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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 19, 2009 11:01:18 GMT -5
"I am not," Roland protested, faking a pout. "I was just pointing out that he was trained, that's all."
He was getting rather used to the accusation from Riley, and he almost considered it to be their little private joke. She, of all people, knew just how humble he could be.
He looked over at Arthur, shaking his head. "I bet Arthur doesn't think I'm arrogant, do you, Arthur? I'm just a regular guy, right?"
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Aug 19, 2009 12:31:19 GMT -5
Arthur held up his hands. "Oh, no, I'm not getting involved in this," he replied, smiling.
The truth was, Arthur did think Roland could be kind of arrogant sometimes, but not in a bad way. After all, it was pretty to see that underneath that confident swagger was a heart of gold. And besides, Arthur had probably seen Roland in one of his weakest moments. That night at the Leaky Cauldron, Roland had been suffering with the agony of being in love with Riley and thinking she didn't feel the same way.
Arthur would probably never say this to Fabian, but he really thought that Riley had ended up with the right person. Fabian was a great guy, but Roland and Riley belonged together. It was obvious from the way they both had seemed to transform now that they were together.
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 19, 2009 16:19:08 GMT -5
"Good decision," Riley said, smiling. "There's definitely no way to win no matter what you say." She nudged Roland. "But you are pretty arrogant. Arthur's just too nice to say it." She gave him a smile to tell him she didn't really mean it.
When Arthur had his shoes on, she lead him back to her apartment, opening up the door and letting them all inside. "Come here, Phoenix. We brought new friends for you." The dog came up to her, tail wagging, and licked her hands before he padded over to Roland, giving him the same treatment, and then went to investigate the new body.
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Post by Arthur Weasley on Aug 19, 2009 21:34:54 GMT -5
Arthur bent down and held out his hand, palm facing upward, for Phoenix to sniff. The puppy walked over to him, just as boldly as Roland would have done, and seemed to look Arthur over before sniffing his hand. Then he wagged his tail and sat down in front of Arthur.
Arthur took this as a good sign and began to pet the puppy, whose tail was thumping against the floor happily. After a minute, he even licked Arthur's hand.
Looking up at them, Arthur chuckled. "I think we'll be just fine," he said.
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 20, 2009 2:32:25 GMT -5
Riley smiled. "Good," she said, though silently wondered if Phoenix would warm up to all strangers so quickly. He wasn't going to be much of a guard dog if that were the case, but she was glad he liked Arthur.
"I hate to do this, but I want to get going pretty quickly. His food is in the kitchen, he usually only goes out to do his business two or three times a day. You can help yourself to anything I have in the fridge or the cabinets. I won't even set the protective charms on the apartment while we're gone. Here's my key... Thank you Arthur. We really owe you. Is there anything else you can think of?" Riley asked, turning the last question on Roland.
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Post by Roland Ferrera on Aug 20, 2009 23:51:52 GMT -5
Roland nodded. "Really, Arthur, anytime you need a favor, just let us know, OK?" he said. "Um, I usually feed him once in the morning, and once in the evening. Just a cup of food each time should do it. He likes playing tug-of-war, if you feel up to playing, but he's already getting pretty strong, so be careful. He likes laying on the furniture, but we don't like him up on the couch."
He shrugged lightly. "I guess that's about it. We'll try and owl you a couple of times, just to make sure everything's going OK. We don't have a set plan for how long we're going... we'll probably be two or three days. If we're going to be gone longer than three days, we'll definitely send you a message to make sure you're still OK to watch him."
He slipped his hand into Riley's. "OK, well, let's head down to the owl office to send a note to my parents and Angelique. Then I guess we're off."
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Post by Riley Neves on Aug 21, 2009 0:00:22 GMT -5
"But if you play tog of war with him, don't let him win, okay? I don't want him under the impression that he's stronger than us. That's my only real rule. That, and he's not allowed to have anything you eat if he begs for it."
Her hand squeezed Roland's, and she smiled. "I guess we're set to go then. I feel like I'm leaving behind a child."
Her breath hitched as she said this. She was worried about a dog... how was she ever going to handle a child? She swallowed and reminded herself that for a few days, nothing existed outside of her and Roland.
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