My ears were perked up and listening to the conversation between the person who responded to our hidden ad we left laying around in the park. We honestly thought this wasn't gonna work, especially since we made the meetup location out in the forest. The moment we got the phone call was when we needed to scramble and prepare.
Kitsuno was keeping the client talking enough to see what was gonna be happening. The client in question was a very well dressed pitbull, and we are talking rich person dressed. The guy had a monocle hanging on his left eye and his attire was a nice deep blue color with white gloves to pair. Honestly though, while he looks nice, how can he wear that?
"On the topic of the collie you are selling, where is it may I ask? I would like to observe what breed it is and to see if you are not trying to pull a fast one on me." Moving a bit back away from the bush, I turn towards the tree stump a few feet away from me and quietly walked over there. On the other side was a small pocket mirror we found before having the guy come here. I did a quick double take on my body to make sure nothing looked out of the ordinary. The hard part was hiding my female parts in the illusion as I have to stay concentrated.
"Follow me sir, I have the dog waiting back here." My ears twitch and I swiftly grab the mirror with my mouth and threw it somewhere out of sight. Leaping onto the tree stump, I sat down in an elegant waiting position as a young fox girl in a yellow sundress and the client walked over around the foliage and walked up to me. "See, pretty good looking dog, isn't it?"
I blinked a bit before the older gentleman bent down a bit and adjusted his monocle as he begins his evaluation. Kitsuno steps back a bit to allow him to get his fill on how I looked. I can feel his judgement on my appearance as he sees me as a border collie. He begins moving around to see from my sides and backside. "Looks to be in a healthy condition. Young lady, may I ask how you found such a well kempt collie? I find it hard to believe a fifteen year old girl of your status can keep one such as this in a pristine state for so long."
Did... I overdo the illusion? He is definitely questioning that for sure. I look over at my sister and watched as she looked at me to think of a cover up. "Sir, if I am to be honest, I have no clue. I just found the dog wandering around here in the forest. I tried seeing if it had any owners but nobody said they have seen this dog before, nor did I find a collar. Maybe it's a wild dog?" Great sis, with that last part I doubt he'll believe us now.
"Hmm..." I can here his movement from behind me and my eyes draw towards his legs as he stood in front of me. I then see him move a hand over to my side and give me a slight pat. Giving this may have been a signal to stand up, I do so. Placing his other hand on me, I felt him making gently circle motions, to which I turned around a bit until he stopped. I already had the idea what he was looking for, which was my junk. "Well he definitely seems well behaved. With some proper adequate training and housing, he'll make a fine edition to the household." Standing up straight, he then turns to Kitsuno. "So, as your little pamphlet stated. You are willing to sell this fine dog, correct?"
Kitsuno nods, "Yes sir. I hoped to have found him a good home as I have been getting busier lately. Balancing between school a-" my sister gets cut off by the pitbull. "Now now, I did not come here to listen to your excuses. I will say though, ordinarily with street urchins like yourself, I would thoroughly take this fine dog away from you as you are not its owner at all." His attention focuses on me as I try not to glare at him for insulting us by calling us street urchins. "However, he is a remarkable fine. So I guess a reward is necessary." His right hand digs into his overcoat and fishes out a checkbook and a pen. He opened the booklet up and begins scribbling down numbers, "Five thousand should cover the costs for this one. Do we have a deal child?"
Five. Thousand!? The hell man, are all dogs expensive like this or what? I look over at Kitsuno, who was in a slight shock on how much he was giving for me, I raise a paw to wave at her to say go for it. I doubt we could bargain for anything higher at this rate as it gives us something. Better than nothing. Kit snaps out of her slight shock and shakes her head in agreement. "Yes sir, that will be enough."
Tearing the check out and handing it to her, the pitbull puts his stuff back in his coat and claps his hands. "Come now, we must get you to your new home and ready for your training immediately." Before anything else was said, he immediately lifts me up and starts carrying me away. As we left the small clearing, Kitsuno looks down at the check. "Damnit Shade... let's hope this works on the plan. Cause how the hell am I suppose to get money from this, we don't have a bank..."
