[Ashley Wolfe]

This was incredible. A lazy, warm Saturday. Ashley was already five years out of the Guild but these sort of quiet weekends never lost their appeal. They were exciting for the simple fact that they were actually... boring... in the most pleasant of ways. During the long, thankfully-peaceful course of Dino Wayland's non-existence, Ashley had done a great number of "boring" things and, this weekend, he'd fished for the first time in his twenty-nine years. He actually owned a fishing pole now. He'd purchased bait in a tackle shop and swapped stories with a random, friendly tourist for hours on his feet in the tiny, smelly store. The kind, chatterbox-of-an-old man had given him what seemed like an entire novel's worth of tips and technique advice.

Which hadn't helped Ashley in the end — he'd spent hours walking one of West Hook's lakeshores, baiting and rebaiting, sitting and standing, reeling and throwing, and hadn't caught a single thing. But that hadn't bothered him so much, really. The day was beautiful and the breeze kept the sun from being too overbearing. Before he went home, Ash had decided to take a dip in the lake. So once he packed up all his fishing supplies, he stripped to his trunks, left his novelty-fishing hat atop a bundle of neatly-folded clothes, and spent a long while wading through the depths, swimming and looking for currents.

Now he was "drying" off, with his butt stuck in a pink, blow-up innertube. Eyes closed, he floated slowly across the lake; propelled by gentle, unconcerned kicks of his legs, which dangled over one side of the tube and into the water. He could already feel the slight discomfort of a promised sunburn, itching over his cheekbones, the tops of his forearms, and across his chest. How silly was that? Him, getting sunburned. Aching and regretful in the morning, hissing as he rolled out of bed. Tears in his eyes as he dragged himself painfully to a store to buy aloe vera. He could complain about it when he went into work on Monday. His patients would snicker when he began to peel. It was so painstakingly trivial, so foolish and delightfully inconsequential. By most standards, it was not a pleasant imagining, but the mere simplicity and insignificance of it pulled Ashley's lips into a small smirk.

As he thought about the impending nightmare far longer and with far more amusement than any person had the right to, he let his head fall back against the innertube and skimmed his fingers lazily over the water's surface. In the distance, on the shore, he could hear the playful growls of a pair of his foster dogs, trusted and well-behaved enough that they were unleashed and free to run. He had no worries that they'd stray. Gradually, the smirk at his mouth drooped at the corners as he drifted between dozing lightly and being awake. His fingertips stilled in the water — practically begging to be nibbled on by fish — and his feet ceased their occasional, slow kicks through the depths; leaving him and his innertube to simply float wherever the lake decided to take him.

-----

OOC: This man is literally excited about a sunburn, what the heckie. I'm so great at open threads (sarcasm). If you're interested, feel free to god-mod or let some time pass. Wake him up after he's already filled the prophecy of looking a lobster getting sunburned (with ridiculous sunglass tan-lines lmaooo)~

[Deleted]

The lake was a bit out of the way, so Syd wasn’t able to get out of here as often as they liked. It wasn’t for them, of course. No, it was for Gunther, the German Shepard that they had taken in. It was his fault. He was too sweet to say no to, with his big brown eyes and the one ear that drooped down over his face. “You goof,” Syd said to him as they walked together through the trees and he picked up a stick that was too big to carry.

They were following the usual path when Syd suddenly heard the rustling of some brush nearby. It wouldn’t be the first time they ran into some animal, but Syd always checked it out, just in case. Gunther was still relatively new to them, and they weren’t sure how he would react. Syd knelt against a nearby tree and closed their eyes. Oh, there it was. Another dog not too far away. And then another a few paces behind it. No owner though. A couple of strays maybe?

“Hang on a sec,” Syd said, holding on to Gunther’s leash. Breathing deep, they let out their noise, amplifying everything they could sense, stretching out to the lake. Gunther started barking immediately, forcing Syd out of it. “Sorry,” they said as they bent down to pat his head gently. They weren’t focused long, but it was long enough to see someone hanging out in the middle of the lake, probably the dogs’ owner. “We should get going.” Gunther whined, pulling against the leash as Syd tried to turn around. “Okay, okay, fine. Come on.”

Syd made their way towards the lake. Gunther wouldn’t leave without going there first; he always had to do a lap around it. Once they got closer, Syd could see the owner, drifting in a bright pink inner tube, and his two dogs just on the other side, playing with each other. Wait… was he sleeping?

“Hey!” Syd shouted out, against their best judgement. “Hey, wake up!” Gunther started barking deeply as well, out of excitement – it wasn’t every day he got to meet new people, or new dogs for that matter. All right, Syd thought, if he doesn’t get up now, we’ll leave him be.

