Andrew flicked his drivers licence the way a police officer flips their badge and she retrained a giggle to a grin. So he was over eighteen, that was a relief. One day she’d have to get a licence, but for that there was a whole heap of other paperwork to troll through including absent birth certificates, although at least now she had a fixed address.

She crinkled her brow thoughtfully and stared at the dog who licked his chops twice and stared back. Out the corner of her eye she could see Andrew looking at the dog too. Despite the speckles on one ear neither ‘speckles’ nor ‘spots’ sounded like the type of dog that stared back at them. If the black splodge on the his face had extended to cover both his eyes and ears instead of just one he could be a ‘bandit’ but as it was he looked like he was sporting a pirate patch.

“Pirate?”

It didn’t feel quite right, not the type of name you called out in the park to find your pet in a crowd of furry friends. She furrowed her brow further. Calling him ‘promise’ was both strange and too girly, so she didn’t mention it.

“Jack? Captain? Kapena?”

The Hawaiian word for captain, also a band which she and James had grown up with, seemed to flow better than the others and she looked at Andrew curiously.

Verdy grinned at the way he'd shown her his license. The action had simply come naturally to him. Probably too much time with Jorge to blame for it. After a minute Verdy tossed some names out. The Kapena one sounded good but he had a feeling he'd screw it up more often than not. Oddly enough he liked Jack. It was simple and a little common but it did seem to fit. At least to him.

"Jack? We could always call him Captain Jack."

He stated it as a question in case she really preferred one of the other names. They were all pirate themed names. Except Jack and considering the recent pirate movies with a Jack in them that was probably where it had come in too. Verdy did seem to like pirates. Looking around Andrew scooped up one of the balls and gave it a toss. The dog chased after it and brought it back once he'd caught it.

"Or if we're going pirate themed we could go with one of the historical ones. Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Black Bart, Calico Jack, and what not."

Those were pretty much all the names Andrew could remember of pirates. They weren't his forte. Andrew knew Roman names and that only because of his dad. What kind of middle name was Julius anyway?

“Captain Jack… Jack for short. I like it.”

She grinned at the happy dog playing with Andrew, the historical names, while good, seemed a little to serious for the friendly dog. Jack had the benefit of being short enough to call out across a park, and wouldn’t turn heads like ‘snookie-poo’ or those other ridiculous names people insisted on calling their pets. She could also see Andrew saying it without the shame so often associated with walking a girlfriend’s dog.

Girl-gap-friend she reminded herself. She hadn’t know Andrew long enough to be anything more, all stolen kisses and hand-holding aside, and she didn’t want to impose on a place possibly reserved for someone else. Ruffling newly-dubbed-Jack’s mismatched ears she grinned.

After a solid half hour of reading, writing and double-checking the assorted papers before them (complete with rummaging through her bag to find some stationary with the Mansion’s address on it) all the lengthy, reasonable and plain absurd questions answered in Andrew’s handwriting and her own large print. Jack had spent the time frolicking, chasing after balls thrown for him and snoozing with his head on her feet. Finally they were done.

With a relieved sigh she signed her name at the bottom of the paper and stretched her neck.

“Wow, some of those questions were nuts. All done now?”

As if on cue the elderly gentleman stepped into the room, still smiling gently at them. He read over their answers, nodding to himself every now and then, before finally adding his signature to the last page.

“Now, if you take these through to my wife she’ll sign you off on them and fix you up with a starter bag.”

Attaching the lead onto Jack’s harness they were right to go, and headed back up the corridor to where the receptionist waited for them, crabby expression remaining exactly where it was when they left.

Half an hour of writing, reading, and rummaging for things with the required information on them and Captain Jack's paperwork was complete. Jack had played and slept while they worked on his papers. Andrew put down his signature next to Verdy's.

"Yeah they were." Andrew flipped through the paper work one last time to make sure everything was filled out, "I think we're done."

The old man came in once again exactly on cue. Andrew was beginning to think the man was psychic. Maybe he had some weird sort of sense about where he needed to be and at which time. After he checked over the paperwork and added his own signature he told them to head back up to the front desk. Jack's lead was reattached and soon they were off. Back to front desk and Grouchy Grandma again. She scowled at them and then looked at Jack.

