Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

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Wrenisprobablyb0red
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Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog (name subject to change)
by WrenIsProbablyBored and Snownerder/Kingpyn

"Bino's stuck in a rut. Things just don't seem to be going his way, despite all the effort he puts in, and how, well, genius he knows he is. However, a reunion with an old friend and a change in the power dynamics of his club force him to confront his ego and realise just how unhappy he is with himself."

Hello! I've been working on this story with a friend the past few weeks and felt ready to post the first chapter. I am still very slowly working on my other fanfiction, but I've got a lot more passion for this, and I actually am pretty fond of how it's turning out. Big ol' shoutout to Kingpyn (aka Snownerder) for helping me with writing and brainstorming, and generally being awesome to hang out with. He's not on the forums, but I obviously couldn't leave him out!

A quick note: This story portrays emotional manipulation and features Duchess as the primary antagonist. She's not exactly a pleasant character, so if you don't want to read about her, I can't fault ya.

Also this features Bino and Sasha becoming friends again, but they do not get back together. Just wanted to make that clear.

-

Chapter One
"The Hateful Hound"

-

It came to Bino as a slow burn. A long, drawn-out menagerie of misfortunes otherwise known as his life. His status, or lack thereof. His vast unhappiness in the face of the content lifestyle of his siblings. A dog has to run out of hubris eventually- and as the delusions died down, Bino realized just how much his life genuinely sucked. His girlfriend? Sucked. His club? Sucked. His current interpersonal situation with all his former friends and allies? Wouldn’t you know it, that sucked too.

How could he have gotten to this point? He was the undisputed leader of the God Awful Dogs Club! And yet, even with this empty badge, this position of perceived prestige and status… Bino got zero respect. Zero admiration. Asserting his position, his rightful spot as the leader, only brought himself annoyed sighs. Glares. Side-eyes.

But then, of course, as long as he offered free food to the dogs in the club, he could at least guarantee attendance for some dogs. But of course, of course of course OF COURSE, his owner just had to decide that no, spending six hundred dollars on dog treats and various snacks every week was not a good use of money. Like, ugh, the gall of that man! If you’re going to get a dog, you should be ready for the expenses. Even if those expenses include feeding the entirety of the neighborhood dogs as well as your own.

Look, as far as a dog is concerned, humans should be endless money pits. There, he said it!

Of course, without the food, club attendance dropped from roughly 40 per meeting to less than ten. A dwindling attendance rate, accentuating Bino's dwindling respectability.

Duchess was of course not happy about this. She and Bino had had really epic and grandiose plans for world domination and Bino had ruined them by not having money anymore. And if Bino was of no use to Duchess, then why would Duchess stay with him? This was a concern that Bino had voiced aloud earlier, to which Max, ever the eavesdropper, offered some admittedly not-as-atrocious-as-usual wisdom.

“You know, Bino, if you have to be useful to your girlfriend to even be with her, it’s probably not a good relationship.”

It wasn’t what Bino wanted to hear. He’d cursed Max out after that, very cursily. Cursively? Wait, didn’t that refer to writing with, like, a slant? No, that was italics. What was cursive again? Hmm. Something to ponder over, at least once he was done being miserable. After he’d cursed Max out, though, he’d gone to his bed and thought about his life, like he often did, because he was cool like that and he thought everything through. Everything. And he’d sort of come to a realization that for once the catnip cruncher he called his roommate and sometimes brother was perhaps not entirely wrong. This was a saddening realization and therefore he didn’t ponder it for much longer.

But the next morning, as he looked in the mirror, he found that he wasn’t particularly excited to start off his day and enjoy his life. He splashed his face and felt a little bit better but not enough to say he felt good. As he went about his day, playing a bit with a ball in his backyard, which wasn’t a whole lot of fun on his own. For a dog, he was… very lonely most of the time. The club was his reprieve from loneliness, to be honest.

He bounced the ball against the back wall of his house. It made the same pank noise that it did every time it hit the wall- it was one of those rubber dodgeballs, the kind that were way too easy to pop if you chewed them a little too hard.

“This is sad, even for you.” Bino recognized the voice saying this, turning around to see one of his least favorite cats, and that was a high bar.

“Why are you spying on me? Devious cat-related reasons? Are you planning a hostile takeover of the GODC? Why don’t you go back to your boyfriend and leave me alone?” Bino spat, the vitriol easily worming its way out of his stomach.

“Laying it on thick today, huh?” Grape asked, her voice even and seemingly unbothered.

“You know, cat is just a LETTER away from rat! And rats are… bad and stuff!”

“They’re pretty tasty, though,” Grape pointed out. “And isn’t your brother in a relationship with one?”

“THAT’S A MOUSE! And I don’t approve of it. Joey and I are not on speaking terms.”

“Weird how both your siblings are in interspecies relationships. I wonder if it runs in your family?”

“IT DOES NOT MY BROTHERS ARE JUST TRAITORS OKAY NOW GO AWAY!”

Grape grinned toothily. “I guess the only brother of yours that you still talk to is Max. I can’t believe your favorite brother is a cat!”

Bino’s jaw dropped. He was mortified- beyond mortified, even. “No! I hate Max, he’s a cat. I don’t talk to cats!”

Grape raised an eyebrow. “You don’t?”

“Never!” Bino decided to accentuate his point by turning away and scoffing out a petulant “hmph”. Grape promptly rolled her eyes at the petty display.

“Well, before I go hang out with Max, I wanted to let you know that Peanut’s thinking of starting another dog club in the area. Says he and some of the other dogs have been missing the GODC. It’s gonna be open to cats too!”

“Then he can’t even call it a dog club? And what do you mean, missing the GODC? It’s still around. Not my fault all the traitors left,” Bino grumbled.

“Isn’t it?” asked Grape. “Well, you and that charming-young-lady you call your girlfriend.”

“You leave Duchess out of this!” Bino demanded. “Or I will maul you! Viciously!”

“I’m going to go have lots of fun cuddles with Max, you can maul me later,” Grape said, padding off down the fence she was on top of.

“Maybe I will!” Bino said. “And you’ll regret being so sassy!”

But Grape didn’t respond. Bino frowned, turning to his rubber ball, left forgotten on the grass. Bino didn’t feel moved to interact with it again. He would have gone to hang out with Duchess, but she probably didn’t want him around.

“Why must my genius leave me isolated so often?” Bino asked himself. He wasn’t being fully serious, he knew his genius had nothing to do with his isolation, and in fact, if more people were aware of his genius, he’d be less isolated.

Maybe he should go spend some time with Fox? Wait, no. Fox sucks. And Bino would never voluntarily hang out with him ever again.

Bino sighed. He looked at the ball again, which each moment became an even more tempting playmate… Well, as tempting as a ball could be.

“Or I could go on a walk,” Bino said to himself. He smiled at the idea. It had been a while since he’d done that for the sake of it- there was always the worry of possibly running into King or Fox or heaven forbid a cat. But walks were nice. He was a dog, after all.

