Making Things Right (Mina)

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Today was one of Rory's days off and he decided to spend it relaxing. He went to Diagon Alley to see if there was anything there that interested him. He normally ended up getting a book or two while there, as well as stopping to talk to people. Running into people he knew was one of the best reasons for heading to the place, after all. 

He'd only just arrived when he heard someone shout. It sounded as though they were ... in pain? Rory took off at a run in the direction of the sound. As a healer, it was his duty to help people who were hurt, not that he wouldn't try anyway. It only took him a few minutes to spot the person. He ran up, shouting, "Can somebody help me please?"

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

All Mina wanted to do was walk the damn dog. She didn’t ask for much in life anymore, but being able to handle the Akita puppy was apparently too much. Puppy was a subjective term as well. While the puff-ball was certainly still a puppy in age, her size said otherwise. The last time Mina had weighed the dog, she was already edging on sixty pounds. And that was at only six months old. She had been told that the dog would reach upwards of eighty, but most of that had gone in one ear and out the other. Now it was starting to look like a reality. As most of her walks with Titania went, it was tug this way, pull that way, and they definitely had to sniff that street sign. It was like dealing with a child. The sudden realization that this was how her siblings felt when dealing with her was quickly stuffed to the side as the dog dragged her down the street. They had made it from her apartment to Diagon Alley, which was a feat in and of itself, but Mina knew it was going to be a tough trek back. Titania didn’t like going down the same streets they had already traveled during the walk, so that meant lots of side-streets and alternate routes to get back home, sometimes off in ridiculous directions that would add an hour or so onto their journey. After working all day, all she wanted to do was go to sleep. But someone needed to give the dog exercise, and her sister certainly wasn’t going to be doing it. She was barely around anymore with her work taking up most of her free time.

So down Diagon Alley Mina was pulled, and the normal leisurely stroll she took while window shopping was virtually nonexistent today. Her brief respites consisted of when sniffs were happening. Emphasis on brief though, because Titania was always moving and never stopping. At some point, Mina got lost in her thoughts and found herself standing at one end of an alleyway. Titania stood a good distance in, the length of her leash taut as she stared down a rather large cat that was at the end of it. A booming woof and a yank ripped the leash from Mina’s hands and the dog took off down the alley. The cat scaled a vertical wall instantly, though that didn’t keep the Akita from attempting it as well. Mina chased down her animal, and despite pulling back, the dog wouldn’t budge.

Letting out a frustrated yell, she stepped back to figure out the situation. She didn’t have long before the sound of footsteps and a voice calling for help reached her ears. She certainly didn’t need any help. Titania was either going to be subdued with a calming charm or Mina was going to wait out the dog’s lunacy. “Unless you can talk to dogs, I don’t think you’ll be of much help,” Mina stated as the man ran up to her. “She’ll get over it once she’s hungry.”

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Rory felt ... undeniably embarrassed that he'd assumed it was a person who needed in help when it was actually a canine. Though in all honestly there was no way he could have known that, and his job had him trained to respond when people were in pain. It was natural for him to come and try to help when it sounded like someone was in trouble. He looked at the girl in front of her, but she just looked annoyed. "Sorry, I just assumed it was a person," he explained, though that was probably obvious. Unless she was particularly distracted by her dog. "Does she do this sort of thing often?" Rory asked curiously, attention on the dog as she continually tried to jump over the wall. It was a little amusing, but he wasn't going to smile about it unless the girl did. He didn't want to upset her after all. 

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

Mina found herself laughing as the man explained that he thought Titania was a person that needed help. What an odd thing to assume. The dog was definitely as annoying as some people she knew, herself included, so there was some semblance of a human connection there. “I mean, I did yell,” she explained. “But it was sort of in frustration that she wouldn’t obey me.” And at the way things were going, the Akita wasn’t going to be moving any time soon. The last time this had happened, Mina waited two hours before the dog finally got tired of the stupid little game it was playing and decided it wanted to go home. She wasn’t going to make that mistake again. “On occasion,” she responded. “Everything is a game to her still, so trying to define a fine line between play time and quiet time is tough…” Actually, it was impossible right now. Titania really only listened to Mina if she had food or treats in her hand, and aside from that, her sister had become the clear winner as the alpha of the pack. Unfortunately. Mina clapped her hands a few times to get the dog’s attention, but aside from a quick glance over the shoulder, nothing else happened. Damn dog. “So gallant of you to think I was in trouble though,” Mina pointed out as she watched Titania try and jump the wall again. It was almost silly at this point. “I guess I kind of am, now that I think about it. Not really the normal kind of trouble though…”