Bleh... immediately after being whisked away to a private estate and entered the building, I am swarmed by butlers and maids. It was a mixed array of so many different species that I have very little time to process which one was what. I was passed around five times as they tended to their master.
The first thing that was needed was to give me a fresh bath, and while it was nice and all, this is all too much comfort for me to handle. So many different hands on my body, not only did I have to keep the illusion strong, but also my comfort levels as this isn't an orgy from those playboy magazines I read before.
After that I was taken into the dining area where I was propped up at a table and given some fancy liver dish. I'm not sure if this was premium pet food of the richest quality or fresh from the cow liver, either way it was too rich in taste for me. I had to hide my reactions well enough where nobody was the wiser. Once the meal was taken care of, this came to the next part. Meeting the rest of the family members. I was dressed up in a similar colored suit that the pitbull was wearing, and let me tell you. I feel fucking ridiculous wearing the same outfit but in dog form. Why do others do this? This is demeaning as all can be and there is a thing call overpampering.
This manor is definitely something as well. Turns out this guy is a golfing champ as he has a massive field out back with golf posts out in the distance. Aside from that, most of what I was able to see around this place is a library, the kitchen, one of the possibly many bathrooms I saw, and the hallways. Gonna be honest, not a bad choice for their hallway choice. White on the lower half with red and black on the top half. Then again... my sense of fashion is terrible.
When it came to meeting the rest of the main household members, I got a basic rundown of what I am dealing with, and ai am really hoping we get in and out with their stuff and bail from this area. Lawrence, the pitbull who bought me, a golfing champion five years running and proprietary obligator of world tour golfing tournaments for the past three years. His wife, a doberman, her name is Stella and she herself is the regional manager of the cities pet show stadium. She is one of the reasons why Kit and I need to hurry as she wants me to compete in a trial run competition. I don't think I can keep the illusion up long enough before they find out. Cause then we are in a lot of trouble.
Now comes their children. Nine to be precise. Four guys and five girls. From youngest to oldest.
Charlie, their seven year old rambunctious little man. He seems to take more on his mother's breed as a doberman. He was the first to yank on my tail and god damn... this kid was trying to start a lawn mower. He ended up screaming a bit when forcibly taken away from me as he started hugging me. And by hug, I mean hug. I ended up being in a tight bear hug where I almost lost consciousness.
Next up were the twins Anne and Belle. These two were both ten and shared traits of their father in both appearance and attitude. First thing they did after tell me their names, the duo moved over to my sides to take a look at me before picking up my front legs. The way they judged me and the insults they threw out of how I would not be even capable of retrieving golf balls from the pond. What the fuck?
After those two put my legs down and left to go bother one of the maids, this next one. Oh boy she was the only breath of relief I got out of this family. She was a fourteen year old doberman and her name was Jasmine. If anything, she was a relief to deal with because she was in a rebellious phase against her parents. She wasn't dressed up snooty like or anything fancy. Nope, she was goth. Black lipstick, eyeliner, dark clothing, spiked boots. And all she did was look at me. Her exact words, "Cool. Another pet to look after. Thanks for pulling me away from my favorite book to meet this mutt." Her mother started yelling at her for her attitude, but the girl flipped her off and walked away. This insult was expected, but she and I both agreed that neither of us wanted to do this.
The next pair that greated me when Stella left to scold her daughter, they were James and Steven. James was a sixteen year old pitbull who in his current attire was striking me more for a novelist. He said that he would be very interested in my life on how my journey came to be from the outdoors to the life of a showdog. It... was how he phrased it that was more unsettling. His older brother Steven jeered at him for his ridiculous clips of what he thought my life was and I got lifted by him. "James, look at this. Do you really think that this young mutt has anything well enough to write in another one of those books of yours? If anything you should be more focused on how he acts and behaves when here, that way we can, in advance, persue him being the top breed championship in the tournaments mother hosts in the stadium." The man is nearing his twentieth birthday and it seems he is becoming a prodigie of his mother.
