WOSH U DOG

[Papyrus and Frisk struggle to give either Lesser or Greater Dog a bath.]

"A LITTLE HIGHER, PLEASE!"

Papyrus' voice came from somewhere deep inside the leafage of the tree. Frisk occasionally caught a flash of white, but couldn't even see if it was fur, or bone. Still, they complied with the order and reached up, lightly tickling Lesser Dog's fur. There was an echo of a bark, high up from within the tree, following by Papyrus' voice again.

"THANK YOU! NOW COME HERE YOU!"

Another row of leaves fell, while the intense battle continued within. Barks mixed with annoyed skeletal grumbles, while the tree continued to suffer from their scuffle. Upon hearing the prospect of a bath, Greater Dog did what any self-respecting canine Royal Guard would have done, immediately shedding its armor and zooming up to the top of the nearest tree. A brief attempt revealed that both Frisk and Papyrus were quite bad at climbing any tree over the height of their own, so they had to resort to another method.

That method came in the form of the ever-reliable Lesser Dog.

Frisk yawned and just about purred in delight, as the monster held them in its grasp, petting the human just as they have been pet in the past. The child giggled in supreme comfort, occasionally reaching up to pet the dog in return, at Papyrus' request. The skeleton outright refused to allow Frisk to join him in the hunt, reasoning that they would fall and hurt themselves. The curious magic of Lesser Dog's neck remained even after their move to the Surface, much to the delight of practically any monster in need of a crane service.

"HEADS UP!"

The human lazily looked up, far too enveloped in comfort for any sudden movement. Papyrus and Greater Dog were both hurtling through the air, heading straight down with the augmented speed provided by gravity. Frisk let out a loud yelp and curled up with their eyes closed, unable to bear witness to the fall of their beloved friend. In the back of their mind, they were already thinking heavily about how Sans would react to a Papyrus-shaped hole in the ground, when the inevitable question of his brother's location comes up.

However, the skeleton wasn't one without plans and reached out, managing to grab onto Lesser Dog's neck on the way down. He managed to pull himself over and rode the long way down, as if the monster's neck was the world's furriest fireman's pole. Though this resulted in a slightly rougher landing than expected, he was still quite pleased with not only keeping his bones in one piece, but also successfully capturing his target.

Frisk continued to whimper in Lesser Dog's hold, only for Papyrus to approach them, letting Greater Dog lick all over their hands and face. The human spluttered and sat up, face a little pale, but very relieved nonetheless. An echoing bark raised their attention though and as they looked up, they clearly saw Lesser Dog may have interpreted Papyrus' slide down as an alternate way of petting and reacted accordingly.

"WE BETTER DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT." Papyrus said, rubbing his chin. "THE PHONE COMPANY SAID THEIR HEAD INTERFERES WITH LOCAL CONNECTIONS. EVERYONE WOULD JUST HEAR BARKING THROUGH THE PHONE."

Their human yelped as Greater Dog suddenly escaped Papyrus' grasp and before either of them could react, ran up Lesser Dog's neck, like it was just yet another tree. While it took longer than the last time, the bark high up was followed by another, indicating the two have achieved nuzzle-contact.

Papyrus and Frisk both groaned at the prospect of having to retrieve the runaway pooch yet again, but the constant back-and-forth seemed almost inevitable by now. While the skeleton did spend a moment to lament his efforts bearing no fruit, the human finally left their comfortable little spot and went straight for the garden hose. They observed Lesser Dog's slightly wobbly feet, as well as the height their neck breached, coming up with a haphazard, if perhaps workable idea.

Determination truly did have it's high and low points.

-   -   -

"My child... what are you doing?"

Toriel stopped in her tracks, unsure where to look first, or what to even remark upon.

On the one hand, there was Lesser Dog, head high up in the air, yelping and whining as lukewarm water splashed at them from a propped-up garden hose. Greater Dog perched on top of them, looking equally frightened as its canine companion's neck slowly, but surely continued to shrink, bringing them ever closer to the dreaded water.

All the while, Papyrus and Frisk were sitting next to the contraption, enveloped in a cunning game of cards. Frisk noticed her first and waved with a smile, followed by the skeleton.

"HELLO, MISS TORIEL! WOULD YOU CARE TO JOIN US?"

The goat monster sighed and smiled, barely resisting a giggle. While she did have several questions regarding how this situation came to pass, a part of her knew she may just have been better off not knowing. Instead, she walked over and sat down, delighting the two with some highly appreciated sweets she brought along.

As the card game escalated into three players, their laughter was accompanied by the steadily descending, fearful Dogsong.