(Untitled)

[captainjack]

The initiation of the new girl, it seemed, was to find something dead and roll around in it. Jack had brought Loki home from Daniel's now vacant hut and had given the dogs some time to get to know one another. However, the first chance they had to go run around had them coming home smelling like nothing Jack wanted near the hut. Loki was by far the

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[echolls_cursed]

Logan hadn't offered to help, nor had he shown any interest in going along. Still, not long after Jack had started the younger man had turned up, lingering just out of the way.

"Tell me again why you thought adopting another dog was a great idea?" he asked flatly, leaning against the compound wall as he spoke. "This is so retarded. What the hell are we gonna do with three dogs, Jack? We have a baby coming and there's a damn zoo in the back yard."

It was hard to tell if Logan was really annoyed though, or if he'd simply been looking for something to bitch about. Maybe both.

[captainjack]

"Logan, he's Daniel's dog and Sugar's brother," Jack pointed out. Loki was looking at the younger man with hi tongue hanging out and he almost looked like he was smiling.

"What else was I supposed to do? Jack and Sam took the baby. It;s not like there's an island humane society for ownerless pets. I had to bring him home."

[echolls_cursed]

"You could give it to someone. Give it to Helen or, fuck I dunno... Alcuin. Actually, that's perfect. Give the french hooker the gift of unconditional love- that way we don't have to play zoo keeper every morning," Logan scowled, watching the dog and dodging Linus who wandered over and tried to put his dirty paws up on him.

"Stop that," he said quietly, scratching the large golden retriever between its ears.

[captainjack]

"After what happened between Daniel and Alcuin I'm fairly certain the last thing he wants is Daniel's dog," Jack snapped, knowing full well that Logan knew the details of that night that had brought Alcuin drunk and to their couch. Maybe he hadn't understood what they were yelling about in French, but Logan was sharp. He knew.

"Look, he's ours until I find someone else. It's fine, Logan. I'll take care of him. And Linus likes having another male he can boss around..."

[happy_dsign]

Daphne was looking for a nice, shady place to read the book she'd taken from the bookshelf, but instead she got an impromptu shower as she came around the corner just in time for a wet dog to do a full-body shake. She made a startled noise, flinching away instinctively, then started laughing as she realized what had happened. Thanks, she signed at the dog with a grin, then looked over to the man soaping up yet another dog. "Are they all yours?" she asked, surveying the bathtime scene.

[captainjack]

All his? Yes and no. Marriage meant they shared everything but Linus would forever be Logan's dog and Loki was so new she was still Daniel's in his head. But they were his responsibility so...

"Yeah," he said with a nod. She had a strange accent and that coupled with that familiar sign made him smile. It was charming and warm and he took his soapy hand off of Sugar and shook the foam away.

"I'm Jack," he said, his fingers spelling out J-A-C- and the laziest, sloppiest K possible. He was rusty. It had been years since he'd even had to say hello, but what he'd learned long ago stuck, just like his shitty, broken Persian that had helped him greet Bagoas.

[happy_dsign]

Daphne's smile brightened. You sign? she replied, managing to sign with the book in one hand with no trouble.

[captainjack]

Jack made a motion with his thumb and finger, once again not quite right, but close enough. A little bit.

"It's been years since I even tried," he admitted. "You read lips?"

[spirited_hero]

[captainjack]

"But I wouldn't have to pull tree branches out of her coat," he chuckled. "You don't think she'd look good? She'd be beautiful." He scrubbed her well and she ate up the attention.

[spirited_hero]

[captainjack]

Jack laughed and held up an arm to block.

"She's too big to be a rat. It would be kind of sad, though. She's so pretty when she's clean."

[start_a_rumpus]

Max still wasn't feeling very good about anything. He still missed Joe. He missed him every single day and even though people were being really nice, he still felt sad. He wanted his mom. He wanted his sister.

But Max is still a little boy and try as he may, he can't deny that dogs make everything better.

"Are those your dogs?" he calls out to Jack, pushing back his wolf hood.

[captainjack]

"Yeah, th-" he got out before Loki was up and bounding toward the boy. He didn't think the dog was dangerous but god only knew what could set an animal off. He let go of Sugar, who immediately began to shake herself dry, so he could lunge for Max.

It was a stupid attempt. He only stumbled and Loki was excitable but perfectly fine, licking and sniffing and making friends.

"Sorry, she's mine, but I just got her. Her name's Loki," he said lamely. "You're okay, right? I wasn't sure if she'd bite."

The way the dog seemed to be smiling it was unlikely she'd bite anything.

[start_a_rumpus]

"No, I like dogs," Max laughs, grabbing both sides of her head to keep her tongue off his face. "I wanted a dog back home but my mom said she couldn't afford it and that I was like having a pet, anyway."

[captainjack]

"They're a lot of responsibility," Jack said with a nod. Loki was eating up the attention, her tongue darting out more and more in a van attempt to lick Max. She lifted a paw and raked it against his leg but she was perfectly gentle.

"My friend gave her to me," he said, couching the truth in a little lie. He just didn't want to bring up Daniel's disappearance for both their sakes.

"But I already have these two. That's Linus, he's Logan's. And the soapy one is Sugar. She's Loki's sister," Jack explained as he watched the boy and the dog closely. "She likes you."

[coffee_sir]

"That you're a cruel master indeed," Ianto supplied as he happened upon the party. The smile on his face was faint, wry, a little put on, but present. He wandered around enough, knew the daily heartbeat of the island well enough that he knew what Loki was doing there. He didn't think for a second that Daniel had simply pawned dog washing duty off on Jack. He also didn't pretend for a second that he had a right to any kind of grief. He hadn't stopped long enough to consider if he felt the loss.

And he certainly wasn't going to let the sight of a dog change that. "They'll tear your shoes to shreds in recompense."

[captainjack]

Jack could only laugh. It was true, for all that Sugar was a very laid back dog she had bursts of temper when she refused to obey. His shoes would be just her kind of target.

"But she'd be cooler. If I could get her to see reason..." he said with a smile, but let it trail off. At the moment it had nothing to do with reason and everything to do with having a filthy long haired dog.

"How's it going, Ianto?"

[coffee_sir]

"If you could, I'd be amazed by your ability to charm dogs in addition to every human on Earth," Ianto remarked dryly. Training one dog had been difficult enough. He couldn't imagine how Jack dealt with his little pack now, though Ianto knew he could handle it, obviously.

"I'm doing alright though, thanks," he said. He walked closer, but kept a wide berth around the two wet dogs, not exactly in the mood to get sprayed. "How're you, and the pack?"

[captainjack]

"The pack is filthy. Me? I'm good. I got a crash course in taking care of kids. Logan was, oh, five, maybe? That was interesting," he chuckled. For a while there he had questioned if he was even ready to be a parent. Logan had tried his patience...but it was only slightly different than normal.

"Other than that? I've been working on a crib. It's got to be the most frustrating piece of furniture ever devised," he added.