Re: Secret Santa 2017 - Story collection
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:51 pm
Don't blame me, blame StilesLong.
(Prompt: Give one of the KS girls a surprise Christmas present: a puppy! You pick the breed, the sender, etc BUT they must receive the puppy while on campus. Oh, and Yamaku doesn't allow non-service animals. Oh, and whoever gifted the dog didn't include food. And the girl is snowed in on campus for the week but the new caretaker, Takeshi, isn't a fan of dogs... )
Pet Story
I think I'm starting to hate snow. Between last winter's confession and this winter trapping me at school I wouldn't be upset if I never saw any snow ever again. The school has done a better job than I could have expected at keeping the walkways between the dorms, cafeteria, and medical building clear, going anywhere else would almost require snowshoes... or mountain climbing gear.
The dorms themselves are much quieter than usual as well. Most of the students were going home for the holidays and managed to sneak out before the snow started coming down. As for the ones that were planing on leaving a few days later, well, we're stuck. Thankfully Rin never left for the holidays; I still have her to keep me from going insane.
I go to knock on Rin's door only to have it open right before my hand strikes it. Standing there is an older man wearing a beat up brown jacket, jeans, and a ball cap. His jacket is open revealing a t-shirt with English writing on it. In contrast to his more casual appearance is a think pair of mittens and a long striped scarf. The slight wetness of all his clothes, tells me he's been outside for a while.
He enthusiastically gabs my hand and quickly greets me. “Hey there, man. How it going? Please to meet ya'. Gotta be going. It's been fun. Watch out for ninjas.” Somehow while shaking my hand, he manages to turn me around so he's out ion the hall way and I'm standing in the open door. Then, just like that he's gone before I could even introduce myself.
“Who was that?” I ask Rin when I finally have a chance to process what just happened.
“B.C.” she says flatly.
“What's the B.C. Stand for?” I ask.
“His name,” she replies.
“I mean-” I stop to think how to ask her a question without having her give me an answer that's almost meaningless. “--how does he know you and why was he visiting?”
“B.C. is my adopted uncle,” she says. “and he was giving me this,” she says nodding her head towards something on the floor. It's not until the head nod that I notice she's been watching something on the floor by her bed.
Walking over to where she's sitting, I see a small puppy playing with one of her winter uniform jackets. “He gave you a dog?” I ask.
“Puppy,” she smiles at me.
I watch it for a moment as it tried to crawl into one of her sleeves.
“It's cute. What kind is it?” I ask.
“Fluffy,” she says. She pokes it slightly with her foot which catches the puppy's attention long enough for it to lick her big toe a few times before loosing interest and returning to the coat.
“I meant what breed is it?” I press for further information.
“I don't know it that well yet,” she says. This is going to turn into one of those conversations. I can already tell.
“It's your dog and you can't tell what kind of dog it is? Didn't your uncle say anything?” I try to phrase the questions with as humorous a tone as I can.
“Fluffy. Plenty.” Rin replies. She's now tilted her head and is watching the little dog with head held sideways. The dog continues playing, oblivious to her observance.
I make a note to get to the library once it opens again and try to figure out exactly what kind of dog this is. For now, I guess it being a fluffy dog is good enough. Naturally the next question would be “What's it's name?”
“My Dog,” she says.
“You've named it 'My Dog'?”
“No. My Dog.”
“Your Dog?”
She sighs and looks at me. “It's My Dog. It's not Your Dog. It's not YOU Your Dog. As in, when you are you, you would say You that it's Your Dog. If I was being you, and I'm not except in that one dream where I/You could fly and had to try to stop the color yellow – I can't fly can I?”
“No.”
“Good then this isn't a dream,” she smirks at me like she's just told some clever joke. Maybe I've gotten too used to her because she way she says it actually does sound almost funny. “Then I was you and saying it. It would be Rin's Dog. As I am Rin. Almost always. This is my dog.” She seems quite satisfied with her explanation. It's actually quite adorable. I'm just not sure it's the best name for a dog.
