Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Angel!” Celeste shouted from across the manor, “Come here!”
Angel raised its head and happily ran as fast as it could to its Master.
Once at her knees, it raised its head, looking at her, but avoiding eye contact.
“Good pup.” Celeste patted its head, “We have to get ready, we have company tonight.” She knelt in front of Angel to be at the same level, “Do you promise to be good?”
Angel excitedly nodded. It loved having people over to the house. Master’s friends always came with their pets and they could play all evening while the owners talked about boring things.
“Good.” Master smiled. “You have to be presentable, though. I’ll ask Robert to give you a bath. While you do this I’ll get dressed and choose your clothes. And don’t disobey Robert. I’ll know if you do, and you won’t like your punishment.”
Angel was disappointed. It didn’t like Robert. Robert was no fun. He was a boring butler and he barely ever talked. Angel wanted to be with Master. But it knew better than to complain.
Angel sadly nodded.
“That’s a good pup.” Celeste ruffled it’s hair, then got back on her feet. “Robert! Give the dog a bath!” She softly smiled at her pup and walked away.
Angel waited for Robert, who came quickly.
“Come, now.” He said emotionlessly.
The pup sighed and followed him to the bathroom.
The butler closed the door behind them and took off Angel’s restraints. They were simple leg cuffs to keep them on all fours at all time and hand muffs to stop them from using their hands.
Angel’s legs unfolded. It felt naked without it; it wore it 24/7, except on off days. It couldn’t walk properly anymore, not without crutches or someone helping them, but it didn’t care. It liked its restraints.
“I’ll put you in the bath, now.”
Robert took Angel in his arms and delicately put it in the bath. He took the shower head and pointed it at the bottom, testing the temperature of the water.
“Please don’t splash me this time.” He sighed, starting to rinse Angel’s body.
Angel giggled. Angry Robert was funny; way more than his usual self. But it knew not to do something bad, they didn’t want to be punished, not when it’s friends were coming over.
“I’ll put the shampoo, now. Please cover your eyes.”
Angel did as they were told and waited. The shampoo was cold, especially compared to the warm water. Robert scrubbed the shampoo in vigorously, making sure he covered every hair in it.
“I’m rinsing now, careful with your eyes.”
The warm water washed over its head, and it was careful to not get shampoo in their eyes.
The shampoo was the worst part; Angel didn’t like having its eyes covered.
The conditioner and body soap part was over quickly. Angel played with the bubbles while Robert scrubbed them hard.
He had to be careful not to reopen healing scars, though, and there were a lot. The pup flinched a few times when he scrubbed too hard, but it never complained.
“Okay, it’s done.” The butler turned off the water and took a towel. “Can you stand up for a second?”
Angel struggled, but was able to get on their feet. Their legs were shaky, but they held their position long enough for Robert to envelop them in the towel. He immediately took it in his arm and made it sat on another towel that was placed on the ground.
He took the hair dryer and turned it on.
Angel didn’t like the hair dryer; it’s loud and burns their head. But it didn’t complain. Today was going to be a great day; it won’t ruin it by being rebellious.
Once their restraints were put back on, they could finally get out of the bathroom and be reunited with their Master.
Robert opened the door and let them out.
Angel galloped towards its Master’s room, excited to see what clothes it would wear.
Once in the room, Angel jumped on the bed before Celeste could say anything. She chuckled as she saw her puppy trying to put on its clothes without help.
Angel tried shoving its face in the opening of the shirt, but it just slid off the bed. They pouted and looked at their Master.
“Do you need help, puppy?” Celeste asked, amused.
Angel nodded, a smile back on their face.
“Aww, such a poor helpless little thing without me.” Master mockingly said, putting a shirt over her puppy’s head.
Angel giggled; Celeste’s soft touch tickled it.
Once it was dressed, it walked in front of the mirror. The outfit Master chose was adorable! A cute pink shirt with a mini black skirt! It was a simple outfit and wore nothing under because ‘dogs don’t wear underwear’.
“Come, let me do your hair.” Celeste tapped her thighs, inviting her pet to come sit on her.
Angel obeyed happily; it loved feeling Master’s fingers slide through its hair.
Celeste arranged her pup’s hair into cute little pigtails. After checking if they were symmetric, Celeste put her pet down and smiled at it.
“Such a cute puppy.”
Angel smiled and wiggled its butt in excitement.
“Now, I have to prepare some things before our guests arrive. If you need anything, ask Robert. Though you won’t eat until me and the guests have eaten first, understood?” Angel nodded. “Good. Also, try not to dirty yourself if you need to go outside. You will listen to everything Robert says and he will report to me. If you do anything that goes against his orders, you will be in the cage while your friends play together. Have I made myself clear?”