I ended up leaving his grasp as his younger sister Laura took ahold of me right when James was about to make some kind of a comeback. Another doberman in the family and this one was flighty. This girl was seventeen years old and worries me more than Charlie. She said I was the most adorable thing she has ever laid eyes on and wanted to put me in all different types of clothing she has. She even tried to walk away with me tightly in her arms to go have a tea party with her friends. Thankfully Lawrence stopped her and said that I would be available after the meeting for a name. She would be taking me to meet the other pets around the house. She was reluctant to hand me over but she conceded due to the thought of not having me for fun.
She let go of me enough for me to jump down on the ground to catch my breath a bit. Shaking my head a bit, I walked back over to Lawrence to meet the final two. These two had come in late as the son said he was finishing off his tee time out in the green. He looked at me and said, "Ah, mother's new champion. Better not be a disappointing failure as Sylvester was. Poor lad didn't last five competitions." His father had berated him in saying that now would be jumping to conclusions. But he did also say that if the training shows any flaws that are unfixable, then he would be right. His son's name, was Lawrence. Yep. Lawrence the second. And even more judgmental asshole like his father.
Now, this last one. This girl was different for a new reason. Mostly so as I can believe she is not related to this family at all as she is the first dalmation of the group I have met. Given she was outside with Lawrence Jr., her current attire was a light pink sun dress. She just looked at me and I looked back. Her eyes just... felt weird. It's as if she was trying to stare into my soul. The silence she gave off with me was noticeable and the session was done and over with. The son asked her what was wrong as they turned around and began walking out, probably to head back to the golfing area. I managed to hear what her name was, her name was Ashely. Not sure how old either of them are, but old enough to be a successor of the family name and one who was married in. Makes sense right? Even I don't get it.
And with that done, time to make some mental notes. Stay away from a lot of these kids. The few I would probably go near would be Jasmine, so long as she doesn't throw anything at me, and...
Well. Maybe just her. Or none. This place is insane and I am starting to regret this plan.
Lawrence looks at the butler standing close to him. His blue eyes shot with alert as he bows, his brown hair drapped down over his shoulders with his ears flopping alongforth. White and black fur on his face and ears as he awaits his orders. "Now that the family greeting is done, do take our new house pet over to the play pen. He'll spend the rest of the time meeting his new roommates, afterwhich you are to show him his new room." The butler nods and walks over to the hallway entrance on the southern half of the room. "Go on now, follow him." I look back at Lawrence and then at the butler, shaking my body a bit to feel a bit better from that ordeal and potentially loosening up the outfit a bit, I walked up to the butler as he leads me out of the room.
We treaded around the mansion for a good half hour, how these people do anything here is really a test of endurance. The way we took however showed me new things that could be prime targets. One room appeared to be what I would assume is a wine storage room. I don't know where Kitsuno and I can sell aged wine, especially since we aren't gonna get into a liquor store without getting arrested on sight for underage drinking. But surely we can find someone to hook up on this. If not, then maybe we can keep it for cooking, I heard aged wine helps some dishes.
Now aside from the wine room, we did pass by a dry storage room close by to it. This room is one I'll possibly raid more on my own objective. Cause number one. Palatable food, to my tastes at least. Cause none of it looked too fancy and would probably sit in my stomach better. I will steal some of the salami hanging around, cause that stuff looked freshly made.
We ended up passing by a laundry room, but other than a bunch of clothing, I don't think there would be anything useful in there. I'd just have to be extremely lucky to find something worth stealing, like one of them forgetting something in their pockets. But even then, the room will be swarmed with maids and butlers. The only reason I would get away with it is if they don't care, or they think I am retrieving said item.
This next room was one that I am keeping tabs on. The trophy room for pets. The butler went on explaining that this room would be where I will join in my fame as the houses new successful pet show whatever, my attention was more on all the rewards and ribbons. Given this place, it would not surprise me if those trophies were actually made of gold, but even if not then we can still make most out of it. Metal is metal and some sell for a high price. Kit and I do know someone who has been smelting stuff down as a hobby, so surely we bring him the stuff to melt down and give him a share of the profits are compensation. As long as he doesn't ask where we got the stuff, he'll be on board.
