Something Small And Wrinkly This Way Comes!

[gadaboutdetective]

Who; Whoever wants to tag in!
What; One Closed + Two Open
Where; Apartments, Park, Gullwings Office
When; July 26th
Warnings; Adorable wrinkles (A PUPPER), but otherwise I will update if serious things occur!

Note:If anyone wants something specific they are welcome to let me know!



The Arrival - Closed to Rhy

Llewellyn had left for the office, amusingly dragging his heels the whole time. He had never been much of a morning person, and it was harder still to motivate himself to leave when he woke up curled against his husband.

But gone he had, after breakfast and some light fussing with his notes (there were still several trailing towards the door where they’d fallen) he bid Rhy farewell and wished him a good day… And a small, soft promise that if he was going to be late, he’d call. Something said a little more frequently of late after his run in a month ago, a promise Llewellyn did his best to keep.

What the detective hadn’t expected was staying regularly at Rhy’s building would present a rather odd ‘wrinkle’ in someone else’s day.

Outside his apartment in the blue building, some might have noticed a basset hound pup next to a hat box, pawing at the door and making the most annoyed sounds in an attempt to get in. He was smallish, at that funny awkward stage where his paws were a bit large compared to his legs, and his ears were still dragging so low on the floor that he would very easily trip upon them if he got too excited.

But his attention on the door went on for a good ten minutes or so, before the dog let out an annoyed little sneezing sound and turned his wrinkly body to pad downstairs and waited for someone to open the door with all the patience of a dog who knew the world wasn’t made for someone as short as he. Once the door opened, he bolted across the square. Ears dragging and nose snuffling fiercely as he followed the scent trail of who he was looking for from one building to the next. His patient wait was repeated as he came upon the building that had the strongest scent, dashing under people’s legs as he came to a stop in front of the door he was looking for and resumed pawing at it.

Eventually, he let out one of his more impressive howls in hopes of getting the attention of whoever was inside. He was sure that at least one of his fathers was within!


Burning off some energy - OTA

The park had quickly become one of Llewellyn’s favourite places since the festival. It reminded him so much of his world, in many good ways. He had a lot of happier memories tied to the park there. It had been a bit of a safe space… When he wasn’t feeling welcome at his first place of work, it had become his ‘office’, so to speak. It was open, easy to avoid being crowded. The sun above, and nice scenery to look at.

Now that he looked back on it? It seemed like a missed opportunity on his part that he’d never had a dog before. Pretzel clearly enjoyed it as much as he did, racing around in the grass and sniffing around for all the interesting new scents that definitely had not been present in their last world. There was life here, after all.

At some point, Llewellyn realized he was going to need to get the dog a proper harness and leash again. Even if he was trained to listen to some commands pretty well, it was hard to deter a dog who had never experienced the great outdoors in such a literal sense before. There were so many sights, sounds, smells, and creatures he’d never seen before!

Pretzel, as Llewellyn had noted, was extremely sociable. He delighted in attention and wasn’t afraid to dart up to someone to try to get pats or handouts if he noticed another person around. Aside from people in their last world, he’d even made friends with some very unlikely creatures (including both rabbits and wolves).

So… Say hello to the ridiculous, wrinkly creature tripping over his own ears in front of you!


Bring Your Pup To Work Day - OTA

Llewellyn wasn’t entirely sure about leaving Pretzel cooped up in the apartment all day at either of his or Rhy’s places. If one of them were off for a day, sure the pup would get all the attention he needed. But otherwise, he was a growing dog who was at that awkward stage of growth, reasonably well trained but still prone to puppy-mischief. Plus, it was hard to get stern with the canine for his mischief when he already had the most sad, lethal puppy-dog-eyes in existence. It was probably Pretzel’s greatest weapon, and given how spoiled he was? He knew how to use it.

So… Leaving the pup along would just result in Llewellyn’s shoes being chewed up again and who knew what other kinds of messes that only a dog could think of making.

People working would either look down to see a wrinkly pup staring up at them, maybe hoping for ear scritches or a little piece of whatever they might have been eating. Surely other people kept snacks at their desk like his father… right? Of course, Llewellyn was quick to apologize if he caught sight of Pretzel disturbing someone, or exploring where he shouldn’t. “Uh- sorry, he’s friendly! Just… A little stubborn.”

Like him, maybe.