He walked over to the gate for his backyard, unlatching the door and heading out. He would have told his housemates where he was going, but his owner was at work and honestly, he didn’t want to talk to Max right now, especially if he and Grape were cuddling.

Walking down the sidewalk, he took a second to just breathe and admire the world around him. Despite all of the annoying pets living there, Babylon Gardens was still a pretty awesome neighborhood. Lots of space to run around and play, lots of trees, which were just the right shade of green in Bino’s opinion. Despite Bino’s decidedly cloudy mood, the sunny outside did wonders for how he felt- or, for how he SHOULD have felt. Everything around Bino felt so happy, so carefree- and yet, Bino still found himself grounded into a sense of constant unhappiness, that he just couldn’t seem to shake. It was lessened by the stroll, sure, but it persisted in the back of his head.

It was becoming unbearable.

Quickly, though, and perhaps for the best (he didn’t really want to think about his life right now), he found his train of thought interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Hi, I’m Daisy!” said Daisy from behind Bino. Bino turned around.

“Oh, are you now?” he asked, resisting the urge to commit violent acts.

Daisy smiled widely and waved at him. Then, the rather unintelligent dog did something which really surprised Bino. She held out a paw and beckoned for Bino to follow.

Bino raised an eyebrow skeptically. “What’s going on now? A sign of life behind those dead, beady eyes? Truly, I’m shocked.”

If Daisy was at all hurt by this comment, she didn’t make it known in any way, instead just smiling and beckoning again.

Bino frowned. “Really, now, what’s up?” he asked.

“I’m Dai-”

“Yes, yes, you’re Daisy, I get it. Will you tell me what you want if I follow you?”

Daisy nodded. Bino shrugged and decided to play along. He was, after all, an extremely curious dog (and in desperate need of company). Maybe this would get his mind off of things, get his mind off of his loneliness. If nothing else, he could pretend Daisy was just one of his cronies- though he’d expel that thought after a minute. That just felt weird. And sad.

Daisy led Bino down the street a bit, back the way he had come from, before abruptly turning towards the woods. Bino voiced concern about this, pointing out how all the squirrels in the woods might take this as an opportunity to gang up and get revenge on him, but Daisy seemed entirely nonplussed about the very real threat squirrels provided.

After maybe a couple of minutes of walking deeper into the woods, a somewhat obscured doghouse, lying in a tiny clearing between the trees came into view. It was small, even for a doghouse, but appeared well maintained, with some toys littered around outside of it. Bino thought for a second, then recognized it as Sasha’s doghouse, which he hadn’t visited in years at this point. And if he wasn’t mistaken, appeared to have moved from one small woods to another.

“Why am I here, exactly?”

Daisy cleared her throat. “Um, hi. Sorry, I don’t… talk much, well, uh, you know how I act most of the time. But there’s something I sorta feel I need to tell you.”

Bino was surprised to see Daisy talking like a relatively normal dog, and voiced his surprise with rigor. “Holy crap, you actually have a brain!”

Daisy sighed. “Well, obviously, not that you’ve ever looked at me twice.”

“Look, I figured Sasha hung out with you to feel smart, that’s what I do with my croni- I mean, friends, at least.”

“Oh, dear, then maybe this was a bad idea,” Daisy considered.

“Hey! Tell me why you dragged me out here. And also why this dog house isn’t in the same place it used to be.” Bino made these demands with his shoulders raised, in an attempt to look maybe more intimidating or something.

“Oh, that. Well, you know this is Sasha’s doghouse. I’m not sure if you’re aware, seeing as Sasha left the GODC, but she moved. Not, like, out of the neighborhood, but into a house with a bunch of other self-owned animals. Sponsored by the Miltons.”

Bino raised his eyebrows. “Oh, wow. Good on her for leaving her owner, that guy was just… horrible! But is she really able to look after herself?”

“She’s not alone, she’s got the Miltons looking out for her, as well as Kevin- that’s her new boyfriend, I don’t know if you know him- and the other animals living in the same house as her. And she’s adapting pretty well, too. Is even thinking about getting a job or something at some point.”

“So what does any of this have to do with me?” Bino asked. He was starting to get impatient. He hadn’t talked to Sasha in forever and really didn’t care that much anymore.

“Well, you see, Sasha’s still quite lonely, and according to her, misses the GODC quite a lot. So I guess I’m here to ask that you unban her from it, because Sasha’s not planning on asking you herself.”

Bino frowned. “I thought Sasha left of her own volition?”

“Duchess banned her. Were you not aware of that?”

“Duchess… banned her? She doesn’t have the proper club status to carry out bannings without first consulting me. Nobody does, not even me! I have to consult myself too!” Bino gritted his teeth and growled. “Why would Duchess betray my trust like that? She knows the policy is only ban the cat lovers. Was Sasha hanging out with any cats that you know of?”

Daisy shrugged. “I’m not going to try and explain to you that your girlfriend is just using you, though I did hear rumors at the last club meeting that she’s planning on banning you next. Heard that from Boris I think?”

“I don’t believe you,” said Bino, who was visibly panicking. “Duchess would never do that to me. She’s not a usurper, unlike King!”

“What does King have to do with this?” asked Daisy, looking very confused.

“He usurped my best friend!”

“Um, okay. Well, if you don’t get banned, make sure to unban Sasha from the club. Might even bring back some of the other club members, too.”

“I’m not going to get banned! And I’ll prove to you I’m still in control of the club, I’ll unban Sasha tonight! Be at tonight’s meeting by the way. Please please please.”

Daisy huffed in amusement. “Yup. Make sure to tell Sasha by the way, I brought you here so she could talk to you. She’s napping in the doghouse. Well, anyways. Bye, I’m Daisy!” The black dog then promenaded off.

“Wait, but…! You said she– why?” Bino’s questions went unanswered. This didn’t make sense to him! Sasha hadn’t been planning on asking him to unban her- Daisy had made that clear- so what else could she have to say to Bino?

Bino turned away from the quickly evading dog, staring at the doghouse.

“She’s sleeping, huh?”

He stepped forward towards it, trying to look innocent and quietly whistling before knocking on the doghouse. He wasn’t sure why he did this, but if any squirrels were watching, he assumed they’d try to spread gossip about him and Sasha, so it was probably something to do with that.

“Whoooo is it?” came the voice from within. If Bino were to describe it, he’d say it was sweet, innocent, and deceptive.

“It’s Bino. Like you asked for?”

There was the sound of shuffling around inside, presumably as Sasha disentangled herself from blankets, and then Sasha exited the dog house, turning to look at Bino.

“I didn’t ask for you to talk to me,” Sasha said, head tilted in the side in genuine confusion. She was wearing an unbuttoned hawaiian shirt dotted with pineapples and a pair of jorts, but despite seemingly having the fashion sensibilities of a midwestern great-uncle, she looked alright, if a little disheveled from having been asleep.

