Puppysitting Blues [Max!]

[Deleted]

As it turned out, things got a bit expensive when it came to living in a city all by yourself. Sure, Grayle had been immensely helpful, what with that scholarship that it had given her, but extra money would be a really nice thing, which was what brought Mia to the school's bulletin board a couple of days ago, and needless to say, she felt like she had hit the jackpot when she saw an ad for looking after what she assumed was someone's dog and younger sibling, since the flier seemed unable to decide if they needed a dog sitter or a baby sitter. Oh well, either way, it shouldn't be too bad. She liked to think she had maternal potential, at least as good as any other girl. She had even taken single parenthood into consideration, adopting or something like that...but then this whole accidental siren thing happened and she decided right now was not the time.

Upon calling this Eric (who must have been pretty rich if the figures on the flier were any indication, which was more than a little exciting, if Mia were to be honest), she was expecting that they were going to have to meet up, and she was prepared for all that would come with it, but then he surprised her.

"When can you come over? Max is probably a better judge of character in a second than I'll ever be over a cup of coffee."

"Oh, I'm guessing that's your dog, then?"

"Well, about that..." Then she heard something, she couldn't quite discern what it was, but it was enough that Eric quickly said, "Oh boy...I'd better go."

"I'll be there by Noon!" Then came the dial tone and Mia muttered, "Hmm, perhaps I'd better come prepared..."

Two and a half hours later, Hermia was at the address on the flier and trying very hard to not be too star struck over the mansion, several items that were (hopefully) going to entertain any boy, girl and dog she had to encounter, and after knocking, she came across a...very handsome boy, and of course she recognized the look on his face once he registered her face.

"You know, I could probably miss class, it's probably a two person job anyway," he stumbled, and Mia had to admit, he was being absolutely adorable, but she wasn't about to take advantage like that.

"You're going," she insisted with a broad grin. "Just let me meet the kids and dog."

"Huh..." And then he seemed to remember something. "Oh, right, you should probably know, well...Max!" And all the while his gaze was fixed on her. And poor Hermia thought that was going to be the most complicated part of this job.

[maxine]

Max had gotten in trouble the last time she had accidentally left the house on her own when Master was away in school. But Master said that he was going to get her a friend that would stay with her. And Max liked friends! She had all sorts of friends! There were always friends to be made! Max loved friends. And she was very excited for a new friend. Dogs always had lots of friends.

Max was playing when the new friend came. She was playing hide and seek with the squirrels outside and she was running through the house all over the place looking for them as they ran. It was a very fun game. When Max couldn’t find the squirrels they always laughed at her and then she could find them again. Squirrels were not very good at playing hide and seek. Max was very good at hide and seek.

But then Max heard her name and she quickly abandoned her game because Master was calling. And Master was much more important than squirrels. He didn’t laugh at Max. He was nice to Max. Master liked to play with Max and he let her win sometimes. So Max usually came when she was called, unless it was other very important dog business.

She raced through the house to find Master and when she found him there was another person there too! “Friend for Max!” she cried excitedly. “New friend for Max!” Then she bounded over to Hermia and licked her cheek, then bounced excitedly in place. “New friend play with Max?” she asked, still very excited. Max loved people! This was so much fun!

[Deleted]

Well...this was entirely unexpected. Now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure that Eric had tried to tell her something, and chances were, the fact that the reason puppysitting/babysitting were both written was because the puppy and baby, for lack of a better term, were one and the same. All the same, Hermia had been rather unprepared for the fact that the girl suddenly started to lick her. You see, if she hadn't been so used to the insanity over at Tintagel, she would have assumed that this poor child needed professional help...well, okay, at Tintagel that was still possible. But seeing as she was speaking at the level of a three to five year old (what? She read a bit on child development) and she licked her cheek, which not even her most fervent admirers went so far as to do, she had a strange feeling that she didn't really need to ask the question she wound up asking Eric:

"I'm...guessing this is your dog?"

