The sound that escaped Verdy when Jack licked her was hard to classify. It wasn't a squeal but it wasn't a gasp either. A squeasp? Andrew gave a mental frown at the made up word and swatted it out of his head. The picture was taken while Verdy was wiping away the drool. Andrew laughed a little and grinned at her. Jack shared his grin over Verdy's response. Andrew gave the dog several affectionate pets.

"Good boy, Jack."

Verdy laughed about the whole thing too and over all the end of the little photo shoot turned out well.

"Well he's your dog as much as mine. It wouldn't be right if you didn't get to share in all of the fun."

The pictures spat out of the machine after a long series of odd noises from behind the instruction panel. Really, this thing sounded like it should have been doing something a lot more ominous than take cheap pictures. Looking at the shots, Andrew figured they could divide them up later. There wasn't exactly any particular shot he had to have after all. They were all good and would work for what they were wanted for.

Share the fun, and the germs and the squirm factor. It was funny, a little bit, somewhere inside herself, and she snickered. There were no hard feelings, no malicious intent, and although Jack had surprised her he was, like Andrew said, a good dog.

Finally after the extended time (much longer than the advertised twenty-five seconds) and when a particularly sickly sounding moan issued from the machine she feared not only that their photos would be ruined, but that the tiny seat might give way and swallow them into the belly of some monstrous beast. Of course that fear was quickly nullified by a whirr and the strip of photos arriving safely in the collection slot.

She had neglected to pack her scissors on this little trip, the webpages she had researched had said nothing about needing them. She had brought photo ID (or rather, come with someone who had photo ID which, while not the same, was as good as), worn clothes that while presentable wouldn’t matter if they got a little grubby and she was well past eighteen. In short, she had done everything it suggested.

“Back to the Mansion then? Or should we stop and grab something to eat?”

In addition to the tail-wagging Jack now had a serious case of the nose-sniffling, wriggling the damp black triangle back and forth to sample the smells of the food court and New York in general.

Jack seemed to like the idea of getting food. His nose was twitching awfully fast in an attempt to catch every smell he could. For his part, Andrew wouldn't say no to a bite either.

"Food sounds good. We can grab something quick and then head to the mansion so Jack can get something to eat. If we don't fill him up on bits of our own food that is." Andrew paused for just a moment, "Plus, conveniently enough, we have a food court right here."

Andrew figured the food court would contain the standard fare. There would be a burger place and some various attempts at foreign foods. He could probably find something to eat at any of the places that were presented as choices so Andrew was willing to let Verdy make that decision. Switching gears, this would probably be the last stop they made before they went back to the mansion. Andrew assumed as much. Who knows? Maybe they'd find something incredibly interesting or exciting on the way back. Or not. Not was good too. Exciting was over rated when it tended to combine with violence.

For Andrew the two had become synonymous. Just like coffee shops and alleyways could just as easily be spelled trouble for all he cared. He took a moment to convince himself that a group of ridiculous looking miscreants would not show up to beat them senseless for breathing the wrong way. Andrew petted Jack again. Nope, everything would be fine.

One look at Jack convinced her that he would most likely partake in the odds and ends of food doting puppy-parents so often let slip to a new furry addition. It wouldn’t hurt to spoil him a little, as long as they didn’t give him onions or chocolate, or other things that dogs really shouldn’t have.

“But no milky stuff, right? Sounds good to me, and it is a most convenient thing.”

She smiled, everything smelled so good, making a decision would be tough. Her eyes skipped over the Chinese food-bar and a place sporting pizza which looked a little iffy (how long can pizza sit on a shelf before it goes? What ever that time, times two and that’s what it looked like). The sushi looked tempting, for the fact that it was quite a cool meal in the heat, but the smell of chicken from the brightly coloured store next door suggested that hot food mightn’t be so bad.

“You feel like anything in particular?”

The sizzle of frying onions from one of the burger places was giving off that smell like only fried onions do, and she was fairly sure if she had a tail as an offshoot of her mutation (or for any other reason not related at all but simply for the heck of it) it would be wagging just as hard as Jack’s.

Because of the relative ‘laid-back’ atmosphere of the food court it would be acceptable for Andrew and herself to order and consume totally different meals but sit at the same table. The colour of the sushi was perfectly lit by the lights in the top of the glass case, and she decided that that would be her meal. It was too hot for anything too heavy, now that she had the luxury of choosing, no longer a beggar.

Andrew glanced around at the various places. Sushi, chicken, Chinese, pizza, and burgers shared the area. There was plenty to choose from but Andrew wasn't entirely sure what he wanted.

"Yup, no milky stuff."

He was mostly off in his own little world trying to decide what to get and thus had just responded to the only portion of Verdy's statement that had sounded like a question to him. The pizza was out. It didn't look that appetizing. Andrew had had enough chicken in his life so that was out too. Not that he disliked it, he simply didn't want chicken. After a moment or two of thinking he figured it would be interesting to try some sushi. That was something he hadn't really bothered to try despite having been in New York for two years. He'd had plenty of opportunity but no motivation.

"Maybe the sushi?"