[Ashley Wolfe]

(CW: Mentions of death, drowning, and the like; also Ash will definitely gender Syd until corrected)

The muted sounds and the subtle rock of his intertube on the lake — the lulling grab and give of the current and the breeze lapping gentle waves against him — eventually coaxed Ash from a featherlight doze and into a deeper, effortless sleep.

Even as a young child, his dreams had pulled (alarmingly but not surprisingly) often toward death. Sometimes it was the death of others — people he knew and people he didn't; sometimes imagined ends, other times more memory than dream — but more regularly, it was his own. And in those imaginings, he almost always died in water. As a child, he'd romanticized that drowning would be merciful. A gentle, kind surrender or a light, comforting embrace that soothed even as it suffocated. But then he'd grown older and become increasingly aware of the unsettling probability that his death — befitting a man of his family — would be one riddled with pain and blood. His more troubled nights were full of those quick, thrashing dreams, too. But even in them, he still imagined drowning.

It was one of those familiar dreams that lulled him now.

His body — splintered in a broad array of aches and pains — sank through a cold, dark expanse. The vastness of water around him eased the hurts, not completely, but enough. His mind was quiet and calm; a collected swirl of disconnected memory and images in place of terrified thought. Most of his life he didn't want to remember but, as his lips parted to allow the first mouthful of crippling liquid down his throat, he recalled the more forgiving things he didn't want to forget. He pictured the warm sunlight of laundry days with his mother when they hung the sheets outside to dry. Her bark-colored eyes, bright with affection, and her smile — the same as Dane's but gentler — pulled so generously across her features. Water gushed over his ears, into his lungs, and pommeled his senses; drew the crimson from his ugly wounds in thin, trailing tendrils. But the crashing noise and the accompanying pain remained distant, faded into muted static, overwhelmed by his mother's cackling laughter as Ashley forced her to the ground and tickled her. He let the comforting sounds pull him into a deeper, forgiving sleep as he sank... lulled into complacency by her delighted squeals and... dogs barking...?

From the recesses of his slumber, Ashley wrinkled his nose and, even as he dozed, the center of his brow knit with the beginning of confusion. This was a definite oddity in the otherwise-familiar dream. His mother's beaming face slipped into darkness and he tilted his own with a soft protest. Another voice called to him, unfamiliar and hazy through the water around him, and he blinked his eyes slowly open. "Wh—" he began hoarsely, lifting his head. His blurry gaze, through the darkness of his sunglasses, drew toward the lakeshore. Comprehension still fogged by his nap, it took a moment longer for the figure of a woman and the barking of her dog to completely register and he jolted forward with surprise.

At his violent movement, the innertube shot from beneath him and he flipped into the water; all post-sleep haziness completely dissipated with the shock. He broke back through the surface and pushed himself toward the shallows in the direction of his dogs, sputtering with his glasses hanging halfway off his face and his arm locked over the side of his tube. When his feet finally found squishy earth and he could stand, he turned to cast his gaze across the lake, instinctively reaching out to test the temperament of the woman's dog and gauge the emotions of his own.

Hers, a beautiful shepherd, was excited. Even if he couldn't feel the enthusiasm, he could have gathered such by his deep, resonant barks. His own two danced about his legs with similar yips, their entire bodies swaying with pleading as if requesting his permission to bolt and play. He could feel their eagerness, held back only by a thin (but very intense) desire to not displease him; efforts of long days of training to make them all the more attractive for adoption.

Satisfied that there were no signs of aggression, Ashley lifted his hand in a testing wave. "Hey!" The glasses slipped the rest of the way from his face and he caught them clumsily against his chest, jolting at the pain of his palm slapping to his... alarmingly-red skin. He flinched, hissing, and then immediately laughed, imagining a week of long, restless nights plastered in aloe vera with a fan on full blast. Just how long had he been sleeping there?

"Do you want me to move?" He called again, raising his voice to carry over the lake. "These two are friendly but I can leash them and get out of your way if you need me to!"



@syd
This post is such a mess lmao. Just give me a nudge if you want me to tweak anything!

[Deleted]

As hesitant Syd was, this guy seemed nice enough, at least at a distance, and his dogs seemed friendly as well. They definitely came across as more playful than aggressive. Gunther was eager too, tugging at his leash in their direction. ”It’s all good!” Syd shouted across the lake. It was a nice gesture that he offered to come leash his dogs. Although Syd hasn’t run into it yet, they knew that some people would be indignant about it off the bat. Besides, he was here first.

