Summary: M-21 was howling in the living room.

Pace the Night

By Dark Ice Dragon

Howl

M-21 was howling in the living room. The puppy had joined him and they were both sitting by the window, their snouts pointed towards the ceiling as they filled the room with their howls.

Seira had never heard either of them do that before, but they didn't seem to be in distress so she continued to cook.

There was a break in one of the howls and when she looked over, M-21 had stopped, looking between her and Regis, who was sitting on the sofa, doing his homework. When she made eye-contact with M-21, he howled for a second and then looked back at her, his ears pricked in her direction.

Ah. Seira could guess what he wanted. "Arooo…?" she tried, watching his reaction.

M-21 perked up, his tail wagging.

"What are you doing?" Regis asked, his pen hovering over his notebook, his eyebrows drawn in.

"He wants us to howl with him," Seira said, turning the heat off, just in case.

Regis raised an eyebrow and then looked at M-21, who seemed like he was on the verge of getting on all paws.

"Hm." Regis set his notebook down. "I've finished my homework anyway."

Seira smiled, deciding not to 'remind' Regis of their biology homework – his unfinished sheet was sitting on the table in front of him and he knew it was there.

"Aroooo," she began, hearing Regis follow a second later.

M-21 joined them, his tail wagging.

As Seira ran out of air, the door leading into the house opened and Tao poked his head in. He grinned when he saw her, waving his fingers.

"Are ya having a howling party?"

"Yes," she said, smiling back at him.

"And we weren't invited?" The corners of Tao's mouth turned down in an exaggerated pout, but his lips twitched trying to keep them there.

"You are now invited to this event," she said, dipping her head and Tao laughed as he bounced into the room, Takeo trailing in after him.

"Thanks, Miss Seira! And woah, I thought that was you!" Tao said, looping an arm around Regis' neck, making him splutter.

Tao tipped his head back and howled, louder than all of them combined.

Seira and Takeo started at the same time, and they were all at different pitches, not on the same note.

Movement drew Seira's attention to the entranceway and Raizel-nim and the Chairman were there, an amused smile on the Chairman's lips.

Their howls dropped off one by one as the others became aware of their presence.

M-21 ran over to them and the Chairman crouched down to scratch between M-21's ears as M-21 licked his face. Before anyone could explain, the Chairman howled with the closest approximation to M-21 and the puppy's howls than what they had been able to manage.

But when Raizel-nim closed his eyes and tilted his head back, the sound he made was indistinguishable from the howls M-21 and the puppy made, only lower.

As Raizel-nim and the Chairman were also participating, Seira started to howl again, the rest of the household joining soon after.

Thanks to this post and Aga (darkicedragon tumblr com / post / 125161560489) ;p