2022-04-26 - An Appointment for the Lady

Right off the animal shelter is a small building with a white sign that claims it to be a veterinary clinic. The entrance is a typical double door made of glass and the waiting room is a small, narrow area with benches on either side. A reception's desk is at the end, with a large hallway behind it that probably leads to a whole bunch of other, smaller rooms. There are the occasional sounds of dogs barking or whining to try and garner some attention, while the smell of disinfectant tinges the air within.

The receptionist right now looks to be a high school volunteer, or a young intern, its hard to tell these days. The young woman has some airpods stuck in her ear and she looks rather bored as she taps on the keyboard, her chin resting on her palm. She seems to be lazily scrolling through something, pausing every now and then to assess what it is she's looking at. Leila, however, is behind her, leaning backwards against the reception desk as she shakes her head. "Nah-huh, Lilian, that dress is going to make you look like such a slut, and in a bad way," a pause before Leila cocks her head to the side curiously, "Well, unless that is what you're going for? No judgement. Sometimes you gotta let your freak colors fly."

And in that moment the doors are sliding open and a gigantic man is standing there. Catching only the tail end of the conversation, his lips curl into a small amused smile for a second, though he makes no mention of it as he moves into the reception area. The well muscled man is wearing a baggy hoodie that does just a little to hide his broad muscular frame. He wears baggy dark jeans and a black baseball cap turned backwards.

At his feet is a beautiful Tervuren. The shaggy but elegant Lady moves at a clipped pace at Myles' side, looking very interested in all the new sights and smells. She is decidedly less interested in who's going to raise their freak flags and more interested in every single dog that has ever set paw inside this place. Sniffing doggedly at the ground as Myles tries to make his way to the reception desk. Pausing at resistance from the leash.

"Lady, cmon now." Eventually Lady moves forward and the dark tower of a man looms over the desk, giving Lilian and Leila in turn a small smile and a wordless upnod of greeting.

Lilian rolls her eyes and lets out a snort at Leila, "/God/, Dr. Theeb. It's not that bad. Don't be such an old fart."

"/Old fart/?" Leila blurts out in disbelief, "I'm onlu 10 years older-...No, y'know what? You're right. I am an old fart. I can't wait until you're fucking 29," the last bit is muttered under the veterinarian's breath. The door opening is enough to distract Leila and she pushes off the desk to see who is coming in. If she is embarrassed about the conversation, there is no indication as Leila flashes Myles a big grin, that turns postively massive at the sight of Lady. "Hey Myles-Oh holy shit, you have a /Tervuren/? You don't see many Belgians here except for the Malinois. Look at her beauty, Lilian! She's like a Collie mixed with a German Shepherd." Her excitement is hard to hide, but Lilian doesn't seem to care all that much. Must be a cat person.

Leila is quick to slip around the desk and approach Lady in a crouch, offering the back of her hand to sniff from a non-threatening position, just in case. "Hey Lady," she coos out in the most enamored voice.

Sniff sniff sniff sniff.

Once they finally get to the counter, Lady is looking up at all the sounds that mean imminent affection. She knows those sounds. Myles looks down and points at the ground as Leila rounds the counter. Lady goes to sit daintily and elegantly immediately. Because she's a Lady. And a GOOD GIRL. As Leila approaches she leans forward to sniff with interest at the approaching woman. Leaning forward to sniff at the hand. Snifffff.

"We got her in Vegas." Myles reports. "Ni--" There's a squint down at Leila, perhaps realizing she doesn't know who that is. "My ex-wife knew a dude." Lips thin. "Who had a litter. They were gonna be police or military dogs I think. But look at her. She's not that kind of girl."

Lady's too precious. She leans forward to sniff at Leila's wrist.

