Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by D-Rock »

Sad that that’s often the reality of things, ain’t it?
Faith doesn't change circumstances. Faith changes me.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Heck, when I even do slapstick I make sure either the victim falls into it or the universe itself does it in order to make it seem less like abuse.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

Amazee Dayzee wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 1:38 pm Heck, when I even do slapstick I make sure either the victim falls into it or the universe itself does it in order to make it seem less like abuse.
If the universe does it, well ... It's cosmic, man.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Also there is no way you can say it abusive or sociopathic if it is the universe that does it. ;)
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

It's here! Le troisième chapitre! Hope you enjoy. The next chapter may take a bit longer to come out while Snownerder and I work on a better outline, so hopefully this one tides you all over some.

Chapter 3: A Fickle Fate

-

Sasha’s day didn’t start out great. For some reason, she found herself pulling her eyes open on the couch rather than her usual bed, and sitting up, she saw that there were medical supplies still on the table. She narrowed her eyes. How strange!

The memories came flooding back. Ugh. Bino. Every time any dog tries to reach out an olive branch to that dog, it just goes awry.

With a quick sniff, she noticed a lovely scent permeating the air of the house. Bacon? She thought to herself, standing up, Her somewhat sore paws carried her into the kitchen, where sure enough, Lois was frying up some bacon.

“Ugh, I wish I could still eat bacon,” Marion complained from the table. He was eating a salad and staring jealously over at the oven.

“Well then you shouldn’ta’ turned into a squirrel, what can I say?” Lois joked, setting down a plate of pancakes in front of Marion. “Anyway, here’s your dairy-free blandcakes.”

“They’re good to me,” Marion defended himself.

“Hello!” said Sasha, waving at her roommates.

“Sasha, you’re up early,” Lois noted. “Good morning.”

“I am?” Sasha asked, looking over at the clock on the oven. 7:13. “I am, huh. Weeeeird.”

Lois chuckled a bit. “Marion and I are heading out in 30ish minutes.”

"Well, I hope you enjoy your outing. Where are you heading?"

"Clothes shopping," said Lois. “I keep accidentally ripping stuff up, I guess I'm just not used to having little weapons attached to my fingertips."

"I suppose it would seem rather strange at first," Sasha said with a hum. She couldn't imagine not having claws. She used them for so many things! Picking dirt out of her pelt, scratching the couch, and opening particularly pesky pickle jars, on top of other things.

"Well, yeah, I suppose. Anyhow, you want any bacon? I made extra. Was gonna bag it up for you, but since you're up so early, might as well just give it to ya now."

"Oh, that would be lovely, Lois!" Sasha said, smiling widely. She licked her lips. “That bacon won't know what hit it!”

Marion grumbled. “I wish my bacon didn't know what hit it.”

Sasha smiled. “You're a squirrel, silly, of course you can't eat bacon.”

Marion groaned. “Yeah, that's the problem, ain't it?”

Sasha tilted her head. “Um, yeah, I guess so." She said, considering that for a moment. Her ears suddenly stood on end as a plate was slid into her paws, and she looked down to see some bacon and scrambled eggs. She lit up.

"Oh, thank you, Lois!" She said again.

"No problem. So what was with that dog you had over last night?" asked Lois as she and Sasha sat down at the table next to Marion.

"Oh, you see, that's Bino. He's my ex-boyfriend," Sasha explained. Marion rolled his eyes and Lois sighed.

"That doesn't narrow it down much, Sasha."

"Yes it does!" Sasha protested. "I've only had two boyfriends, you know. Kevin and Bino. But like, I guess Bino's also the leader of the dog club. Or that's what he does with most of his time. But he gets really fussy really easy. Kind of a killjoy."

Marion narrowed his eyes. "He seemed pretty out of it last night. Someone attacked him. What was that about?"

Sasha groaned. "It was his girlfriend! But he keeps blaming himself and whatnot. Really tiring, honestly."

Marion hummed, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, yeah. That's pretty sad."

Sasha nodded. "I guess so, but he can always just leave if he wants. I'm not sure why he's making a big deal out of it."

Lois frowned, swallowing a piece of bacon. "Well, I doubt he's doing it to be a killjoy."

"Well, I suppose, but he said some pretty mean things to me last night, you know! And it's weird because, like, I'm pretty sure we were being friends again. So like, I don't know why he yelled at me."

Marion looked at Sasha. "Well, what did he say to you? Did he explain himself?"

Sasha looked confused for a second, grasping at her muzzle. "Huh. Maybe? I wasn't reeeally listening because he was being stupid, you know. Like, blaming me for his injury and stuff. I wasn't even there, but he was blaming me! And that didn't... feel good. It felt bad." Sasha tried to explain, gesturing with her hands. It was so hard to talk about feelings, especially to complicated people like Lois and Marion. Who had lots of worries and thoughts and...

"Well, if he was blaming you for something you didn't do, then maybe it was for the best that you, uh... Wait, what did you do?" asked Lois.

"I kicked him out, I think," Sasha said. "Or maybe he left? I'm not... sure."

Marion stretched his arms. "Well, it's probably for the best that he's not here then. I'd advise you just don't worry about him! I mean, it's not like he's worried about how YOU feel if he's blaming you."

"Y-yeah," said Sasha. "I guess so. But... I still feel like, bad. But I don't know why."

"It's always hard to lose a friend," said Lois.

"I don't even know if we were friends," Sasha murmured.

"Well, anyways, I hate to cut you off, Sasha, but Lois and I need to skedaddle!" Marion exclaimed. He held up his watch. "Look, the bus to the city center leaves in ten minutes!"

Sasha nodded. "Oh, yeah, I see." She couldn't read the hands of the clock on Marion's wrist, but just assumed the squirrel was telling the truth.

"Heh, we don't need to rush THAT much, Marion. You and your squirrel brain," joked Lois, affectionately patting Marion on the head.

"Ugh," said Marion. "Don't make fun of me like that. You know I like being on time for stuff!"

Lois rolled her eyes. "There isn't a single person on this planet who enjoys being late, Marion."

Marion lifted his chin defiantly. "Well I really don't like being late, for what it's worth."

"Oh, okay," said Sasha. She kind of felt as though she'd been cut out of the conversation as soon as the two lovers had begun bantering, looking back and forth between them. As Lois grabbed Marion and placed the squirrel onto her shoulder, Sasha's eye twitched slightly. Despite having lived in the same house with them for months now, it still made her uneasy whenever Lois grabbed or patted Marion in any way. Lois was just so... violent-looking.

"Alright. I'm probably going to... huh, I don't know what I'm going to do today. Kevin's still working..." Sasha observed, looking at the calendar on the fridge, which had Kevin's work schedule for the month outlined.

"You could go check up on Daisy," suggested Marion. "You never actually got to the club meeting yesterday, right? She probably was wondering where you went."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," said Sasha. "I should definitely do that."

She smiled and got up from her chair, having finished her bacon. "I'll..." she paused, looking around the kitchen. There were dishes stacked on just about every surface. In a house with two teenage animal-humans, a womanizing slob of a red panda, and a literal dog, cleanliness was not always prioritized. "I'll do the dishes," Sasha decided.

By the time Sasha had finished doing the dishes, Lois and Marion had left and said their goodbyes for the morning. Todd had yet to wake up, but he routinely didn't wake up until after lunchtime, sometimes still being awake in the morning when Sasha got up, and having dinner while the rest had their breakfast. Todd blamed being turned into an animal for his strange sleep schedule, but Sasha suspected that Todd had always slept this way.

Either way, this meant that at least for now, Sasha was alone in the house. She sighed. Well, might as well head out now, even if it was still pretty early.

Sasha was never exactly sure where exactly she would find Daisy. The strangely muscular black dog had a habit of simply appearing, usually with some sort of introduction along the lines of, "Hi, I'm Daisy." Sasha presumed that if she walked down the sidewalk for long enough, the dog would yet again just show up.

She started to walk down the street. It was lukewarm outside, not unexpected for the time of year. The leaves looked perhaps a bit more orange than they did the day before, but it was still decidedly Summer. She closed her eyes and hummed for a bit, before remembering something her old owner said about careless dogs?

‘If ye don’t watch out, Sash, yer gonna be hit by a… big… uh… semi-truck. Yeh, that’s the word. And I ain’t gonna be payin’ for your vet bills, ye hear me?’

Sasha gulped, her eyes shooting open. Her steps became more brisk as she made sure to look around for traffic. There was no traffic. The only sounds were birdsong and some dog a few blocks away barking out nothing in particular. Still, Sasha shuddered a bit. What if her ears were lying? What if the lack of exhaust fumes was just her getting used to being around cars? What if…

Ugh, stupid, stupid, stupid. Sasha internally scolded herself for letting her owner get to her again. She fixed her face into a somewhat spacey grin. This lasted for about six seconds before she collided into something.

Sasha yipped in surprise as King came barreling into her through his fence gate. Neither of them could have seen each other coming! She reeled back and regained her footing, then helped the much smaller and thus more topple-able corgi to his feet.

“Hi, Kingy,” said Sasha, smiling in earnest now.

King sighed, smiling half sincerely. Sasha pretended not to notice how King’s eyes immediately seemed to become more sunken and tired. “Heyyy, Sasha. How’s it going?” He leaned against the fence beside him, before his eyes widened in shock. “Wet paint! When did we paint this-” He looked at the fence. It had indeed been recently painted, though it was hard to tell at first glance, as it was white paint on white paint.

King removed his paw, staring at it as it dripped white onto the grass. “This is… not convenient.”

“Haha, I’ll say!” Sasha beamed.

“I guess the Miltons must have hired someone to paint it… overnight? Why would they do that- what the heck?” King momentarily brought his paw to his brow, pinching above his muzzle, before realizing that he was now smearing the paint on his face.

“I wish I could still have coffeeeeee…” King bemoaned as he removed his paw from his face.

“Heheh, wouldn’t that make you sick?” asked Sasha, confused.

“I used to drink it every day when I was still human. At first the fear that came with being turned into a dog kept me awake, but over time I’ve found that waking up in the morning has become the hardest thing in my life,” King said, staring straight ahead.

Sasha nodded. “Oh,” she said.

“I… better go clean this up. Oh, wait, one thing!”

“Yeah?”

King hummed in concentration. "Okay, so Fox told me-" King raised a single digit- "That Peanut told him-" King raised another digit, "That Max told him," he said, raising a third and final finger, "That something happened to Bino last night. Fox mentioned that Peanut mentioned that Max mentioned that uh Bino had said something about you? Last night? But, uh, he was apparently not being coherent. According to uh my sources. Oh gosh, I hope I'm conveying the message properly!" He cringed. "Well, yeah, anyhow, would you happen to know what's up with Bino? Because Max is apparently very concerned."

Sasha opened her mouth. "What?" she asked, trying to decode the word salad that King had just spewed in her direction.

"Did you see Bino last night?"

Sasha nodded. "Oh, yeah. I was going to go to the club meeting but he got in some kind of fight with Duchess, and I brought him back to my place to get his face looked at, you know? Cause like, it had gotten pretty battered. Anywho, I guess he was upset or something because he said some..." Sasha paused, deflating a bit. "Well, he said some things I didn't like and left."

King nodded, though he looked somewhat skeptical.

"Well, I could go relay that information back... Actually, could you just tell Max yourself? I know you don't know him super well but you've met a few times, right?"

Sasha nodded. "Once or twice. He's handsome!"

King rolled his eyes. "Cats too, Sasha?"

"I just call it as I see it," she said defensively. "And that cat is handsome."

King just sighed. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go wipe the paint off of my hands- paws- whatever. I'm gonna go get cleaned off. You get the point."

"Good luck!" said Sasha.

King looked back and forth from his paws. "Oh, uh, well I doubt it'll be all that hard to be honest."

Sasha chuckled. "Bye Kingy!"

King scowled. "Oh, this again. See you later, Sasha!" He turned around and headed back into his house, vaguely waving the paw that wasn't soaked in paint at Sasha.

