The Last Voyages: IC Inbox

[worthallthis]

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Spam - Seeking out the kennel

[empathicfault]

It's a few weeks since Will has arrived on the Barge, and he's gotten about five or six recommendations to come here by now. He's wanted to get himself familiar with how the ship works first, but now- he can finally check out the kennel.

So he heads over one morning, during his break, and sticks his head in. Locating an actual person, he awkwardly shifts on his feet, saying, "Uh, hey. I heard you had hours for spending time with the animals?"

[worthallthis]

The animals are, in fact, right there. There's a cat on the back of the cushy armchair, another cat curled in a cat bed by the back wall, a dog sprawled on the couch, and another dog on the floor at B's feet-- plus a goat poking her head curiously over a half-door into another room.

B's sitting on the couch with a book, which he sets down immediately to smile at Will. "I sure do. C'mon in. You want dogs or cats?"

The dog at his feet, a brown spotted setter mix, is already thumping his tail hopefully at the idea of more pettings.

[empathicfault]

As soon as Will sees the animals, his expression relaxes and he smiles at B. "Uh," he replies, even though has a clear answer. "Dogs, please."

No offense to the cats, but he's already crouching down near the setter mix. He holds his hand out to allow for sniffs and licks, but clearly it won't be long before he's petting the dog. "Hi, there," he says softly to the dog.

He manages to wrench his attention away long enough to look back up to B. "What're their names?"

[worthallthis]

"That spotty fellow you've got there is D. Short for Dog. Because-- it's a naming scheme which Steve thought was funny, because of my name," B explains a bit sheepishly, while D happily snuffles at Will's hand and then ducks under his whole arm, up against his knees, begging for those all-important pets. "This lady up here--" What looks like a mix between a goldie, a border collie, and maybe a husky. "--is Libby. Short for Liberty, again because Steve thought it was funny."

He gestures in Will's direction, and Libby hops off the couch to come say hello, too.

[empathicfault]

"Hey," Will says warmly in greeting to both of them. After the introductions, he crouches down to be more on their level. "Good to meet you, D, Libby. My goodness, you're fluffy." That was to Libby, as he pets almost a full handful of fur off of her. That just makes him laugh. "Yes, yes. I like you, too," he concedes to D, giving him some extra pets so he knows he's not getting ignored.

Will's eyes are shining with happiness as he eventually gets back to B. "Are they yours? Someone else's you're looking after?" Wow, he's missed his dogs.

[worthallthis]

"They're mine. Well, technically Libby is Steve's, but we're all kinda just one big family now," B grins while the dogs gobble up the attention with clear enjoyment and love, in that way friendly dogs always do. "The cat there, C, she's also mine. The other cat isn't anybody's, she lives in the kennel. I've also got goats, if you're so inclined." He doubts it, clearly the dogs are Will's thing.