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She was laughing, which at least meant she wasn't annoyed at Rory, which was a good thing. He didn't like to upset people or make them angry. She started to explain a bit of what happened and Rory nodded in understanding. "Ahh." He couldn't help but give a small laugh when she mentioned that everything was still a game to her dog. He was sure that made things different, but it was kind of funny to him. Animals normally were. Rory didn't have a dog or cat or anything, but that was mostly because he didn't have the time to put into an animal like that. "How long do you think she'll be barking at the wall?" He asked curiously, watching the dog with a smile on his face. It was definitely a good looking animal, just maybe not the best behaved. Rory shrugged when she called him gallant. "Well, is there anything that I can do to help you with her?" He really didn't know if he would be able to help, but Rory was definitely willing to try. 

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

The age old question: how long would Titania be barking at the wall today? Mina’s age old answer? “Absolutely no clue, to be honest,” she said scrunching her face up and crossing her arms. “Hours sometimes? Really depends. She does get tired…” The dog cut her off with another loud yelp before running back at her, doing a few circles and heading to the wall once again. “…eventually.” Frowning, Mina tightened her grip on the leash and walked to the spot where her dumb fluffball was whining. There was nothing there, which was no surprise. It would be one thing if there was a magic entrance, or someone was hiding there, but there wasn’t. Another small tug from Mina did nothing, and the Akita stayed planted where she was. It was the waiting game after all.

The man offered his help again, and Mina contemplated what he could possibly do in this situation. Picking Titania up and carrying her home was always a solution, though she had grown to the size where doing that was much more difficult to do than when she had been a wee little poof. Plus she didn’t want to ask a man she had just met to carry her dog. That was kind of weird, even for her. “You never did answer my question earlier,” she stated. “Can you talk to dogs? Or any good with getting them to listen?” While he had said he came to help because he thought she was in trouble, that didn’t necessarily mean that he was bad with animals. She knew lots of people that hated cats and dogs but were secretly great with them. Anything was worth a shot at this point.

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She seemed extremely annoyed at the fact that she didn’t know how long her dog would be there, barking at nothing. He watched the dog, which seemed to have a boundless amount of energy and smiled. He watched as Mina tried to pull the dog away from the wall without any results to show for it. This really was an interesting situation and Rory didn’t have any ideas on how he could help.

She asked again if he could talk to dogs. Rory shook his head, “I can’t talk with them, but sometimes they’ll come when I call,” he told her honestly. It really depended on the dog, but Rory did have a habit of being the kind of person that animals in general were attracted to, though he had no idea why. “I can try with her if you want, but I make no promises.” He didn’t want to give Mina any false hope, or have her be annoyed with him if he didn’t work. Rory didn’t understand why it would, after all. The only think he could do was call it. Then the rest was up to the dog.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

Maybe her sister had been right. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be responsible. That was the whole point of getting the dog in the first place. To show that she could be a responsible adult. She had been holding down a job for months now, which was longer than any her family members could have ever imagined, she wasn’t too awful sharing an apartment with her sister, and the addition of Titania was supposed to seal the deal that she was striving to be a functioning adult. Yet that last little part didn’t seem to want to work with her. Sure, there were times where she came home stumbling drunk after a long night, or even the next morning upon realizing that she was in some stranger’s bed and not hers, but every young adult did that. Having a dog was supposed to show that she could keep another living creature alive. Koda had done a good job with his two dogs, so why couldn’t she do the same? It was almost as if Titania was given her to prevent her from making it further in life. All the damn dog had to do was listen to commands, but apparently that was too difficult. Mina loved the thing to death, but those feelings were rarely reciprocated.

She frowned when the man said that he couldn’t talk to them, though he seemed confident that she could come if he called her name. Well, almost confident. At this point, Mina was willing to try anything. “Her name is Titania. Good luck,” Mina sighed as she pulled a cigarette out and lit it. This always ended the same way, so she might as well get comfortable. If the Akita responded to this guy, then Mina had a simple solution. She’d just keep him on speed-dial for every time the dog decided to bark at a wall. The odds of it working were almost none though. She had the occasional passersby offer their help before, and nothing had ever come of it. Once the dog was hungry or tired, then Mina would be able to go home. Right now though, that was a few hours away from happening.

