QLFC submission
Season 6: Caerphilly Catapults
Round 4, Chaser 2: Write from a pet's perspective about their everyday life.
Prompts: (dialogue) "Who's a good boy/girl?", (Sound) bark/mew, (Object) stick.
Word Count: 1,265
"Titan! Get back here!" I hear my larger master say my name, but I don't pause. They were chasing me like they do when we play, and that meant I didn't have to listen when they called my name. So I keep on running, leaping at the stairs and climbing quickly. Our home was large, very large, and short master always said it was a good thing, because of how much energy I have. I bound down a long, angled hallway and hear a laugh from an open door as I run by. I backtrack quickly, just as my large master appears in my line of vision. I hide underneath the chair my short master was in, wiggling in excitement when I feel the steady hum that meant short master was playing now, too, and that meant more fun for me. I always felt safe when short master pointed their stick at me and said something I didn't understand. It always confused large master. They'd call for me over and over and would look at me but not see me. I wouldn't listen because we were still playing, until large master found me and wrestled with me for their stick back.
"Alright, where'd you hide the mutt?" Large master's voice is funny like it always is after chasing me, and I hear short master laugh.
"I'm not hiding our dog!"
"I saw him run in here! He has my wand again. Something you trained him to do, I might add." large master's feet come into view and my tail starts thumping excitedly. When they found me, we would wrestle! Large master always made time to roll around on the ground with me.
"Uh…" Short master is talking, but I focus on large master's quickly approaching feet. Suddenly, the chair moves with short master still in it and I feel fingers dig into my collar before I can bolt away for another chase.
"Titan, drop it," large master commands, and I drop the stick immediately. They make a noise and pick up the stick before they pocket it. They run a hand through their hair afterwards, the light colored, loose strands falling into place again. He always has it the same way, off of his face and straight. Short master's hair was always getting in my mouth when we played because it was long and wild and always free. They would bend to pet me and I would be surrounded by it.
"Good boy. It's not your fault your mother has no manners."
"Hey! I taught him everything he does!" Short master's voice is muffled by a blanket. Short master had been sick a lot lately and was usually wrapped up in the fake fur until they felt better. Large master's fingers dig in behind my ear as they pet me and I lean into their hand eagerly.
"Exactly my point," large master mutters, patting me once more before standing. I whine at them. Weren't they going to play?
"I have to go to work, Titan, I'll play when I get home."
"Be safe love!" short master calls after large master. As soon as I hear the noise that means one of my masters was leaving, I snap my head at little master, who was already moving their blanket. I bark excitedly, diving onto the chair with them and settling at their side as they move the blanket around us. I settle on short master's large belly happily. They didn't always have a large belly. This was the first time it had happened, as far back as I can remember, but it made short master happy, and large master happy, and all of their pack, too, so it wasn't a bad thing.
"Look at you, Titan. I wish I had a camera." Short master sighs, fingers moving over my head rhythmically. My tail starts moving again at my name, and short master laughs. Their laugh was softer than large masters, who always seemed to echo off the walls. They start scratching harder at my scalp, raising my head to look at me.
"Who's a good boy?" they giggle at me, making me wiggle even closer and lick their face. As usual I catch some hair, but I don't mind.
"Ha! Titan, no!" they chide, but I ignore it because they are smiling and I settle down again.
"What are we going to do?" short master asks after a while. I wiggle against their large belly as they begin talking to themselves. Finally, short master sighs.
"Well, we can't stay in the den all day. Do you want to go outside?" they ask, and I perk up at that. They move slowly off the couch and I hop down, circling around them impatiently as they slowly begin the walk down the hallway. Outside was so far! There were another two hallways and three stairs!
Eventually, we do get outside, and short master even waves their stick and lets me play with a ball as they sit in another chair. Short master used to run with me, around the plants that made large master sneeze and into the cold water that smelt like fish. But now short master is usually sitting. They promise me a lot that soon I'll have plenty of ways to get rid of my energy. Words like babies and toddlers would usually be involved, words that I've learned to associate with the tiny humans that visited and made my masters happy.
I whip around when I hear the leaving sound, but it's also the coming home sound, and short master is still there and is watching expectantly at the door that led into the room we were settled in. I get up from in front of the fire and sit at their feet expectantly, watching where they were watching. Short master was tired, I could tell. They had sat outside with me, and like every other day, we went upstairs to the room across from ours and played with soft toys, and changed the color of the walls, and moved the chair inside to the other side of the window. Then we went down and saw the little creatures that were living with us. They always fed me, and the masters, so I didn't hate them as much as I did when I first came home with my masters. Then we would nap in our large bed before coming to the room that short master spent most of their time in. The chairs were bigger here, and wider, and the walls could be pulled down and both masters would look at the different colored pieces of the wall for hours at a time if I was silent.
"I figured I would find you here. How was your day?" Large master enters the room, sitting in the chair with short master. I yip excitedly. Large master was home, it was time to play!
But he didn't play. Short master puts their head in large master's lap, where I used to sit and snuggle when I was tiny, and they talked. I whine a little and large master's hand drops to my head, but they don't stop. I huff, shaking off the hand and they throw it on the back of the chair. I set my head on the cushion, eyeing large master who was ignoring me. I see the stick in their pocket, nearly falling out. Large master always plays with me if I have it. I snap forward and take it in my mouth gently, before bolting from the room.
"TITAN!"