it this deep anyway... in the back of her mind, Autumn prayed she wasn't going to have to sing again to prove anything.
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:33 pm
"Yeah, I would," said Lara. "Since I can sort of. See through his eyes, sometimes." She smiled, a little sheepishly. "Like Bran can do with the raven in Game of Thrones." Cerberus snorted. "Weird is right. How long you been doing this? I don't remember talking humans before."
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:36 pm
"You know, I'm probably about to be drawn and quartered here," Autumn laughed, rubbing the back of her neck, "But I've never seen Game of Thrones. My knowledge is like. Winter is coming, you know nothing Jon Snow... and that's really it."
Back to Cerberus, then.
"Probably... christ, I don't even remember how long it's been. That's how bad it is," She sighed, shaking her head.
"A month? Ish? It's hard to say. Kinda feels like forever, when weird magic s**t takes over your life."
She glanced up quickly to Lara.
"...It's cool if I swear in front of him, right?"
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:40 pm
Lara looked so relieved, blue eyes rolling in her head. "Oh my god, you're the first ******** person to believe me when I say this, but it's like I see out of his eyes! Vision changes and everything. And no, I don't think he cares if you cuss or not." "Rude," sniffed Cerberus. "What're you trying to do?"
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 10:44 pm
"With everything I've seen and done, I don't have the room to call you on it," and man was she honestly relieved. A stranger who didn't find her batshit crazy. Didn't have to pretend this Harry Potter and the Creepy a** Other Ashdown wasn't eating away at her ordinary life.
"Sorry, little man," Autumn said sheepishly, grinning. "I'll try to keep a leash on my tongue. ...No pun intended there."
She blinked.
"What do you mean, what am I trying to do?"
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 10:21 am
"Gross," Cerby said. He apparently did not like puns. (His tail wagged a little, so maybe the pupper doth protest too much.) Lara watched the exchange avidly. "So you can talk to him? What's he saying?"
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 2:07 pm
"I can talk to... a lot of animals," Autumn admitted, smiling nervously at Lara. "It just came to me recently, and while it's mostly been cats... apparently dogs aren't out of the picture. Um. ...He's not super thrilled with my puns or my swearing, but he asked me what I was doing."
She grinned.
"I have to respect him for standing up for his opinions. Also, he called you a dork. It was a compliment."
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2016 12:23 pm
"Can you ask him if it hurts him when I see out of his eyes," asked Lara. "I don't know how to stop doing it, but I also don't want to hurt him, you know?" Cerby looked up to Lara and wagged his tail. Puppy devotion!
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2016 12:27 pm
"Uh- of course!" Autumn piped, and then turned her attention back to Cerberus.
"She wants to ask if it hurts you, at all, when she sees out of your eyes. What's that like, anyway?" Admittedly, she would've loved to see through the eyes of one of her birds. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it was in the cards for her.
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 8:51 pm
Cerby's ears flattened against his head. "No! She's my ward. My friend." Lara watched the exchange avidly, blue eyes flicking from Autumn to Cerby and back again. "Dunno. It's bein' something else. For a little while."
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 10:28 am
"He says it doesn't hurt, no. You don't have to worry there," Autumn offered Lara a reassuring smile, happy to help Lara and Cerberus understand each other better. It was probably hard, honestly, not talking to animals. She knew what they wanted, what they needed, immediately. Honestly, it was probably good she'd developed this skill just about the time she'd landed herself a cat.
"Anything else?" Autumn asked, to both Cerby and Lara equally.
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