unconditional love (susan)

[Deleted]

november

Will and Susan had decided it was time to get another dog for the family, especially for their mom. They loved their dogs, of course, but it was always fun to have some fresh blood in the family. Will often thought that they should just adopt every stray dog in the country... but that wasn't really a possibility. Well, it could be, but he didn't have the ability to focus on a project like that. Not with politics, both muggle and magical, that he was involved in. One new dog would do for now... maybe two.

He and Susan left the apartment around noon and were headed to one of the shelters. They had looked at a few dogs on the website, but of course wanted to meet them in person and have a little fun. "Now that I'm thinking about it maybe we should have brought the others by to meet the prospects..." he realized as they walked, turning to Susan to get her take.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Susan was thoroughly excited for her and Will’s visit to the shelters. Now that she was an adult, she wanted to pick out a dog that she would raise herself, not one that her parents, her grandmother, or even just her brother had selected as the ‘family dog’. She wanted her own puppy, one that would be her companion in both human and Animagus form. This meant she would have to get a dog that would grow to be larger than a teacup, which Susan preferred anyway. She had yet to try to see if she could understand the family dogs in her Animagus form, but she wanted to try it out on her own puppy first to form that extra special bond. “Nonsense Will, Lusie and Ed are in school,” Susan told her brother, waving a hand dismissively. “Besides, we’re here to get MY dog, plus any others that you simply can’t live without.” She turned to face him, a wide grin forming under the brim of her wide brimmed sun hat. It was a beautiful day outside, but Susan had such fair skin that she liked to wear a hat like this to hide it from the sun. It would also help when they entered and exited to hide her face from the paparazzi.

Once they were safely inside the shelter, Susan removed her hat, holding it in between her hands. She strolled briskly and purposefully down the aisles, looking at the small blurbs of information the shelters had on display per dog. “Ooooh this one’s adorable,” she crooned, stopping in front of a five month great dane puppy, its’ paws as large as its’ face as he hopped up on his hind legs, tail wagging furiously as Susan bent down to scratch his head. “What do you think? He’s precious,” she said, giggling as the dane licked her hands eagerly.

@will

[Deleted]

Will laughed at Susans response to his comment. "I meant the other dogs," he clarified. Though, Susan did have a point. They were there to get her a dog, and whatever others they decided they needed to have. "I wish we could just adopt all of them, but I'm not sure if that's practical," he suggested with a sigh. "I don't think it's right to adopt a bunch of dogs just to have the staff take care of them all the time. Supporting shelters financially as much as we can is a good help, right?" he said, trying to make himself feel less guilty about not adopting every single dog he saw.

Once inside, Susan took off her hat and started to move through the aisles of dogs. Will followed, stepping forward as she assessed a great Dane. He grinned, "are you sure you could handle it when it's twice your size?" he teased, bending down to get a better view of the pup. "I think that every dog will love you," he suggested. "This one does seem to have a similar... beauty queen quality that you have," he joked again. But really, it was a gorgeous dog!

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Susan looked longingly at the puppy, who was wagging his tail furiously. “But…” she trailed off, stroking the velvety ears of the Great Dane and sighed. “You’re right of course, I am quite tiny,” she said with a small frown. She kissed the top of his head and moved on. As soon as she did, she heard a girl cry out Look Mama look! Immediately, Susan froze up, hands to her sunglasses. This was not an official royal outing for Will and Susan, and the shelter had promised them anonymity. Still, things were leaked to the press more often than not, and Susan waited for the telltale scurrying of footsteps behind them. Much to her relief, the great dane puppy started barking as the girl made a beeline directly for it. Susan couldn’t help but smile; between the adorableness of the little girl and the puppy, the mother was bound to bring the happy dog home. She was glad of course that the pup would be adopted, knowing that she couldn’t adopt all of them. “Well, at least he’s going to have a playmate,” she told Will with a smile.

Susan considered his words for a few moments, about financially supporting the shelters. “We could do better than that, if the shelter agrees,” she said slowly, an idea in her head. “We can host an official adopt-a-thon here at the shelter, covering the adoption fees for any animal going to a loving home. It would be a great cause, and make a lot of people happy I think,” she said, her speech getting faster and faster as she grew more excited about the cause. It would be good publicity for the young royals, and have absolutely nothing to do with their love lives, something Susan immensely preferred. Rounding the corner, she spotted a long, grey dog with a pointed snout curled up in the corner of his pen. “A greyhound,” she whispered softly, gravitating towards the animal. He whined instinctively, but Susan patiently held out her hand for him to sniff. “I wonder what his story is,” she said, turning back to glance at Will while waiting for the dog to come closer.