"Well, that was weird," said Sasha, before continuing on her walk. She supposed that she would indeed seek out Max, as he and Bino lived in the same house. That would be, what, three blocks away? Two? Sasha knew the direction, but not the distance, really.

She continued to walk along for a bit, waving hi to any pets she bumped into along the way, before at last finding herself face to face with Maxwell and Bino's front door.

Sasha felt uncharacteristically nervous about knocking, but with a deep breath, she surpassed her fear and reached out towards the door, hoping desperately that Maxwell would be the one to answer rather than Bino.

She was not expecting the third option, that being Maxwell and Bino's owner, until she came face-to-torso with a, well, torso.

"Oh, hello, Mister... What's your name?" Sasha said, looking up at the human. Sasha wasn't able to figure much about the human from his appearance.

The human lifted a hand to his shoulder, scratching at his arm uncomfortably. "Oh, are you here for Bino? He isn't... Well, I don't think he's really looking for any guests to come by today."

Sasha shook her head. "Is Max here?"

The human made a surprised humming noise, and then shook his head. "No, I'm afraid Max is out at the Sandwich's house. How come? I wasn't aware he hung out with any dogs. Well, other than the Sandwich's dog, but I think that's about proxim- anyways, that's not the point. Max is out."

Sasha nodded. That makes sense, she thought to herself.

"Thanks for your time!" she said, smiling. She waved a bit, and the human waved back and shut the door. Sasha turned around and trodded off. She wasn't all that annoyed about the detour, and after all, the Sandwich household was only a block away.

As she approached the Sandwich house, she heard the sounds of pets playing out in the front yard. Peanut was audible from quite far, being one of the loudest dogs in the neighborhood.

"Max! Max! Max! Grape! Look, I just... uh... I did something cool, but I forgot what!" Peanut's voice trailed off a bit.

"Shush already, wontcha?" yowled Grape. "We're trying to focus."

"Sorry," Peanut said abashedly.

Sasha waved over at the other pets. Peanut turned and saw her first.

"Oh, Sasha! I didn't expect to see you here. What brings you to these parts?"

"These parts?" Grape imitated with a snort.

Peanut groaned. "Graaaaape, I was trying to sound cool!"

Max sighed dejectedly, causing Grape to wrap her arm around him a bit tighter. Grape, Tarot, and Max were all writing a bunch of names on some paper bags, while Peanut ran around excitedly with a couple of smaller puppies that Sasha recognized as being King and Bailey's. Max was clearly the least invested, leaning onto Grape and staring off into space.

"Hello," Sasha said, tail wagging as she greeted Peanut. She'd never interacted with the lively brown dog much, as he had always seemed to sort of inhabit his own world, but Sasha enjoyed his company most of the time.

Peanut ran over and sniffed her paw for a second, and then turned around.

"Hey, pups! Meet Sasha!"

The three puppies, who were older than the last time Sasha had seen them, all rushed over with big wide smiles.

"Hi, Sasha!" said Olive, the talkative one.

"Hello," said Sasha, not entirely sure what exactly to say to the small dogs. She'd never been good with puppies as far as she was concerned.

There was a pause. "You're more boring than I remember," Olive said, and then all three of the puppies ran off to continue playing with Peanut, who had seemingly also lost interest.

Sasha shook her head in confusion for a second before turning around.

"Maxwell," she said, trodding over to the black cat. "I was told... King told me to talk to you? About Bino?"

Max perked up. "Oh. Uh... really now?"

"Yeah," Sasha said, nodding enthusiastically. "King said that... Oh, he told me to remind you that... Well, King told me that Fox told him that Peanut told him that you said Bino came home upset last night?"

Max nodded, looking dejected. "Yeah... he shut himself in his room after tearing up a pillow and hasn't come out since."

"Oh," said Sasha. She never saw Bino as the kind of dog to damage his owner's property. "Well, King told me you weren't sure what had happened?"

Max nodded. "Yeah. He came home last night with his face bandaged up and his temper completely out of whack. He was pretty rude to me, too. I was just trying to help out, you know."

"Well, I think I know what happened?" Sasha said. "Cause he was coming back from my house last night, I mean."

"He was?" Max asked. "What happened to the club meeting?"

"Well, uh, I'm less clear on that. But... so you know his girlfriend, Duchess, right? The mean one?"

"We've met," Max said, his voice suddenly venomous. "Don't know what Bino sees in her, honestly."

Sasha nodded. "Yeah, um, I think what happened was Duchess got mad at him for something, and she attacked him. And I brought him over to my place to get his face bandaged up and uh, he was blaming himself and stuff."

"Blaming himself?" asked Max.

"That's uncharacteristic," Grape spat. "I'd figure he'd blame just about anyone else first, to be honest."

"Well... He did say some rude stuff to me. And yelled at me some. And like, I don't know why, either? I thought we were becoming friends again!"

"Heh, I wouldn't advise being friends with him. Even when you're nice to him he just treats you like some kind of pawn or acts all suspicious of you," Grape said.

Max scowled. "I..." He looked as though he wanted to argue with that, but he didn't.

"He's not that bad," Sasha argued. "He's just sad right now, that's all. He's not like Duchess."

"As far as I'm concerned, those flea-bags are perfect for each other," Grape said. "He said some pretty awful stuff to Max, you know. Max didn't even do anything. Now he's down in the dumps and I have to cuddle him! Not that I mind of course."

Max rolled his eyes. "He just..."

Sasha spoke up. "He said you were just going to make fun of him," Sasha told Max. "He said he was afraid of going back home and seeing you."

Max scowled. "Oh, he thinks I'm like that, huh?"

Sasha didn't know how to respond to that. She had this strange headache, and she didn't feel like she was saying anything useful. Why did King even ask her to talk to Max to begin with? Today would be so much nicer if she could just forget about yesterday.

"So, uh, what should we do?" asked Sasha. In her head, she wanted to ask a question more akin to what should you do but she decided against that.

"I don't know!" Max said, throwing up his arms in exasperation. Grape tightened her hug around him and he leaned back.

"I don't think it's worth your time trying to help him out," Grape said, her eyes narrowed. "If he's just going to act all nasty to you when you try to help him."

"What did he say to you?" Sasha asked Max.

Max groaned, looking to the side to avoid making eye contact. "Well, he complained about cats some, so I made a joke about that. Par for the course, really. And then he lashed out and called me a worthless catnip addict!" Max blinked for a second, as if to keep tears from forming.

"Oh," said Sasha. "Well, you probably shouldn't have made fun of him."

"Oh, I'm sorry, he just came right into the house and started yelling!" He closed his eyes, bringing his paws up to his face. "I didn't do anything out of the ordinary! He-"

"There, there," said Grape, attempting to sound calming. The purple cat's best attempts still sounded remarkably murderous, and she was positively radiating anger, but nevertheless Max seemed to loosen his muscles a bit and his angry scowl receded into a somewhat discontent frown.

Tarot spoke up for a second. "I don’t get it,” she said. Sasha looked over at her. She’d abandoned writing on the little bags to look at some sort of techy thing.

“What?” asked Sasha.

“Oh, nothing. My Crystaltab9000 must be acting up…”

Sasha turned back to Grape and Max, who were both raising their eyebrows at the dog.

“That’s never a good sign, Tarot,” Grape pointed out.

“I’d daresay that’s usually a bad sign,” Max agreed.

Tarot hummed. “Oh, shush. I’m just bad with technology. Probably.”

“So the world isn’t about to end again?” Grape checked.

“No. Well, probably, but it’s not related to Bino in any way,” Tarot said. “The world’s always on the brink of extinction anyhow.”

“Yes, I have learned that from being in your vicinity,” Max said, rolling his eyes.

“The world is what?” Sasha asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Tarot said. “Point is, I’m looking up Bino’s future and nothing seems to be popping up…”

“Nothing?” asked Max. “How is that possible?”

“I think the holotab must be broken,” said Tarot with a shrug. “Sometimes if the future is too uncertain, it can’t figure anything out.” Tarot turned the tablet around to show it to the other three.

It was formatted sort of like a browser, with a search bar at the top- however, said searchbar was divided into sections. Name, Age, Location, Other Distinguishing Features.
In each box, Tarot had wrote ‘Bino’, ‘?’, ‘Babylon Gardens, Virginia, United States of America’, and ‘green eyes and collar.’ Under that were the words “Error 244: Subject Detected, Fate Ambiguous.”

Tarot sighed. “My old crystal ball never had this error!”

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?” Peanut shouted from over where he was playing tug of war with the pups.

“Yes,” said Tarot, not looking up.

Beneath the error message, there was what appeared to be some kind of video feed, showing Bino, head on his desk on top of a bunch of piles of ripped up paper, fast asleep.

“Is that him right now?” asked Sasha.

“Yeah,” Tarot said.

“That’s creepy,” Sasha noted.

“Creepy is par for the course when it comes to future stuff,” Grape explained.

“Please never look up my fate,” Sasha told Tarot.

“I mean, it’s not very interesting anyways,” Tarot said.

“Ouch!” said Max, frown subsiding for a moment for him to laugh. Grape snickered as well.

Sasha rolled her eyes. “Well that’s rude. I think.”

The image of Bino opened his eyes a bit, and Sasha heard him groan. His throat sounded extremely dry, accentuated by him breaking into a coughing fit a couple of seconds later.

The “webpage” began to refresh, and Tarot turned the tablet back towards her so she could look at it.

“What’s going on?” asked Max, sounding almost concerned. “Is he choking- oh gosh, what if he’s choking and I’m not there to-”

“He’s fine,” Tarot said. “It looks like he just decided what he’s going to do next. The thing updated. Now it says… oh, that’s strange.”

“What?” asked Sasha and Max at the same time.

“It says he’s heading to Fox’s house?” Tarot said, sounding unsure if she believed it herself. “But it doesn’t say if he’ll arrive.” Tarot paused, and then clicked on the name Fox. After a second of loading, a similar video feed and message for Fox showed up.

“It says Fox is going to arrive at the police office in an hour, and is going to playfully slap Mungo on the shoulder. Then, Mungo is going to do the same and send Fox to the office’s clinic for a bit. Mungo is then going to buy him ice cream to make up for it, but Fox is going to get a really bad brainfreeze from eating it too fast. And then- Okay, the point is that it doesn’t seem Fox is going to meet up with Bino at all.”

“So… Bino is planning on going to see Fox. But he’s not… going to get there?” asked Max, pausing. Then his eyes widened. “You don’t think something’s going to-”

“I don’t know,” Tarot said. “It says next to nothing about what Bino’s doing. Fox has his whole day on here, see? But Bino has a single sentence.” Tarot clicked on Bino again. The dog was currently eating some food from a bowl, although he seemed largely disinterested. He stood up and kicked over the food bowl, sending it spilling everywhere, and then stormed out of the room.

Max frowned. “Well… not that I care or anything… but… I’m just going to go check to see if Bino’s okay… You know? Just so that our owner doesn’t get mad at him if he does something stupid. Which is typical Bino behavior, of course.”

“Alright, we’ll imaginate without you,” Tarot said.

Grape spoke up. “Can I come along, Max?”

“Bino won’t want to see you,” Max pointed out. “And besides, someone needs to keep Peanut in check.”

“That’s true!” Peanut shouted.

Sasha frowned. “I… I’ll come along too. I feel like I should. Maybe I did something wrong last night.”

“Then let’s get a move on,” said Max. He stood up, giving Grape a quick kiss, and then beckoned for Sasha to follow as he began to run off. “We can catch him outside Fox’s house!”

