When Rick awoke it was to the noise of a tent unzipping. He turned over, flopping his back to the tent as he tried to get more sleep. Regularly he would have woken up at the crack of dawn but for some reason he didn't want to get up. Rick jolted when he felt a hand on him, his springing from the ground to look at what had him only to realize that it was the man from yesterday. He slowly got up, shaking the dirt off. "You shouldn't startle wild animals, mate." Rick muttered, despite knowing that the man could not understand what he was saying.
"You are a pretty one, aren't ya?" He heard them say, Rick's ears flipping back at the compliment. He watched the man pack up his camp, occasionally moving out of his way when he went to grab something. Soon enough all of his things were packed into one large backpack. Duchess climbed from the man's arms to sit between the bag and the man's neck as he set off, Rick by his side. By now he was getting used to walking and it looked somewhat normal, though occasionally he would forget his footing.
"Dutch oven, what is this guy's name?" Rick asked, purposely forgetting her name, getting an annoyed hiss from Duchess.
"Duchess! Not Dutch oven, whatever that is…his name is Dell, not that it matters. At the end of the day he is my faithful servant~" she purred, tail swaying slightly. Rick shook his head before turning his attention to the man, Dell. Rick had never heard of such a name, though it did have a unique ring to it. In the back of his mind he did wonder if that cat named him herself or if it was his actual name, that was a question for another day. For now, he would walk along the path back toward civilisation.
It was nearly an hour until the trio managed to get back to the place where Rick had first met them, yellow aviators carelessly flopped on the side of the path. Seeing that, and having felt like he lost them, he bolted for them, gently taking them in his mouth once more as he kept walking alongside the two. "Whatcha got there?" Dell asked trying to see what Rick had, though Rick was not about to let Dell take his aviators so he kept them firmly in his mouth. To his surprise Dell didn't reach for them, just told him not to eat them. He spoke to Rick as though he was another human, then again, he had heard him speak to Duchess as so, this begged the question if he had friends.
Coming across the barely noticeable path he had created the previous day, Rick slowed a bit. Through those bushes and tall grass, all his belongings lay hidden. He kept walking, it was unlikely that anyone would curve off the main trail and hop over the bushes. Soon enough they came out the mouth of the path and straight for the beaten-up red pickup truck that Rick had noticed on his way onto the path. It was during their approach to the final destination that footsteps could be heard from in front of them, Rick's head rose to see three men walking from a black Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Almost immediately he recognizes one of the men, his ears flattening against his head as he bares his teeth and starts growling at them. This was the man he had been sent out here to kill, the man in front with sleek black hair and an air of messy charm looming over him. "Are you aware that your canine is a wolf?" the man asked, "Quite a rare breed of wolf actually, said to be critically endangered and kept only on a protected wild life reserve in North Carolina." They said in a matter of fact tone. Dell hummed and nodded.
"Thanks for tellin' me." Dell said in a kind tone as he kept walking toward his truck. Rick never turned his back to the people as they kept walking past, he could see the man's eyes follow him as well as they carefully passed and entered the hiking path. Once gone, Rick had to resist the urge to go off and attack them. Instead he focused on the immediate problem at hand.
"Seems like this is where we get off." Dell said as he knelt in front of Rick, patting his head "See you next time." As Dell hauled his things into the truck bed Rick positioned himself to jump into the back of the truck.
"Too bad I am going with you." He said, running toward the truck and jumping up to the bumper before surprisingly being able to hop over the closed tailgate and onto the truck bed. Once in Rick's tail wagged as he realized he had successfully done the jump, he was getting pretty good at this. Dell stood there as Rick put his paws up on the side of the truck staring at him. "You aren't gonna get me to come out, mate." He said despite the other not being able to hear him.
Duchess hummed at him from the open window of the back seat "There are more elegant ways to get him to take you home, though I suppose being stubborn will have to do." She told him as Dell shook his head.
