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 Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:57 pm
Good thing that Yuki, unlike Reiki, actually had a car. Because hanging out after the Night Market was such a good idea……but it also meant that Reiki couldn’t mirror-walk himself home, since neither Yuki nor Asher knew about him being a magical girl. It also meant needing Yuki to detour by Reiki and Haruhi’s place so he could check on Cersei. Initially, he’d meant for this to mean making sure she had enough water and felt cozy—but then Reiki went to refill his own metal water bottle, and get Asher a drink out of the fridge.
“We’re going over to Yuki’s,” he’d said into his phone, explaining what was up for his Mom. Cracking some ice cubes out of a tray, Reiki held the phone by pressing his ear to his shoulder. He only vaguely noted the sounds of a wagging tail, puppy-paws padding along the linoleum, and metal tags clinking against each other. “Yeah, I know Asher from Scandal’s.… He heard about the wristbands and came out to meet more queer friends.… I’ve been talking to him about the community center too, especially since he’s only nineteen? He can still go to the youth programs or use the youth services for a while. Or not if he doesn’t want to. But, y’know, making sure he knows these things are available, right?”
As he turned to get the filtered pitcher from the fridge, Reiki finally noticed: Cersei had come over and sat herself down beside him. Rather than begging for food, the way she usually did in the kitchen, her big brown eyes and precious little face screamed “Friends??? I get to come too, right???”
And because Reiki could not resist such a request, Cersei got velcro-strapped into her puffy, plaid puppy-jacket and clicked into her L-E-A-S-H. Clearly excited by the prospect of PEOPLE!!, she perfectly kept pace with Reiki on the way back to Yuki’s car, whether that meant bounding down the stairwell or trotting down the hallway or through the parking lot. They made a lovely image together, long tall Reiki and his decently sized white pit-mix, with the floppy triangle ears, brown splotches over one eye and the base of her tail, and a happy little sunshine face that just wanted to make ALL THE FRIENDS. At the car, rather than get inside, Reiki knocked on the passenger side window.
When Yuki rolled it down, he peered into the backseat. “Hey, Asher? Do you want to sit shotgun or are you okay with a guest sitting back there with you? I promise she’s very friendly and well-behaved.”
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2023 10:50 pm
Asher was really enjoying this night out. The house that he lived in with those other people was technically very nice... he had a place, and everything, but he still preferred to be in the house as little as possible—there were just... way too many people. Being in that house... even with his own space... He just didn't want to be there. He couldn't name why exactly being around so many people bothered him, but it drove him nuts. Still, he preferred it to the streets, so he supposed he was stuck. Regardless, this was why he was still staying out with his new friends—going back sounded like work. "Oh my gosh, you have a dog?!" he shouted, beaming at him. "Let her in, I'll take the back, please please please!!!" Very cool of him. Super suave. Ugh, why was he so embarrassing? Couldn't he just... be normal about it, or something? Like, who freaked out so much over wanting to pet the dog, huh? Apparently he did, and that was just so uncool! Just be chill with the dog coming to sit in the back, act like it was fine, be aloof, not... acting like an overly excited six year old. Ugh.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:29 pm
In the driver’s seat, Yuki snorted softly. “You’re almost more excited than the actual dog,” he said, pleasantly and with a smile evident in his voice.
Granted, the relative levels of excitement were probably about equal, when you actually got down to it. For an older dog, Cersei had a lot of energy when she didn’t feel like napping on the couch, or on her little pillow-bed, or in Reiki’s bed. Then, Asher had youth on his side (and seemed to be doing just fine on the energy front). Maybe Yuki couldn’t see Cersei just yet, but if ******** had brought her along on a whim, she was probably eager to come meet people and spend time with them.
“Fair warning,” Yuki told Asher, looking over his shoulder into the backseat, “she’s a ferocious little kiss-monster.”Reiki grinned at Asher’s reaction—he always liked to see someone who appreciated dogs. Opening the door to the backseat and letting Cersei hop in, he told her, “That’s Asher, baby. Go get him.”
Yuki might have oversold a bit how much of a kiss-monster Cersei was exactly. While Reiki slid back into the front passenger seat, Cersei mostly dedicated herself to sniffing at Asher, trying to decide if she liked him or not. Thankfully, by the time Reiki clicked into his seatbelt, Cersei had sat herself down beside Asher and taken to staring up at him with her big brown eyes, clearly expectant of petting.
