York (badlocksmith) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-06-13 16:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, agent washington, agent york |
Who: Agent Wash and Agent York
When: Early April
Where: Wash and York’s House
What: Moving into their new place
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Wash had been out of the military coming up on four years now, most of which he’d spent in Orange County. Interestingly enough, he had not amassed a whole lot in the way of “stuff” in that time. He had his mattress – memory foam which he bought after a Dream bleedover had left him literally bleeding to death in bed. He had the boxes of comic books that Carolina had rescued from his mother’s garage and the banker’s boxes containing his files that had been taken out of Dr. Church’s storage unit. He had his video game console and a modest size flat-screen TV (purchased after the first round with the EMP in his armor had accidentally gone off and fried the last one). He had his armor, of course and a few other Dream gifts, most of which lived in his van these days. Carolina had shot his computer back in January and Wash hadn’t been able to climb out of a whiskey bottle long enough to begin constructing it again. All of his clothing fit into one and a half rucksacks, and what didn’t he donated or gave away. All he had in the way of knick-knacks were the skateboard he gotten from the dreams and the picture of his squad that had been taken just before their last deployment as a team. He used more boxes to pack up the items belonging to his pets than he did for himself.
Everything fit nicely in the back of his van. Sophie sat up in the passenger seat on her blanket, tail wagging happily. She loved car rides! Suda, however, whose cat carrier occupied the floor in front of the seat, did not, and she had no problems expressing her displeasure with guttural yowls. Kojima’s carrier was snug in the space between the driver and passenger seat. He also wasn’t happy with the ride, though his quieter cries were drowned out by Suda’s much more instant complaints.
“We’ll be there soon, Suda, I promise,” Wash tried in vain to placate his cat. “You’ll like the new place. There’s much more room for you guys.” Though, Wash knew already that Suda was not going to be pleased with either the move or her new roommate in the form of Scooby. At least not at first. She had warmed up to Sophie eventually in her way and Wash was sure she’d do the same to Scooby eventually as well. In the meantime he was going to have to be prepared for her demonstrations of irritation.
He pulled out of the apartment complex he’d spent the last four years in and made his way across town to the house York had found for all of them. Wash pulled into the driveway and let Sophie out of the van first. He knew she wouldn’t stray too far, but kept her on her leash anyway. She happily snuffed along the ground, taking in all the smells while Wash retrieved both Suda and Kojima from the van so they could be brought into the house first.
Moving sucked. Moving was the worst. Moving brought up all the dust and broken dishes and unpaired socks and so much trash. How did one person and one giant dog create so much trash? It was absolutely insane. There were files and clothes he didn’t wear, books he didn’t read, electronics that didn’t work. After several loads to the Goodwill and to the Dump over the last couple of weeks (along with renting a UHaul to get rid of some bigger items [his stand alone freezer that just wouldn’t fit in the new place]) York had finally worked his way down to a movable amount. He still needed to hire movers to help with the big things. The armoire, the dresser, the bed, his armchairs (two of them, leather recliners, best purchase ever) and the fridge/freezer combo… thankfully the movers were able to do a lot of the big stuff already.
York wasn’t sure how he’d gotten to this point in his life, but he was kinda glad that it was the last move for a while. At least, he hoped it would be. If Wash and Anna wanted to live together, or something, he wouldn’t stand in the way. Maybe by that time he will have found himself a girl. ...maybe.
The whole moving process was long, hot, sweaty, and incredibly dusty. The movers had finished putting all the furniture into place, but now there were boxes of things that needed to be unloaded: plates and pots and pans, silverware, the blender and the toaster… the books York had collected. He had to unpack all his clothes, and make his bed. Toiletries. All of it made his head spin, so York settled into one of the leather recliners to wait for Wash to arrive.
Somehow Wash managed to bring in both cat carriers plus hang on to Sophie’s leash as he came through the door. He did have to gently kick the door closed behind him. Sophie was even more excited to be in the house than she was to be outside in the yard. Her front paws danced on the tile floor, her tail wagging. She kept looking up at Wash, waiting with just enough patience for him to release her to go explore.
“Hang on just a sec, Sophe,” Wash told her. Both Suda and Kojima were still crying from inside their carriers. He looked around for somewhere off the floor to put them. He didn’t want to release the cats just out into the house without properly introducing them to Scooby first. It was controlled chaos in his arms until he was able to find a table to put the wailing cats on so he could stoop down unleash Sophie.
The dog remained at his side, looking at him dutifully until he gave her the command to “go play”. Then she bounded off to smell the smells and quickly found York in the living room. She greeted him by sniffing at his feet and then putting her head against his leg and looking up at him with eyes hoping for a Good Girl head pat.
Scooby was outside in the yard, exploring. It was a miracle that he didn’t go off like a fog horn when Wash and his animals came in through the front door. He was absolutely huge now, over six months, and still growing rapidly. York was going through so much dog food. Ridiculous amounts of dog food. The expensive kind, too, since Scooby was York’s baby.
“Hey!” York said, perking up instantly at the sight of his good friend, Sophie. He leaned forward in the recliner and brought both hands over to rub at her neck, ears, and head. York was one of those guys who felt that petting a dog wasn’t complete unless the dog got a few good licks in on his face. “Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl?”
The sound of his master’s voice brought Scooby galomphing over to the sliding glass door so he could look in and figure out what was going on. As soon as he saw York with another dog, he started up on an angry howl and bark.
