Whiskers

Rigid

Palace had been asleep since he'd been fed nearly eight hours ago. He knew that it was somewhere around early morning now, but the exact time never really mattered. His ears flicked back and forth a few times as he tried to pick up any sound from the other side of the wall. There were a few quiet mumbles, but nothing he could discern. 

He rolled over onto his belly after a few more minutes, then pushed his tubby self up. The food had definitely hit the spot, but he felt more than a bit bloated as he slowly trudged toward the little liftable metal flap they fed him through. 

When he was about a foot away, he let his backside drop to the floor, then leaned a little closer as his tail swished like a broom back and forth behind him. 

The door creaked open a few moments later, drawing a tilt from his massive head as he gingerly lowered his belly back to the floor so that he could see a tiny sliver of the room beyond the door. 

"Hey there, Pal." Came that seemingly familiar voice again. 

In the back of his mind, he knew who it was, but for some reason, he couldn't put a face or history to the voice. It was just a voice that said something that made him want to be closer to the door. 

How odd. 

"Are you hungry, buddy?" The voice asked moments before a large carrot appeared, held by a few slim fingers. 

Palace eyed the food, but for once, he was quite full. Not having to worry about a meal, he actually had a different idea running through his mind. Leaning forward, he gently grasped the carrot between his teeth, then let it drop before nuzzling at the door and blowing out a loud huff of air. 

He couldn't come close to fitting his whole muzzle inside of the small opening, but when he felt something gently tap his nose, he withdrew immediately, sneezing once as his ears jerked up and forward and his eyes narrowed. 

"Boy, I've missed that reaction. Mom always liked to boop your nose but you absolutely hated it. You told her that you didn't like her poking your nose... and especially not in front of your friends that came to hang out. You always thought it was too childish, but I knew that you were just embarrassed caused it usually made you sneeze for some reason." 

It is very childish to poke someone else's nose! You have your own... stupid sneezing.

Grumbling, Palace waited a few minutes before nudging his nose back through the small opening and snorting, wanting some sort of response... as long as it wasn't another poke. 

When he smelled the shifter, he tilted his head a little and opened his mouth just enough to swipe his tongue through the air. It connected with, what felt like, someone's fingers. 

The surprised yelp and retracting of the hand told him that he'd guessed correctly as he pulled away, his wolf's lips tugging back into an awkward toothy grin. 

"Cheap shot, Pal. Gimme that foot or I'm gonna pull on your ear." The voice said, making Palace pin his ears back in utter mortification. He wasn't sure why the thought of having his ears pulled made him that disgruntled, but he found himself reaching forward with his right paw anyway, slipping it, just barely, through the small opening. 

He felt two hands softly grasp it and had to fight to keep his talons from extending in response. He's not hurting you and you pushed your paw in there first. He told himself, though it didn't make him feel any more comfortable as the hands that held his heavy paw began to gently massage it. 

"I missed this big foot and the cocky brat of a wolf connected to it." The voice said, making Palace snort and extend his talons slightly. 

Well, he'd thought that he'd only done it slightly, but when he heard a pained sound from the other side of the opening and the hands suddenly dropped his paw, making him retract it, he had a feeling that he might have accidentally scratched him.