Sasha nodded, and followed after the black cat.
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 »

Amazee Dayzee wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:54 am 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.
How bout an entire organ?
CryosR wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 3:52 pm 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
Lois is a lynx? Ack, I didn't realize that. Oops.
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."
Oh yeah. I've always been bugged by stories that sort of pass of domestic issues (and sometimes even certain degrees of abuse) as funny or reasonable.
Harry Johnathan wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 12:14 am There's a double standard in society where men getting abused is seen as comedic and unimportant.
Yep. Especially if the man character is a bit dorky or socially awkward. Nobody deserves abuse, and as someone who has been subjected to verbal abuse, I really dislike when it's played off as funny or justified.
Amazee Dayzee wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 1:44 am 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. <_<
Wait, am I missing something? When did Sasha admit she was a crappy girlfriend, was that in the comics somewhere? O_O
Amazee Dayzee wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 10:09 pm Also there is no way you can say it abusive or sociopathic if it is the universe that does it. ;)
Or maybe the universe is abusive or sociopathic.
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Krytus The Dreamer »

Y'know what, the vision of the future changing because fate was in flux kinda reminded me of Encanto, especially because the vision was seen through a green glass tablet.

Also may or may not be nit-picky but wouldn't King have gotten used to not having coffee by now? He's been a dog for I'm guessing five-ish years.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by trekkie »

You’ve captured the personalities of the characters very well. Hope all goes well for Sasha and Maxwell.(And Bino)

Maybe we can shove the whole orchestra up Duchess’s nose.
“Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.” - Thomas Sowell

“The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron.” Phyllis Diller
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

As long as it is just the instruments and not the performers. Wouldn't want to shove ANY sentient thing up that snob's nose.
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CryosR
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

Sasha's perspective, seems good hope to see more.

sorry not more coherent right now.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

That I can understand since there are times when I'm not coherent either. Usually because I'm dealing with something.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

Amazee Dayzee wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 1:44 am 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. <_<
Still preferred Sasha and Fox as a couple, but getting out of the Hartford house was definitely an improvement. Just never thrilled with the Kevin-Sasha pairing...

Maybe Sasha's woodland doghouse was built by the same folks who set up Snoopy's in Peanuts.... a tiny house outside but a limitless interior with library, study, billiards and ballroom accommodations.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Now it seems that the two of them are well-matched so I can begrudge Sasha and Kevin together. Still though can't stop thinking about what ifs... ;)
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Wrenisprobablyb0red
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

Well, it's been a minute! Sorry about that. As with all fanfiction writers, crazy things just seem to get in the way of writing. Snownerder especially's been going through a lot, so make sure to wish him well or I will steal things from... someone, my brother, idk, I'm not good at threats! To kinda make up for the gap, this chapter's quite a bit longer than any of the previous ones, at 8300 words!
Anyways, hope y'all had a good halloween. We're glad to be back. This chapter's mostly by Snownerder except for the opening scene and some changes I made in editing. His writing is so good!!!
-
Chapter Four
The Morose Mutt
-
Bino wasn't entirely sure when he'd woken up, but he was acutely aware of the fact that he was indeed awake now. His face hurt, and as he reached up to touch it, he remembered the previous night's... incident, and rubbed angrily at the bandages around his eye.

Bino wasn't exactly sure what to do now. He had a splitting headache and he just wanted to lie down, but even the thought of lying down more made him feel jittery. At the same time, he couldn't find any motive within himself to do anything other than that.

He closed his eyes, holding back another torrent of tears, cursing himself out internally for not being able to hold back his emotions.

"I'm out of my depth!" he cried to himself. He rolled over onto his bed, shoving his face into it. With the gauze and bandaging over his eye, it was not nearly as comfortable or relaxing as it usually was to bury himself in his pillowy dog bed, and reluctantly he groaned and pushed himself up, balancing on his front paws.

He looked around his room some, noticing that there were torn up scraps of pillow around the room. Oh. Yeah. Guess I messed that up too. My owner's going to be so angry when he gets home from his shift. Bino huffed in annoyance. Well, I definitely don't want to be there for that.

He folded up his arms and stood up, wondering where exactly he should go. He couldn't go to Sasha's place, not after last night. And besides, Sasha never really cared about him anyway. She'd never even apologized to him for 'messing around' with all the other dogs in Babylon Gardens!

Then it hit him that he wasn’t going anywhere, it was still pitch black outside. Bino covered his eyes and reluctantly decided to clean up the mess he’d made.

Gathering up the chunks of mutilated pillow was difficult, especially because Bino was too afraid to use the vacuum, not because he was afraid of the vacuum itself or anything (he was NOT afraid of the vacuum cleaner, okay?) but because he was worried about waking Max, who was presumably sleeping here unless he went out to be with his girlfriend.

As he cleaned, he was lost in his thoughts. He was battering himself with questions he couldn’t put into words, and images that grew more and more exaggerated the more he thought them.

Why must everyone betray me? He seethed to himself, plucking the thought out of the whirlwind and honing in on it. Why do they all hate me? Why can’t they just like me? Am I really that hard to like? Or does everyone just have something to gain from putting me down like this?

I don’t KNOW how to keep myself from stepping over the line, I don’t KNOW how to make people like me. Where did everyone else learn that anyways?

Fox used to keep me in check, Bino reminisced. He kept me from being too stupid. I thought he was there for me! But he betrayed me just like everyone else.

Bino sat down in front of his desk, looking at the torn up pieces of paper from his earlier speech writing endeavors.

All because of that corgi, too. Bino stuck out his tongue in disgust just at the thought of King. Really, how had Fox not seen that Bino had just been toying around with King early on? In fact, the way that King blew up there, he’d practically manipulated Fox into siding with him, just because he was so sensitive and needed a friend. Or whatever.

Bino had needed Fox too! Why couldn’t Fox understand that? Even when Fox had still hung out with him occasionally afterward, it had always just been to make fun of Bino as far as the mutt was concerned. And then he’d ran off to join the K9s with Bino’s brother and never talked to him again!

Cause everyone looooves Fido! Even after they’d seen he was a cat lover, Bino supposed that all his former friends still just wanted to make Bino feel terrible all the time.

Fido. Bino hated Fido, more than any other dog in the world. The thought of his brother made his mouth pull back into a low growl. Fido was better than him, and even Bino couldn’t deny it.

He felt sick.

He shifted his thoughts back to Fox. He’d always been able to talk to Fox in the past, and as much as he hated the thought of the traitorous husky, he really, really, really missed that.

Fox used to tell me that I was a good cook. He tried to help me win back Sasha. He used to… Ugh, well it’s all gone now. Apparently that corgi was a better friend than I was.

What did King even do to you? Whispered one of Bino’s quieter, more treacherous thoughts.

He turned Fox against me! When I was mean to him, Fox didn’t take my side! And… I was so mad that Fox was inviting someone else to our Christmas! I wanted to be there, telling stores and joking with Fox. It wasn’t fair that King had to just appear around that time and get in the way!

But it wasn’t his fault, really, another thought pointed out, one which sounded much like a younger version of Fox, sounded the way Fox had back when the husky first yelled at him for ‘tormenting’ King.

Did I really… Was I so scared of losing Fox as a friend that I turned him away from me? Bino wondered to himself, before feeling tears well up. He breathed in deep.

Maybe I can get him back, Bino wondered. I need him now, I really need him… and… I won’t let him betray me again, I’ll leave him be after, but I need him to tell me why everyone hates me!

Bino then frowned. He couldn’t figure out exactly how to go about doing that. He pulled out a pen and notepad, drafting up elaborate schemes to get Fox back, turn him against King again. Like earlier with his speeches, every time he thought of a reason it couldn’t work, he ripped it out and left the crumpled up sheet lying there on his desk.

None of his ideas seemed to be working, though. His eyes were feeling heavy again, and it was still dark outside. He yawned and set his head on the desk in front of him.

Maybe I just have to give Fox what he wants, Bino thought uncertainly as he drifted away into sleep. What would that be?

-

Bino opened his eyes a bit, immediately struck by the desertlike texture of his throat. He groaned, his lungs still feeling heavy from the… whatever that was… the night before. He felt his breath catch and broke into a coughing fit.

Ugh, I fell asleep on my desk, Bino complained to himself. Now, both his back and his face erupted with pain every time he moved them.Despite this, he felt like himself again.

Intrusive rays of sunlight pierced through the window, bringing light to the room that certainly didn’t jive well with Bino’s current headspace. The mutt forced himself to sit up however, clenching his jaw at the obligatory pains of morning stretches.

And that’s when it all came back to him. He wanted— no, NEEDED Fox to join his side again. Normally, defectors from Bino’s righteous cause wouldn’t be given a second thought, but this had happened too much— over and over again, people continually left Bino's side. And he was tired of letting his once plentiful supporters dwindle!

But of course, there was the roadblock he’d encountered last night— how was he going to convince Fox to rejoin him? It didn’t seem like there was much he could do for the husky. He couldn’t really elevate his status at GODC for two reasons: Duchess likely wouldn’t allow it, and Fox didn’t really care about the club these days, anyway.

Deciding to embrace this, Bino came up with the only half-solid plan he could. Fox tended to lecture him about having a “poor attitude” and “needing some humility”. So maybe Fox just wanted Bino to grovel and beg for forgiveness?

That would be something he’d certainly enjoy… Bino reasoned with himself. And so that shall be what he receives.

Did Bino have any experience apologizing in any capacity? No, not at all, he had never been the one who needed to apologize before. But that wouldn’t be a problem. Manipula– asking for forgiveness, surely, would be simple. And if Bino hurried up, perhaps he’d be able to get to Fox’s house before he left. His shifts over at the K9PD seemed to drag on forever these days.

Bino opened the front door, a slight breeze grazing his fur as he stepped outside. A new day, and a new chance. A new opportunity to improve things for himself!

He still remembered the way to Fox’s house; it wasn’t far. As much as Bino had wanted to forget about his former friend after his betrayal, it was hard sometimes. Having been left alone gave the dog a lot time to process it all.

Fox’s house was on the horizon. Things were going to be different, starting today. It would be like old times! If all went well, in any case.

Of course, that wouldn’t be the case.

“Bino? Bino!” A familiar, grating voice reached the canine’s ears. Just as he was about to step onto Fox’s lawn, Maxwell rushed over to him. The cat appeared frantic, though relief washed over him as he surveyed Bino. “Good, you’re okay…”

And Sasha came in tow, less concern on her face— though there was surely a reason she’d bothered to come with. Even Bino knew that.

“What are you guys doing?” Bino asked.

“Well, we–” Maxwell began.

Sasha cut the cat off. “We just wanted to make sure you were… you know. Still all hunky-dory and in one piece.” Her tail swished lightly. Maxwell raised an eyebrow at Sasha, prompting her to continue. “And, we kind of wanted to talk to you, too…”

“About what?” Bino impatiently inquired. “And can this be quick!? I have important business to attend to.”

“Yeah, um… we wanted to talk about last night, for one thing.” Max started.

“Yeah. I think there’s something… WE think there’s something going on.” Sasha continued. “Tarot’s crystal thingy said that your future is only a sentence.”

What?” Bino flatly replied. The mutt wasn’t amused.

“What she MEANS is, after yesterday’s whole… debacle, we were a bit concerned about you. Whatever’s happening, it isn’t good, and we just want to make sure you’re… you know. Alright.” Maxwell struggled with himself to remain sincere. It would’ve been easy to fall back on sarcastic comments, especially with how vitriolic the dog was, but the cat knew this was no time for levity.

“I’m fine. Whoop de doo. Now go away.” Bino tersely growled, attempting to shoo them away.

“Bino, you don’t have to act like this… you’re being mean again.” Sasha sighed, her ears and tail beginning to droop. Bino felt a tinge of guilt, but stuffed it down the best he could. He couldn’t let pesky emotions distract him now— he had a mission.

And that’s when Max’s eyes rested on the bandages on Bino’s face. Of course he'd seen them yesterday, but getting a real good look at them now reminded him of something. He whispered to Sasha: “Hey, you said Duchess did this, right?

Sasha nodded. “Yeah.”

There wasn’t a doubt in Max’s mind that Bino’s defensiveness was a byproduct of how Duchess had made him feel that day. Perhaps Bino was afraid Max would attack him next?