While Sophie was busy greeting York in the living room, Wash took the two cat carriers into the room that now belonged to him. He closed the door behind him before opening both the carriers. Instantly Suda was out of hers. She froze only a few steps away from the carrier when she realized she was in a strange place. She looked around carefully before darting into the open closet.
Kojima left his carrier cautiously. A little braver than Suda, the kitten didn’t immediately hide. Instead he seemed happier to explore. Wash stood in the bedroom and watched him a moment to be sure he was alright. He also checked the closet and found Suda just inside the door. She wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon.
“You two hang tight for a bit,” he said, “I’ll get your box and food.”
He was on his way towards the front door again to head outside and get the rest of the animals’ stuff when he heard Scooby barking through the back door. Wash made his way towards the sound and found Sophie in the living room with York and Scooby outside barking at them. Sophie was looking at him, her head cocked to the side.
“You wanna go outside?” Wash asked and instantly Sophie gave a happy yip in response.
Upon seeing Wash coming towards the door Scooby’s tail started to wag and he barked again. Wash opened the door and quickly grabbed hold of Scooby’s collar before the large puppy could come barreling into the living room. “Wait, Scoob. Wait,” he said as he pushed him back across the threshold outside. York needed a little help training his puppy and having been trained by Carolina along with Sophie, Wash had the experience to share.
Sophie remained where she was watching the door and her human carefully, her tail still swishing on the floor. When Wash gave her the “outside” command, she jumped up and rushed outside. Wash let go of Scooby’s collar and the two dogs rushed to play and explore.
“Whew.” Wash flopped down on the couch next to York. “How much does he weigh now?” He asked his friend with a slight grin. “80 pounds? We’re going to have to teach him ‘stay’ soon. He nearly pulled my arm out of the socket trying to get in.”
It was pretty much the first day, but it felt good to have a roommate. Different from when he was crashing on his brother’s sofa, and different from when they all lived together as a squad. Much less lonely than living on his own. Even after only a few minutes, York already felt less alone. And that was the point, right? Well, besides having enough of a joint income to get a yard for their dogs.
While Wash was letting the cats out in his bedroom, York grabbed a treat from the mason jar of Milkbones he had on the coffee table. He offered it to Sophie while they waited for Wash to come back in.
Wash was so good with the dogs. With all the animals, really. York was looking forward to spending more time with Kojima and Suda, too. And he supposed Anna came as part of the deal, too--she’d be over a bit, wouldn’t she? York liked the kid, so he didn’t mind. Anything to make Wash happy.
“Yep. Almost.” York flopped into the chair beside Wash, stretching back on the recliner. It was incredibly comfortable, and he’d taken the initiative to purchase a second one for Wash. Side-by-side Recliners in front of the tv. Aw yeah. “He’ll probably be twice that weight when he’s full grown.”
“160 pound dog.” Wash laughed. “Yeah, we’re really gonna have to work on getting him trained. At 160 lbs he’s going to own the two of us.” He watched the two dogs chase each other around the yard. Wash wasn’t sure how old Sophie was, she was definitely not a puppy when they’d found her, but she seemed able to keep up with Scooby just fine.
It was tempting to just sit in the chair and put his feet up, but there were other things Wash had stuff that needed to be unpacked and eventually Suda and Kojima would want something to eat and drink and then, eventually, a box to do their business in. He glanced at York, “you wanna help me bring in the rest of the stuff from my van?”
“Hell, he already owns me.” York was man enough to admit that Scooby already had him wrapped around his little paw. It was only going to get worse as Scooby grew and the bond between them strengthened. York was gonna have to sign up for puppy training classes or something. He didn’t mind it. Actually, it sounded like fun. Hard work, but the fun kind of hard work.
“Yeah, sure.” York took one last gulp out of the soda he’d been drinking, then climbed up out of the chair and stretched a huge stretch, arms sticking up and out in weird ways. When he yawned, it was a whole-body experience. And he scratched at his stomach absent-mindedly. “How much stuff do you have left?”
“Couple of trips worth,” he said. “Most of it I can probably bring in myself, but I could use some help with the mattress.” Wash got to his feet and stretched as well. No matter how much or how little stuff someone had, moving was always a pain in the ass. Having someone help haul the big stuff was always a help. The two of them may as well take advantage of the dogs playing in the yard to get the big items in first. “What about you? You got all your stuff in, or do you still need help?”
“No problem.” York scratched at his stomach where the shirt lifted and exposed some skin. This was one of those days where York was wearing an old t-shirt and some pajama pants. He was taking it easy, after having moved all his heavy junk… basically putting off taking that shower for as long as he could. “Yeah, it’s all in. Now it’s just time for rearranging and unpacking.”
He moved toward the door to help Wash with the rest of his things from the van. “We can do more of that later. Set up the entertainment center and all that.”
Wash had never had an entertainment center. At the last two apartments, a simple console table had sufficed to put his TV on and his video game systems had been content to live on the coffee table. Now with two dogs in the house (especially one as large as Scooby) having a safer place for his expensive hardware was probably a good idea. A place where it wasn’t apt to get knocked to the floor by an errant tail.
“Did you end up keeping everything from your apartment?” Wash asked as the two made their way towards the front door. Already he could hear the pitiful mews of Kojima coming from his room. The cat was done exploring and wanted out into the rest of the house. Letting him get a look around while both Scooby and Sophie were outside was probably a good idea. Wash could let the kitten do that while he and York arranged a few things in the house.