Comments

Welcome Home

[unbreakable_king]

Rhy was also not the greatest morning person. He was just lucky because his place of work was not only closer, but started later in the day. So he had the advantage of being home when the scratching noise started. He frowned at first, not as certain about what was going to be on the other side of the door. But that howl...

In his haste to get up Rhy pushed the chair back too fast and it clattered to the floor. He almsot tripped himself up in the thing as he rushed to the door. And when he threw it open he found the dog.

"Pretzel?" he asked in shock. Could it be?"

[gadaboutdetective]

The dog ceased howling when his oversized ears caught the sounds of life inside again, tail thumping lightly against the floor as he scratched at the door a little more insistently. Someone was in there!

When Rhy opened the door, the pup found himself delighted by the sight of one of his two favourite people. The one who spoiled him and picked him up! How excellent. He was tired of running around as much as he had to get from one place to another. Llewellyn lived on the second floor of the blue building. Stairs had been tricky!

So the Pretzel wiggled wildly in greeting, almost folding in half as he let out some excited barks in a joyful greeting of ‘Hello! I missed you!’

[unbreakable_king]

Pretzel! Rhy resisted the urge to make a loud, pleased noise. He knew that he had agreed with Llewellyn that carrying had to stop, but to have Pretzel just there? He stooped down and gathered Pretzel right into his arm, picking him up and closing the door with a foot.

"Oh my lovely widdle pupper," Rhy cooed as he headed for the kitchen. "Gonna get you water. Are you thirsty widdle boy? And food. Snacks for Pretzel."

Yes, he might have to beg off of work to get what they might need for their boy. And then taken him to Llewellyn.

[gadaboutdetective]

Pretzel definitely approved of being scooped up. Really, why wouldn’t he be scooped up? That was just Llewellyn being very silly, in the pup’s opinion. Besides! Now he could rub his fuzzy face all over Rhy’s for proper greeting kisses! His nose pressing excitedly against Rhy’s cheek as he wiggled.

Happy little whines escaping because: Yes! He was very thirsty, and snacks!! Definitely all the snacks for Pretzel! Because that was him!

It was probably a good idea to pick a few things up. They certainly were going to need to have their little fluff-butt around again. There was a lot more in this world that he could get tempted by and thus trouble to get into. Not to mention puppy things around the apartment.

That said, Llewellyn was going to be delighted.

[unbreakable_king]

"Ooooh my baby fluffer butt," Rhy praised as he took the dog to the kitchen and put him down on the floor so he could get out bowls. "I don't have much for you right now, but I think I still have some ham meant for lunch. Let me just chop it up into smaller pieces for you."

Once he had a full bowl of water he put it on the floor. Then he pulled the ham from the fridge and found a knife.

"Llew is going to be so happy to see you."

[gadaboutdetective]

The pup made a silly little half whine, half bark as he was settled on the floor. Sitting next to Rhy's feet expectantly until the water and ham had been placed down for him, then he descended upon both eagerly (though his attention zeroed in on the ham first) to have his fill.

The pup paused, an intelligent tilt of his head and his ears perked up at the name 'Llew', he had not seen his father yet! Which meant the pup darted off with his nose to the floor and his ears dragging around his feet as he tried to catch the man's scent again. Was he hiding somewhere in this weird apartment place?

[unbreakable_king]

Rhy was happy to get the little pup fed, and when that was done he smiled and picked up the bowls to clean them.

"Hold on, little one," he laughed as he dried a bowl. "We need to pack for the day. A bowl for drinking, water for you. Money. Bags for clean up."

He had learned some of being a good dog parent. And he knew that they had to prepare for a day.

"You're lucky I don't have a leash. YOu're going to have to be carried."

[gadaboutdetective]

Rhy had gotten quite good at being a good dog parent. Llewellyn had trusted his husband with Pretzel completely when they'd been at the sphere. So even if he didn't know Pretzel was here now, he wouldn't have worried in the least. Rhy was better at remembering things than he was sometimes, after all.

The pup at least whirled around though when he realized he was being spoken to and tripping on an ear as he made his way back over to Rhy. Pretzel let out a little questioning whine as he righted himself, almost as if to say 'Of course! Uppies!! We must find other father!'

[unbreakable_king]

Oh what a cute boy. Rhy knelt down for a nice vigorous petting before he rose again to gather his bag and stuff it with things for the day. Bowls, bottle of water, a few pieces of dried meat that he'd meant as a snack for himself and would now be for Pretzel, and once that was on, he reached down to scoop the little pup up.

