The World is a Playground (Pooka)

[maxine]

Max loved to play outside. It was lots of fun. And she was a fast runner. She could run faster than Master, but she always waited for him to catch up before she went too far because she didn’t want Master to worry because he was a good Master. He took care of Max. He was teaching her new tricks like how to eat with those fork things. And he helped her put shoes on her hind paws sometimes, but Max didn’t like shoes. They felt funny. And he brushed her fur every morning because it needed to be brushed every morning now.

But Max liked to play outside and she had accidentally run away from her new friend Mia. She didn’t mean to. Master told her not to run away from Mia, but she was chasing a rabbit and it was very fun and she had forgotten not to lose Mia. And then Max was all by herself. And the rabbit got away too. But that was okay because the rabbit was scared of Max and that was no fun. Squirrels were much more fun even though they always laughed at her.

But then Max saw the fountain. She loved water. Master had taught her how to swim when she was a puppy. And they lived next to the ocean which was fun to swim in too. And she had always gone on ships with Master because she didn’t want to get left behind. And that one time Master had saved her when the ship was on fire and threw her overboard and she had to swim, but that was okay because she liked to swim. So of course Max ran straight to the fountain and jumped right in, splashing around and barking happily.

[pooka]

Pooka still hadn't found Anya and that made him sad, but only when he stopped to really think about it. The rest of the time, he was far too excited to be sad. Besides, he was eternally optimistic, so he was sure he'd find Anya very soon, and everything would be like it was supposed to be again.

Today, he was investigating this school place he'd ended up in. It was all terribly interesting, but he'd gotten rather tired and was lazing about on some grass (it seemed a perfectly logical solution to him). Then somebody else came bounding up and jumped into the fountain and suddenly it was like all of Pooka's energy came wooshing back to him, it just looked like so much fun!

Scrambling to his feet, Pooka ran over and jumped in the fountain as well, splashing around with the other person until he remembered that voice thing he had now.
"Hi! This is fun!"

[maxine]

Max was splashing around in the fountain happily by herself and then one of the human puppies jumped in the fountain too! Well Max was even more excited now! She loved human puppies! Human puppies liked to pet her fun and they were fun! They liked to play with Max and Max liked to play with them! This was so much fun!

“Fun!” Max agreed bouncing in place for a moment, her wet blonde fur sliding into her eyes. Then she splashed toward the puppy. “Puppy, where mother?” she asked. “Mother look for puppy? Allowed to play? Not in school?” Master was in school. Max thought all puppies went to school. Master said that human puppies went to school to learn. Puppy dog puppies stayed home with their mothers so she could teach them or their human masters could teach them things.

“Puppy not worry,” she told him reassuringly. “Max take care of puppy. Max good dog.” Then she licked his cheek reassuringly. Max could take care of the human puppy. She was a very good dog. She could be a good watch dog if she tried. And if the human puppy’s mother did not come then Max could take the puppy to Master for help.

[pooka]

Pooka's eyes widened with amazement. How had she known he was a puppy!? He did a quick spin round to check himself and make sure he hadn't turned back into a dog, nearly falling over in the process.
"No mother!" He replied, remembering she'd spoken. He was remarkably cheerful despite the subject matter, but he'd never really been bothered about his lack of family, especially since finding Anya.

"Max dog!?" he repeated, looking even more amazed. He wondered if that was how she'd known "You're Max? You're a dog too?" he asked, making sure, because maybe she meant another dog that was called Max, not that there seemed to be a dog around here anywhere. Maybe there were no dogs here, maybe all dogs were people here.

[maxine]

Max watched as the silly human puppy spun around really fast. It almost looked like he was trying to chase his tail, if he had one and that was something dog puppies did, not human puppies. But sometimes human puppies did very strange things. Human puppies were very silly sometimes.

Max was a little worried that the human puppy didn’t have a mother. Human puppies always had mothers. Human puppies need to be taken care of by their mothers. Mothers were important. They took care of their puppies the way Master took care of Max. human puppies needed their mothers.

But then the puppy was asking Max questions. “Yes. Max!” She pointed to herself. “Max dog! Puppy not human puppy? Real puppy? Where Puppy’s master? Max’s Master in school now.” She was very happy because she wasn’t the only human dog here anymore! Now she could have someone to chase squirrels with! This was very exciting!

[pooka]

"Yes! Puppy!" He agreed cheerfully, utterly thrilled with the news that she, too, was a dog in human form. He'd find Anya, he had absolutely no doubts about that, but it was great to know there was somebody else here who would be his friend.

"Anya is somewhere! I came to find her! She's here!" Ok so he didn't know exactly where here, or how he was going to do the finding, but he was definitely going to do it and everything was going to be alright.
Then maybe him and his new friend could chase rabbits, or squirrels! He was only a little dog before, and the animals never cared if he chased them, but maybe they'd care now that he was bigger!

