Closed Doggy Business [Minosaaya]

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spring 2nd, 514 AV

It was Spring, the new season. The day before, Morwen had arrived in the city, bringing back the colder days. Winter, as always, had been a tiny bit warmer without the goddess, but now the temperature was back to normal. Cold, but pleasantly so. Today, however, Spirit had plans… and not just with herself. With the Kelvic she’d met the season before, called Minosaaya. They’d met a few times after that first interaction, mostly to confirm details about their plans. It was time, however… to finally start that project she’d been so excited about.

She’d told Mino to meet her by the stables, since that was always a good meeting place. From there, they’d find the head of the hold, and work things out from that point. They needed to rent the land first and foremost, hopefully with little to no construction needed. She’d ask an Iceglaze to build a few kennels, while they talked to the dog breeders she knew to offer to train their puppies. If everything went well, they’d be ready by today, or at least tomorrow. She didn’t quite know how long it took to build kennels.

There were a few holes she was uncertain about, though. One of the smaller ones was if the head of the Frostfawn hold didn’t let them buy land, or if there was no good fenced area to use. Then they’d have to build the fence, and things would get more confusing. But the big worry was… what if no one lent them puppies? Didn’t trust their methods? She thought she knew most of the sellers by now, especially after her own time breeding, but it was still a worrying question. She knew she’d be able to get something from her uncle… he bred his own puppies, and usually sold them to main dealers in the Menagerie. He’d trust her enough to train his. But anyone else? That was… worrying.

[Minosayaa]

Minosayaa waited by the stables, she was meeting Miss Spirit here today. She gave a glance at her hand, which was now fully healed. That was how she had met Spirit. Today the only major difference with meeting Spirit was the fact Mino was a clothed girl. She had even gone through the trouble of trying to pull her short choppy hair into tiny twin tails. She rocked back and forth on her feet, doing her best to wait. Today things would be finalized. The land, the kennels, and everything else. How exciting! If this worked out Mino might have to retire from her pulling career. What a crazy thought, her being a teacher of sorts. She fumbled with her bag pulling out a lovely bone and despite being in human form took to nibbling at it. She had brought a few of her favored bones along today which she got of course by begging within the Red Diamond, she intended to share some of the lesser gnawed ones with Wind and the others. It was a nice gesture in her mind to make to the other dogs involved. A way of saying 'let's be friends.' She hadn't really the time yet to get Spirit a gift celebrating what they would be doing, but Mino felt she still had time to do that. Maybe she could probe her today with questions of what she liked, besides dogs.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

OOCI'm assuming Mino runs into Spirit, as she's probably been at the stables longer after her work. I'm also going to stop before the actual stuff starts, and leave that for the next post... so sorry for this one being so short!

Spirit smiled widely as she saw the familiar Kelvic approach. This meant that their plans could really get off the ground. First off... talk to the head of the hold. Once she did that, they might be able to split up.. she'd talk to breeders, and Minosaaya would speak to the Iceglaze builders. That way they could get as much done as possible. It was a nice, neat, plan.

"Hello Mino!" she called, waving a little. She'd brought Fog along rather than Wind today, and the much younger dog bounded up to welcome the Kelvic in her own way. She was more energetic than the old Zypherian, and was a completely different species... though both had color-less coats, her's was more greyscale than pure black and white. "This is Fog, by the way... another one of my dogs."

[Minosayaa]

oocI just assumed she was waiting in the wrong place or something like that. Mino gave a smile returning her bone to it's bag, "Heya Spirit. How goes...umm..life? Look! I remembered to wear clothes today! I even remembered my boots!" The first time she had met Spirit she had shifted from her dog form leaving her naked as a human. Her clothes were nothing fancy, a simple fur lined dress and fur lined boots. She turned her attention to the new face, "Fog, you said? Oooh a new gal pal for mino." She said with a sing songy tone. Friends or rather people in general were blurred in Mino's mind, be it a dog or human. Both made the 'people' list to her. She knelt down to Fog's level before introducing herself, "Hi Miss Fog, I assume you're still a miss? Anywho, My name is Minosayaa or Mino for short. We're gonna be seeing alot of each other, so hopefully we'll be good friends!" Finishing her introduction she reached into her bag, pulling out a different bone than she had chewed on earlier and presented it to Fog. "Here, a gift from me to you!" The Kelvic smiled at Fog before looking up to Spirit, "I hope you don't mind I brought some of my better bones as gifts for your dogs. You know, as a friendly gesture. I saved a nice one 'specialy for Wind! I didn't bring you one cause I didn't think you'd like that kind of thing." Mino admitted almost shyly.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit grinned at Mino's bouncy greeting, always uplifted by that kind of attitude. She tried to have one herself, in general, and it made everyone happy. It was a little amusing to see the Kelvic greet Fog as if the dog was another person, though that was probably the way Kelvics worked... being a strange mix of human and animal. Mino had seemed quite happy to socialize with other dogs, as much as she did humans.

