Find those Puppies [Riohorse]

Freya looked nervously between the two salesmen “I..I’m sorry I have some puppies to find!” she said her voice wailing as she ducked around them sprinting off towards her client’s house. She reached the outside of the small flat puffing glancing behind her glad to see the pushy salesmen had given up. She didn’t need a house she had a guild to live in! She knocked on the door quickly running her fingers through her hair as it had become a tangled mess while she made her escape. The door was answered by a frantic young man he waved her in chattering on about his poor puppies and how they were his pride and joy and she needed to find them as soon as possible. Freya gave a small giggle the man reminded her of a mother hen. She smiled focusing on sending soothing energy to the man who flopped down in one of the armchairs “Please find my puppies for me, oh and my name is Samuel, and these are the puppies this is Poppy, Spud, Chico, Harry, Monty, Alby and Lilly” he said holding up a picture of the 7 puppies sitting in a pen grinning dopily up at the camera.

Freya melted they were adorable, she took the picture from Samuel “Don’t worry sir I’ll find them in no time besides there so cute could I have one?” the man gave a sigh of relief then shot straight up pointing a finger at Freya which was inches away from her face, she leant back her eyes widened slightly “NO WAY those puppies are my pride and joy I’m not letting you have one!” the man shouted Frey nodded turning around and hurrying out the door. Orochi raised his head narrowing his beady eyes “Ssssooo don’t want me asss a pet then Freya?” the snake said flicking his tail. Freya sighed “Course I do the puppies just looks so cute and fluffy there hard to resist” she said haughtily striding out to begin her search for them. Firstly she decided to check around the food stalls hoping she wouldn’t meet those sale people they would definitely delay her search and she had 7 puppies to find!

She walked into what seemed to be a food court looking around peering into food barrels and little nooks and crannies small puppies could be hiding in. She peered under the food tablecloths jumping back as an angry food stall owner waved his hands at her. Freya huffed today must be a bad day for people in this town they were all short tempered with her…or maybe she was just really annoying. Freya gave a chuckled as she walked past the butches she slowly back up seeing a brown tail waggling excitedly and the sounds of a puppy enjoying a bone. Freya laughed crouching down and gently grabbing the puppy’s tail and tugging on it. The puppy gave a yip and jump around leaping onto Freya’s face with a flurry of slobbery kisses, Freya coughed grabbing the puppy “I dunno which one you are but you’re coming with me” she said hugging the puppy and standing up turning around wondering if there were any more puppies in the marketplace.

Freya moved along the stands one by one still no sign of any puppy tails. The puppy in her arms squirmed yipping loudly, people in the marketplace turned to stare at her. Freya blushed embarrassed shushing the puppy, who whined pointing his nose over to a barrel that was rocking suspiciously. She patted the puppy in her arms and walk over to the barrel peering in curiously. She saw a small white bundle of fluff who whimpered scrabbling at the sides of the barrel “awww you got stuck in the barrel” she said sympathetically reaching in and picking the puppy up. “Hrmm I can’t carry both of you like this” she said sighing and looking around for something to use as a leash she didn’t see anything of use until her gaze fell on Orochi. The snake looked at her uneasily “I would advissseee you didn’t try it” the snake said. Freya shrugged her shoulders there was nothing else, Orochi was going to be a lead for one of the puppies.

Moments late Freya was walking along with a puppy in her arms and leading another one along by a very indignant looking snake. She forced down a chuckle, she knew the snake would definitely get her back for this but it was funny why’ll it lasts. She made her way don’t to the river positive there were no more puppies in the market place. She roll her eyes as one of the puppies caught a smell dragging her along, the snake gave a grumpy hiss causing the puppy to skid to a halt and stick its tail between its little legs. Freya laughed and made her way to the bank of the river picking up both puppies and trying not to slide down the rocks. She placed the pups down telling the sternly to stay put. She wandered down the length of the river, placing her hands on hips. These puppies were better at hiding. She twitched as she heard the sound of pattering paws turning around and scanning across and down the river. Seeing flashes of brown through the trees, there sure were a lot of different coloured puppies in this litter.

