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[darkhourdear]

Who: Phillip and OPEN
What: Phillip takes his dog for a walk! Sort of.
Where: The park
When: Sunday morning, June 23

Pharos always liked taking Gloria for walks, especially when he got to do it himself. Locke City was still a city, after all, and his parents weren't always the most comfortable letting their ten year old son wander the streets. But this time, he got the ok to take his dog to the park.

For most of the way to the park, Gloria padded alongside the boy, a leash being held but honestly it didn't really look like it was needed- and Phillip might not have been able to hold her back. But, once they get to the park, people might see that, or they might see Phillip sitting on his dog's back as she trots around.

Comments

[icy_heavens]

Toushirou, on the other hand, got a little more free rein than that. He was oddly mature for his age, and Granny recognized it. He'd been grounded for a couple days after the mine incident, but even though he was allowed out of the house now, he was only permitted to go a few places: the park, the library, the tea shop.

Maybe other kids would have just done whatever the hell they wanted when unsupervised, but Toushirou wasn't about to push his luck if he didn't have to. That, and it sucked having to lie to Granny. He didn't want to do that without cause, either.

So there he was, getting a little solo soccer practice in, bouncing the ball off trees and heading it off when it came back to him at odd angles. He generally ignored all the bustle of activity around him, but one thing did make him stop and blink rather obviously.

Was that kid seriously riding his dog like it was a miniature pony?

[darkhourdear]

Yes. Yes he was.

From the way the dog's tail is wagging and how she's prancing along, she clearly doesn't mind. She is intrigued by the ball, however, so she starts heading over that way and that's when Phillip spots Toushirou.

"Hi Toushirou!" He slides of Gloria's back, petting her and giving her a treat as she still moves forward to try and nudge the soccer ball. "You play soccer?"

[icy_heavens]

Most people would probably find it cute or funny or something, but Toushirou was the far too serious sort and thus it just kind of boggled him. He never claimed to be a normal kid, okay?

He let the dog nudge the ball. Not like it was a big deal or anything. "Yeah."

[darkhourdear]

Gloria pretty much just pushes the ball around a little with her nose. At least she's not chewing on it, right? "Cool! I play too, I was on a soccer team this year."

[icy_heavens]

And Toushirou may be nudging the ball around a bit with his foot, too. No, he didn't want to watch the dog follow the ball because it was cute, or anything. What would give you that idea?

"Yeah, me too." This was the part where most kids would invite the other to play, right? Maybe. While Toushirou wouldn't object, he tended not to invite other people to do stuff. It was a thing.

Being social was hard.

[darkhourdear]

That's ok, Phillip knew how it worked. "D'you wanna play sometime? I kind of miss it since school's out and everything." His team wasn't a part of the school, but all his teammates were also classmates.

Gloria reaches out to paw at the ball, trying to bring it back in her reach so she can nudge it again.

[icy_heavens]

He lets her get ahold of the ball. It's almost strange now to interact with an animal that can't speak in the human way. Maybe he's gotten a little too used to the network already.

"Sure, why not?"

He itches at the scratches on his arm. After a week, they're mostly healed, but it's still obvious that something had gotten him pretty good there.

[fallsalot]

There's a girl a few years older than Phillip at the park already. She's feeding pigeons from a bag filled with bread crumbs: when they hop close to the park bench she's perched on, she sprinkles the crumbs and small pieces out for them to take. It's relaxing and she likes doing it.

She catches sight of the dog and the boy out of the corner of her eye and turns with her hand still outstretched and a few crumbs that haven't yet fallen. A pigeon hops impatiently and she looks down when she hears the soft click-clack of its talons on the pavement and she drops the bread and gets to her feet.

"Hello," She calls out to them as she raises a hand to wave. "Wow, your dog is really cute! May I pet it?"

[darkhourdear]

Phillip smiles at her. "Sure you can! Gloria, sit." The dog sits obediently next to him, panting loudly and tail wagging as it leans forward slightly to sniff this new girl. Phillip reaches out with his free hand and begins to stroke her side. "She's really friendly; she won't bite or anything!"

[fallsalot]

Selene bends her knees to crouch down and holds out her hand so that Gloria can sniff at it. She hasn't been around any other dogs or even any other animals aside from the pigeons she was feeding before seeing them and Gloria should be able to tell that by scent.

"She seems very nice." With her other hand she reaches up to pat the dog's head and stroke her fur. "How long have you had her?"

