//Noah// Who needs love?

[Axel Van Deriz]

Coming into his house, Axel and his King-sized shepherd, Jerry Lee, walked to the kitchen. Axel poured the large dog some food and water before heading into the living room. Only to come back, cussing at himself for forgetting what he had originally went there to do. Making a sandwich he paused just before finishing it and asked himself am I just eating because I'm bored?

He sighed, shaking his head he walked into the living room with his sandwich. Just as he was about to bite into his sandwich, he heard his dog come up beside him and whined as he sat down. "What? You're still hungry?" He was going to bite into his sandwich again and his dog whined Again. "Meh, not hungry anyway, just bored..." he muttered, going back to the kitchen and putting the meat and cheese from the sandwich into Jerry Lee's dog bowl before throwing out the rest. Despite being as thin as he was, he ate quite a bit. When people ask him how he doesn't gain any weight he looks at them and replies: Two words... high metabolism.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

She’d noticed that someone had moved into the house beside her out just a few days earlier. Well, she’d seen the movers, not the actual person who’d moved in, and after internally debating with herself for a day or so, she’d decided to give the newcomer a few days to settle in before going over and introducing herself. Noah knew that she wouldn’t appreciate it very much if she’d had someone knocking at her door the day she’d moved in.

Having just gotten back from the stable, where she’d checked on her very pregnant mare, Noah took a few moments to slip out of her dirt-streaked jeans and shirt and into a pair of loose, comfortable jogging pants and t-shirt. With a smile, she leaned over and picked up her bulldog puppy as the little monster wandered over clumsily. Maxwell was still very young and not very coordinated. “Hello monster!” She exclaimed, rubbing her cheek against the soft puppy-fur and eliciting soft grunts and puppy-yips from the dog. “Have you been a good boy today, Maxwell?”

Walking into the kitchen, Noah grabbed an apple and began slicing it up, sitting down to eat the snack and watching the clumsy puppy, snickering every now and then at his excited antics. “Come on, Maxxie.” She said as she finished the snack. She grabbed the bulldog and hugged him to her chest, “We have a neighbor who recently moved in. I think we should go and introduce ourselves, right?” She locked her door behind her and walked down the sidewalk, not letting the dog out of her arms, though he wriggled to get down and explore in the grass.

Standing on the front porch of the neighbor’s home, Noah raised her fist and knocked loudly, hoping that she wouldn’t be disturbing anyone. Her dyed blonde hair was held out of her face in a loose braid and she nervously played with the few strands of hair that escaped the braid to fall around her face.

[Axel Van Deriz]

After hearing the knock, Axel debated with himself on letting the person in. Finally, deciding it would be a nice thing to do, he walked up to the door, and opened it, coming face-to-face with a rather lovely lady. Jerry Lee came up beside him, the king-sized shepherd wasn't vicious but would defend his owner with his life if it came down to it.

Axel smiled "Hello," he said in his soft-yet-manly voice. The -slightest- hint of a German accent, though not easily noticeable, in his voice, nodding his head in greeting. a few strands of jet black hair falling in front of his dazzling sapphire blue eyes. Standing at 6'4 he was a pretty tall fellow but with a feminine build, looked more frail than he really was.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

She was debating turning around and going back home when no one answered the door immediately, but just as she went to turn and walk off the porch, the door opened. Noah whipped back around before the door was even fully open, tightening her grip on her puppy while steadying herself, as she’d turned around a little too fast and momentarily lost her balance. Maxwell grunted at the tightening of his owners around around his little body, and Noah loosened her grip immediately.

The first thing she noted about the guy was his height. Looking up at him, Noah admitted to herself that he was probably easily a foot taller than herself, though she was used to being the shortest one around, or one of the shortest ones around. Her brothers were all obviously taller than herself, and even her younger sister stood three inches taller than her. He had some sort of accent, too, Noah noticed, and a small smile flickered across her face as she thought about her own down-hard Texan-country accent. She’d never lost it, even with the years she’d spent living in another state.

“Hello.” She replied to him, giving his dog a slightly nervous look when the large animal made an appearance. Noah wasn’t scared of dogs, but she was a bit wary of those she didn’t know. “I um, I noticed you moved in a few days ago. We’re neighbors, you see. I thought… I…” She trailed off, thinking, then gave him a bright smile and sheepish shrug, “I figured I would come and introduce myself and welcome you to the area. I’m Noah. I live there.” She spoke quickly, pointing out her house, and held her hand out to shake at the end of her rushed introduction.