“Well, um, Daisy said you did? Anyhow, you’re unbanned from the Good Ol’ Dogs Club. Duchess took initiative when she wasn’t supposed to by banning you, and I need to talk to her about that. But you’re free to attend meetings to hang out with everyone,” Bino said, feeling awkward.

“Daisy told you I wanted to talk to you? Strange. Now I wonder why she’d do that. Oh well. How’s the club going?”

Oh, gosh. I really wasn’t planning on making small talk. Doesn’t Sasha remember our uber mega tumultuous history? Bino sighed and attempted to smile, looking very uncomfortable in spite of himself. “Yeah, uh, the club’s going… fine. Well, maybe not fine. There’s only eleven or twelve dogs at each meeting now! They’ve all forsaken me! As soon as I stop being of use to them by providing food, they abandon me! But I guess that’s a good thing. Now we’ve got all the disloyal cat-lovers out of the club.”

“What’s this about loyalty? Isn’t the club supposed to be a spot to make ou- I mean, hangout?” Sasha looked incredibly confused at this point.

Ignoring Sasha’s freudian slip, for Bino was well aware of the other dog’s loose definition of monogamy, Bino just sighed. “It’s- nothing. I don’t know. I’m- I don’t need to have an explanation!”

Sasha nodded. “Er, okay, that’s fine.”

“So what’s with the clothing? And- oh my, you don’t have a collar!?” Bino looked somewhat scandalized, though this was admittedly offset a bit by the actual clothing Sasha was wearing.

“Oh yeah! Well, you see, now that I don’t have an owner, I don’t have a collar, other than the one on my shirt.” Sasha popped up the collar on her button-down. “Humans call these things collars, but they usually like them pressed down and not covering anything. How strange! All my housemates wear clothing and I felt sorta naked having no collar AND no clothing, so I got Keene to hook me up with some clothes, and he got me this human named Taylor, who apparently makes clothing.”

“Huh,” said Bino. “That’s nice of him.”

“It is! Keene also helped me with studying for the GOE and paying for stuff, at least until I get a job of my own.”

“What’s the GOE?” asked Bino.

“General Obedience Exam. Animals need to take it if they wish to become humans basically. It’s not that hard. Mostly just human customs things, like, what do you do when a human holds their hand out to you?”

Bino paused to ponder this for a moment. “Grab it and pull it up and down?” he said, remembering how his owner often greeted other humans.

“More or less,” agreed Sasha. “How come you’re talking to me? I thought you still hated me.”

Bino had NOT been prepared for the conversation to all-too-suddenly shift gears right there, and he opened and closed his mouth trying to formulate a sentence for a little bit. “Um, well, you see…”

He wasn’t sure exactly when he had stopped hating Sasha. Really, all things considered, he should have quite a lot against Sasha, at least from the way their relationship ended. He’d never fully stopped to self reflect on this though, and simply found this morning when Sasha was brought up, he didn’t have that normal simmering hatred in his stomach.



“I don’t hate you because it was never going to work out between us, and I guess I found someone I like a lot more.” Or so I tell myself. If Duchess is going behind my back…

Sasha laughed. “Haha, yeah, you were way too insecure about all the guys I kissed.”

Bino let out a growl which soon collapsed into a sigh. “I wasn’t insecure, I just felt like you were disloyal! And you kinda were!”

Sasha chuckled dismissively. “Well, that’s all in the past now. Besides, you were an awful boyfriend!”

Bino wanted to retort back and say he was a wonderful boyfriend, but it had been years and at this point even he couldn’t begin to claim he’d been a great boyfriend.

“Yeah, I suppose I was.” Bino turned towards the trees, hoping there weren’t any squirrels nearby, before catching himself staring wistfully into the woods. He wasn’t sure what it was that he was staring into the woods for. Perhaps it was just one of many things to look at. Still, he felt himself growing sad.

I used to have so many friends. I really wish they hadn’t all betrayed me! Now they don’t get to see how great I am.

Yeah, that was it. He was feeling lonely. Again. Stupid loneliness. It proved inescapable.

“Didn’t expect you to outright admit it,” said Sasha.

“You know what? Me neither.” Bino shrugs. It was the truth- usually, he never really admitted to anything, unless it made his image look a bit better. But here he was, faced with cold, hard facts from Sasha of all dogs… facts that he was helpless to dispute.

Just like how the GODC was slowly dwindling away.

Just like how impossibly lonely he felt, even among other pets.

Just like how empty his life felt. How barren everything seemed. Everyone else was moving on with their lives, enjoying what’s given to them. And Bino was stuck in his static, sad bubble. Sasha was visual proof of this.

“How’s the GODC doing?” asked Sasha.

“Not… well,” said Bino, clutching his stomach as if he’d been dealt a blow. “Um, you see, my owner stopped paying for the food we have at each club meeting, and more than half the members stopped attending…”

Bino sighed. “They don’t know how hard I work for them!”

Sasha looked confused. “Don’t you just annoy them with your wordy speeches?”

Bino gasped. “My speeches are one of the main draws!” Bino said, feeling great offense. Maybe they weren’t exactly one of the main draws, but he worked so hard to come up with a new speech every meeting! He used to be able to run them by Fox and Rex before the club met, but now, he just had to hope they were good. But none of the dogs ever seemed to complain about them, so…

“I thought most of the dogs only came for the food,” Sasha admitted. “Back when my owner didn’t… feed me… all that well, that was one of the reasons I came.” Sasha’s usually chipper demeanor faded quickly as she recounted that. “I know I wasn’t the only dog who really relied on that when times got hard…” She scratched idly at her muzzle, eyes trained on the ground.

Bino frowned. “Oh… um. I didn’t realize it… mattered so much.” Did the attendants only ever come because I made food for them? They must have… never even liked me to begin with.

Sasha nodded. “It mattered a lot to some of us. But if there isn’t anything you can do to bring it back, it sucks that all the dogs left.”

“Yeah! It really does. I didn’t even think they liked the food I made for them much. Nobody ever compliments me on it!”

Sasha looked surprised.

“Really? No one? That’s… what about Fox and Rex and your other friends you had?”

“No, well, Fox used to, but he was probably only complimenting it to gain my approval! And Rex helped teach me how to cook, so it’s bound to already fit his tastes. And therefore any compliment he gave me would be totally invalid!” Bino declared.

“I didn’t even know you made all the food,” Sasha admitted. “I remember it being really good…”

Bino shrugged. “Yeah, it’s not like I spent hours every week doing it or anything. Or decided not to attend dates because of it. Or…”

Sasha chuckled. “Oh… I always thought that when you said you couldn’t go out with me because you were cooking, it was just an excuse.”

Bino shrugged and scratched behind his ear. “Well, I mean, it was at least partially an excuse, but I did spend a lot of time cooking. Do the dogs really not know this about me?”

