Petsitters PV Archer Duncan and Sage Willows CLOSED

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interacting/mentioning- @Atlas Anderson, @Archer Duncan

Sage wouldn't necessarily call herself a dog person. Dogs- crups- were just... a bit more energetic than her taste. Call it hypocritical, but Sage repeated some habits of dog owners with her cat, Casey. For example, taking him on walks or runs with him snug in her arms.

And that was what she had tried to do that day. Casey, being the moody orange guy he could be, had curled himself in her bed, refusing to join Sage for a walk. It wouldn't stop her from going out to the courtyard herself.

Exiting the castle, Sage bounded down to the courtyard. Just a few minutes of a walk would do her good, ease her mind. Walking the thoughts off, she stopped short, noticing a vaguely familiar face out of the corner of her eye.

Atlas Anderson was someone Sage was somewhat familiar with. Not in the sense of being best friends, she just knew him as someone who existed in the same halls. Atlas and Sage had both been wrapped up in the coven, though they hadn't really stepped out into that danger just yet.

He seemed to have some crup with him. Shifting anxiously on her feet, it felt wrong to just ignore him and the dog. One foot in front of the other, Sage walked up to Atlas.

"Hi, Atlas," she greeted. "Is this your crup? It looks... excited."

Disclaimer: If Zeno is making any trouble, it would be none of Archer's fault.

No, he was simply reading quietly, under the shade of the courtyard's vines, for like the spring's new plants Archer too found his longtime love of literature rekindling after his numerous outbursts of anger in the past few two months, moments he was not exactly proud of himself for, but books were a better way to forget than Matthew and Draven's preferred method of alcohol.

Like Archer though Zeno had spent most of his early years outside. Accustomed to the streets of Winnipeg at first he had not been the largest fan of the Scottish wilderness. The courtyard, with its bustling students and constant chatter, seemed to be his antidote, a perfect combination of the fresh outdoors breeze and the urban atmosphere he was familiar with, even if it paled in comparison to the neon-coloured muggle streets.

Distracted by a sudden changed in the cat's usual purring and prancing, Archer watched curiously as he neared a small gathering of humans and animals. One boy and girl he ought to have recognised, though did not, stood over a creature he recognised to be the new vogue of the school, a half-crup. Archer was unsurprised as Zeno, ever the outgoing little devil, quite literally cat-walked up to the two, meowed loudly for their attention, and stepped a little too close to the dog.

"Personal space, Zeno," Archer called out in French, though he doubted the cat would have listened to him in either language.

In hindsight, that was a mistake, for not only was the effort futile, it likely meant a conversation was also soon to be struck up. What a waste of a perfectly fine afternoon.

@Sage Willows, @Atlas Anderson

Atlas' intentions was not to stick around at the courtyard, but he needed to relax a bit and make sure that Neoth had his walk and play time. Nonetheless, he had found himself sitting and watching the crup sniff the grass with much intensity that made it appear as though he was deciphering ancient runes or sensing something unfamiliar. His twin tails whipped around in troubled curves as his ears shot up from the sound of students walking by, as if he was realizing what they were talking about—such a lowkey gossipmonger. The Slytherin boy sat still as he was enamored when looking at the crup, he wasn't a violent creature so he did not worry much. With that being said, the boy was disrupted when a voice broke into his awareness. "Hi, Atlas." as he turned his eyes—he saw Sage. Her arrival was a quiet kind of surprise—like someone you hadn't quite expected to appear because she was Prefect of Hufflepuff, and prefects were usually busy lots, like he had been when he was Prefect of Slytherin.

"Hey," he replied. Sage then asked a question if it was his pet—and with a glance down at the creature currently doing a sideways wiggle while picking up the scent of her robes, Atlas gave a dry chuckle. "Not mine. He’s Prat’s. I’m just… watching him while he drowns in prefect stuff."
Neoth then froze on demand while he sniffing he barked at Atlas.

