InsaneJournal

WHO: Gourry and Alecto
WHAT: Meeting Gourry's dogs and being awesome
WHEN: Toooday?
WHERE: Gourry's apartment
WARNINGS: Shenanigans, Alecto, piranhaconda
STATUS: Complete when posted~


Gourry ran a hand through his hair, glancing around the apartment. He wasn’t a messy man, but he also wasn’t the cleanest either. Still, it looked reasonably nice. The dogs were on their best behavior, sitting next to him happily while Miss El was off somewhere… doing Miss El things.

It didn't feel all that long ago that Alecto had mentioned she hadn't met Gourry’s pets. It was perhaps the most unusual sort of family like meeting. Alecto was usually good with animals, though. She tended to be better at animals than people, so she wasn't too concerned. It was more the generalized feeling of having feelings. She was ready to blame a planet for this mess. Astronomy was dangerous. So was Astrology, but she didn't pay much attention to the latter.

Staring at the door, Alecto raised a hand to knock before she paused and looked at the door. After perhaps a minute of standing there, she forced herself to knock because standing there awkwardly was stupid and she refused to be stupid about knocking on anyone's door.

Gourry opened the door and smiled at her. “Hi,” he chirped cheerfully, moving aside to let her in. “Come on in. Meet the family,” he joked, laughing.

Alecto walked in, gaze settling on the dogs sitting there. “Pretty furry family you've got here.” Fighting the urge to smile, she looked up at Gourry. “So who is who, then? I'm going to need introductions.” Because she wasn't sure about the names. She remembered Miss El, but that's because that was the cat and there was only one cat. She'd remember once she met the dogs, though. She was pretty sure of that.

“Butter and Toast,” Gourry called, and up came the yellow and brown labradors. They wagged their whole butts and tails, eager to sniff her but keeping a distance. “Hold your hand out and they’ll come over,” he smiled. “They’re good pups.”

Alecto studied Gourry for a moment before she took a seat on the floor and held out her hand. Like he said, they did come over and it wasn’t exactly long before she was being covered with dog kisses. “Tell no one,” she said, laughing even as she said it and petting the dogs. “I have a reputation to uphold.” Ignoring the fact that Hawke and Isabela knew well enough that Alecto and dogs went together like most good things. She was no stranger to just sitting around and letting Dog pretend he was a lapdog. She was also not opposed to lying on the floor and letting Dog lick her face.

Gourry smiled even happier, walking around toward the counter where Miss El was sitting, glowering toward the dogs and Alecto. He ruffled her fur, causing the cat to growl and stalk off before he turned back to Alecto. “I didn’t mean to pick up three animals, it just sort of happened. Those two were siblings and I couldn’t find it in me to take one and not the other. Then I saw her and something about her just made me want to bring her home too. I think she’s like Lina,now that I have those dreams.”

“I meant to get animals, but then...I didn’t. Well, except for Napkin. He was an accident, though.” A purposeful accident. In that she meant to make him out of a napkin-bottle, but not in that she meant to keep him. It was basically Gourry holding him that made it stick. “But I was supposed to have dogs.” The big kind. “But I guess it makes sense about the dogs. Only then I’d end up with more than two...probably.” She didn’t want to think about that. That was a lot of dogs. “She came over to eat food in front of me and tell me not to break your heart. Also she insulted Napkin’s name.”

“How could she insult an innocent name like Napkin?” Gourry pouted softly. “It’s a good name.” He then grinned. “Yeah? She’s just being her.”

“Apparently it’s a dumb name. I told her he was aptly named because he is a rabbit that used to be a napkin. He can’t aspire to great things.” She shrugged. It hadn’t really bothered her. Napkin was going to be Napkin no matter what happened. “Yeah. I know. It was kind of funny. No one’s ever had that talk with me before. Or at least not with me on the being threatened side.” But hurting Gourry pretty much seemed like kicking a dog, which just wasn’t something she was interested in. Quietly apologizing to the dogs, she pulled herself up off the ground, laughing as she felt the dogs squirming on either side of her and trying to lick her hands. “I’m very popular as you can see.”

Wiping at her face with the bottom of her shirt, Alecto laughed. “I’m covered in slobber. On a scale of one to ten, how much of a deterrent is dog slobber when it comes to kissing. Should I wash my face?”

Gourry moved to her and leaned in, lightly pecking her on the lips. “Not at all.” He shooed the labs off, the two listening rather well--although still excited they had a new person to love on--and moved away.