In any case, Max was more sure than ever that Duchess was the problem here. What if she ended up bumping into Bino, and she attacked him again? Or worse…

“Maybe we should talk about Duchess, Bino.” Max said. Not very tactful, sure, but the cat didn’t think Bino would really respond to tact. “She seems to be causing a lot of your distress…”

“Duchess-!?” Bino repeated the name— dredging up bad memories of the day before, something else that the mutt had to stuff within himself. He couldn’t be bothered to remember it now; the only thing that’d do is chip away at his resolve.

Bino glanced over at the house. It was still early in the day, Fox had to be home. He saw someone’s silhouette pass the drawn blinds— Fox was in there! Waiting for Bino to deliver that apology! And here he was, being interrogated by his annoying cat brother and his treacherous ex.

“Okay, let’s put this on the back burner. I really don’t care to discuss that at the moment.” Bino frostily rebuffed the two, turning heel and beginning to walk up Fox’s lawn.

“Bino, will you just listen to us?” Max desperately pressed, striding up past Bino and blocking the steps to Fox’s house. He stood in the mutt’s way, as Sasha nervously followed suit.

“Move.” Bino blankly ordered. He needed to keep his rage in check, though these two were enervating to deal with.

“Bino, maybe you could come back and Imaginate with Grape and Peanut! Maybe that’d get your mind off of everything.” Sasha offered— it was the first thing that popped into her head.

“That doesn’t seem like such a bad idea, actually. Though it’d certainly take a lot of convincing on Grape’s end…” Maxwell thought aloud, as he struggled to keep Bino at bay. The mutt looked through Maxwell, just trying to get past and get to that door…

Of course they invited him to play now. Now that they had something to gain from it. Max and Sasha’s plan became clear to Bino. They weren’t worried about him— they just didn’t want him getting to Fox! What traitors. Then again, that wasn’t surprising. Once a traitor, always a traitor— at least in their case.

“Yeah, but I think it’ll be fine! The more the merrier, after all!” Sasha smiled sweetly at Bino. Some saccharine subterfuge that she'd employed to trick Bino into letting his guard down, no doubt. He had to resist.

“Depends on what he thinks.” Max gestures to Bino.

I suppose they think Fox is too good for me. They’re trying to hide me from him. They don’t want Fox to defect back onto my side, even though I’d welcome him with open arms! Bino’s thoughts rumbled in his head, becoming ever more cacophonous as Bino struggled to see past his dormant rage and increasing stress. Why did this always happen to him!? Here he was trying to do something good, and of course, as usual, someone else was trying to ruin his plan.

Well, not today.

“Let me tell you something. Let me tell you what I think.” Bino eyed both pets with a glare of seething hatred, as both of them would anxiously await his response. “I don’t much care for those childish games you play. I also don’t care much for whatever pathetic attempt this is, whatever plan you have to ruin my day. To ruin my plan.”

Max’s brow furrowed in disbelief, mouth falling slightly agape. “Ruin your…?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb. It’s exceedingly obvious what you’re trying to do. You don’t want me talking to Fox! That’s why you’re here— now that I want to make humble amends, you’re doing everything in your power to stop me!”

“What are you talking about!?”

“You know full well what I’m talking about.” Max’s somewhat suppressed anger became a fair bit more visible as Bino continued. “Because that’s what you do, Maxwell. You get in my way and find ways to make my day just a LITTLE harder. You can’t leave me be for one day, and I can forget going even a moment without you being a complete pest at every possible opportunity.”

Maxwell, once again, was visibly taken aback by Bino’s words. For the second time, Bino had managed to verbally cut Max down. Max's expression reflected partial disbelief, partial hurt, partial anger— but entirely emotionally blindsided. “Bino, I–”

“You nothing. Here’s some news for you, Max: I don’t care what you have to say. You are the LAST pet in this town I’d listen to. You are an annoyance. And you know what? Maybe THAT’S why I never see you hang out with anybody besides Grape and her buddies? Or is that because you’re too busy scouring around the house for enough spare change to buy more catnip? Now get OUT of my way.”

He shoved past Maxwell before the cat could come up with a response. Sasha, having bore witness to the verbal teardown, quickly rushed up to Bino. “Biney, please, we just want you to listen–”

The nickname cut into Bino like a hot knife through butter. Before he could stop himself, he began ranting at Sasha, too.

“Don’t you EVER call me that again! You lost the privilege when you decided to toss me aside for every other dog in the neighborhood.” Bino escalated into yelling. Was he aware? Maybe, but he found it harder and harder to care. Sasha took a step back from Bino’s hostile rebuttal.

Sasha appeared guilty, and sure enough, she attempted to offer up a paltry apology. “I know that might’ve hurt you, Bino, I… I’m really sorry…” She bit back the urge to argue her case.

“No you aren’t! You’re just saying that to fool me. I know better than BOTH of you guys. I already know that neither of you care enough to actually want to keep me ‘safe’. And you know what, Sasha? I expected this kind of thing from Max. But from YOU?” Bino eyed her up and down with contempt. Abject disgust— that didn't actually seem as abject as it was resigned. “I really didn’t think you’d sink that low. But that’s what I get for trusting a traitor. You’re just like the rest of them.”

Sasha felt a couple of tears brimming in her eyes, and she quickly turned away from Bino before he could react to her crying. She lowered herself to the grass as she wept.

Max hurried over to Sasha, still appearing pensive but glaring at Bino. Bino couldn’t afford to care right now. He vehemently shoved any traces of a guilty conscience from his mind as he’d turn back to Fox’s door…

…which was already open. Fox’s eyes were on the weeping dog behind Bino.

Carp. Bino had to explain himself, and fast!

“Fox, listen. I wanted to–”

Fox held up a paw, taking a step back. Years of being friends with Bino beforehand had trained Fox to get used to the sight of Bino being a total jerk to other people. But having been with the K9PD for a while, and the fact that Bino had reduced Sasha to tears…

“Don’t bother, Bino.” And without another word, Fox brushes past Bino, quickly checking on Sasha. She had stopped crying, simply sniffling and wiping her face with her paws. Fox offered her a handkerchief, giving a wordless Bino one last glare before attempting to comfort Sasha.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Max assured the husky. “She’ll be okay…”

Fox nodded, turning and slowly heading back into the house— turning back and looking at Sasha, clearly concerned. He decided that he’d check on her after his shift… as much as he wanted to take her aside, help her right at the moment— he knew that he’d certainly be late for his shift if he did so. Regretfully, the husky closed the door, entrusting Maxwell to see that she’d be okay.

Bino stood at the doorstep as Fox slammed the door in his face. The mutt fell to his knees, hardly believing what’d happened.

Sasha’s breathing had managed to get back to a regular pace, and she cleaned her face with the handkerchief as she rose back up to her feet.

“Are you okay…?” Max asked Sasha, to which she nodded. “I probably should’ve seen that coming, huh?” Sasha half-jokes, forcing a mirthless laugh and doing her best not to let Bino’s tirade sink in. Conversely, Max had been given a lot more insight to how Bino saw him, and the world around him— and couldn’t stop thinking about Bino’s words.

Before the two could readdress Bino, he brought himself back up to his feet, and slowly slunk over to them. His tone wavered as he’d point an accusatory finger at the duo.

“This is your fault. Why did you have to ruin this for me!? Do you seriously hate me that much?”

Max immediately took the defensive stance. “Bino, we were TRYING to help you. You blew up and overreacted over nothing! You aren’t listening to us!”

“Oh, shut it." Bino wiped his eyes. "I hope you guys are happy. I really, really DO!" Bino's sarcasm once again elevated in tone as he tore into the dog and cat. "You want to know why I don't listen!? Because you guys are traitors! You're horrible, HORRIBLE animals. And I can't be dragged down by your… presences… anymore! Just leave me alone!"

Bino then took off running, faster than either Max or Sasha had ever seen him run. They slowly looked toward each other, their gazes sharing mixtures of mutual grief and worry. As the dog dashed out of sight, Sasha and Maxwell took a minute to process everything that had happened.

“Why’d you have to call him ‘Biney’?” Maxwell asked Sasha, to which the mutt shrugged.

“I thought that’d make him listen. I thought maybe he’d listen to me if I… I dunno, reminded him of the good times we’d had together?” Sasha ran a paw through her hair, trying to neaten it up to calm herself down.

“Well, that worked out.” Max snarked. “Now he’s angrier than ever, and he’s going who knows where!”

“Well, I’m sorry...” Sasha mumbled.

“I am, too. Next time we see him, just let me do the talking, okay?”

“Let YOU do the talking? I think Bino was pretty mad at you too, Max. If I read ‘between the lines’ right…”

“What lines? I’d say the lines themselves were telling us Bino didn’t like me at all.”

Slivers of bitterness crept into Max’s voice, as Sasha managed to piece together that perhaps he was taking Bino’s words a bit harder than she’d initially thought.

“I think,” Sasha began, “I think that he’s just… really, really stressed out, and that’s why he’s being so mean. Maybe he’s not thinking right, and… you know, maybe you had a point going about Duchess? It doesn’t seem like she makes him super happy…”

“She makes him totally miserable. Any pet in this town who isn’t Bino can see that.” Max retorted. “But he won’t listen. Why doesn’t he ever take advice? I could guarantee he’d have no problems if he’d just learn to listen.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” Sasha agreed. “But he’s just so… well… I can’t think of the word. But even when I was dating him, he was always so sure that everyone was out to get him. It got kind of annoying…”

“Yeah, no kidding. And the word you’re thinking of is paranoid, Sasha.”

“Right. Right. Paranoid… he was always so paranoid.”

“We’ve just… I don’t know. I just hope we can find some way to get him to listen. Or open up. Or just do ANYTHING that doesn’t involve digging himself deeper into his self-imposed mental break.” Max sighed.

“Maybe he doesn’t listen ‘cause… he thinks we’re out to get him?” Sasha surmised, much to Max’s surprise.

“Well, that’s… quite the realization from you.” The cat muttered. Sasha raised an inquisitive eyebrow, which Maxwell dismissed as the cogs in his head began to turn. “But, you know, that was… kind of obvious. It’s how Bino is. It’s always some sort of battle with him— you can never talk to him just as a person.”

“Maybe he needs to talk to someone else?” Sasha suggested.

“Like who? Nobody here would listen to his ravings. Seriously no offense to him, but… well, you know how he is.” Max shivered, his best efforts to purge Bino’s words from his head proving futile. “He’s like a cornered rattlesnake. He just bites back with a vengeance if he feels threatened. And he’s not the most secure of dogs.”

“Well… yeah. That I know!” Sasha agreed, before looking over in the direction Bino had run off. “So should we follow him?”

“On the one paw, I really would rather leave him be. It seems he needs some space…” Maxwell considered. “But on the other paw, I’m not exactly sure what he’ll do if we don’t follow. I mean, what if he gets lost in the woods again?”

“I guess that settles that, then...” Sasha began walking toward the woods. Max was astounded— he knew Sasha wasn’t exactly the most… present of dogs. But the fact that she could so easily shake off what Bino had said to her was something that amazed the cat. How was she so resilient?

“Sasha, hey. Are you sure you’re okay?” Max cautiously asked, tailing the dog.

“Hm? Oh! Yeah, of course I’m okay. I just take a few deep breaths and then I’m good.” Sasha informed, taking Maxwell by surprise.

“You just take a few…?”

“You should try it, it works pretty good! ‘In and out’. That’s what they call it. Breathe in… and then you breathe out. And then you stop thinking about the bad… er, things.” Sasha giggled, her backpedaling into levity only further amazing Max.

“Who’s ‘they’?”

“Not now, Max, we’ve gotta get going.” Sasha smiled, beckoning the cat to follow as she’d lead the way toward the woods. An uncertain Maxwell followed behind, questioning if the dog was just really good at controlling her emotions, or if she was just that dense. As much as it seemed like the latter, Maxwell couldn’t help but feel a bit perplexed by how… put-together Sasha had gotten herself, mere minutes after Bino’s visceral speech.

“You’re kind of an enigma sometimes.” Max muttered, taking his attention off Sasha and placing it onto the trees in the distance.