"No she's not," Leila coos softly towards Lady. "Lady is a /Lady/, she isn't a military dog, she is far too elegant and graceful, to be draped in elegance and love. Oh, she reminds me of my Flower," she looks back up at Myles from her crouch, suddenly very aware just how massively tall he is now that she is crouching. "My Doberman, though she isn't nearly as graceful as this sweetness." She lets her wrist get sniffed, her body language warm and welcoming to the canine. "Sharing custody of Lady with ex-lady?" She teases before slowly getting up to her full height. "I have to admit, there is something charming about a giant man with a sweet dog who paints tiny figurines. You're just a walking contradiction, aren't you?"

Myles smiles softly as he looks down at her. Lady. And the woman with her. "Flower?" He grunts, giving a flicker of a smile. There's a little shrug of his broad shoulders. "She's my business partner." Beat. "My ex-wife. Not Lady. But Lady of course is very important to the business." His lips curl up a little more at what she says next. "You already charmed? Haven't even had to try yet." He teases with a soft grin before he's shaking his head. "Figurines were just somethin' to do when I was a kid. Keep me busy so I could ignore my asshole dad. Just a weird hobby I never dropped. Don't let the little dragons fool you, I'm still a giant asshole." Lady gets up to follow with some follow up sniffs once Leila stands up.

As he teases her about already being charmed, Leila pauses a beat before she lets out a soft laugh, "Oh crap, I overplayed my hand. On second thought, Lilian, don't take my advice," she tosses the last bit over her shoulder at the receptionist, who barely looks up from her screen while waving Leila off.

"Some day she'll like me," Leila mutters before turning back towards Myles with a wicked grin. "I'll be sure to be more discerining in the future. Asshole dad? Man, that sucks ass. Mine was the type where nothing ever satisfied him. Med school? Meh, gotta be top of my class. Already top of my class? Meh, gotta be best in the State. Arab dads, I swear." She rolls her eyes at that before she grins at Myles and gestures for him and Lady to follow her around the reception. "Lilian can take your details after the check up. She's useless until she finds a dress for her date."

The hallway leads up to five rooms, two on each side and one at the far end - the far end one is another glass door which probably leads to where the cages and surgery rooms might be. As for Leila, she leads to the first one on the right, an examination room with a steel table, a scale to take an animal's weight, and a computer in the corner for data entry. There is a counter with drawers against one wall that houses some typical medical supplies. "Lets put her on the scale to check her weight, then on the table. Did she get her shots this year?

There’s a little grin as he follows Leila into the back hallway, glancing back to Lilian before following Leila, Lady in tow.

“In the future.” Myles agrees with another little grin. “Cause it’s too late now on this one. Practically a done deal.” He shrugs his broad shoulders. “Oops.”

He listens about Leilas dad with a little frown. “Overachiever motherfucker?” He grunts waving one hand dismissively. “That shit sounds exhausting. I just had the classic alcoholic emotionally absent kind.”

At the mention of Lilian and the dress, he lets out an understanding grunt. “That’s why you were preaching the utility of hoisting the freak flag.” He rumbles with understanding.

Myles follows her in to the examination room quietly prompting Lady onto the scale. “Yeah. Nic said she’s all caught up on her shots. I don’t have any paperwork or anything though.”

Another laugh slips from Leila as he claims its a done deal. "Aaah, alcoholism, nothing says I love you more than a bottle and a glare for interrupting him making love to said bottle." The mention of the freak flag causes another snicker to escape her as she flashes him a wicked look, "God damn, nothing escapes you, huh?"

She grabs a notepad and takes note of Lady's weight before pausing to lean against the wall as she regards Myles. "Hmm, no paperwork can be a problem. I will take your word for it, being a year late on shots is fine, but I'll create a new file and we'll set you up with fresh papers. Just...keep an eye on her, okay? Not that you aren't doing a good job already." Leila reaches down to rub Lady behind her ears. "Although you said she helps you out with your business? What do you guys do?"

There’s a slow shrug with a warm smile when Leila says nothing escapes him. “You probably couldn’t.” That smooth smile stays affixed mirroring that wicked look back to her before he lets out a quiet laugh.