Sasha hummed. “I mean I don’t think anyone knows.”

“Gah!” cried Bino. “And to think I put in so much effort! In several of my speeches, I mentioned wanting to get someone other than me, er, and sometimes Rex I suppose, to do cooking!”

“Nobody has ever listened to your speeches, Bino,” said Sasha, looking at him closely.

Bino wanted to immediately bite back, but he did technically know it was true. “That’s another thing nobody appreciates! I put in hours of work into each and every speech, I make sure to address relevant issues, and nobody ever listens to me! Is my opinion not important!?”

Bino had begun to pace around as he ranted, while Sasha had sat down on the roof of her doghouse, simply watching Bino.

“Well maybe you’re going about it wrong,” Sasha pointed out. “I always tuned out because the speeches were so looong… and ego-y, that too.”

“But the longer the speech, the more work it shows I put into it, and the better leader I am,” said Bino, gesturing towards his chest. “I don’t want to just say a few words and then move on, I want people to know I worked hard on the speech!”

“I don’t know,” said Sasha. She’d never been one for planned speeches herself, preferring to talk others' ears off about whatever was on her mind. That, and Bino certainly sounded like he was making a good point.

Bino brought a paw up to his chin. “Perhaps… I should ask more questions during speeches, to keep the audience engaged… Methinks I have a plan!”

He grinned widely, rubbing his paws together like some kind of cartoon supervillain.

“Bino,” Sasha said, “Would you want to sit through one of your own speeches?”

Bino looked up at Sasha, then down at his paws, hiding them behind his back. “What? I mean, yes! Of course. My speeches miiiight be too long, but they’re filled to the brim with excellent talking points and good humor. Everyone hates my speeches because they don’t like me! Yeah, that’s it.”

Sasha scrunched her eyebrows. “Uhhh… I don’t hate you?”

Bino smiled. “You don’t!? But I was such an awful boyfriend!” His tail was wagging, further bewildering Sasha.

“We were never meant to be,” said Sasha. “And maybe…” she paused, trying to think of how to say the next bit. “I wasn’t… hmm, I dunno.”

Bino nodded. “I suppose that’s fair. But I think it would be excellent if we could still be friends!”

Sasha smiled, though she did feel a bit of concern over Bino’s emotional state in the back of her mind. “Sure! Do you wanna kiss?”

Bino chuckled. “What?”

Sasha nodded. “It’s been a really long time.”

Bino scratched at his collar, now feeling bewildered himself. “Uh, no… no thank you. I have a girlfriend. And hey, you have a boyfriend! And friends don’t normally kiss each other!”

“They don’t?” asked Sasha, looking genuinely stunned. “But I kiss everyone!”

“You- I mean, I’m not shocked…” Bino said, looking uncomfortable. “Look, I’d… rather not bring up any painful memories. I’ve got to go work on revising a speech now. I’m gonna make it more engaging! I’d love to see you at the club meeting tonight!”

“Alright!” said Sasha, perking up. “I’ll be there! It’s going to be a blast, just like old times.”

Bino nodded, smiling widely and tail wagging. “See you soon!” he said, walking off.

Maybe not like old times, he thought to himself, his tail slowing down. He couldn’t deny that the club was smaller now, and he felt empty without being able to spend as much time cooking… But if Sasha was there, it’d probably be alright. And hey, he’d get to see Duchess again! It had been a few days since they had talked.

He smiled. For once, it seemed like things were looking up.
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I really love how you managed to start this story up! I look forward to more!
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CryosR
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

I like this, you kept Bino in character and I actually feel bad for him. I want to see where this is going. Yeah I hate Duchess but her as the antagonist will probably work well for this
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I also hate Duchess and want to see her get what is coming to her. If Bino dumps her when he begins his redemption that will be a bonus.
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MischaTheWolf
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

Loving the premise of this! To be honest, Bino was always my number 1 most hated of the dog characters, but slowly I think Duchess may earn that spot. I literally cannot think of a redeemable quality she possesses.
NHWestoN
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

Always enjoy a creative spirit doing something ingenious with the original "gang"! (Nice to see Sasha and Daisy on the same stage again, too.)
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

It has been a very long time since we have seen them. Even longer in the case of Daisy who we now know obfuscates stupidity.
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MischaTheWolf
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

I honestly have a theory that Daisy is the most intelligent of all the pets, and she’s just trolling everyone the entire time.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

MischaTheWolf wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 1:20 pm I honestly have a theory that Daisy is the most intelligent of all the pets, and she’s just trolling everyone the entire time.
Oh, I agree! In fact, if you read a 2016 arc, Real Stories of the K9PD, Daisy is interrorgated by King and Mungo about the disappearance of Sasha. After doing her "Hi, I'm Daisy" dumb dog routine, she gobsmacks the two cops by suddenly revealing herself as extremely intelligent, articulate (but somewhat garbled), perceptive, and compassionate. We also learn that she and Sasha are pals.

Under the heading of "What-coulda-been", I've always thought Daisy and Sasha would have made a fun comic duo - Sasha's ditzy, artistic, extroverted, and relentlessly upbeat personality playing off Daisy's gentle, melancholy, and intellectual character. Maybe not Thelma and Louise, okay, but a pairing with real possibilities for humor and depicting a genuine odd-couple friendship between eccentric two females with real depth.

Or maybe I'm just crabby about the revisions in the wiki charcter and arc accounts that deleted a lot of the older writings contributed by fans no longer on the forum. Hey, I'm old.

But I really like Daisy.

Footnote: this arc is Daisy's last appearance and also Mungo's first.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Maybe as one of the new one-off strips that Rick plans to do after this arc will be of Sasha and Daisy being a comedy duo.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by trekkie »

Nice work so far, Bino seems to be coming around to the fact that he needs to change some things about himself, interesting that he cooks. Maybe he and Maxwell could do it together, I look forward to seeing Duchess get smacked down, verbally or otherwise.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I wanna see a verbal smackdown because she is too horrible for anything that is slapstick. I save that for the characters I like. =D
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

trekkie wrote: Thu Oct 06, 2022 10:37 am Nice work so far, Bino seems to be coming around to the fact that he needs to change some things about himself, interesting that he cooks. Maybe he and Maxwell could do it together, I look forward to seeing Duchess get smacked down, verbally or otherwise.
Or a pie in the face. Duchess is a perfect foil for the ol'pie in the puss bit. Even funnier if she gets smacked because the pie was actually thrown at Bino ... but he ducked. Maybe Mrs Macgillicuddy will bake a few for the purpose.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! Only the good and kind-hearted nice characters get hit with pies. Its embarrassing but they can just shrug it off. That could be Bino's redemption!

