Hi! (Anya)

[pooka]

Pooka was very, very proud of himself. He'd found Anya all by himself, and he hadn't even needed to use his sense of smell to track her! Not that he could, his nose just wasn't what it used to be, but now he could talk there were all sorts of interesting ways to find somebody. He'd asked how to find his friend Anya and a very kind person had shown him a phone book, they'd even helped him to read it and find the address!

That was how he'd ended up here, because after he had the address it was easy enough to keep asking people until another kind stranger told him which way to go, and now he'd made it all the way to the door! He really wanted to just go bounding in, but the door seemed to be locked, and he remembered seeing people knocking in order to be let in, so he lifted his hand and knocked experimentally on the door.

[Anastasia]

Anya had been in the process of making dinner when the knock came at the door. Putting down the spatula she had been using to stir the pasta sauce she made her way over to the door. It didn’t take her long as in two steps she was pretty much there. It wasn’t a particularly large apartment, it was barely big enough for herself never mind anyone else who was coming to visit. She wasn’t particularly happy about being interrupted before dinner as well, this was her hour and a half gap between jobs and every second was precious considering all the things she had to do before she left.

Opening the door she looked at the young man who was standing there and smiled. The very young man that was standing there. He was scruffy looking and very small, maybe a little small for the age he was but he was looking up at her with the most excited and happy expression that if he had a tail she was sure it would be wagging. “Can I help you?” she asked a little bemused?

[pooka]

Pooka's expression darkened for a moment and his brow furrowed in worried puzzlement. Why wasn't Anya pleased to see him? Why did she look so confused?
Just as quickly the answer came to him, and he went back to practically bouncing on his toes in sheer enthusiasm. Of course she was confused, she didn't realise it was him! He looked so different now, and he'd already discovered these silly human noses didn't work right, so it's not like she'd be able to smell him!

"I found you! All by myself!" He told her excitedly, forgetting to tell her who he was in the face of his overwhelming joy, despite having just realised she didn't know.

[Anastasia]

“That’s….that’s great,” she said still completely confused.

Why would a small excitable child be looking for her, did she know any excitable children. Maybe he was from the orphanage, maybe he was one of the smaller children that she hadn’t really taken note of before she left…which was impossible because she remembered all of them, every name and every face and he was definitely not one of them. So who was he.

She patted his head awkwardly, mainly because she felt it was the right thing to do, “And um…why are you looking for me? And who are you?”

[pooka]

Pooka was practically vibrating with sheer joy when she patted him on the head, even though he was person-shaped now he still associated that with the idea that he'd done a good job - but then his face fell again as she asked who he was, and he realised he hadn't done a very good job at all, because he'd forgotten to explain that part.

"It's me!" He replied cheerfully, before realising he had to expand upon that statement as well "It's Pooka!"
He wondered if he should explain further, but decided that should be enough for Anya, she gave him the name after all!

[Anastasia]

“…Pooka….Pooka….as in…my dog Pooka…who should be back in Paris…you’re…Pooka?!”

She took a step back and then decided that she may as well go crashing all the way down to the floor instead with the shock of it all, it seemed like a good idea. She looked up at the young boy, confused and…just a little but scared. Of course, magic, this place was full of it, but magical enough not only to bring her dog from Paris but turn him into a real person as well. She didn’t have a pet anymore she had a boy, a little boy.

Oh hell.

She was basically a mother.

Cause she couldn’t just abandon him, she couldn’t when he was a dog and she could tell by the sweet and happy expression on his face that she wouldn’t be able too now. What the hell was she going to do?!

“Um…why don’t you come inside and I’ll…make you a sandwich?”

[pooka]

"Yes! Pooka! That's me, I'm Pooka! I came all the way from Paris! And now I'm people!" Pooka was absolutely thrilled that she'd recognised him, finally, he was bouncing up and down with excitement.
When she fell over, he laughed, not realising it was out of shock and thinking she'd just been clumsy, like he usually was, or that she just felt like sitting down.

