What, was "Rudy" on cable last night?

Eliot had Val out for their daily run, cutting through the park, when Val suddenly broke into a fit of barking and bolted towards some trees.

"Val!" Eliot caught a flash of green scales in the underbrush and sighed. "Stop fussin' at that thing and get back here!"

Too late. Val was having a glorious time doing battle with a small mob of gremlins. Like owner, like puppy. Eliot rested his hands on his hips and settled in to catch his breath and wait for her to be done.

( Which was when Sparkle happened by )

[ooc: NFI. Preplayed with the incomparable myownface.]

It'd taken a few days of gathering supplies and drawing up more plans, but Eliot finally managed to get his house properly secured. He finished screwing in the last bolt on the heavy steel bar that now extended across the center of his front door and stepped back to admire his handy-work. You couldn't hack -- or pick -- a ten pound steel bar.

And yeah, okay, he knew it was kind of overkill. He got that. But the pounding headache that kicked up every time he thought about that, about the fact that he was literally locking out two of the people he cared about most, kept him from thinking about it too hard. He had to lock them out, had to lock the whole world out, to keep them from taking the necklace from him. If he had to he'd put in a goddamn portcullis and moat to keep the thing safe.

Val trotted up next to him and pawed at the door, letting out a little whine. She looked up at Eliot and pressed her body against his leg, then pawed at the door again. Time to go out!

Eliot looked down at her, then back up at the door. The door he'd just finished heavily locking and bolting in such a way that it would take several minutes to get open again.

". . . Dammit."

This was exactly why people didn't have portcullises and moats anymore, wasn't it.

[ooc: pretty sure by now he's alienated anyone who would want to come talk to him, but can be open if I happen to be wrong.]

( Non-explicit sex pollen dream sequence says what? )

He lay still for a moment, just staring up at his ceiling and trying to will away the lingering vestiges of the dream, then heard the crash again.

Right. The puppy. Or possibly Parker trying to make 'subtly' wake him up, though he suspected she'd be back on the mainland with Hardison by now. He sat up, looking out the bedroom window. The storm had passed, and judging by the renewed background hum -- and the lack of fireplace in his room -- the power'd come back on in the night. Time to figure out this whole puppy invader thing once and for all. He got up, pulled on some pants, and headed out to see what the damage was.

And saw the puppy on the floor amidst the scattered remains of what had been a nice batch of oranges arranged in a bowl on the counter, pinning a scaley green thing twice her size to the floor, her teeth against its neck just hard enough to establish dominance without breaking the thing's skin.

When she sensed Eliot had come in, she looked up, wagged her tail once, and expertly flipped the thing over onto its stomach with her paws, then grabbed it by the back of the neck and dragged it, flailing weakly, to the front door. Eliot followed after and opened it up, and the puppy trotted outside, flung the thing down onto the front walk, and barked at it until it went scurrying away into the bushes. She looked back up at Eliot, head cocked, then looked where the monster had gone, then back at Eliot.

"Yeah," Eliot said. "Alright." He stepped back from the door, giving the puppy room to come trotting back in. "Come on, then, Val. Let's get some breakfast."

Valentine the puppy yipped happily and followed along at his heels, the teeniest bit of gremlin scale still caught in her teeth.

[ooc: and thus ends the saga of Eliot being adopted by a puppy. Open for interaction if anyone is interested!]

Not having an even remotely puppy proof house, Eliot had decided to take the puppy that invaded Luke's yesterday to the shelter the night before. He'd paid for a vet check up once they'd confirmed she hadn't been chipped, made sure she was settled in, told the shelter people to find her a good home (which was pretty superfluous, but they were very nice about it) and moved on with his life.

He'd been reasonably sure the matter was settled. Until he came home from class to find the puppy sitting on his front stoop, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

( The 'The Puppy Came Back' Job )

He was doomed.

[ooc: mostly for the continuing adventures of the very determined puppy, but can be open as well if someone's interested in stopping by.]