-

Bino, meanwhile, had ran pretty deep into the woods. His sense of direction was somewhat compromised by his emotional state— he just ran forward, hoping he’d be able to find a spot where no one could bother him. No pets, and no pesky woodland animals either. He just needed to not see anybody’s stupid face for a little while.

They ruined my plan once again. Bino lividly thought. Just like always, somebody else got in my way. How am I going to talk to Fox now!?

Even as he wiped away tear after tear, they kept on coming. And Bino couldn’t run forever— once he felt he was far enough away from everyone else, he leaned against a tree, resting his arms against the brittle bark and his head against his arm. The mutt struggled to steady his breathing, his lungs overclocked between the running and the sobs Bino so desperately wished would stop. Why couldn’t he stop crying!? Was his own body deciding to betray him, too?

This was just wonderful— the dog’s attempt to set things right only ended in failure. Now here he was, pathetically unable to keep his emotions in check as the upsetting reality of the situation began to set in.

Fox is really not going to want anything to with me now…

Bino slowly descended, sitting down against the tree and staring despondently ahead. Maybe sulking out here would help him get his head straight.

Maybe if I convince Sasha to convince Fox to forgive me…? No. She probably hates me, too.

Apart from quiet sniffles and sharp breaths, Bino found the woods to be pleasantly quiet, almost peaceful. It didn’t do much about his sour mood, but he couldn’t argue that being in such an environment helped him relax, if only a small bit.

Which, of course, would change as he’d hear rustling in the brush nearby.

“Who’s there…?” Bino grumbles, turning his head toward the source of the sound. Leaves and unruly branches shook as someone, or something forced their way through the shrubbery. “Max, Sasha, if either of you are there, I made it perfectly clear I am in no mood for discussion!”

Bino was given no reply.

Could it be a ferocious beast, implicitly challenging the dog to a standoff? Perhaps that bear had returned? The mutt almost preferred those options to Max or Sasha having found his hiding place. He braced himself for a confrontation of epic proportion. Bino wiped his eyes, hoping that he’d be able to keep himself together long enough to assert his dominance over… whomever dared to disturb him.

And out of the bushes stumbled a gray hare, stray leaves clinging to his fur before he’d begin picking them off. He was holding some berries in one paw, before he’d really take note of his surroundings.

“Shoot. Did I get turned around back there…?” The rabbit sighed. “That’s the last time I go foraging for berries without Jess…”

Bino, now on his feet, cleared his throat. The rabbit’s ears perked up, signifying his surprise as he’d turn to the mutt. “Oh… it’s you. Ummm… Bennett?”

Bino.” The mutt grumbled, eyeing the rabbit suspiciously.

“Mhm. In any case, I didn’t… expect to see you out here. Unless I’m somehow next to your house…?”

“Nope.”

“... Okay. Well, out of curiosity… do you happen to know this area well?”

“What do I look like, some forest yahoo?” Bino vitriolically rebuffs the rabbit, crossing his arms and averting his gaze. Manifesting anger seemed a lot easier minutes ago. But now that he’d cooled down a little, his initial rage simmered down and gave way to another, much more uncomfortable emotion.

“Well… yes. You kind of do.” The rabbit answered honestly. “Standing out here, brooding against a tree…”

“I am not brooding,” Bino spat. “I am simply contemplative. Learn the difference, mister what’s-your-name.”

“Zach.”

“Learn the difference, Zach. There. Are you satisfied? Good. Now take a hike.”

Zach blinked. “I can’t help but notice you’re… a little tense. Got anything on the mind?”

“Nothing you’d be able to understand.” Bino grumbled, now just wanting the rabbit to go away and leave him in relative peace.

“Why don’t I give it a try regardless?” Zach took a seat against Bino’s sulking tree. The dog struggled to think of a snarky comeback— which made sense considering it wasn’t really any sort of attack. At least, not any verbal attack Bino could conceivably take offense to.

Well, that was weird.

The mutt slowly lowered his body, returning to his original sat position. A bit of a strange situation, to say the least. Why was Zach so keen on listening to his strife? What did he have to gain from this?

“Aren’t you the rabbit that got lost years back?” Bino asked.

“Heh, yeah. Though these days, I wouldn’t say ‘lost’. I’d argue I’m more… well… is there a term for becoming a deity and then deciding to live in the woods? Most of the time at least?”

“I’ve got nothing.”

Zach lightly laughed. “Yeah, me neither… are you also deciding to live in the woods?”

“Oh, no.” Bino vehemently denied. “This place is beyond too filthy for my liking. The only reason I even came here in the first place was to get away from…” Bino cut himself off.

“Get away from what?” Zach pressed.

“It’s not what, it’s who.” Bino corrected. “And the who is just… two pets who’ve very apparently conspired to ruin my life.”

“How, exactly?”

“Well, it’s like this. Imagine you’re rightfully on the top of the world. Everyone adores you! You’re in charge of an exclusive club! But then suddenly, everyone decides they’d had enough of you, and everyone begins to leave. Including someone who thought was your best friend, who turns their back on you and leaves the club to go join the force. And now you’re exhausted, trying to keep your club afloat— even if it hardly seems like much fun these days— and then when I try to make amends with my former ally, Sasha and Maxwell just have to show up and get in your way and ruin my life!”

Zach blinked, taking a moment to comprehend Bino’s whole rant. It was clear to him that there was a bit to unpack there— and although none of it was specifically relatable to him, the rabbit could sense the general stress the mutt was under.

“So you run the club? That sounds a little taxing.”

“Tell me about it! Everyone thinks it’s all fun and games, but they never think about how much time and effort I put into my carefully crafted speeches!”

“Well, that’s certainly frustrating.”

“And the food. Do they think the food comes out of thin air!?”

“Where DOES it come from? I assume you prepare it yourself?”

“Well… kind of? I have my dad buy the ingredients, usually. He knows it’s important— it helps keep membership afloat.” Momentarily, Bino wondered if getting the food from a different store might help. “Same with the drinks.”

“Well, yes, I kind of figured.”

“Don’t they all realize how difficult it is? On top of having to make sure the venue’s clean, there’s food, there’s speeches, and that the rules are enforced… I have to deal with a lot of pets making fun of me, or purposely excluding me in any way they can! They’re jealous and vindictive, all of them!”

Although curious and concerned about Bino’s apparent overexertion, Zach decided to take a slightly different approach to this.

“You mentioned that there were two people who ‘ruined your life’...?”

“Oh, yes. Sasha and Maxwell. Also known as the worst two pets of all time.” Bino growled.

“What’d they do?”

Bino took a moment to recollect and calm himself down. It was a bitter memory that Bino wished he could’ve erased. “Well… as I said, I went to go try and… make amends with my former ally. He’d cut the friendship between us a few years back, and I thought that maybe, with how I’d been feeling lately, he’d sort of be the start of something new. Maybe I could at least regain something back.”

“That doesn’t sound unreasonable, wanting a friend back. Trust me, I kind of know how it feels to not belong. To feel like you don’t really fit within everyone else’s mold…” Zach sympathetically replied, remembering when he’d first been brought to Babylon Gardens.

Ally.” Bino corrected, though his tone softened slightly as he’d continue. “It’s not so much fitting into everyone else’s mold as… well, none of them fitting mine.”

“So they don’t meet your standards? Is that correct?”

Bino gave Zach a nonplussed, and slightly annoyed look— why’d he have to phrase it like that? Then again, the mutt found it very difficult to argue against it.

“Yes! … No.” Bino found himself faced with an odd, uncomfortable bout of self-reflection. If only for a moment— this wasn’t about him. This was about how everyone else had wronged him!

“They do or they don’t, Bino?”

“Not the point. Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted…” Bino’s sharp tone returned. His defensive tone, Zach realized. The rabbit decided to listen a bit more.

“Well. I don’t know what I was going to say next! You made me lose my train of thought!” Bino growled. “Why do you care anyway? Gonna blackmail me? Everyone already hates me, it’s not worth your darn time.”

“I don’t think…” Zach was evidently a little unnerved by Bino’s paranoia.

The dog hunched over, curling up his legs and burying his muzzle in his palms. “Everybody hates me anyways!”

“So… why did Sasha and Maxwell try to stop you from reconnecting with this friend of yours?” asked Zach, hoping that keeping Bino on topic would help him calm down.

“Right, right… Well, this friend, uh, I feel like he betrayed me. I don’t know, we kinda drifted apart, but we also just really weren’t getting along! Fighting and stuff! Like what not-friends do, actually. I don’t know. One day I woke up and he didn’t like me anymore, he didn’t care what I thought anymore!”

“He… doesn’t sound like a good friend,” Zach said.

“Don’t insult him like that, he’s a good friend!” Bino argued. “Or at least he was.

“We’re getting a little bit off topic here,” Zach said. “So, you were going to reconnect with him?”

“Yeah, but Sasha and Maxwell,” Bino uttered the second name with extra disdain, “tried to intercept me. Well, not tried, they did! They think Fox is too good for me, and they think I don’t deserve friends,” Bino said, as if he had fully decided this information was factual. “I can understand why Maxwell would do this, he’s always hated me, but Sasha’s been super weird recently.”

“How so?”

“Well at first she was acting like she didn’t hate me! And I know from the commercials she was in that she can’t act. But then she did hate me? And like, she was trying to help me and hurt me at the same time last night?” Bino rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know, I don’t understand her, what does she even want from me?”

“I don’t think there’s any way to know sometimes. But like, what do you want from her? Or this friend you were reconnecting with? Or anyone for that matter?” asked Zach, reaching a paw out and patting Bino on the shoulder. It was a bit awkward with how much smaller Zach was, but he managed.

“I-” Bino wasn’t sure how to answer this question. There were so many things he wanted to say. So many things he wanted in general. “I suppose we could start with some appreciation. Rightful worship for the hoops I jump through.” Zach cringed at the word worship. “Perhaps some more sufficient allies to help keep my club afloat,” Bino continued. “Maybe a bit more admiration from my girlfriend.”

“Some admiration from your girlfriend? Isn’t admiration kind of a prerequisite?”

“Well…” Bino slightly backpedaled. “Let me reword it. She… admires me in her own way. She gets concerned a lot, though.”

“About the club?”

“Yeah. When she gets worried she tends to get emotional. Which is all the time.”

“She gets emotional all the time?”

“Yeah! She always seems just a little grumpy. I do my best to keep our optimism intact, though she always gets all worked up. She talks a lot about ‘retaining status’ and ‘exclusivity’.”

“I… I see…”

“And don’t get her started on ‘power’...” Bino lifts his paw, making a so-so gesture as he’d recount her many, many discussions with him on power being mandatory for the relationship to work. “She gets a little… ‘unpleasant’... when our power is threatened. Like yesterday. She… I think she got worried that I was being unfaithful. All ‘cause I was with Sasha for a little bit… and, I guess out of her fear, she sort of accidentally grazed me…”

Zach’s eyes widen in horror, as the implications of the situation sunk in. “Define grazed.”

“Well…” Bino gestured to the bandages on his face.

“She did that out of worry?” Zach’s tone was as surprised as it was disbelieving.

“Yes. Well… probably. Most certainly. Never mind that.” Bino gave a flick of the paw, as if shooing away the winds of doubt. Doubts about him and Duchess— rationalizing her anger seemed a lot easier a little while ago. But hearing someone, who was barely above a stranger, being so aghast about the situation…

“Are you… okay?” Zach slowly asked.

“I… Yes. Of course I’m fine. Apart from nobody liking me. As I’ve told you more than once at this point.” Bino’s sharp tone made a hasty return.

“In any case… I believe what you’re looking for, above all else, is just some appreciation, right? You seem to want pets to like you, and you feel like nobody gives your efforts to keep the club afloat a second thought.” Zach recapitulated Bino’s points, trying to be as succinct as possible. “Is that right?”

“More or less.” Bino admitted.

“Well… if you’re willing to listen— from what I’ve heard— I think I might have a little bit of a solution to your problems. At least, an idea.”

