Outside MHA; Sunday Afternoon [03/27].

[died8yearsago]

Snowbound with a new puppy and no electricity.

Yeah, Rosa's weekend was great, how was yours?

Arlo 2 was restless as hell, dancing and prancing in front of the balcony windows, barking and wagging her tail when she looked eagerly at Rosa and barked again, pranced, put her paws up on the window, pranced some more.

"Trust me, girl," Rosa informed her. "You do not want to go out there."

...but then she started to whine. The barking, the prancing, Rosa could handle. But once that stupid little dog plopped her stupid little butt down and gave her the largest, saddest eyes ever and started to whimper...

"Goddammit."

Rosa got up, reaching for a sweater. And a hoodie. And a coat. "Okay," she said, then reaching for the leash, "but remember. I warned you."

So she and the dog were going outside, the dog practically ready to explode from excitement, and almost the exact moment they stepped outside, Arlo 2 made a break for the large embankment of snow that had collected right outside the door. And, just as quickly as she'd jumped into it, Arlo 2 learned a very important lesson that snow was a whole hell of a lot colder and wetter and softer than it initially looked.

And a puppy-shaped hole in the otherwise perfectly rounded snowbank was the funniest thing Rosa had seen in a while. She didn't even feel bad for laughing, until that first whimper and the sound of struggle came from deep within the hole. "Alright, alright, you big dummy," she said lovingly, as she waded into the bank to try to help her out. "Lesson learned."

Funny thing, though, about snow and wiggling puppies. They could even take a former ballerina and current sort-of ninja down with surprising ease, and a few seconds later, there was a Rosa-shaped hole in the snow as well and she had a newfound sympathy for how difficult it had been for Arlo 2 to get out.

Yup. Great weekend. At one point, Rosa just stopped trying to get up out of the snowbank for a moment and just stared at the sky, hating everything.

[[and, yeah, it's open. And she's out of the snow, but still hanging out freezing to death because her dog is a dork and still playing in it ]]

Comments

[puppy_fair]

The thing about running an animal shelter was, whatever the weather, the animals still needed to be fed. And so Zack was out and about today, in the storm, making his way with Girl (who had been very insistent on going with him, and who seemed to be handling the weather well, what with initially being from a place called Glacia) back from doing his rounds of Furnado.

To his relief, the island had provided the place with a fireplace, which it had caged off thoroughly in order to avoid any animal-related fire incidents, and none of the tanks had so much as wavered in temperature. The birds seemed to be doing fine. The chickens on the roof were... well. They were cranky but otherwise fine themselves.

And Zack, who had gone outside in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, was now stopping to kind of blink at the pair in the snowbank. He was pretty sure most people didn't generally go outside in weather like this to sit in those, but hey, what did he know? He'd been raised in a jungle.

"Is that comfortable?" Girl trotted over to sniff at Rosa's feet. "Or would you like a hand getting out of there?"

[died8yearsago]

"It's....cold," said Rosa after a moment, pointing and flexing her foot to shoo away whatever was sniffing at it. And Arlo 2, who had seemed to have gotten comfortable and cozy in the crook of Rosa's neck, sensed the other dog and got excited, scrambling up, scratching Rosa (which thankfully didn't hurt because of all the layers), and smacking her in the face with her tail (which did kind of hurt because she was pretty sure her cheek was frostbitten now).

And then leaped up out of the snowbank, no problem, to say hello, hello, hello.

Leaving Rosa to grunt, wondering if Arlo 2 could have pulled that off the whole time or if she was only able to finally get out at Rosa's expense.

"And, yes," she added, though it pained her so, "I would like some help."

Two arms shot out of the Rosa-shaped hole expectantly.

[puppy_fair]

Girl's tail was a-wagging as she greeted the puppy -- hey, she remembered her from the sometimes place that her person used to visit her at before she'd gone to the upstairs place for good -- but she was a good girl, so she managed to keep the jumping sort of playing to a relative minimum.

Zack, meanwhile, smiled faintly as he reached forward and hauled Rosa out of the hole with minimum effort. She didn't weigh anything anywhere near what the sword he swung around one-handed did. The benefits of the SOLDIER treatment at work.

"There you go," he said, not letting go until he was sure she had found a foothold. "Upright."

[died8yearsago]

Alro 2 was not quite so good a girl yet, so she couldn't help bouncing around excitedly. She was very chatty, too, making little noises and a couple of barks, tail going a mile a minute, wondering if the other dog knew about snow. She'd just learned about snow. Snow was great, she was going to show the other dog.

