Suffice it to say, I did not get more food. I was deeply disappointed and showed my mood through my drooping ears and low-hung fluffy tail. Sam, the adult male wearing green clothing, led me along a high-ceilinged tunnel before approaching another door. He pushed it open and slotted a white crystal into a hole in the wall. Suddenly, the entire area past the door was flooded with the light of the sun, revealing an area surrounded in an odd white material that seemed to reflect the not-sun as if it were water.

Sam tugged on the chain lightly, hinting for me to follow him inside the strange environment. I neared the edge of the door before staring at the ground(?)…water(?)…white stuff. The adult male observed my actions with a sign of impatience, however he was kind enough to allow me the chance to fully examine this odd phenomenon before me while uttering some reassuring words.

“It’s okay. It’s just some tiles to make it easier to clean afterwards.”

Despite his rather plain attire compared with the one called Leonard, his presence was more soothing and nowhere near as imposing as the ranch owner from my dream, as he stomped his foot on the ‘tile’. I closed my eyes and crouched low to avoid the splash of water. “…?” Only for nothing to happen, except for the sonorous echo that reverberated around the surroundings. Surprised by the strange material’s solidness, I jolted upright before cautiously dipping my front paw down.

A clicking sound echoed as my claws touched the hard, smooth tile. “See? Perfectly safe.” Sam affirmed, before moving towards an implement I felt familiar with but didn’t know why. “Come here, girl, and I’ll get your fur all nice and clean.” He motioned for me to get closer as the device in his hand had a blue crystal inserted into it. “You’ll make my fur nice again?” At the thought of no longer being stinky and muddy, I wagged my tail and padded towards him.

“Good girl, now hold still.”

Sam then betrayed me. I was immediately assaulted by a strong, pressurised jet of bone-chilling water. I cowered from the freezing temperature, instinctively jumping away from it in fright before slipping on the wet tiles with my legs splayed out. I then snarled at him in anger at being openly ridiculed and tricked. “How dare you trick me?! I trusted you! Send the doctor back here so I can get more scratches!”

Sam put his hand to the water and winced in pain before disconnecting the crystal from the implement – halting the flow of water. “Sorry about that, I forgot to charge the shower with a fire crystal first. Don’t be angry, it was an honest mistake.” He smiled wryly at me before inserting a red and orange crystal into the vacant slot. I didn’t believe him. “As if I’ll fall for the same tricks twice!”

“I’ll give you some ear scratches if you’ll let me clean you.” Sam coaxed in a placating voice as he knelt down on the glisteningly wet tiles. “You’ll scratch my ears?” I stretched my neck subconsciously towards the male adult’s hand, eager for that nice feeling. Before I realised it, I was being showered with comfortably warm water while having my ears scratched soothingly. “Ahh, this is the best.”

“Such a good girl!” He used his other hand to scratch the side of my stomach, which made me roll over on the wet tiles and instinctively grab his hand with my paws. “Hmm? What is it, girl?” I froze in place before releasing his hand and standing back up – nonchalantly acting as if that embarrassing situation had never occurred. “…Was it the belly scratch? Sorry, I’ll stick to your ears then.” I secretly wagged my tail at the thought of more ear scratches while I allowed him to continue pampering me.

After a few minutes of having the water and hands massaging me, some movements caught my always alert attention. Sam had stood up and gone towards something sticking out of the wall before carrying it over. Tilting my head in curiosity, I began to wonder what the adult male was doing.

“It’s just something to make your fur extra nice and clean.” He said, which was all I needed to hear. I mean, who wouldn’t want their fur to look absolutely marvellous? Standing calmly while waiting to have the miracle stuff put on me, I wagged my wet tail in anticipation. Sam seemed to smile wryly before twisting the top of the object and pouring its contents on me. “It feels cold!” I said through a short bark while glaring at him.

Unfortunately, it seemed that I would need to work on my glaring capabilities since the adult male was completely unfazed by it and instead began massaging the cold – slimy liquid all over me. Lightly tapping my front paw from time to time, I watched him as he continued whatever he was doing. Then…something amazing happened!

The slimy substance changed into a white, almost fluffy substance. I was in shock. I was in awe. I was confused…I tried to lick some of it off to see what it tasted like but was immediately slapped on the nose. “Ouch!”

“No, you can’t eat this, the flavour is awful, and it’ll give you a tummy ache.”

