Mirror Neurons
Chapter 2: Little Furry T-Rexs
The journey to homsie was interrupted by Daddeh dropping off his friend and the meanie Chester at their housie, with the promise that he would ‘drop by early next week’ with some things for Tilly.
She had been asked to go poopies and peepees before leaving the store, Daddeh’s friend knowing how badly some fluffies reacted to their first vroom-vroom-munsta ride.
Tilly had frozen in fear when the vroom-vroom-munsta had started, but Daddeh’s friend had been there, offering her words of comfort and encouragement from the front seat, so it wasn’t too scary for her.
She was glad that they had made her go peepee before - she definitely would have leaked out some scaredy peepees and she didn’t want to be stinky for Daddeh.
The vroom-vroom-munsta stopped for the final time and stopped making noise; Tilly couldn’t see anything from her carrier except the back of the seat in front and Daddeh’s shoulders. Daddeh disappeared and Tilly’s heart leapt - was she being abandoned?
There was a sound next to her then she smelt Daddeh next to the carrier and she calmed down.
“Ok, Tilly. I gotta get all your stuff into the house first, then I’ll bring you in. I don’t wanna leave you with Toby all by yourself yet.”
“Otay Daddeh.” Tilly nodded, despite being unable to see Daddeh. “Hu am Tobee?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll see.”
After a few forevers, Daddeh came back and picked up her carrier, allowing her to see her new home. It was a modest two storey suburban home and Tilly could see pretty flowers in the front garden.
Daddeh had to duck his head under the door frame as he came into the house and she could hear excited barking from further on in the house. She froze up again - barkie-munsta!
Daddeh closed the door behind him and they approached another room, she saw a child gate in the doorway, which Daddeh stepped over. The barking grew louder as they entered the room.
“Toby! Easy boy!”
The barking immediately stopped, replaced with insistent whining and eager soft growling.
“I know you’re excited, but if you’re too excited, you’ll scare her.” Tilly felt her carrier being set down on something soft above the floor and she could see some cages along the far wall of the room; her heart sank.
She had spent nearly all of her adult life in a cage in the store; was she only going from one cage to another?
There was a small brown barkie-munsta in one of the cages and it was hopping up and down, eager to get out. Daddeh walked over and unlatched the cage, picking up the barkie-munsta. It immediately calmed down, but its attention was still laser focused on Tilly.
“All right, Toby, this is Tilly. Tilly, this is Toby.” Daddeh said as he brought the barkie-munsta over to Tilly’s carrier.
Tilly shrank back in her carrier as the barkie-munsta was held up to the carrier’s bars, but there was no further barking.
“Come on Tilly, say hello to Toby.” Daddeh’s calm voice asked gently.
Tilly gingerly shuffled forwards and saw a pair of bright eager brown eyes staring back. “Hewwo Tobee… am nyu fwiend?”
There was a quizzical growl and Toby leant forwards, sniffing Tilly through the bars. He then tried to give her a lickie-clean and Tilly sprang back on instinct.
Toby replied back with another quizzical whine and Daddeh laughed.
“Don’t worry, Tilly, he just wants to say hello.” He set Toby down on the carpet. “I’m gonna take you out of your carrier now, ok? Don’t worry, I’ll still keep hold of you.”
The bars opened and Tilly was lifted out and set on Daddeh’s lap. He was sitting on a couch and Toby was standing on his hind legs, still trying to sniff Tilly. Tilly sniffed him back - she could smell he was curious and excited, but no aggression.
Tilly started calming down as Daddeh stroked her back and as she relaxed, she noticed something unexpected - Toby didn’t have his front weggies either!
“Daddeh! Tobee nu hab weggies! Jus’ wike Tiwy!” she cried out in amazement.
Daddeh chuckled. “Yeah, Toby had an accident and lost his front legs. I look after dogs like him and try and find them new forever homes. I thought you would fit right in here.”
Toby gave Tilly another lickie clean and Tilly wiggled her front stumps in joy. “Daddeh, can Tiwy pway wit’ Toby?”
"Sure. I’m gonna set up your litterbox and stuff up in here, so you guys can play for a bit.
