Dog Days of Summer

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 6 (A Natural Instinct)

"What made Cat so cynical?" Jade asked while watching the girl chow down on a sub sandwich. Robbie was standing beside her with his own meal, and Sam was sitting in the car. It was a simple midday lunch they'd asked Trina to make for them before they went back home. "I know she faded away when her roommate showed up, but I didn't think it was because she didn't like us."

Beck turned his head to the side and lifted his shoulders, "If you have to ask." Jade frowned. "I'm surprised Robbie hates us, but then, who's to say he ever liked us. I didn't think the way we treated him was bad at all. Of course, I never thought about it."

Next to Tori were the older dogs on the farm, they'd been showing them around the ranch and making sure they didn't get lost. "It is easy to say things without thought," Shadow's statement turned their heads towards him and silenced them so they could listen. "It is these thoughtless words and actions that can produce animosity and other feelings that you may never have intended."

"Well we don't really want to lose our friends. I mean, we rip on them all the time yes, but they're our friends."

Ares scoffed and started to say something, but turned away instead when Shadow lifted a paw. The older dog took in a quiet breath and looked Beck in the eyes with patience. "You have to ask yourself, how well of a friend is someone that would constantly bring down the other? Are they your friends and are you theirs when your very word and actions demean and harm them? Even if unintended, how do they feel about it?"

"I can't say I've ever thought about them," Jade muttered. Tori looked up at Cat and Robbie with a frown. Many times the statements they made were just jokes or messing with the group, but even she had to admit things got out of hand sometimes, and the two would later appear to be very annoyed with them. "What I mean is, we just say random shit, and it's not always intended to hurt."

Beck nodded his head and studied Robbie for a long moment. "To a degree, we've always ripped on them because they never had any 'worthwhile' traits that we could see bringing them into a school that involves talent."

Ares's sharp eyes fell onto the group and Tori threw her head up to him, feeling his burning gaze as though it was pushing her down. "What do you think talent is, exactly?" Ares stood on all fours and moved closer to the car. Cat looked down at him and waved her fingers while saying she wasn't giving him any human food. "Everyone has their own thing that makes them who they are. A talent is just a skill, something that defines a person. Whether it's building something, writing and drawing, or acting as humans do for entertainment."

Cat reached down and scratched her fingers on top of Ares's head. Tori smiled at the scene and rolled onto her side so that the sun could warm her and she could relax. "I'll be honest." She closed her eyes and hummed as the sun's warmth spread across her. "We never thought Robbie was much of a ventriloquist, that his thing was just playing with dolls. As for Cat, from time to time we'd joke that she was too dumb to have a talent, but we included her in the group because we didn't want to push her out and make her feel bad."

Shadow's ears perked up and disappointment swelled in his eyes. "Then if you did not feel she was a viable part of your group, I imagine you led her to believe she was?" Tori moved her eyes to the side and felt a strain of guilt strike her. It was true that they pitied Cat for a brief stint of time, but she thought that was ancient history.

"We pitied her because she was so…I don't know, she had these mood swings and would get hurt really fast." She rolled back onto her stomach and gazed sorely at the redhead. "I guess at first we thought 'who would be friends with this girl', and we became her friend because nobody else would. The same was probably done for Robbie. Most of the kids in the school thought him as a freak."

"They probably knew it was pity," Beck replied with a snort. "It was true that nobody else would be friends with them because they were weird…they were different." The way it sounded, Tori wasn't sure if they ever took Cat and Robbie in because they cared about them.

Clearly the two friends would feel otherwise, and yet they stayed with the group because they must have felt if someone had to lie to make them feel like valued friends, then nobody would truly want to be their friends.

Was this what Shadow was telling them?

"Cat stopped hanging around us when Sam became her roommate." Tori set her head down in the grass and blew out her nose. "I never thought about it, but maybe it's because Sam became more of a real friend to her than us.

"If you take someone in out of pity, your heart can never truly be aligned with proper care for somebody." Shadow shook his head at them and moved in front of the trio, sitting down and drawing their attention to him. "You can sympathize, feel bad for somebody, but to be a friend you must care about that person. If you wish to remain friends, it's a good idea to make them feel like you care as well."

Ares moved back to the group and sat beside Shadow, glaring at the three. "Have you even taken the time to get to know them? Assuming you care about them, how much time do you even spend getting to know who they are?"

"We spend enough time!" Jade deflected Ares's statement, but only earned a harsher glare that made her back away with a nervous whine. Now was not the time for her to get defensive. "Or maybe not." Tori let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. It was easy to say they spent time with Robbie and Cat, but the real truth was when it came down to things they'd do as friends, they were always an afterthought. More so than even her sister, who was rarely ever thought of.

