Participants:
| Scene Title | Atomic Dogs |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Samson and Mr. Muggles will someday rule the world. But currently they just go on walks. Dee shows up at Sandra's temporary home for something else, and finds the Bennet matriarch there. |
| Date | November 6, 2009 |
It's the midafternoon on this lovely of days, and The Hanger is…well, The Hanger. You've got people milling about the house, either sleeping or playing cards or watching T.V. or some such. In the kitchen, a woman is toiling away, with a little Pomeranian dancing about her feet, while she takes a bunch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and starts to shovel them onto a plate. Sandra Bennet sniffs the air. "Ah, what a heavenly smell, isn't that right, Mr. Muggles?" She says, looking down at her dog who gives a quick little bark in response.
Outside the Hangar, the air is cold and there are no smells of freshly baked cookies. There is only the smell of wet ground, for the most part; the chill has made the rain of any past days stick underfoot. Still, Delilah took Samson out as always. About ten minutes into his Village walk, Delilah got a text from some unspecified source, though the source was specific enough that she was able to guess its purpose and aim outside of the favor it was already asking. Someone left something at the Hangar, and so being the closest friend there, it falls upon the redhead to fetch it when she has a moment.
Samson draws some attention because of how huge he happens to be, and perhaps a bit more because of the rugby-striped sweater he is wearing under his harness. Orange and navy blue today. Delilah's color consists of a lime green scarf around the collar of a gray tweed peacoat, and it clashes awesomely with her hair. The two approach the Hangar from the back alley because of noticeable natures, wriggling through that pathway to get at the back entrance. The Pomeranian will doubtlessly hear them before they make a louder sound, which is only the abrupt knock of Dee's knuckles followed by the ticking of the buttons on the outside lock.
Mr. Muggles is certainly quick on the ball to tell Sandra that someone is arriving, even before the knock on the back door. He starts trotting toward it, while Sandra sighs and starts after him. "What are you on about Mr. Muggles? What is it?" That's when the knock at the door comes, and when someone starts to open it up. Sandra is quick to scoop up the tiny Pomeranian as she steps slowly away from the door, guarded, unsure of who is on the other side.
Nobody that doesn't belong would know the passwords, right? 'S cool, 's cool. Delilah opens the door quite slowly, because her attention is on Samson, who has been peering at the door as if it had just grown a head. When she opens the door and nudges his shoulder to move inside, he is more than hesitant and it actually takes the force of her knee to shove them both inside the back door and shut it behind them.
When Delilah does start paying attention, there is Sandra with Mister Muggles, and there she comes, standing at the back with Samson up against her own leg. He still looks wary, much like an elephant that meets a mouse. Not that he's scared, he only knows that Muggles' head is as about as big as a large tennis ball.
"Oh! Hello there." Delilah chirps, her accent recognizable right away.
Sandra puts Mr. Muggles back down, now that there isn't a chance of him running out the door in excitement. "Well…hi there." She greets the younger woman. "To the both of you!" Mr. Muggles heads straight for Samson, sniffing at the bigger dog and trying to figure out what to make of him. Sandra smiles. She moves and holds out her hand. "I'm Sandra Bennet. Pleasure to meet you. This little fellow with me is Mr. Muggles." She says in greeting. "You've got a wonderful dog yourself." She says, holding out her hand for him to sniff. "He looks like a mix. But…mostly Molosser, is he?"
If Samson could hold his breath, he might. On pins and needles he receives the sniffing end of this cotton-shaped dog, taking a few steps aside and over him, seemingly edging away towards the rest of the floor. "Bennet? Oh, you must be Claire's mom? I think someone told me you'd come- I probably wasn't paying attention, I admit." Delilah traces a finger along her own chin, looking momentarily sheepish about this fact, then offering her hand in return. Afterwards, she smiles over at the tall dog trying to avoid having his ankles sniffed. That tickles! :( But then Sandra offers her hand to him next, and his nose goes out to it, Pomdog forgotten and looking his part as the gentleman.
"Yep! That's all I can figure- the only breed I can actually say he is. I got him at a shelter just this summer, I'm not sure what any of his family was."
