She appreciated his willingness to clear her apartment. She did not appreciate how squirmy the puppies were. Apparently that wasn't the best way to hold them. One retaliated by starting to whizz. With a cry of 'dammit' Noel dropped one and dashed to the bathroom toilet with the other, unsure of what other option she had at that point.

"No. There's not really a story." She called out from the bathroom. "I told him to grow up and get a dog? I don't know, I guess I know a lot of ostentatious people who have boundary issues. Oh! If the puppies were here, maybe he sold my plane." Noel dropped the fluffy floof and flushed on its behalf. Little heathen.

Aaaand then she turned and despaired at the trail of whizz behind her.

"This might be payback for my smart mouth." Noel grabbed a towel and dropped it to kick around on top of the whizz trail. Was the FRONT DOOR STILL OPEN!? She ran, danced over a puppy, and slammed the door in puppy #2's face. How did people have small creatures? This was insane.

Noel ducked into the puppy cage and pulled up the bedding in order to pull out a large padded envelope. Okay. So the puppies were a carrier for other business. That at least made some sense.

The puppies, once they spotted someone on the ground, ran over and tried to shower Noel with love and licks and excited yips. As irritated as she was at their continued existence, she did melt a little around the edges and gave in to petting and rough housing.

"I'm not convinced he realizes that puppies are a continued maintenance gift." Two. Jesus. What was she going to do with two of them?

One of the dogs decided Noel needed to be marked as territory. Ranger concealed a smile while she ran the dog to the bathroom, leaving a trail on the floor. It was easy, he turned to check the windows laughing to himself as she spoke from the bathroom.

She said there was no story, but clearly there was. She’d told this person to get a dog so he sent her a couple of little monsters. And he sold Noel’s plane… Wait? ”He sold y’r plane? Y’ had a plane?” The Ranger didn’t even have a plane. He didn’t need a plane, but having a helicopter would be neat. Maybe he should get an ultralight, no license required to fly them.

”Y’ must’ve really smarted off t’ this guy. He sent his little fluff army t’ redecorate.” He said as he checked the last window. He turned hearing Noel run across the apartment. She’d left the door open and one of the puppies was making an escape attempt. She then pulled an envelope out of the cage. ”Money from sellin’ the plane?”

To retrieve the envelope Noel had gotten on the ground. The puppies assumed this was an invitation and stampeded over to give her puppy kisses. Ranger chuckled and walked over. Noel might want to invest in a company that produces lint rollers. There was going to be a lot of hair… Everywhere.

”If y’ need help with these little heathens just let me know.” He said as he sat on the floor and pet one of the puppies. He’d always liked dogs, he’d on occasion considered getting one. It would not have worked out though, he’d ended up out of country so often.

"Ostentatious. Boundary issues." Noel reiterated as she shuffled a puppy off her lap so that she could open up the envelope. Cash. Perfect.

"I must have a sign on my back that says 'purchase presents for me that will be more work than worth.' I don't know what a plane is worth, but I'm gonna guess it's all here." Now she could buy a few things herself and not be beholden to Haven entirely... though... she wondered about what it might take to invest...

Troubles for another day.

Today's troubles were trying to untie her shoelaces with their teeth. At least one of them. The one snuffling around Ranger seemed somehow more calm. He offered to help... she needed way more than help.

"How...? What do you do with these things? Like the petting, yeah. I could get behind that." Noel picked one of them up and tried her best to look it over. It was a little thing, mostly black but with some socks of color. The paws were rather large looking, probably why it tripped so often. It's little tail was so chubby and cute.

"What are they... for?"

Assuming the cash in the envelope was ll in hundreds, it looked to the Ranger like it just might be all the cash you would expect from selling a private plane. And not some little Cessna 152 either. ”Have t’ send y’ somethin’ t’ spend all that cash on. Keep the economy rollin’.” He joked.

Of the pair of dogs Ranger had started petting one that seemed to be the more calm of the two. It was still sniffing around but was mostly content to just chill. Maybe it was the lack of shoelaces. The puppy by Noel had decided tied shoes were an insult to its puppy honor.

Noel asked what someone does with puppies before picking it up and giving it a once over. The Range laughed. While he leaned toward pragmatism, Noel clearly had him beat there. He would never have asked what a puppy was for. ”Feed them, play with them, pet them of course. An’ y’ train them. These look like somethin’ the Soviets would’ve trained as war hounds. So aside from bein’ a companion they’re bodyguards. An’ every home could use a good land-shark.” He looked around the room after he spoke.

Normally homes could gain extra security from a land-shark. Though Haven shouldn’t need that, though the presence of these land-shark pups was evidence that additional security was needed.

He put hands on either side of the puppy’s neck and ruffled its fur. It freed itself and rolled over. Ranger smiled as the puppy tried to bite his fingers. He danced them in front of the her mouth before pulling back when she tried to nip at them. Still looking at the puppy he said, "I've helped train huntin' dogs. I could help y' train them. An' help y' exercise them. These dogs're gunna be big. They can be as big as me when they grow up."

"I have more than enough debts to repay." And these bills crisp and flat seemed too small to cover all that. It would have to be enough for now until she figured out the job thing. Puppy One snuffled up under the envelope she was peeking back through. Right. And she still had to figure out the puppy thing.

