round 8 LtCmdr Traenor - A Day in the Life of Barque the Beagle

[Jalana]

((Traenor's Personal Quarters - USS Constitution))

::Another sound from beyond the door. Muffled footprints, muffled noises. This was a new room, in a new place, and Barque needed to be alert. Turning his head to the side, he listened closely until the sound disappeared from his senses, then he relaxed from his primary role as defender of his human's domain and focused on his secondary role. Chew the toys.::

::His human had left again, and again promised that when he returned they would go to the Real-Room. Of course, his human liked to bark in funny yips, and it came out as Arboretum. Barque thought his human would have an easier time calling it Real-Room, since that's what it really was. Real-Room had real grass to roll in, real dirt to dig in, real trees and bushes to mark. His human preferred the Not-Real-Room, and all the Not-Real things behind those heavy doors. The only benefit to the Not-Real-Room was the Not-Real birds and Not-Real squirrels and the Not-Real rabbits, which were really really fun to chase even if they were Not-Real. His human had a funny yip for the Not-Real-Room too, a weird howl that sounded like Holodeck.::

::Barque vaguely remembered when he was but a pup, there was something like the Not-Real-Room but had all the Real things like the Real-Room did. Real grass to chew, Real water to splash in, Real mice to sniff out. Ever since he had joined his human, he had lived in these metal rooms that were all the same but were not. The humans and not-humans, of which many liked to pet him and skritch his ears, were different in these metal rooms. His human called it Transfer To A New Ship. They had done this a couple times now, and Barque kept hoping they would Transfer To A New Ship with endless Real-Rooms like when he was a pup, but they hadn't yet. It didn't matter, his human needed him to defend his domain and that made Barque very happy.::

::Barque jumped back up on the couch and looked out the window. He liked looking out the window, even thought it was night. Again. Every Transfer To A New Ship they lived in always was night, but that didn't matter. He liked watching the tiny sunbeams streak by. Although it would be nice to see a bird or a squirrel or a rabbit once in a while.::

::Properly sated by the view, Barque hopped down from the couch and wandered over to the food bowl. He had gobbled down his breakfast as soon as his human had left, but it never hurt to check and make sure he didn't miss any. He hadn't. So he took a big draught of water from the adjacent bowl and moved off to the bedroom.::

::His human liked to keep things untidy in here, and Barque appreciated it. He was certain his human did so just so Barque could amuse himself, snuffling through piles of clothes and rolling on his human's bed. Rolling on the sheets was almost as nice as rolling on grass. He longingly spied the chew toys that his human wore on his paws, which were called Boots. He was not allowed to chew on those chew toys, would be in big trouble if he did, which was a shame because Boots were so tasty. Instead, he found his bone and alternated between viciously chewing it and napping in the master's bed.::

::Now, Barque found himself sitting before the door, waiting patiently and tail thumping against the floor. His instincts knew when his human would come home; he didn't understand how he knew, but he just did. He heard the sounds and sniffed the smells of other humans and not-humans passing beyond the door, but other than being alert against intruders, he was calm. He knew they were not his human, so he didn't jump up or yip or whine at their passing presence. He would save that adoration for his human. Or anyone else who would pat him or skritch his ears. Or give him a Cookie. Cookie was one of his favorite words, second only to Ball. Perhaps his human would bring him Cookies today. With this thought, the steady staccato of a thumping tail filled the Traenor residence again as its brave protector waited for his human to come home.::


Barque the Beagle
Erstwhile Protector and Shredder of Shoes
~as simmed by~
LtCmdr Maxwell Traenor
Scientific Specialist, USS Constitution