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The girl seemed pretty upset. Granted, she was probably pretty frustrated with her dog not doing as she asked it to, so at least she wasn't upset in general. Rory always had a hard time knowing how to deal with people that were angry about things. He didn't know if he should leave them be, or offer to help or what he should say. So normally he tries to help them out in whatever way he could. Apparently today that was trying to help with the dog. 

Rory squatted down so he would be closer on the dog's level and whistled. "Hey Titania, come here girl," he said in a cheerful, enthusiastic voice, hoping that she'll respond so he can at least help the young woman next to him. "Come on," he encouraged, not really sure if the dog was listening to him or not. He glanced at the girl, who was smoking. Well, she seemed to expect her dog to not come at all. At least if Titania didn't come, she didn't have high hopes. Rory whistled again. "Come on Titania, let's go," he clapped his hands as he stood and started walking away, hoping the dog would follow. If not, he didn't have any other ideas.

Rory jumped, definitely surprised when he felt something on his right. Looking down, he smiled at the dog next to him. He squatted down again. "Who's a good girl," he said, petting her face and praising her. That was supposed to be encouragement so she would want to do it next time, right? He wasn't really sure, but he was trying to encourage her. He was so caught up in praising the dog that he didn't look at the girl beside her.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

Taking a drag on the newly lit cigarette, Mina waited with bated breath as she slowly let the smoke out. What the man was now doing, crouching down and calling for Titania, had been attempted thousands of times. That was possibly an embellishment on the numbers, but Mina had only ever seen it successfully completed a dozen times since bringing the dog home. She had thought there maybe there was a trick to it at first, like a certain tone of voice, or using food to bait her to come, but nothing seemed to work, and yet so did everything. There was no rhyme or reason for why the Akita would listen some days and not at all on others. So Mina had chalked it up to stubbornness on the animal’s part, and her inability to properly train it, which probably proved a point to someone somewhere that she wasn’t capable of raising anything on her own. While she always played it off like that didn’t hurt her, it kind of did. Titania was her chance to prove herself, and so far it had been a huge let down. Mina meant well, but the dog didn’t want to help her out at all.

The man called for her again, and Titania stayed still. Nothing new there. But then he did something interesting, which Mina had never thought of trying before because she knew what it would look like. He stood up and walked away, clapping his hands. The puffball didn’t initially move, but something about him leaving her seemed to trigger whatever was necessary to get her to follow, because she did. Mina stood there, arms at her side and cigarette burning out in her hand, as Titania listened to the man, and even let him praise her for it. What kind of magic was that? She definitely wanted it. “Marry me. Seriously,” she blurted out, completely baffled by what she had just witnessed. “Or at least explain how you did that, because I must have missed something.”

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Rory was surprised, still. He hadn't expected the dog to follow him, but she did. He was pleased by this fact and simultaneously baffled. Some dogs would follow if their owners left (not that he was an owner) and some dogs just were independent and wanted to do their own thing. He didn't know Titania, so he had no idea which type of dog she was.

Then her owner told him to marry her and Rory laughed. He doubted the girl meant it, but it was funny. "I think before we get to that point we'll at least need to know one another's names," he teased. "I'm Rory." Then she said he should explain how he got Titania to come. Rory shrugged. "I don't know if it'll work every time," he told her, starting off with a warning. "My parents used to have dogs, and one of the stubborn ones normally did whatever he wanted, unless you said you were leaving and then started to. When he saw that you were leaving, he'd leave his stuff to come with you. I think he just wanted attention and was getting it however he could. Maybe that's what Titania does?" Rory shrugged, hoping that the method would work with this girl because it would be annoying to get stuck in places just because your dog was being stubborn.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

It seemed that the man was just as surprised that Titania had come to him as Mina was. Bloody little furball. If she wasn’t so fluffy and adorable, Mina had half a mind to put her through rigorous training again. The last thing she needed was the dog to get so out of hand that Callisto would want her gone. The obvious solution was to drop her off at Koda’s and visit every day to get her fix of dog, but that would also mean that she had failed at the one job she was tasked to. She couldn’t let that happen, no matter what. The man, Rory was his name, seemed to think that her marriage proposal was funny. While it was a joke, if she could snag someone that had a way with her dog, then they would have her as well. She didn’t ask for many things in life, aside from lots of dogs, alcohol, and loud music. Getting someone to tolerate both her and the dog? That would be more than perfect. Still, it was worth a shot. “Mina. Now will you marry me? Or one of my sisters. As long as I have you on call,” she laughed. “I’m kidding, but really impressive job with her,” Mina motioned at the dog.