Duchess deserves to have a piano shoved up her nose.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

Yeah, I agree. Bino might deserve a pie in the face. That’s too wholesome for Duchess though, she deserves to be turned into a pie. Not in a gruesome way, that would be gross, just by magic or something.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I wouldn't say her being turned into a pie is enough. Almost too easy. I want my slapstick involving her getting whats coming to her being extreme.

Who in the neighborhood has a baby grand piano? :mrgreen:
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

Doesn't Sasha have a baby grand?
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

No, not a baby grand. It had to be small enough to fit in her doghouse. But the pro is, more convenient to shove up people’s noses.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Though the doghouse might be a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside and she might HAVE been able to get one in there. LOL
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

True, but it was a gift from Bino. Do you think Bino’s someone to give super expensive gifts? (Unless he stole the piano from his owner lol)
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

Oh, wow! The response to this story is really blowing my mind. 20 replies to the first chapter alone? I don't think I've seen that before! Thanks, everyone, I really appreciate that! I'm glad you're enjoying reading the story and discussing it. :mrgreen:

This chapter's almost entirely by me, except Snownerder wrote the third paragraph, haha. But Snownerder came up with most of the plotpoints here, so make sure to thank him!

I'll reply to individual comments after the chapter post.
Slight content warning: Mentions of injury, and Duchess is extremely manipulative, toxic, and borderline abusive towards Bino. Also there is a pretty serious panic attack in this chapter, and Bino's view of others is extremely warped and self-detrimental. It's all kept PG, but if you don't wanna read this sort of thing, here's your warning. This chapter is the worst it gets.

-

Chapter Two
The Destined Dispute

Bino continued to feel good about himself for quite a bit afterwards. As he began to rewrite his speech for the day, he felt almost as though the muses were speaking to him. As he wrote, he made sure to include a section thanking Sasha for returning, and smiled at the thought of his friend.

It had been too long since he’d looked forward to spending time with someone at the GODC. Now, he was practically giddy.

It was getting easier to ignore the lingering sense of emptiness within his chest. As he drafted up his speech, he found himself continually looking up at the clock on the wall above his dog bed. It wasn’t moving nearly fast enough!

And yet also too fast. It was only an hour until the meeting, and he hadn’t finished the speech. He looked over it again, silently cursing to himself and wishing he had a computer to do his edits on, rather than handwriting.

He stared at the section about what the cats had been up to recently (essentially nothing. From his intel on Maxwell, he had gathered that they were maybe thinking of doing a crawfish boil but hadn’t secured any crawfish. He had a section about how this was probably a ruse for an attack, but with a sigh he crossed it out, knowing that it’d be fine for one day, and he really did need to cut down on the speech some if he wanted to finish writing in time. Sasha’s right.

He continued to pore over the speech until the alarm he had set went off. His ears perked up and he rushed to shut the alarm off before Max could yell at him about it. He sighed. “Well, time to head to the meeting!” He said to nobody in particular.

“Seeya later,” said his owner. “If I need you, today's meeting is in Duchess' backyard right?”

“Yup!” said Bino, tail wagging and ears perked up.

“You seem excited today,” his owner noted as Bino walked by. “Have a good time!”

Bino nodded, then pushed open his front door and headed outside. He didn't need to walk very far to get to Duchess' house, only about three minutes. He heard a couple of voices of dogs who were already there, but it was still about fifteen minutes til the meeting started, so Bino had time to get stuff ready.

Unlocking the gate to Duchess' backyard, he felt strange as he was not greeted by his usual salutes from Boris and Yeltsin, but simply by twin scathing stares. Bino decided that he needed to quickly talk to Duchess about her banning of Sasha, and looked around a bit in an attempt to locate his girlfriend. After a couple minutes of not finding her, and of receiving dismissive grunts from Boris and Yeltsin after asking them, he gave up on trying to find her himself, and instead began to practice his speech.

“Today, our club is stronger and better than before. It may seem bleak, without most of our members, but now we’re left with those who truly care. Those of us who have formed a bond. A big… big ol’ cheese. Cheese. That’s not what my speech is about, I’m just… saying words. Cheese!” Bino trailed off. Practice did not seem to be going so well, but he was confident enough in the wording of his speech. He shut his eyes and began to recite it from memory.

“You done?” asked a cold voice. There was no elevation or dipping of tone in the British accent, merely an even, calculated drawl.

“Hi, Duchess!” Bino exclaimed, attempting to not flinch. “How’s it going, honey?”

Bino leaned forward for a hug before remembering Duchess’s distaste for physical contact, then carefully leaned back. He’d always struggled with that.

“You said you’d get more dogs to join today’s meeting,” said Duchess.

Bino looked at his feet. “Well, uh, you see…” He paused, trying to explain himself. He hadn't thought he'd be struggling to talk to Duchess right now, but the judgemental look that was beaming into his chest made it hard to say anything.

“There should be at least one more dog tonight,” Bino said, trying not to look guilty or weak or upset or really any emotion at all. “I told Sasha she could rejoin the club.”

“You did WHAT!?” Duchess cried, and then slapped Bino across the face with the back of her palm. “I banned that mutt for a reason!”

Bino blinked in surprise, but didn’t let himself flinch. He then opened and narrowed his eyes. “You aren't allowed to do that,” he pointed out, attempting to be reasonable. “If you're upset about that, then just tell me why.” He rubbed his muzzle where he'd been hit. It didn't hurt yet, and was merely numb, but Bino had been clobbered enough times to know that pain was incoming, and that Duchess had hit HARD.

“Sasha is not allowed in the club, and that's that. Do you really want such vapid company in the club anyways? It reflects badly on us. Y'know, she only ever went to meetings to find more mates, even when you were still dating her!” Duchess looked at her fingers calmly, as if inspecting her nails. She dug under one of her claws as if to remove some grime, and then brushed off her hands as if she'd touched something disgusting and couldn't wait to wash her paws.

Bino whimpered. “She... She's not a threat to you, you know?” he reasoned.

“King's not a threat to you, either, and you still banned him from the club,” Duchess pointed out, tapping Bino on the nose.

“Maybe King’s not a threat… but I don’t like him! And I communicated with you about keeping him banned, therefore following club procedure.” Bino corrected, turning his nose away from Duchess and looking at the ground. “Sasha is unbanned,” he said, balling up his fists.

Duchess scoffed. “Might wanna get your owner to take a look at your face, by the way.”

“What?” asked Bino, turning to face Duchess again. He had only been hit, there shouldn't be a visible mark under his fur.

Duchess quickly reached out and slashed his face. “WHAT WERE YOU DOING WITH SASHA!?” she roared, her sudden rage palpable and overbearing. Bino crouched back, wincing, then clutched at his face. He felt the sting of a gash, and something welling beneath his paws.

“What- I just invited her back, I’m not doing anything with her!” Bino defended himself, whimpering and trying to regain his composure.