Leading me outside, I noticed we were in a large opened space with a small lake. The grass was well kempt and the field spanded out for what I think was ten acres, hars to tell sometimes with distance. There was a fence line, possibly so the other pets don't run off, but there has to be a spot where I could dig a small hole... actually scratch that. It would have to be a deep hole. Because I bet these fences go down deep to stay in place. Damn... the only other idea would be to get out of my feral form to throw the stuff over the fence, but then that risks getting caught easier and damaging some of the goods.
The final stop was into a room filled with two curtain beds, a little bathroom area for pets, a few ball toys, and a bone. "And this is your personal chambers. You're roommate Charles is out playing with lady Laura, please. Feel free to get comfortable with your new home." And with that, he kneels down to give me some pats on the head and walks away to attend to other tasks.
Finally free for a bit I walk around to fully observe some of the stuff in the room. "Wow... and I thought that all the treatments from earlier was too much. Everyone here is just spoiled from the looks of it." Walking around the room to look at some of the stuff, I saw which side of the room was mine and which was Charles as the beds had name plates. Charles' bed was bigger than mine so that makes me wonder how big was my roommate and how much trouble is this going to be?
Not wanting to stay in the room for so long as there was still daylight out, I started to wander out of the room. Looking around out of the room, the hall was empty and the echoing sounds of footsteps echoed down them. More possibly that it is the staff doing housekeeping here. I feel bad for them all, having to deal with these high society types on a daily basis. Is the pay even worth it?
One of the nearby rooms was where I decided to go into to take a look around. It was well decorated with two scratching posts, a strange device in the center of the room, an obstacle tower... I think? And two large miniature houses. Getting closer to the right side of the room, movement was heard from inside the house. I stopped moving and stood still as the movement became more sporadic and I hear it travel down from the top floor to the middle floor. Soon after I see some eyes pierce at me from the darkness inside, "Hmm... you don't seem familiar." Standing my ground as I stare back, the eyes dart away into the house and movement continues down to the bottom floor and a big white persian cat walks out the front door. "Are you perhaps a stray that Lawrence brought in?"
"Amanda... who are you talking to?" My ears swish a bit as I heard the other voice behind me, followed by some clunking noise. "Ow, damn, oof, gah!" I turn ny head around at the sudden extra clunking before another cat from the other house comes barreling out of the front door and flops onto the floor. "Buh... what day is it?"
Amanda sighs and places a paw on her head, "Of all roommates I am stuck with, I get Stacy. Why did Sylvester had to go..." shaking her head and gracefully leaping down onto the floor, she walks on over to bap Stacy's face. "Get up you imbecile, we have an unwanted guest." Stacy flails a bit from the assault that Stacy was giving, then she rolls over and stands up on all fours. "Amanda, stop it. I'm up, I'm up. Now... who we licking?" The white and grayish furred cat looks around before locking eyes on me, "Oh, is it that cute thing there? He looks handsome!"
Turning my body around to keep steady movement away from the two, I tried to keep distance from them as these two are polar opposites from how I am reading them. Before Amanda could say anything else, Stacy pounces towards me and lands underneath my body. Shivers run through me as her soft silken fur brush against my belly. "Oh~ you smell like the forest. And you feel warm all over. Amanda, you should feel him cause this one is great."
As Stacy's tail whaps my face and she continues to nuzzle me, I look at Amanda and there is a strong hint of annoyance in her eyes. As I was about to open my mouth and say something, I get a face full of cat tongue from Stacy. "Stacy, would you stop this at once! You are licking a commoner and it is disgusting, you don't even know where he has been."
Stacy gets a bit too more into me for comfort as she nudges my own body with hers and I tried to step over to regain balance, but I end up flopping on the floor with the cat in tow. "Come on Amanda, he really feels great. Maybe he can help you with your little issue since Sylve left?"
