The sun hung over the city, blanketing the land with its warm embrace. It was rare to have these moments, where dreary clouds do not cover up the beautiful sky. However, the environment is only half of living. London is a large city, many boroughs not being as well off as the others. To many in the East London boroughs, it could be better. The sidewalks that lined the streets of this part of the city were not the best kept, but it was better than most. To many, it was barely a problem.
Dawood would only sigh, one of his hands tucked into his jacket pockets, dragging a single luggage bag with him. The man stood just about six feet tall, with a broad and strong build. He had tan colour skin and brown hair. He also had the most hypnotic green eyes, which completely contrasts the rest of his physical traits.
The man was built for the streets, knowing the ins and outs of this part of the city. Despite this, the man is educated, just recently graduating from university, studying engineering. Dawood is not your average Englishman, as one could tell, despite his native Cockney accent. He comes from a family of two completely different backgrounds. His father is Saudi Arabian, while his mother is British.
Despite this, he has always lived in London for most of his life, occasionally visiting his father's homeland to visit his rather large extended family, The Wahhabs. His mother family, The Dearly's, were not any better, he had mostly visited his grandparents when he was younger before they passed. He had some communication with certain family members, such as his Aunt Mary, who owns a house, along with her husband, in Camden that she never lives in.
In fact, she had sent him a package not too long ago, that contained a letter and a house key. The man stops for a moment to take out the letter from his jacket, wanting to know if he was misunderstanding his Aunt's request.
Dearest Dawood,
First, I want to congratulate you for your graduation! I wish only the best for you in the future and beyond! If your grandparents could see you now, they would be as proud as I am now. But I digress, I have a request for you my dear, one which can help with your career as well I would say. I want you to live in my home in Camden, it, and those who are in it, are very dear to me. You might ask, but why would I want to give you this house? That is simple my dear, I trust you the most. You are family, and like what your father always has been saying, family comes first. So please, Dawood. Take this key and move into the Camden house, I need you to make sure all that is in it to be safe and protected.
With love,
Your Auntie Mary
The man snorts, shaking his head slightly. "Cryptic as ever, huh Auntie?" He says, smirking to himself. He puts away the letter and continues his way down to the Tube.
The London Underground is not the most sanitary of places, especially in the east, but it got you to where you needed to be as quickly as possible. London in general could be better, at least in the point of view of most common folk of the city. For Dawood, it was simply his fastest mode of transport.
Getting to Camden would not take too long. Knowing that, the man simply slumped back on his seat and began to think about his Aunt's words. "Protect those who are in it… She said who, not what… The hell she meant by that?" He asks himself, unsure why his Aunt used such wording in her letter. Does she own any pets? Impossible, she has not been in that house in ages. There must be another reason, and whatever it is he will have to find out soon.
Not far from where the man was, it would seem Camden was in a bit of chaos at the moment. The town had always had a lot more animals than many of the other boroughs of the city. So much so, that it was not uncommon to hear a chorus of howling and barking occasionally. Little do Humans know, this chorus of animal noises served a useful purpose. At this moment, it would seem it was one of those times, but it seemed more… frantic.
Alongside this orchestra of dog howls, came what seemed like a modified wheelchair which had a man and an adult Dalmatian riding it, barreling down the street as fast as the electronic wheelchair can go. Escorting them seemed to be a police horse mare. The man, who seemed to be a Doctor, is completely out cold, despite amount of turbulence wheelchair was making as it traversed the streets of Camden. The Dalmatian had a worried look on her face, one that seemed desperate to get to whatever destination she needed to be at. In the distance, the Dalmatian begins to hear sirens and see a trio of SUVs.
It was Pest Control.
With a look of fear plastered on her face, she called out to the horse in front of her.
"They're here!" she exclaimed, very much worried for what was going to happen next.
