Chapter Text
“DogDay says… Fetch!”
A toy, one small and shaped like a bone, was thrown forth into the air ahead of the dog that followed after it.
DogDay was quick. Not the quickest , but quick enough. And it didn't take long for him to snatch up his favorite toy he'd thrown with a jump and his jaws that closed around the middle as if on instinct.
Was it on instinct…?
“Gawt it!” Came a muffled yet cheerful cheer from DogDay. He spat out his toy with haste, letting it land within his fluffy hands that he held out to catch it with. And now, one held the toy up high, as if holding a trophy. “I got it! I got it!” He restated twice. His tail wagging, and his expression one of pure happiness at his achievement.
But no one answered him. Not a single cheer in return. Not a “Good job!” or “You did it!” or what other praises were similar to those — that sounded like those. Just nothing.
“…Oh.”
As if remembering for the first time that he’d been alone in this field near his doghouse, running back and forth from one patch of grass to the next in pursuit of his chew-toy, and catching it with cheers of his own and not met by any others, DogDay’s ears gave slight droops whilst he lowered his hands and stared at the bone. Gaze focused on it like he was searching through a mirror. Searching for someone but himself. His sun pendant giving a light jingle — and hope. Well, at least when he looked at it it did. And it gave him the strength to smile again. Even if it had been smaller than before, a smile was still a smile.
“Maybe I could play something… new!”
Yeah! New! And no longer the same old routine of playing fetch by himself in a field of nobodies. But, his hope remained where his heart lied. Maybe even in the blood that rushed to-and-from his brain. DogDay was an optimist, afterall. Sunny and sweet. And improvising to play a new game after the dullness of an old one would work! It had to!
Quickly scampering into his home, with a gentle twist upon the doorknob with one paw as he carried his chew-toy in the other, he settled inside and—
…Oh. He really needed to clean this place …
His ticking clock emitted sounds each time it rested on a new number or more. And DogDay jolted up as he entered his house to squint at what it rested upon now: 2 in the afternoon.
“That’s not bad!” DogDay reassured himself positively. He hadn’t been out that long, (Having first been outside near the end of 1 pm) and his clock made sure of that!
Now, to the real problem at hand. He made a face, practically a grimace, at the state of his living room. Toys and snacks littered the floor and bits of his couch. From chew-toys and plushies, to empty plates and wrappers. He was no clean freak, but the appeal of being neat and tidy — especially in his living room — was something he was willing to abide by. Sometimes. He guessed it was just… worse today. Bad.
“Umm…” DogDay’s eyes scanned the toys and wrappers and plates everywhere. Brows furrowing. And a finger from his paw tapping at his scruffy chin. “Oh, I know! I’ll start with the dishes!”
With a cheerful perk and grin, deciding to do the dishes first was a GREAT idea! Sure, there were less of them and the snacks than there were toys, but they’d be easier to clean up for the moment. That, and the kitchen was close by.
With a few steps over the toys in his way, and only stepping on a few that squawked and squeaked beneath his feet with DogDay giving giggles in reply to his own clumsiness, he made it to the couch and picked up the duo plates and one wrapper he found with ease. Grinning.
“This’ll be done in no time! I’m great at washing dishes! Then, I can get back to the day’s play!”
It’d been easy to cleanse the waste and crumbs off of the plates he washed. And it’d been easy to throw away the wrapper at the start. But when he returned to his living room, toys that squeaked and plushies that were held for comfort, that all lied against everything? DogDay’s smile faltered. And it didn’t do that often. To him, not ever.
Picking up the one closest to him, a chicken that squeaked when its neck was grabbed, the one he laughed at most in the way it did that and the way its eyes grew big and comedic didn’t resolve his pain. His loneliness. Not now, anyway.
…Is that what this was? Just the feeling of being alone finally eating away at him? Bit by bit? Now?
It hadn’t affected him at first — when DogDay’s house was, well, waiting for him in this very land. Where he found himself happy to lay in a bed, on a couch, to eat better food and to drink better drinks, and play with the very toys that filled this room because they were his only comfort. His only friends, even.
“…But that doesn’t make—“
Cut off abruptly by the gallop of feet — of hooves — jolted DogDay out of his depressing thoughts as his ears pricked forward and so did he. Dropping his toy. It had come from the side of his house, hadn’t it?
Eager to check, but also confused, DogDay trotted over and opened his door with his gaze following after the being that sped past. It was… gone? At least it left a trail and—
“Wait!”
“What?” That wasn’t his voice just now, right?
No. It wasn’t. It was echoey and afar. And when silence seeped in after a few minutes or so, DogDay was able to pinpoint just where the new voice had come from. The meadows.
Someone else was here.