Hound Hunting {Open}

[Mikayla Southerland]

Mikki was new to town and somewhat on a whim had decided to look into finding a beagle, she had always wanted one but traveling all the time didn’t much allow for pets. Since she had decided to stay here a while and study though she figured maybe now was a good time to find her best four legged friend. Not sure exactly where to start she decided the local animal shelter was probably a sound beginning, though she doubted she would be lucky enough to stumble across a pure bred beagle she figured she could at least find some cute pooches to give some love too.

She pulled her grey 2015 Ninja 1000cc motorcycle into the car park of the animal rescue center, putting her side stand down and dismounting she took a few moments to stow away her motorbike gear and too pull a warm jumper over her head and wrapping a scarf around her neck. Turning with a bright smile she walked into the grounds, she could already hear the sounds of yapping dog, meowing cats and was that a horse whinnying?

She wondered if she needed to go and check in at the office or could she just start wandering around and checking out all the cute animals? Not wanting to break any rules she made her way to the office building and pushed her way through the door to the sound of a bell sounding as the door knocked it.
The room was clean and had toys and food for sale along the edges with the smell of animals surrounding her. Glancing around she could already see some items she would totally purchase if she managed to find a beagle here today, and if not she would definitely come back here to purchase them one day thinking how much she would prefer to give money to a shelter like this as opposed to a big chain store.

Not seeing anyone behind the counter at the moment, she figured they might be out the back hence the bell, she wondered if she could just head out and check out the cages. She stood chewing on her lip undecided in which course of action to take. The bell sounded again and she turned to see someone walk through and into the area, she didn’t take the time to consider whether they worked her or were visiting like herself before with a bright smile on her face she addressed them. “Oh hey! Do you happen to know if we have to sign in or anything before we look at the animals or if we can just go ahead and check out all the cuties?” Her tone was friendly and bubbly and she bounced on the souls of her feet slightly, eager for an answer so she could get to her mission.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris Applegate

The Human Glowstick

Iris glared at the black Labrador that stared oh-so happily back at her with its drooling tongue flopping out of its mouth. The glare went unnoticed as the lab turned around and started to groom the mud from its fur; the very same mud that coated Iris' trousers. Jayden owed her big time. Her quadruplet had fallen sick and asked the brunette to stand in at the local animal sanctuary for him. It was a mistake to say yes.

"I hate you dog. But only until a few hours pass." She finally spoke, earning a playful yap from the dog before it dragged its muddy body across the floor. With a painful sigh, Iris exited the cage and closed the door; shooting a final glare at the oblivious pup. Iris loved dogs, just not when they shoved her into puddles and decided it was a perfect time for a wrestle.

Iris stretched as she walked out of the kennels and turned around towards the main building. The dogs were walked, litter boxes cleaned and food bowls filled. She would leave a note on the desk, saying that she was gone.

The brunette was rummaging her mud-soaked pockets for a pen when a person caught her eye. There weren't usually people around at this time but this wasn't stopping the stranger.

“Oh hey! Do you happen to know if we have to sign in or anything before we look at the animals or if we can just go ahead and check out all the cuties?”

Why was she so happy? It was great to see a potential walking home for one of the animals but Iris was caught off guard by her presence and tone. The light manipulator rarely dealt with customers, she had only been her for a few days at most. "....Probably? Er, not sure where the others are but I guess I could try and show you the animals." Iris stammered slightly, gesturing behind her with a thumb.

ⒶⓀⒾ

[Mikayla Southerland]

Mikki was so excited about the prospect of playing with some cute dogs that she didn't notice at first that the girl's trousers were coated in mud, the girl seemed to be a little unsure and Mikki wondered if she should maybe tone down her enthusiasm a little. It wasn't usually in her nature to hold back her personality but the girl looked very taken aback and she stammered slightly as she spoke and Mikki was a considerate person.

"Wow that would be amazing, thank you" she said trying to pull back on the over the top excitement and only managed to reign it in a tiny bit. She still stood bouncing on the souls of her feet slightly, something she barely noticed that she did anymore it was such a common occurrence for her. She then noticed the girl’s trousers and felt bad that here she was asking to be shown around and the poor girl was covered in mud.