Sandra's eyes go wide. "You know Claire?!" She asks, almost excited. "I think I ran into her boyfriend…Magnes something, on chance. But of course, I didn't want to say anything. How is she? Have you heard anything from her recently?" She has to take a few deep breaths in. You know, caring mother and all that. "And you are…?" She would like to know this young lady's name. All the while, Mr. Muggles is skirting around Samson, sniffing about, barking once or twice. If Samson doesn't appears as if he's going to bite her, Sandra pets him on the head. "It almost seems as if…he's got some Presa Canario, maybe bull dog. It is hard to tell though. Certainly some genetic testing may be able to tell you, but sometimes there's just no point. He's your dog. That's that."
"Ah, yeah." Delilah looks a bit startled from that first reaction, regrouping when she mentions Magnes, which gets a laugh. "Not…recently, no. Varlane, by the way. Magnes Varlane. He really likes her…" Just to mention that. "I'm Delilah, and this is Samson. That was already his name when I met him though, so I guess it was some destiny thing."
Contrary to his brutish appearance, Samson is a teddy bear when it comes to anything, now trying to look over his shoulder at Mr. Muggles moving around his back paws. He lifts his head at the patting there, snuffing his breath and putting out the tip of his tongue to lick Sandra's wrist. "Most of the time I just tell people his breed is 'Monster'. You sound like you know dogs, missus Bennet. Do I smell cookies?"
"Ah, yeah." Delilah looks a bit startled from that first reaction, regrouping when she mentions Magnes, which gets a laugh. "Not…recently, no. Varlane, by the way. Magnes Varlane. He really likes her…" Just to mention that. "I'm Delilah, and this is Samson. That was already his name when I met him though, so I guess it was some destiny thing."
Contrary to his brutish appearance, Samson is a teddy bear when it comes to anything, now trying to look over his shoulder at Mr. Muggles moving around his back paws. He lifts his head at the patting there, snuffing his breath and putting out the tip of his tongue to lick Sandra's wrist. "Most of the time I just tell people his breed is 'Monster'. You sound like you know dogs, missus Bennet. Do I smell cookies?"
Sandra nods a little bit. "Yes. Magnes Varlane. That's him! Though…he didn't figure out that I was Claire's mother. Of course, I use the name 'Butler' when I'm in public, instead of Bennet." She explains, just in case Delilah finds herself talking about Noah's wife at all. Luckily for Samson, Sandra doesn't judge dogs on their appearance. Well, that's not always true…she just doesn't judge their behaviour on appearance. "I do know my dogs…" she says, smiling. "You see, I'm a dog breeder…or…I suppose, I was a dog breeder, before the Ferrymen." She says softly. "I know lots about dogs." She explains. "Cookies? Oh! Yes, cookies! I just baked some chocolate chip cookies. They've just come out of the oven. Would you care for one?"
Butler. Delilah nods once at this. She is good at the absorption part when it counts. Once Samson seems to have had a cup full of Muggles, Dee crouches down in her skirt to put out her palm for the little blond dog. "Ahh, so Muggles is as much a stud as he looks? Is that right, handsome?" Look at those eyes! He's like a stuffed animal! "Oh, just out?" The redhead looks back up at Sandra, smiling. "I like you a lot already. Sure. I do the cooking and baking thing too- sometimes I feel like a mom myself, helping out like one."
Sandra scratches Samson's head, petting him down the neck. "Well, you're a good dog, aren't you Samson?" She says to the big dog. "I don't know why people think dogs who look as precious as you are always mean! No! You're a good dog." Mr. Muggles sniffs at Delilah's hand, finally deciding to give her his bark of approval, licking her hand. "Well, I've got to keep myself useful around here, don't I? At least until I start helping out a bit more. So while I'm at it, I might as well make some cookies." She says with a firm nod. "Follow me to the kitchen and you can have one."
Samson likes this lady too! She sounds so happy! He looks up past his brows at her, contented. Delilah's eyes aren't quite fast enough to follow the Pom, but she smiles when he does lick her hand, attempting to give him a scratch behind the ear(it's in there somewhere). She stands up again and smooths the sides of her skirt after doing so, nodding to Sandra and prepared to follow her to the kitchen. "That's true. I find if I don't have something else to do, I might make some cookies and take them out to the Lighthouse, or come by one of the houses with pies- or come around and get someone staying involved, but sometimes that can end badly if they're not too good at cooking, or happen to have the power to make any seeds you accidentally left in a pie come back to life- and then you have a tree in the kitchen…" That's another story, and it sounds like Dee trails off on telling it all. Oy.