The smile fades though at the thought of no paperwork being a problem. His brows slowly knit. “Nic might have it. I’ll ask her and I can bring it in later?” He glances to Lady, his lips quirking into another smile. "Thank you." He murmurs, sincerely when she says he--they're doing a good job looking after her. There's a very fond look cast down to the dog as Lady leans into Leila's scratches and rubs.

Lady leans into the affection and it has Myles smiling softly. “I was mostly kidding.” He admits. “Moral support is her role in the business.” At the question he reaches down to pull up his hoodie a little bit, revealing his belt. On the front of the belt next to the buckle is a little badge. On his hip, a gun is holstered. He lowers the hoodie back down. “Bail bonds.” He considers. “Bounty hunting? We basically find people who are no longer interested in being found.” A beat. “Sorry if that ruins the gentle giant image. Inherited it from the asshole dad." A big ol 'what you gonna do' shrug.

"Ha! I guess we can't always be a walkin' stereotype," Leila returns with a laugh. "That's actually really cool. I'm not one to judge about people's jobs. If you knew half the shit I did, well, we'd be having a very different conversation." One she doesn't seem eager to dive into at the moment. "Pretty cool that you did that with your ex though, but I guess the couple that works together doesn't necessarily-..." She stops suddenly as a thought strikes her. "Wait, you're serious, right? You find people that don't want to be found?"

Leila pushes away from the wall as she considers that thought carefully. "Would you be able to find a certain someone who doesn't want to be found but um, we have yet to prove he has done anything illegal? There is one guy who is majorly fucked up. In fact we suggest that everyone stay the fuck away from him, but if you can find him without alerting him or meeting him..." She trails off in thought then quirks her eyebrows at Myles as she grins. "I'll pay you of course, but I am not kidding when I say you should never interact with this person, just...find out where he is."

Continuing to stroke Lady's head, Myles glances up to her. He gives a little nod though arches his brow. "I can imagine havin' several different types of conversation with you." The big man rumbles lowly. But then the thought strikes her and he's tilting his head. "Yeah. Done repo. Debt collection. Bail bonds. Fuckin' all of it." Myles rumbles with a shrug.

He slowly arches his brow more pointedly at Leila's question. Shifting somewhat on the wall. His brows knit as he looks over to her. He lets out a quiet grunt. "Is he a.. Is he one of Them? Or got powers or some shit?" Beat. "He's not the kidnappin' motherfucker Ava's been talkin' bout. Is he?" He raises one hand out to her in a forestalling gesture.

"We're still getting our heads around this shit. Nico is good but I don't wanna make any promises sayin' we can find someone when it's in a whole new world we barely know. But if its a normal jackass doin jackass stuff? Yeah. Of course we can find him."

As he mentions the man Ava's talking about, Leila's lips curl up into a broad grin. "Yes, that's exactly who I was thinking about. Evil Santa, Haggleford. I don't think he's doing anything normal, admittedly. I was just wondering if you can find out any /normal/ information about him, y'know? I mean there has to be something to keep him anchored to this city. Surely he can't be a phantom that drifts in and out of our earthly realm." Even after she said those words, Leila pauses, as if wondering if it is possible that he can. "I mean, he /can/, but...Its weird, I haven't wrapped my own head around this stuff either."

Biting her lower lip, her dark eyes flick over towards the opposite wall as she considers her options. "Like I said, I don't want you confronting him, the motherfucker is dangerous more than even I can conceive of. I'm talkin' about flesh-farms and hunting down creatures not of this realm like its /nothing/. I just...I just really want more information about him, y'know? And that isn't really my jurisdiction." Her eyes dart back towards Myles as she cants her head to the side with a little grin, "Better the devil you know."

"Yeah." Myles rumbles low. "If he's a..." There's a breath taken in as he realizes the words he's about to say. His eyes slowly lid and his arms come up to fold over his chest. "If he's a human man." He lets out a slightly irritated breath. This is never a conditional he's had to specify before. "We can find out about him before he became a..." His eyes flick up to her. "Flesh. Farmer." He practically groans. "His name is Haggleford or is that an alias? What do we know about him?" Beat. "Earthly details." He pulls out his phone from his back pocket, looking like he may be about to take notes. Before pausing.