Angel nodded again. There was no way they would survive being in the cage while their friends played. They would simply die of a broken and lonely heart.
“Robert has his orders for today. He’ll just follow you and make sure you’re occupied so you won’t bother me. The guests arrive at 7p.m. Until then, stay calm and keep your energy for playtime.” Celeste kissed its forehead. “Be good.” She then left for her private room.
Robert came in as soon as she left.
“Where to, Angel?” He said in a monotone voice.
Angel sighed and headed for the living room, with Robert following them closely.
Angel hopped on the couch and sat. It started moaning and fidgeting, trying to tell Robert something.
“What is it?” He asked, annoyed.
It tapped the space next to it, as Celeste did with them earlier.
“You want me to sit?” He sighed as Angel nodded happily. “Alright...”
He sat next to it, as it laid its head on his lap. Angel wanted to make sure to be full of energy so they could play for as long as they wanted! So they needed a nap.
“Oh, hey Angel!” Exclaimed Todd who passed by.
Angel opened its eyes and jumped off the couch and onto him.
Todd was Angel’s favorite butler. He was nice to it and told a lot of fun stories.
“Oh, did I interrupt you guys?” Todd asked Robert.
“No. It was just trying to sleep, but now you got it all excited.”
“I’m sorry. I can take care of Angel if you want! Boss said I was dismissed until the guests arrived, but I don’t have anything to do. Angel likes me, I can put them to sleep.”
“Sure. I just have to look over it, Boss said I have to make sure it has everything it needs until the guests arrive.”
“You’re so lucky, you always get put in charge of Angel! I’m always stuck with the boring tasks, like taking out the trash and cleaning the bathroom...”
Angel nudged against Todd’s leg. He chuckled and petted its head.
“I’ll take care of them.” He took Angel and put it back on the couch, then sat next to it. “Here.”
Angel laid its head on his lap. He’s much more comfortable.
Robert sat on the couch opposing to them and just looked attentively.
“Do you want me to tell you a story?” Todd asked.
Angel wiggled it’s butt in excitement and nodded.
He chuckled. “Okay, so this is the story of an epic warrior!” He started petting its head. “The warrior was in love with the Queen, but the Queen was married to the King, so the warrior knew he had no chance...”
Angel tried staying awake to listen to the whole story, but eventually dozed off.
•
Todd woke Angel up a few minutes before the guests arrived.
“Hey, wake up! Your friends are gonna be here soon!”
Angel scrubbed its eyes and yawned.
“C’mon, sleepy head!” Todd said gently.
The pup got up and went off the couch to stretch. Napping felt great!
Their back cracked and they yawned again.
“I’ll take you outside before the guests arrive.” Robert said.
Angel did need to pee.
He brought it to the back door and opened it. They went outside, not too far so they wouldn’t step on mud, peed and went back to the doorframe.
Robert cleaned them up and let them back in.
Angel strutted around the house, looking for their Master while Robert was off washing his hands.
Celeste stumbled upon Angel as she got out of her private room.
“Oh hey, pup! Robert told me you did good this afternoon, so I’ll let you play as much as you’d like!” Angel barked happily and wiggled its butt. Celeste chuckled. “You know ill have to put you on a leash first, sometimes you get too excited and jump on the guests. You understand?”
Angel nodded as its Master attached a leash to its collar.
As soon as the leash was on, the doorbell rang.
The pup started wiggling and and trembling in excitement.
Celeste tugged on the leash to recall them to order and walked with them to the front door.
As soon as the door opened, Angel could see its friends.
Forgetting the leash, it tried running towards its friends, but got harshly pulled back and fell to its Master’s feet.
Celeste looked at it with angry eyes. Angel moaned sadly and stayed put.
“I see you still have that crazy mutt!” Said one of the guests.
Celeste politely chuckled. “C’mon, Simon, it’s not crazy, just a bit too excited.”
She invited them inside and led them to the living room.
Once everyone was installed, the leashes were off and all the pets were free to play together.
Angel jumped on Lady; she was their favorite friend. Lady was super nice and pretty and Angel loved playing with her.
Lucy joined and they all started biting each other playfully.
Coco stayed next to their Master. Coco was shy and rarely ever played with the rest of them. Sometimes Lady would invite them to come over, but Coco never really did anything.
“Lucy, be nice! Dolls don’t bite!” Lucy’s Master, Amelia, angrily said.
