Sept 7th: the quad

[Charlie Wallace]

In the late afternoon, two men and a dog walked onto the quad. Both men had red hair, one was well dressed and on the older side while the other was dressed much more alternatively and looked to be about college aged.

"Da, I know you feel you have some obligation to this guy since he is your son and all. But seriously, he doesn't appear to have the same drive to fix your relationship. Why the hell are you trying so hard?"

"Liam, I owe it to Charlie for being such a shite father. If you had kids you'd understand. Now be nice to your brother when he comes up, ok. Last thing I need is my boys fighting again."

"He started it!"

"No, you started it and you threw the first punch."

Liam rolled his eyes and let out an aggravated sigh.

"You don't think he's going to demand we leave Back-up here with him, do you?"

[Charlie Wallace]

Charlie started to approached the men in queston. As he did, the dog lit up, and did a rather unique trick. It grabbed the latch on it's collar, bit down, and twisted it's head slightly to take it off. The dog, which was a little on the larger size, took off running at him. It bounded into Charlie's arms, barking happily as it did.

Charlie was just as overjoyed to see the dog, but was not as prepared as he thought for it's greeting. He caught it, staggered back, and fell down.

"Wow, Back-up, you've gotten big, boy. I'm going to have to teach you not to glomp people anymore." He said while being assaulted by flurry of licks and nuzzles. He got up and turned to his brother and father.

"Hey, Pop... Liam." He said his brothers name with an aggravated tone.

[Samantha McManus]

Ms. McManus had been strolling in the quad, and finally made her way towards the group, brow quirked.

[Charlie Wallace]

"How's the school treating you, son?"

"Decent enough, I suppose. Oh, hold on a sec guys"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Samantha approach. He quickly grabbed Back-up's collar and turned to greet her. The dog attempted to greet Sam the same way he greeted hs master, but with Charlie holding him back that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Ms. McManus? Wow, been a while since I've seen you."

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye, it has. They've got me on staff here. Who's this, then?"

[Charlie Wallace]

"Well these two are my father and brother, Sean and Liam. And this is my plucky animal sidekick Back-up, who unfortunately has to still live with my family until my accounts are unfrozen."

Liam gruted and nodded his head as a greeting. Sean was much more polite. He extended his hand out for her to shake and gave her a warm smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. McManus."

[Samantha McManus]

She returned the smile and shook his hand.

"Likewise. Just visiting Charlie, or does something else bring you to this heathen land?"

[Charlie Wallace]

"We're actually looking at a school for Liam here and figured that Charlie could probably stand to use some socializing."

[Samantha McManus]

She chuckled.

"And Liam seems none too pleased with the prospect."

[Charlie Wallace]

"As a matter of fact I'm not. Not everyone needs to go to colleege and I don't see the point of wasting a couple grand to learn things I'll probably never actually use." Liam said while crossing his arms.

Without missing a beat, both Charlie and Sean spoke simultaniously.

"You're going to college, deal with it."

"Please tell me you'll spare me the lecture as to why this time."

"Depends on if you've finally realized how important it is."

Liam let out a frustrated grunt.

[Samantha McManus]

"Getting to the point where if you want a good job you really do owe it to yourself to go to university and get a degree."

[Charlie Wallace]

"Course you'd agree with them, you teach at a university."

"She's not wrong."

"Oh, you should talk, only reason you're in college now is because all of your art equipment is back in the U.S."

"Liam, if you were planning on being an artist I'd be siding with you. But you have no idea what you want to do, so therefore it's a good idea to go to a place that can help you find what you'd like to do for a career."

The two boys continued to go back and forth with their sides of their argument while Sean just rolled his eyes.

"Sorry for dragging you into this, but we've got to be going anyway. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ms. McManus."

[Samantha McManus]

"Quite alright."

"Besides," she said with a smirk, "he'll change his tune once he meets the girls."