"Are you even a wolf-" they paused, he better not be thinking of calling a zoo or something. After a moment, he just shook his head, his better judgment going down the drain as he got into the truck. "Can't believe I am doin' this." He muttered closing the back window so Duchess could not get out and starting the vehicle. Perhaps Dell was conflicted about whether or not Rick was a wolf, after all wolves don't typically walk up to humans or jump into their trucks forcing the human to take them along.
Rick placed his aviators in an empty side pocket of the bag, to the best of his ability, before laying down curled up while mostly on top of Dell's bag which was soft, perhaps clothing. As he laid there, the bumping of the road and the sound of other cars became soothing as he drifted asleep. Hours later Rick found himself woken up by a rather loud noise, the asphalt turning into a dirt road. The gravel popped under the tires, Ricks eyes were forced open as he took in his new surroundings. He was not in a city that was for sure, it was a large expanse of scattered houses along the dirt road that went on for miles, trees shrouding the area.
Rick found himself sneezing due to the dirt that was flying up, he moved as close as he could to the cabin of the car to avoid inhaling more dirt than needed. It was a short while until they finally slowed, turning and driving down a very long driveway that wound around trees before coming into a clearing. It was a rather small but cute house. When the truck came to a stop Rick jumped from the back, shaking off the dirt to the best of his ability once safely on the ground. He had to admit, this guy was living quite comfortably. He had a decent sized shed visible off to the side of the house, a garage, and a single-story house that lay just slightly off centre from the middle of the clearing. Compared to the other houses it was rather sheltered, though his neighbour must have a similar set up since the trees on this side spread for quite a distance.
Rick observed Dell as he heaved his things out of the back of the truck, Duchess waiting in the passenger seat with the door hanging wide open. For a moment, she did not move before she hopped down from the vehicle, Dell closing the door after her, as the two headed indoors. "For a pampered kitty, you didn't demand to be carried." Rick chuckled, the cat ignoring him as Dell opened the door letting the cat in. Rick stood there, looking at Dell for a moment until he realized Dell was waiting for him. "Oh." He said hopping over the threshold as a certain cat snickered at him.
He sent a glare at Duchess as Dell sat down his bag and groaned as he headed into his bedroom, sliding off his shirt as he headed to his room as well as unbuttoning his pants. Rick's back was facing Dell, observing the house and slowly turning to observe the rest of the house before his eyes fell upon the half-naked man. He reacted a bit too quickly as he turned, paws slipping as he smacked into a barstool with a loud thud alongside a clatter as the wood of the chair made contact with the wooden floor, all in the name to avoid watching the man strip naked. This did not go according to plan, for when the barstool fell it trapped him within a wooden prison, his foot trapped under one of the legs only because he needed to lift himself but couldn't due to his foot being caught. It was a violent circle of trappy-ness and pure four-pawed stupidness.
Dell quickly turned around when he heard the noise, alongside an unintentional whimper and growl from the new canine of the house. He quickly came to aid the dog, lifting the stool and helping Rick move his paw from it's strange position. Rick carefully moved back to avoid being any clumsier than he already was, just another thing to add to the list of things he hated about having four paws.
Once freed he felt a hand in his fur "Careful bud, don't go breaking things." As if Rick didn't already feel like a dope. His honey brown eyes averted in slight awkwardness of being close to the mostly naked man he just met. Dell stood up again and finally walked into his bedroom, grabbing his clothing and going into the bathroom, thankfully in time to hide the rest of his stripping. Though if Rick had to say the man, despite Rick's first impression, was muscular. He rose a paw to his snout, rubbing his eyes as best as he could before heading to the beaten up caramel couch where Duchess was and placing his head down. The first and only soft thing he had felt since changing into a wolf.
It was a short while before Dell came out of the bathroom, shirtless but thankfully wearing pants and whistling for Rick. Rick didn't answer at first but when he let out another whistle his head rose to look at Dell "Come on, your turn for a bath." How had Dell just accepted the new addition so easily? Was this not his first time taking in 'wild' animals? Maybe he did this often with other dogs, he would have to ask Duchess about that. Rick slowly walked at his own pace toward Dell who escorted him into the bathroom.