@will

[Deleted]

Will chuckled as Susan agreed that she was tiny. She kissed the top of the dogs head and moved on. Will gave the little guy one little pat before following his sister. But then, at the sound of the little girl calling out to her mother, Will froze up too, spinning around. Thankfully, the girl and her mother were only looking at that same great Dane. Will smiled with relief, turning to Susan, "I don't think we'll ever stop being paranoid," he chuckled, letting out that nervous energy. He didn't midn the press that much, but it really was inconvenient when you were trying to get errands done or e joy yourself. He remembered how hard it had been on Isla. "He probably needs someone with lots of energy. Should be a good match," Will agreed, as Susan commented on the dog having a playmate in the girl.

Susan was clearly forming an idea about supporting the shelters, and Will waited as she got it out. The idea of an adopt-a-thon made his jaw drop slightly. "That is an amazing idea!" he said, amazed by how quickly she had come up with it. "And covering the fees would help a lot of the pets get adopted, for sure," he agreed. "We could even do it somewhere else, somewhere bigger, and invite more than one shelter to come participate," he suggested.

They turned a corner and she fixed on a greyhound, whispering as if she had just seen a majestic wold in the wild or something. Will followed behind, watching them interact. It seemed tentative, which Will admired. The thing probably saw a lot of strangers during the day. "Probably a tale of bravery and adventure," Will guessed, which was his way of saying the dog seemed to have a lot more of a past than that puppy did. Of course, this dog was older, too.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Susan smiled in agreement at Wills statement. “No, remember when our cousin married the American actress? I swear they couldn’t leave Kensington for weeks after their engagement announcement!” She shook her head; she could understand the peoples’ fascination with royal life, but there were sometimes that the paparazzi went just too far. It was why their mother Hannah had taken the children into hiding after their fathers’ assassination - the press had tried to get photos of them while paramedics were moving their fathers’ body, and something in Hannah had just...snapped. Looking back, Susan really couldn’t blame her, although she had given the matriarch plenty of grief when their lives were suddenly uphended and moved to a much smaller, more remote location. Not wanting to think about that time, she smiled as Will enthusiastically agreed to her charity idea. “Brilliant, we can hold it on the palace lawns so multiple shelters can participate. I’ll have Evelyn make some calls.” Evelyn was the Windsor siblings’ press secretary; she was the best person for the job in Susan’s humble opinion, and held a good relationship with the royals. Plus she made the best homemade chocolate chip cookies, which she always seemed to have on hand.

Slowly but surely, the greyhound inched his way to Susans’ outstretched hands. He sniffed her fingers tentatively before giving them a small lick. Susan smiled and took a half step forward. He shied away initially, but allowed her to pat his head gently. “Look at his scars,” she said softly to her brother, nodding at the silver lines running down his rear legs. “Do you think he was one of those underground racing dogs?” she asked, immediately feeling anger towards whoever - or whatever - gave this pup its’ scars.

@will

[Deleted]

Will nodded, chuckling a little at the mention of their cousins marriage and how everyone was basically stalking them for weeks. "It gets worse every time someone has a baby," he reminded her. "It grotesque that even infants have to deal with that," he grimaced. It was a hard life they lived, that much was certain. He was just glad that they weren't as popular right now - the last time the paparazzi made a really big deal about their family specifically was when their dad died. I mean, of course they stalked Will's dating life a bit but that wasn't the same.

Susan suggested they hold the adoption event at the palace lawns and Will nodded, "perfect," he agreed. Evelyn was a very competent women and would be thrilled about something like that. "Well, we could do it over Christmas break so Ed and Lu can be there - we can just order some of those nice tents," he suggested.

The greyhound moved forward and Will was sure to stay quite for a moment while the two met one another. Susan mentioned the scars and he nodded, his brow furrowing a little. "Oh, that's possible. Greyhounds are popular for that..." he agreed. "At least he's here now. And, potentially, moving on from here soon," whether it was with them or not. "Now tackling the dog racing industry would be a great thing, but - like all illegal underground activity - it's a slow process," he added, just thinking out loud.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Susan knew she had made her decision the moment she had laid eyes on the long, skinny dog in front of them. This greyhound had had a rough start in life, and Susan would do anything to make sure he lived out the rest of his days as a spoiled, pampered pup. Plus, with her Animagus form it would be fun to run around the grounds with the fast animal, getting her the exercise she needs. “We’re getting him,” she decided firmly, gently stroking the grey head of the hound. The greyhound sniffed her hand and licked it tentatively, making her smile. “See? Healready knows he has found his match,” she declared, standing up slowly as to not startle their new dog. She motioned the animal shelter volunteer forward, and they quickly got to work on the paperwork to adopt the hound. She was glad this wasn’t taking too long; the longer the royals stayed in one public place, the more likely it was the public would get wind they were there. Luckily, they’d worked with this shelter on multiple occasions, and the volunteers had grown accustomed to their visits.