“Toby, play nice with Tilly, ok? Good boy.” Daddeh put Tilly down on the couch while he got up to a side table. He set down some white fabric pads on the floor, then picked up Tilly and put her down on them.
“These pads will help if you accidentally shit-”
“Bad wordsies!”
“-poop or pis-I mean pee on the floor, ok? I heard that fluffies sometimes have problems getting to the litterbox in time.”
“Tiwy knu how tu make gud poopies an’ peepees, Daddeh.” Tiwy smiled then started singing. "Gud babbehs make poopies in da wittabawks. Mummah gib gud babbehs huggies an’ wuv. Bad poopies nu smeww pwetty on Daddeh’s fwoow. Su gud babbehs make gud poopies in da bawks! "
“What. The. Fuck?”
“Am gud poopies song! Aw gud fwuffies knu gud poopies song! An’ bad wowdsies, Daddeh!”
“Riiiight.” Daddeh shook his head in disbelief. “Whatever works, I guess.”
Tilly was about to reply when she was interrupted by Toby nuzzling her then hopping back. He laid down and watched her for a few moments, then scooted his hind legs forward and sat up on his rump.
Tilly wiggled forward, using her stumps and hind legs to push her forwards to chase him, but Toby hopped around to her side, laid down on top of her, then hopped back and laid down again.
Tilly laboriously shuffled around and started scooting after him, only for Toby to sit up and repeat the side scoot, nuzzle, hop back, than finally laid back down.
This carried on for a few minutes before Tilly stopped, out of breath. She had never had the opportunity to exercise this much before in the confines of her cage!
“Daddeh,” Tilly puffed. “Wat am Tobee doin’?”
“He’s trying to show you how to sit up, Tilly.” Daddeh looked up from unpackaging Tilly’s litterbox and bed. “He does that every time we get a new foster dog that’s like him.”
“Tiwy nu kan du dat!” Tilly squealed in frustration.
“Sure you can, just try. It must be better than scooting around on your stumps all the time.”
“How?”
“Just watch Toby and try copying him.”
“Otay… Daddeh…” Tilly said dubiously, only to giggle again as Toby nuzzled her again with a questioning whine.
Tilly watched more carefully as Toby sat up again, noticing that he pushed his back weggies in front of his hips, while resting his head on the ground. After that he simply lifted his body up.
Tilly wiggled her rear weggies in the same position, then raised her rear up, before trying to lift her body up. She strained and strained, but didn’t have the strength to lift her body up - she was too heavy.
“Tilly nu kan du it…” she collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.
“Don’t worry about it Tilly. Just practice every day and you’ll get it.” Daddeh put the litterbox near a cage. “Tilly, this crate is going to be yours. I’m going to put your bed inside, all right?”
“Daddeh nu hab safe woom? Evwy fwuffy need safe woom.”
“A safe room? What’s that? Like a panic room?”
“Tiwy nu knu. Tiwy Mummah say dat huumin mummah an’ daddeh gib fwuffy safe woom wen dey gu tu nyu homsie.”
“I gotta ask Dave more about what you guys need. Anyway, for now you’re staying in here. Don’t worry, Toby’s bed is in here too.”
“Yay! Wub Toby!” Tilly nuzzled the barkie-friend as he laid down beside her.
There was a sound of a key in a door, then the front door opening. “Honey, I’m home!” came a lady’s voice as Toby suddenly started barking excitedly.
“I’m in here, darling!” Daddeh got up and walked to the hallway door. “So, uh, I gotta a surprise for you.”
“Oh? Is Castor here already?” There was the sound of footsteps down the hall.
“Naah, he’s still coming tomorrow. But, er… yeah. I got Toby a new friend.” Daddeh bent over slightly to hug and lickie-kiss the woman as she appeared in the doorway.
As Toby leapt to his feet and hopped forward to greet the lady, Daddeh turned and waved his hand towards Tilly. “Ta-daaa.”
“A fluffy.” The lady looked at Daddeh and arched an eyebrow. “You got a fluffy?”
“Er, yeah. Surprise?” Daddeh rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“All right Toby. Did you miss mommy?” The lady picked up the frantically hopping Toby and gave him a hug, while she stepped over the gate and looked more carefully at Tilly.