Alecto felt a weird twisting of the stomach that she’d learned to identify as a normal reaction to kissing someone you liked or really being around them. Sometimes even just looking at them was enough. She didn’t comprehend the reason behind it and she was pretty well aware that her stomach wasn’t doing anything weird. It just felt that way. “Well, that’s a relief, because I wasn’t sure that I…” She paused, shaking her head. “Nevermind. I don’t know where I was going with that anyway. It probably would have sounded stupid.”

“I don’t think it would have,” He smiled at her. “So, this is my boring little home,” he gestured around. “It’s not much, but I have a guest room and my own room, so I guess it’s a little more than a shack.”

“That’s because you like to think I am the smartest, best person ever. Which is obviously true. Because I am the smartest and best person ever.” She glanced around the place. “Boring’s not so bad. Mostly because I’m super interesting, so I’ll make up for it.” But she was feeling mildly nosy, so she walked around to get a better look at things. “I’ve seen worse places. I’ve lived in worse places. I didn’t actually need to live in them because my parents have a lot of money, but I didn’t really want to use their money to get a place when I could just...do it on my own. It was back when my brother was married. His ex-wife didn’t like me. Probably because she was a crazy person. Also because I’m awesome and it’s easy to be jealous of me.”

Gourry smiled, watching her happily. “Feel free to go anywhere. I don’t hide anything. I think I’d forget if I did. Can I get you anything though?”

Alecto shot him a quick smile before snooping a little more. “You know I have a few questionable responses to that question.” She wasn’t even sure he was going to follow her. “But no. I don’t really need anything.” She walked back toward him. “Can I get you anything?”

Tilting his head, Gourry looked confused. “Get me anything? No, I think I’m good… I mean, I could get us something to drink?”

She had to laugh at that. “You’re cute when you’re confused.” She lifted up on her toes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I like you. Which I guess you know, but maybe not? I don’t know. But...you know. I don’t...do this often, so I’m trying...to not be weird about it.” Which was hard when she felt weird. “Um.” She fidgeted slightly, not something she did often. “I was kind of being weird when I first told you that you were attractive and the kissing and stuff.” Sooo bad at this. “I was thinking we could probably keep doing this whole dating...thing. If you’re up for it.”

Gourry smiled wide, tilting his head to kiss her in return. “I’d like that, because I like you too.”

There was a strange feeling of relief at that. “I think you’re the only person I’ve ever asked. I didn’t realise how terrifying that was. Ha.” Because he could have said no, even if she didn’t think he was going to. She was pretty sure she was pretty much good since Lina said he liked her a lot. But still. “You know this means you’re my boyfriend now, right? I will fight people if they try to touch you inappropriately. It could get messy.”

Gourry slooowly glanced up to the ceiling, as innocent as possible. “You might want to come to my work then at the restaurant… I’m a knight and people enjoy trying to touch and flirt with them…”

Kind of his point of being dashingly handsome there too, of course. He seemed to get hired easily thanks this looks.

Alecto lightly hit his chest. “Are you trying to make me jealous on purpose now? Because...okay, it’s kind of…” She sighed, resisting her first word choice. “Annoyingly attractive.” She was not sure why. “If anyone gets too handsy, let me know. I’ll totally kick their ass. I’m awesome at that.”

“I can get you a table for free, you know,” Gourry smiled at her happily, completely ignoring her previous question. He totally was, though. “I’d like you to come see what I do before I head to the bar.”

She hit him again for good measure. Ass. “Fine I’ll come see what you do before you head to the bar. Just don’t let any more horses stomp on your feet. I haven’t taught myself healing spells yet.” If someone got hexed while she was there, she refused to take blame. “For the record, I have never been to one of these things before, so make it interesting.”

“I’ll definitely be showing off for you,” Gourry winked at her. “It’s really nothing too special, but I get to use swords in this day and age. It makes a lot more sense to why I feel so… attached to them in this world.” He pulled her gently to the couch, sitting down. “How about your dreams place? What do people do if they can’t use magic?”

Alecto rolled her eyes, but it didn't stop her from smiling. “Swords are cool. Never used one, but the Founders did. Godric Gryffindor had one. I mean, he's no Salazar Slytherin, but…” None of what she was saying probably made any sense, but she didn't think it mattered. Alecto would have liked to say she put up even a little fight about being pulled toward the couch, but she didn't. No resistance was offered. She sat next to him, almost laughing at the question. “We can't use magic in the muggle world. Statute of Secrecy. You can get in trouble for that.” She paused. “But our cult sort of does it anyway along with the killing and torturing of innocent people. We're really bad rule followers. But I dunno. Guess it depends on if you can't use it because of that or you can't because you don't have it.”

