Ivan cleared his throat, a sudden explosion breaking the solemn silence of Cell Block D for Doggies. "No, miss, this's a first fr'us too. We think it's 'cause of our latest guest. She was a bit er... annoyed... when we first got'er." He sounded almost... embarrassed.
I whuffed softly. 'Annoyed.' Right. That'd be me. The new arrival, in the heavily reinforced, artfully deformed cage. Call me Barksy.
"Latest guest?" The lilting voice approached. A charmed gasp. "Oh, look, she's trying to push her ball through the bars! How cute!"
Yep. Figured right the first time. Gods damn it. Another customer looking for a miniature cloud that matched her outfit after all. An inexplicable shiver of disappointment ran down my spine, and I let my ears droop. Please, just get it over with quickly so I can go back to sulking in silence, all right?
"Why is she do— oh, my."
The reverent in-drawn breath made my ears perk up again.
Maybe... just maybe... maybe I was wrong.
"Is this the one you were talking about? Your latest guest?" the woman asked, clothes rustling as she crouched down.
I could hear Ivan's sweat glands suddenly go into overdrive. Heh.
"Ah, er, yes, miss, but ya don't wanna get so close to'er." he stammered, probably remembering what I did to his brother. "The police brought'er in. She's dangerous."
Dangerous. If only he knew.
Except I didn't feel very dangerous at the moment. I mostly felt alone, adrift and incredibly depressed.
Two fingertips hesitated, hovered for a long time... then touched my tail. Softly. Tentatively. "Hey there, sleeping beauty." the woman whispered. "Are you dangerous? You just look sad to me."
I blinked away a sudden, unexpected tear at the... profound understanding in her voice. Shadows of a deeply buried pain. Someone lived with her own sadness, it seemed.
"Come on, let me get a look at you." she cajoled. "I promise I won't bite."
There was something about her voice, the warmth that radiated from her, that drew me like a flower yearning for the sun. I turned my head to look at her. Both our mouths dropped open, and we just stared at each other. Entranced. Unable to look away.
"You really are gorgeous. And those golden eyes... Come here, girl." the stranger implored, for that was who she was. Never seen her before in my life, no matter how... familiar she still felt. I'd definitely have remembered her. Still, I couldn't help myself.
I was gorgeous? Lady, if I looked like you, people would've probably thrown me a parade every fucking day of my gods-damned life.
Where I — at least in my human form — was a non-descript brown-skinned, brown-haired short-arse most people remembered because of my unique, colourful vocabulary and propensity to dish out pain, the young twentysomething woman on the other side of the bars looked like an ancient statue come to life. A goddess descended among mortals to grace us with her presence. Every part of her was perfectly formed, and her fiery mane framed her finely sculpted features like an exclamation point. She glowed.
I was aware my tongue was hanging out, but I didn't care. She was breath-taking, almost achingly so, and it suddenly became incredibly important that I made a good first impression. Rising, I turned around to face her and sat back on my haunches, giving her a paw, much to her delight.
Silver bells of tinkling laughter rang out, and she cooed at me. "I knew you weren't going to bite me. Can I pet you?" she asked, gesturing with her other hand. Showing it to me first. Letting me get a good look at it. Sniff it. Letting me take the final step. Close the distance.
Bending my head, I pushed it against her digits, letting her scratch my head and neck. I had to close my eyes at the utter bliss that suffused me, spread into every corner of my being. Oh. So that's why dogs and cats loved getting scritches. Now I could see the appeal.
"You really are a good girl, aren't you? I bet you were just scared after waking up in this nasty cage, weren't you?" she breathed, looking up at Ivan, who was staring at me as if he'd never seen me before.
Suck it, comrade, I thought smugly as I leaned fully into the attention this magnificent goddess was giving me, lapping it up. Wagging my tail for the first time since I'd gotten it. Man, that felt amazing. The first ray of sunshine to grace me since the universe decided to kick me while I was down... two days ago? Three, maybe? I'd lost track of time for a bit, there. The first in... much longer than that, really, if I was honest. I loved the crew — well, most of them — but my life with them definitely hadn't been an endless Happy Hour.
All too soon, she stopped using both hands to pet me, and I whined softly at the loss, leaning into the last two digits that were still idly scratching under my chin, as if she'd forgotten she was doing it.
"What'll happen to her?" intoxicating mystery lady asked Ivan, and the pound employee shrugged.