"Thanks," said Rosa, as she begun what would be the very long process of brushing snow off her arms, out of her hair, off her ass, "I appreciate it."

She honestly didn't want to think about how long she'd be stuck there if he hadn't come around.

"Hey, aren't you that dude from the pet shop?"

And that's when Arlo 2 jumped right back into the snowbank, with the same amount of vigor as the first time, and the same overwhelming sense of regret and despair once she remembered that snow wasn't really all that great, and Rosa was going to need a moment over here.

[puppy_fair]

"I'm that dude from the pet shop," Zack confirmed, glancing at the second dog-shaped hole in the snow. This time, it was Girl who went in to fetch her. She did, in fact, know snow! She was from a place that had lots of it, though she hadn't gotten to play in it since she was about Arlo 2's size herself.

So now there was a third dog-shaped hole in the snow, though Girl didn't seem quite so bothered by it as she snuffled and bunny-hopped her way over to go fetch the puppy.

"She really takes to the snow, huh? I guess this is her first time really getting to play in it."

[died8yearsago]

"She would not shut up until I brought her out," Rosa rolled her eyes with a groan, an accusing glare toward the sky for creating this entire situation she was in right now. "I mean, I get it sucks being cooped up all day, but..."

She shook her head, glancing back just in time to see Arlo 2's adorable stupid head pop out of the snow, tongue hanging as she panted cutely.

"She is going to catch a cold, isn't she?"

And the constant sneezes were going to be too cute to freaking handle.

"My whole next week is going to be puppy snot everywhere..."

But just look at that dumb face!

[puppy_fair]

That face was a quality dumb face. Zack laughed a little, idly dusting some snow from one of his bare arms.

"Puppies are going to be puppies, I guess," he offered. "If she does end up catching a cold, bring her in to the shelter. We've got vets there who can take a peek at her to make sure she'll be okay."

They were pretty good about that. And it wasn't like they charged the crazy prices you'd see on the mainland, either.

[died8yearsago]

"Good to know," Rosa said with a nod, and now her knitted brow was focused on Zack. "Also, how the hell are you not cold right now?"

She'd think he was just posturing like some guido from Jersey (is that why he wore his hair like that??) if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't even seem very bothered by it, either.

[puppy_fair]

"Oh, um." Zack glanced down at himself and frowned a little. "Honestly, I can't remember a time I ever really felt the cold. It's sort of just the way I'm put together, I think."

And before he was put together this way, again, jungle.

"I know it's not really normal. I don't even think about it unless somebody points it out."

It was one of a multitude of strange things about him. He was, after all, genetically the same as a monster.

The hair was something else completely.

[died8yearsago]

"Weird," said Rosa, who never shied away from calling a spade a spade. But she'd be lying if she said she wasn't jealous of that right now.

She spared a glance over her shoulder to make sure her dog was still romping around in the snow with the other dog like an idiot and not quickly becoming a dog Popsicle, and, seeing that they were okay, turned back, lifted her chin, and asked, "You ever heard of a Polar Bear Plunge?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack tilted his head a little at Rosa, clearly curious, now. "I'm guessing it probably doesn't involve actual bears?"

That was about the best he had.

[died8yearsago]

"No," Rosa said, with the faint hint of a smirk on her face. "It's this thing they do back home at Coney Island every winter, where you go jump in the cold ass ocean. You'd probably be a shoo-in for it."

[puppy_fair]

"Huh," Zack blinked. "Uh, why do they do it? Just thrill-seeking?"

Because it wouldn't be much of a thrill for him, but he had to admit, he couldn't pass up an opportunity to show off if it was right there.

[died8yearsago]

"It's also for charity," Rosa offered; the dude worked at a pet shelter, she figured charity could be a good draw. "Personally, I just do it to get out of Christmas caroling with my family."

Yes. Because jumping in the freezing ass ocean was preferable to Christmas caroling with her family.

[puppy_fair]

Zack could have joked about running away to join the military at the age of twelve to get out of Christmas caroling with his family, but he'd done it for the adventure. He didn't even have Christmas in his reality.

"Charity, huh?" But yes, this was, in fact, a good draw. "Any charity in particular? Or does it vary from event to event?"

Because he could absolutely be persuaded to go for a swim for a good cause.