He liked the idea of trying it. Andrew knew nothing about it save that it was raw fish and rice. There was probably more to it but that was what he knew about it. He looked over at Verdy and then down at Jack. Lunch out with a friend(?), he wasn't entirely sure where to put Verdy so friend would do for now, and a new furry companion. It was a nice detour.

Cheese came under the heading of ‘milky stuff’ for their lactose-intolerant fluffy friend, and seeing as it tended to get over everything the burgers seemed like maybe an idea for next time they went out. Out together, of course, not ‘going out’ out… She had been watching Andrew’s behaviour quietly and had decided that seeing as he wasn’t giving off any other signals (today), that for now they were just friends. That was ok though, it meant they could get to know each other, no strings attached.

Sushi seemed to be the most popular decision, and it was relatively inexpensive. Nodding she stepped up closer to the store and inspected their overhead menu. Everything sounded good (for all that her inner pronunciation was way off, for a certain fact) and the fish had the fresh looking gleam which promised cool delicate texture, nothing like the rubbery 99c cans of tuna she had resorted to in the past.

An assorted platter looked good, enough to share, with some left over for Jack to try, or to nibble on if some weren’t to taste. It also had the advantage of two pieces of each thing and a mix of fried, marinated, and raw meats. The glance from Andrew and his shift of attention to Jack was all the permission she needed (not that she really needed any, it was simply polite) and she ordered them one to share. She was startled by the two pairs of chopsticks, but decided now was as good a time as ever to brush up on the dexterity, especially when the frantic tail-wagger would be happy to clean up any dropped tidbits, intentional and accidental.

“Alrighty, lets give this a go.”

Pausing a moment to pay and move the photos to her bag she turned to find them a table which would be optimum for sitting. With Jack as a lookout there was really no need to put her back into a corner, but old habits die hard and she found herself scouting for the table which provided the least number of options for anyone sneaking up behind her. It was subconscious, and automatic.

Verdy stepped up and bought them some assorted sushi while Andrew looked around to find a place to sit. There weren't that many people around so there were plenty of places to choose from. When Verdy finished the purchase, one that Andrew noticed included chopsticks, she joined him in table scouting. He would cede the right to choose to her. Whatever made her more comfortable. Once they were seated at a table of Verdy's choosing Andrew turned to the problem of the chopsticks.

He'd never used chopsticks before. Andrew wasn't entirely sure he had the manual dexterity required to do so. However since that was the utensil provided he'd try. He picked up one of the pairs and looked at the little printed instructions on how to use them. After a minute he managed a sloppy form of what was shown. Andrew gave a shrug and tried to pick up one of the fried things only to drop it right back on the platter. He adjusted his grip and tried again. This time he made it to the edge of the platter before dropping it. A slightly annoyed frown appeared on his face.

"Stupid sticks." he muttered.

Andrew gave it one last try. The fried morsel almost got to his mouth and then slipped from the grip of his chopsticks and fell to the ground. This was quickly devoured by Jack who seemed very pleased by the accident, if all the tail wagging and doggy grinning was any indication.

"I apparently can't use chop sticks."

Andrew put the two tiny pieces of wood down. There was no way he'd get anything eaten with those.

"Fingers work much better anyway."

He grabbed one of the friend things he'd been trying to eat with the chopsticks and popped it in his mouth. Not bad!

Once a suitable table was chosen, close to escape routes and with limited points where unwanted (or wanted) guests could approach from, they were seated. Andrew busied himself with chopsticks and she turned her attention to her own pair, cracking them apart and rubbing them together to remove any splinters before wriggling them into position between her fingers. It had been years since she had used them, but the basic knowledge remained. After a few failed attempts at clutching her bright piece of raw fish and rice (succeeding in pushing it around the plate quite effectively) success! Carefully manoeuvring the morsel into her mouth she glanced up in time to see the piece of fried something (chicken? Beef? The coating made it difficult to tell) go tumbling down to the eagerly waiting Jack.

“Ah, yes, it is quite tricky… good idea.”

The sushi was good, no matter how it made its way to the mouth, chopsticks, fingers, or dropped bits, and she smiled across at her friend and reached under the table to pet Jack’s head. Choosing a piece of flesh coloured fish separated from the rice by a strip of green she popped it into her mouth, chewed once and instantly regretted it. That green stuff, she searched for the name through a mind which threatened to explode from her head as tears began streaming from her eyes.

Wasabi.

Snatching one of the napkins she none-too-subtly spat the half-chewed food into it and gasped for air, water, concrete, anything was better than the fire in her mouth. Her fingers found her bag and fumbled the water bottle out of its depths and to her lips where she sucked it in and swallowed, swishing its coolness around her burning mouth before swallowing again and dissolving into a fit of coughs. Very lady-like.

Finally surfacing for air and what remained of her dignity she blinked the remaining tears from her eyes and looked sheepishly up at Andrew.

“That green stuff… it’s hot.”

The fried stuff had been good, there was no reason why the raw fish selections would be bad. Still, Andrew was a little hesitant. Probably because the fish was raw and the idea of that took some getting used to. He grabbed a piece, not really checking to see what it was beyond a strip of some sort of fish on top of rice. Andrew popped it in his mouth. Hmm, the texture of the fish was strange but it was good. Even better, there was some form of heat in there that he liked quite a bit. Andrew didn't know what it was but it was good.

