Of a Better World

A New Arrival

The door was kicked open with a crack and  thud as it was nearly knocked off its hinges, not doing much to satisfy Horror's bloodlust as the thick wood broke like dry rotted plywood under his hands. The next time he blinked, his clawed fingers had curled themselves around something furry and warm. 

His next reaction, based in pure muscle memory, would have been to squeeze, to apply pressure until whatever writhing in his grip finally went still. To not loosen until he felt that snap.

But of course he didn't get that far, not before he felt the sudden impact of Lust hurling the entirety of his weight upon his back. He was light, but more than enough to stun Horror as he was.

The world slowed down frame by frame as he recovered from his dazed state and processed what had happened in the span of the last few minutes. As he came to, reality came into focus. He had his hands gripped around… a dog.

A pathetic excuse for a dog would be a better description, as it laid beneath him, a small and fluffy and whimpering mess. Horror's hands loosened in a moment of confusion and the tiny animal quickly wormed its way free and took off under the bed. Looking for safety somewhere where it figured Horror was too big to follow.

Lust's weight remained solid on his back, the small skeleton trying his best to pin him to the ground, blissfully unaware of how easy it would be for Horror to fling him across the room like a ragdoll.

"horror!" He squawked, out of breath. "what the fuck?"

Time finally caught up to him and so did anger. This little shit had been harboring a mutt in his room for week without telling anyone? He'd ran his sanity thin for one of Lust's little schemes?

It happened too quickly for Lust to fight against as Horror flipped the two of them over and wrenched Lust's arms behind his back, digging his knee into the other's broken leg for good measures. He yelped, trying to evade the painful grip.

"how long have you had that thing?"

"let go! you're hurting me!" he wailed.

"and it'd be a shame if i ended up hurting you more."

He shifted his weight slightly, applying more pressure in a way that had Lust's breath quicken as he let out a whine. "fuck, i don't know- a week maybe?"

"where did you find it?"

"rooting in the trash outside while you were on patrol." Lust wiggled in an attempt to get free. "please- i didn't think you'd let me keep it."

"well you sure as hell guessed that one right."

How the hell Lust had managed to maintain a stowaway for nearly a week was lost to Horror but he supposed it didn't matter much now. Now was a matter of getting rid of it along with a weight on his chest.

The dog, for all it was worth, at least had a sense of honor as it finally built up the courage to emerge from under the bed once it saw the harm coming to its makeshift owner. Horror growled as it dug tiny teeth into the fabric of his threadbare shirt and pulled at it with the intent of removing him from atop Lust.

The utter ridiculous nature of the situation struck Horror all too suddenly. Then, of course, the burning irritation set in.

Horror released the smaller skeleton and stood up, rubbing his temples. As much as he wanted to throttle the doe eyed skeleton he didn't. It was a pet- just a pet. A pet who would be a very big potential drain on resources that Lust had hidden from him like an insolent child.

The dog, overjoyed by his removal, happily planted itself in Lust's lap and began the heavy task of covering his face in slobber.

"where did you keep it? how?" He demanded.

Lust looked up at him between licks and giggles. "well whenever you were around i just made sure to let it outside- i always found it wandering close by the shed a few hours later."

"so you're telling me that you've kept that thing outside and it's come back in one piece… multiple times?"

"i mean, yeah? why wouldn't it?"

Probably due to the fact that there were plenty of feral lesser monsters that wandered around Snowdin that would have made an easy meal out of something so small. His concern and confusion slowly inched towards an incline. The dog, however, remained carefree with its pristine white coat leaving Horror to wonder if the tiny fucker was made out of titanium. Hell if it managed to survive outside there was potential that was even dangerous.

Horror sighed. "and you've been feeding it…?"

"not much of anything at all" Lust chirped as if it were normal for a dog to be sustained on air alone. "it does this weird thing where it can sort of absorb stuff though. it's "eaten" a few socks and a shoe or two… and maybe a lamp."

"well that would explain where my wrench went." Horror muttered.

With his anger dissipating just as quickly as it came, Horror decided it was too early for arguments. Having gained some sense of closure from finding out where the smell had been radiating from and that it wasn't dangerous, he made way to leave the room, hoping he could find and convince Crooks on starting the preparation of their scant breakfast early.

The dog… was a nuisance. But then again so was Lust. So long as it wasn't dangerous nor a drain of their delicate food reserves and Horror didn't have to actively deal with it- it could be a problem handled later.

"no hard feelings for nearly breaking your arms, right?" Not that Lust was truly smart enough to hold a grudge- too soft and too kind. Without waiting for a reply he continued on his way out. "feel free to join me once you chuck that thing somewhere."

"so… i can keep it?" Lust questioned his retreating form.

"fuck no- just… later. i'll think about it later."

"i'll name it marshmallow then."

"no names!" Horror barked from down the hall.

It later turned out that for all the thinking Horror could do, the dog was here to stay.

It remained nameless, but it also remained in the house with free roam about now that its secrecy had been shed. He wasn't completely opposed to it staying now that Lust didn't bother him as much and since the dog rarely stepped out of its bounds. So Horror decided it wasn't worth the effort to fight about. Yet another thing Horror was learning quite fast was that Lust more often than not got what he wanted.

The small skeleton crafted it a collar out of spare fabric and a bell he had in his inventory. The dog loved it's new collar, so much so that it felt compelled to absorb it- a surer sign than any of its appreciation. But the soft jingle of the bell still followed it throughout the house.

Crooks took instantly to the new arrival, dictating it a better companion than his pet rock. He still complained when it followed him around on patrols to steal his bone attacks, but they were fairly inseparable otherwise.

Another change to his life Lust had carted with him, yet, it almost felt familiar.

A/N: Annoying dog makes an appearance!! Who couldn't love this mangy, sometimes amorphous, mutt? I believe it's canon that annoying dog went missing sometime around when the Horrortale was thrown into starvation. With chunks of his memory missing I don't believe horror would remember their interactions...

A/N: Also heavily considering starting either a Nightlust or Horrordust story alongside this one and I have been playing around with and making drabbles for both, so now it's just a matter of choice.