(Scout's mother- Lenore Johnson
The sound of fleeting footsteps made Rick flick his ears as he glanced up to see a fleeting form walk out the door. Dell must have just gotten back. Only moments passed before Duchess slipped from under Rick, shaking herself off and cleaning herself to the best of her ability before following after Dell. Rick continued to lay there, though after a moment he just stood up and followed. He lumbered along until he made it out of the hall and into the living room, he paused before making his way onto the couch. Despite Rick not being too much of a lover, rather a fighter, he made an exception this one time.
He sighed as he made himself comfortable, himself inches from Dell since that was as close as he could force himself to get. At least he wasn't off in the corner. His head rested on his legs, which were both out in front of him, paws hanging off the edge of the couch, which happened to feel pretty comfortable. As he gradually loosened his muscles he felt himself slanting until he was leaning on Dell, a hand coming to pet him under his chin and neck.
Once again Rick refused to tell himself that it was quite relaxing when Dell massaged his fur, especially around the back of his ears and neck. He let out a grunt as Dell scratched between his ear and the base of his skull.
Rick's collar made a soft clinking sound as Dell moved his hand, chuckling at the dog since he seemed to enjoy it so much. Not too long passed before Dell stopped, giving Rick a pat as shifted and to take a drink of his beer. "I oughtta ask how you two got so dirty." He said as he inspected Duchess' white fur to see plenty of dirt as well as rub his hands together to feel the dirt that he had patted off Rick. Dell shook his head as he stood up, Rick slipping into the warm spot where Dell had been sitting, not having a chance to steady himself in time. Dell walked into the kitchen, disappearing around the corner as Rick made himself comfortable once again, though it was different than before.
It was a good few minutes before he heard Dell whistle, apparently it was Rick's calling card. It took two whistles to get Rick to get up and walk into the kitchen, walking through to the back door where Dell stood with the door open. Rick hopped out into the back yard, rather large back yard, before the door closed behind him. Great, he was stuck outside because Dell thought he needed to do his business. He stretched before wandering the yard, weaving through trees to find a spot that he could not see the house before sitting.
Dell exited the house, a cylindrical package in hand along with a few other items, including Rick's dinner. He walked over to the fire pit, setting down the package along with a twine-bound bundle of wood. He pulled one of the two white lounging chairs from its place on the other side of the firepit and placed it so the back was facing the house. It was only then that Rick showed up, rolling his eyes at the tennis balls that had been purchased with the thought he would be playing fetch. Dell looked to Rick as he opened the package and tossed one of the tennis balls up only to catch it in his hand, it was then that Rick smelled something fairly pleasant and got closer to him.
Dell smiled as he tossed the ball, Rick staring after it before he caught sight of Duchess who was in the window gesturing for him to go get it, when Rick refused, Dell going off to finish whatever he was doing, Duchess slid out of the door. "I think I have seen a possum that was more like a dog than you are." She told him before Rick scoffed at her.
"You forget, I am not a dog." He told her simply, her tail flicking in annoyance.
"You forget you look like one. Why not try to act like one?" she asked, a silence following as Rick shook his head. "Stop that, you have the pride of a cat and I don't like it ." She told him, Dell emerging from the house with a few more items before he could relax.
"Duchess, you aren't supposed to be out here." He set down the items and gently picked the fluffy white cat up, placing her back inside. Rick thought for another moment before standing up to find the damn tennis ball. He sniffed around a bit before he found the ball on the other side of Dell's fence, that made this a bit more difficult.
Backing up a bit he took off and hopped the fence, landing roughly on the other side and damn near falling over. He grabbed the ball and paused when he heard something coming at him, his ears perked up at the sound of little feet running through grass. For a moment Rick just stood there, head raised and ears perked. This quickly changed when he saw a small dog racing toward him.
This, at first, did not scare him, not until he could hear what they were saying. "Fox! Fox! Fox! Intruder! Intruder! Intruder! Get out! GO away! Intruder! Fox!" As the dreadfully small and loud thing drew closer Rick started to back up, soon turning and bolting over the fence, his foot getting caught causing him to fall onto his back once on the other side. For a minute Rick laid there, not only trying to catch his breath but staring at the little dog barking and jumping at the fence that now separated them, the tennis ball falling out of his mouth due to him lacking in shits to give. What the fuck was wrong with that little monster.
"what…the...fuck." he muttered as he turned himself over and slowly stood with a groan "Now I feel old." He stated, wincing as he stretched his poor aching back. It was not long until Dell jogged over due to the loud noises. He paused at the gate, the dog dramatically changing, it's tail now wagging, shaking its entire body with it, as well as it began to jump up to greet him.
"Friend! Friend! I want pets! I love you! Love me!" it wasn't an overly bright dog. Rick glared at the tiny ball of hate as Dell leaned over the fence and pet the tiny little monster. It was mere moments until larger feet could be heard, it sounded like a horse, if it turned out to be a bigger dog there was going to be one irritated dog on Dell's hand. Sure enough, a white horse came trotting up, dreadfully beautiful large horse. It seemed to be a Clydesdale breed seeing as the size and the feather around its hooves.
What caught Rick's attention was the horn attached to its head and the man that rode the steed was wearing…a mask? One of those Mexican candy skull masks that covered half of his face, along with it he was wearing a poncho almost like it was a cape. Dell sighed as he leaned on the fence as the man hopped off the horse "Tito…" Dell said, "You are not allowed to leave this area." It was almost a warning tone that Dell was using as the man jumped off his horse. It was now apparent that the man had short brown hair and, from what Rick could see, severe burn marks on his face.