"She can have the bone," she mentioned smiling at the offer. It was nice that Mino remembered to ask, since some dog owners didn't appreciate others giving their dogs treats. Spirit understood why. A dog given a treat after not doing something they were supposed to, while training, could mess up the process. Some owners had their dogs on strict diets, and such. There were a variety of reasons. She wasn't entirely picky, except during training... you didn't want any bad habits developing.

"And... I'm fine without one," she added, trying to imagine herself chewing on a bone. It didn't quite work. She could, however, imagine a human Minosaaya doing such a thing. It simply seemed to... work. "Now... shall we get to business? We'll go talk to Tovan Frostfawn, the guy in charge of our hold... and ask if we can arrange for some section of land. I was thinking maybe... half an acre? Though I don't know if I could afford that..." She frowned, thinking on it. How much did such things cost? They could probably always rent it, or pay back Tovan when they had more money... "Let's go anyways." With that, she led the way to where she believed the man would be.

---

The older man was exactly where Spirit had predicted, standing outside in the sun with his trademark eagle. The man was simply petting the bird, grooming it with his own fingers and speaking with it softly. When the pair approached, however, he glanced over in their direction.

"Hello... Spirit, isn't it? What might I do for you?" He focused on the older girl, the one he recognized from his own hold. His voice was quiet, calm, and it left the Frostfawn feeling like she couldn't speak too loudly, in case she broke the peace.

"Yes... Um... Mino and I had come up with a plan to work training dogs for others, mostly breeders, on a larger scale. What I was wondering from you is if we could possibly rent or buy some land... maybe half an acre? You need room for them to run around and such..." She gave a weak smile, her old shyness coming back a little. She'd gotten over it during the past year, but she hadn't done anything like this in quite a while... so it felt strange.

There were several moments of silence as the Vantha inspected her, obviously mulling over something. Spirit suddenly realized she'd forgotten to mention the fences, and blurted it out awkwardly. "Is it possible for it to be... fenced? Like an old paddock or something." She drifted off, staring down at the snowy ground.

"Half an acre?" he finally said, startling the girl. She glanced up and nodded. "To buy it, it would be... five hundred mizas. Do you have that money?" It wasn't an accusation, just an inquiry. After some thought from herself... she nodded. It would be more than half of her savings, but wouldn't it be worth it? To have the space, and to have land of her own? It was an interesting feeling.

"Then yes, there is a spot just fitting your requirements. It's close enough to the hold, and I believe the fencing is good enough to hold any rowdy puppies..." After that, they went on to arrange payments, and several chimes later... it was done. She had the space to build her own things, to keep her own dogs. She was almost bursting with delight. They'd been led to the spot as well, and Tovan had left the pair there, to look it over.

"Well... isn't that great! We got the space!" Spirit directed this at Mino, clapping her hands together with a massive grin on her face. "Now for the next step..."

LedgerDeducted 500gm from ledger

[Minosayaa]

Minosayaa gave Spirit a nod as the two or three in Mino's mind with Fog began their walk to see Tovan and hopefully get the go to the first steps to changing their lives and probably even the hold. As they walked Mino chattered back and forth to Spirit and Fog. She and Fog seemed to be bonding as they chased each other in circles around Spirit much like two children. Spirit had of course taken the bone for safekeeping. Mino's nerves were on edge, she hoped that Spirit and her weren't asking for too much. After all they were just two young girls to most in the hold. This running about was calming her down. Her demeanor had changed completely by the time they reached Tovan. Mino walked quietly along with her head held high. She refused to make any eye contact with the hold leader it wasn't that she didn't look at him just not... in the eyes. It was a canine law, never look a superior in the eyes less you wish to challenge their position. Mino was a very docile creature rarely showing any aggression, except when she had to put a fellow sled puller in place as she had on the winter hunting trip. She kept silent and let Spirit do the talking. Mino reacted to Spirit's exuberance by matching it. Without thinking of how Spirit would react, Mino leaped into a bear hug with a squeal before taking a good run along the fenced area arms flailing the whole time. Returning to Spirit Mino nodded, "Yup! Kennels! I want to inspect each one! I should buy some toys and such. These dogs will be my brothers, sisters, cousins, and children. Not by blood of course."