"Shit. Since he's in all this shit, can I even take notes on him or will they fuckin change?"

As he pulls out his phone to take notes, Leila begins to pace as her mind starts to kick into gear, only for her to pause when he mentions whether its possible to even take notes. "Oh /fuck/, I keep forgetting about that. I know if you make it seem fictional, it kind of leaves it alone. Ravn was talkin' about how if he was to create a bestiary he has to make it seem like a LARP game. So um, just call him Evil Santa for now? That's what everyone is callin' him. I haven't seen what he looks like, but I know Ava has, and maybe Ravn and Itzhak."

Again she begins to chew on her bottom lip, this time rather roughly as her eyes fall onto Lady in thought. "He visits the forest, where he kills Veil creatures to uh...teleport, yea yea I know, this is X-Men level shit." A wry smile curves the corner of her lips at that. "Maybe...maybe you shouldn't find him. Or before you go lookin' for him, maybe you should double check with Ava."

"Yeah. Ava was telling me about that. Making like an RPG game or some shit." He grunts, glancing up at her. "Unless Evil Santa is on his birth certificate, that aint super helpful from a... person finding, perspective." Myles points out quietly. He's slowly putting away his phone, letting out a quiet laugh as Leila starts to gradually retreat from the find him position.

"We could probably do it but we'd need.. You know. Details. Besides his x-men powers and the moniker we gave him." He rumbles with a little amused smile, as he glances back up to her. "Do we know anything about this motherfucker? LIke. Actual information?"

"Besides Haggleford? Not much, I admit," Leila returns with a rueful grin. "I just found out about him last week but I haven't been able to sleep right since, y'know? It's him and some missing cryptids or Veil creatures, which I doubt you'd have much chance in tracking." She lets out a heavy sigh then crouches, gesturing for Lady to come closer in hopes of giving her some pats. Dogs are always good for that.

"I guess it's too much to ask. It's just creepy that you have to sit and wait for more shit to go down before you can get more info. Y'know, like the serial killers? Gotta wait until they kill one more and hope they fuck up /this/ time." She snorts.

"Is Haggleford a real name?" Myles asks, flicking his eyes up to her. "How do we have that name? Or is that another moniker?" There's a little flicker of a smile as she goes down to tend to Lady. His arms still folded over his broad chest, he looks down at her and the dog and lets out a slow sigh.

"How long you been here?" Comes out of nowhere. "We went from laughin' and flirtin' to fuckin' dark real quick. And I get the feelin' that's how it is all the time round here." He purses his lips as he gives her a more studious look. "What makes you wanna stay?"

"Yea, sorry, my emotions are pretty whiplash," Leila admits as she glances at him. "I think its the idea of you being able to find someone. As for Haggleford, I'm not sure, that's what they called him and what he called himself. Either that or Evil Santa. Figured you might have a better chance with Haggleford," her voice takes on a teasing tone.

"I've been here about...a month or two? Saw an ad for a veterinary and I felt this sudden urge to come here. Like this would be a great home for me away from my dad..." She trails off before snorting in derision. "Asshole dads, eh?" Her smile returns as she continues, "You'll get used to this pretty quick. Light hearted material then someone drops some shit that makes you realize this...place is kind of weird. I was told I can't leave, I'm sure you've heard the same thing. And despite second-hand experiencing some weird shit...I don't feel this desire to leave. I want to know more, y'know? Its...its like a drug. You take it once, it feels /right/, but you know you shouldn't take it anymore, and yet you keep thinkin' about it. Did you Dream yet?"

Myles shakes his head at the apology. "Nah. Don't worry about it. It's this fuckin' place." He gives a flicker of a smile and nods. "Haggleford. We'll see what we can find on Haggleford."