They hoped he didn’t take Syd trying to wake him up the wrong way, though. They weren’t trying to be rude. ”I didn’t want you flipping over!” Mission failed on that front, they supposed. He did kind of have it coming; Syd had to stifle a small chuckle when the innertube turned on its side and he fell into the water below. ”And drown!” they clarified.

Tentatively, Syd started making their way around the lake, letting Gunther guide them towards the pair of dogs, but still moving slowly enough in case their owner had any objections. ”Can we…?” they started once they had gotten a little closer, motioning towards his dogs. They could still turn around if he had any objections. Nervously, Syd tugged at the edge of the sleeve on her tan jacket, waiting to make sure it was okay before moving forward.

---

Ashley Wolfe
You’re good, lol. Likewise, let me know if you want anything changed!

[Ashley Wolfe]

The woman called back and Ashley chuckled. The tone was too low to be heard, so he made sure to make his accompanying grin big and apparent while he tucked his chin to his chest with an amused shake of his head. The dogs continued to dance at his feet and, with a lifted brow, he instructed them to sit. After some soft, protesting whines, they did so, though their eyes remained longingly fixed on the pair across the lake as they began skirting around its edge in their direction.

Ashley watched her for a moment before he turned to his pile of belongings and picked up the pair of leashes tucked beneath his neatly-folded clothes. Though he was confident in his own dogs, it was always better to be prepared when adding a third, unknown to the mix. Hers seemed friendly enough but he'd fostered enough of them to know it only took one misstep — one slightly too eager nip or bounce — to lift hairs and set jaws snapping. Most snarls and bites between dogs were quick and fleeting; brief, loud displays simply meant to establish boundaries. But they could escalate quickly, especially if one didn't accept the other's warning. He would at least keep the leads in hand, ready to clip to collars and wrench away if things didn't go so smoothly.

He considered pulling on his clothes — or at the very least, his shirt — but ultimately decided against it, not quite ready to face the painful agony that would be patting down his too-hot skin. He suspected he'd probably end up walking back to his house with his clothes bundled under his arm or tucked in his pack. Instead, he only pulled the novelty fishing hat over his wet hair to shield his scorched face from the sun. When he turned back around, the woman was closer, step slowed as she gestured for permission in the direction of the waiting dogs.

"Yeah, by all means," Ash gave a nod, dropping his gaze to his pups and observing their barely restrained excitement. Though they obediently remained seated, they trembled slightly with the urge to bound forward. Their paws danced beneath them in an anticipating shuffle and their tails swished to-and-fro. He chuckled fondly and lifted his voice into a praising tone reserved for rewarding their obedience. "Alright, good boys, go on. Go on!"

The dogs hopped forward as one, bouncing toward their new friend to sniff and appraise. Ashley observed them for only a moment, feeling for hints of uncertainty, discomfort, or aggression. Satisfied there was none, he lifted his gaze to the woman and stepped forward to offer a hand. For a split second, and not for the first time, he wished his power extended to reading humans as well. "Hey, my name's Ashley. Thanks for waking me — if I stayed out any longer I think I would have completely roasted. You've got a pretty dog, what's their name?"

@syd

[Deleted]

Oh good, Syd thought as the two dogs followed their owner’s instructions to sit down, and then again once he gave them the go ahead to meet Gunther. It was impressive how they listed to him. Gunther was a good dog, but also new to Syd, and they didn’t really have the time nor patience to completely train him, not like that.

Tentatively, Syd closed the gap, allowing Gunther to meet his new friends. ”Be nice,” they whispered before loosing up on the leash enough to give him enough space to introduce himself without being constrained. He inched forwarded, whimpering a little in excitement as the other two greeted him.

Satisfied that Gunther and these two other dogs were getting along well enough, Syd relaxed a bit and turned their attention to the owner as he raised a hand and introduced himself. Now that they were closer together, Syd could see the sunburn starting to set in over his chest. They had to hold back a slight wince as they looked him over. He would be properly red soon, they reckoned, and then the pain would really set in.

Syd extended her hand, covered in a black driver’s glove, and shook Ashley’s. ”Hi,” they breathed, a tone of nervous relief in their voice. ”I’m Syd.” Looking over, Gunther was rolling over on his back. ”And that goofball is Gunther. I think he’s pretty happy to meet some new friends… What’re yours called?”

[Ashley Wolfe]

The woman outstretched her hand and Ashley's gaze dropped to note the black glove concealing her skin. It was curious, but he kept the surprise and wonder from flickering visibly across his face while he clasped it with a gentle bob. "Nice to meet you, Syd," his eye traveled to the trio of dogs as she offered her shepherd's name, his mouth quirking into something fond as he watched Gunther roll and toss himself side to side. His two sniffed about their new friend's legs and his flailing paws; tails whisking through the air and eyes pulled wide and bright with intrigue. All good signs.