"Alright. First I have to go to work and tell them I will be in this evening instead to finish my projects."

Why Bring him Tho?

[skyward_eyes]

It wasn't often that the guard liason was required to attend to the Gullwings, but sometimes there were consultations that were needed on work on one side or another. And sometimes Nida needed to check in. Today was one of the latter days, and so he stepped into the building in full uniform, Hibiscus's leash tied to his belt. She scooted in ahead of him with a trilling coo of greeting to the whole room, intending to take her time to beg anyone around for treats. Or to con the more nervous of her fathers into giving her a treat for being the goodest girl.

Still, he had barely made it half a step into the space before Nida's nose started to tickle. Maybe he was coming down with something?

"Good afternoon," Nida said, and barely got past that word before he raised his arm to bury his face in his sleeve and sneeze. That was werid.

Because Llewellyn doesn't imagine the tailor shop would welcome pupper fur! And he needs watching!

[gadaboutdetective]

Pretzel had limited contact with animals before arriving in this world. At the sphere he’d met bunnies, a couple dogs, and one dire wolf. He’d gotten along with every one of them, but this world was so full of interesting life that he’d never met before!

And he wanted to make friends with everyone, because he did so love to be a social fluff-butt. Hibiscus was definitely an interesting new kind of creature that he had yet to meet, and his father had only really been acquainted with her other father thus far. So both looked over as the sounds of someone entering were heard, though Pretzel was the first to move with a curious yip of greeting.

“Oh, hello there?” Llewellyn got to his feet, quickly moving to scoop up the pup (despite his discouraging it) since he was a little too young and excited still to follow commands. It was a new world, and he was going to take a while to calm down. “And... Gesundheit.” He added when the man seemed to be covering up quite the sneeze.

NEVER GOT THIS FUCK YOU DW

[skyward_eyes]

Oh? Noises? Hibiscus warbled in delight, straining on her leash as Nida sneezed again. The yip... it couldn't be, could it? Oh god. Nida unbuttoned his coat and tried to bring it up to cover his face, as if that would help.

"Dwag," he mumbled. "Fur. Hyne."

I WAS WONDERING IF DW WAS BEING A JERK. It needs to stop!!! Being!! A JERK!

[gadaboutdetective]

Pretzel wiggled in Llewellyn's arms as soon as he spotted the warbling creature. It was one of those big weird bird things! But smaller!! FRIEND SIZED!

Father must let him down! Must let him down this minute to say hello! An excited little whine escaped as his tail wagged a million times a minute.

Unfortunately for Pretzel, Llewellyn caught on a little quicker than he might have if he hadn't been to a world before this. "O-oh this is an allergy isn't it, you're allergic to..." Well, he glanced down at Pretzel when he heard Nida say 'dawg.' "You're allergic to Pretzel, aren't you." Hellfire. "Umm..." How do you handle removing an allergen when it was your dog, and you didn't have a place to take him?

CAPSLOCK WILL SOLVE THIS!

[skyward_eyes]

FRIEND SIZED INDEED! And Hibiscus definitely didn't mind being bigger than a dog for a change. Most of those owned by the guard were very big and scary. This one looked like fun.

Nida sneezed again, before nodding to Watts. He waved at the man with his free hand, trying to encourage him to back up. Nida was definitely backing toward the door to try and get some breathing space.

"No meds," he grumbled. Yeah, he hated this. He had to work with these people!

ITS IN THE TROUBLESHOOTING MANUAL AND EVERYTHING /o/ lol

[gadaboutdetective]

Pretzel liked to think he was very fun indeed, but bigger animals could be fun too! Just... Challenging!

Llewellyn kept a secure hold on the pup as he backed up as well, almost tripping over a chair as he went. "Uh... Right, yes, I've allergy medication is usually the answer. I don't know if this world has that..." He really wasn't sure, this world seemed a little behind his own world, and apparently the term 'Allergy' wouldn't even come into use until a year or two after when he was from.

Wait, this place had a second floor... He wasn't sure what that was for considering there were only a few of them, but maybe he could block Pretzel up there? And if he chewed on anything he shouldn't, he could beg Jagger's forgiveness later. "Would it help if I took him upstairs? And uh- got you some water?"

[skyward_eyes]

"Nah if he's ben ther," Nida mumbled, reaching up to pinch his nose as if that would help. "Outside?"