Duchess pushed him onto the grass, scowling. “You pitiful mutt, you've been ruining my plans and messing up the club since I got here. I don't have any reason to keep you around anymore, and you know it, so you're going back to your old, unfaithful love, in hopes that it'll be as good as I am. But it will never be, because you're nothing without me. And you'd better not talk to Sasha ever again. And you had BETTER get attendance up by at least five by the next meeting, or so help me, I’ll kick you out of the club myself.”

Bino wanted to scream, but he just felt tears welling up under his eyes. “But-”

Duchess’s venomous expression suddenly turned sickly sweet. “Oh, I shouldn’t get too mad at you. I know it was just that awful Sasha trying to influence you, tell you that I’m not good for you, when really, I’m responsible for everything you’ve accomplished. Has she been poisoning your mind?” Duchess perked up an eyebrow.

Bino groaned, tears beginning to pour out of his eyes uncontrollably. “No, no! She hasn’t done anything. I only talked with her for like twenty minutes! Daisy told me to invite her back to the club, blame her, not me!” He started to sob uncontrollably.

“I thought so,” said Duchess, “I guess there’s another member we need to ban. Oh, and now it looks like you need to increase membership by six before the next meeting! Funny how that happened.”

Bino didn’t know what to say, so he found himself merely staring at the grass, trying to figure out what exactly he should do next.

“Look, you’re a total mess now!” said Duchess, before sighing dramatically. “How about you leave and I’ll handle the speech for tonight. That sound good?”

Bino froze for what felt like forever, before eventually nodding. He couldn’t formulate any words for fear he’d start sobbing uncontrollably, so he merely closed his eyes, stood up, and walked on out the gate, not even bothering to say goodbye to anyone.

His paws thundered across the ground as he stamped away, sadness quickly beginning to turn to rage, though he couldn’t figure out what to direct it towards quite yet.

With a sudden yelp, he crashed right into a taller dog, one wearing clothing. He fell backwards to the ground, and looked up.

“Sorry!” he yelped, his tears rushing back. “Oh- Sasha!”

Sasha looked greatly concerned. “Oh my gosh, are you okay!?” she said, grabbing onto Bino’s arm and helping him up.

Bino nodded, though he wasn’t able to meet Sasha’s eyes. He felt as if Duchess might be watching, and if that was the case, that might just be the end of everything he’d worked so hard for.

“Who attacked your face!? I passed by your house on the way here, your owner isn’t home right now. Let’s get you to my home, Marion knows first aid!”

“The doghouse?” asked Bino, before thinking about it a bit more. “Oh right, your own house.” He felt kind of shellshocked, simply standing there with a blank expression for a couple seconds.

Sasha grabbed onto his shoulders. “Come on, come on, no time to waste!” she cried.

It’s really not that urgent, Bino thought to himself, feeling almost nothing except a bit of the breeze on his gash as Sasha dragged him in the direction of what was presumably her home.

He was shaken out of his daze when Sasha made a sudden hard-left turn into a completely conspicuous driveway. “This is your house?” he asked, not ready to say much else yet.

“Yes, now c’mon, we don’t want it to get infected!”

“Infections usually take days to set in, Sasha,” said Bino blankly. “And it’s just a scratch.”

“Nonsense, I’m getting Marion to look at you,” Sasha insisted, opening up the front door. “Take off your shoes!”

“I don’t wear shoes,” said Bino.

“Me neither, come to think of it. Dunno why I said that,” said Sasha, looking momentarily confused, before perking back up.

“MARION!” she called, cupping her paws to her muzzle. “I NEED YOUR HELP REAL QUICK!”

There was the sound of some tired scuffling upstairs, before Marion rushed down the stairs, looking somewhat out of breath.

“She’s a squirrel?” asked Bino, looking at Sasha in confusion.

He’s a squirrel,” said Marion with an exaggerated eye roll. “What happened to your face? You get in a fight?”

“...Nothing. Can I chase you?” Bino asked, smiling lightly.

Marion groaned.

“Someone ruthlessly attacked him, and he needs medical attention!” Sasha reported.

“Someone did what?” Marion asked.

“I didn’t get attacked,” Bino said, trying to look calm. “I just… fell in a holly bush. A really pointy holly bush.”

“They’re clawmarks,” said Marion, unimpressed. “Deep ones, at that. Unless you did that to yourself, you got attacked. Now let me go get the first aid kit, seeing as none of you animals seem to know how to administer first aid on yourselves.” With that, Marion scampered off. Bino resisted the urge to give chase.

“You live with a squirrel!?” Bino whisper-shouted. “That’s almost as bad as living with a cat! How are you not distracted all day?”

Sasha looked at Bino. “I got used to it, I guess. I dunno?”

Bino frowned. “I thought you lived with other dogs. Next thing you’re gonna tell me that your other roommate is a wildcat.”

“No,” said Sasha. “He’s a red panda. My other other roommate is a wildcat.”

“Your othe-”

“I’m back!” Marion announced, running back into the room. “What’s your name again, smaller dog?”

“Uh- It’s Bino?”

“You seem a bit unsure, but whatever. Bino, could you lie your head on that table so I can reach it?” Marion pointed to a coffee table inside of a little sitting room, a bit to the left of the front door near where they were standing.

Bino shrugged, walking over to the table. He noticed as he laid his head against it that his jaw also hurt, presumably from clenching it so hard.

“Alright, now let me get the bandages out. These ones aren’t too sticky, they’re designed not to rip out any fur. Still, we might have to cut off some of the fur around the gash, just so that it doesn’t get all messy.” Marion pulled out a pair of scissors from the first aid kit, and some sort of ointment, and then some bandages. “Don’t worry, it’ll grow back. And you’ll have a cool scar after.”

Bino attempted to nod, though with his face pressed against the table, it was more so just sliding his head up and down a bit.

Marion pulled out a pair of scissors and got to work trimming the fur around the gash. He then applied some ointment and stuck the bandages on. The feeling of them on his face bugged Bino, but it also helped him realize just how much larger the gash was than he thought. It ran all the way from his nose to near where his eye was, and he felt thankful he had been facing Duchess head on with his muzzle taking most of the brunt, or his eye would have surely been attacked as well.

“Okay, so I did… a job,” said Marion, wiping his brow as if he’d been sweating. Bino knew this was a human gesture, as most animals (or dogs at least) didn’t have sweat glands there, and wiping fur did little. Plus there was the ‘you animals,’ comment from earlier.

“You used to be a human, didn’t you?” asked Bino.

“Uh, yeah. It made international news? My face was everywhere?”

Bino paused. “Oh. I only heard about it in passing from my brother Max. I had no idea that the former human was living in Babylon Gardens.”

Bino felt weird talking to a squirrel that had once been taller than him. He straightened out his back, sitting up from the table to mentally adjust for this, regaining his vantage over the squirrel.
Bark at it, the back of his brain told him. He shook himself, as if drying off. “Thank you,” he said, keeping his tone level. But was all of that really necessary?

