Solo Of Hounds and Pycons (Job) Part 1

[Ana Sol Starris]

Fall 15th, 512AV Afternoon, Jakobis Stables The day was calm, albeitly chilly as the autumn season was setting in- Ana found herself in the most peculiar situation. Two adult dogs romped about in the grasses as the horses munched away lazily at the dying succulent greens that were preparing for the cold, their 2 puppies also getting in on the fun with their parent canines. Why of all people was she the one to take care of these mutts.. Dogs.. Frequently having to find herself watching her mouth over what she called them. They didn't look scruffy or unfed, actually, they seemed to be in perfect condition despite being riding dogs. The alpha male was a golden retriever, while the alpha female looked to be a black labrador, their two puppies an odd mix of the two- adorably so of golds and browns. Though Ana had to be truthful with herself, she never liked dogs much and instead prefered cats to the tenacious canines, seeing the feline grace as an envied trait. Jakobi was beside her, laughing at the sillyness of the dogs being performed, a deep rumble starting from his belly and echoing through his throat while Ana just scowled onwards. They had to constantly watch them, and make sure they didn't stray from the pasture, Ana had wanted to keep them locked up- but there was no wheres to put them. Jakobi on the other hand had said it would be better to keep them outside, now, as she looked at her cheerful partner and questioned "what do dogs eat? How are we going to take care of them? I only know how to.. groom horses.. not dogs.." Frankly she must have sounded a bit exhasperated over the new arrivals, remembering the pycons that had come through, clearly, their reasons for not bringing their canines along with them to the city area, it was just ludricrous. "Don't despair just yet Anasol," he wiggled a finger in front of her face, then taking her into an embrace and staring down "I'll teach you step by step, but for now just take a little joy over having these companions here for a bit- after all they'll only be here till the middle of fall." The smile on Jakobis face, Ana just couldn't.. Staring hard at him, she sighed and looked down in defeat, letting her hands rest on him lightly "alright, Mr. Smart Guy." "Hey," the roughly calloused hands took her chin lightly, turning it upwards for her to stare him in the eyes, he leaned forwards for a kiss, but was interupted by two arrows of fur and muscle rushing inbetween the love birds. Seperating them, and causing them to look at the puppies in surprise. One was whining, restless as he tried to get Anas attention, whilst the other just sat, looking at the two expectantly. "What?" Ana questioned to the dogs, as if expecting an answer, a dumbfound expression on her face. The energetic puppy jumped at her, and around, whined some more before letting his tail sink. The other sat and put his paws over its nose. Ana just.. She couldn't tell what they wanted, "what?!" She let out a breathy chuckle, with her irritation levels rising at a lack of know how over these mutts. Looking over at Jakobi expectantly, and back to the puppies "what do they wan-" she stopped, she hadn't looked over at Jakobi- he was gone! Vanished! "Jakobi?" Ana called outloud, eyes scanning the pasture, nowheres, as far as she could tell, there was just the puppies, the parent canines and herself.

[Ana Sol Starris]