After the greyhound was officially adopted by Susan, she looked up at her brother with a mischievous grin. “I think we can still look at some more pups, don’t you?” she said innocently. The greyhound was by her side, collared and leashed, though he didn’t seem to need it as she followed Susan around faithfully. “You need a friend, don’t you?” she cooed down at the hound, who made a noise that she took as agreement. They continued down the row of kennels, stopping to look in at each and every dog. Though she was a royal, she had a preference for larger dogs over the teacup sized ones. “Yes, I think over Christmas would be nice. After all, what better present is there than a new pup?” she asked, gently stroking the silky grey ears of their new pet. “Alright dear brother, your turn to pick one to play with,” she announced, nodding towards the rows of kennels, inclining her brother to make a decision.

@will

[Deleted]

Will nodded as Susan said they were getting the greyhound, smiling. "Yes, I think you're right. Made in heaven," he said, in reference to her comment about them being a match. he volunteer stepped toward them and they got to work on adopting. Once they were all set in that area, Susan said they could look around little more and he nodded. "Yes, and we should find the right person to talk to about the event," he suggested.

Wills eyes settled on big dogs, mostly, especially the 'tough' looking ones. He always found that they were generally just big sweethearts. She agreed that Christmas break would be best, saying that a new pup was the best present. "Agreed. Maybe Finn would want one... but I'd definitely not be able to surprise her with it, since she has Bruce and all..." he was sort of just talking to himself on that last part.

Susan told him to pick one and he was already walking toward a skinny looking German Shepard of sorts. It looked old, and Will bent down to hold his hand out. A volunteer walked up, "do you want to see him? He's very friendly, we can let him out," they asked. Will nodded, and the old pup immediately put it's head on Wills knee, accepting Wills scratches behind his ear.

@susanvictoria

[Deleted]

Susan was glad that Will didn’t remotely put up a fight for her to get the greyhound. Already she was coming up with names for him, as the shelter had mentioned nobody had actually given the poor boy a name. She was leaning towards old racehorse names, like Pharoah or Seabiscuit, but she’d give it some time and get to know the hound first. Names shouldn’t be rushed after all. Will was obviously distracted by the skinny German Shepard he had made a beeline for. She smiled, unsurprised by Will’s choice. She nodded her agreement as the shelter volunteer let the Shepard out of its’ kennel and he immediately lay his head on Wills’ knee. “Seems like he’s meant for you,” she said knowingly, reaching down to scratch the greyhounds ears as well. She didn’t want him to think he had been forgotten so quickly, and he leaned into Susans’ side.

Susan signalled down a volunteer and they quickly hashed out some details for their event over the winter holiday. She handed the volunteer the card of the Windsors’ personal assistant, who would be helping oversee the events’ details. Susan and Will would be heavily involved of course, but their jobs also demanded time of theirs, so their assistant would step in for the minute details. She turned back to face Will, a smile on her face. “What do you think? Is he ready to go home with us as well?” she asked, and the greyhound wagged his tail, as if agreeing with his new mistress.

@will

[Deleted]

Will looked down at the dog as Susan spoke, "yeah... but I honestly feel like I could take all of them," he sighed. Susan talked to the volunteer and soon was asking Will about the dog. He shrugged, letting the dog go back into his kennel with a little wave. He stood, "I think for today I'm on my own," he added. He looked down at Susans dog and then back to Su, "I think it's been a successful day. Let's go introduce - wait, did you pick a name?"

@susanvictoria
(omg end it hahaha)

[Deleted]

Susan smiled, and looked down at her new greyhound friend. He wagged his tail, and Susan stroked his head gently. “Dashiel, Dash for short,” she decided, looking back up at her brother. “Well, at least we have one new family member today,” she said brightly, and Dash yipped in excitement. Susan laughed, shaking her head. “We’ll get all these fellows and ladies into great homes with our event,” she promised, taking his hand and squeezing it quickly before letting go. She clicked her tongue and Dash followed the Windsor siblings out of the kennels, and onto his new forever home.

END