The sound of heavier footsteps startled Bino, and he looked towards the stairs where they seemed to be coming from. “Can I have Marion back?” asked a deep voice.

Marion sighed. “Come down here, Lois, we have a guest.”

And a snow leopard came descending down the stairs. Bino’s eyes widened in shock, and he let out a scream before covering his muzzle with both his paws.

The leopard looked surprised. “Haven’t seen that reaction in a while,” they said, expression returning to neutral.

“Don’t eat me!” Bino pleaded, putting his paws behind his neck.

“Only if I get real hungry,” the leopard said with an evil grin.

Sasha came into the room, wearing a soft robe and holding a couple glasses of water. Bino hadn’t even noticed her slip out. “Lois, don’t joke about that.”

Bino felt his teeth chatter. “Can I go now?” he asked. Not only was he face to face with an unfamiliar cat, a situation he despised at the best of times, but this one was bigger and maul-ier than him. Not to mention, it would be able to smell his blood!

…Or was that sharks?

“Bino, meet Lois. She’s perfectly friendly. Lois, meet Bino. He’s had a rough day,” said Sasha, ignoring Bino’s question.

“Really, it's my fault,” said Bino, frowning. He wasn't entirely sure if he fully believed it was his fault, but he definitely didn't want anyone to get angry at Duchess on his behalf.

“What happened?” asked Sasha. “I don't think I ever actually asked.”

Bino nodded. “Well, uh, so I told Duchess that I'd boost attendance for today's dog club meeting. And I only managed to invite you, so she was pretty upset about that. Which I get, it is something she asked me to do, and I should have gotten it done rather than spend so long working on my stupid speech.”

“Well, you still did manage to invite me. And are you saying that Duchess did this to you?” asked Sasha, pointing an accusatory paw at the bandages on Bino's face.

“No, no, I... uh...” Bino sighed, thinking of a good lie. “It was Boris and Yeltsin,” he lied. “They were mad about me disappointing Duchess.”

“You got attacked by Boris and Yeltsin? But they have much larger claws than the marks on your face,” Sasha pointed out. “They would have killed you.”

“Ugh,” said Bino, rolling his eyes. “Why are you always smart when it's least convenient for me?”

“What do you mean?” Sasha asked.

Marion raised an eyebrow. “Should Lois and I just... get back to what we were doing? Um... sleeping? Which is definitely what we were doing?”

Sasha turned to the squirrel and nodded. “Sweet dreams!”

Marion and Lois filed out of the room, Lois waving teasingly at the dog as she exited. This left Bino and Sasha together in the living room.

There was a tense silence for a moment.

Bino sighed. “Look, Duchess did claw my face, but it was just gut anger... She apologized immediately after.”

“She did? But she didn't offer you any medical help or anything?” Sasha asked, now looking really confused.

“No, I guess not!” Bino said, slamming his paws against the coffee table. “Why does it even matter?”

“You should stop spending time with Duchess,” Sasha said. Bino turned to stare at her in disbelief, thinking she must have been telling some strange joke. But Sasha looked more serious than ever, concern (or maybe just pity, Bino thought to himself) evident across her narrowed facial features.

“I can't just stop seeing my girlfriend,” Bino pointed out. “And besides, I bet you're just trying to influence me like Duchess said. I wouldn't have messed up tonight if it weren't for you!”

Sasha's mouth went agape. “You don't really believe that, do you?”

“If I had recruited any other dog, it would have been fine, but because it was you, this happened,” said Bino, forcing a grin and pointing at the bandage. “Duchess knows what she’s doing, you know. She banned you for a reason and I shouldn’t have doubted her, really. I bet you’re planning something behind my back. Or getting a kick out of watching me like… this.” Bino’s smile wavered. “And now Max is going to make fun of me all night and I'm not even gonna get to sleep because he hates me.” He felt his voice creak a little with that last sentence, but be fought back the emotions welling up.

“You can stay here tonight,” Sasha offered.

“Why would I do that? You probably just want to make out with me,” Bino said, scowling bitterly. “You never really cared about me when we were together, anyways. Always… messing around with other dogs. Never giving me any respect or treating me like you cared. At all.” He breathed in deeply. “I was so jealous… all the time.”

“I only did that because you sucked!” Sasha exclaimed, rolling her eyes dismissively. “I have needs, you know.”

Bino rubbed at his forehead.

“Clearly you don’t want my help, so I guess if you really want to leave, I won't stop you!”

Bino crossed his arms. “Well, fine then. I didn’t want you to stop me from leaving anyways!”

“Well, if you’re going to be a meanie then maybe I don’t even want you here,” Sasha declared. “I thought we were friends!”

Bino frowned. “I don’t owe you my friendship.”

Sasha turned away with a little hurt whimper. Bino expected her to say more, but she just continued to whimper slightly, and Bino sighed. He didn’t understand why she did… Well, he didn’t understand something, and that was clear to him. He scowled, stood up from the couch, and turned towards the door, leaving the house in a huff.

With his fists by his side, he stomped all the way back to his own home. He wasn’t looking forward to seeing Max, who would ridicule him for his injury and say it was deserved, like he did when Bino got hit by a frying pan. Or fell out of a tree.

He was angry, so deeply angry, his scowl causing the corners of his mouth to hurt, his brow furrowed beneath the bandage which tugged awkwardly at his fur despite Marion’s best efforts.

He found himself face to face with his front door. His arm felt shaky, and as he reached out for the doorknob, he didn’t feel like he could bring himself to turn it.

He took in a deep breath and let his rage bubble over. He slammed open the door, the thud echoing through the house, followed immediately by the sound of Maxwell jumping up and bumping against something in surprise.

Bino stormed into the house. He slammed the door behind him, and then stared out the little window embedded in the door for a second, his claws digging into the hardwood floor. He froze again, trying to decide what to do next.

“I hate cats!” Bino shouted, at a loss for what else to say.

The sound of Maxwell scurrying into the room prompted Bino to turn around and shoot daggers at him. Upon seeing the black cat, Bino’s eyes started to feel weird.

“What prompted this?” Maxwell asked, attempting to look suave and sound bemused. “Did some cat you bullied scratch your face? We have claws for a reason, you know.”

Bino blinked his eyes a few times. It was starting to hurt to keep them open. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He opened his eyes and felt tears streaming out, and he wanted to scream.

So he did.

“WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE ME?” he howled.

Max opened his mouth to speak, brow lowering. “Bi-”

“I don’t wanna hear it!” Bino cried. “You’re just going to ridicule me like you always do and I don’t want to, I don’t want it! I don't want to talk to you right now! Shut up!”

He wiped underneath his eyes, sobbing uncontrollably. He was being hysterical and giving Max even more fuel to make fun of, but this just made him feel even worse.

“What- what happened?” Max asked, his usual demeanor completely muted. Oh, he pretends to care now? Yeah right.