“Shoot.”

“Take a step back for a moment. It seems to me that you’re stuck in a bit of a cycle. You pour so much of yourself into the club, and then you run yourself ragged trying to keep everything afloat. Combine that with the fact that, according to you, everybody is your worst enemy and trying to ruin the very club you work so hard to maintain.”

“This isn’t making me feel better.”

“Question,” Zach began, “You say Max and Sasha ruined your attempt to rekindle a friendship with Fox, out of malice. Out of their belief that Fox deserves better than you. Did they explicitly say this?”

“They didn’t have to. It was obviously implied.”

“When?”

“Well, it’s just… it was plainly there, okay?”

“Then tell me.”

“I…” Bino strained to think of a point in time when either of them told him he didn’t deserve Fox. He’d figured that was why they were there— why wouldn’t they be? After all, Fox didn’t like him very much these days, and it’s not like Bino wasn’t aware of that. Sasha seemed to be friends with Fox, and Maxwell… wasn’t exactly enemies with Fox.

But then Bino recalled what they’d told him. What he initially assumed to be a lie— that they wanted to make sure he was okay. And that they wanted to talk to him about last night.

“I guess they never implied it outside of… well, it was a circumstantial kind of thing. I figured…”

Zach raised an eyebrow. “You figured.”

“I did.” Bino couldn’t refute it, as much as he wanted to. “They told me that they wanted to ‘make sure I was still in one piece’. I thought that was just some half-baked lie. It would’ve made sense of it was! I think. But…”

“But it wasn’t, Bino. It seems to me like they were worried about you, and just caught you at a bad time.”

“I suppose. Still doesn’t excuse the fact that they would not let me get to Fox. They kept getting in my way! Saying that I had to ‘listen’...”

“I agree they should have let you talk to Fox, butWere you listening? And did you try to explain yourself?”

“No! Why would I? For all I knew, they were there to–” Bino shorted himself as the realization dawned on him. “Oh.”

“There’s your prime example. It seems like you get so stressed and caught up in your own negative headspace, that… you lash out. You automatically assume everyone’s out to get you, and you prickle up like a porcupine.”

Bino didn’t appreciate being compared to a porcupine, but found it difficult to counter the rabbit’s points. “Well, whatever…”

“Here’s what I suggest. Stop viewing everyone else as rivals. As people who want to ‘ruin your life’.”

“But…”

“But what, Bino? Besides Sasha and Maxwell— who we’ve established might’ve legitimately attempted to help you— who else was trying to ruin your life?”

Bino opened his mouth to argue, but words failed him. All the slights and seemingly obvious disrespect began to crumble away as he’d be faced with harsh reality. “But… nothing, I guess.”

“You’re stretched so thin by all these responsibilities you’re placing on yourself. I can tell. You do most of the club managing, as you’ve said. Maybe you need to take a break. Maybe you need a little bit of assistance?”

“Well, who’s going to help me? Besides my girlfriend, nobody else really cares to manage the club.”

“She doesn’t seem like a great girlfriend.” Zach said frankly. “And if you want to take offense to that— I apologize. But from the little tidbits I’ve heard about her, she seems to be doing far more harm to your psyche than good.”

“Leave her out of this.” Bino spat.

“Fine.” Zach held his paws up in mock defeat. “I’d still advise you try to accept help. Maybe it’s not so much that everybody else hates you, more than.. I dunno, you think they all want to hurt you, so you lash out at them.”

The urge to fight back was only withheld by Bino’s lack of an argument.

Within minutes, the rabbit had managed to give the mutt some sort of perspective. Bino still wasn’t entirely believing of his words— but he knew better than to dismiss them entirely. Zach had managed to make it seem Sasha and Maxwell actually did want to help him. Or at least Sasha. He still had his doubts about Max. The mutt figured that he’d just ask the cat about it later— well, maybe not later. Bino remembered what he’d said to Maxwell— and actually felt a twinge of guilt. He didn’t revel in upsetting the cat, and he knew that what he’d said was a bit nasty. He said it out of perceived self-defense, but still.

“I’ve never thought of… everything… in that way.” Bino admitted earnestly. “Still doesn’t help with the fact that nobody cares enough to help me.”

“Publicity could have something to do with it.” Zach surmised. “No offense, but based on your initial attitude, I’ll go ahead and infer you’re… like this… with a lot of pets. Paranoid, unwilling to trust and, well, prickly. Like a porcupine.”

“Stop calling me a porcupine.” Bino grumbled. He certainly had a lot to think about…

“Then I advise… that you lose the quills.” Zach hoisted himself up. “Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with porcupines of course.” He stretched momentarily before recounting the berries he’d foraged. “At least try to be more willing to accept other pets. You never know— with just a change of attitude, you might be able to find someone who you’ll grow to appreciate, and who’ll grow to appreciate you.”

“Now you’re just sounding sappy.” Bino rolled his eyes, trying his best to pretend like the rabbit’s advice wasn’t piercing through his usually selfish veneer. The mutt stood. “I should get home. I’m not in much of a mood to scout out forest berries for lunch.”

“Maybe it is sappy. I’m only speaking from experience.” Zach shrugged. “I used to be all uptight like you. Thought everyone cared about me a whole lot more than they did. Maybe I still am. But, you know…” The rabbit glanced around the area, seemingly taking in the woods around them as he began walking off. “Once I started to realize that the world wasn’t out to get me, I began to see what other pets truly had to offer. Companionship chief among them.”

Bino watched wordlessly as Zach glanced back to him, giving a small wave goodbye. Bino reciprocated, as odd as it felt. As the rabbit-stranger retreated into the brush he’d emerged from, Bino turned his attention toward the path he’d taken to get here.

Companionship. It had a nice ring to it. Not quite subordination, but perhaps it was close enough.

Bino certainly didn’t like the idea of having to let other pets in. Opening himself up and potentially exposing weakness. But truth be told, the rabbit’s words were oddly convincing. And if it was to help the club, and would help him regain his rightful popularity… heck. Maybe it was worth a shot.

Armed with this new resolve, Bino began the trek back to the neighborhood.

-

Duchess sat in the empty clubhouse, surveying the barren seats and podium as she’d oversee Boris and Yeltsin’s routine cleaning of the place. It accumulated filth rather easily— no doubt thanks to all the mangy mutts that attended to club meetings. “Rewarding” as this power was, it had its trade-offs.

She didn’t seem to have as much power as she’d hoped for. Sure, having her “boyfriend” being in charge of the club was a decent boost in popularity, at least in her eyes. It would serve as good fodder for any other pageants she’d participate in. Judges loved when dogs actively worked towards good causes. In this case, the cause was “promoting inclusivity between the neighborhood dogs”. Not exactly world peace, but it would do.

Tolerating Bino was Duchess’s chief gripe with all this. She tired of his self-aggrandizing attitude, and that was to say nothing about how poorly he managed the club. Club loyalty was slipping, and although she’d given him oh so many chances to bolster their relevance, Bino was failing to keep things afloat. Although Duchess had slowly began assuming power, little by little, as long as Bino was the head it seemed the club— and with it, a large bit of her delicate, intricately crafted reputation— was doomed to failure. If only Bino would just step down as the leader— even having him as a figurehead just seemed to be prolonging Duchess’s own frustration.

Though as she filed her claws, she raised her eyebrows as she came up with something. Perhaps she’d found a solution to her own problems— or at least, the start of a solution. Maybe it was time to stop waiting for something to happen— and maybe it was time she stopped playing so nice.

“Boris. Yeltsin.” Duchess raised a paw, signaling both dogs to stop their cleaning.

She had their attention.

“I need you two to locate Bino for me. Escort him back here— I’ve got some important matters to discuss with him.” Duchess put her file away. “I believe that it’s time some changes were made, and I want Bino to be made aware of them.”

As Boris and Yeltsin left the building, Duchess glanced again at the podium.

Certainly would look a lot nicer with her behind it.

-
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Krytus The Dreamer
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Krytus The Dreamer »

At this point, I'm just taking notes. It's no secret I'm planning a Bino redemption arc of my own and I'd say this is a good example to work off of. Bino is hateable but at the same time I feel for him not being able to handle responsibilities and the stress that comes with it. Duchess is... well she's a female dog but its the "Love to hate" kind of hatred like I just wanna see her get her comeuppance sooner or later. Great work guys!
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

Hmmmm ... Bino finds redemption, Sasha gets a come-uppance, and Fox and Duchess fall madly in love. That could be a twist. And Yeltsin and Boris partner up with Rex and Daisy to open a Dunkin' Donuts. Tiger, of course, becomes their best customer. ;)
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I enjoyed how this chapter has come out and the way the story is going! I wonder if Max and Sasha will realize the reason Bino never met Fox was because they intercepted him and he got all defensive and insulting with them?
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CryosR
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

I jus thope Bino can get over himself long enough to take the right steps. Liked the conversation he had with Zach
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by trekkie »

Wasn’t expecting Zach, to make an appearance, but you did a great job. Hopefully Bino’s paranoia will slowly abate or he’ll see Duchess for who she truly is.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

CryosR wrote: Mon Nov 07, 2022 3:12 pm I jus thope Bino can get over himself long enough to take the right steps. Liked the conversation he had with Zach
Guess living with Tiger was good training for "Bunny Boy". Interesting narrative so far.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by FalinkesInculta »

I gotta say, when Tarot said that there wasn’t anything on Bino’s future it got me really worried he was about to do something drastic.
Next up is a song about a beautiful woman i met,

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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I'm not sure it will go that far but it is terrifying. Hopefully Bino will be able to change for the better soon!
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by piero345655 »

I hope this arrives before the new year
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Is it wrong that I want Max and Sasha to realize that the reason the Bino and Fox meeting ever came about because of THEM? They sort of fulfilled the prophecy. When stuff like that happens on other shows, nobody ever really brings it up.
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by piero345655 »

Why do I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen MUY BAD? And why would I like to see it?
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Because depending on what it is it could be a learning experience. I just hope it isn't something that is too extreme...
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

Just wanted to quickly say that this story isn't dead, we'd just taken a break. I've finally got more done tonight! New chapter sometime in the coming week?
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

That sounds really good and glad you came back to it! Gonna be looking forward so much for the next chapter!
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Wrenisprobablyb0red »

Woah, it's been a bit, huh? Sorry about that. There isn't really a good reason, it just hasn't been a life priority for either of us for a bit and it took a while to get to a point where we had time to write it again. Once I got back in the groove, this chapter ended up coming into being rather quickly. Next chapter won't take so long. This is another chapter mostly by me, and kingpyn's writing the next chapter, and he's a bit better with getting stuff done I think. :P
I really really REALLY appreciate all of the feedback and discussion this fic is generating. I am so glad that folks are enjoying it and I hope that you all like this chapter just as much.
For those of you who aren't too big on Heckraiser, I hope this tides you over a bit. (I jest!)
-
Chapter Five
The Dreaded Discussion
-
“This is hopeless!” Max proclaimed, as if to the whole woods. “These woods are too big. And woodsy! We’ll never find him at this rate.”

Sasha sighed. Max could sense her dejection from the fallen tree he was balancing on, a good twenty feet away from her. “Sasha?” he asked.

“No, no, you’re right, and it’s getting dark…”

Max shrugged. “I can see in the dark just fine. If you want, I can keep searching the woods and you can go look in the neighborhood to see if he’s come back.”

“Why were you saying it was hopeless then?” asked Sasha, looking confused.

Max hopped down from the tree trunk and padded over to Sasha, the sound of the first autumn leaves beneath his paws filling what would have otherwise been an uncomfortable silence.

Max whispered into Sasha’s ear. “There’s always woodland creatures nearby, eavesdropping on you, when you’re in the forest. Usually squirrels. I’m hoping we can guilt them into helping out if we complain loud enough.” He then backed up a bit so as not to crowd her.

Sasha looked down at her feet. Max followed her gaze, seeing that she was all muddy and covered in burrs and brambles. Dogs were not as light-footed or careful as cats, and all this searching had evidently taken a toll on her, and yet she was not complaining.