“Asher, meet Cersei Rokugin,” Reiki said with a little giggle as Yuki backed out of the space and pulled out of the building’s lot. “She likes long walks, warm hugs, and skritches bestowed on the brown splotch right at the base of her tail. Also, all your food is secretly for her, right?”
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 12:41 pm
"I don't mind being given all the kisses," he said with a soft laugh, watching Cersei carefully and letting her sniff him. He offered his hand slowly, until he could scratch her ears and watch her tongue loll out with happiness, tail thumping against the seat. "It definitely is," he confirmed to Reiki with another laugh, giving Cersei more rubs with both hands now. He continued petting her vigorously until they made it to Yuki's place and piled out of the car. "She's adorable." There, at least he'd calmed down now. Acting more like a rational, sane adult. That was the point, right? He had to truly grow up sometime and acting like a toddler wouldn't help his case of being an adult who could mostly take care of himself. Which was something he really needed to do. He had to prove it somehow. Because he wasn't really doing a good job of being an adult. Running away at age sixteen hadn't helped much with that. He probably had missed out on a lot of important stuff he needed, but... he knew, even if he didn't know know anymore, that staying at that home would have been too much for him. He had the very intense impression that he wouldn't be alive right now if he hadn't fled that home.
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2023 12:02 am
“Perfect answer,” Reiki told Asher with a little bit of a laugh. “At least, from the dog’s perspective.”
From the human perspective, Reiki took care to refrain from spoiling Cersei on human food too much. He loved her dearly, and he never liked denying her anything. But for all he knew what foods she could eat safely, Reiki also cared very much about keeping her as healthy as possible. The fact that there was higher quality control for some dog foods than for some human foods……certainly was an aspect of late-stage corporate capitalism that deserved for someone to send it up like Upton Sinclair had once done to Chicago meat-packing plants, in a fruitless attempt at getting people to care about the horrific conditions faced by the human workers. But Reiki had too much else going on to be that person, and so he was resigned to simply taking the best possible care of his baby.
At least the traffic right now wasn’t too bad, so they made it to Yuki’s pretty quickly. Thankfully, there were plenty of open spaces, and the one right in front of the house was not wide open. Getting out of the car, Reiki took back Cersei’s leash, then stood aside to let Asher get a look at Yuki’s place.
What Yuki had called “home” for the past few years in Destiny City sat on a corner lot a few blocks off from North End Park. Although the Queen Anne style architecture, with its mix of brick and other materials, had clearly been built in an earlier century, someone had visibly made plenty of more recent additions—including a staircase, not visible from the street, that led from the window of what might have been an attic (or simply a very high-up bedroom) to the ground, with a little landing about halfway down. Ideal for someone to parkour on, or so people who did such things had informed Yuki (he, personally, preferred to avoid any stunts that required his feet to leave the ground). Around the side of the house, a wooden fence with a locked gate kept the backyard contained—perfect for when Cersei had the zoomies or just wanted to be outside.
“Welcome welcome,” Yuki said, pushing his glasses back up his nose and vaguely gesturing at the porch. “******** calls it ‘TARDIS House’—”
“Yeah, because it’s bigger on the inside.” Humming idly, Reiki let Cersei have enough leash to go over to sniff around the sugar maple in Yuki’s yard. He threw Asher a smile. “You’ll see what I mean. The number of rooms that fit into such a small-looking façade? It’s wild.”“No, it’s geometry,” Yuki pointed out. “The front-facing façade doesn’t show off how far back the house and the lot go. Anyway, shoes stay by the door, please, Asher?”
Waving for the two of them and Cersei to follow along, Yuki headed up to unlock the door.
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Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2023 12:52 am
"Hah, I guess I'll also call it the TARDIS house," Asher joked, despite having absolutely no idea what he was talking about and resolving to google it later. The awkward shyness had suddenly creeped up on him so he smothered it. He was just going into a house. It wasn't that big a deal. He kicked off his shoes at the door as directed and followed them inside, letting out a low whistle. "Wow, you've really cleaned this place up, huh?" he observed. "It's nice."
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