Original Fic - Wishes Not Free - Adopting, 1/1
Summary: A visit to the animal shelter.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes: Written for the Homeless Animal Day prompt on Love for Every Holiday. Wishes Not Free verse.
Adopting
Maeve knelt carefully on the ground, somewhat wary of fleas. She was wearing jeans because of that fear, and she hated jeans, but she still didn't want any wandering over to her person. This patch of ground seemed reasonably clean, though, and she didn't have much choice if she wanted to get eye-level with the poor creature in the cage.
"I think Cassie'd be an excellent choice for a first-time owner," the girl following her around said cheerfully. "She's four years old and very well behaved. Her last owner trained her well. I don't think she'd even be here, but he died a few weeks ago, and the family didn't have anyone who could take her."
"Died?"
"I think it was a drunk driver. It was an absolute tragedy."
"Yes, it must have been," she agreed. From inside the cage, chocolate brown eyes gazed meltingly at her. "I imagine you've already got loads of people who'd be interested in her."
Behind her, the girl -- she really had to start noticing nametags -- blushed.
"Yeah. But, nobody has signed the papers yet."
Telegraphing her movements, she reached out and held her hand up against the cage. The lab's ears perked right up and she licked the offered fingers politely.
She gave her a few scratches behind her ear, then stood.
"I'd like to see the rest of the dogs, before I decide."
~
By the time she'd made it through the shelter's entire population, she was certain. She walked back through with the girl -- apparently, named Jessi -- pausing at certain cages. A black puppy yelped and stood on his hind legs for her, so she reached in and gave him one final pat.
"Wait for a little girl in a dress patterned with sunflowers for him," she ordered, breaking into Jessi's memorized speech.
"A... What?"
For the first time, she looked into the volunteer's eyes, instead of to the side of them. She watched her turn a little pale, stare at her ears, and then nod reluctantly.
"A little girl in a sunflower dress, for Jumper."
She smiled, and they continued on. Jessi was suddenly too scared to keep up her usual patter, but she repeated Maeve's instructions back to her each time, so the woman had some hope she was absorbing them. She jumped, again, when Cassie was predicted to go to "a man, early twenties, shaved head, red leather jacket." Then they were back at the reception counter.
"I guess you didn't find what you were looking for?" the girl asked nervously.
"I'd like the paperwork on Brutus and Casper, actually," she said coolly, and pulled out her wallet. "I'll pay the processing fee by cash, and you'll want my ID, I presume."
"Er... Yes. Yes, Ma'am," the girl stammered. She took a little longer than she should have over the forms, her eyes flickering back and forth. Her pens kept going dry, too, until Maeve politely stepped away to let her do it. Someone so frightened of the supernatural that the mere presence of a witch could pull out her fears and make them real was an odd choice for customer service, but she was young -- her bosses must not have realized yet.
There was a wall of accessories beside the doors, and Maeve amused herself picking out a two-dog leash. She wouldn't need any of the rest of it -- her dogs would sleep at the foot of her bed at night, and a grateful client had given her a box of chew toys the week before. Alyssa would, no doubt, provide her with a suitable tribute of buiscuts, and her house was already properly dogproofed. But the leash was retractable, and would be more useful than the pretty strips of braided leather Old Man Perkins had handed over when he heard where she was going.
She added them to her bill, and carefully read over the papers before she signed them. Jessi slipped gratefully into the back with the leads as soon as the ink was dry. A few moments later, she emerged, preceded by two enormous dogs. Brutus surged forwards, then Casper, then both, nearly pulling her off her feet, and Maeve snatched up the handle.
"Sit!" she snapped out, and Jessi had to jump backwards to avoid having her toes crushed under a very obedient canine. Maeve kept her eyes on them, glaring. Casper broke first, whining softly in his throat. Brutus joined him, and the two beasts went down on their bellies, writhing over to her.
"They've got a lot of husky in them..." Jessi said, as though that was anything like an explanation.
"They've got a lot of something in them," she agreed darkly. The brothers squirmed pathetically. She narrowed her eyes. "Behave."
Fur flew as they flipped onto their backs, and she finally relented. Dropping back onto her knees, she reached out with both hands and gave them good hard belly rubs, earning herself a series of joyous barks and a double tongue bath.
"Alright, alright! Good boys. Now settle."
~
Jessi heaved an enormous sigh of relief as the witch and her new pets left the shelter. She loved her job, really she did, but there were days when the customers were far, far scarier than the animals.
~
"It's amazing, really," Maeve mused to herself, back in her usual clothes and watching the dogs charge up and down the long strip of her back yard. "You hardly notice the faehound with all those other breeds in there."
Author's End Notes Of Explanation: Maeve is the morally ambiguous connecting character in one of my urban fantasy AUs.