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Dylan Dalmation walked through his bedroom in slow motion. Well, it wasn't really his room since he shared with his other 100 siblings. Still, he found these early mornings calming. A time where the rest of the pups were asleep, so he didn't have to worry about his responsibilities as a caretaker. He let his imagination run wild in these moments. Currently, he was thinking about an extension of his dream, where he was an astronaut exploring deep space. It was such a fun thought, that Dylan felt he could keep the dream going while he was up this early.
He'd put on his makeshift spacesuit as epically, and delicately as possible. Looking at himself in the mirror Dylan thought he looked good. The perfect space hero. And the one thing a space hero needed more than anything, was a helmet to breathe with. Luckily, Dylan had recently bought a helmet for just such an occasion, The Dogstar 3000. Now, all he had to do was find it. Dylan had left the helmet with Dawkins to clean after Deja Vu had unceremoniously made her own jacuzzi out of it. Dylan scanned the floor looking for the helmet, trying to avoid using his nose. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally sneeze and wake up the other pups before he had his fun. His eyes caught the shape of the helmet, thanks to it being so big. He then carefully stepped over his siblings to get to it. When he did, Dylan grabbed it with his teeth, tossed it into the air, and closed his eyes to allow the accessory to land Timon his head triumphantly. However, when Dylan opened his eyes, he was met with the tail of his brother wagging in his face. Dylan then realized his snout was pressed right up against Dawkins's butt.
“Psst, Dawkins!” Dylan whispered loudly, trying to wake his brother without bothering the other pups.
Dawkins cuddled Princess Positron, before yawning and opening his eyes. His breath fogged the helmet slightly as the pup realized his body was being pressed against the glass. Feeling something cold as wet touching his backside, Dawkins looked back to find Dylan's entire face right behind him. “Dylan?”
“Shh! You're gonna wake up the other pups!” Dylan whispered back more forcefully.
“Isn't it a little early to be sniffing each other's butts?” Dawkins asked, lowing his voice before yawning again.
“The better question is, why are you sleeping in my Dogstar 3000?” Dylan asked, trying to maintain his whisper as he raised his voice.
“It was to protect Prince Positron.” Dawkins said as he held up a claw matter-of-factly. His other front paw squeezed the plushy closer to his chest, while he continued the silent argument. “The Dimitris have been stealing her at night!”
“Whatever, can you just get out of here, so I can continue exploring the vastness of space?” Dylan demanded quietly.
“I'd love too Dylan, but it seems that your big head is blocking the only exit!” Dawkins shot back.
Dylan looked down and realized that since he was still wearing the helmet, there was no way for Dawkins to get out. However, when he brought his front paws up to take off the helmet, he found it difficult to remove. Dawkins's body had pushed Dylan's head back just slightly, preventing him from taking it off without hurting himself. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Dylan sheepishly announced. “London, we have a problem.”
“Wait, are we stuck!?” Dawkins almost screamed, having realized what the problem was before Dylan had to explain the situation.
“Shh! You're gonna wake everyone else up!” Dylan said, yell-whispering again.
”Who cares!?” Dawkins said, going into a full-blown panic attack. “How am I supposed to go on with another Dalmation's nose planted right up my-”
“Hey, I don't like this anymore than you do. Now, if you just let me think, I can get us out of this.” Dylan said. However his train of thought was interrupted when heard a troubling noise.
*GGGUUURRRGGGLLE*
“What was that?” Dylan asked, cautiously. Hoping the sound wasn't what he thought he was.
“Oh, uh. Not to alarm you, Dylan.” Dawkins said, his voice much more sheepishly than it had been previously. “I tried beans on toast for the first time last night. It was really tasty and I ate a lot of it.”
*Ggguuurrrggglle*
“And?” Dylan asked.
“Well, now we're in a very stressful situation.” Dawkins said as he moved a front paw to rub his aching tummy. “And, as you know. Beans plus stress equals…”
Dawkins didn't have to finish his sentence before Dylan noticed how much his brother's tail was twitching. Now it was Dylan's turn to start panicking. “Wait! Dawkins! Don't you Dare!”
*BBBBBBBBBPPPPFFFFFRRRTTT*
It was too late. Dylan was blasted directly in the face by the consequences of Dawkins's dietary decisions. His nose took the brunt of it first. Dylan couldn't tell if Dawkins's dog fart usually smelled that bad, or if it was worse because of how sensitive and closed his nose was. Either way, Dylan found it difficult to breathe anything close to fresh air. He stood on his hind legs and frantically tried to take the helmet off. All pretense of staying quiet was abandoned as Dylan's eyes burned from the fumes. After a few seconds of running around, Dylan fell to the floor with a thud. Dorothy, the youngest pup, happened to be the closest to Dylan's when he hit the ground. She woke up to find her brother with bloodshot watery eyes as he reached put to her. He struggled to speak, but managed to say, “Help me…”
Dorothy screamed in horror, waking up the other pups. The day was now officially off to a chaotic start. Pups were shouting all around the room, with Dolly trying and failing to calm everyone down. Through the screams of the others and Dawkins's repeated apologies, Dylan's vision blurred as he slowly lost consciousness. His final thoughts before he blackout was how he'd need to clean the helmet himself when he woke up.