Surprisingly enough she smiled at Jack and ruffled his ears before getting to work on the papers and starter bag. She was evidently an animal lover, with absolutely no time or patience for humans whatsoever. It made Andrew wonder how on earth she'd managed to get married at all. Over all she seemed more the type to play the spinster woman with the hundreds of pets rather than married. Of course there was nothing saying that she couldn't do a little of both. Andrew imagined the odd old couple's house teeming with pets of various sizes and species and grinned.

Cranky-pants had a heart for animals apparently, and despite the glare for Andrew and herself, Verdy didn’t mind her touching Jack. Jack didn’t seem to mind either, while the tail-wagging wasn’t as frantic as it had been for herself and Andrew (who she assumed was fine with it judging from his grin off into the middle distance) it was steady and his ears remained perked and happy.

Signing in another two places and after Andrew’s ID was checked (her library card received a dismissive snort when offered) the woman slammed an ‘approved’ stamp across two of the pages and signed on a third. Tapping furiously on the computer for a moment the printer began making clunking noises and the younger woman slid over to it on her wheely-chair, forcing the older woman up to rummage for a starter bag under the desk. Verdy scowled at the younger woman on cranky-pant’s behalf, that was really rude.

Receiving their printed out certificate of adoption and the starter bag the older woman pushed another pile of pamphlets into the bag with a grimace.

“Never know when you might need to check something.”

The grunt was in the interest of their Jack, so Verdy didn’t protest. Perhaps the woman was so sour because she volunteered to help out with the animal side of things and got drafted to the people and paperwork side of things. It was enough to make any anti-social animal lover squirm.

“Thanks.”

Verdy nodded to the woman and received the lead gratefully from the older man who toddled off to help the next couple, still smiling to himself.

“You ready to go Andy?”

She was fairly certain there wasn’t anything else they had to do before leaving, unless sitting that long doing paper work made him desperately need to use the facilities.

The paperwork was given it's final signatures and some stamps. They had their adoption certificate and the starter bag. Grouchy Grandma tucked some more pamphlets into the bag. Andrew tried not to roll his eyes. The pamphlets probably wouldn't ever get a glance but since she had the best interest of Jack at heart Andrew let it slide. He wasn't about to be rude. Andrew nodded shortly after Verdy did. The lead was transferred over to Verdy and they were set. She asked him if he was ready to go.

"Yeah I think so."

He couldn't think of any other reason to hang around. They had Jack and all the paperwork was finished. Now all they had to do was walk back to the mansion. It wasn't too far and meanwhile they'd have Jack to get to know on the way. Andrew headed out the lobby doors, holding them open for Verdy and Jack. He looked at the dog.

"Time to take you to your new home buddy."

Heading back to the mansion was next on the to-do list and they set off for their very first walk together as a family. Jack was incredibly well behaved, his tail swung back and forth and he walked with a resounding sense of curiosity, staring at pigeons and sniffing an assortment of trails on the sidewalk. For a sickening moment when a child on a scooter zoomed past Verdy was certain that he would chase after it, dragging her along the concrete. Thankfully although his ears perked up and he froze to watch the scooter go by he didn’t chase after it, rather staying close by her legs.

On the whole he seemed a remarkably calm dog, although he jumped as a passer-by sneezed and shied away from women in stilettos, he was content to walk alongside them and inspect everything, tail wagging constantly.

“So, are you going to look after him tonight for the first night, or shall I? Either’s fine by me.”

She grinned at Dad-Andrew Oh man, cranky-granny was right, it was like having a child and it was true, since she wasn’t fussed about the dog sleeping on her bed she hadn’t had to make any dramatic changes to the room, with the two bowls organised (thankfully in the starter kit there was a box of food, so she knew what brand to look out for) and the toys carefully unwrapped and inspected for any sharp edges or plastic remnants everything was pretty much set.

They would have to develop a system of dropping in on each other to swap him over on certain days, or when one wasn’t able to have him for whatever reason. She had considered blu-tacking a picture of herself to the door so that if Andrew was having trouble locating her he had something to go off, but as of yet she hadn’t got around to it. There really wasn’t anything much recognisable about her door at all really, that would need to be remedied.