[Axel Van Deriz]

Axel smiled, he had a pretty smile, as did she, he noticed. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Noah. I'm Axel." he said, holding his own hand out, gently holding her hand, and, rather than shaking it, brought it up to his lips, kissing the back sweetly. At a grumble and a small snort from Jerry Lee Axel looked at the shepherd and said "Oh, this is Jerry Lee. Say hi, Jerry." The dog gave what could have passed for actually talking, a weird yawning noise that actually sounded like he said 'Hello.' and raised his paw and extended it, like he wanted his paw shook too.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

A hint of red appeared on her face when he, instead of shaking her hand, kissed it. Noah could very safely say that she’d never had anyone do that before. His name, too, was a surprise. She’d never heard of a guy with that name and it showed on her face for a second before she blinked and nodded. She pulled her hand back, the red disappearing, though a small grin stayed on her face. “I’ve never met anyone with that name before.” She stated, not meaning anything by it, just making a personal observation.

When he introduced the dog, Noah blinked again and her smile grew when the animal made a noise that could have passed for a ‘hello’. She extended her hand to the dog when it held it’s paw out, going along with it. Even though she was wary of animals she didn’t know, it seemed as though the canine was friendly enough. In her other arm, her bulldog puppy wriggled around to get a look at the bigger dog and whined. “Um, this in Maxwell.” She said, motioning to her dog after ‘shaking’ Jerry Lee’s paw. “So, how do you like it here?” She asked, trying to make conversation, though it was a bit awkward to do so while standing on the front porch.

[Axel Van Deriz]

"Ahh, it's just a different way to say a very common name around here --- it's German for Alex." He said with a chuckle, "Well, hey, Maxxie." he said, rubbing the bulldog's chin. Dropping his hand back to his side he motioned for her to come in. "You want a drink or something? I'm afraid all I have is water and sodas..." he said smiling at her sweetly. He would stand patiently and wait until she came in. Jerry Lee stepped aside as well, waiting for the new faces to come in, and possibly play with him. To emphasize he wanted to play the large dog disappeared for a moment, returning with a rope tug toy and sitting down beside his master. "You big clown..." Axel chuckled as he watched his dog, then shook his head, looking back to Noah.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

She nodded, understanding appearing in her eyes, “Oh!” She exclaimed, “Well, it’s different.” Noah chuckled when he petted Maxwell, causing the puppy to grunt, as all puppies do, and whine. She quickly shushed the dog, and nodded when he invited her in by offering her a drink. “Water is fine, thank you.” She answered, stepping inside, past him and Jerry Lee.

She paused just inside the door, not sure which way the living room was. She didn’t know if all the houses on the street had the same layout, or if each one was different or what, so, she decided, she’d just wait to be led to the sitting room. Though, Noah did look around curiously, curious to see what her hosts personality was like through the way the place was decorated. Her own home had pictures of her family, past horses, and current equine companion all over the walls as well as pictures of Maxwell, a few mounted deer head and antlers from hunting, a couple pictures of her and her family hunting and fishing, all sorts of figurines, and her Associates and Bachelors degrees displayed. She was proud of her accomplishments and saw no need to hide them away.

“Is it safe to let Max down? He won’t hurt him, will he?” She asked, careful about putting her smaller puppy down with such a large dog.

[Axel Van Deriz]

The way his house was decorated might make you think he was royalty in a way. There was a photograph of his adopted parents and himself, when he was around thirteen. He lead her to the sitting room, motioning to the several sitting areas, before going to the kitchen. Getting her some water, and grabbing himself a soda. He came back with the drinks, sitting across from her, smiling sweetly at her as he popped open his soda can, cherry cola, his favorite, next to Mt. Dew or similar drinks. Taking a small sip "No, no, Jerry likes everyone, for some odd reason... won't hurt anything unless it's like... I'm gonna be shot or something." He said with a smile.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

Noah followed him, still looking around. She knew it could probably be seen and rude and nosy, but she was just naturally curious and found the inside of his home quite interesting. She paused to study the picture of him and what looked to be his parents, noticing immediately that it sort of looked like he wasn’t even related to them. She chose to not dwell on it and hastened to catch up with her host lest he notice her pause.

She studied the sitting room for several moments before choosing to sit in a surprisingly comfortable chair near to a window. Max wriggled again, whining in her arms, and she let him stand in her lap, watching him look around. Noah took the water and sipped at it, a bit unsure of what to say now that she’d actually been invited in. He obviously was awaiting for a conversation-starter, and she wracked her brains, trying to come up with a suitably appropriate topic. To give herself some time, she nodded to his words and slowly let Maxwell down, watching him like a hawk as the bulldog puppy immediately wandered over to the larger dog and attempted to smell of the bigger dogs paw. “So,” she finally just repeated her earlier question, as she’d noticed that he hadn’t answered it yet, “How do you like it here? What brought you here to Texas?” Noah added another question onto her words, as the thought just struck her and she found herself wanting to know.