"Cops found'er wanderin' where she weren't s'posed t'be, and she don't 'ave a collar, so..." Another, slightly more sinister shrug. "It'll prob'ly depend on if they still need'er for somethin'. Was some kinda crime scene, they say."
Crime scene? Shit, the others! Please let everyone be okay.
Apparently deciding I'd finally turned into a lapdog, Ivan stuck his hand between the bars – and immediately stopped when I let him know with a low, toothy rumble that yes, while I was okay with this heavenly apparition touching me, if he kept going, he was going to lose that hand.
She asked, fucker. You didn't.
It's called consent, look it up.
As soon as he pulled the offending limb back, I subsided and went back to enjoying the very welcome visitor's very welcome attention.
Wait a sec.
I blinked and focused on her again. Come to think of it, she hadn't even flinched when I started growling at Ivan, or stopped scritching me. Maybe... Maybe I could initiate the incredibly vague plan I'd been brooding over.
Step 1: Get a human to take me home.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Become human again myself.
Not the greatest plan, admittedly, or the most fleshed out, but maybe I could at least accomplish the first step. Get out of here. I just had to get her to get with the program, somehow. And even if I had to stay with her, locked in this form for the rest of my life... things could be a lot worse, right? Because whatever the cops had in store for me probably wasn't pleasant. Or good for my continued health.
Wait, what the hell was I thinking?
I didn't want to stay a 'dog', I wanted to be human again! I was going to find a way to become human again! But... part of me had to admit... that I wouldn't really mind it that much if I ended up being her dog.
Whoa. Let's put that thought away for now and unpack and examine it later, okay?
"Poor thing. Does that mean she'll be stuck in here until they don't need her anymore?" the stranger asked and Ivan eyed me warily before replying, keeping his distance.
"No, miss. If we knew who'er owners were, we'd call'em to come pick'er up, but we couldn't find a collar or a chip..."
Yeah, and hadn't that been a fun time all around?
The man of many shrugs gave us one that dared to insinuate I was a stray, a filthy street dog. Okay, he was sort of right, but still... Rude much?
My potential saviour was already shaking her head. "No, no, just look at her, look at how glossy her coat is. How clean she is." she countered, running her fingers along my flank.
Yeah, bro, look at my pretty, shiny coat, I thought smugly, rumbling contentedly.
"She can't be a stray. I'm sure her family is worried sick about her." the visitor decided, nodding, before adding a softer "I know I would be if she was mine."
Yes! She really likes me!
I was giddy, butt squirming on the concrete. Okay, now we just needed to make the actual plan happen. Well, I did, but I was going to need some help. Unfortunately, conveying complex concepts is something dogs and wolves aren't really known for — except on TV, of course... and I was fresh out of old wells. Or kids to push into them.
If I didn't pull this off, she'd leave, and I'd be all alone in here again with only the two stooges and my canine supplicants for company... until whatever dark fate awaited dangerous strays the police had no use for would befall me.
It became imperative that I got her to take me with her when she left... but how?
"We jus' gotta wait'n'see." One more shrug for the road, and Ivan squared his shoulders, reaching down to help his visitor to her feet again.
No, no, no! Damn it, I was so close! She was my best shot! Probably my only shot!
Don't do this to me, you big brute, or the next time you come near me, I will bite you! I tried to send telepathically, but of course, failed abysmally. Wrong species. On both sides.
If only I'd been Anushka... Of course, if I'd been Anushka, I wouldn't be in here in the first place. I wondered where she was right now, and hoped she and the others were okay. Even Jens...
But then, bless his moustache, the pound employee threw me a metaphorical bone. "After the default waiting period, she'll..."
Yes! My name! Or... close enough!
I barked twice, pushing my nose against the visitor's leg. She jumped, crouching back down to stroke my head.
Ivan cleared his throat and frowned at me. "Like I said, she'll..."
Bark! Bark! Dog, motherfucker, do you speak it?
"Is that your name, girl? Shel?"
Yeah, sure. You can call me whatever you want, goddess. Just get me out of here!
I pushed against her hand and barked again, happily licking her fingers, eliciting more giggles. The joyful sound made another seed of warmth bloom in my chest, and I sighed. I had no fucking idea what was going on, but I knew I hadn't felt anywhere close to this since... since the summer when I turned 13, the summer I lost everything.
But no, no time to dwell on that right now. I had a jailbreak to accomplish!
I whined softly and put my paw on her knee, giving her my best attempt at puppy dog eyes, trying not to drown in hers...
Come on, goddess. You and me. What do you say we blow this joint?