Settling up against the wall more fully, there's another flicker of a smile when she talks about asshole dads. He considers what she has to say, looking down at his feet for a few moments. "Mm." He grunts to her words, no real sign whether he agrees or disagrees. "Have. Yeah. Was fucked up." He peers down at the floor for another second before flicking his eyes back up to her. "What are your powers?"

As he leans against the wall, she gives Lady one last pat before standing up to her full height; much good it would do her in comparison to him though. "I'm guessin' you've met Ava? Yea, I'm the dime store version of her. I am /really/ good at healing and breaking bones, but the fireball and plant manipulation? I only tried it in my Dream, never here. But let me tell you," she grins as she steps up to him. "I am fuckin' /good/." She tilts her chin upwards, rather proud of herself and her abilities. "So if you ever get hurt or know someone who has, give me a call and I can help'em out."

She reaches back to slip her hands into her back pocket as she rests her weight on one leg, "What about you, Big Man? What can you do?"

Myles gives a shoulder shove against the wall, pushing off. He gives a wordless nod in confirmation of having met Ava. His lips tug into a small smile when she says she's a 'dime store version' of her. He shakes his head lightly. "I doubt that." He rumbles lowly but doesn't press. When she steps closer and tilts her head up to say she's fuckin' good he smiles broader, looking down at her. "Yeah?" He dips his head. "I'll keep it in mind."

When she steps up and asks what he can do, he takes a step forward as well so there is limited distance between them. One of the pens lifts on its own volition from the pocket of her labcoat. The cap coming off and it turning on its own. Additionally a cigarette appears in front of her, apparently having slid out of her back pocket. "Mind if I bum one?" He rumbles low with a small lopsided smile.

As he pushes off to step closer himself, well, his height is rather intimidating but the woman keeps her ground. Leila blinks, slowly, owlishly, as the pen slips off her pocket and de-caps. Then he cigarette. "Holy shit," she breathes out, taking a step back to get a better look. "This-...this is a new one to me. I mean, I heard of it but I've never seen it. This is so fucking cool." She reaches up to run her hand below the pen then above it, as if wondering if she'd feel any push or pull from gravity.

It takes her a moment to register what Myles asked, and when she does she lets out a little laugh, "Sure, go ahead. In fact, get me one as well." She looks to see if he can manage. "Y'know, I've always wanted the ability to move things with my mind, ever since I read Matilda. Fuck me, this is impressive."

The pen moves around, there's no gravity above or below. It starts to move towards her wrist. But stops. He lets out a quiet breath. "I was gonna do a smooth move and write my number on your wrist but then I thought you're a doctor and you need shit to keep professional." The pen spins around and the cap goes back on. "So just imagine I did that. Real smooth." The pen flies back into her pocket, his lips curling up when she says it's so fucking cool. He squints a little at her request and nods. Another cigarette slips out, her lighter next to it.

The second cigarette swings up to place itself on her lips. If she allows it. He glances to the door. "Head outside?" He grunts the lighter still floating in between them while the first cigarette goes to position itself in between his lips. He lets out another breathy laugh when she calls it impressive. "Pretty cool until I can't put shit down for a few hours."

Leila can't help but laugh at his attempt at flirting by writing his number down on her wrist. "Thanks for the considering my professionalism. Sometimes its hard for me to keep it in mind myself. Maybe its a good thing I never went beyond residency as a human doc." She pauses before adding with another one of her wicked grins. "A story for another time."

Parting her lips, she accepts the cigarette smoothly enough, or as much as one can when offered by an invisible hand. She gestures with her head for them to head outside as well so they may smoke freely. "That's your drawback? One of mine is incredible exhaustion. Not...the best thing when you're supposed to be in medicine for long hours. But, well, I guess its better than latching onto things. Not as obvious. But hey, look at the bright side of things, it would make you a bad ass player in a game of chicken fight," she teases as she moves out of the examination room, holding the door open for Myles and Lady.