fandomhighdorms | The Stables, Thursday Morning (10/04)

A little floppy-eared cocker spaniel pup can barreling out of the doors with almost too much energy for his little body. He just about nearly missed the entrance into the stable, his little puppy legs scrambling to head back toward it, bounding in with a little bark, but bounded a little too vigorously, and his puppy legs moved out from under him into a puppy tumble, into a wall. Thunk. A.J. sat for a second, shaking his puppy head and trying to get his bearings back. He had to calm down a bit, but he was a puppy again. It was too much fun running around like a puppy on crack.

No person with an ounce of humanity in them can resist the siren call of an adorable puppy. Beauty peeked around the corner of the stall, her face breaking into a bright smile as she saw the pup, and immediately she forgot her shock over her own experience with four-leggedness and dropped down to her knees and held out her hand.

"Hello there! Where did you come from? Are you lost?"

The possibility that it could be a fellow student hadn't quite registered yet.

Score! She was here! As soon as A.J. realized he'd been puppified again (and since Troy must have gotten up early thus leaving him unavailable for face licks), he knew he had to try to find Beauty. He usually used this time in the morning for break-neck History homework completion but he couldn't finish his homework without opposable thumbs, anyway. He let out a happy bark...and, with a wince, looked around because he shouldn't bark so much in a stable where there were horses which were even bigger than him now. He tried to trot quietly over to Beauty and nuzzled his nose into her hand.

Still oblivious to any thought that this wasn't just a little adorable dog, Beauty smoothed her hand over the puppy's head and ruffled his fur. "Look at what a sweet thing you are," she murmured. "I wish I had something to feed you, but it's just oats and apples here."

She settled more comfortably onto the floor so the puppy could crawl up into her lap if he wanted. Behind her, a rather curious, very large gray horse stuck his head out from the stall and stretched his neck out to get a closer look at what was causing all the commotion.

Awww, she thought he was sweet! Being a puppy again was just way too many levels of awesome to contain; if a puppy could beam, A.J. was definitely beaming and, completely unaware that his status could possibly change in the blink of eye, expecting at least a week, he took the invitation to Beauty's lap with a happy little puppy sound in the back of his throat. She was so going to hate him when she figured it out...Heee.

Beauty laughed and promptly scooped the puppy up in her arms to snuggle. Generally she liked to think of herself as the sort of girl who didn't get giggly at the sight of something cute, but...c'mon. Adorable puppy.

"I'll bet someone's wondering where you've run off to," she mused. Conscience said she ought to go and find the puppy's owner.

Nah. Beauty decided conscience could just simmer down for a while. No harm in indulging herself a bit, and eventually someone would come along and claim him. "How about you stay here with me, until we figure out where you belong?"

A.J. snuggled back; he couldn't help it, he was a puppy! Puppies snuggled, right, it was just part of his current nature. He should feel bad for shameless puppy snuggles, he knew, but come on! How many times had he mentioned something like this to her? Wasn't his fault that he was cute enough to keep her from remembering, right?

Puppy!A.J. was way too cute for anyone to blame him for anything. And if the possibility of this being something more than just a random lost puppy began to creep into Beauty's head, well...she wasn't sure it really mattered. If she were a puppy, she'd probably want snuggles and ear scritches too.

"It figures that I'd turn into something gawky and not-cuddly," she said, making a wry face as she scratched behind the puppy's ear. "I suppose I should ask you if you're really a dog, or just temporarily a dog. But I think I'll just pretend I didn't think of that instead. Enjoy things as they happen, right?"

Mmmmmm, ear scritches. A.J. was a very happy little puppy, as the little sound in his throat indicated, and then he let out a little bark of agreement. And hoped Beauty still believed in that theory when he teased her about this later. Oh, and there would be teasing.

He looked a little bit up at the horse, though, still peaking its head out. Biiiiiiiiig horse. A.J.'s tail started wagging a little in curiousity if that was Greatheart or not.

A.J. would probably get a bit of teasing right back, seeing as how he was the one of the pair who knew he wasn't really a puppy.

Following the spaniel's line of sight, Beauty tilted her head back and then grinned at the curious animals. "That's Greatheart," she confirmed. "Greatheart, this is an adorable puppy whose name I'm sure I don't know. Mind your manners."

The horse snorted softly and moved forward through the open door of the stall to tower over Beauty, then dropped his head to rest his nose against her shoulder. "I think he wants to say hello," she said to the puppy, grinning. "Or else he's jealous of all the attention."

The puppy was looking at Beauty like she was crazy and squirming just a little bit to draw a little bit away from the horse as he dropped his head. Yeah, he said he'd meet Greatheart, but he didn't know how he felt about meeting Greatheart while he was little enough to possibly be eaten by Greatheart.

Shut up; A.J. was a city boy. Horses could totally eat puppies if they wanted to, as far as he was concerned.