He then stroked my – no doubt already swelling – nose before using the shower to wash away the white fluffy stuff from near my head. “It smells weirdly nostalgic…” Rummaging through my memories of a few months, I sadly could not locate any direct event of me having experienced this. However, the possible words for this substance still managed to enter my mind, “Soap. Shampoo.”

After some more wonderful massaging, Sam rinsed the white stuff off me with the shower before taking the blue crystal out and inserting a grey and red one in. Looking forward to what strange and fun things were going to happen this time, I sat on my haunches and observed….I won’t say that I jumped out of fright, because I am a brave little aardwolf pup, but…I will admit to being slightly startled.

As soon as Sam had twisted the top of the shower device, a loud noise was emitted from it that sort of hurt my delicate ears. Of course, I did not at all slip on the wet tiles again and end up face-planting them while attempting to flee the angry-sounding device, that would be a foolish mistake to have made. Because such a thing never occurred, I also did not end up receiving lots of pats on my head to soothe the tears that had formed from damaged pride.

Loud noises were not the only trick this device was performing, at the moment, since there was a continuous propulsion of very hot wind coming out of it. Apparently, it was to speed up the drying of my sodden fur so, if it was going to make me look beautiful again of course I would allow it to get close to me. “Just…don’t let it attack me in its anger, please…” I beseeched Sam with my eyes.

I have to admit, the sensation of the hot air on my body was very relaxing. I might have even fallen asleep at one point, going by how fast it seemed once my eyes had closed in contentment. However, it seemed that this spa-like treatment wasn’t over as Sam then took out a stick with a dense collection of mini-twigs on one end. “Spa-like? What even…?” Brushing the topic of what a spa could be out of my mind, I pondered over what the new object could be.

It didn’t take long for me to discover the purpose since Sam placed me between his legs and grabbed my mouth before shoving the utensil inside. “What are you doing?!” I began to squirm but was trapped in his legs and so could only suffer through whatever he was planning to do to my perfect teeth. “Hmm? That feels quite nice, actually.” He seemed to be rubbing the densely packed mini-twigs against my teeth and was soon finished with that work.

Strangely, my mouth felt better after he’d done whatever he’d done – with my teeth feeling the smoothest they’d been in quite a long time. I wagged my tail in gratitude before licking his hand in thanks.

“Hahaha, you’re such a well-behaved girl. Let’s hope your siblings will be like you.”

Siblings…how could I have already forgotten about them?! I started panicking about their situation and ran towards the door we’d come from, only for Sam to kneel down beside me and wrap his upper legs around me. “Arms. Hang on, this isn’t the time to be correcting myself! Where are my siblings?!” I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, so didn’t notice when Sam had at some point grabbed another item and had started smoothing my fur with it.

“Hmm? What’s that? Why does it feel so nice?” Completely distracted by this new sensation, I turned my head to look and saw Sam wielding a larger version of what had been used on my mouth. “A brush.” That’s what came to mind when I saw it, although I swear I had never heard of such a thing before. “Hang on, didn’t I mention brushing things out of my mind before?...Why do I know these things?!”

As I was contemplating my existence and why I kept having words affecting my mental faculties, Sam continued to brush my fur until it looked completely smooth and gorgeous. I mean, how could my fur be anything other than that with the amount of care I’ve always put into it, as well as the beauty I was already born with? Exiting my reverie of narcissistic admiration, I realised that Sam had finished brushing me and had already initiated work on my claws.

Nudging his face with my nose, I tried asking him with my eyes: “What are you doing to my claws?” The response he provided was a wonderful ear scratch, so I decided to let him off – allowing him to do whatever he wanted. Examining his actions proved curious, however, since he seemed to be rubbing some kind of material around each claw that made them sharper and shinier. “Ah! I never even knew my claws could get so shiny! What is this magic you are working on me?” I wagged my tail in delight at seeing how much more attractive I was becoming.

Relaxing my guard around Sam, I languidly lay down as he improved my claws. I have no idea how long I was there for but before I realised it, I was being led by the chain out of the room and down another high tunnel. I theorised over what new and fantastic things would be done to me next as I wagged my tail in excitement at where I was being led. Once we reached another door, I rushed inside the new area without paying attention – only to remember that the door was see-through and looked an awful lot like the ones from my dream that those beasts were stored in…“Ah…I fell for the trick…I will remember this, Sam!”