ghs- Dorothy's Detailed Dossier of Doggy Do's and Don'ts

"The Second Meeting of the Secret Pet Club is officially in session!" Dorothy cheered as she entered Andromeda's room.

"No, we're not a club. Stop saying that," Annie insisted, using xeir tail to close the door behind xem. "Just because we both smuggled animals onto the train doesn't mean we're a club."

"Secret Pet Buddies?"

"Absolutely not." Annie's tail flicked from side to side warily as xey crossed xeir arms, watching as Dorothy marveled at xeir room with her big dumb human smile. "So, where's the rest of you? You usually have those other boys following behind you."

"Stagey's still doing theater work, and Dante's helping him with the sets." Dorothy hummed. "I would be helping them, but last time I tried to hammer stuff it flew out of my hand and nearly knocked out his boss." She paused. "I didn't hit him. I just knocked off his hat. So lucky, I guess."

"How is that lucky? You nearly-" Annie squinted, then shook xeir head. This girl was good at going on tangents. Best not to keep her on track. "You said you knew about dogs. .... The kind that don't talk."

"Oh! Yeah! I do!" Dorothy beamed, reaching up into her hood to grab something. Carefully, she withdrew her hand, showing that the small opossum that clung to her, depositing it on her shoulder.

"Baby's getting a little bigger 🎶" She smiled, before bringing out the notebook she had under her arm. "Okay! Here you go! Lemme show you what I did!"

She went to the foot of Annie's bed and sat down, careful not to disturb Laika who was napping nearby. Very carefully, Dorothy reached out and squished Laika's single exposed paw, which Annie couldn't fault her for. Those little puppy paw pads were a blessing of softness.

"C'mon, I don't use these page tab thingies for just any reason," Dorothy said, patting the space beside her. Xey scrunched up xeir face a little- Xey didn't quite trust how 'buddy-buddy' this human always seemed to act like. Xey still complied, however.

"Okay, so, first things first- Red tab is for food, which is kinda the most important thing. Dogs can be really healthy as long as you feed them right." Dorothy explained, flipping past the index to one of her lists. "See, this column is all the things dogs can't eat- And things they can eat but only in super small amounts. Trust me, it's cute for a dog to chew on one of those teeny pumpkins but you do Not want it eating a lot of pumpkin."

"You made this?" Andromeda commented, noting how neat the handwriting was. "You don't usually seem this organized."

"Yeah, but it's easier to concentrate on things I like." Dorothy nodded, moving to the next tab. "Blue is grooming, my biggest advice is to go ahead and get her used to the bathtub and being in water while she's still little- Then she won't be as skittish about having baths in the future!"

"Green is training-" Dorothy continued. "Maybe you don't want Laika to learn a lot of tricks, but it's important she knows her name, and at least when to sit, stay, and come back to you. Dogs love to know they're doing good, whether it's with pets or treats. Just find what she likes and use it as an incentive!"

"And the yellow tab?" Annie reached over, thumbing the last tab.

"Oh! That's a bunch of other things I figure you'd want to know. Mostly stuff I know about other breeds," Dorothy said, flipping over. "Since Laika's probably a mutt, most of this probably won't apply to her? But who knows, she's still little. There's a lot of surprises in her."

"Hmm..." Annie gingerly took the notebook from Dorothy, flipping through the notebook on xeir own. "What do I owe you for this?"

"Hmm? Oh! No, you don't owe me anything," The girl waved a hand, turning around to pet Laika some more. "I'm just happy to share what I know. I figured you could have talked to any of the other dogs, but... Yeah, I guess there's a difference between a talking dog and a regular puppy, yeah?"

".... Yeah." Annie agreed, turning around to carefully scoop up Laika. The dog opened her eyes, but quickly relaxed again seeing it was just Annie, licking xeir arm before resting her head down again.

"....." Dorothy was quiet for a rare moment, letting Baby snuffle up against her face.

"You look comfortable."

"What?" Annie looked up from Laika, blinking at Dorothy's comment.

"I mean, I don't have much of a frame of reference," Dorothy admitted. "Since the only time I really saw you before the beach was when you ran up and punched my friend-"

"I'm still sorry about that."

"It's cool. Last Actor made the vibes really wack, anyone would make a bad first impression in that environment." Dorothy shrugged. "Anyways, you definitely seem to be doing better. Like... Moreso than you were before. It's a good thing."

Andromeda paused, pulling Laika closer to xemself. A part of can wanted to deny it, because look at where they were. Maybe she had no idea what kinda place they were in. It wasn't a place where things could get better.

But on the other hand... Xey had a friend. And a dog. And xey were able to be... Well. Andromeda. For the first time in what felt like a long time.

Xey looked back up at Dorothy, returning her smile with a shrug.

".... Yeah. I guess I am."