If friends were meant to share their lives, they'd done that well enough with each other and even Andre, but they never bothered with Cat and Robbie. It was always assumed that they were the least interesting people, and of course getting to know them would lead to nothing but stress.

"Are you two saying we should give them more of a chance?" Tori lifted her gaze to Shadow and Ares. Her voice shook as the words fell from her lips. "Everyone has something, and we've always focused on what's important. I guess that would be more what's important to us. If it's auditioning for some play or trying to get the chance to sing the best song or whatever."

"Robbie said he wasn't surprised we ditched him," Beck shifted his gaze to Robbie and slanted his eyes. "Even though we didn't ditch him, he truly believes we did. We've done it so many times that he has no reason to believe something bad might have happened to us. He needed our help for something, and to him, we let him down. He doesn't look at all surprised."

Jade's nose twitched and she turned her head away while muttering to herself. "He'll get over it won't he? It was just some stupid show, right? Who was going to go?" The sound in Jade's voice was of denial, which Tori didn't think was all that surprising considering how much they didn't want to think they were letting anyone down. It was hard to believe that Robbie, of all people, could resent them.

"It depends on his needs, I think, Jade. He was running late and couldn't get to the shop on time and didn't have the props he needed for his act."

Ares turned his head to Robbie, then back to the group. "I recall hearing when they came to ride the horses last week, that Robbie's kid sister and his dad were coming to visit for the girl's birthday. He wanted to put on this big show to give her a good time."

Tori's stomach lurched and Beck fell to the ground, covering his snout with his paws. It felt terrible that they couldn't help him with that, even though it wasn't their fault entirely, they still shunned and berated him behind his back. "A fucking legitimate reason!" Beck scoffed and pushed himself back up. Tension grew heavy in the air while they stared at Robbie for a moment.

Beck moved over to Robbie, gazing up at the boy. Robbie looked at him and furrowed his brow. "What do you want, this sandwich?" Robbie extended the sandwich and Beck shook his head, causing Robbie's eyes to enlarge. Cat laughed at him.

"He understood you!"

"I'm not sure. A dog shaking his head at food is like-did hell just freeze?" Robbie grew quiet and watched as Beck sat down and continued to stare at him. "What do you want?" Tori was beginning to question the same, concerned by Beck's strange behavior.

"Beck, what are you doing?"

"I'm thinking."

"About?"

"I don't know, it just feels like I should say something. There's obviously nothing I can say, being a dog, but if I could…I'd tell the dude we tried." Beck turned his head towards her and his lips fell further. "Would it matter? I'm trying to figure out how many times we let him down, and if there's any way to even make it right. I shouldn't even care, should I? But a part of me just…I don't know. I'm not the only one that's been feeling strange, am I?"

"Strange how?"

"I don't know." He turned his head back to Robbie and breathed out a heavy sigh. "Like all of a sudden I care where as a human I probably would make some lame ass excuse to try and cover up having let the guy down again. Probably try to give him something like money or whatever so he wouldn't feel bad, or be angry for long. Those things only mask the issue, I know."

"You're dogs," Ares stated abruptly. Beck furrowed his brow and Jade commented on the obvious realization. Ares growled, causing her to jump back. "What I'm saying is that as a dog, you should have a normal sense of loyalty. All dogs have that sense, and you would be feeling it most likely. Why do you think so many people comment about a dog being their best friend? Dogs are the least judgmental, the most sincere and loyal companion to a human."

"I…see."

"Where you still retain your human thoughts, you are probably capable of telling what is right and what isn't as far as emotion and loyalty go. It's not a myth, it's natural. An instinct that all canine have."

Shadow replied with a swift nod and started to stand. His soft and slow voice once more came as a comfort, seemingly melodious to Tori's ears. "There may be a reason the curse transformed you into dogs. Perhaps it is to teach you the sense of loyalty that one should have towards a friend, or a relative-something that perhaps was missing in your life?"

"But what about being free from this curse?" Jade inquired. "How can we do anything if we're dogs that cannot talk!"

Shadow closed his eyes and turned away slightly. "Sometimes it is better to listen than to speak. Maybe what is important is not that you know whether you are loyal or not-because in the end of the day you can tell somebody something all you want, but they may not believe until they are shown."

"But they don't know we're dogs. We need to be human in order to show anything?"

"Do you? How important is it to you that you defend yourself to them with words that to them may only seem an excuse?" Jade stammered for a minute before bowing her head and narrowing her eyes. Beck breathed out and Tori gazed up to Cat and Robbie with mournful eyes. "Sometimes the best thing to say, is nothing at all."

"Or just do what comes natural." Ares turned away with Shadow. The two dogs walked off, and in the distance they heard Ares inform them to get inside when it got dark.

What was natural? Tori couldn't figure it out, but she could only assume it involved taking some time to think about things.

Well I liked that chapter, hope you did too.