"Oh no, it's all right! He won't bite you, I promise." Beauty held the puppy against her chest and shifted away from Greatheart, reaching up to stroke his forehead apologetically. "I'll put him out the paddock and we can watch him from a distance, how does that sound?"

Still holding the spaniel in her arms, Beauty stood up and patted the big horse's neck, then went to unlatch the door into the paddock. Greatheart went obediently out, giving his head a shake and then blithely trotting off.

"Show off," Beauty chuckled.

A.J.'s tail wagged happily, not that the horse was going outside, but because it was kind of cool to watch Greatheart when there was less a threat of being bitten, despite what Beauty said. He squirmed a little against Beauty; it was good to be a puppy.

Beauty smiled and tilted her head to rest her cheek against the puppy's soft fur. "He's really something, isn't he? I helped raise him, fed him from a bottle and everything. Poor boy used to have to listen to me practice my Greek homework and read poetry at him."

Then she laughed softly. "Actually, I still do that. Although it's Latin right now. He doesn't seem to mind, though. Really, he's like a big kitten." Giving the puppy's ear another scritch, she asked, "Are you having fun this morning?"

A.J. made a little happy puppy sound, tail still wagging, and nuzzled his nose against Beauty's cheek to express that he definitely was. And it was a good thing that she seemed to like him as a puppy, because, last time this happened, he was like this for a week, and she should at least have a cute date if she was stuck going with a puppy.

He could probably find a sea foam green-ish ribbon by then, maybe.

If Beauty could read thoughts, she'd have assured A.J. that although she did prefer him as a person, she'd be just as happy to stay at the dorms and play puppy games if he hadn't changed back by Homecoming. Although he would look cute in a green ribbon...

Thinking about what she knew of young animals, she absently kissed the top of the puppy's head and walked to the grassy area beside the stable building. "Too bad I don't have a toy of some kind for you to play with. Maybe a stick? Do like playing fetch and that sort of thing? Or have you used up all your energy and just come for the petting?"

The constantly wagging tail and almost permanently bouncy demeanor of the puppy suggested taht, while he definitely hadn't used up all his energy in the slightest, the petting was just fine.

At first. And then there was a squirm, and a little whimper, and then some more squirming. A.J. was starting to feel a little funny and that didn't register well at all. If he wasn't mistaken, it was the kind of feeling that was telling him that he was starting to be less puppy like, and he might want to get Beauty to set him down before she ended up being crushed underneath him.

Beauty took the hint that petting was the order of the day, at least for now, and had just picked out a nice sunny spot in the grass to sit down in when the puppy starting squirming and whining. Worried, she knelt down and set him gently on the ground, stroking his head reassuringly.

"Is there something wrong?" Maybe he just needed to answer the call of nature, or was feeling too antsy to be held any longer. She hoped he wasn't suddenly ill...

Beauty seemed to have exceptionally good timing in setting A.J. down, and she'd soon find that her hand on the puppy's head was shifted, and no longer in fact on a puppy's head at all, but A.J.'s. His face a pretty vibrant shade of red, he still just gave her the worst attempt at an innocent grin ever. "Uh, hi."

Well, that happened a loot sooner than he expected, now, didn't it? But at least he still got scritches.

Beauty froze for just a moment, as the transformation took place, staring down at a red-faced teenage boy where there'd previously been a rambunctious puppy. Then her shoulders shook in silent laughter, and she lightly smacked A.J.'s head.

"I had a feeling it was you," she scolded, turning rather red herself, but grinning nonetheless. "Well, maybe not right off. You were right, scoundrel that you are. You make an adorable puppy."

"I told you," A.J. said, laughing despite himself, biting his lip a little because that wasn't a bad response at all. And he did kind of deserve the head smack. "And you lie; you didn't have a clue."

The blush and the smirk on his face contrasted themselves quite spectacularly. "You said I was cute." He looked quite satisfied with his once puppy self.

"I did!" Beauty protested, still blushing. "At least, I thought it might be. Eventually. I don't usually go around assuming every animal I run into is really a person in disguise. Anyway, how can you blame me, I thought you were a little lost puppy and you knew I would think that. Wretch."

She was laughing, though, and obviously not actually angry at A.J. "You were cute. Which you knew."

A.J. was still beaming and grinning like a big, beaming. grinning dork. "You scritched behind my ears," he added.

"You came looking for ear scritches," Beauty countered. Okay, not the best defense, since duh, of course he did, he was a puppy. Also, he was a mischievous scoundrel.

"And you nuzzled my cheek! So there!"

Oh. Um, that was perhaps a bit more embarrassing than ear scritches. Beauty blushed quite red.

A.J. bit his lip against a grin; looks like he wouldn't even have to tease Beauty. She'd take car of getting the good response herself.

"It's a very nice cheek," he pointed out. "And you're very good at ear scritches."

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