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[not_his_pa]

William's fallen asleep in a comfortable chair by the fire with his hat pulled down and his book, some stories by Mark Twain, slowly slipping down his chest.

Since he's been staying in Bar to watch out for Bill and keep track of the stables with Miss Barlow gone, he's ended up busy.

The weather also hasn't been that nice, he knows there is sun here, he just hasn't seen it for a while. At least the rain's a bit less but he considers that a small blessing and for now he's glad of the warm.

Comments

[scots_wolf]

William might probably wake up when the big, sweet-natured dog that lies down by the fireplace heaves a great sigh and gives a little whine of canine well-being.

And thumps his tail on the floor not far from William as he settles.

[not_his_pa]

He shifts and opens his eyes to see the dog, "Ain't takin' your spot."

[scots_wolf]

No, he's not. The dog is sprawling comfortably somewhere between William and the fire.

He turns his head, looks at William with big friendly brown eyes, and wags his tail again.

Friendly human talked to him. Nice.

[not_his_pa]

William yawns as his book falls to the floor and reaches out to pet the dog,

"Hello, you're a nice fellow."

[scots_wolf]

The dog sniffs the book and William's hand, and thumps his tail again at the pats.

Oh yes, this is very nice!

[not_his_pa]

He picks up the book to give the dog a good petting,

"Know I've seen you around. Who do you belong to?"

[scots_wolf]

"Me," says a deep voice from a few yards away.

Urquhart is sitting at a table near the window, reading a book about football.

[not_his_pa]

"Oh, hello, he's a good dog. What's his name?"

[scots_wolf]

"That's Franz," Urquhart says, something like pride in his voice.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Not everyone minds the rain. Little boys, in particular, rather like it. Especially when there isn't mom around to scold or remind them about jackets and boots.

Bill's been outside, and while it's only a drizzle, he's been playing out in it a long time now; splashing in any and every puddle he could find.

In his tennis shoes.

And no jacket.

At least the sweatshirt he's wearing has a hood?

His sneakers are squelching when he comes in through the backdoor, something in his hands.

He's heading towards the bar, but spots William first and walks over to him.

He stares at the sleeping boy for a minute, willing him to wake up, then finally speaks up in a whisper.

"Hey. Hey, William? C'n I have a shoe box?"

[not_his_pa]

William hears his name and opens his eyes to look at Bill,

"Why?"

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"For Frankie."

Bill holds up his hands to show William the giant Bullfrog he's holding onto.

The frog blinks each of it's eyes, and gives a lazy croak.

[not_his_pa]

The frog is given a long look, its a muddy and big frog,

"That goin' to be big enough for him. Maybe he'd do better stayin' outside."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

The frog is pretty muddy. It was pretty hard for Bill to dig him out of a wallow, which left Bill pretty muddy, too.

Looking down at the frog, Bill shrugs a little.

"Maybe we could find somethin' bigger? He was gonna be a friend for-- "

There's another croak, and then the bullfrog, fed up with all the fuss he's endured, decides to take his leave.

There's a brief juggling act as Bill tries to hang onto Frankie, but the bullfrog slips free and takes a leap towards William.

[not_his_pa]

William does the only thing he can think of and puts his book up, which the frog hops off of and onto a wait rat.

The wait rat was holding a tray of wine for some people nearby and it spills horribly as the frog makes a dash for the nearest door,

"Hell, careful! Friend for who?"

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"WOAH! Frankie!"

Bill watches wide-eyed as the frog bounds away, then takes off after it.

"For Dogmeat. I'm s'pose t'watch him for Ellen," Bill explains quickly as he dives under a table after the frog.

[not_his_pa]

The rat is currently glaring at William who stands up to chase after Bill and the frog who's just hopped into the lap of a creature that seems to be sort of water.

The frog doesn't understand but decides to stay as the patron flails until the frog is pushed out and goes flying before it starts hopping from head to head.

William stops and just stares, he doesn't want to think about trying to catch it.

[architekt]

Annabeth is not sure when this happened, but she seems to witness sleeping boys a lot these days.

First Scorpius, now William.

It only takes her a second of mis-recognition to go from 'Oh, it's Percy!' to 'Oh, wait - that's definitely not Percy', though.

That, she'll count as an improvement.

She hesitates before she taps his shoulder.

[not_his_pa]

He mutters and tries to brush away her hand, the chair's odd but comfortable.

[architekt]

"Hey," she starts, withdrawing her hand. "A bed might be better for sleep, you know."

[not_his_pa]

At her voice he wakes up more and blinks as his book finishes its fall down to the floor,

"Oh yeah, didn't mean to fall asleep."

[architekt]

Annabeth stoops to pick it up.

She passes it back to him, but not before sneaking a peek at the title.

"Tired?"

[not_his_pa]

Its a book of Mark Twain's short stories,

"Yeah, been watchin' out for Bill and takin' care of the stables."

[architekt]

"Well, like I said, if you wanted to sleep, you might find it better upstairs or something," she says with a shrug. "Less chance of neck-pain too."

[not_his_pa]

"I know, wasn't plannin' on sleepin', it just happened. How have you been?"