Shadow and Flare were close friends from the start, so when they started sleeping in close vicinity to each other every night, it wasn't surprising.
Though Flare wasn't sure how, she often awoke with Shadow's flank pressed against hers. The tan dog rarely moved in her sleep, so she assumed that the late-night cuddle attempts were his doing.
They hadn't spoken about it, which was fine with Flare. The friendly gesture didn't bother her, and she always made sure to move away before Shadow awoke. The young male was a heavy sleeper. He almost always woke up after Flare did and more often then not took naps throughout the day. Flare did the same when she became bored of talking.
Mocha, just as Jax had predicted, grew an exceptionally larger belly. She moved slower and hardly stood up. Every dog knew that her puppies would come soon. The brindle-and-white dog talked about them often, proving that she did in fact think about her unborn pups. Grey Dog begrudgingly let her drink as much water as she wanted, and actually held back during feeding times to let Mocha scavenge first. He talked about being the father of the pups often, a proud aura often around him. Grey Dog admitted that this would be his second litter of pups with Mocha, to which she affirmed that this was her third time having puppies.
Flare couldn't imagine having puppies three different times (let alone once), and knowing that time and time again the puppies would be taken. She had no form of a bond to be compared with anything like that, but already she knew that her puppies should've stayed her's, not given away to random humans.
And White Dog had become less confrontational with Shadow. It seemed that the male was becoming more docile in his old age. When The Man brought Shadow and White Dog to the shed for a fight night, Shadow came out victorious again. He didn't gloat, but kept his head high.
Many fights had proceeded before and after this one. The Man and woman still argued often, their jeers and jabs being heard by the dogs more than once. Jax had still not won a fight, which was a constant source of his irritable comments.
Since Flare's heat had ended two months ago, the attention she had gotten from Jax and White Dog was ceased to a halt. Jax rarely made comments directly to or about her, and only did so when Shadow wasn't around. If she could've guessed, Jax was apprehensive about seeing Shadow overpower White Dog and assumed the same would happen if he challenged the larger male.
The leaves and flowers on trees had become full-bloom, to the point where even Flare lifted her nose high to appreciate their earthly-sweet scent. The weather was most often hot and dry, although a nice breeze occasionally made its way through The Yard. The grass had grown taller, and would-be out of control if the dogs didn't trample on it all day. Flare's spot near the porch, which was usually muddy, had dried into a light-colored dirt with edged cracks.
It was another warm day with a light breeze when the humans came outside, together this time. Flare couldn't recall that ever happening, so they had a clear intent from the start. The Man and woman headed straight for the tires by the fence, one with a leash and one with a collar in hand. The woman dressed and acted a lot different from The Man. She wore light-colored tight pelts that contrasted the man's dark baggy ones. Speaking of, as The Man walked, he slammed down his feet. As the woman walked, she picked up her feet carefully through the yard-probably avoiding the multitude of dog feces piles.
Then the female stoped to clip the collar around Mocha's neck, and The Man clipped the leash onto the curved bar of metal that was apart of it. Mocha was tugged off the tire faster then she could move her feet, so she stumbled under the weight of her huge belly.
The brindle-and-white Pitbull was led to the back door with uncertainty painted all over her face. She halted several times, but the leash tugged her forward. Grey Dog called her name, and kept pace with her and the humans.
"I think I'm going inside their den." Mocha seemed to make an attempt at sounding confident, but again she tried to turn backwards. It was only a few moments more until they were on the porch, and Flare glimpsed her brown brindle back before the door shut. Quite literally, Grey Dog had the door slammed in his face. He jumped back as his muzzle was struck from it closing.
"This has happened before; it's alright." Grey Dog announced to the other dogs in The Yard, who hadn't been particularly worried in the first place. So he was probably saying it for himself.
"The last time Mocha was about to have puppies, they kept her in there for a day or two," White Dog put in.
"Yes," Grey Dog began to agree.
"She delivered her pups and they let her back into The Yard every day to see us."
"And she'd go back in for the pups?" Asked Jax.
"Yes, quite often," Grey Dog confirmed.
"Then what happened to them, if they were in the den at first?"
It was White Dog who answered for him. He sounded tentative, as if he were carefully choosing his words.
"Well, at some point they must have taken the pups into their rolling-den and brought them somewhere else. Because Mocha was returned to The Yard again after that, and she said her puppies had been taken from her nest."
"Hush. What The Man does with the puppies doesn't concern us," Grey Dog said.
But Jax just had to open his mouth again.
"You know they probably get sent to other Yards to become breeding or fighting dogs," stated the male plaintively.
That sounds horrible! Flare cringed at the thought of many other puppies being dumped in a yard like this one.
Grey Dog snapped his teeth, causing the other males to flinch.
"I said, hush!" The male's ears would have been flattened, if he'd had any. Instead, a pained look crossed his face as he turned away. He knows he won't be seeing Mocha for awhile.
~
"Come on, White Dog. Let's race again!"
Jax hurled himself across The Yard without waiting for a reply. White Dog was catching his breath across the Yard as Flare and Shadow idly watched.
Jax reached their end of The Yard within a few seconds. He came close to the porch, then turned around with his tongue sagging, waiting for his companion.
This time the older male didn't bound to the porch like before. He loped across The Yard in a tired trot, bony hips shifting to and fro. Still panting, his reply was breathless.
"I can't do that anymore." White Dog panted and plopped onto his haunches.
"Jeez, White Dog, you're getting old. And we're gonna have to start calling you Bone Dog soon, because that's all I can make out of you."