[Axel Van Deriz]

"Well, it's ok, haven't done much aside from working my own horse for jumps. I believe it was six different jumps we had to get over in one minute or less, just over 58 seconds. Which, I suppose that might be about average at a canter." He said softly, truly, he knew nothing about timing and what was 'average' for a warmblood like GoldRush. Oh well, he'd figure it out, he was a smart guy.

Jerry Lee didn't seem to even notice the puppy, seeming to ignore him completely, as a matter of fact. Axel noticed this, wondering why he was just ignoring the little fella. Then realized he probably didn't want to hurt to the little bug--- which he was a bug in size comparison.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

Her eyes lit up at the mention of a horse. Noah figured she should have already assumed that he was a rider, but honestly, she hadn’t been expecting it. It was a relief, too, to know that the first actual person she met and befriended was also into horses. It made things much easier. During her years in high school, she’d had several non-horsey friends, but not one of them she still spoke to. After graduation, they had all gone their different ways and since they had nothing to really hold them together, they’d drifted apart.

“You ride?” She asked/said, her tone betraying her excitement. “So do I. I’m boarding my mare, Nimue, at Crossfire.” As soon as she said it, she knew it was a stupid thing to say… It wasn’t like there were any rival stables around Addison… but Noah knew that she’d said it like that because before she’d moved back to Texas, while living in Georgia, there had been three separate stables where she could have boarded her horse, and the three places had always had a fierce rivalry going on. “I’m not riding much at the moment, though, only bareback rides once or twice a week. Nimue is due to foal anytime in the next three weeks or so.”

Her attention was caught by the playful growls and yips coming from the floor, and, looking down, Noah had to laugh. Max, not liking being ignored by the larger dog, had taken it upon himself to grab a toy from the floor and trying to shake it, trying to compel the larger canine into playing and completely ignoring the fact that the toy was almost as big as he was.

[Axel Van Deriz]

"Really?" He said, smiling at her he couldn't help but notice how pretty her smile was. "My horse is a golden palomino dutch warmblood named California Gold, otherwise called GoldRush, he's about three years old, and he's a young stallion or older colt, depending on how you look at it." he said with a chuckle. When she laughed while looking at the floor, he couldn't help but grin himself.

After a second of watching the pup, Jerry Lee finally catered to the puppy's whim, grabbing the other end of the tug toy, and, as though proving a point, started dragging the puppy around by the tug toy. Not trying to hurt him, Then finally going into a bow type position before lying down he would play with the puppy from that position for now.

[NOAH FAE ANDERSON]

Noah returned the smile full-force, then looked away, face turning a bit red at her eagerness to talk and his apparent (or so she thought) amusement. “Yes.” She said after a moment, looking back to him, “Your stallion sounds beautiful. I grew up with the older traditions, so I’d consider him a stallion at three, not a colt anymore. In my opinion, colts are colts until they are three, whether they’re gelded or not. Filly’s are filly’s until the age of three as well, then they become mares.” She hid a small embarrassed smile. It was her aunt and uncle’s fault that she thought that way. “My mare is an eight year old buckskin sabino Thoroughbred. She’s named ‘Dame du Lac’. It’s French for ‘Lady of the Lake’… but I just call her Nimue. She’s named for the lady of the lake in the old legends about King Arthur and all that stuff.”

In the floor, Maxwell yipped in puppy-ish delight when the older dog drug him with the toy. The bulldog pup snarled and growled in all his puppy glory, jerking his head back and forth with the toy until the older dog lay down. Maxwell immediately abandoned the toy and made his way to the older dog, adorable snarls escaping his throat as he playfully tried to grab one of the larger paws in his jaws.

[Axel Van Deriz]

"B-Beautif--? Oh, yeah, I guess he is." he said with a small laugh For a moment he thought she was talking about him. He had selective hearing so all he heard until the rest of it caught up was 'Your' and 'beautiful.' He turned scarlet at the fact that he had completely mistranslated what she said. He was a cutie and he knew it, but he knew a girl would never call -him- beautiful.

Jerry Lee merely raised his paw, then, gently, relaxed it on the pup's back in an attempt to get him to lay down and calm down a bit. For Jerry Lee -- there was only one rule -- don't get too rambunctious. And it made sense for a dog -his- size, but for a little puppy?