Verdy on the other hand didn't seem to like the heat of whatever it was very much. Once she caught her breath and drowned the fire that had apparently started in her mouth Verdy said that it was the green stuff that was hot. Andrew wanted to laugh a little but confined it to a smirk.

"Yeah? I kinda like it."

When he was younger spicy food hadn't really appealed to him all that much. For that reason he hadn't even deigned to try it as he got older. Back then the heat was generally too much for him. This was good though so Andrew might have to rethink that. Sure it burned but it was a pleasant sort of burn. He snagged a roll that appeared to be stuffed with all sorts of things and took a bite. That was good too. Three pieces so far and they had all been good. So far sushi was definitely going down as something to get again.

Secreting the napkin and its contents under the table she nodded and coughed awkwardly to remove the remnants of burning rice from where they sat at the back of her throat. Andrew’s response to the sushi (henceforth referred to ‘burning morsel from hell’) wasn’t what she expected, and she inwardly decided to let him have all the spicy ones. She would be content with cool, soothing rice, or fried morsels, or anything which didn’t feel like it was tearing strips of her tongue and throat off.

She nodded in response to his apparent offer to relieve her of all the spicy ones, and Jack nudged her finger clenched around the napkin, suggesting that he would be more than happy to relieve her of her previously-nommed piece. Gross as it was, she let him have it, there was nothing about wasabi on the list of things not to feed a dog.

“Then you’re more than welcome to have anything with that shade of green.”

Moving on to something a little more safe looking, she nibbled it. It was gingery, but not unpleasant, the ginger seemed almost to cool her fragile mouth and she sighed in relief. Spicy foods were apparently not her forte. Jack’s nose returned to nuzzle her hand and she inspected the options for something he might like. It was his first day as their pet, he could afford to be spoiled a little. The crumbly rice-noodles, mainly a decoration, made their way under the table and were happily crunched by their furry friend.

Andrew happily took anything else from the platter that looked like it had wasabi on it. Once he was done with those Andrew had had enough. He just sat back and watched Verdy eat and slip things under the table for Jack. The crunching noise that followed Verdy giving Jack the crispy noodles made Andrew grin a little. Grabbing something to eat before heading back to the mansion had been a good idea. Speaking of which Andrew looked at the dog. He seemed pretty happy.

"So Jack, you like us so far? Just wait until you see your new home. It's huge. Lots of room to explore and play."

The dog turn from his the food source known as Verdy to look at Andrew and give a doggie grin of sorts. Jack then went back to charming Verdy out of food. Andrew smirked. That dog knew what he wanted and he knew who would give it to him. Jack would be a tubby pirate captain if he kept that sort of begging up with success.

"Just don't expect to get sushi everyday you furry pirate you."

The sushi moved quickly and soon dissolved into full-bellied contentedness. She glanced at Andrew as he spoke to Jack and nodded her agreement. The mansion was expansive to say the least, there were plenty of things to do, grassy areas to run around on and other dogs and mutants to meet. At least, she assumed there were other dogs at the mansions, she was certain she had noticed them around before.

Andrew’s comment about the sushi made her grin a little sheepishly and ruffle Jack’s ears. She was spoiling him a bit, and it would be bad to train him into begging at the table, and difficult to train him out of it. Better to stop now. Besides which, that was the last of the sushi anyway.

“Yes, I’m afraid once we’re home its more along the lines of kibbles-and-bits.”

To start out with sushi must have made the little pirate feel rather classy, but she suspected he was the type not to mind a bit of rough-and-tumble. More along the lines of the mansion and its residents. No matter how it was sliced, diced or presented, the mansion was still a school, full of children from all over the place.

“Speaking of home, shall we head back?”

Once she had had a go with the scissors and divided the photos between them, they would be able to find each other in a moment of need, but until they were home she wasn’t sure where any scissors were. She was fairly sure that they had everything they needed, for now, and it would be good to get Jack home and settled in nicely.

He smiled kindly at Verdy's sheepish smile. It was tempting to spoil Jack rotten. He'd been through a lot before coming to them. However they didn't need to have to try and break him of bad habits that they accidentally fostered later on. After she informed Jack that he'd be on kibble once they returned to the mansion, Verdy suggested that they do exactly that and start heading home. When had he started thinking of the mansion as home? He hadn't lived there very long compared to others but it did feel like home now. Andrew gave a mental shrug and put it down to familiarity.

"That sounds like a good idea. We should give Jack ample time to get settled in."

Andrew stood up and the trio started back toward the mansion. The walk from the food court to the mansion wouldn't take very long at all. Once they got there they could divide the photos and let Jack figure out his new home. Though if the amount of intelligence the dog appeared to have was actually there then it probably wouldn't take long. He seemed to be a pretty smart pooch, all things considered.

It was a little strange, owning a dog with someone that he didn't really know that well yet. However Andrew didn't think he'd regret it. Jack was a pretty cool dog so far. Not to mention Verdy. Andrew smiled contentedly as they walked back toward the mansion.