The mare had a determined look on her face, and without any hesitation, she sped up. "I'll stop 'em!" she replies. With that, she immediately turns around and stops, causing the SUVs to slow down. With that, she sat on the car right behind her, grounding them to a halt temporarily.
With this moment of reprieve, the Dalmatian stops the wheelchair and proceeds to aim her tail in front of the Doctor's face, aiming to slapping him awake.
"Really hate to do this, but…" With that, she proceeds to slap the Doctor, hard, multiple times with her tail.
This promptly woke the Doctor up, who was completely shocked and awake by the rude awakening. He looks around before setting his eyes on the dog. He smiles tiredly and proceeds to pet her. "Who's a good dog?" he asks rhetorically.
Not wanting to waste any more time, she pulls the Doctor off the wheelchair by dragging him with his tie, much to his surprise. She drags him all the way to the front door of the house, causing him to tiredly inspect his surroundings. "Oh, is this your house, doll. Am I coming for tea?" He tiredly asks, having a happy-tired look on his face.
Ignoring that, she proceeds to open the door using a paw scanner next to the door. She then calls out to her children, "Don't worry, I'm home!"
In contrast, the Doctor was almost half-asleep. "I've come for tea." He says, still tired and unaware of his surroundings.
The Dalmatian ignored the Doctor once more, only wanting to see if her pups were safe and sound. However, it would seem that things may not go as how she hoped it would be. The pups seemed to have made a makeshift Human to try and trick Pest Control that they had an owner in the house. While the Dalmatian mother was touched and proud of her pups' effort, she knew that it would not trick these sorts.
Before she could do anything however, the pups puppeteering the fake Human disguise began to approach the Doctor and try to interact with him, thinking he was Pest Control. As if it couldn't get any worse, the whole disguise frightened the poor sedated Doctor. The exploding balloon head completely terrifying him. The only saving grace for the man was the shoe that flew from across the hallway, hitting square in the face, knocking him out cold once again… As well as a pie landing on his butt, courtesy of a certain dig-happy pup.
This made the situation much more complicated, and they didn't have much more time. The mother quickly directed the pups to help her drag the unconscious man into the living room and on the couch. However, the sound of sirens soon can soon be heard outside.
The older female pup looked out the window. "Oh no, they're coming!" she says with slight fear in her voice. This put the other pups on edge, fearing for what was to come next.
The Dalmatian mother, with a determined look on her face, pushed the Doctor's body up on the couch. "We're not giving up!" She replies, grabbing onto the Doctor's tie. "We need to wake him up!" she continues. Desperate to get the Human to wake up.
One of the older male Dalmatian pups tried to find their Human neighbor's smelly slipper that he and his siblings ripped apart a while ago. However, he couldn't find it. He searched frantically, but to no avail. They had no way to wake up the doctor. With their efforts wasted, the mother got down from the couch. "Dolly, Dylan, hide the pups, I'm not going to let you, or your siblings get taken away. The best we can do now is to pass inspection.
With that, they began to hide the pups in certain parts of the house…
However, soon they heard knocking, and then the door being forced open. They were inside.
Dawood had a very uneventful trip. After arriving at the Camden station, he immediately began his trek to his Aunt and Uncle's Camden home. On his way there, he noticed a lot of commotion as he entered Dalmatian street. With a confused look on his face, he walks a bit faster, wondering what was going on. After a while, he notices a trio of SUVs parked outside the home that he was going to live in.
His eyes then trail over to a group of people wearing what seemed like…
"Pest Control." He says, recognizing who they were. He was about to call out to them, before they proceed to shock him and break into the house. "What the hell!?" He says out loud, shocked. He immediately ran in, leaving his luggage outside. These knuckleheads are gonna get an earful from him!
Soon he saw them march in unison through the hallway, approaching the living room. "Prepare to be pest controlled!" He heard their leader exclaim.
"Oi!" He called out; his cockney accent now unleashed onto the group in front of him. This cause all of them to jump and turn around. Dawood continues, "Who the 'ell do you think you are?" His anger very much apparent.