"I can totally come back another time though, looks like one of those cuties decided to spread the love... and mud, if you wanted to go home and change instead of showing me around I would totally understand that" she said brightly, as much as she wanted to look around now she didn't want the comfort of anyone to be put in jeopardy just so she can see some dogs which she could see anytime, well anytime during the posted opening hours anyway.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris Applegate

The Human Glowstick

Iris was nothing if not adaptive. And childish. And a walking torch. All right, Iris is a lot of things and adaptable is one of them. The stranger's... excitable nature seemed a lot less scary now that she was used to it.

Cuties? Oh no, Iris prayed that this wouldn't be a girly encounter. Even though she admittedly wore some make-up, the brunette hated most girly things. If there was talk of malls and skirts, she was out. However this girl did seem interesting; and happy which was a nice change. Most students were stressed from school, social lives and other things.

"Pfft! Mud? Nah, I'm not bothered by it." Iris batted at the drying mud on her jeans, thank the lord for washing machines right? "Anyway, I'll take you to the kennels. Just follow me." She grinned, turning around and walking back the way she came; glancing over her shoulder to check if she was indeed being followed.

ⒶⓀⒾ

[Mikayla Southerland]

Grin widened on Mikki’s face as the girl brushed off some of the mud from her jeans stating how mud didn’t bother her, and when she said she would show Mikki around the kennels her grin just grew even bigger. As the girl started walking out Mikki clapped her hands slightly with excitement and bounded off after the red head, before falling into step beside her.

“I’m Mikki by the way, thanks so much for showing me the kennels” she said brightly as she half walked half bounced along beside the girl. As they walked she could hear the yipping and yapping of dogs growing louder and she couldn’t help wondering what sort of dogs they belonged too, she hoped she would find a beagle here today it would be amazing though she knew the likelihood of finding the exact dog she wanted the first visit was probably pretty slim.

“It must be wonderful to work here with all the animals” Mikki said conversationally, she probably wouldn’t even mind herself being pulled through the mud by a dog. Maybe she could consider volunteering here as well, after all she would see straight away if a beagle came in if she did.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris Applegate

The Human Glowstick

Iris turned her head towards Mikki as she began to speak whilst they walked. At least one of them was having fun, usually the brunette would be lounging around in her dorm room if it wasn't for Jayden. But... she was having fun and suddenly having a wild Mikki around wasn't bad. 

"I'm Iris," She responded with a grin, "and don't worry about it." It was what her brother was paid to do after all. Not that Iris was grouchy about having to drag herself back to the kennel. Although the time was brief, Iris was glad that she had met someone interested in getting a dog, they all seemed like such characters.

"I don't usually work here, my brother Jayden does." Iris laughed before gesturing to herself with a thumb, lifting her shoulders with slight pride. "I'm a quadruplet!" She stated. Iris loved telling people she was a quadruplet; each reaction was interesting since quadruplets were certainly not common. "But yeah, all the dogs are quite different and each has their own personality." 

"Behold! The canine realm!" Iris shouted, pushing open the doors to the kennels; holding a door open for Mikki. The kennels were aligned in rows and each occupant had their noses shoved against the door with their tails wagging madly. There were small dogs, large dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs, though most were mutts since pure-bred dogs were rarely abandoned.

ⒶⓀⒾ

[Mikayla Southerland]

Mikki bounced along beside Iris listening as she explained that her brother was the one who actually worked here normally, and how she was a quadruplet. She grinned as she considered that, “That would be so cool, do you like argue about who is the oldest? I totally feel like is something quadruplets would do” she said pondering, nodding to herself as she walked along. She did a little skip and clapped enthusiastically as the girl mentioned all the dogs being different and having their own personalities she couldn’t wait to meet them.

She let out a little squeal of excitement as Iris pushed open the doors to the kennels with the words, “Behold! The canine realm!” Mikki looked around seeing all the noses poking at the cage doors, every nose sitting at a different height. She wasn’t sure where to start with her looking and did a slight side to side skipping motion as she tried to decide which row to go down first.

Taking after her Aussie upbringing she headed for the cages on the left pausing at each cage and making baby noises at the different dogs in each one as their tails wagged like crazy. There were so many cute dogs in there and she felt bad for them just about wanting to take them all home if she could. “Your all so cute I wish I could take you all home” she said to all the dogs in the canine realm, she did however have her heart set on a beagle and although the rental home owners had said they were ok with pets she doubted that would extend to 20 odd dogs.