He just needed some space to breathe.

[gadaboutdetective]

Outside? Outside worked. Still, he moved to settle Pretzel down with a quiet command to stay. He... Might listen. Stay was a tricky one for Pretzel. If he didn't want to stay, he generally pretended he forgot what the command meant.

Hurrying away, glad he had longer legs than the pup and could hopefully make it outside first, Llewellyn opened the door and gestured the man outside. "I'm terribly sorry about that. He's still learning, and we didn't want to leave him in the apartment alone yet. It uh- slipped my mind that some people might be allergic."

Burning off some energy

[cetrary]

Aerith had ben bothered by quite a few things lately, especially after the entire truth fiasco. It wasn't like she liked to lie, but it did make things easier. It seemed kinda wrong to think of things that way but that's how she had for a while now. Maybe it came from some of the experiences she'd had as a kid telling people things about their dead loved ones. Or maybe it came from the knowledge she had about the potential future. Either way she'd ended up trying to keep to herself a lot during that ordeal and even now. It just seemed easier.

That didn't mean she didn't have to go out every now and then, especially to tend to the work on her shop. That's where she was on this particular day, outside working on bringing in a few new flowers from a wheelbarrow on the side. The last thing she expected was something excitedly running up to her and trying to nudge her leg for attention of some kind. She stumbled back, nearly dropping her pot.

"Oh jeez," she reached out to the wall quickly to try to steady herself. "Hello there little buddy. Where'd you come from?"

[gadaboutdetective]

Llewellyn admittedly hadn’t been able to do much to help around the shop for a few weeks after he hurt his arm in the weird garbage-monster-spirit attack. He’d felt quite bad about that, having come to enjoy his time learning from Aerith.

So he would be quite pleased to see her and find out how she’d been once he caught sight of her, but at the moment he was occupied with trying to find Pretzel. The pup was far quicker than he expected that he would be on those stubby legs, and it seemed his progress with obedience training had... backslid a little.

Hard for it to not when there were so many new sights and sounds, though! The pup wiggled insistently at Aerith, little yips in greeting. She was, after all, going to be a new friend in his opinion! Did she like to play? Did she like treats? Did she like to pick puppers up and cuddle them!?

Important questions, you know.

Of course, it wasn’t meant to last, as Llewellyn’s voice could be heard not far off. A slight edge of panic to his tone as he was still trying to spot the dog. “Pretzel?? Pretzel, where have you gotten to, bud? You know this isn’t going to earn treats. I’m going to tell Rhy to not give you upsies for... three days if you don’t come out!” Yes. Llewellyn knew dogs didn’t really respond to full sentences, but it was a habit, and Pretzel still seemed to notice his voice.

When he wanted to, anyway. And right now? He wanted to make a new friend instead.

[cetrary]

After a little tilt of her head Aerith put down what she was holding in order to give her full attention to her excited looking new friend. She started with the ears and then just kept on enthusiastically giving him a generous amount of attention. "You like this?" she asked with a laugh. There was no denying the dog liked it and she couldn't help but smile brightly at it. At least it was nice to see something so happy and innocent for a change. The dog's ears perked up when a voice called out and she stood up to turn to wave at Llewellyn as he came towards them both.

"I guess we found your dad, huh?" at least that was what it sounded like from what he was saying. "Is this your little friend? Could you really deny a face like that...upsies?" No, there was probably no denying this little guy anything.

[gadaboutdetective]

The pup loved the attention, especially on his ears. Yes, Aerith was going to be another one of his new favourite people. Pretzel did adore being spoiled with attention, and she had a nice energy about her that didn’t put him on guard at all, as some people might.

At the words ‘Dad,’ Pretzel seemed to remember he’d been out with someone. His ears perking and his wrinkly face swiveling excitedly to let out one of his louder barks as he spotted the detective. Clearly eager to show off the new friend he’d made, his tail thumping happily against the grass.

Llewellyn’s shoulders sagged a little with relief as he spotted Aerith and Pretzel, ending his rather panicked hunt. They really needed to find a harness and leash set. His training wasn’t quite sticking when there were so many new sights and smells around in this world. At her question, he offered her a grateful smile. “Indeed, he is. Newly arrived a few days ago. So he’s quite excited to explore.” The detective responded with a smile, crouching down next to her to offering a few good ear scratches to the pup’s head.