Gourry nodded. “That makes a lot of sense, actually.” He tapped his chin for a moment in thought. “So only people with the dreams can have magic in this world then, huh?”

“Yeah. I think that’s the general idea. If they dream about having magic.” She shrugged slightly. She was glad that she had magic because she didn’t really feel like she was made to be mundane. “Lucky for me, that means I have magic.”

Gourry nodded. “Just to be honest here,” he sucked in a deep breath, “I have no idea of what to do next since this is the majority of the apartment. Watch a movie? Order something to eat? Go back down to the ground and let the dogs slobber on us?”

Alecto tried not to laugh. Really she did. “We could probably do all those things. Just do not make me watch Disney and I won't make you watch crime documentaries.” Because watching things about serial killers and things like that did not usually appeal to people. She didn't have to worry about it when she was by herself. She could watch anything she wanted. “No romantic comedies either. Preferably something where someone is punching someone or Liam Neeson is basically fighting bad guys and torturing them would be fine. Since I chose the food last time, you're on the spot this time.”

“Pizza?” Super easy go to delivery. “So that means you like to watch him chasing people that kidnap his daughter then?”

“Pizza is good,” Alecto agreed. You couldn’t really go wrong with pizza. “Who doesn’t like to watch Liam Neeson chase people who kidnap his daughter? I don’t know. I don’t trust them.” She smiled, something a lot closer to genuine than her normal. “Also, be prepared for bad Syfy movies because there’s a lot in your future. Lavalantula, Airplane vs. Volcano, Megapython vs. Gatoroid.” A smirk. “And all the Sharknado movies. Are you prepared?”

Gourry looked contemplative. “You know, I think those science stuff is probably some of the only things I can follow.”

“I’m saying that’s because they don’t really make any sense and are just hilarious. There’s also one I haven’t watched yet about giant spiders that are mutated to withstand the cold and come out of the ice and kill people. Craaaazy!” But definitely she looked excited about it. The bad Syfy movies were always the best. DINOSAURS COULD ATTACK AT ANY TIME. Really, who didn’t want to watch people flail around and scream while poorly made CGI dinosaurs attacked them? No one. Everyone wanted to watch that.

Gourry handed her the remote as he stood up to go to his computer. He quickly pulled up the nearby pizza place and began to work on the order. “What do you want? And go ahead and pick the movie then!”

Alecto took the remote, determined to hold onto it after choosing just in case he tried to stop her. She found her way to the Syfy channel, delighted to find Piranhaconda playing. “Oh goodie. This should be terrible.” As for the pizza. “Um...everything but not the mushrooms. They are evil and will steal your soul.”

Gourry looked back at the television and stared. “...Those aren’t real, right?” he asked, just to be sure before he finished ordering the meat lovers pizza with cheesy sticks and wings. Then he headed over to the couch again, sitting down next to her.

Alecto cackled. “Maybe not, but who can say? I mean, I believe it. A snake and piranha got their genes spliced and it was born from an egg. Sounds legit. People totally do that shit.” Which was a lot of bullshit on her part, but once an asshole, always an asshole. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe and fight off the dangerous piranhaconda. I was made for this job.” Her eyes lit up slightly. “Do you think one would ever show up in the OC? Then we could fight it for real! That would be the best. Probably also the messiest. I already fought zombies once. Exploded them. Now that was messy.” Because who didn’t talk about exploding zombified people right before eating?

Gourry looked a little disappointed that he had missed so much, but he had a feeling that things would happen again soon enough. He did wrap an arm around her though, gentle, and pull her closer. “Hey,” he mumbled softly into her hair. “I can protect you too, you know. You can depend on another person now.”

Alecto went still for a moment, not used to the whole...cuddling thing. Or the being protected thing. “I’m not…” She scrunched up her nose slightly. There was a moment where she really considered kissing him just to avoid the weird feeling the words left behind. “So you’re going to fight piranhaconda? Because you seemed a little hesitant. I mean...have you seen it? It already ate two people.”

Gourry laughed! “Of course I’ll fight it. I fought scarier things in the dreams, like this guy called Shababadingo that could have destroyed everything. Or something.” He shrugged. “For you, yeah, I’ll fight a piranhaconda.”

Somehow that did not make it better. “Okay. Not to discredit this Shabbawhosit, but that is a stupid name and I’m pretty sure it’s the kind of name that everyone should laugh at. Kind of like Herman or something.” She stared at the TV. The acting was seriously terrible, but that’s what made it great. “Just don’t hurt yourself because...well, I’ll still kill a giant snake-fish monstrosity, but also I’ll punch you. And you’ll definitely have deserved it.”

“Alright, deal,” Gourry laughed gently.