“I know it’s a long shot, but you don’t happen to know if there are any beagles in at the moment do you?” she asked Iris. Sure Mikki would totally consider adopting another breed if it came to it she wanted to help a puppy out but she couldn’t help holding out hope.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris Applegate

The Human Glowstick

“That would be so cool, do you like argue about who is the oldest? I totally feel like is something quadruplets would do”


Iris laughed, the joyful sound turning into a tired groan. As siblings do, she, Ryan, Jayden and Jordan always had to find the smallest thing to argue about. Shoe size (Jayden largest and Iris smallest), hand size (Jayden largest, again, and Ryan smallest), best dragon, etc... Absolute nonsense. "Yeah we do. We use mental age, birth time and even physical appearance to determine whose oldest. Jordan actually suggested cutting our bones and counting the rings inside." Iris paused and stared dead ahead. "We didn't."

The brunette grinned as Mikki ran up to the cages. It made her happy to see people get so excited about animals; most did but sometimes in an... unsettling way. Like studying the dog's strength or discussing it like a fashion accessory. Mikki didn't do that, she was literally loving them all.


“I know it’s a long shot, but you don’t happen to know if there are any beagles in at the moment do you?”

Beagles? Are those the brown and white dogs? Iris frowned in thought. "I doubt we have any pure-breds but there might be a few mongrels near the end cages." She guessed. It was very unlikely for an owner to dump a pure-bred. Mongrels were more like accidents, even though each one was completely different to the other. Iris would rather have a mix-breed than a pure-bred. Pure-bred's always seemed.... snobbish.

ⒶⓀⒾ

[Mikayla Southerland]

Mikki laughed at the girls comment on her brother suggesting they cut their bones and count the rings, she would never have thought to do that, obviously it worked with trees but she knew not with humans, it was an entertaining idea however. “Probably for the best you didn’t but man can you imagine explaining that one to the doctor? It was make one heck of a family story years down the track too” she said still laughing to herself as she did.

She totally understood what the girl was saying about pure bred dogs they didn’t often get dumped as they cost so much to obtain the people who brought them usually weren’t the sort to give them up unless they were heartless of course. “No worries, just thought I’d ask I just love them with their floppy ears and intelligence.” She said, she had taken her attention from the dogs to look back at Iris when she spoke and behind her a dog barked at her.

She turned to the dog with a smile it was a black and white thing with floppy ears and a cheeky grin, reading his little bio posted on his cage she could see he was Goober a Boxer x Labrador Retriever. “Yes you are cute and intelligent too aren’t you Goober” she said to him in a cutesy voice she reserved for babies and dogs, she grinned at Goober and couldn’t help falling a little in love with him, maybe she didn’t need a beagle after all, or if she did get a beagle it would totally need a friend to play with right?

“Can Goober come out for a bit of a play?” she asked Iris wanting to be able to see and interact with him outside the cage to get a better feel for what he was like.

[Iris Applegate]

(OOC: SORRY ITS SO LATE!!!)

“Probably for the best you didn’t but man can you imagine explaining that one to the doctor? It was make one heck of a family story years down the track too”

Iris shrugged. "As long as it doesn't turn into a family tradition." She and her brothers were used to explain crazy things to doctors; like the time Ryan bought a bow and accidentally shot an iron-tipped arrow through her foot. She still had the scar; her parents had never let her forget how she chased after Ryan with a heavy limp, cursing him with every word under the sun, after she was shot. It took a while to convince her to go to the hospital.

Iris nodded as the girl explained her love for beagles. The red-head never paid much attention to dog or cat breeds. Ask her about reptiles or whales and you'll be drowning in interesting facts. "Did you know that crocodiles can't stick their tongues out?" Iris asked, frowning at herself as she realized that that wasn't part of the conversation. At all.

The light-manipulator remained silent as the other girl spotted one of the friendly dogs and started baby-talking it. Iris had always seen that as a bit weird but no weirder than her. She was more likely to baby talk a snail than an actual human baby.

“Can Goober come out for a bit of a play?”

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, sure." Iris stammered, a bit distracted by her thoughts on snails. The girl stepped forward and undid the latch on the cage door, opening it part-way. The happy mixed breed bounded out of the cage and was all over the place; a mess of slobber, tongues and wagging tails.