[darkhourdear]

"We got her when she was a puppy, so I guess about five years?" Phillip keeps a hand on the dog just in case, but she's very well behaved, leaning forward to sniff and then lick Selene's hand.

[fallsalot]

"Oh, that is a very long time!" Five years is more than a third of the time Selene has been alive and probably a bigger portion of the time Phillip has been alive. She giggles when Gloria starts licking her hand. "You two must be very close."

[darkhourdear]

"Yea! I love her a lot." Phillip smiles and gives Gloria a little treat when licking Selene's hand is no longer interesting. (He tends to give her a lot of treats.)

[talktothedoll]

Mort always liked spending a quiet Sunday morning in the park, particularly after the events down in the mines. It was a good way for him to collect his thoughts and indulge in a rare bit of downtime before flinging himself back into his work. He was reading a newspaper while sitting on a park bench, a cup of coffee sitting on the bench next to him. Although he's rather engrossed in the paper, that's no excuse for being completely unaware of his surroundings.

He hears the sound of a dog on a leash, and he looks up only to be surprised that the dog is being walked by the little boy he saw on the network. "Good morning, there!"

[darkhourdear]

Phillip had been slightly distracted by a really cool looking bug in the grass, but he looks up and grins when the doctor from the network speaks. "Good morning!" he says cheerfully, walking over with his dog following close behind. "This is my dog, Gloria! Sit, Gloria." This last bit is obviously said to the dog, who sits down next him and happily takes a treat from the little boy.

[talktothedoll]

"She's very well-behaved. Did you train her yourself?" Mort had a feeling that the dog was large enough in comparison to the kid that she would have dragged him around if she weren't willing to listen to him.

[darkhourdear]

Pretty much. "Mom did a lot of it... but I helped!" Phillip was maybe five when they got her, so the help had been pretty limited. But he had tried, and he'd managed to teach her a trick or two since then.

[talktothedoll]

"I'm sure you were a great help." Mort liked kids; he'd helped to raise his niece after his brother had gotten divorced, and he knew they generally liked to feel like they'd been big helps. "Are your parents here helping you walk her?" It was something to keep in mind; many parents didn't like it if their kids stopped to talk to strange men on park benches.

[darkhourdear]

Phillip beamed at the pseudo-praise and shook his head at the question. "No, they let me walk her all by myself today!" This was obviously quite a big deal to him.

[enrages]

DOG CHALLENGE DOG CHALLENGE DOG CHALLENGE DOG CHALLENGE

The cutieass dog challenge has begun. Karson's still grounded, but his dad has granted him the freedom of walking their dog-- otherwise, his dad would have to do it, and that man ain't got time for that shit. So it's Karson's job, which he doesn't really mind. What he does mind is when his dog likes to run amok at the park and sniff/piss on/shit on everything. But hey, Karson's dog is a dog, and all dogs want to say hello to other dogs, so he makes a run for Gloria, forcing Karson to jog to keep up. Crab the dog's unending yipping is what might alert Philip, though Karson's shouting at his dog:

"Crab, I swear to God, do not fucking sniff that dog's butt, that is just so ridiculously embarrassing, why, jesus christ, get your shit together, come on--" is a bit more threatening. Plot twist: this boy is the reason why your parents don't let you out on your own that often, kid.

But there's no time to think about that, because quite suddenly, there is an angry looking boy and his pup saying hello. Well, the dog is saying hello. Karson is too busy facepalming to be social.

[darkhourdear]

Gloria is excited to see another dog, so she pulls on Phillip's hold (so he's forced to follow, small as he is) and happily moves around to sniff as well. Phillip doesn't mind nearly as much as Karson obviously, face actually brightening when he sees another dog.

The language Karson is spewing only manages to dampen that a little.

"Um... hi!" Phillip ends up saying, by way of introduction.

[enrages]

oh god talking to little kids

"Uh. ...Hey? Um, sorry about Crab-- my dog. He's a little shi-- a jerk. Sometimes. ...Your dog is cute."

[darkhourdear]

"It's ok. I think your dog is cute too!" Nope, Phillip will just be grinning at you. "Mine's name is Gloria."

[enrages]

"Gloria, damn. That's precious. Can I, uh, pet her? I mean, I'll let you pet Crab too, but be careful. When he gets excited, he tends to pee everywhere."

[darkhourdear]

"Sure!" Phillip smiles, telling Gloria to sit, which she does-- but still sniffing the other dog. He pets her a little before carefully moving to Crab and letting him sniff his hand. "Gloria's really nice, she doesn't bite or anything!"