“So you… don’t feel like this entire thing is hopeless? Like we’re working too hard or that our… endgoal is not get- gettable?”

“Gettable isn’t a word,” Max said.

“Yes it is,” Sasha said. “I saw it in a dictionary.”

Max looked back up at her face, dumbfounded. “When did you read a dictionary?”

Sasha scratched behind her ear. “Well, uh. I had to do a lot of paperwork after I left my owner. And sometimes I needed to check the meanings of words. And I felt like reading more of it would make me smarter. So I did? But it took so long and I stopped at pomology. Which is the study of fruits and fruit growing.”

“Huh, so you know a lot of words?”

“Yeah…” said Sasha, sighing. “But I can’t use them right most of the time. I don’t tend to bother.”

“Oh yeah, I totally get that. Never been one for big words myself, you know!”

“Heh.” Sasha frowned. “Hey, wait, you never answered my questions.”

Max in turn sighed this time. “Well… truth is I don’t know how to answer them? I know we’ll find Bino again, and that he’ll just go back home eventually, but I’m worried that maybe there’s nothing I can do at this point. I pushed him too far, and now he won’t listen to reason. He’ll never see that he’s in the wrong.”

“Is he?” asked Sasha.

Max furrowed his brows. “Well may, uh, maybe not entirely, but he’s wrong enough. He had no right to say some of that stuff he said to me!”

“You say awful stuff to him,” said Sasha.

“Oh, did Bino tell you that? If you said that his shirt was too big he’d take personal offense. If he wore shirts that is. Uh, yeah, that metaphor didn’t land. That’s not the point!” Max turned and started to walk back to the tree trunk. “Everything I ever say to him, even compliments, are taken negatively. How can one dog be so insecure and have such a bloated ego at the same time?”

“You’re doing it right now,” Sasha said.

“Doing what?”

“Talking about how not good he is,” the dog said shyly. She didn’t like to point out hypocrisy when it manifested. Back when her old owner was…

Not the point, not now.

“I’m just telling the truth,” said Max. He practically spat the word ‘just.’ “Does he really think I’m such a bad brother? When I’m putting in so much effort for him?”

“Just because you put in effort doesn’t make you a good brother,” Sasha said. She wasn’t certain if this was true or not, but if she had a brother, she wouldn’t want them to act the way Max seemed to act. “You act like Bino is… is… pitiful. You’re don’t care for him, you pity him.”

Max turned towards Sasha like she was crazy.

“Of course I care for him! He’s my brother,” said Max, without an ounce of hesitation. “I want to be there for him, but it’s hard when he’s always the instigator of every single one of his problems. I used to talk to him rationally, but that never got through to him. At least teasing him about it usually made him second guess himself.”

“It just made him angrier,” Sasha argued.

“Well, that’s not my fault! It was just a bit of ribbing!”

Sasha looked away. “It doesn’t matter how you see it, it matters how he saw it.”

“Ugh. You know, there were so many times where he went home crying because of you. And at first, I tried to help him with it, but he said I thought he didn’t deserve you, and got defensive.”

“Because of me!?” Sasha sounded shocked, and walked towards Max.

“Oh, yeah,” Max spat. “He was happier before he was with you, you know. But when you were together, you were always chasing after some other dog, sometimes even his own brother. He never felt good enough for you. He stopped wanting to be around you.”

“None of that meant anything,” Sasha dismissed. “I’m always making out with all the dogs around, it’s fun. Kevin doesn’t mind!”

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe Bino didn’t like it? He’s not like Kevin; he asked you to stop.”

“He didn’t care about what I needed in a relationship!”

“You didn’t care about what he needed, either. There’s a reason he moved on so quickly after you two broke up. He was genuinely happier with Duchess, of all dogs.”

This hit Sasha like sharpened claws to the face. “He-”

“You two never bothered to talk about what you wanted in a relationship. You didn’t discuss your terms or anything. You just swept that all under the rug. Even Bino’s realized by now why everything fell apart.”

Sasha huffed. “Oh, like you’re so much better.”

Max rolled his eyes. “I’m insecure about it at times, but I know that Grape could never be happy with just one guy in her life, and I don’t try to convince her otherwise. I want her to be happy, and she wants me to be happy. She makes an effort to make me feel special and loved. I’m happy being with her and I don’t need it to be exclusive. From the sounds of it, Bino really did.

“Stop lecturing me,” said Sasha.

“Then don’t lecture me!” said Max, crossing his arms. “I’m gonna keep searching the woods, you can go into the neighborhood.”

Sasha didn’t talk for a second. She just stood there.

“Go on, or are you going to cooperate so we can both… apologize or whatever? I don’t know. I don’t know how to end an argument, Grape does that for me!”

“Maybe you’re right,” Sasha said. She sighed. “I don’t- well, I don’t know. Bino was still a worse boyfriend than I was!”

“Phrasing,” said Max with a small chuckle. “But I’d say cheating is probably worse than regifting. Noooot that it’s my place to judge or anything.”

“Yeah, yeah, how ‘bout you stay out of it?” Sasha ‘suggested.’ “Let’s just drop it.”

“Okay, fine, whatever. I don’t think we’re finding Bino out here anyways. Maybe we should prepare some kind of apology for him when he gets back.”

“I don’t think he’ll be in a state to accept an apology.”

“You’re probably right,” Max conceded. “I don’t know what to do now, though. Feels like we should do something.”

Sasha shrugged. “Well, I’ll go see if he went back to Fox’s place now that his shift is almost over, and you can check your own house. Make sure to text me with an update if he’s there.

Max nodded. “Oh, alright.”

With that, Sasha, who Max noticed was now walking with a noticeable heaviness, or rather stomping, trod off the direction they’d come from. Max pulled out his phone to check Poodle maps, as he figured it might be faster to cut through the woods to get home.

As his screen flashed on, he saw a couple messages (several from both Grape and Peanut, one from Tarot, one from Fox, and one from some kind of scammer) that he hadn’t gotten the notifications for. He didn’t remember muting his phone, but apparently he’d done that at some point.

He read over the messages.

From Grape;
12:35 PM ‘Hows the Bino thing going?’
12:37 PM ‘Will u be back in time for imaginate?’
1:55 PM ‘Okay ur probably muted, cya later, or tomorrow if u can’t be done in time.’

From Peanut;
12:06 PM ‘Max!!!!! I found such a cool bug’

There was an image attached of a pillbug. It was crawling on one of Peanut’s claws.

12:08 PM ‘Max!!!!! Did you see the bug?’
1:29 PM ‘We started imaginate without you. Sorry! Sorry!!!’
1:52 PM ‘Grape just said something really funny but I forgot what it was. ( ; w ; )'
1:56 PM ‘Max please unmute your phone!!!!!
1:57 PM ‘Oh right you’re muted, you can’t hear me.’
2:21 PM ‘You’ve been gone for two and a half hours now, come baaaack!!!! Imaginate isn’t the same without youuuu… ( ,V ^ V, )’
4:02 PM ‘Okay the pups headed home. We played pirates and robbers! It’s like that cops and robbers game but with pirates. Which is far cooler!’

Max smiled at Peanut’s enthusiasm and responded quickly, remarking on the cool bug, then continued on reading the other messages. Tarot simply said “Good Luck,” whilst Fox had sent a message which read ‘So what was all that about?” Max didn’t remember adding Fox to his contacts, but he must have done so during some prior interaction.

Max sent a voice message Fox’s way. “Sasha’s coming to your place, she’ll fill you in on the details.”

With this accomplished, he opened the mapping application on his phone and typed in his address. As he’d expected, it would be faster to cut across the woods than to follow the streets. If he walked in a straight line through this patch of forest, he’d end up in his backyard within five or so minutes.

He began to walk back toward his house, weaving in and out of trees. He was perhaps walking faster than normal, determination compelling him to get back sooner. Plus, if he occupied himself with other things, he wouldn’t have to start thinking about whether or not he’d inadvertently sabotaged things by upsetting Sasha! Which would be less than ideal.

He entered his backyard and strode into the house through the ‘doggie door,’ which was only ever used when the back door itself was locked, as both Max and Bino were tall enough to open the door.

"Is that you, Max?"

The cat's ears perked up. Bino was undoubtedly in the house, and against all odds, did not sound outwardly hostile. Or at least no more so than usual. He was still Bino, afterall.

"Uh, yeah!" Max replied. "I was looking for you."

There was a snort. "Oh, was it to go make me look like an idiot in front of another old friend's house?" The snort soon turned into a full on laugh.

Max raised his eyebrows. It certainly was... unusual... to say the least, hearing Bino make light of his own situation.

"No," he called back, walking into the living room where Bino was busy drafting up some kind of schedule. Max gave it a passing glance but decided to ignore it for now.

He sighed. He really, really, really wanted to be in some way aggressive or, for lack of a better word, catty, about the situation, but that had only exacerbated things earlier and he would rather not do that now.

"I talked to a weird rabbit," said Bino. "He was willing to listen to my qualms, and woes, and other various and sundry words for the things that are currently weighing heavy upon me."

"I'm... willing to listen too," said Max. He frowned. It felt weird saying that, mostly because listening to Bino talk about his worries was actually one of his least favorite activities. If he had to choose between that and working out every day for six weeks, he'd choose to work out in a heartbeat.

“You… I don’t know. Maybe that isn’t true, or, maybe you’re not the one who I need to listen to me right now. That’s not what I want to talk about. I need to clear some stuff up, and I’m going to try not to get angry, or confused, or anything, even if under the surface I am all those things.”

“That’s… surprisingly mature.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bino snapped. “Ugh, not right now. You know I’m actually trying, right.”

Max nodded. He was kind of at a loss for words, really.

“Look, okay, this morning, I wanted to apologize to Fox, alright? I just needed somebody and I didn’t know where else to turn. And you had made that comment last night about claws and there was the- I just couldn’t- I DON’T KNOW, I just.”

Bino took a deep breath and started again. “This morning, I wanted to apologize to Fox, and when I headed over, you and Sasha intercepted me. I had to get to him before he left to go hang out with his cruddy K9 compatriots, and because you’ve never tried to help me out before and kept trying to bring up Duchess, who might I add, is like probably the only dog who even cares about me at this point,” at this, Max looked away. He heard the dog start to sniff a bit, before continuing, “The point is, it seemed to me like you were trying to stop me from reaching out. From apologizing and reconnecting with a friend and feeling happy. So, yeah, I got quite mad at you two. I didn’t see any reason for you to care beyond wanting to stop me! And worse, if that was your intent, it ended up working perfectly. I think there’s a good chance now that Fox is never gonna talk to me again because of you. That’s something… that I want you to know and something I hope you feel at least a little bad about having to live with…”

Bino started to seriously start tearing up. “I could have had him back, you know? I don’t know why he ever left me behind for that corgi, for those K9s, for those… whoever else he hangs out with these days. I basically don’t know him anymore, that’s the saddest thing! We used to be best buds! And I talked to the rabbit and he said that you just wanted to make sure I was okay, but if you had wanted to help, wouldn’t you have listened to me when I told you I had something else I needed to do? Why is it that you all only pretend to care about me now anyways? The saddest part is…” Bino chokes back more tears. “For a second, I thought Zach was right, but I don’t know. He wants to see the good in you, but―” Bino turned towards Max, who was staring blankly away, listening closely but not commenting, “·― I’ve known you for years and I’ve seen all the bad in you. But, but, please, tell me that I’m wrong, that you care, that you’ve always cared, that…”

Bino froze. “No, I don’t want to hear that from a cat, but… please just say it anyways. Please. I don’t know, I don’t…” With that, he broke into full-on sobbing.

Everything else was quiet. Max heard the sobbing, and felt himself tearing up as well. He turned back towards Bino, who had buried his muzzle in his hands. “I’m gonna get tears in my bandages,” Bino said with a halfhearted, fleeting chuckle, before resuming his bawling.