Freya looked behind her seeing the puppies still sitting obediently where she had put them, Samuel sure had done a good job at getting them trained. Freya quickly took of her boots lifting up her skirt and wading into the water, squeaking at the icy cold water. Her teeth chattered and she hurried across to the other side as soon as she could, jumping up and down to warm her frozen legs up. Freya quickly scuttled up the bank into the forest reaching down and plucking two pups from a pile of leaves smiling. 4 done 3 to go. She sighed wading back through the stream again struggling to keep a hold of the puppies who were trying to jump out of her arms. She plonked them down next to there siblings looking over at the snake he gave a fanging grin “Don’t know how your going to get these four because I’m not long enough” the snake said grinning. Freya laughed “You’ll be long enough it your enlarged form” she said with a grin patting the snakes head.

Orochi raised a snakey eyebrow sighing, he may seem rather aloof but he would do anything for Freya. She smiled patting the snakes head which was now massive. The four puppies trembled but Freya patted them soothing them and placing them on top of the snake who curled up making a sort of loop with his body cradling the puppies as he slithered along following Freya who was making her way towards the mines and warehouses, these would be the most challenging areas to find the puppies in, she’d searched almost everywhere so the other puppies must be somewhere in there. She must admit it was a dangerous place for a puppy to be hiding. Freya and her little entourage of animals arrived outside the mines. She smiled at a miner who was using stone magic to drill into the rock walls. Freya drool but she smiled “Umm I was wondering if you had seen any puppies wandering around” she said sweetly her eyes darting to the pile of rocks behind him.

The worker looked surprised “Oh well I saw a little black puppy bout this high” he said showing the height of the little puppy with his hand “Digging over there we’ve been feeding him for a few days, I’m guessing you’re here to take him home then” the miner said motioning to a pile of rubbing and smiling. Freya nodded thanking and walking past him as the miners eyes widened seeing Orochi slither past with a haughty glance at the worker who stuttered pointing at the snake in fear. Freya waved her hand and hurried over the a little cave like structure made out of rocks, Freya laughed as she hear digging sounds from inside. She stuck a hand inside wiggling her fingers and laughing as she felt the licks and little teeth of a puppy from the inside. She giggled and smiled “Come on out puppy” she laughed trying to entice the puppy out.

Freya crouched at the entrance of the small rock cave, the puppy was pretty smart to make something like this. She watch as a small black nose appeared sniffing wildly. She laughed gently grabbing the puppy and pulling her out of her little home ”Hrmm you must be Poppy being black and all” she said patting the soft fur and bringing the puppy over to the bundle of puppies curled up with Orochi. Freya gave small smile placing the puppy in the huddle of others “Right only 2 more to find almost there” she said happily. Spinning around on her heels “Right next stop the warehouses!” she said grabbing a handful of stones as she walked away from the mine. Munching on them glancing down at her snake and the puppies wondering if Orochi was hungry, hoping he wouldn’t see the puppies as a potential snake. Freya look uncertain and shot Orochi a suspicious glance she could never tell what was going on in his head.

Freya coughed waving her hands trying to clear the puff of smoke that surrounded her as they reached the entrance to the warehouse. She looked over at the huddle of puppies who were now snoozing. She grinned and smiled they were just TOO adorable! Freya knelt down peering under a piles of metal rods. Standing up suddenly as a grotesque looking insect thing with too many legs scurried. Freya shrieked squinting her eyes shut and leaping out of the way “Eww, ewww ewwww! It’s so gross!” she said quickly hurrying over to looks somewhere else. She sighed looking up thoughtfully wondering where a puppy would hide. She check inside all the machinery and around the piles of materials frowning the puppy wasn’t in any of those spaces. She gave a small sniff wondering if she could find the puppy through scent, it didn’t seem likely with all the other smells around.