Lucy pouted and stopped biting Angel.
Lady brought it a toy so it could continue biting without being scolded.
The three of them kept on playing together, under the watchful eyes of Coco.
“Need anything, ladies and gents?” Todd asked the Masters.
“Bring us beer.” Celeste ordered.
“Oooh my favorite!” Simon exclaims.
“Why am I not surprised...” Alexander sighed.
“I prefer wine.” Said Amelia.
“Coming right up!” Todd exclaimed, leaving the room.
Angel followed Todd in the kitchen, wanting something to drink too.
“Angel, you know you can’t have anything until the Boss allows you. Once I can feed you, I’ll give you lots of food and water, okay?” He said, patting softly it’s head.
Angel nodded and went back to the living room to play.
Their Masters were all talking about boring stuff. Once they got their drinks, Celeste called for her pet.
Angel came as quickly as it could and sat at her feet.
“Are you thirsty?” She asked.
Angel nodded. It didn’t like the scent nor taste of beer, but it didn’t want to disappoint Master.
Angel opened its mouth and Celeste put the tip of the bottle on its lips, making the drink descend slowly in its mouth.
She held its throat, forcing it to choke on the beer.
“C’mon, drink it all up like a good pup.” Celeste said with an evil smile on her lips.
Angel tried not to gag or spit it out, trying to concentrate on breathing and swallowing.
It could hear its Master’s friends laugh at it.
“What do we say?” Celeste asked when the beer was finally finished.
“T-Thank yo-ou...” Angel responded in a weak and trembly voice in between coughs.
“Another one.” She ordered Todd, giving him the empty bottle. Then, she turned to Angel, “Did you like it?”
Angel, still choking on the alcohol and awful taste, nodded as best as it could.
“It’s such a helpless little mutt, huh?” Simon laughed. “I don’t know how you keep yourself from torturing it every second!”
“I find it to be better when they don’t always expect it.” Celeste replied, smirking.
Angel felt a bit drowsy. Being malnourished and having no resistance to alcohol, one bottle was enough to make it drunk.
“You can go back now, pup.” It’s Master said.
Angel waddled back to its friends, who were just watching, but didn’t react. They went back to playing immediately.
Todd brought another beer which Celeste kept for herself.
Lucy leaped on Angel and started nibbling on them. Angel started playfully screaming and tried to roll over and get on top of Lucy. Lady giggled and pushed both of them over.
Angel got back up and laid over on Lucy, now being the one to nibble it. Lady jumped on top of Angel and made them all fall.
They started running around the house, but Angel was falling behind, still dizzy from the beer.
Angel tripped and fell and decided to stay down for a bit, trying to recollect itself. Lady and Lucy were far away now and didn’t realize it was still back in the corridor.
After a while, Angel heard the bell indicating that dinner was ready. It got back up and ran to the dining room. Everyone was already there, including Lucy and Lady.
Angel got to its place at its Master’s feet.
It laid down there, waiting for its own meal.
All the pets were waiting on the ground beside their Masters while the diner was being served.
It smelled good. Really good.
Angel’s belly made annoying noise they tried to suffocate, but it was beyond their control.
“Patience, now, you’ll eat right after.” Celeste said to it.
Angel sighed and laid its head on the floor.
The Masters were talking loud and laughing hard. It made Angel’s head hurt. But it didn’t complain.
The pup started nibbling on its hand muffs to help pass the time and ignore the hunger. It’s stomach felt all twisted and tight. It softly moaned as it rolled on its back, paws in the air.
Celeste glanced at it and made a subtle sign for it to lay back down normally.
Angel obeyed and went back to nibble it’s hand muffs while laying on its belly.
Celeste sneakily tossed it a fry under the table.
Angel tried not to look too excited as they savoured it.
It was hot, but that didn’t matter. It was sooooo good!
Angel tried keeping it in their mouth for as long as possible; they rarely got table food.
The other pets were looking at them with envy, starving as well.
Angel ignored them, it felt bad but there was nothing it could do.
As soon as it swallowed the fry, it missed the taste and warm feeling in its mouth.
It looked up and it’s Master, hopeful, but she ignored it.
Angel quietly groaned and let their chin hit the floor in defeat. The fry just made them hungrier and now it was even more painful.
After what seemed an eternity, the Masters finished their dinner and desert.
Finally.
“Todd will feed the dogs. Any food restrictions?” Asked Celeste.
“Lucy only eats in porcelain plates. And the food has to be pretty.” Amelia ordered to Todd.
Todd nodded. “Anything else?”