Max tested his voice. “Bino, I don’t know why I let it get this bad. I do care about you. You’re my brother, even if you are a dog.”

Bino huffed. “You’re always out with your girlfriend and even when you’re here you pretend I don’t exist unless I berate you or you feel like annoying me…”

Max wanted to bite back. He had a million reasons to, for as emotional as Bino was right now, Max felt he was also self-centered.

“Yeah. I always thought, you know, we’re siblings, you can handle some ribbing.”

“You’re implying that I’m too sensitive to handle it. That you would prefer I was someone else who could put up with you being a jerk all the time and wouldn’t get mad about it.”

“I never… I never meant any of the teasing, Bino.”

“Is that your idea of an apology? Telling me you thought I could handle it and that you weren’t being serious with the teasing? I know that. I have known that. Forever. You shouldn’t have the right to be a jerk like that, and then pin it on me, make it about how I can’t handle any ribbing.”

Max sighed. He rubbed at the fur atop his paw, unable to meet Bino’s eyes. “I don’t have an excuse for that. It was a bad thing that I did and I can’t make it better. I’m sorry. I understand if you don’t forgive me.”

“I don’t. Apologizing, begging, groveling, all that is easy. You already did the hard part, which was seeing just how far you could toe the line until you got caught.” Bino snarled.

Max chose not to comment on the irony of that. In his head, the whole time, he’d been arguing against Bino, pointing out the dog’s hypocrisies and how he never did any of the things he expected from Max himself. Bino wasn’t being reasonable, and deep down, they both knew it. But Max knew it wasn’t time to focus on who was right or wrong, rather, it was time to make sure Bino could let out his feelings. With a hopefully clear-headed future Bino, Max hoped to let the dog know that he had done his fair share to get them in their current situation, but right now, he would suck it up.

“That was never my intention but I can understand why you feel that way. What can I do to actually fix things?"

“Oh, so now you want to fix things?" Bino turned away from Max. "Why!?"

“What do you mean, why? Because you're my brother? Because I hate fighting you? Because I hate seeing you feel sad?"

“So it's all about your feelings. Nothing to do with whether I'm happy or-"

“Bino, that's not what I meant. I meant that I care about you."

Bino froze.

“You what?" he asked, as if unsure he'd heard properly.

“I care about you. It hurts when you're not doing well, and I want to see you feel better. It hurts that I don't know how to help and that my efforts have always driven a further wedge."

Bino breathed in. He chuckled. “I wish I could believe that, but you do… so, so much, all to push me away and make me feel bad. You make fun of me. You treat me like I'm stupid. You call me names. You aren't there for me the way you want to believe you are.”

‘No, I'm not, am I?” Max asked. He brought his paw to his forehead. “Carp.”

Bino groaned. “Tell me something I don't know, why don't you?”

“Is there any way I can apologize to you, try to set things right? Isn't there a way to fix this?”

“You know what, maybe there isn't. I don't know why I listened to that stupid rabb-”

There was a loud crash outside. Bino and Max immediately rushed towards the window nearest the source of the sound.

Bino peeked out the window, shoving Max down and almost using him as an inelegant, squirmy footstool. He gasped.

“They knocked over our owner's potted plant!”

“‘What?” Asked Max. ‘Who?”

His question was answered by a quiet knock on the door. A single knock, barely a tap. “Some mouse, maybe?” Max suggested.

“No.” Bino shook his head. He was frozen in front of the window. Max shrugged and headed to the front door, swinging it open.

Contrary to the small rodent he had been expecting to see, he was greeted by the visage of a huge, muscle-bound hound, expressionless, not in a cold way, but in a fiery, tense way. The corners of the dog's tight-lipped mouth twitched at the sight of the cat, ear flicking in recognition of this tiny animal that could very well be its prey.

“Y-Yeltsin-” Bino stammered.

“Duchess sent me. She wants to see ya. Somethin’ about some, er, changes that you made? Or that she made? I uh, er, wasn’t really uh listening.” Yeltsin crossed his arms.

Bino sighed. “Alright, I’ll come.”

“Looks like we is doin’ this the hard way,” Yeltsin said, grabbing Bino’s shoulders.

“What? I said I’d come! Let go of me!”

“The hard way’s more fun for me,” said Yeltsin, hoisting Bino up onto his back with barely any effort. “Plus, I don’t want yer little puppy legs slowing us down, ya hear?”

Bino squirmed on Yeltsin’s back. “If you chased me there it’d be even faster! Just let me down!”

Max wasn’t sure whether to giggle or try to fight back. Well, definitely not fight back. He couldn’t fight Yeltsin off unless he got Res to come all the way from Canada to “help” (do all the work), and even then, it would be a pretty even fight.

“What are you just standing around for, you useless cat?” asked Bino. This shook Max out of his stupor just in time for Yeltsin to whisk Bino out and slam the door in his face.

“Uhhh…” Max said, blinking a couple times. “Wow. Okay. That throws a wrench in our reconciliation.”

-

Sasha did not go straight to Fox’s house. She should have! It’s what she wanted to do, it’s just not what she did. Instead, she stormed off towards her doghouse in the woods.

When she got there, her first action was to kick it. This did actually help her feel better. She groaned, then leaned against it.I’m so stupid. I’m so stupid and I’m so awful, she berated herself. Why was I ever even with Bino in the first place? Why am I sticking my incredibly attractive neck out for him?

She turned around, smushing her face into the roof of the doghouse. She just needed something to rest against for a second.

Max doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I was great for Bino. I gave him so much love and never made fun of his tiny neck. It’s not my fault that Bino didn’t respect what I needed out of a relationship.

I’m way better than Duchess.

The thought that Sasha had even been compared to that putrid dog riled her up. She knew that Bino had been happier with her. He had to have been.

Not like Max is an expert! He barely ever talks to his brother. He’s the real problem, honestly, it’s his fault that Bino can’t be happy.

I just wish it was more… simple. That Bino could just see what I mean and we could move on like nothing ever happened. He doesn’t deserve this. And I wish he was willing to trust me enough to listen to me when I tell him that Duchess is awful.

I would know. She’s a lot like my old…

Whatever, it’s not my fault that Bino can’t trust me. He’s so paranoid all the time!

Sasha pushed herself off the roof. She wasn’t getting anything done. Wallowing in misery had its time and place, and that time and place was not here!

And so, she trod off in the direction of Fox’s house once more. There was no guarantee that he’d be home yet, as he often went for donuts with Mungo after his shift, but if Sasha crossed her fingers and hoped against all hope, he’d probably be there.

It turned out that knocking on Fox’s front door with crossed fingers was a quick recipe to hurting her paw! She shook it off, as if to expel the pain from her fingers, and blew on it for good measure.

“Ouch,” she said, calmly.

The sound of the lock coming undone and doorknob being fiddled with caused her ears to perk up. It was weird how much it sounded like her old owner getting back home in the middle of the night. She shied back a bit, but immediately felt overwhelming happiness at the sight of Fox.

“Fox! You’re home!”

“Well, uh, yeah, I guess I am,” said Fox, adjusting his vest. “Only just got back, though, still haven’t changed out of my uniform.”

“Oh, oh, it’s alright if you need a second,” Sasha said, staring at Fox’s K9 uniform. It was no secret that she had a thing for K9s.

“Nah, I’ll just leave it on for now,” Fox said. Sasha looked up at his face, then immediately turned away as Fox tried to make eye contact. “So, uh, how are you? Feeling better now?” Fox asked. He seemed to be shying backwards a bit.

“Oh, yeah, loads better. I’m doing great! And also fine! And by fine, I mean fine-tastic, because I feel fantastic!”

“Oh, uh, well, that’s great to hear. Max texted me and said you were here to help fill me in on the Bino situation?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit of a long story, though. Could I come in?”

Fox nodded. “Pssht, of course! Of course of course! I mean, uh, why are we even still standing at the door? Isn’t that so weird. How we’re. Um. At the door. Still. That’s bizarre, right?”

“That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard!” Sasha agreed, despite not really being sure what was so strange about it.

“Okay, so naturally, that must mean we should go inside now and I should move out of the way. Come on in!” Fox beckoned with his paw, before running off in the direction of his living room. Sasha followed at an equally unnecessary speed.

They both sat down on a plush sofa in front of the unlit fireplace. “We aren’t actually allowed on this couch, but my owner isn’t home right now. He’s having a bar night with some pals.”

“Oh no! Is he going to be drunk?” Sasha asked.

“Nah, he doesn’t let himself drink that much. He’s responsible.”

Sasha narrowed her eyes. “Alright then, if you say so. I just… I don’t trust that place. I’ve heard of some bad things happening there.”

“Oh right, your old owner– uh, nevermind. So, what was going on with Bino this morning?”

Sasha cleared her throat. “Okay, well, it starts yesterday, actually. Bino seemed really lonely and I wanted to try and reconcile with him a bit. Just as friends, nothing more, but… You know, I was with him for quite some time, and seeing him like this, I felt bad for him.”

“I mean, he did it to himself,” Fox pointed out. “I don’t see much reason to be sympathetic.”

“He’s… trying. My therapist always said that the best thing you can do is try.”

Fox sighed. “Sasha, almost everyone tries, and that includes bad people. Trying to be better is the best thing you can do for yourself, but it doesn’t mean you should respect dogs who only try to make themselves feel better.”

“That’s- you know what, that isn’t the point, Fox.”

“I’m just repeating what Mungo said. And you know, he is a licensed therapy dog.”

“Just let me get on with the story, okay. Bino reinvited me to the GODC. Turns out he works a lot harder there than I realized. Did you know he made all the food himself back when they had the budget, and plans the meetings himself and everything?”

“That’s only because he doesn’t listen to anyone else’s input,” Fox said with a scoff. “He sees himself as the only dog who cared about the club, but that’s just because he cut out everyone who ever tried to help him, honestly.”

“Fox, can I just get on with it, please?”

The sound of Fox and Sasha’s phones buzzing at the same time answered Sasha’s question. Fox opened his phone to see a new group chat with him, Sasha, and Max in it, and one message from the black cat:

“Bino’s been dognapped.”
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 »

Quick apology, when I first posted this chapter I had a formatting error and the second half of the chapter was completely italicized! It's fixed now.
I came here looking for (noun), but this is so much better!
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Harry Johnathan
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Harry Johnathan »

Behold, everyone's worst qualities and small, jerkish moments are catching up with them. Whatever shall they do?

In all seriousness though, good job on writing an emotionally nuanced take on this situation. Nobody's really in the "right or wrong" here, everyone has skeletons in their closet, and I like that. It feels like real people having a real argument.
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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Krytus The Dreamer
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Krytus The Dreamer »

Don't mind me just trying to take notes.

I also picked up on the "nobody's right or wrong." Vibe and I love it. I also find it funny how almost everyone talks and acts like a normal person in this fic except for Duchess who is just universally disliked by almost everyone.
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trekkie
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by trekkie »

Great chapter, everyone is trying to improve, and nobody is completely right or completely wrong. Well, except for Duchess and her minions. Keep up the good work.
“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 »

I enjoyed how this chapter came out! It was definitely worth the wait!
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CryosR
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CryosR »

Well, things are moving forwards. Ugg too early in the morning and I wanted to read this.

Thanks for continuing
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Really hoping that we can get a Fox/Bino reconciliation at the end of this.

Also glad that you aren't catering to the Fungo fans who insist that Fox and Mungo belong together and everybody that says otherwise about it is a homophobe who hates gay people. <_< (Like somebody said to me).
piero345655
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by piero345655 »

Ok, maybe we can all agree that this could lead to more than just a club discussion, shall we say. great chapter by the way
NHWestoN
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by NHWestoN »

Yeah. It was a great chapter. Do we assume Boris and Yeltsin now have Bino in their clutches ... or maybe Jessica?
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CunningFox
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by CunningFox »

Excellent work, Wren.
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Amazee Dayzee
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Re: Redemption of the Good Ol' Dog

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I do hope that Sasha can convince Fox to give Bino another chance.
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