At first she just stood there, shocked, where had Jakobi gone? Frantically, her mind began to enter panick mode, what did the dogs want? What? Looking back at them with an eyebrow twitching randomly, and biting her lip, formulating a series of questions. Of course animals didn't talk but if dogs were as smart as they were claimed to be, then they should have an idea or at least mild understanding of the common language. Maybe? Ana prayed in her head, squeezing her eyes tightly for a few seconds, and taking the moment to calm herself with a few deep breaths. Looking down at them, Ana gave a small, forced smile "are you guys.. hungry? Food?" Though they had been giving Ana their undivided attention, she saw their ears perk up, a wag of their tail as if to say 'go on Ana, you're almost there, you've almost got it!' "Thirsty? Water? You want something to drink?" She questioned, the smile slowly and jerkily turning into one of annoyance. The response she got, the puppy that had been whining just yipped, getting up and running in circles and then jumping up at her. Leaving Ana stunned, as she held her arms up to shield her face and at least attempt to keep the puppy from pushing her down. "Okay! Okay!" Ana raised her voice an octave or two, trying to push the dog down, "lets see what we can do for water.." For water, she would need a bowl or at least something that could be easy for the dog to drink out of. Looking to the stables, perhaps if she used something from there. But the dogs had to stay near her, and most of the horses were in the stables, Ana couldn't bear to think what might happen if the puppies made the horses skittish over their presence. What would be better if maybe Jakobi hadn't deserted her, Ana grumped over the suddeness of him being gone. Perhaps he was just letting her walk blindly the first few days without his hand to hold? Thats got to be it, Ana thought to herself a little annoyedly. Maybe he just didn't want her to lean on him like a crutch, think for herself, all thoughts were possibly true but she'd never know truely unless she asked him, himself for the answer. "Stay!" Ana told the puppies, giving them a stern look "Staaay..." she empathized at the two, pointing her finger at them, she knew the parents were trained to stay there upon command, but the puppies? Had they been trained as well to be like their parents? The ex-thief now turned animal care taker watched as the puppies let their ears droop, sitting, maybe they were trained? So if they were, then she could quickly check the stables for a bowl to use, of course there was water for the horses so she could just dip whatever container she found into the water barrel and whoolah- water for the dogs.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Jogging lightly, Ana let the ground travel under her feet as she moved to the stables, she would have to be quick about finding a bowl for the dogs so they could drink. Hopefully the puppies wouldn't run away on her while she searched, the dread that entered her mind at the thought of the Pycon owners being furious over her stupidity. Grimacing, Ana moved faster, sprinting now the last couple of meters, the rate of her heart quickening from both tension and the small run. Glancing over everything, the stalls, fence, the building as a whole- Ana began to rummage through everything that seemed to be a container. Some being far too large, and others way too large; the horses around her in the stalls stomped the ground anxiously at the ex-thiefs behaviours. Everything was fine, just fine, peachy even- until a high yip sounded behind her. Turning around from where she had been searching, she saw the puppies were there now, panting and wagging their tails. "No!" Ana said sternly, straightening up and giving them a horrid look "bad puppies, bad" she began to shake her finger at them "I told you to stay there, not follow." The puppies just looked on at her, clueless to her annoyance, before one of them perked up over at the horses who were slowly becoming skittish over the loud noises. Ana grabbed her head, her panick levels rising at a steady rate on not knowing what to do, some of the horses were neighing, which then sparred the puppies to start barking a storm up around all the horses. "NO! NO!" Ana shouted, "QUIET! SHUSH!" she raged at the puppies, to no avail. The horses were now riled up, the puppies not helping in the slightest and Ana closing in on the last hair of her patience with them. The pressure in her head that was bundling up slowly into a corrosive anger, the loud noises, she began walking out of the stable and calling for the puppies to follow. Getting no response from them, or compliance, she was really, really- and she couldn't kid herself much longer- wanted to kick one of them for the disobedience but she remained calm, albeitly on the edge of a metaphorical cliff. "Puppies! Follow me. FOLLOW" Ana stated, louder, higher than the horses and pointed at the ground in front of her feet for them. Finally now getting them to look over, "FOLLOW" Ana stated clearer, harder, "COME HERE, NOW." Their ears wilted and they seemed to become dejected, or rather- confused over what she was demanding "come here, puppies" Ana said again, motioning now for them to come forwards with them just sitting there and looking at her as if she were speaking a whole 'nother language. It was like that for the longest time it seemed, they- just sitting there with their tails hanging limp and breathing hard through mouths of tounge and teeth, while Ana stood there, trying to regain her cool, and restore her patience with them by talking slower and clearer to the puppies and trying to get them to come away from the stables- all the while the horses becoming more skittish by the chime.

[Ana Sol Starris]