Though Jax's intent probably hadn't been to insult, White Dog's face turned grim. He angrily stared down at Jax before lifting a giant paw and thumping it down on the bully-breed's forehead.
"Watch who you're calling old. May not be able to outrun you, but I can still outfight you."
"I know," the stout black-and-white male replied sourly. He shook his nubs for ears and looked around for something else to do. Flare instinctively crouched, trying not to be noticed- but the other dogs were only a few paces away.
"Come on, let's get away from them." Jax pointedly threw his gaze their way and then turned his rump on them. White Dog looked at her without expression, but as his eyes met Shadow's they hardened.
"We can find another good stick to wrestle over again," Jax suggested as he headed away. White Dog turned to follow, his thin tail whipping.
"I don't want to do that. You always break the sticks," he conversed. Their voices started to blend in with the twittering birds as the male dogs went behind the dog-houses.
"Such an odd duo. They hate each other and yet can tolerate only each other," Shadow commented.
"Agreed," Flare said sincerely. White Dog's wide arrange of knowledge went well with Jax's inexperience. And Grey Dog's dominating antics matched well with Mocha's passive and accepting mindset. Bad as it sounds.
"How come we don't play?" Shadow said randomly. Taken aback, Flare looked at him uncertainly.
"We're not pups," she began.
"Not pup-play. But we could find sticks, or race each other like they do."
"Seems like pup play to me," Flare said. Even as the words left her muzzle she realized how defensive she sounded.
"It gives us something to do," Shadow said imploringly.
"I suppose." She looked away lazily, head on her paws. The real reason Flare didn't want to play was because she was nervous about the other dogs noticing her and saying something, though she wouldn't admit it. For the majority of her life, she hadn't truly played with any dog or anything.
"Come on, let's do it. When's the last time you had fun around here?"
Never, she thought, and looked at him seriously.
"Wow. Okay." Shadow began searching around on the ground for a play-thing. He found a flattened, slightly-decomposed pinecone that almost fell apart when grasped.
"This will do," he stated matter-of-factly as he disposed of it near Flare's tail.
"How could we play with that?" Flare asked, starting to warm up to the idea. Shadow was very persuasive. And of all things, the brown dog had chosen a rotten pinecone.
"Well, there's aren't any sticks over here, okay?" He said amusingly. Flare let her sandy tail wag and rose into a sit, studying the pinecone.
"Go on, grab it. Won't poke you since it's flat," Shadow encouraged. Flare gripped it between her canines delicately, then let her lips fall over it when she confirmed that it wasn't prickly. The pinecone both tasted and smelled of tree bark.
"Okay, now I'm gonna try to take it away from you. You can either run, dodge, or wrestle me away."
Flare felt nervous anticipation turning in her belly. She didn't have time to think about it, though, because Shadow moved almost instantly.
He was was a sleek blur of motion as he made for Flare's pinecone. When Flare turned her head away, Shadow followed and made several snatching attempts with his muzzle.
Flare was so nervous that she almost dropped the pinecone. It was her natural reaction to want to run away, even in something as innocent as a game. She had to jerk her teeth forward to catch it before it slipped, and soon after that her legs were carrying her across The Yard.
The tan dog followed the fence line in a natural attempt to escape Shadow's flurry of swipes. When she was finally cornered by the two sides of fence joining, she released the pinecone and let it fall.
Shadow came up with concern. He cocked his head slightly, questioning. "Why did you drop it?"
Flare had no answer; naturally, she had dropped something that the opposing dog wanted. Nearly ashamed, she tucked her tail and looked away.
"It's okay, Flare." She stiffened. Shadow hardly ever used her name.
"I can tell that being chased by another dog ain't natural for you. It doesn't feel like play. Why don't you do it to me instead?"
This time, Flare was determined to try and experience what Shadow was aiming for. They returned to the porch, and when Shadow grabbed the pinecone he didn't run. Instead, the male jerked his head this way and that, as Flare made a futile attempt to gently grab it out of his mouth.
She could soon tell that her attempts weren't willful enough to do anything. Becoming more engaged in the task, she felt her muscles burn as she tried again and again for the flattened pinecone.
Their heads collided, but not painfully; and Shadow jumped from the impact. He threw his front legs up in a playful gesture and starting running with his rear-end close to the ground, tail dragging along. Any supervising humans would've called this the dog's 'zoomies'.
Bemused, Flare followed him with a slower-paced trot. When Shadow saw she was behind him, he sped up.
Flare did as well and let her tongue loll out. The brown planks of the fence flashed by as she pursued Shadow. He made it to the back fence and turned around just as quickly.
Flare was gleeful by the time he darted around her advanced. She pounced towards the pinecone but was too slow to find purchase with it. Her teeth closed on empty air.
Excited by the chase, Flare followed Shadow around The Yard as he zig-zagged and sprinted in circles. They stopped and romped around together every now and then. At one point Shadow dropped the pinecone and gave a soft growl. The tan dog knew by the light tone of it that it was merely play, and she began doing so herself. After that, she snatched the pinecone in her jowels and raced away with it, Shadow in pursuit. She was no longer nervous about Shadow chasing her. All too soon, Flare was panting with exhaustion, and her legs were burning- but it was overall a nice sensation. She played through the pain for awhile longer, occasionally nibbling Shadow's face and neck playfully. He seemed to enjoy every bit of it. All the rest of the evening, Flare didn't think about the other dogs. When she played like this, it was easy to distract herself from the negative things.
~
Image shown below is Flare sleeping. (I finally found a pic that is true to how furry she is!!!)