Rory went on to explain what he would do with his family’s dog, and replaying what had just happened with Titania in her head, it made sense. Whether or not that was actually what was going on was something she would have to continue to test. She had always figured that her dog was either dumb or too stubborn to listen. Craving attention had never crossed her mind since she was constantly taking care of her. “That makes sense,” Mina agreed, nodding her head a little. Titania was still paying attention to Rory, so Mina decided to give it a shot herself. Turning around, she started walking away from them. After a few feet, she stopped and clapped her hands lightly. “Titania,” she called. The dog’s ears perked up, but she didn’t budge. Mina had expected as much. She went a few more paces down the sidewalk and tried again, but she got the same result. Rolling her eyes at the dog, she returned to where she had been standing before. “It’s a work in progress I suppose,” she stated, rather defeated by the whole thing.

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Rory couldn't help but laugh again when she said her name was Mina and then promptly asked him to marry her again. He shrugged as she added her sisters to his list of people to marry, "Well I don't know any of them either. How am I supposed to know who I want to marry?" he asked in a teasing voice. He smiled when she said she didn't mean it. "Thanks. I'm not quite sure why it worked, but I'm glad it did. Hopefully she'll make it all the way home with you." Maybe that was a little much to ask of the dog, but Rory still hoped for it, for Mina's sake.

Then Mina walked off, trying to do the same thing as Rory and get her dog to follow. For a second, it looked like Titania would go, but then she just looked at Rory, who kept his hands to himself. He wasn't going to mess with Mina's attempts. After a bit Mina returned, saying it was a work in progress. Rory smiled, "Most things with pets are that way, from what I've seen," he observed. "Just keep trying and maybe someday she'll realize that she'll get much more attention from following directions than she will for not doing so." He reached down, fondling the dog's ears as he spoke. He loved animals and Titania was a beautiful one.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@rory

“Well that’s what marriage is for right? Figuring out everything about your spouse?” Mina countered back. As for who to marry, that was actually an easy answer. “The one might kill you for being too nice…so I guess that just leaves one choice.” Now that she thought about it, both Sarah and Callisto were bad choices. She wasn’t kidding when she said Sarah could kill him, and she probably would do that eventually. And Callisto? She had surprised Mina before, like with that admirer she had for a while. But lately she was critical, so she doubted Callisto was capable of jumping into a relationship with Rory here for the sake of having a dog trainer on hand. If only…

Mina rolled her eyes at the dog as she looked down at her. “I think the new thing will be trying to get her away from you,” she commented. It looked like Titania had a new friend. The only one she ever got along with was Koda, and sometimes Mina wondered if that was a dog to werewolf bond. “But at least I have a starting point to go from.” She nodded her head as he said she should keep doing the same thing over and over again in the future. There was a possibility that Titania would learn eventually. Mina had to remember that her dog was technically still a puppy. “Looks like we have a lot of work still, huh?” She said to her dog as she crouched down next to her. Taking hold of the leash, Mina stood back up. “Thanks. Really. At least I know there’s some hope left,” she laughed as she patted Titania’s head. “Now for the trek home. Come on.” Mina gave Rory a small wave as she started walking back towards home, the reluctant Titania following slowly behind her.

[MINA END]

[Deleted]

Rory laughed. Mina said she was kidding about the whole marriage thing, but she was still hoping about it. The entire situation reminded him off Emmy and he couldn't help but wonder when he would be able to see his childhood friend again. It was strange that she was here in London and they hadn't seen one another that much. Strange, but not necessarily a bad thing. "I think marriage is where you really get to know your spouse, but you should probably know some things about them before then." She was quick on her feet, that was for sure. He still wasn't down for getting married but Mina did seem like fun. He chuckled again, "Well I guess my choice between the three of you is pretty cut and dry then. Guess I'll have to think about it and see how I feel next time we meet."

Rory shrugged when she said the new problem would be getting her dog away from him. "I'm sure you'll be able to. The real test will be whether or not she remembers me next time." He nodded when she thanked him, saying she'd need to put some work in but at least there was hope for her. "You'll be able to do is just fine," he confirmed. Mina walked away and Rory turned back to where he'd been initially. Things were going pretty well today, for a day off .

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mina pandora oliveira