Atlas blinked, slightly stunned, then released mini chuckle, he took half a step back as if he was theatrically betrayed. "Right, Babysitting him, more like." However, when Neoth padded back and prodded against his shin as if nothing had happened at all, Atlas absent-mindedly reached down and scratched behind one of his ears. The crup leaned into the caress for an instant… then growled, soft and melodramatically. "He likes to keep me humbled and I might as well be his father, haha." Atlas said as his lips curled forming a smile. "Honestly, he’s not so bad when he’s asleep." Neoth let out a low chuff of disagreement and just like that, another figure made their presence known.

Or rather, a cat did.

The ginger blur heading towards them made Neoth tense again, his tails rigidly held straight out. He bent as though he was preparing to duel. Atlas raised both eyebrows. "Neoth, don't you dare."
The crup growled again, this time right at Zeno, who was either not afraid or simply utterly unimpressed by dog theatrics. The boy glanced from the cat to the sound of the voice that spoke in French. He spotted the boy who spoke an impressive accent as he drew out Zeno's name so easily. "Is that who you belong to, then," he smiled at the cat. "You walk around like you own the place."

The boy laughed and said, "I wouldn't want to deal with all this—" but as dramatic as usual, Neoth barked, "You're lucky that you are cute, Neo." The crup puffed out and fell onto his side, tails flailing like he'd run a marathon. Atlas crouched a bit to pat him, and he shook his head. "Sorry about him," he said, this time to both to Sage and Archer. "He's got the heart of a lion. And the subtlety of a hurricane."

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interacting/mentioning- @Atlas Anderson, @Archer Duncan

Atlas greeted her warmly, Sage took the moment to step closer to him and examine the crup. Prat, he'd said the dog belonged to. The name, one Sage was merely vaguely familiar with, was still one most second year's could recognize.

"Oh, cool! I don't know Prat too well, just the name. Hopefully he's settling into prefect stuff alright. His dog's cute though."

The idea of babysitting a dog was one that let Sage to laugh. Dogs, even magical ones, needing to be 'babysat' was hilarious. "Is babysitting a crup hard? I mean, if it's Prat's it must have picked up some interesting habits. What's the name? I feel weird calling the crup a 'it'."

She wondered if she should have brought Casey down with her, but that idea was quickly punctured when she noticed the dog tense up and turned to see a boy and a cat. And, well, the reaction of the crup was enough to let her sigh in relief that Casey was safe in her dorm.

"Hi," Sage greeted the new boy. "I don't think we've met before, I'm Sage Willows, second year Hufflepuff. And you are?" She studied the two boys and added, "Well, at least I didn't bring my cat. If that dog acted like a hurricane with his cat, I can only imagine he'd be some sort of tsunami if mine was here!"

banner by Pericles Dralt| interacting as Archer Duncan

Zeno, above all, was a catalyst.

A motivator for Archer to participate in the dreaded art of socialisation, Zeno had no qualms with pulling his owner (hardly an applicable term) out of his enclosed comfort zone if it meant he could get another treat, often diving headfirst into conversations Archer was fairly sure he had no place in.

However, now that Zeno had rashly done his, Archer now felt obliged to at least announce his presence.

Reluctantly drawn to the gathering of two humans and two animals, he paced to the group, vaguely recognising his two peers but only starting to begin to place their identities as the girl introduced herself as Sage Willows.

Kneeling down by Neo with a sigh, Archer would attempt to give him a few scratches behind the ears, trying to prove himself far less pugnacious than how his kitten might prove to be otherwise. A small smirk pulled his lips apart as he recalled the ownership Atlas had presented — the crup belonged to the very same captain who enjoyed a scratch to the face from the mackerel tabby.

“It’s all natural disasters before he starts attacking you; then it’s just a personal problem.”

Glancing upwards the usual ins and outs of etiquette were failing him as he realised the remark sounded more threatening than humorous, not made quite better by the sudden defensive meows of Zeno’s. Baring his teeth aggressively at the crup Archer decided to distract the two from his cat’s treacherous plans with conversation, however hard a sudden dose came out of his reclusiveness. Noticing that he had in fact not yet introduced himself he returned Sage’s favour with a quick drop of his own name, “Archer Duncan.”

He felt no need to further strength that the troublemaker of a cat belonged to him, and if Zeno went about knocking down vases, he was a creature fully sentient and Archer was staying out of it.