ArchivedLogs:Nanopup

Nanopup
Dramatis Personae Billy, Jack
In Absentia	2015-03-05 "It's actually way easier than keeping a nanopet alive."
Location <XS> Kitchen
The kitchen staff at Xavier's tends well to the needs of its residents. Always cognizant of its students and faculty's dietary needs alike, the menu has a wide variety of choices, and the longtime cook works wonders in the kitchen. The pantry, too, is kept well stocked for those who want to come prepare themselves their own snacks. The shelf, fridge, and freezer space is ample, though if anyone wants to keep their own food there, they'd better make sure it's labeled clearly, and even that is no guarantee it'll last. In stark contrast to the winter storm swirling around outside of the room's windows, the kitchen is cozy and inviting. The mahogany paneling add the same feeling of warmth and safety that it does for the rest of the school. On the stovetop, a kettle rattles gently as it boils up tea water and across the room on one of the tables rests a plush, expensive white pet carrier. Leaning against it is a similar white leather briefcase, open to reveal stacks of neatly organized folders and loose leaf papers. An iPhone in a pearlescent white case sits haphazardly abandoned by the bags. No one is in the room. No one yet. Jack's done with his last exam of the day and doesn't have a class or anything else for the moment so he's decided to venture into the kitchen in search of something warm. Dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and an Xavier school hoodie, the invisible teen's got his backpack hanging off one shoulder and a book on origami under his arm. The rattling kettle makes him pause and he glances around before going to turn off the burner. "Grruff," the bag on the table rattles. Suddenly, as if in the blink of an eye, a tiny white head is there and the clean, coal-black eyes of a toy bichon frise puppy stare through the invisible boy as he flicks off the burner. License tags jingling, the palm-sized puppy slowly tilts his fluffy white head. He makes a quizzical whimper sound. Jack jumps at the sounds, not expecting them. He glances over his shoulder and jumps again when he spots the puppy. "Uhh..." he trails off, looking around the kitchen to see if he missed the dog's owner. "Anyone here?" Jack asks, turning to approach the puppy on the table. "Hey...little tiny dog..." As if in response, a paw no larger than the tip of a finger is raised and stomped down indignantly. The little snowy white dog stretches up, pointedly sniffing up at Jack. "Oh. Hey, Jack," Billy offers in a breathy tone as he glides back in from the other room. Refastening one of the gloves meant to protect surfaces and people from his mutation, he nods towards the bag on the table, "I couldn't leave him in the city if I was like, going to end up snowed in here. Y'know?" With a flick of the wrist, he moves the gloved hand to turn back on the burner, pouting that it had been turned off at all. "Did you get away from someone or..." Jack murmurs, putting an unseen hand down on the table for the puppy to sniff. He knows dogs can't see him but can smell him. He's never seen a dog this small outside the internet before. Billy's arrival makes him jump too and he glances over his shoulder. "Oh, hey," he greets with an unseen smile. "This is your dog? That's good, was worried someone lost a...very small dog," he chuckles a bit. In a very slow, deliberate move, the dog opens his mouth wide. Revealing clean, razor-sharp baby fangs, he stretches his thin neck to try and carefully take a bite out of Jack - wherever he is. Back turned as he fixes a mug, Billy laughs, "Yeah. His name is Taylor. Do you want tea?" He clinks a spoon into his cup, "At least, nobody who'd rather eat him came across him. Thanks for lookin' out." "H-hey, I'm not food," Jack frowns as he narrowly avoids being bitten. Taking his hand off the table, Jack turns to Billy again. "Yeah, some warm tea sounds great. Thanks," he says. "You're welcome. For a second there I was worried it might be a new student with dog-shifting powers I didn't read about yet," he jokes. Billy arches a brow over the rim of his wayfarers, peering at Jack from over his shoulder and saying in a very dead pan way, "That power would be really cute." He shakes out a tea bag and tears it open, dropping it into a second Xavier's School mug. "I might have to advise against a career in vigilante justice, though." The dog doesn't seem to know whether or not Jack is gone or not and continues to slow-bite one more time a the air. "Turning into a tiny puppy wouldn't be the best thing to do if you're going to fight crime, no," Jack agrees with a laugh. "Unless you could stop criminals with the cute," he adds, adjusting his backpack so its in a more comfortable position on his shoulder. The kettle only just begins to whistle before Billy plucks it up and pours, sauntering casually across the room with two steaming mugs, "It's true. Puppy-shifter should go to college." And then: "D'awwwww!" He sets down both mugs and scoops up the puppy with very little effort, scuffing him up playfully against his chest. He laughs as the rodent-sized dog paws at his tie. Sitting down as well, Jack shrugs off his backpack and sets his book down. "Hopefully they'd let the puppy-shifter in. If not, they could always make a living putting animal videos online," Jack replies. He offers an unseen smile as Billy scoops the dog up. "I really didn't think there were any dogs that small that were real." "You should see him next to Professor Holland's beagle. He's like, a bichon teacup poodle mix or something. Live here long enough and nothing will surprise you," Billy grins crookedly, bringing his tea to his lips and jutting out his bottom lip in a theatrical pout, "And no dean of admissions is gonna resist that stupid face." On cue, Taylor pokes back out and looks longingly up to Jack. He just wants to bite him *a little.* "Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Jack replies to the comment about not being surprised. "Unless they're a cat person," the invisible teen replies in an amused tone. Noticing Taylor looking at him, Jack arches an unseen brow. "Is he going to get any bigger?" "Not much bigger? He was a gift. I don't really know anything about him. Or dogs. Never had one, even as a kid. How about you?" Billy extends a hand to scritch Taylor on the forehead and distract him with a very, very, very tiny denti-bone toy, "I mean, he's like, practically a cat the way he is!" … "/Oh/, you mean a /cat/ /person/," he gets serious for affect, "A Feline American. Something tells me they might prefer /more/ dogs being this size." Jack shakes his head, the hood moving. "No, I never had any pets unless those goldfish that lasted a day count. Or one of those little digital keychain ones. I wanted a dog but my...Father hated dogs and my mother was allergic to cats," he says, a little bitter edge to his voice when he says 'father' and 'mother'. He shakes it off quickly though. "That's gotta be one surprising gift." Billy smiles, maintaining a positive edge, "I guess I did have nanopets," he laughs, bringing up a hand to pat the back of his neck, "My parents were always afraid of something setting me off. I imagine they'd both have liked to have one, but I had all these intense allergies. It was a huge burden." His expression softens, searching the blank area where Jack's eyes would be empathetically, "It was. It was a little funny. Seemed like pretty much nobody thought I was responsible enough to keep him alive." He grins, shaking it off as well. "I ought to settle him into a room and get back to work," Billy chin nods to Jack, "I'll see you around, though." He pats the table before pressing his palm into it and standing. The briefcase and dog carrier both get slung over the same shoulder. Jack looks as sympathetic as empty clothes can when Billy mentions his allergies. "Seems like you're doing a pretty good job already. I mean I don't know anything about dogs but he seems healthy," Jack replies. "Have a good day," he offers. "And thanks again for the tea." Billy shrugs a shoulder, laughing, "It's actually way easier than keeping a nanopet alive." He holds up his mug in a mock cheers as he glides out of the room, "It's echinacea!"