[died8yearsago]

"I mean, they've been doing the Coney Island one for Special Olympics for a while now," Rosa said, "but it's probably different wherever you go. A bunch of places have them. I don't know, Google it. What do I look like, an Encyclopedia?"

Sure, it's not like she's the one who brought it up or anything.

[puppy_fair]

"You're the one who's done it before," Zack pointed out, reasonably. "Google is that search thing people get to on their phones, right?"

His phone? Also not from Earth.

... And yet it was a Panasonic.

[died8yearsago]

Hell yeah, she'd done it before, even without weird immunity to the cold.

Still, Rosa snorted. "Yeah," she said, "Google's that search thing people get to on their phones. Also their computers. But computers are pieces of shit that never work right."

Because maybe all you did was hit them at the first sign of an issue, Rosa?

[puppy_fair]

"I don't have one anyway," Zack replied with a shrug. "Well. There's one at the shelter, but the vets mostly work with that."

This was probably for the best. If Zack were to hit one, he'd put it through a wall.

[died8yearsago]

"I'm sure they get just as frustrated with them, too," Rosa said, wondering if they had to deal with old, outdated programs and, ugh, spreadsheets.

By this time, Arlo 2 had decided she officially didn't like the snow at this moment and went trotting up to Rosa, plopping down and lifting her paw to nudge at her shin and get her attention. Not missing a beat, Rosa swept down and picked her up, scratching behind her ears while she happily panted away.

And then promptly sneezed in Rosa's face.

"Awesome."

And the snot froze immediately, too.

[puppy_fair]

Zack grimaced a little at that. Oh boy. And here he was without so much as a tissue to offer her for that.

"Maybe get her in out of the cold," he offered. "And once we have power back, if she's still sneezing, bring her in to get her checked out." He paused, and then added, "Even if we don't have power back, if you're worried at all, get in touch with me and I can put one of the vets in contact with you. I'm in the phone book-- Last name Fair, and I live in the apartment upstairs from the music store if the phones are out."

Because there was no way he was going to let a puppy go sick for long if he could help it.

[died8yearsago]

"I'm sure she'll be--" Rosa started, but before she even finished her sentence, Arlo 2 was squirming again, climbing up onto her shoulder, and making a very impressive jump toward the snowbank again.

Rose sighed. "--fine. But I'll definitely keep that in mind."

Arlo 2 was going to put them all to shame if Rosa ever brought her along to a Polar Bear.

[puppy_fair]

Zack nodded and grinned faintly at the dog in the snow, as Girl trotted up to take a seat beside him, covered in snow herself.

"Okay, good. And if Girl's done here, I ought to be going, I suppose. Should I stick around until you get her back out of there just in case, or do you think you'll be okay?"

[died8yearsago]

Rosa waved her hand. "I'll be fine," she said, rubbing her arms slightly, glancing over to where Arlo 2 rolled over on her back, wiggling her butt, inviting belly rubs that will totally have to wait because she was not going to encourage her or look like she totally loved giving belly rubs in front of other people. "She'll get tired eventually, and by then she'll have jumped through so much of the snow that it should be easy to pull her out."

[puppy_fair]

Zack glanced toward the puppy for a moment as well, and then just grinned.

"Fair enough," he replied. "I think Girl helped tamp some of that down, too, so your job should at least be a little easier."

He nodded back at Rosa.

"It's good to see she's so happy, though. I'll leave you guys to it." He nodded down to his own dog, who happily pulled herself back up to her feet, and then he gave a little, casual wave to Rosa. "See you around, hey? Stay safe in this weather."

[died8yearsago]

Rosa's lips pressed together slightly at the happy comment; of course she was happy! Sure, she wasn't the most conventional pet owner in the world, but she wasn't a monster over here. At least he didn't send spy squirrels. She would have known if there were spy squirrels...

...of course, deep down she knew that it was just coincidence, but she'd never pass on an opportunity to be angry about something.

Still, she nodded, lifting a hand marginally from where it rested on her folded arms. "Yeah," she said, "you too."

Which, by Rosa's standards, was practically obscene with friendliness.

[puppy_fair]

Hey now, Zack had said so happy. He figured the pup would be fine. To see that she was practically incandescent with puppy joy was pretty darn great. Still, if there was something amiss at all with Rosa's reaction, he apparently missed it, giving her a sunshiney smile of his own before looking down at Girl, grinning at her, too, and then turning to head down the street, his dog trotting along merrily beside him.