“Maybe you should name him something else,” I say.
“Should I?”
“I think you should,” I say.
“I'll trust your judgment. You sometimes know things.” The expression she gives me is one it took me a long time to decipher. It's the look she gives me when she knows she's being stranger than she has to be just to mess with people.
After several minutes of trying to figure out a name that name that meant the feeling of sunset or what color was soft and fuzzy, the dog ended up a name.
Rin laid down on the floor next with her face right up next to it. “You are Mellow. Mellow the dog. Hello doggy.” The small tan colored dog started licking her face. Even more remarkable is that Rin actually seemed to laugh. I don't think I've ever actually seen her laugh before. It looks really cute, but I'm not sure the expression fits her face, if that makes sense.
Watching a person watching a dog might not sound like the most interesting thing in the world, but most people aren't Rin. The dog runs around the room chewing on various things and Rin watches it with all the wonderment of a person that's discovered one of the great secrets of the universe.
Then of course, Mellow ruins it by peeing on the carpet.
“Clean that up,” Rin says. She doesn't take her eyes off the dog, so I'm unsure if she's talking to me or Mellow. I answer anyway.
“It's your dog.”
“I know. I'm delegating responsibility,” she says. At least she's turned to look at me this time.
“I don't think it works that way,” I tell her.
“Why not?”
“It's your dog. You need to take responsibility for it.”
She pauses a for a moment and closes her eyes. Once she opens them again, she looks straight at her puppy. “Find me some cleaning supplies. Like the kind you clean carpet with. Or the kind somebody else cleans carpet with if you don't.”
“I'll find the stuff, but you clean it up. Okay?” She doesn't answer that one, but I take it to mean she agrees with that arrangement. I hope she agrees to that arrangement. I'm not cleaning up after somebody else's dog.
… I'm probably going to end up cleaning up after it.
Well, it's not like I can just leave her in a room with pee stains all over the floor. Emi would kill me later when she comes back and has to clean up after it.
In the men's dorms, there's a janitor's closet full of cleaning equipment that they never lock only a few rooms down from where I stay. I was hoping that I'd find something similar in the girls dorms, but I'm not having any luck so far. Do they not except the girls to clean up after themselves? I know it's not a budget thing, because no matter how many times Kenji raids ours for “supplies” they always have it restocked a day or two later.
Finally, after turning more hallways than I thought this building had, I run across Ms. Takeshi, the caretaker of the girl's dorms. To say she's not my favorite of the Yamaku staff would be a bit of an understatement. It's mutual though. I don't think she likes anyone either.
“What are you doing in the ladies dormitories?” she asks. I suppose that's about as nice of a greeting as I can hope for.
“I'm visiting a classmate,” I tell her. Her expression says that she doesn't like it, but at the same time there are no rules preventing it. “I was actually looking for -” my mind briefly panics as I try to think of the appropriate name for a janitors closet, “- custodial office.” I'm not sure that was it. “I just need to clean up a mess a dog made.”
“Why was there a dog in the ladies dormitories?” from the way she says this, I can tell two things. First, there are not supposed to be dogs in the building. That would explain why I haven't seen any of the blind students with seeing eye dogs. The second thing I can tell is that she hates dogs more than she hates people.
“I don't know. I'm just trying to clean up a mess one made,” I lie. I should probably tell Rin about dogs not being allowed. I'm not sure she knows about it either.
She gives me a look that tells me she knows I'm lying and would like nothing better than to catch me but doesn't want to put forth the energy to do so. A blue haired girl starts to walk past us wearing a puffy winter's jacket that makes her upper body look three times bigger than her lower body. Takeshi reaches out and grabs her by the arm, nearly scaring the poor girl to death.
“Fetch some cleaning supplies for our guest, please” she instructs the girl. “And if you see anyone walking a dog, let me know and I'll call someone to have it removed.” I don't know who she would call in this weather nor do I expect that anyone would show up if she did call, but she gets the point across. She doesn't want to see any dogs.