“We should take a picture of him and stick it on each of our doors, at least for the first little while, so that we can find each other if we need to.”

Bring on the family-photo. Her eyes scanned for one of those photo-booths where coins were inserted and a strip of pictures printed out, while they probably couldn’t take Jack into a mall to search for them, sometimes they were at the entry to shops and could be wrangled before any owners arrived shaking fists.

((OOC: I have an exam tommorrow so might not be on much))

The walk back to the mansion was fairly uneventful. Jack was a very well behaved dog. He didn't chase anyone or anything and he didn't walk too fast or slow either. Verdy asked whether or not Andrew would take him for the first night. That was fine by him.

"Sure, I'll take him."

The trading back and forth would likely be a little awkward at first but that was the downside of owning a dog together with someone else. He couldn't bring himself to regret it though, even if it had been a rather spur of the moment thing. Verdy was grinning happily and Jack seemed pretty happy too. That was worth it. Verdy apparently was thinking more on practical lines because she suggested getting a picture of Jack that they could stick to their doors so they knew whose room was whose.

"Good idea."

He wasn't exactly sure how they'd manage it though. Maybe if they found one of those photo booths or bought a cheap Polaroid camera.

Verdy nodded, Andrew was happy to look after him for the first night, that was good seeing as she hadn’t vacuumed yet, if Jack was a skittish dog, or at least if they were treating him gently to begin with, a hoover wasn’t the thing to be introduced to on the first night in a new place. While in their eyes he was an adorable dog, he was also old enough to escape much of the cooing and petting which was bound to come from students and mansion residents on seeing a puppy. It seemed better to ease him into life at the mansion, rather than swamp him with all the sights and smells in one go.

Eyes scanning back and forth they finally lighted on an outdoor food court, complete with one of those little instant-photo booths, red curtain and all. Grinning, she pointed it out to Andrew, it would solve their photo issue in twenty-five seconds, or so the text above the door proclaimed, and while it had a ‘no food’ policy (odd, seeing as it was in a food court) it said nothing about animals. This was as good as written permission, and she checked that it was unoccupied before rummaging in her bag for change to make it work. Success was attained through an assortment of coins in the bottom of her bag and she grinned.

“Alright, lets do this.”

Inserting an assortment of coins until the green light came on she stepped inside, Jack followed wagging his tail and she inspected the little ledge seat, it would seem that Jack would have to sit on one of their laps to be in the picture, as it was with both behinds on the seat it would be a little cosy. The instructions indicated that there would be four different photos taken, printed in a single strip.

Andrew was on his own in his room, therefore Jack wouldn't have someone else to get used to right away. That would be good. It would be good to give him some time to get used to his environment before he had to adjust to more than just himself and Verdy. As it was the swapping between rooms might cause some issues. He figured they'd just wing it and see what happened.

Eventually one of those picture booths turned up just outside an outdoor food court. That would do perfectly for the pictures and Verdy seemed to think so as well since they made a beeline for it. The didn't seem to be a no animals rule. Nothing to that effect was posted, just a no food rule. If they had to explain that would be a good thing. 'You never said I couldn't.' was a juvenile excuse but one that a lot of people got away with. Verdy fished out some change to pay for the pictures. Since she was holding Jack's leash Andrew got into the booth first. It was short enough that he had to duck a bit to avoid hitting his head. Sometimes being tall was a pain.

As Andrew situated himself within the booth he quickly noticed one thing. This was going to be a pretty tight fit. Jack would have to sit on one lap or another. There definitely wasn't room for him on the bench beside or between them. This also meant that he'd be awfully close to Verdy. That was something he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about. Of course that was seeming to become par for the course in interactions with Verdy. Fun, nice, but he was left confused and unsure exactly what to feel about it beyond that.

"So, will Jack sit on my lap or yours?"

It was a bit of a squish, considering her skinny frame and Andrew’s long and lanky one she was concerned for anyone who was average or larger trying to take a photo in the tiny room. Swishing the red curtain across the door she wriggled in next to him and eyed the lens. It seemed that the photo would include both of them, not just the top of her head so she inspected the instructions. There was a button to press when you were ready, a delay and then the photo was taken.

