75 Godiva Street, Thursday afternoon

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had attempted to take the dog back to the shelter again, yesterday, netting himself looks ranging from bemused to suspicious from the shelter staff -- save for one woman, who merely gave the puppy a knowing look and said "One of those, is she?" and proceeded to attempt to give Eliot a stack of coupons for dog supplies and microchipping.

He'd inspected the cage area they kept the puppy in for holes or other weaknesses and walked away secure in the knowledge that the facility was solid, but couldn't quite bring himself to be surprised when, upon coming home from checking in at Luke's after the power went out, he found the dog sitting on his front stoop again, this time with an old fashioned valentine in her mouth.

He was living in a town where fireplaces spontaneously appeared when the power went out. Of course there were escape artist dogs here, too.

"I can't keep you," he warned her as he opened the door and let her in (there was a blizzard going on, he wasn't evil). "I'm serious about that."

The dog yipped around the valentine and made a beeline for his leather chair again. Eliot sighed, kicked the snow off his boots, and followed after.

[ooc: can be open, should anyone have a reason to stop by]

Comments

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker was somewhat less stealthy than usual in her entrance to 75 Godiva. Although she still broke in from the roof.

And then yelled downstairs, "SNOW!"

[vdistinctive]

The puppy sat up and let out a little bark when Parker broke in. Then started wagging her tail excitedly when she hear Parker yell.

Eliot sighed and hoped it wouldn't pee on his chair. "WIPE YOUR BOOTS BEFORE YOU COME DOWN!"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker had decided to abandon them just inside the room she'd used, so she was scuffing her socks as she slid downstairs.

"PUPPY!" Things that make Parker happy: Fuzzy animals and snow. "Does the weather do this all the time? And did you know there's a magic fireplace at my place now?"

[vdistinctive]

"No," Eliot said. "And I could guess." He gestured to his own magic fireplace. "I've got a generator, but so long as it's warm enough in here, I figure it ain't worth wastin' the gas."

The puppy bounced on the chair and tried to scrabble up onto the back of it so as to be in an even more convenient place for all the pettings! Eliot winced every time her little puppy claws caught on a seam.

Well. At least she wasn't chewing on it.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"I thought you were taking her back to the shelter," Parker added, slip-sliding over to be closer to puppy and fireplace. "I thought you were going to find her a 'forever family.'" Actual air quotes around that phrase.

[vdistinctive]

"I did," Eliot said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Twice." He gave the puppy a suspicious look. "She's almost as good at turnin' back up as you are."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker reached over to pet the puppy, face gleeful. "Houdini puppy! Good girl!" She sent Eliot a wicked smile and then seriously to the dog, "I'll show you how I got in later." Because clearly the puppy needed to know that.

[vdistinctive]

"Please don't encourage the puppy," Eliot said, his tone indicating that he in no way expected this to work.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"I could call you Bunny if you were my puppy," Parker told the dog, ignoring Eliot's interjection. "But maybe you'd find that confusing." She settled down next to the fire and added to Eliot, "There's a trip-thingy that the students are going on after next week. We should do the job Hardison's been talking about then."

[vdistinctive]

Yeah, Eliot was going to just skip right past the whole "name that puppy" conversation. "What, you don't want to go on a cruise with the students?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Ugh." Parker clarified, "I like them, some of them are really smart. But I think that would be weird."

[vdistinctive]

"Ain't disagreein'," Eliot said. "Job it is. I haven't punched anyone who wasn't a sim in weeks."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker beamed. "Hardison will be happy. He has suggestions. Also a new bow tie."

Someone had been catching up on his Mister What adventures while left alone.

[vdistinctive]

"Why the hell would anyone need more'n one bow tie?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Something about blending in to academia and ... anthropological necessity."

Parker had no real idea either.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot didn't even have words for that. Just baffled staring.

The puppy decided that meant she should jump up in his lap and make herself comfortable.

"I'm startin' to think Hardison's been spendin' too much time alone, these days."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Maybe?" Parker looked out the window and frowned. "Do you think the storm will be over by Saturday? He said we had plans. Valentine's Day. Chocolate."

[vdistinctive]

"Way it's coming down, I'd be surprised if it keeps it up through the night." Oh Eliot. That's adorable. "You guys'll be fine for your date."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker hummed in consideration. "You have plans for it? Or is that not a thing?" Like Parker would know. Hardison was the one who really cared about the lovey-dovey traditional stuff.

[vdistinctive]

"Might hit up a bar," Eliot said. "Pretend to be social."

It was a little skeezy, sure, but there really were usually more women out and about who were open to being hit on on Valentine's Day than other days of the year.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"You could call up that Vic person. Even if she is a cop." Parker wrinkled her nose in memory of that, but Vic had smelled better than most cops.

[vdistinctive]

"Might at that," Eliot said. Any woman who responded to 'there's a tentacle monster in the freezer' with 'you want some help with that?' was okay in his book, cop or not.