The World is a Playground (Pooka)

[maxine]

Max couldn’t smell the bunny and it was hard to hear it with the puppy bouncing around. He was a silly puppy. He didn’t know any better though and he was a very nice puppy so Max couldn’t be mad at him for being noisy. He just wanted to play with the bunny.

She tried to listen extra hard, but she couldn’t hear the bunny anymore. “Max not hear it,” she told the puppy sadly. She had want to play with the bunny. “Bunny not want to play. Maybe not like dogs. Not have dog friends. Max sad for bunny. Dog friends nice.”

Then Max bounded over to the puppy and licked him. “Cheer up, Puppy. Not be sad. Bunny not fun. Max fun. Max play.” Max knew that dog friends were better than bunny friends. Dog friends always wanted to play.

[pooka]

"Pooka very sad for bunny too! Dog friends are the BEST!" he pouted - until Max came running over and immediately cheered him up. She was right! Dog friends were the best so that meant they each had a better friend than the rabbit, friends who did want to play, each other!

"Max lots of fun!" Pooka agreed, perking up again "Let's run together!" They didn't have to chase anything to have fun running around together, after all!

[maxine]

Max was happy that the puppy was happy now. She liked it better when people and other dogs were happy too. Max always tried to be a very good dog and make other people happy. Happy people were more fun! Happy people liked to play, so Max was excited when the puppy perked up.

Max loved to run! "Run!" she agreed happily, bouncing in place excitedly. "Race Puppy to fountain!" she cried, then took off running towards the fountain without waiting.

[pooka]

"Running! I love running!" Pooka bounced up and down excitedly for a moment before realising she'd already gone and he was going to lose if he didn't hurry up and start running, so he took off after her.

He had a rather interesting running style, it had no grace or control, he just kept going, limbs flailing every which way - he didn't care whether or not he was actually winning, he was just enjoying the run.

[maxine]

Max loved to run! She loved to feel the wind in her fur and it was just fun! It was more fun to chase things and sometimes she really liked to round up animals, but running was fun too! Running was lots of fun too! Max loved to race. Max raced Master a lot, but she always won. Master could never catch her. It was fun to race with a dog though.

But then Max realized that the puppy hadn’t caught up yet so she slowed down a little bit because she didn’t want to win and then have the puppy feel bad because he didn’t win. Puppies liked to win sometimes and it was good for puppies to win. Then they felt good about themselves. So Max slowed down a little more, just to make sure that the puppy would win.

[pooka]

Pooka was having so much fun running that he didn't notice Max slowing down, not that he was really bright enough to put two and two together and realise she was letting him win, and even if he had seen and did figure it out, he probably wouldn't have minded anyway, winning was lots of fun, and if his friend wanted to help him have more fun, that was just really really cool!

He did put on a last burst of speed towards the fountain as they got nearer, focusing a little more on running fast rather than just enjoying the joy of running, but by the time he reached it he'd forgotten they were racing and noticed the water. It had been so much fun to play in the water, he wanted to play again, so without slowing down he took a leap and jumped back into the fountain, immediately resuming his splashing.

[maxine]

Max was happy that the puppy seemed happy. It was up to bigger dogs like Max to make sure that puppies were happy. Sad puppies was not a good thing. Sad puppies were sad and Max didn’t want puppies to be sad. Happy puppies were much better. And Max was happy when the puppy was happy.

But she was even happier when the puppy jumped into the water again because that was fun! Max jumped into the fountain too and splashed around all over the place. This was so much fun! It was almost as fun as chasing gulls on the beach! “Fun!” she cried happily.

[pooka]

"Lots of fun!" Pooka agreed, glad that Max was of the same mind - which of course she would be, because who could possibly think that splashing around in a fountain was anything short of the best thing ever?

There were lots of best things ever, Pooka happened across them several times a day, it was something that came from living in the moment, it didn't matter that more than one thing was the best thing ever because each thing was best at that particular moment, and every moment was new, so every moment could contain a new best thing without making anything else not as good.
It was a bit complicated, but it made perfect sense to Pooka, in that strange way that the most simple people could utilise such complex logic.

"Max is Pooka's best friend!" Admittedly, other than Anya, the other dog was Pooka's only[/] friend, but that didn't lessen the sentiment.

((Shall we wrap this up?))

[maxine]

Max was glad that the puppy was having fun! Puppies always had fun! Dogs were the very best because they were always having fun and everything was always so much more fun with dog friends. And this was one of the best and most fun things ever! Because dog friends were the best friends ever!

Max bounced happily when the puppy said she was his best friend. Then she licked him happily too. “Thank you Puppy! Puppy is Max’s best friend too!” Master was her very best friend because he had raised her from a puppy, but the puppy was such a fun puppy. And he was a person dog too, just like her!

Max had other friends though, like Mia. Mia was very nice to Max, even when Max ran away. Max frowned when she remembered that she had accidentally run away from her. “Max has to go now, Puppy. Lost friend. Have to find her. Puppy is very good dog.” Then she patted the puppy’s head and jumped out of the fountain. Sniffing the air she thought she might have caught Mia’s scent on the wind and turned in that direction. Max was a good dog. She would sniff Mia out. But she turned first and waved to the puppy. “Bye Puppy!” she called.