Glancing at the young man beside her she shrugged and patted her legs.

“C’mon Jack, up you hop.”

Looking between them for a second, tail steadily wagging he leapt onto her legs, wobbled, and spread his weight over their legs evenly. His tail thumped gently into her stomach every few seconds and he happily panted his dog-breath over each of them with a doggy-grin.

“I guess both. You ready?”

Grinning she leant forward, carefully so not to dislodge Jack, and pressed the button. There was a moment’s silence which had her wondering if maybe she hadn’t pressed it hard enough, before a little light above the lens began to blink and there was a series of three short ‘beep’s. Jack’s ears perked up and he cocked his head slightly at the beeps which made her smile much nicer than spouting ‘cheese’ would have done.

A flash, click and delayed whurr of moving film and the first of four was done.

“Ah, that wasn’t so bad. Ready to go again?”

Jack didn't like the idea of sitting on just one lap. He wanted both of the laps. At least, that's what Andrew figured that doggy grin meant. Andrew ruffled the pooch's ears affectionately.

"Yup I'm ready."

Andrew was already smiling because of Jack's decision to sit on both their laps. So when the camera flashed and machine whirred Andrew was smiling and unconcerned about how he'd look in that picture. All in all that was rather painless. Aside from the fact that he was squished in a photo booth with a good looking girl and a dog but some would argue that wasn't much of a problem.

"Whenever you're ready Verdy."

It would be a bit strange to be pinning something up on his door again. He'd given that up around fifteen or so. There was nothing embarrassing about this however. It was just a picture of Verdy, Jack, and him.

Sharing is caring, or so they say, and Verdy took this as a good omen for what was to come. The second photo was taken, with just as little effort as the first, the careless smiles far nicer than the plastered fakeness which so often rules in staged photos.

The display of the picture on the screen was satisfactory, so she pressed the ‘ok’ button before the button to take the next.

“Ok, two more for good luck”

Good luck and the fact that it was a four-pack. It wouldn’t harm to have double ups anyway, she had far too few photos of her friends. On the second-last beep and blink of the little light Jack’s tail stopped wagging and despite her resolve not to, she looked across in time to see a pink wet tongue sweep up the side of Andrew’s face. She giggled at the sight and the camera flashed.

Photo number two was just as easily taken as the first. There were two more pictures to take since this one turned out well. Just as the second to last beep before the next picture sounded Jack decided that Andrew's face wasn't slobbery enough. The dog reached up and licked the said of his face. Verdy laughed as the camera flashed, catching them like that. Andrew wasn't entirely sure what his expression was but it was probably a mixture of surprise and amusement. That was how he'd been feeling. Surprise at the sudden lick and laughter at the timing.

"Jack you goofy dog."

The admonishment was good natured in tone.

"If you're going to lick me then you need to lick Verdy too."

Andrew followed this with a grin at Verdy.

"We wouldn't want her to feel left out now would we Jack?"

Andrew quirked a brow at the dog and he could swear he could see some mischief in the big brown eyes that stared back.

Verdy crinkled her nose a little, having slobbery dog slime smeared across her cheek wasn’t exactly her idea of fun. She was fine about being left out, really. She pressed the button and grinned over Jack’s head at Andrew. Jack was a polite, dignified doggy-man he would never-

A wet sweep of the big pink tongue across her neck startled her and she defied all logic and managed to squeal and gasp at the same time.

“Ewwwwwww!”

Laughter overtook her and the light flashed as she wiped away the smear of drool from her neck and chin with the back of her hand. Judging from the renewed belly-thumping of Jack’s tail his expression was one of cheeky glee. The doggy kiss was just as unexpected as the proposal of a kiss of a different kind from the young man on the other side of their furry friend.

Still grinning Verdy hit the ‘print’ button and the machine began making an assortment of strange noises behind the instruction panel.

“I know sharing is caring, but seriously…”

She glanced over at her non-furred friend and rolled her eyes. While being out with him was lots of fun, strange things had a tendency to happen. She put it down to the whole mutant thing, that different gene was like a magnet for weirdness.