"I am," she said as they got to the fourth floor. "I'm glad you remembered that." She walked down the hallway until she stopped at a blue door marked 409. "This is me," she said, pulling out her keys.
"He might growl a little," she said, unlocking the door. "But he'll stop when I tell him to." Poppy's apartment was painted a light green. The door opened to a main sitting room with a kitchen area, and two slightly opened doors that presumably led to the bedroom and bathroom. The floors were wooden, and there were plants everywhere. The air smelled of lavender, and the source seemed to be the herb plants sitting on the window sill. On her walls, there were various charts; periodic tables, conversion charts, and astrology maps. Bookshelves lined the walls, and the windows let in a lot of light, with window boxes filled with plants nestled underneath them. Poppy plopped her keys down on the counter top and whistled lowly. There was a noise from her bedroom, and a large dog padded out, his coat black, white, and brown. His tail wagged when he saw Poppy, but he froze when he saw Francis, and a low growl came from the back of his throat. Poppy frowned at him and spoke in a clear voice. "Sparrow." The dog relaxed, and walked over to them, his tongue lolling slightly. He sat down in front of them and gazed up at Poppy with loving brown eyes. Spoiler: Tom!
"Mm," she murmured, heading towards the main sitting room. "Sometimes, when Derrick is worried about the ambassador meeting, I take Tom with me. If I include 'sparrow' in a sentence, he'll know that the person I'm meeting with is okay. If I say 'r-o-b-i-n', then he'll tear their face off."
She picked up a small dog whistle and a bag of treats. "Just then, when you came in here and he growled a little, that was his alarm stage," she explained. "He was waiting for me to give him a command. If he had heard 'robin' in that time, he would have attacked you." She rubbed the dog's head, and his eyelids drooped lazily. "After I told him 'sparrow', he relaxed, and now, he won't attack unless someone attacks me or I tell him very deliberately. I just try to avoid using 'r-o-b-i-n' because the consequences could be dire if I used it at the wrong time, and I don't want to get into the habit of using it freely." She moved around the apartment, testing plant soil, and watering them with a tin watering can if they were dry. "And Derrick is... well, I suppose he's technically my boss. He's like the Owen of this town. He also was the one who started training me."
"He's a Bernese Mountain Dog," she said, scratching him behind the ears. The dog yawned lazily and padded over to Francis, nudging him with his nose.
"Oh, sure," Poppy said casually, putting down the watering can and rejoining him. "We've started having officials coming to meet me, rather than the other way around. There's a lot of advantages to it, but one of the disadvantages is that my home is now stationary; people in high places could find me pretty easily if they wanted to."
"I could see that being a problem." He lightly kissed her cheek. "Damn, now I'm probably going to worry."
"That's true. Looks like you can take care of yourself, which is good." He smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Nobody would stand a chance."
She smiled up at him, taking his hand. "Damn straight. Come on, Tom." The dog yawned and stretched before walking out the door contentedly, waiting for Poppy's command. "Down the stairs," she said quietly. The dog obeyed immediately, his claws clicking against the wooden steps.
"Well," she said as they followed Tom, her fingers intertwined with his. "We normally walk at night. Fewer people. But during the day, we'll just head to the park. He seems to enjoy it there."
They got to the bottom of the stairs, and Poppy looked over at him. "I've missed being with you too, Craw," she said, smiling at him. "A lot."