"I-I know, I sw-swear that I am not going an-any-anywhere." He stuttered out, Honey brown eyes glinting in the sun from behind the mask.
Dell nodded toward the other "As long as you remember not to leave the area." He told him, giving the horse a few pats on the shoulder. "How's your…."
"Unicorn. She is pe-perf-f-fect!" he hugged the white horse before seeming to remember something, him spinning back around to talk to Dell, gripping onto the fence separating them. "Are you go-oing to the h-hou-house party for Mrs. Len-nor?" he asked, Dell tilting his head.
"Hm, I didn't get an invite, suppose I won't be going." he said with a chuckle, though it was evident he was disheartened. Tito bent over and picked up the fur ball of fury. Small dogs have too much courage. "I'll let you know if I do get invited."
Tito smiled and nodded "I be-bet you will be." Tito said as he patted the other with a smile as he turned and mounted the large horse, putting the small dog in front of him on the saddle with one hand to keep them still.
"Remember, don't go into town." Dell called after Tito as he rode off, Dell grabbing the tennis ball from the ground and brushing his hand over Rick's fur. "Looks like someone was rolling around in the dirt." He told Rick in a joking tone as he tossed the ball back toward the fire pit.
"Let's just go with that." Rick muttered, ears flipping back at the thought that he ran from a ball of fury smaller than Duchess. Rick slowly headed back to the fireplace alongside Dell, grabbing the tennis ball unenthusiastically and placing it by the lawn chair, noticing that there was a guitar leaning against the cold metal. Dell finished setting up the fire, just as the world around him started to darken due to the time, and started it. He quickly set up a few more logs near the pit before he settled into the lawn chair with a beer, swooping his arm down to grab the tennis ball from the ground.
Despite what Rick thought he was going to do, which was throw it, he just stared at it a moment. Rick walked closer, a smile growing on Dell's face as he saw the dog approaching. A soft chuckle came from Dell as he rolled the ball toward Rick "You look so much like Ranger," He muttered "but every dog is different." Dell, one handily, rubbed the top of Rick's head a moment.
Rick looked toward the window, Duchess laying against the screen of the open window. Perhaps he should ask about Ranger, this dog he apparently looks like. It would explain how Dell had a dog bowl, though why he had to purchase a new collar and leash was beyond him. Best to not jump to conclusions.
Dell spent a while just sitting next to the fire relaxing, Rick laying on the ground beside the chair, staring at the fire flickering. As the sun lowered the fire only seemed to become more beautiful. It was about an hour and a half of sitting outside before Dell set down his empty beer bottle, next to the previous one and replaced it with his guitar, a beautiful acoustic guitar. Rick rose his head to watch as Dell tuned the guitar with gentle fingers, though before he could start playing his phone rang.
Dell pulled the phone from his pocket and answered the call without looking at the screen "Hello, you're speaking with Dell. " he said before his look brightened "Lenore, gosh, I didn't realise you were calling!" Dell chuckled before relaxing back in his chair, guitar flat in his lap. "Of course, of course, I'll make my mamma's famous Pecan pie." Rick laid his head back down, seems as though Dell was invited to that house party after all.
Just as Rick was shifting into a comfortable position he heard Dell say something that sounded like he was involved. "Alice told you? Well, sure I'll bring him along." Dell looked to Rick who huffed at him and settled to grumpily stare at the fire, he didn't want to be the object of attention wherever Dell went. The man spoke on the phone for a few more minutes before finally hanging up and happily strumming his guitar. It almost seemed like he had a crush one this Lenore or liked her quite a bit.
He strummed a few songs that Rick couldn't name before he began to strum a prominent song, a song from an artist that Rick knew very well. The song Dell decided to play was none other than 'I Walk the Line' by Johnny cash.
Even if Dell wasn't singing, rather just humming, Rick found it very nice to listen to, almost comforting to hear something familiar in this unfamiliar situation. It was most way through the song that Rick yawned, a whine escaping him as he did so. Dell chuckled, notes slowly coming to a stop as the song came to an end, his hand patting the guitar once he was done "Yeah, maybe it's time for bed." He muttered, still smiling as he stood up to start putting things away. In the firepit the flames weakened, though the warmth was still strong.
As Dell picked up his guitar, heading inside to put it away, Rick decided to help him by pushing the lawn chair back to where it had been as well as bringing the trash to the door, bottle by bottle he placed it in a large plastic garbage bag, that had been conveniently placed on the patio next to the door. It was possible he did this often for the bag had plenty of bottles inside already. By the time Dell got out Rick had managed to clean up the mess and was laying on the cement patio waiting to be let inside.
Upon the door opening Rick slid inside while Dell just stared at where the mess had been and then glanced to Rick as he slid between his leg and the door. "Now that," He paused a moment with a breathy chuckle as he gestured toward the fireplace "is a trick." He cleared his throat, closing the door as he headed toward his bedroom to get ready for bed. Along the way he started to laugh, enough so that he paused in the hallway just outside his bedroom where Rick was already getting ready to lay down, Duchess on the edge of the bed cleaning herself. He simply stood there a moment, thinking, before walking in and settling himself in for the night.