Room 308, Monday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack slept late on his first Monday morning as a high school graduate. It had been wonderful to get so much time with Rivka and Sebastien, but bittersweet in that he didn't know how often he'd see either of them in the future. More than anything else, he was exhausted.

So: He slept, and he dreamed. He couldn't have told you the precise moment during his dream when the object he was chasing changed from a box of scrolls to a butcher's bag full of bloody meat. Nor did he awaken in horror when his legs shortened and sprouted fur, when he gained a tail, or when his nose and chin modified themselves into a snout.

But what was perfectly clear was that, by the time he was all the way awake, Jack was not himself at all. Instead, he was the same Jack Russell terrier puppy he'd briefly been during graduation.

With a kind of snort that passed for the canine equivalent of a sigh, Jack pushed himself off the bed and trotted away to try to find either breakfast or someone who could help.

[OOC: Availability note -- I'm off to Florida for a couple days as of tomorrow morning, getting back just in time to squeak into the newbie picnic Saturday. While I'm gone, Jack is a terrier (and Emma and Rose have modding rights), Tara's around but having a random bout of being vewwy vewwy quiet, Henry's back in Chicago to see Alba, and Tyler and Didi will be disposed of later.]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

Emma had rather avoided Jack after the graduation ceremony. Between what radio said he'd been up to on Thursday, and how she'd managed to reduce his sister to tears during graduation, she had decided to take herself elsewhere. Elsewhere being somewhere off-island, where she could have a drink and sulk.

Although when she didn't have a phone call or a sulking boy on her doorstep by mid-morning, wanting to know where she'd been, Emma decided that she clearly needed to go kick him.

No one ever said that her brain-processes were logical. She was a teenage female telepath.

"Jack?" she called, rapping on his door. "Wake up and stop being lazy. You ought to get dressed and take me out to brunch. I want french toast."

[bitten_notshy]

Her only response was a faint whimpering noise from the other side of the door.

Despite how clever Jack-the-terrier was, opening doors was still better left to taller people with thumbs. He'd forgive Emma about anything if she just opened the door.

[icecoldfrost]

"Don't whimper at me and pull the covers over your head," she began crossly, starting to open the door. "It doesn't suit you."

[bitten_notshy]

As soon as the door was open a crack, a small brown-and-white dog rushed through it with some sense of urgency.

Jack's room was distinctly lacking in greenery (well, not counting Andy's stash, but that was the wrong kind of greenery), and a dog did have his needs.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma ignored the small dog darting past her. If Andy couldn't keep his pet leashed, that wasn't her concern. He could chase it down himself.

Except there was no one in the room, and her powers had definately sensed Jack...

Oh hell.

Even if this wasn't what she thought it was (please don't be what she thought it was) since there was no one in the room, it was up to her to recapture the puppy. She started off after it; not running, but at a brisk pace to keep it in sight. "No, bad puppy," she scolded. "Wait!"

[bitten_notshy]

The dog paused, but growled at her softly. He was not anyone's bad dog, thank you very much.

Still. It would be nice to have an escort, just to open the doors and such. So he'd wait.

[icecoldfrost]

"Growl at me again and I'll put you back in there," she snapped, catching up. "Inform me if you're Jack, if you please, otherwise do feel free to keep running the corridors, and I can go find Andy to recapture his pet."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack flattened his ears, watching her. He wasn't quite sure how to communicate 'yes, I'm Jack, and I need to go outside now' with the tools he had on hand, but he was nothing if not resourceful.

He took a few steps toward her, bowing and making large hopeful eyes to indicate he wanted to play, and wagged his tail. Would that do?

[icecoldfrost]

Emma looked at him. "That's not fair," she complained. "That look already gets you your way when you're person-shaped, doing it as a puppy is cheating."

[bitten_notshy]

Terriers couldn't smirk, or that would definitely be a smirk on Jack's face. It came close as it was.

He walked over to Emma and nudged her leg with his wet nose, trying to encourage her to pick him up.

[icecoldfrost]

She sighed and knelt down to scratch behind his ears. "I don't speak puppy very well," she informed him. "I've never had a pet, and Pounce always translates what Beka wants for me."

"Are we going outside, or do you just want attention?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack twisted his neck to try to lap at her hand in gratitude, then turned away entirely to walk down the corridor, shooting little glances over his shoulder to ensure she followed.

It was time for walkies, apparently.

[icecoldfrost]

"Walkies. Of course." But Emma was already pulling her phone out of her back pocket to take pictures as they went, and send them off with text messages. Rose totally had to know about this. "Does this mean I should get you a cute collar with a tag? 'Hi, I'm Jack. Yes, I'm a student, no, you can't put ribbons on me,'?"

[bitten_notshy]

That was far, far, far too complicated to answer as a puppy; Jack's normal answer would have started by pointing out he wasn't a student at all anymore, and gone on to ask what exactly she was doing with her phone. But he couldn't say either of those things as a dog.

He barked to encourage her to keep up instead, which was an agreement in its way. He just hoped the collar wouldn't be too horrible.

[icecoldfrost]

No pink, but possibly sparkly. Emma couldn't make this too easy on him.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Emma hurried after him, making sure to get any doors that a small dog could not easily push open. "You're demanding, you know that?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack's bark could be, perhaps, most accurately glossed as "Duh."

But he did slow down so she could easily match his pace. He was grateful for the help ... and besides, if he annoyed her too much, he might end up dressed in doll clothes.

[icecoldfrost]

Oh, Emma could do worse than doll clothes, if she set her mind to it. She could always try and make him hold still and paint his little puppy toes, in the interests of Science to see if his nails were painted when he changed back.

She darted ahead of him in the lobby, pushing open the front door so he could go outside. "I'm going to just wait on the deck while you...do whatever," she sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "Come jump on me when you're done?"

[bitten_notshy]

If she was going to try to paint his nails, Jack might just bite if she went for anything with sparkles. Don't think he wouldn't.

He bounded into the lawn without a glance back.

Once business was taken care of, he circled back to the deck and -- did not jump, but sat at Emma's feet with his tail curled around him and yipped expectantly. There should be breakfast now, or else playing.

[icecoldfrost]

He was going to need a collar and tag before he got carted off to the pound, and he probably hadn't eaten yet, and Emma didn't know what he was supposed to eat.

"I'm not feeding you dog food," she decided aloud. "You want to go back inside, or shall we see if there's anything that looks appealing to you? Can puppies eat hot dogs?"

[bitten_notshy]

There was a long pause, as if Jack was thinking very hard about that.

He wagged his tail yes in the end.

Hopefully Emma would remember he needed Kosher franks.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma grabbed her purse and stood up. "There's got to be a butcher shop somewhere on the island, right?" she asked him, heading towards the road into town. "They've got to have something you'll like."

"Come along then. You'll owe me a few brunches after you change back, Mr. Priest."