"Yeah...you know, seriously, I could stay and help--"

Honestly, Hermia wasn't too nervous. She was prepared for a couple of kids and a dog, after all. This was just one...er...girl/dog. She was sure she could handle that, so she assured the bewildered boy that it'd be better if he left, education came first and all that, she and Max were sure to be just fine. After all, at least this one could tell her exactly what she wanted, hmm?

After saying his goodbyes to Max, Hermia turned around, giving the blonde girl a once over, then putting on a smile. "So, Max, huh? Pretty nifty name. I'm Mia and I think we're gonna get along just fine."

With that, she set down the box she had brought and put her hands on her hips. "So what would you like to do first?"

[maxine]

New friend! Max had a new friend! She liked new friends! New friends were fun! New friends were her favorite! She was a pretty new friend too. Her brown hair was pretty and Master seemed to like her. And she didn’t mind that Max licked her. Sometimes people didn’t like it. They thought Max was bad dog, but she wasn’t a bad dog. She just got excited.

Max bounced excitedly. “Mia play with Max?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. “Play hide and seek? Max likes hide and seek. Max better than squirrels. Squirrels not good at hide and seek. Max good at finding. Mia hide and Max find!” She liked this idea very much because playing was her favorite! And then later they could play fetch or frisbee because those were fun games too! And Max liked to play games. Master liked to play games with her. He was good at playing games. He taught Max how to play games because she was his puppy. And Master was her best friend. And she was his best friend.

But new friends were fun too. Mia would be a fun new friend! And she would play with Max and have fun! Max liked her new friend vey much!

[Deleted]

Considering the fact she spent her time before July freaking out over everyone flocking to her and professing their love for her, it probably was odd that she wasn't a little more, you know, horrified at the fact that there was a person who was, apparently, really a dog, or at least thought she was really a dog. Well...okay, yes. This was a little crazier than she was letting on, but...really, like she said...one person/dog...how hard could that really be? Besides, she seemed like such a sweetie, even if she was odd. Weren't they all odd around here? And she could really use the money and...oh stop it! Overthinking it would only make this more difficult.

So, smile still plastered on her face, she exclaimed like a kindergarten teacher probably would, "What a great idea!" So she rambled a bit about squirrels. Nothing wrong with that, especially when one had the thought process of a dog, right? Right.

"Okay, uh...you go in that corner and cover your eyes, okay?" You know, she had to wonder how a dog would learn to play hide and seek properly anyway...it wasn't like they could talk, right? Or count...you know, signs were pointing to the idea that she really was just a person who, for whatever reason, thought she was a dog. Poor dear, and Eric was certainly wealthy enough to try something, she was going to have to read this sort of thing up, see if perhaps there was something she could do to help. She could see how the licking thing could be a problem.

But first? She had to get through today, and hey, this should be pleasant enough. Plenty of hiding spots in a house this huge.

[maxine]

Max loved hide and seek! She was very good at sniffing out Master. She hid her eyes under her paws like Master taught her to until it was time and then she waited until it seemed like a good time to find. Finding was fun because sometimes Max could smell Master or sometimes she could hear him because dogs could smell and hear things better than humans. But that was okay because humans took care of dogs and they were friends.

Max was very happy when Mia wanted to play too. It was fun to play and make new friends so she bounded over to the corner and covered her eyes with her front paws. “Mia hide now,” Max announced because she didn’t know if Mia knew the rules the way Master did. She didn’t know how they played so Max would have to teach her new tricks. And then she waited because Max didn’t know how to count. Dogs can’t count. Dogs didn’t even really understand numbers too well because they didn’t really need numbers. They just needed their masters.

When Max didn’t hear any more noises she took her paws off her face. “Max find now,” she announced. She would normally have barked but Mia probably didn’t know what barking meant so she had to speak. Then she raced towards the stairs ready to play.