[maxine]

Max was very excited! She had lots of dog friends, but this was her very first dog friend that was human right just like her! It was so exciting! Max liked other dogs, especially other dogs that were humans now. This would be so fun!

But then Max was concerned again about the puppy. He didn’t know where his master was and that wasn’t good. “Anya Puppy’s master? Lost her?” That was not good. “Puppy find her all by self?” Max did not think that was a good idea. What if the puppy got lost and then he never found his master? That would not be good. Max did not like this plan at all. “Puppy want help finding master? Max good at finding.”

[pooka]

Pooka's face screwed up with the concentration. Help would probably be a very good idea, and there wasn't a real reason he should really deny it when it had been offered... but it didn't feel right. What kind of dog would he be if he couldn't find his master all by himself? Even without his sense of smell, he should still be able to find Anya, right?

"I'm good at finding too!" he insisted, that comment being the last straw that convinced him he was a good enough dog to find Anya alone. "I'll find her! All by myself!"

[maxine]

Sometimes puppies could be stubborn because they wanted to be grown up. They didn’t want bigger dogs to help them. They wanted to do it all by themselves. Max remembered when she had been a puppy. She had wanted to be a big dog and do things by herself too. So she could understand that the puppy would want to find his master all by himself. It was important.

“Okay Puppy,” she agreed, then patted his head because he was a very good puppy. “You’re a good puppy. Max not help if not want.”

[pooka]

Pooka beamed so wide it was a wonder the top of his head didn't fall off, he was so glad she understood - and doubly glad when she patted him on the head. He wiggled like he was trying to wag a non-existant tail and bounced with excitement. Max understood! Of course she did, not just that he would want to prove he was a good dog and find his master all by himself, but also that a pat on the head was very high praise indeed!

"Maybe..." he said after a moment of excitement "Maybe Max help if I need it... if it takes too long?"
He didn't like admitting that he might need help, but it would be good to have the promise of it, just in case.

[maxine]

This puppy was a very good puppy. He was a very excitable puppy too. He looked just as excited as she always was when someone told her she was a very good dog. She liked this puppy. He was a very nice puppy. She understood why he would want to find his master all by himself. Max would want to find Master all by herself if she lost him.

She was very proud of the puppy when he said that if he needed help Max could help. The puppy was acting like a big dog. “Okay Puppy,” she agreed again. “Puppy find master. Max know it,” she told him encouragingly because puppies needed to be encouraged regularly. And the puppy seemed determined enough to find his master.

[pooka]

"Yep, yep!" Pooka agreed, utterly thrilled that she believed in him too. Of course, as with many dogs, self-doubt was not something Pooka experienced often, if at all, but that didn't mean it wasn't nice to have it confirmed by somebody else that he could, and would, succeed.

"You're a very good dog," He told Max in return, wanting to say something nice because she'd been so nice to him, and knowing there was no higher praise. "A very good dog." He added, beaming.

[maxine]

Max was thrilled when the puppy said she was a very good dog! She bounced excitedly. “Thank you Puppy!” she cried happily. “You are very good puppy.” He was a very nice puppy. Even though he had no mother he wasn’t a bad puppy. He was a good puppy. His master must have taken good care of him before he lost her.

And then Max had a great idea and she bounced even more because it was a very exciting idea! And exciting things meant bouncing! “Play with Max?” she asked excitedly because she loved to play and puppies always wanted to play! And there was a puppy here and maybe he was play with Max! Playing was so fun! Max loved to play with other dogs.

[pooka]

Pooka was very easily excited - if this wasn't the case, perhaps he might have paused a little, wondered if he should be playing instead of working on finding Anya, but because he was already in a good, excitable mood (when wasn't he?) and because Max was so excited, he didn't even stop to think about that before he was bouncing along with her.

"Play!?" He repeated, thrilled "Of course I want to play! I love playing! What shall we play?" Each sentence was a quick, sharp shout, and it was obvious that he would have been barking had he still been in canine form

[maxine]

Max was very easily distracted. It was why she usually got in so much trouble. But she couldn’t help it. She was just a very excitable dog. She just wanted to play because playing was the most fun thing in the world for a dog. She loved to play. What dog didn’t? And now that Max had a new dog friend what better way to celebrate than to play together?

Max was thrilled when the puppy said he wanted to play too. She wriggled excitedly because playing with other dogs was the best kind of playing! Humans were fun to play with, but other dogs were much more fun! “Chase squirrels?” Max suggested. She loved to chase squirrels, even if they laughed at her and weren’t as fun to chase as seagulls. But there were no seagulls so squirrels were fine!