“Hewwo pwetty wady!” Tilly piped up as Toby wriggled in the lady’s arms and she let him down.
“Hello. What’s your name then?” The lady asked as she knelt down.
“Fwuffy am Tiwy!” Tilly smiled as Toby hopped back next to her side, his tail wagging as if trying to take off.
“Hello Tiwy. I see Toby likes you already.”
“Yus! Tiwy an’ Tobee hab fun pwaying!”
“That’s nice.” The lady smiled and Tilly liked her already - she had a calm, welcoming smile, framed by laughter lines and her green eyes twinkled in amusement. Her long brown hair was only a shade lighter than Tilly’s own fur.
“Kan Tiwy hab huggie wit pwetty wady?” Tilly scooted closer, then tried to sit up again, but only managed to raise her body an inch off the ground.
“Sure.” The lady picked up Tilly and Tilly nuzzled into her shoulder. The lady was warm and smelled nice. “Ok, I like her already. She keeps calling me pretty and gives soft hugs.”
“Hey! I always say you’re pretty!”
“Yeah, but you don’t give soft hugs.” The lady stuck her tongue out at Daddeh and grinned.
“I thought you liked it when I’m hard.” Daddeh grinned back and the lady smacked him on his thigh.
“Behave. There’s little ones present.” The lady replied in a motherly, reprimanding tone. She held Tilly further back, to take a better look at her.
“Pwetty wady am Daddeh speshul fwend? Dat mean wady am Tiwy’s nyu mummah?” Tilly tilted her head to the side as she asked the question.
“Uh-huh, yeah. I guess I’m your new momma.”
“Mummah!” Tilly squealed in delight and wriggled forwards for another hug, which was given.
“What made you get a fluffy? I mean, we got Castor coming tomorrow, so Toby wasn’t going to be lonely.”
“I was giving Dave a ride to the fluffy store with Chester. I was looking round and this little girl caught my eye - they said she was an ‘enfie pal’, which is just another word for a fucktoy-”
“Bad wowdsies!”
“-sexual relief product and I couldn’t leave her behind.”
“Does she do that every time someone says a bad word?” Mummah looked at Tilly and Daddeh nodded.
“Yeah, the whole fucking-”
“Bad wowdsies, Daddeh!”
“-store of fluffies were doing it. It was really fu- weird.” He cut himself off in time.
“We are keeping her.” Mummah said firmly. “Anything that helps you clean up your language is a keeper. It’d be good practice for when we start thinking about children seriously.”
Daddeh rolled his eyes. “Fine. Her name’s Tilly by the way. She keeps on messing up words with that fluffy accent of hers.”
“Tilly. Can you help me stop Daddeh using naughty words all the time?” Mummah asked Tilly earnestly as she stared into her eyes.
“Yus! Tiwy wiww hewp!”
“Good girl!” Mummah smiled and put Tilly down on the white pads. “I need to do some stuff, then I can come back and play with you in a bit?”
Tilly nodded in reply. “Yus, Mummah. Tiwy stay hewe an’ pway wit’ Tobee.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them.” Daddeh nodded at Mummah and gave her a quick lickie-kiss to her cheek.
Tilly spent the rest of the afternoon alternately playing and snoozing with Toby or her toys, while either Daddeh or Mummah keeping an eye on them. Daddeh had even praised her for making good poopies in the litterbox, while Toby had to go outside for his good poopies - Daddeh had said that barkie-friends sometimes had trouble learning how to use litterboxes.
The brightball outside had set and it was dark time now. Tilly had gone to relax on her bed and Toby snuggled in next to her; now he was snoozing quietly. Today had been busy, scary, but also so happy. When she woke up this morning, she wasn’t expecting to have a new homsie, with a new daddeh, mummah and barkie-friend, and all that without getting enfed.
Daddeh and Mummah had said there was a new friend coming next bright time, someone called Castor. While she was scared to meet Toby, he had been a wonderful new friend and she was going to train hard so that she could hop around like him - she didn’t even think she could even move like that again after they had taken her front weggies.
She laid her head down and snuggled in next to Toby before closing her eyes; as she drifted off to sleep, she knew that she would have nice sleepie pictures and hoped that Castor would be as nice as Toby.
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