He laughed quietly when she asked their names, stammering with sneaking embarrassment as he released her hand and gestured toward them. "Uh, well... the white one is Ham," his smile tugged infinitesimally wider at the corners of his mouth and he paused to breathe an amused exhale before continuing, "It's short for Ham Sandwich — and the brown one is Gouda." He lifted a hand in the air, as if imploring her to hold off judgment and give him a moment to explain. "I was very, very hungry when I picked them up."

Usually, he didn't have to name the dogs he brought home. Most of them came with their own names and stories. But Ham and Gouda hadn't had the luxury. They'd been born unwanted, products of a puppy mill; left to rot in stinky, cramped cages when they reached a certain age and weren't so easily pawned off for some ridiculous fee. "They're not really mine. Or well, maybe just for a time." He explained, lines gathering at the corners of his eyes as he smiled wider. "They're fosters. I'm just holding on to them until they're ready to find their new families."

It had been a rocky road for the pair in the beginning. They'd been hollowed husks, just skin and bones, and knew little more than fear and hunger when Ashley first loaded them in his vehicle. Looking at them now, it was hard to recall how they'd been then, with their dim eyes sunken in skeletal sockets and tails tucked permanently beneath their trembling frames. "I think they're just about ready. Y'know," he lifted a brow, smile becoming almost sneaky as he shot her a wink. "If goofball Gunther needs some yardmates...?"

@syd

[Deleted]

Syd stifled a laugh when Ashley mentioned his dogs names, immediately hoping it didn’t show the instant he mentioned that they were foster dogs. ”That’s really cool of you,” they said. Pretty fucking noble, actually.

As much as they cared for Gunther – as much as that surprised them – owning him was never part of the plan. They never wanted to be responsible for anyone or anything other themselves (which was hard enough in the first place). Finding him was an accident; taking him in was an impulse. The agency didn’t really make it a choice. It was either take him in or leave him to die on his own. No, not a choice at all.

”Way to put me on the spot,” they answered when Ashley made his offer, only half-joking, since they weren’t completely sure how serious he was. ”I mean, they’re a cute sandwich and all, but Gunther’s enough of a handful on his own.” Besides, even if Syd did want to, which they didn’t, it really was not a possibility. Not with them living in the city where they live, and definitely not with their work.

[Ashley Wolfe]

Ashley's sly expression slipped into something jokingly abashed as Syd rejected his teasing notion of pawning the dogs off on her, then pulled once more with amusement as she returned a faint jest her own (and referred to the pups as a "cute sandwich"). The thought made him consider continuing the naming theme. Collecting more and more ingredients until he had a full salad and soup bar. It would be sure to get a chuckle out of prospective adopters (though he imagined most of them would be quick to rename once they took their new furry friend home).

He gave a tiny shake of his head, clucking in a feigned disappointment that his fixed grin kept airy. "Ah well, it was worth a shot anyway." He turned from her then and began to gather his belongings, stowing his clothes in the pack he'd used to tote around all his "beginner" tackle gear. "Like you said though, they are cute. It won't be long at all until someone can't resist their charm." Keeping the leashes out, he drew the string on the pack and slung it across his back (thankful that he hadn't turned in his sleep and been badly sunburnt on both sides of him). He picked up his abandoned fishing pole and turned back.

"Do you live around here, Syd? I think maybe I've had my fill of the sun today, so we'll probably start heading home. We could walk together though, if we're going in the same direction?" He lifted a brow, hoping the offer wasn't pressuring, and decided to add. "Would give the pups some time to play, at least."

@syd
Apologies for the wait!

[Deleted]

At the mention of wrapping things up, Syd took their phone out of their jacket pocket, just briefly to look at the time before dropping it back in. No notifications, thankfully. It had been their first day off in a while, which was the whole reason they had been able to take the time to come out here. But, even though they didn't have anywhere particular to be, they had been here much longer than they had planned on. Not that Gunther minded, of course. "Uh... yeah," they muttered, more to themselves than anything, eyes focused on Gunther. They still had a ways to go back.

Looking back at Ash, they nodded. "Of course. I'm all the way downtown, so we were just gonna head back that way" - they pointed back in the direction they had come from, to the forests across the way from the lake - "and then pick up the road from there." Syd tugged gently on the leash twice, letting Gunther know that it was time to get going. He hesitated at first, before gently turning back and moving to Syd's side. He wasn't completely trained - after all, he wasn't Syd's to begin with - but he was good about that.

Ashley Wolfe
likewise!