The blue haired girl leads me down another hall. “Sorry about getting you dragged into this,” I say. She grunts a reply making it obvious she doesn't feel the need to talk to me. We continue walking and stop in front of the ladies' room. She tells me to wait there and goes inside. This does explain why I couldn't find the janitor's closet myself. A moment later she returns with a small basket of cleaning supplies, hands it to me, and leaves without saying a word.
I start going back to Rin's room and meet her halfway. She's got her winter coat and boots on now, as well as the bag she normally carries for school. Her dog's head is peaking out from it.
“You might not want to let the woman in charge of the dorms see Mellow. She doesn't seem to like dogs,” I warn her.
“He hasn't done anything yet,” Rin says. “Except on the carpet.”
“We should probably get that cleaned up,” I say.
“Already did. You were gone. I think you were getting that,”she says motioning her head towards the basket I'm carrying. I'm just going to take her word for it that it's clean. Time to move on to the next question.
“Still, I really don't think you should let Takeshi see it. Where are you going anyway?”
“I don't have any dog food, so I was going to get some.” She stops and looks at her new pet then excitedly says “puppy! Should I get puppy food? Is that different?”
“I … don't know, but you're not going to find dog food anywhere on campus. Maybe we could get something out of the cafeteria,” I suggest.
“Yes, dogs would enjoy that,” Rin says. I think she may have just told a joke. It's hard to tell.
“Why did your uncle give you a dog and not give you any food to go with it anyway?” I ask.
“It's cold and I'm snowed in, so I get a dog. He's visiting for a week while we're snowed in and then he'll be waiting for me at home,” Rin explains. “Like a little doggy vacation.”
Then for the first time since I've seen the pet, it barks. There's a moment of panic where I expect Ms. Takeshi to come racing around the corner.
“Let's just get going,” I say. I reach down and ruffle the fur on the little things head. “Try to behave yourself.”
It's going to be a long week.
“How did your uncle get here anyway with the roads being closed?”
“He does that sort of thing. He's like a walking, flying, appearing, going places person that's always showing up somewhere. He's good at it.”
(Prompt: Give one of the KS girls a surprise Christmas present: a puppy! You pick the breed, the sender, etc BUT they must receive the puppy while on campus. Oh, and Yamaku doesn't allow non-service animals. Oh, and whoever gifted the dog didn't include food. And the girl is snowed in on campus for the week but the new caretaker, Takeshi, isn't a fan of dogs... )
Pet Story
I think I'm starting to hate snow. Between last winter's confession and this winter trapping me at school I wouldn't be upset if I never saw any snow ever again. The school has done a better job than I could have expected at keeping the walkways between the dorms, cafeteria, and medical building clear, going anywhere else would almost require snowshoes... or mountain climbing gear.
The dorms themselves are much quieter than usual as well. Most of the students were going home for the holidays and managed to sneak out before the snow started coming down. As for the ones that were planing on leaving a few days later, well, we're stuck. Thankfully Rin never left for the holidays; I still have her to keep me from going insane.
I go to knock on Rin's door only to have it open right before my hand strikes it. Standing there is an older man wearing a beat up brown jacket, jeans, and a ball cap. His jacket is open revealing a t-shirt with English writing on it. In contrast to his more casual appearance is a think pair of mittens and a long striped scarf. The slight wetness of all his clothes, tells me he's been outside for a while.
He enthusiastically gabs my hand and quickly greets me. “Hey there, man. How it going? Please to meet ya'. Gotta be going. It's been fun. Watch out for ninjas.” Somehow while shaking my hand, he manages to turn me around so he's out ion the hall way and I'm standing in the open door. Then, just like that he's gone before I could even introduce myself.
“Who was that?” I ask Rin when I finally have a chance to process what just happened.
“B.C.” she says flatly.
“What's the B.C. Stand for?” I ask.
“His name,” she replies.
“I mean-” I stop to think how to ask her a question without having her give me an answer that's almost meaningless. “--how does he know you and why was he visiting?”