Mr. Muggles seems to know where this conversation is taking them and bounds off toward the kitchen. "The Lighthouse?" Sandra asks, heading toward the kitchen. She is new to the area, after all. She may have had a safe house in Costa Verde, but she's not use to all of the safe houses here just as yet. As they enter the kitchen, Sandra collects the plate of cooling cookies and gives holds it out to Delilah. "Go ahead, it may be a bit hot though, I literally put them on the plate right as you were arriving." She tells Delilah. "Well, when it comes to working in safe houses and abilities, you never know what you're going to get, really. So you've got to be careful."
Clickity clack! Muggles has those little doggie tapdancing feet when he gets into the kitchen; Samson follows the Pom right then, meandering after him like a part of Napoleon's entourage. "The Lighthouse is an orphanage that we often help with. It's out on Staten Island. Evolved kids. There are a few adults staying there too, on a permanent basis." Delilah is the last one in the kitchen, but the first one to get a cookie. Ohhhh, mom cookies! Her fingers are careful when she accepts one with a 'thanks'. "I'll say. My best advice is to try and brush up on them whenever possible. New ones appear, but then people don't often even know how to handle the old ones. I have a good grasp on them. Only because of comic books."
Sandra places the plate back down, taking a cookie for herself. She has to test the cookie, of course, to make sure that they're perfectly edible. "I handle them as I always have…with patience, love, and care. Which is the best way. If you can't show patience, especially in regard to a person just coming into their ability, they could get even more scared and that could make it worse." She explains, taking a bite out of the cookie.
"Exactly. And that's why a lot of these people end up with us, after all. It's not hard for me to see where they're coming from, either. Been there, done that. But reading comic books and wikipedia help a little too. Like with someone that starts fires with microwaves, you can't really spray them with a foam extinguisher and expect it to go out." The first part in itself is Delilah telling Sandra in a roundabout way that she is one of them. Dee finds it less stressful if the people around her know it, and people she meets that won't tell a soul outside the circle also know it. "Oh, these are good…my aunt can't bake, I had to live without mom cookies for years- mmm."
Sandra nods a little bit. "Well, for people…well, like me, we don't have the benefit of being able to do something, but when we work together, some good can be done. We're not really all too different." She shakes her head. "No…using an extinguisher, I find, only work on people who start fires straight up." She says in a light, joking manner. "But, that is a good point. Or, say, if someone generates and creates high levels of light. You can't just throw sheets over them and hide the light."
"That's where the sleeping bags and tarps come in." Delilah wags her eyebrows jokingly, one hand reaching down to Samson when the dog comes up to sniff the edge of the counter. He puts his nose down when her hand lands softly on his head, tail wagging lazily. "I think the most interesting time I ever had was when there was a man that could turn himself into some kind of goop and back again. At least that's what I think it was, maybe he just turned stuff into mush. In any case, the hours after he moved were the worst hours of cleaning I have ever had to do."
Sandra shakes her head at the girl. "Well, I can't even imagine that. I'm glad that I've had more…well, no. I mean…I'm glad I've had to deal with essentially less messy abilities." She says happily enough. "Well, I think it's just about time to take Mr. Muggles on a walk while these cookies cool some more. Would you care to join, or was there something you came here for specifically?"
"Oh! Yeah, I came here to get something…" Delilah suddenly remembers this, bustling past Samson towards the foyer where there is that pair of coat racks. After a moment where she digs around in the pocket of one coat, she fishes out a folded envelope to stuff into her own pocket. This part comes just as she steps back over into the kitchen. "Got it. I live here in the Village too, I was heading back home when someone called me. I usually take us in a circle, but I was only halfway back again, so maybe you guys can just come along with me? I can point out a couple- ah- landmarks, if you get my drift." Ferry landmarks, 'good guy' landmarks. Old Lucy's, The Rock Cellar, The Verb, those sorts of places.
Sandra smiles a little. "Well, that sounds lovely." Replies Sandra. "Let me just grab Mr. Muggles' leash…I think I left it upstairs. And then we can be off?" She says. "I'll be right back down." And with that, she begins trotting upstairs, Mr. Muggles on her heels, chasing after her with a happy barking sound. Before too long, Mr. Muggles is on a lease, sporting a pair of sunglasses, as he and Sandra make their way down. "Shall we?" She says, making for the door.