He had to remind himself he was a boy now, and not a dog, and he wouldn't really be able to leap into her lap the way he wanted to, but when she invited him in and offered him a sandwich, he was too excited to keep holding himself back, so he threw himself forward and hugged her tightly.

[Anastasia]

The little boy was hugging her now, and tightly. The little boy, her dog, her little boy dog was hugging her and he was, as he said, person. This was confusing, this was…strange. Anya patted his back awkwardly and said, “Yes…yes you’re…person now.”

She looked at him and said, “a person. It’s a person. Or, or I suppose you could say that you’re human now.”

Well if she was going to take this little lost boy in, which she knew she was going too, she may as well teach him.

[pooka]

"Person, a person, human." Pooka repeated with a confused frown on his face. He wasn't sure which he was supposed to say, if he was supposed to say any, but he didn't want to let Anya down so he just nodded enthusiastically, "okay!"

He squeezed her tightly again, human arms were great, they made hugs extra special awesome! He just had to remember that people didn't lick other people's faces, and he was people, person, human now too, so he couldn't lick Anya's face anymore.
But he could eat people food, like sandwiches!

"Sandwich?"

[Anastasia]

“Yes, yes of course you can have a sandwich,” she said and gently pushed the boy off of her, “I’ll just…um…I’ll just get you one shall I?”

She stood up and helped him to his feet as well and said, “I just have to make a phone call first. You go sit on the bed and be…be a good boy ok?”

She couldn’t believe she had actually said that to a human being and quickly picked up her phone and dialled the number for her work, “…Hi, it’s Anya…look I’m really sorry Jimmy but I don’t think I’m going to make it in to work today…I’m, I’m not feeling great…yeah…coming down with something…”she coughed for effect, “no no I don’t think its catching, I’m going to the doctor…ok…ok….I will, thanks Jimmy…bye.”

It was just as well she got a long with her boss.

[pooka]

"Okay!" Pooka agreed, scrambling to his feet, nearly falling over in his enthusiasm if it wasn't for Anya's help.

He nodded again and went running for the bedroom, wanting desperately to be a good boy for Anya - those words, of course, the epitome of praise for a dog. The problem was that as soon as he'd scrambled onto the bed, he forgot that he was supposed to be sitting, and remembered how bouncy beds were. So he started jumping, because wow this was way more fun when you were a person, you managed to jump so much higher!

[Anastasia]

When she put the phone down on the desk she turned around to see the young boy jumping up and down on the bed. It was probably something that a mother should try to discourage in their children, but he was such a small and thin little thing that she decided not to stop him. Besides she remembered how much fun it was to jump on the bed, just because that she would hit her head off the roof if she did it now didn’t mean that Pooka couldn’t.

“Alright,” she said stepping in to the kitchen part of the studio apartment, “What do you want on your sandwich? Cheese? Ham?…Dog food?”

[pooka]

"Ham! Can I have some ham? I like ham, it's so tasty, a whole sandwich of it just for me!" he asked excitedly, bouncing a little bit more before jumping off the bed and over to her, beaming up with wide eyes.

He didn't want dog food now he was a person, dog food wasn't what people ate, and now he could have more than just table scraps of real food he wanted to eat it all.

[Anastasia]

Smiling a little cheekily she turned back round to the counter and said, “Alright then, if you want, Dog food it is.”

It was like being back in the orphanage, in a good way. Back when she was the oldest and she would take care of all the younger children, making their lunches or breakfasts, helping them with their homework. She wasn’t a stranger to looking after a load of younger people, she just didn’t expect to be doing that here.

She picked up an empty can of beans and said, “Ok, I’m putting the dog food on now.”

[pooka]

"No! No! I didn't say dog food, I didn't, I didn't!" Pooka bounced up and down sounding genuinely distressed, scrambling to run over to her and waving his hands desperately.

"I didn't say dog food, don't put it on, don't, don't, don't!" he shouted, bouncing around her ferverently, not taking a moment to look at the can or in any way ascertain if she was telling the truth, partly because it never occured to him to do so, he just didn't assume she'd lie to him.