“B.C. is my adopted uncle,” she says. “and he was giving me this,” she says nodding her head towards something on the floor. It's not until the head nod that I notice she's been watching something on the floor by her bed.
Walking over to where she's sitting, I see a small puppy playing with one of her winter uniform jackets. “He gave you a dog?” I ask.
“Puppy,” she smiles at me.
I watch it for a moment as it tried to crawl into one of her sleeves.
“It's cute. What kind is it?” I ask.
“Fluffy,” she says. She pokes it slightly with her foot which catches the puppy's attention long enough for it to lick her big toe a few times before loosing interest and returning to the coat.
“I meant what breed is it?” I press for further information.
“I don't know it that well yet,” she says. This is going to turn into one of those conversations. I can already tell.
“It's your dog and you can't tell what kind of dog it is? Didn't your uncle say anything?” I try to phrase the questions with as humorous a tone as I can.
“Fluffy. Plenty.” Rin replies. She's now tilted her head and is watching the little dog with head held sideways. The dog continues playing, oblivious to her observance.
I make a note to get to the library once it opens again and try to figure out exactly what kind of dog this is. For now, I guess it being a fluffy dog is good enough. Naturally the next question would be “What's it's name?”
“My Dog,” she says.
“You've named it 'My Dog'?”
“No. My Dog.”
“Your Dog?”
She sighs and looks at me. “It's My Dog. It's not Your Dog. It's not YOU Your Dog. As in, when you are you, you would say You that it's Your Dog. If I was being you, and I'm not except in that one dream where I/You could fly and had to try to stop the color yellow – I can't fly can I?”
“No.”
“Good then this isn't a dream,” she smirks at me like she's just told some clever joke. Maybe I've gotten too used to her because she way she says it actually does sound almost funny. “Then I was you and saying it. It would be Rin's Dog. As I am Rin. Almost always. This is my dog.” She seems quite satisfied with her explanation. It's actually quite adorable. I'm just not sure it's the best name for a dog.
“Maybe you should name him something else,” I say.
“Should I?”
“I think you should,” I say.
“I'll trust your judgment. You sometimes know things.” The expression she gives me is one it took me a long time to decipher. It's the look she gives me when she knows she's being stranger than she has to be just to mess with people.
After several minutes of trying to figure out a name that name that meant the feeling of sunset or what color was soft and fuzzy, the dog ended up a name.
Rin laid down on the floor next with her face right up next to it. “You are Mellow. Mellow the dog. Hello doggy.” The small tan colored dog started licking her face. Even more remarkable is that Rin actually seemed to laugh. I don't think I've ever actually seen her laugh before. It looks really cute, but I'm not sure the expression fits her face, if that makes sense.
Watching a person watching a dog might not sound like the most interesting thing in the world, but most people aren't Rin. The dog runs around the room chewing on various things and Rin watches it with all the wonderment of a person that's discovered one of the great secrets of the universe.
Then of course, Mellow ruins it by peeing on the carpet.
“Clean that up,” Rin says. She doesn't take her eyes off the dog, so I'm unsure if she's talking to me or Mellow. I answer anyway.
“It's your dog.”
“I know. I'm delegating responsibility,” she says. At least she's turned to look at me this time.
“I don't think it works that way,” I tell her.
“Why not?”
“It's your dog. You need to take responsibility for it.”
She pauses a for a moment and closes her eyes. Once she opens them again, she looks straight at her puppy. “Find me some cleaning supplies. Like the kind you clean carpet with. Or the kind somebody else cleans carpet with if you don't.”
“I'll find the stuff, but you clean it up. Okay?” She doesn't answer that one, but I take it to mean she agrees with that arrangement. I hope she agrees to that arrangement. I'm not cleaning up after somebody else's dog.
… I'm probably going to end up cleaning up after it.
Well, it's not like I can just leave her in a room with pee stains all over the floor. Emi would kill me later when she comes back and has to clean up after it.
