@anonpups
{ continued from HERE ]
Cairis hadn’t long been settled on her bunk with the big white creature tucked up against her when she got the ping of an incoming message.
Sighing, she tapped open the vid-comm app on her tablet and, yep, there was her boss.
"Valoren--" she began, but was cut off.
"Is that it?" Valoren asked. Her ears were upright and her gaze was fixed intently on the creature. "Is that the dog in the picture Torvull sent?"
Taken aback by Valoren's intensity, Cairis drawled: "...Ye-e-e-e-es."
"Is it is as fluffy as it looks?"
"...Yeah."
Valoren shifted her stare to Cairis. "You may keep it - provided you don't mind me sometimes hugging it and falling asleep on it."
"That depends entirely on the... dog? Is that what this is?"
Valoren nodded. "It's called a dog. Have you named it, yet?"
"Not yet."
"Don't name it something stupid."
Cairis rolled her eyes. "My job is creative writing!"
"The dog is not part of your job. Just... come home. I'll have the necessary things it needs waiting when it gets here. Consider it a house-warming present for the dog."
Cairis grinned. "I think the dog is going to like having enough people to love it. Just warn the others. And if anyone tries to hurt him, I will smite."
Valoren snorted. "I'll help you. See you when you get here."
The connection was cut and Cairis set the tablet aside. She knocked on the ceiling of the bunk overhead and called out, "We have a dog!"
"I heard!" Torvull called back.
Grinning, Cairis turned her attention to the fluffy white dog and began patting and snuzzling it.
"I'm gonna do my best to give you a good life," she murmured, and nuzzled her face against the dog's head.