“I can certainly try to deny him, but it is very hard. Although, Rhy is far more likely to give in on the matter of upsies first.” It was adorable and amusing how much his husband doted on the pup. One day, Pretzel would be quite heavy and it would be a problem.

[cetrary]

"Are you excited, buddy?" she said with a bright smile as she gave him a few more pats. "Lots of places to explore, people to meet, and treats to get, huh?" she frowned slightly and tapped her lip thoughtfully. "I don't have any treats though I'm afraid. Maybe I'll have to start carrying some." She might actually consider that if she was going to have a new little friend running around. She tilted her head inquisitively towards Llewellyn.

"Where did he come from?" Then she put a hand up to try to cover her burst of laughter at the word upsies again. Why was that so funny? "Is that so? I figured you'd both be tied for giving in about upsies."

[gadaboutdetective]

So many things to explore, scents to smell, people to meet, and definitely treats to eat. But Pretzel was a gracious pup, and he would forgive Aerith for not having treats today. She was giving him excellent pats and ear rubs, after all, and that definitely counted for something!

Llewellyn shook his head a little at the question, it was still a bit weird to think about it. "Pretzel is actually a puppy I was granted while at the Sphere. Rhy and I didn't expect we'd get to see the little guy again, but he showed up along with my hat a few days ago." And he got the distinct feeling that Raimon had delivered on the request, but he hadn't gotten back to the curio shop to talk to him about it. He hadn't really believed the man's boasting about getting just about anything before, but he did now.

Llewellyn blinked a little at her laughter, a sheepish smile crossing his face as he realized why she probably laughed. He had learned a lot of fun words that he normally wouldn't have used before, it was the magic of being fascinated with languages and being around people from different worlds and eras. Sometimes? Sometimes he might even break out the word 'cool' if given a reason to. "Well, I've been trying to get his training sorted, and one of us has to be the strict one... right?" Another funny mental image.

"I read that a fully grown basset hound weighs about Sixty-three pounds on average. So it seems rather smart to break him of his need to be carried around all the time."

[cetrary]

"Pretzel, huh?" Why was she not surprised by this name? She smiled though, it was a cute name to go with a cute little buddy. "Wait, it came from the other place you were in? That's..." she rubbed the back of her neck and tilted her head down as she looked at the little guy. "That's weird." Weird seemed like a pretty nice way to put that actually. It was beyond weird and it made her wonder a lot of things about this place and the people that had brought them here.

"Mm...someone has to be the dad, right?" It was always the dad that was the strict one, wasn't it? "Put their finger down and lay down the law." Though, in all honesty, she really couldn't see him being that person. She didn't know Rhy well enough to be able to tell if she could see him being that person either. Somehow she just kinda figured the dog at the run of things.

"Ooooor maybe you two just need to start working out more. Get ready to do some heavy lifting!"

[gadaboutdetective]

“Yup... I admit, some questioned me on that name.” He responded with an awkward chuckle. He hadn’t really had to name something before. But it was short and cute, like the pup, and he’d been told shorter names were good for training purposes. “I know I probably should have questioned his appearance here a little more after everything that’s been happening of late... But we were so happy to see him?”

Llewellyn hummed a little, crouching down to give Pretzel some attention himself. “So, it’s weird, but It’s also nice to have him back.” The detective fussed with one of the dog’s ears a bit. “I didn’t really understand before how easily attached people got to their animals, but Rhy and I found ourselves a bit lost without him around.”

The dad, huh? Llewellyn found that kind of funny to think about. He supposed Pretzel was kind of like their kid with how they treated him. A fuzzy, silly, adorable one. “Hm... I suppose you make a good point. He makes laying down the law a bit difficult, though, too darn cute. But! I do have to try. Otherwise he’ll be running things, won’t you, bud?” He already did, in a way. Those sad eyes were horrible weapons. Llewellyn was only marginally better at ‘being the dad’ than Rhy was most days.

... There had been a child back in his own world that he tried to look in on at the local boy’s home. He never would have been able to adopt him, but he liked to make sure the kid was okay and bring him books and stuff. To provide what the people running the place certainly wouldn’t.

Llewellyn was soft at the end of the day, even when he tried not to be. “Weight training, hm? That’s an uh... a rather funny mental image.” He added with a small laugh. “I suppose If I did, I could lug some of the heavier things around for you when your bodyguard isn’t around.” He added, maybe joking, maybe not.