Upon entering Rick headed to the bathtub, hopping into it only to slip into a laying position, stomach up as he realised what happened. "Use the pad…not the claws." He told himself as he rolled himself over and sat down, his fur slightly damp from the wet porcelain of the container. He focused more on using the pads of his feet rather than the claws, seeing as the claws would only make him slip and slide when indoors compared to outdoors as he had found out within the five minutes of being here. Dell let out a chuckle at the scene and slowly started the water just in case the animal he was bathing was not used to this type of situation, once again it could be possible that he was dealing with a domesticated canine that resembled a wolf.
When Rick did not react to the lukewarm water pooling around his paws Dell decided that it was safe to start bathing him. He got a cup from under the sink, as well as the pet shampoo, and set to work. He took a few cups of water and poured it onto Rick's head, shielding his eyes from the water. Rick resisted the urge to shake his head as Dell did his thing, squirting some of the shampoo into his hand and scrubbing, for the somewhat beefy man he was gentle. Rick closed his eyes, Dell starting to scrub the rest of his body. Rick was forced to stand when Dell scrubbed his legs, it got him thinking about how awkward this situation really was for him but he tried not to think about it as Dell started to rinse him off.
The water was soon turned off, a fluffy towel being tossed over him, only his snout visible out the end of it, just before he was able to shake himself off, mostly because his dog used to do that so he wanted to do that too. The perks of being a dog, foiled by a towel and hands. "What a good boy, you stood still for the entire thing." The man gave him a small smile, Rick was probably being compared to the damn cat. Somehow Dell lifted Rick from the tub, despite being a rather large breed of canine, and started to walk out to the living room.
Rick freed his paws and pulled them so they hung over Dell's shoulder. Perhaps the strangest thing he has done with a stranger, the only time that rivalled this was that one situation at a bar during a barfight, some guy tripped and took Rick down with him. Having a strange man hovering above you is a bit uncomfortable…yeah Dell's situation is the more desirable, so the second strangest thing that has happened to him. He was set on the couch, the towel still around him as he laid down, Dell walking off to do something.
It was mere moments before the cat showed up, white tail flicking as she walked along the back of the couch "Alright, now that you are clean it is time to set the rules of the house." Great, he was about to get rules from a tiny cotton ball. "First rule is, I am the queen- "
"You are a Duchess." Rick intervened, an annoyed huff from Duchess making him chuckle, she probably didn't even know what a Duchess was.
"That is my name, genius. As I was saying, I am queen of the house, what I want I get and if I tell you to do something you do it." Rick huffed
"What makes you think I will listen to you?" Rick asked
"because," she reached her front paws to step on Rick's snout "I can easily get you chased away with a pointy stick~." She purred, rubbing against him with her little kitty smirk. Rick rolled his eyes
"Next." He muttered, lowering his head, taking Duchess down with him, her tail flicking in his face as she continued, climbing back up to the top of the couch.
Rule after rule was stated until Duchess was done and Rick had agreed, though not all of them were terrible. In short, as long as he listened to Duchess she would help him by contacting her wild animal friends with a little song like some fucking Disney princess. The power of sarcasm. It was more like she would help Rick escape whenever Dell was gone and help him get back in before he gets back, as well as give him tips to be a good dog. That last one is not important though. Dell came out shortly after Duchess stopped talking, sitting on the couch next to Rick and flipping on the T.V.
Duchess pawed at Dell's loose-fitting shirt before climbing onto his shoulders and sliding into his lap. Rick let out a sigh as he finally shook the towel from him and went to explore the house. Dell's home had a rather welcoming vibe to it, from the rustic furniture to the light atmosphere a small house creates with nicely blending colours. Rick wandered into Dell's bedroom, rooting around a little before coming across an area in one of the corners. Despite most of the room being quite dark in the evening sun that one corner was lit with a large ray of light, for a moment Rick stared at it before walking over to it. Laying in the corner was a few articles of clothing but at this point Rick couldn't care as he laid down on the sun-warmed clothing and enjoyed the heat that came from the window.