In the men's dorms, there's a janitor's closet full of cleaning equipment that they never lock only a few rooms down from where I stay. I was hoping that I'd find something similar in the girls dorms, but I'm not having any luck so far. Do they not except the girls to clean up after themselves? I know it's not a budget thing, because no matter how many times Kenji raids ours for “supplies” they always have it restocked a day or two later.
Finally, after turning more hallways than I thought this building had, I run across Ms. Takeshi, the caretaker of the girl's dorms. To say she's not my favorite of the Yamaku staff would be a bit of an understatement. It's mutual though. I don't think she likes anyone either.
“What are you doing in the ladies dormitories?” she asks. I suppose that's about as nice of a greeting as I can hope for.
“I'm visiting a classmate,” I tell her. Her expression says that she doesn't like it, but at the same time there are no rules preventing it. “I was actually looking for -” my mind briefly panics as I try to think of the appropriate name for a janitors closet, “- custodial office.” I'm not sure that was it. “I just need to clean up a mess a dog made.”
“Why was there a dog in the ladies dormitories?” from the way she says this, I can tell two things. First, there are not supposed to be dogs in the building. That would explain why I haven't seen any of the blind students with seeing eye dogs. The second thing I can tell is that she hates dogs more than she hates people.
“I don't know. I'm just trying to clean up a mess one made,” I lie. I should probably tell Rin about dogs not being allowed. I'm not sure she knows about it either.
She gives me a look that tells me she knows I'm lying and would like nothing better than to catch me but doesn't want to put forth the energy to do so. A blue haired girl starts to walk past us wearing a puffy winter's jacket that makes her upper body look three times bigger than her lower body. Takeshi reaches out and grabs her by the arm, nearly scaring the poor girl to death.
“Fetch some cleaning supplies for our guest, please” she instructs the girl. “And if you see anyone walking a dog, let me know and I'll call someone to have it removed.” I don't know who she would call in this weather nor do I expect that anyone would show up if she did call, but she gets the point across. She doesn't want to see any dogs.
The blue haired girl leads me down another hall. “Sorry about getting you dragged into this,” I say. She grunts a reply making it obvious she doesn't feel the need to talk to me. We continue walking and stop in front of the ladies' room. She tells me to wait there and goes inside. This does explain why I couldn't find the janitor's closet myself. A moment later she returns with a small basket of cleaning supplies, hands it to me, and leaves without saying a word.
I start going back to Rin's room and meet her halfway. She's got her winter coat and boots on now, as well as the bag she normally carries for school. Her dog's head is peaking out from it.
“You might not want to let the woman in charge of the dorms see Mellow. She doesn't seem to like dogs,” I warn her.
“He hasn't done anything yet,” Rin says. “Except on the carpet.”
“We should probably get that cleaned up,” I say.
“Already did. You were gone. I think you were getting that,”she says motioning her head towards the basket I'm carrying. I'm just going to take her word for it that it's clean. Time to move on to the next question.
“Still, I really don't think you should let Takeshi see it. Where are you going anyway?”
“I don't have any dog food, so I was going to get some.” She stops and looks at her new pet then excitedly says “puppy! Should I get puppy food? Is that different?”
“I … don't know, but you're not going to find dog food anywhere on campus. Maybe we could get something out of the cafeteria,” I suggest.
“Yes, dogs would enjoy that,” Rin says. I think she may have just told a joke. It's hard to tell.
“Why did your uncle give you a dog and not give you any food to go with it anyway?” I ask.
“It's cold and I'm snowed in, so I get a dog. He's visiting for a week while we're snowed in and then he'll be waiting for me at home,” Rin explains. “Like a little doggy vacation.”
Then for the first time since I've seen the pet, it barks. There's a moment of panic where I expect Ms. Takeshi to come racing around the corner.
“Let's just get going,” I say. I reach down and ruffle the fur on the little things head. “Try to behave yourself.”
It's going to be a long week.
“How did your uncle get here anyway with the roads being closed?”
“He does that sort of thing. He's like a walking, flying, appearing, going places person that's always showing up somewhere. He's good at it.”