A day in the sunlight

[niobe_avery]

Characters: Niobe Avery, Dug
Rating: PG
Time Period: Modern
Location: Castle
Relative Date: A couple days after this
Status: Open, Ongoing, PM if you want to join

Comments

[canisvocalis]

Dug had let himself out much earlier for his morning ritual, and was waiting patiently at the door to be let back in when the female came stepping out. Overcome with joy, the dog's long tail immediately started waving vigorously as he sniffed around her shoes. "Oh, boy!" his collar exclaimed, flashing red with each word.

Sniff sniff sniff, one shoe and then the other, until he finally thought he'd gotten a good read on her. Backing up, Dug sat and raised his paw excitedly, tongue lolling out the side of his panting mouth as he stared at her. "Hello! My name is Dug and you smell like food, may I have some food?"

[niobe_avery]

Niobe looked down as she spotted the movement out of the corner of her eye, free hand going for her wand almost automatically before she registered that it was merely a dog. Or not so merely, when she heard a voice speaking, apparently the dog itself.

Drawing the wand from its hiding place, she held it defensively, studying the dog a long moment without speaking. "The food is for myself, for a picnic in the garden." She kept her voice calm, though her expression was flat, almost blank. "What are you?"

[canisvocalis]

"I am a dog," Dug told her, and panted for a long moment. "I am a dog," the collar repeated a second time, and he placed his paw back on the ground. As he sat, his tail swished back and forth behind him, sweeping along the grass and collecting whatever loose crud there might have been handing around. "My master made this collar so that I may speak!" That at least explained the flashing red light.

Lifting his head into the air, Dug sniffed around, trying to pull in a hint of what she was taking on her picnic. "Are you going for a walk? I like to walk, I will walk with you to where you are going if you would like for me to go with you," Dug said, standing suddenly, as if he was at the ready.

[niobe_avery]

Raising an eyebrow, Niobe lowered her wand, though she still kept it in hand. "A dog cannot speak. Who is your master, the one who made the collar?" she asked, her tone light and curious.

When the dog suddenly stood, she raised her wand again briefly, the movement an automatic response to the abruptness of the movement. She was silent a moment longer before she added, "You may walk with me, if you answer my question."

The dog itself - Dug, it had said - she could accept was harmless, though she wasn't as certain of the collar, or the person who might have made it. Innocents were used as pawns often enough, in her experience.