Something about that name seem to have triggered Amanda of what Stacy said. Cause the look on her face as she glared at us, if it wasn't for all that fur she had, I'm pretty sure we could have seen a vein throbbing. "You... airheaded..." Amanda looks at the device in the center of the room and hops up on top of it. I see her paws fiddling with something before a long metal rod moves out from the side and extracts into a small laser pointer. A slight beep was heard and a green laser shoots out and lands on the floor in front of Stacy and I. Stacy stops rubbing against me and focuses on the light. I can assume that Amanda knows how to fully operate that toy as the laser moves away from me and I let out a grunt as Stacy leaps full force off of my chest to slam into the laser as it runs away from her.
Getting back up on my legs as the chase continues, Stacy eventually slams into a scratching post and is knocked out for a bit. Though, this wasn't it as Amanda immediately looks at me. "That ragdoll dimwit thinks that a common mutt like you would be suited to my standards? She must be huffing too much catnip if that's the case. Now if I see you get anywhere near me because she said so," her left paw raises a bit before hitting something on the device that made a loud clicking noise. The device changed color a bit as the laser cuts out. The device then moves towards my direction and a red laser shoots out and lands on my left paw. Already feeling uneasy, I move and the thing shoots a blue bolt of electricity at me. I yelp as it nearly makes contact and immediately starts scrambling out of the room. A few more bolts of electricity fire out as warning shots. If those were warning shots that is, cause I think Amanda may actually kill me if I'm not careful.
Scattered in my retreat, I forgot to pay attention to my surroundings and ram into someone else. I stopped full force into their body and I backpeddled a bit to shake my head. In front of me was this thick fluffy dog who was returning from a walk, at least I am assuming. This place is huge and who knows where this ones room is on this end of the house.
We stared at each other for a bit before I stepped to the side. The fluffy dog resumes walking before reaching the room I was just in and in a commanding tone, "Amanda, get the fuck off that damn laser you pompous spoiled brat." Just as the dog starts walking away from the door, an electric bolt goes flying pass their rear. "I swear to god if you fire that thing at me again, I'm gonna--" a yarn ball comes flying out the door and bounces off the wall and nails them right in the head. "Oh hardy har har, miss grand prize thinks she's the boss of me. Go shove your nose deep inside your own cookie!"
Tempers have been flared and said fluffy dog bites down on the yarn ball and walks back into the doorway. "Ah yes, stand perfectly still there Beatrice, making this much easier to za--" as Amanda kept talking, Beatrice threw the yarn ball up in the air and as it fell, she leapt up and did a forward flip to back kick the ball of yarn back into the room, presumably nailing Amanda off the laser toy as I heard her groan after a audible thud. As she land on all fours and walks away from the door, "Stay in line you overgrown hairball, or else I'll have to get the thing again."
As Beatrice walks away, I decided to also leave before I find out whatever the "thing" was. I kinda dread to see how Charles acts, cause right now I have met a prissy high society cat, a ditzy airhead cat, and a high strung and short tempered dog. Please tell me that this is it and that Charles is nice.
Now I guess I need to explore a bit on my own and see what I can find as hiding places for stuff, myself, and see where would the best place outside would be for Kitsuno to find me that way we can smuggle the stuff out of here. My ears twitch a bit as I hear someone running down the hall behind me, they were fast and clumsy so I got worried and started looking around for a place to hide. I pick up speed on my legs in order to escape whichever child it was I was hearing coming down the hall and soon made my way into a storage room. Darting my head around a bit, I saw an opened box and leapt up to it. I ended up fumbling a bit and it fell down on top of me, some toys that were in it made contact with my head and it hurt slightly, but hiding from these kids is top priority.
As I laid on the floor for a bit because it did make noise, I heard someone enter the room for a moment. "What was that? Did something fall again?" Shit, shit, shit. Don't pick the box up, don't pick it up! My heart did do a slight panic attack as the box moved cause whoever it was was about to pick it up but then it drops, "Charlie, stop playing around and get into the bathroom for your bath."
The kid immediately darted out of the storage room and I can hear him scampering around the hallway and a few more footsteps go after him. After a little bit, some slight screaming is heard that echoes a bit but it eventually gets quiet. Sighing a bit and resting my head against the box, "God damn it... this is gonna be hell."