Land-shark. Noel snorted.

"That all sounds like work." Which, Noel wasn't usually opposed to. She frowned at the puppy and the puppy didn't seem to care one way or the other. It's tongue lolled out and it panted with apparent cheer. It was going to get bigger. Ah. Maybe that was her hang up.

"Getting a pet... two pets... It just seems very permanent." What if she forgot about them? She pulled the puppy in for a hug and let it sniff and lick around her chin until she just couldn't stand it anymore. She pulled it back and smushed it's fluffy cheeks. "And getting a Ranger, too. That's a lot of change for one day."

The only reason this didn't feel wildly out of control was that there were 4 hands to 2 puppies.

"You should keep one. Show me how it's done." That was a good compromise, right? She wouldn't have to return them and she also wouldn't be saddled with feeding two "land-sharks." "Uh. You were kidding, right? About the size?"

It seemed Noel was amused by the term ‘land-shark.’ She snorted, which made Ranger chuckle. That and at the comedy of the situation; the pair of them, an former operator who still did the same work as a contractor and the woman once known as Sebastian’s Shadow sitting on the floor playing with puppies.

”It is.” He said as he continued to play with the puppy. A demonstration in not working.

Noel then laid out one of her hang ups. That it is permanent. Which was true to an extent. For the next ten to twelve years she would have a couple of not-so-little ones depending on her. The biggest danger to them being that she could one day forget they exist. “And getting a Ranger, too”

He looked up from the puppy. He smiled at Noel for a moment before the puppy caught his finger and dug a few sharp teeth into his finger. He twisted his face up and attacked the puppy with his other hand to distract it from its catch.

When Noel suggested that the Ranger should keep one, excitement crept onto his face. ”I wouldn’t want t’ deny y’ the chance t’ raise them both y’rself, but I could take one. Two puppies an' a Ranger on the same day is a lot.” He was finally in a place where he could have a dog and now one was being offered to him. Sure this dog would be more of a bear, but it was still a dog.

”I wasn’t. The females can get up to one eighty or so. The males get even larger. I’ve heard ‘em called the ‘Russain bear dog’ before... Trust me, y’ don’t want t’ have one chargin’ at y’ across the snow.” Ranger spoke from first hand experience. "They're supposed t' be calm dogs normally though. An' sharp."

Ranger looked back to the puppy that was now bored of biting at his hands and was trying to nom his boot. ”What t’ name y’?” He waved her off his boot and then scooped her up in his arms. She didn’t care and attacked his face with her tongue.

The way his face lit up? Yeah, Noel knew she was a goner. She hadn't wanted any dogs. Now at least she was down one. Even if Michael and Noel didn't work out being all 'MyFace Official' and everything, at least they would always have this weird dog connection.

"You should see your face." How could she say no to that face? He was sooo happy, like a kid who just got what he asked from Santa. It was so damn happy she wasn't sure how to process. It made her all weird and melty inside. "You've secretly wanted a small bear to call your own, haven't you?"

Tired of getting her cheeks squished, the puppy nipped at Noel’s fingers. The memory mancer yanked her hand out of the way before the puppy got purchase, but didn’t do enough to quell the thing’s enthusiasm. Michael was busy explaining how dangerous and big these buggers were supposed to be. Noel was busy trying to not get eat-ed.

”I guess Howdy is taken as your CB handle, huh? So maybe ‘Y’all’ or something else fully Texas?” He didn’t seem to do anything half-Texas.

While she was distracted trying to think of a name for Ranger’s puppy, hers finally managed to lock onto her hand. ”Ow dammit, sit!” And, to her surprise, it sat. She had to fight for her hand back, but no skin was broken. It was a love nip, really. It’s wagging tail slowed as she narrowed her eyes at it

"Dammit?” It wagged its tail again.

He should see his face? He knew exactly what his face must look like. Like a more mature and controlled version of that kid on that kid on that internet video who got the 64-bit game system he had wanted. ”I’d wanted a dog. Gettin’ a bear is more than I could’ve dreamed.”

Holding the dog away from his face to stop the lick attack the Ranger looked at it as Noel suggested “Y’all” as a name, or something else equally Texan. While he thought about it he set the puppy back down. ”Not everythin’ I do is all about Texas. I could’ve named one of my cars the General Ross.”

While thinking of a name the Ranger got the puppy spinning in circles chasing his fingers. Noel must have gotten distracted because her puppy latched onto her hand. Ranger chuckled as she exclaimed to the dog and told it to sit. And the dog did. Ranger watched Noel and her dog as she again said, “Dammit?”

It seemed the dog liked the name. Ranger laughed. ”I think she likes that name.” That meant one name down, just one to go. Having mentioned General Ross earlier gave him an idea.

”Reveille.” He said looking at the dog. ”What do y’ think of that name?” He asked the dog.

Reveille didn’t care. She looked at his fingers wanting to play with or bite them. Reveille it was. Named after the First Lady of Texas A&M, the college in his hometown.

Maybe everything was about Texas…

”I think Ii might be cookin’ f’r four tonight.”