The group didn't know what to say, until the leader came forward and spoke for her team. "We received a call from a neighbor who believes that this house had unattended pets."
'So my Uncle and Aunt do have pets, so that explains the weird wording in the letter.' He thought, before he increased the intensity of his glare. "How does that give you the right to barge into my aunt's house!?"
That got the leader to stumble on her words a bit, slowly realizing what they have done. "W-Well we had to" She was cut off.
"Shut it, not another word from you! Who's the bloke who called on this house, eh?" He asks, his anger and glare never faltering.
"W-Well s-sir, We can't disclose that infor-" She was cut off again.
"If you won't tell me, I'll find out m'self. I'll rip that wanker a new one when I find 'im." He replies.
"Sir, Threats are wrong!" she quickly said, not liking being cut off by this very confrontational man.
"Oh yea? So is breakin' and enterin'. You aren't authorized to do nothin' without a damn warrant. So do you have any?" He asks, looking around the group, waiting for a response. Getting nothing, he continues, "That's what I thought, now get the 'ell out of this house before I get the REAL police." He said, pointing to the door.
With that, the group quickly shuffled away, not wanting to cause any more trouble than was already done. As soon as they exited, he slammed the door behind them, making his feelings towards the group known.
After a few seconds, the man sighed, he always had an anger problem… but it felt good to let it all out once in a while. He turns around and starts to walk along the hallway, but he immediately notices a trio of Dalmatians leaning out from the living room to the hallway he was in, eyes wide. He looks back towards them, and chuckles. "Enjoyed the show?" He said, his accent becoming more proper. It wasn't common to have let his natural accent out like that, but it happens.
That brought them back into reality and realize that a new Human was inside their home. The man saw one of the dogs was larger than the other two, a parent with their pups perhaps.
Soon the larger Dalmatian slowly approached the man and sat in front of him, looking up towards him. The man looked down towards the dog, inspecting it from afar. "So, you're Aunt Marie's dog, right?" He asked the dog, not really expecting her to answer back, as he kneeled.
To his surprise, the dog tilted its head sideways, almost as if wanting more clarification. "Huh, smart one aren't ya?" he mumbled, before continuing. "Marie Smith, the wife of the owner of this house? She's my aunt." He said, clarifying it to the adult Dalmatian. With a look of realization, the dog quickly ran into the living room, opening drawers to fish out a pair of photos. When she arrives back to the man, she offers him the photos. The man, with a confused look, takes the photos and inspects them. One of them was a picture of his Aunt and Uncle, and the other of his late grandparents, who looked much younger, with their own Dalmatian dogs. He soon realized that the dog wanted him to identify who these people in pictures are.
Dawood shows the first picture, and explains, "These people are my Uncle and Aunt, the Smiths. My Aunt and Mother are sisters and are a part of the Dearlys. This-" He says, as he shows the second picture, "were my grandparents, Roger and Anita." He explains.
The adult Dalmatian smiled and nodded at the man, she then turned around and barked out a few times, before looking back and leaned on the man, seemingly out of gratitude for he did before. The man smiled and petted the Dalmatian. He didn't know what that was for, but he could feel the floor rumble almost immediately. Suddenly, much like a large tsunami, a wave of puppies exited their hiding places and proceed to swarm and jump on the poor man. He could swear there were almost a hundred of them.
From that moment on, he knew that his life was going to change.
The mother Dalmatian moved out of the way just as her children swarmed the man, who she now knows is related to her owner. She chuckles at the sight as she sat nearby.
Soon her eldest children both approached and sat next to her. "Who is he mom? Is he going to stay with us?" The female one asks.
The mother merely smiled, and nodded.
"But mom, remember the last time we had a Human pet? That guy trashed the house! How is he going to be any different?" the female pup asks.
"Call it a hunch, dear. I think we will be fine."