Freya sighed and continued walking tripping over a small object on the floor. She tilted her head curiously and bent down picking it up laughing, it seemed to be a squeaky toy most likely the puppies. She grinned and gave it a hard squeeze, jumping at the loudly squeak it made. The puppies she had already found jumped awake running over to her and yipping excitedly she looked around for the other puppy. Her eyes widened as a golden coloured puppy came speeding towards her barreling right into her legs. Freya gave a shouted of suprise as her knees buckled and she fell over shutting her eyes as her face was covered in excited licks from the puppy. She laughed and pushed it off her stomach and herding all the other puppies back to Orochi who looked glad it was almost over. "Alright only one puppy to find, its obviously not here we'll go check the main paths on our way back" she said confident she would find the puppy.

Freya turned onto the main path, looking around for the puppy as she walked calling out “puuuuppyyyy! PUUUPPPPYYY!” she yelled receiving some pointed looks from passers-by. Freya smiled “Have any of you seen a puppy” they shook their heads and continued walking. Freya nodded and turned back towards Samuels house maybe he would forgot there was another one to find? Freya shook her head, no she had to find the puppy it would be all alone and she was fairly sure he would notice especially after the incident of her asking if she could keep one. She kicked a stone placing her hands on her hips twisting her back, it was starting to get late and she could see the sky beginning to turn pink, she needed to find that puppy pretty quickly. She smiled to herself it would nice to be able to watch a sunset for once. Freya hummed softly as she reached Samuals street walking towards the little flat.

She saw the flash of a face at the window. Freya pretended she hadn’t seen it and frantically looked around for the puppy, it had to be around here otherwise Samuel would be super mad. Freya’s eyes lit up and she hurried over to the garden surrounding the house, peering under the leaves of plants and behind flower pots. Her movements became more frantic as she heard the door unlatch she turned around waving her hands frantically at Orochi. She froze seeing a small grey puppy sitting chuffly at the entrance to Samuels house. Freya’s jaw dropped and she hurried forwards scooping up the puppy “Oh my god do you know how much trouble you almost got me in!” she whispered in the puppy’s ear. The little pup just wagged it’s tail and yipped as the door was opened by Samual who stared straight at Freya then at the puppies snuggled on Orochi his face turning very red. “Oh…” was all Freya said trying to smile comfortingly.

Freya's smiled didn't really help much it just exposed her sharp canines making her look quite menacing. Samuel paled and hurried forward picking the puppies up frantically, plucking the one out of Freyas mouth. He thanked her hurriedly and placed the reward in Freya's hands muttering something about irresponsible mages. Samuel turned to hurry in side, Freya made a noise and he turned narrowing his eyes at her "So umm I'm guessing I can't have one of your puppies?" she asked politely the man scowled and slammed the door. Freya nodded she saw that coming "I guess thats a no then" She turned around walking back towards the market square. Orochi had regained is original size and was curled up in her hair. She made her way towards the grocers “We might as well treat ourselves to something nice” she said looking over the food available. She wondered whether snakes could eat vegetables, it had never occurred to her before.

Freya and Orochi walked away from the market place with a piece of meat and a bag of fruit for Freya. She reached into the bag pulling out a pear and biting into it. “I don’t think Samuel liked me very much” she said thoughtfully. The snake rolled it’s eyes “I wonder why, first you asked to have one of his puppies and then you made a giant snake carry them” Freya looked confused she didn’t think there was anything wrong with giant snakes, she muttered something about Orochi trying to look less scary. She shrugged her shoulders and laughed pulling out another piece of fruit which happened to be a nectarine. She was about to take a bite when she remember “Wait a sec I’ve done enough jobs to go for my C rank!” she said looking down at Orochi then grinning and running off towards the guild “Shuhei better not be away on mission” she thought smiling to herself.