[Spirit Frostfawn]

”Well, there aren’t any kennels yet,” Spirit mentioned, hugging Mino happily back. It was such an amazing feeling, to have done something like this, and she was happy to share it. This was the first step to follow a dream… a dream she’d surely love. And she could work on this with a remarkably boisterous Kelvic. After several moments of grinning and hugging, she drew away to purse her lips in thought.

”If you want to inspect them, I was hoping you could chip in… I want you to go find an Icewatch that will build them. Tell him I’ll pay him, and just ask the price, how long it will take, and when he can start. We need about five small buildings, I think… each just needs to hold two or three full-sized dogs, or a bunch of puppies. And… they need to be able to close. “

She smiled again, before asking ”Does that make sense? If he has any questions, you can always bring him to me. I’ll be talking to some other breeders… to see if we can get some puppies.” She didn’t want to get started before she was sure Mino had the thing hands down. She hoped that, sometime in the future when she had more money, they could build maybe another larger building for, say, veterinary purposes.

[Minosayaa]

Minosayaa focused all her attention on Spirit and what she was saying so she wouldn't forget anything she said. "I have about 150gm to my name I could chip in... Okay, talk to Icewatch to build kennels. Ask price, time, and starting date. Five small buildings, wait five is a hand right?" Mino asked wiggling her fingers. "Each to hold 2-3 grown dogs or a litter or two. With closing doors." Mino repeated back to Spirit as if to answer her. Mino was surprised that she was able to repeat everything back to Spirit without any problems. Even with all the numbers and specific details she had remembered. She stood there with her mouth agape for a moment. Trying to figure it out wouldn't help her any, she'd just go with the shocking fact she'd remembered. "Ahh..Anything else you need, Spirit?" Mino asked shyly.

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit was almost equally impressed at Mino's memory. It was a long, kind of confusing list, that an adult would probably have had to repeat in most situations. "No... that's all! Thanks a lot." With one job set aside, she turned and set off towards the first of the breeders on her list: her Uncle.

Her Uncle was sort of a professional breeder, but also... not. He was almost a jack of all trades, when it came to animals. However, he usually had a litter at some stage or another... and she was sure that a few of his puppies were at training stage. It took only a few chimes for her to reach his Arvinta room, where... he wasn't there.

One of his older dogs greeted her at the door, but after giving the creature a quick rub, and checking around to find the man, she gave up. He had to be somewhere around the hold, though, as he rarely left. 'Why leave?' was what he usually said when asked. He had all the things he loved at home, after all. He'd never been quite the adventurous sort, compared to his son.

It took her another ten or so chimes of wandering around the Arvinta and the area around it, until she finally found the elusive man. She arrived in a bit of a grumpy state, and was put off by her Uncle's cheerful smile. "Uncle," she told him in a firm, almost scolding way. "You've had me running around half the hold to find you." His expression drooped into a kind of 'oh dear' one, and he attempted an apologetic smile.

"Whoops?" he said hopefully, as if that would maybe let his niece forgive him. She simple snorted, and let it go. "Anyways... you remember me telling you about my plan with Mino... the Kelvic?" He paused, thinking, then nodded. "Yes... the training one, right?"

"Exactly. Well... we got the land! I was wondering if you were still up for letting us try out some of your puppies..." He grinned at the suggestion. "Of course. These two here would be perfect for the job, actually. When you've got everything set up, just let me know... and I'll hand them over." Spirit let out a relieved sigh, hugged her Uncle, and left to move on to the next breeder... a much more official one.

OOCI'll pause here, and the next person can be done in my next post.

[Minosayaa]

Mino made her way to see someone she knew could tell her everything Spirit needed to know. She made her way to the Iceglaze hold, she was somewhat familiar with the place as she brought supplies here fairly often. So she had a vague idea of the place. A man walked past and Mino caught his attention for a moment, " 'Scuse me mister, would you happen to know where Varys is? I really need to speak with him." She gave her best helplessly innocent look which wasn't that hard for her to accomplish. The man gave a gruff laugh, "You're the dog-girl who makes the deliveries." Giving the man a sheepish grin and a nod, he ruffled her hair. "Go up through there, then left, four doors down. That's where he should be." The man made it sound so simple! But, it wasn't. Not. At. All. Trying to keep Spirit's instructions in her head AND what the man had told her. It was a losing battle trying to keep everything straight in her head. She had been up and down the entire hold and still nothing. With a sigh of defeat, Mino slumped into a sitting position in a corner. An idea crossed her mind, maybe she could call Spirit... But Spirit wasn't bonded to her...Meaning it wouldn't work... Mino was aware that using the term calling was perhaps wrong, more of a sharing of emotions or a tugging in the back of one's mind. She knew Spirit was busy with the breeders and that she wasn't attached to her in any way... But still, a tiny 'help' was called.