Adora (grayskullshonor) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-06-19 10:19:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | adora (she-ra), count d |
WHO: Adora and Count D
WHAT: Puppies
WHERE: Count D’s Pet Shop
WHEN: 12 May
RATING: PG
STATUS: Complete upon posting
Puppies weren’t one of D’s best sellers and this was largely due to his rules about them. Parents came in with children who wanted a puppy, but didn’t want the responsibility of one. The girl on the net named Adora felt like a good match for a puppy. So D let his puppies know that they would soon have a visitor. They wagged their tails excitedly and D smiled, then went to go light his incense.
On his shoulder was R-Chan, his rat companion. The Count hadn’t dreamed in months, but he had a feeling they were coming soon. If his darling Detective was having them, then D’s would surely follow. In the sitting area, Chris was playing a few puppies while T-Chan lounged nearby, rolling his eyes and Pon-Chan made herself busy with a coloring book.
When the overhead bell rang, D went to the front to take his position, a slight and waify young effeminate man in his cheongsam, this one done in black and pink silk with embroidered cherry blossoms on it. The incense was picking up, making a hazy mist all over the shop. When he saw it, D brought his hands together and gave her a slight bow.
“Welcome to Count D’s Pet Shop,” he greeted the pretty blonde. “Where are your dreams come true. Are you Adora?”
***
Adora tipped her head, closing the door behind her and offering the person who spoke to her a warm smile. After Daphne had called her out on using her red carpet smile on someone the other day she was being much more careful not to let her work persona filter into her private life.
She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when she walked in, having never actually been inside a pet shop before, so the interior was a surprise. She’d sort of imagine a kind of interior like the shop in Gremlins for some weird reason. This definitely wasn’t that.
“Yeah,” she said, “it’s nice to meet you properly, uh…” Was his name Count D? Was that a stage name? “No one successfully convinced me not to take a pet so, like, here I am.”
***
“D,” the Count reminded her with a calm, easy smile.
She almost seemed nervous. The Count was used to nervous. A few of the birds chirped happily, but she was here for a puppy, not a bird.
“I understand,” D assured, then gestured for her to follow him. “Right this way.” As they walked, animals sprang up from different places. Rabbits and birds and kittens, all vying for attention. D stopped to touch a few, but ultimately ended up near the puppies. Their tails wagged so furiously that they were just a blur. A few spun around on their nests D had made for them.
“Do you have a particular breed in mind?” he asked. Oh, he hoped she didn’t.
***
“D,” Adora repeated with a nod. “I like, didn’t know if your name was Count or anything, like, I didn’t wanna offend you.” She smiled, following along behind D and only getting distracted once or twice by cute animals that were up against the edges of their cages - or whatever they were in, not all of them were in cages. They were so cute that Adora stopped in her tracks a couple of times to say hello to them, a little upset that she knew for certain that she couldn’t bring even a fraction of them home with her as much as she might have wanted to. And she really, really wanted to.
She felt herself repressing a squeak when she finally approached the puppies and saw them all. They were adorable to the point where her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest. She wanted to just climb in and sit on the floor with them and let them climb all over her.
“No,” she answered honestly, “but my friend says ‘cause I travel a lot a smaller dog would probably be better so I could bring them with me all the time when I got to set and stuff?”
***
D smiled a little, nodding just enough to show he understood.
“Some call me Count,” he said. “But it was my father’s title. You may call me whatever you wish.”
As the puppies clambered for attention, D noticed that one was still in a corner, sighing to himself. A lovely male golden retriever.
“Perhaps,” the Count replied, but he reached in to pick up the retriever who was most decidedly not a purse dog. He gently petted the animal on the head, scratching a little behind the floppy ears with a long nail. It was his every intention to get Adora to notice the pup who might just have appeared to be a little boy with large eyes, being petting and skritched by the frail looking Chinese man.
***
“Like a literal Count? With land and stuff?”
Adora hadn’t noticed the little boy before, so when Count D - D? What did the D even stand for? - picked him up and settled him on his hip, she looked visibly confused as to how she’d missed a kid in the puppy pile and what a kid was even doing there in the first place. He looked cute and sad, though why he was being pet was entirely beyond her understanding.
She opened her mouth to ask something but instead looked at the other puppies in that were all wagging their tails, yipping and some of them wobbling about on their hind legs but her attention kept coming back to the boy in D’s arms.
“You- uh- okay, I gotta ask. Why’s there a kid in the puppy pen? I mean not now, but before, and how did I not see the kid?”
***
“You would have to ask him yourself,” the Count answered. “He should be back soon.” Soon, of course, being broad terminology for the likes of D and his family.
“A kid?” D asked, cocking his head slightly to the side, the knowing smile never leaving his face, though he did seem to be genuinely surprised.
“This is a puppy,” he informed her. “A Golden Retriever at that.” The Count placed the puppy down and petted his head some more. The puppy sat down and looked sappily up at the woman who may or may not be adopting him. “One of the most loyal breeds.”
***
“No, that is a child,” Adora argued, but she was beginning to doubt herself a little. What was in that incense? Maybe she should have taken Nebula up on the offer of company. A guy that ran a pet store wasn’t likely to be a mass murderer but also the incense was clearly making her see things. He looked like he knew what she was talking about, he had the look of a guy that was always a few steps ahead and honestly, Adora was always left in the dust of people like that.
She sat down on the floor instead, holding out a hand to the puppy and was surprised when she felt a wet nose nudging her fingertips, followed by the rough lick of a tongue.
“They’re the breed that are like, seeing-eye dogs and stuff, right?”
***
“I beg your pardon, this is a puppy,” D insisted, and as a puppy would, this one went over to inspect. If the puppy chose the human, D would also find ways of convincing her that this was the pet for her.
She’d stopped arguing about it, though, and that was good enough for the Count.
“Sometimes,” he replied. “Most of the time, they’re pets. Intelligent and brave, the Golden retriever can become a best friend and companion.” It was a pity animals didn’t live as long as their humans on average.
***
Adora was visibly weirded out by the fact that she was seeing something that wasn’t a puppy. She started thinking about how she would feel trying to attach a harness, collar and lead to something that didn’t look like a puppy to her. She didn’t know if this was some weird way of selling children or if it really was a dog and she was seeing things.
The only other thing giving her pause (or paws, haha, as she felt little pads pressing against her ankle) was the size the dog would grow up to be. Travelling a lot, Adora needed a dog that would be acceptable on airlines: it wouldn’t be fair for a dog to be left behind all the time when she went off to shoot somewhere for a few months at a time, or even for a few weeks. She looked at the little boy (dog?) again and then back up at D.
“Let me speak with my assistant. I don’t want to end up getting a dog that I would have to leave behind when I travel. I know some airlines don’t let the larger dogs travel without being in the cargo hold and that seems unfair.”
She got to her feet and held out her hand to shake. “I’ll call? About the puppy? I wanna make sure that my job isn’t gonna mean he’s on his own all the time.”
That, she knew, was the first step to being a responsible pet owner.