The ex-thief pulled her hair, watching those.... those... mutts! Ana couldn't believe it, she had told them to stay near their parents, were they at least semi trained by those petching pycons? Stamping over to them with a frown, behind the two puppies, and then ushering them away "shoo! Shoo! You're scaring the horses! Shoo!" Waving her hands at them to get out of the stables, they shot up and out, barking and yipping, being the cheerfully oblivious puppies they were. One loud smack resounded on flesh, Ana had facepalmed herself and shook her head. What troublesome animals the puppies were being, horses were far better than these silly canines. "I can't believe dogs are rideable anyways," Ana mumbled to herself as she looked over the containers she had found, choosing the more suitable one and then going over to the water barrel and dipping the somewhat oversized 'bowl' (actually it was a bucket used for gathering water in the first place) inside and pulling up to have a full bucket of water in there. With a slosh, and a grunt, Ana began carrying the bucket to the outside of the stables and setting it down for them to drink out of- except they did not drink. They sat there, panting at her and looking cute, "water, I have water puppies" Ana stated to them and shook the bucket a little bit by its handle "thirsty?" The ex-thief recieved no response besides a yip and a scramble behind her, "w-wah!" Ana called out in surprised, they rushed past her legs and caused her to look behind as well- and froze. It was Jakobi! "Jakobi! Where were you? Whats in the bag?" Ana questioned, half stunned, he had disapeared as soon as he had reappeared really, but with him he had a pycon on his shoulder with a sack on the other. Filled with what? Ana wondered to herself as she looked at the clay man-frog "and how are...you?" The pycons head was that of a frog with a humanoid shaped body, it was just- to be frank- very strange to her. Whatever had inspired this pycon to choose a frog head to mold? "Chipper just like a hot syna day m'dear," the pycon replied with a rather stern Jakobi looking at her. "I heard the horses Anasol, so I came as fast as I could with the dog food" he stated, looking over to the stables and then the puppies that were now staring up at him intently "but then I saw the puppies being shooed out of there, were they giving you trouble? And where are the other two dogs?" Jakobi questioned her, concerned. The pycon nodded and looked around as well, as if expecting his poochies to come sprinting up to them. "Edo, Ratu," the frog man called out, as loud as he could, taking a stand on Jakobis shoulder. The two dogs would come bolting down the pasture, smelling their master close by and then promptly slowing down in front of them "good girl, good boy!" Frogman stated with a cheerful voice, perhaps just as oblivious as the puppies looks. The two adult dogs wagged their tails, and Ana just felt.. Odd.. She had completely forgotten the other dogs names, and then just realized that the puppies themselves- did not have names. None that she could remember, had frogman and his pycon sweetheart ever told her and Jakobi?

[Ana Sol Starris]

Feeling rather incompetent, she shifted from one foot to the other; she really didn't want to be there right now, instead all she could think about was crawling into a hole and dieing there. Stupid dogs, stupid puppies, she couldn't stand these mongrels and mutts, why couldn't the pycons be regular humans and their dogs regular horses? It just didn't make sense to her, and she was quite fed up with little clay people and their antics, as well as their canines antics. There must have been a rather awful expression on her face, because Jakobi redirected the conversation by setting the sack of dryed dogfood next to the hut they used to store tools. "Well there they are, Anasol you can't let them leave your sight for a chime.. Not even," he scolded her, crossing his arms in a rather manly manner. She looked at him funny, before shaking her head and sighing; would it be any use to fight him? "I'm sorry..." she started out, a higher note to her voice "I was trying to figure out what the puppies.." she glanced at Frogman on Jak's shoulder, trying to ask for their names quietly. "Clateri and Yumlo" The pycon filled in for her. "Yeah, Clateri, and Yumlo.. I was trying to figure out what to do.. and.. and.." she floundered on the pressure being put on her. Jakobi waved a hand at her to say no more, shaking his head as well somewhat dissapointedly "no, don't try to explain Anasol, I gave you too much to handle at once" he said to her, and then looked to the pycon with a big grin "at least your hounds are safe still, though I suggest just leaving the puppies here and taking both of the older dogs with you into the Spires since you said yourself they're trained." "Because they're better trained, they should be fine up there" he finished, then looking to Ana, raising an eyebrow "and you little missy, we're going to have to teach you how to handle puppies the right way." "Wh-what?! B-but!" Ana whined at him, she still had to take care of those little demons? "No buts Ana." Jakobi said sternly, raising an eyebrow. Narrowing her eyebrows into a small glare, she tried to open her mouth to argue with him but the longer he stared her down, the more complacent she became. There would be no getting out of this; she raged inside at the indiginity of having to go through this, with the stupid dogs. Oh how she loathed them now, those dogs, and the pycons; she pouted terribly and crossed her arms in a childish manner, looking away from him quite obviously displeased. She would hate every moment. "Hmph! Fine."