Bino growled, turning toward and baring his teeth at Max. “Go away, you worthless ‘nip addict, you’re just going to hurt me more!”

Max frowned, looking angry for a second. “Well if you wanna be like that…” He turned heel and walked out of the room himself. This left Bino standing there. He wanted to lash out at someone or something, but he just stared at his paws. He had to move, do something, run, run, run, fight, thrash!

He darted off, running straight towards the couch in the living room and diving into it. He put a pillow up to his face to smother out his scream, and he shouted into the pillow, feeling a dampness against his face from his own tears. Even as he did this, his own brain berated him for being overdramatic.

He started to sob uncontrollably, ripping at the pillow with his claws. His owner would get mad at him for ripping up the pillow later, but right now he just needed to destroy something.

After a good minute of pillow clobbering, his sobbing started to die down. He rolled off the couch all dramatically, bonking into the carpeted floor with a soft thud and groaning in misery.

What am I supposed to do now?
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Wrenisprobablyb0red
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

Alright, chapter 2 is posted! Time to respond to some comments. Thank you once more!
MischaTheWolf wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 1:06 am Loving the premise of this! To be honest, Bino was always my number 1 most hated of the dog characters, but slowly I think Duchess may earn that spot. I literally cannot think of a redeemable quality she possesses.
Duchess is genuinely my least favorite character in all of Housepets. I'm sure that comes across in the story, haha.
MischaTheWolf wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:38 am True, but it was a gift from Bino. Do you think Bino’s someone to give super expensive gifts? (Unless he stole the piano from his owner lol)
Actually, I don't think it was a gift from Bino. It was just sort of in her dog house for that one gag.
NHWestoN wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 7:42 pm
MischaTheWolf wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 1:20 pm I honestly have a theory that Daisy is the most intelligent of all the pets, and she’s just trolling everyone the entire time.
Oh, I agree! In fact, if you read a 2016 arc, Real Stories of the K9PD, Daisy is interrorgated by King and Mungo about the disappearance of Sasha. After doing her "Hi, I'm Daisy" dumb dog routine, she gobsmacks the two cops by suddenly revealing herself as extremely intelligent, articulate (but somewhat garbled), perceptive, and compassionate. We also learn that she and Sasha are pals.

Under the heading of "What-coulda-been", I've always thought Daisy and Sasha would have made a fun comic duo - Sasha's ditzy, artistic, extroverted, and relentlessly upbeat personality playing off Daisy's gentle, melancholy, and intellectual character. Maybe not Thelma and Louise, okay, but a pairing with real possibilities for humor and depicting a genuine odd-couple friendship between eccentric two females with real depth.

Or maybe I'm just crabby about the revisions in the wiki charcter and arc accounts that deleted a lot of the older writings contributed by fans no longer on the forum. Hey, I'm old.

But I really like Daisy.

Footnote: this arc is Daisy's last appearance and also Mungo's first.
I really wanted to explore Daisy more. It's so curious to me that she's always seen saying her one line, but clearly has so much more under the surface.
Also, as Snownerder pointed out, she is drawn as like, weirdly muscular in her most recent appearance. In the strip "Give Me Your Answer Do" she has arms comparable to Mungo's! :P
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Forget shoving a piano up her nose, I wanna shove a whole anvil up her nostrils. Its the least she deserves. Though this was a great chapter though.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

Good new chapter and about what I expected to happen.

Don't want to be that guy but Lois is a Lynx, not a snow leopard.

And I noticed too that Daisy is unusually muscular in her last appearance. Maybe to show that she's a Newfoundland? I do want to see more of her
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CunningFox
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CunningFox »

Nice work, Wren.
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trekkie
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by trekkie »

Aw, poor Bino. I hope he gets comfort from somebody who cares about him. Also, I hate Duchess even more, now.

Great chapter. I hope Duchess gets pummeled.
Last edited by trekkie on Thu Oct 13, 2022 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
“Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.” - Thomas Sowell

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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Hopefully Bino's next girlfriend won't lust after his brother secretly or be an abusive narcissist who only uses him because she can.
Last edited by Amazee Dayzee on Wed Oct 19, 2022 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Krytus The Dreamer
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Krytus The Dreamer »

I know this is important build-up to the eventual breaking point but it's so hard to sit through sometimes. Not your writing mind you, that stuff's great but the emotional and physical abuse Duchess puts Bino through. Yeah, he's a jerk but In canon and in your own story, Bino's antics don't cross certain lines. Plus he always gets proportionally punished in the end anyway. It's hard to believe that there's a good portion of the internet who sees a relationship similar to this one and go

"Aww they're meant to be."
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

You would be surprised at what some fans think is acceptable in a relationship. I just hope that nobody here thinks this is a good one after everything. :?
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

Krytus The Dreamer wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:28 am I know this is important build-up to the eventual breaking point but it's so hard to sit through sometimes. Not your writing mind you, that stuff's great but the emotional and physical abuse Duchess puts Bino through. Yeah, he's a jerk but In canon and in your own story, Bino's antics don't cross certain lines. Plus he always gets proportionally punished in the end anyway. It's hard to believe that there's a good portion of the internet who sees a relationship similar to this one and go

"Aww they're meant to be."
... an irony thing, mebbee.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Too bad there are people who do like the two of them together. I feel like Bino could easily get redeemed if he dumps Duchess like the albatross hanging around his neck she is.
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MischaTheWolf
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

Seems like the good ol’ treating your partner like trash is cute and romantic trope.
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Harry Johnathan
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Harry Johnathan »

There's a double standard in society where men getting abused is seen as comedic and unimportant.
Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But [The LORD] said, “Yes, you did laugh.” - Genesis 18:15 (NIV).
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MischaTheWolf
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

Yes, I agree. I feel if Bino treated Duchess the way she treats him, we’d all want him gone, no question about it.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

To be fair I wasn't quite on SASHA'S side either when she and Bino were together. Sasha was lusting after Fido the whole time and I don't know if that is what started Bino being a bad boyfriend or not but it sure as heck didn't help.
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CryosR
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

Sasha's gotten a lot better since she and Kevin started dating, I think getting away from her owner was a big help
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MischaTheWolf
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by MischaTheWolf »

It’s funny, if Sasha was a real human person, I’d probably hate her, but since she’s a dog in this universe, I think her behavior flaws and general dumbness are adorable and I wanna give her a hug.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Now that Sasha has admitted that she was a crappy girlfriend to Bino I find myself softening towards her.

I still wish that she and Kevin weren't so perfect together so I can pair Kevin up with my OC. <_<
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

MischaTheWolf wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 12:30 am Yes, I agree. I feel if Bino treated Duchess the way she treats him, we’d all want him gone, no question about it.
In Duchess' case, however, her response would likely be very different ... like, perhaps, homicidal. ;)
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

The point is the double-standard. A woman abusing a man is funny. The other way around is horrifying and the man needs to be cancelled.
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