No one made any more requests, so Todd led the pups to the kitchen.
He took out three dog bowls and one porcelain plate. He also placed a big water bowl on the side for all of the pets.
Then, he took one-bite chicken nuggets for Angel and filled its bowl with it. It was it’s good behaviour food.
Angel wiggled happily, waiting eagerly for the permission to eat.
Todd then filled the two other bowls and porcelain plate with leftover chicken. He arranged it as well as he could in Lucy’s plate, making it as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
“Eat up!” He said once every pup had its meal ready.
The four of the pets threw themselves in their bowl, moaning in pleasure as their belly filled up. Even Coco was excited!
“Don’t forget to drink, too!” He said, worried they would choke to death.
Angel was the first to drink. It couldn’t eat without drinking.
They all finished their meals quickly and the water bowl was now as empty as their stomach a few minutes earlier.
“Now, let’s get you back to your Masters, okay?” Todd said gently, leading them back in the dining room.
The four of them followed him, now full of energy.
It was rare any of them had a full stomach, especially with actual human non-rotten food and they knew they wouldn’t eat like that again for a while.
Todd brought them back to the dining room, where everyone was still sipping alcohol and talking way too loudly. It was the only part of having guests Angel didn’t like. It may have been a well conditioned pet, it was still autistic and nothing would make that go away.
Celeste saw Angel was being overwhelmed, so she proposed it and it’s friends go play with Todd in the living room.
“You have to stop coddling that mutt, girl. It’s gonna think you care about it.” Simon mocked, watching the pets and butler leave the room.
“I do care about it, Si. It’s my dog. And it having a meltdown isn’t as fun as you may believe.” Celeste sharply replied.
“Okay, okay, geez...”
Angel felt better as soon as it arrived in the living room. It quickly ran to take one of its toys and brought it back to Todd.
“What do you want me to do with this?” He asked, taking it and examining it.
It was a simple dog plush that made squeaky noises, and it was pretty used up.
Angel and Lucy were waiting for him to throw it, sitting eagerly at his feet.
“Do you want to tug on it?” He questioned, holding it near the pups mouths. They didn’t react. “Do you want me to throw it?”
Angel and Lucy barked in excitement and wiggled in anticipation.
“Okay, then! But please don’t wreck anything, Boss would get super mad.” He looked at the expensive furniture anxiously.
He threw it weakly, at barely two meters away from him.
Nevertheless, Angel and Lucy pounded on the toy as if their lives depended on it.
They wrestled for it, each tugging on an opposite side.
“C’mon, don’t fight! There’s lots of other toys you guys can play with! I can throw one for each of you!” Todd said, trying to calm them down.
Meanwhile, Lady and Coco were playing in a much softer manner; Lady would just nudge her head against Coco as they did barely nothing.
Lucy and Angel growled, tugging harder and harder on the toy. Angel accidentally let it slipped, which made Lucy fall with the plush on its back.
“Okay, you two clearly can’t control yourselves with this, so ill take it away.” He firmly said, snatching the toy from Lucy and putting it in a place out of their reach.
The two pups groaned in disappointment and pouted, staring angrily at Todd.
“I’ll tell you a story instead, okay?” He said, trying to make them forgive him.
They looked at each other and then back at the butler, now smiling.
“Okay...” He sighed, relieved. “So, it’s the story of...” he sat on the couch as the two pups kneeled in front of him, attentive. “... a dragon!”
Lady and Coco looked over at the three others and decided to join them.
Todd smiled.
“The dragon was big and red and lived in a deep deep cave in the middle of nowhere...! It was lonely, but whenever it got outside, the people would try to hurt it! The poor dragon was misunderstood and forced to live alone...”
The four puppies stared at him, completely invested in the story.
Todd was a great story teller; he did voices for each characters, he gesticulated all the time and made funny faces.
“So one day, the dragon decided to go bad! It said to itself ‘if you can’t prove them wrong, prove them right!’ And so it did... the dragon burned down dozens of villages, pillaging the people’s gold and swiping entire armies in one movement! It was unbeatable...”
Angel had already heard this story, but it loved it so much! It was fun and it liked the dragon.
“But the dragon felt horrible every time... so it decided to stop, and go live far far far away. Away from everything it knew. After weeks of flying, it stumbled on a new village. No one yelled when they saw the big red dragon. So the dragon was confused, ‘why don’t you hate me?’ It asked the people. ‘Because you are a dragon! And dragons are good!’ They answered. The dragon had finally found its place. And it was finally happy. The end!”
The four pups were happy and satisfied and so was Todd.
I’d be a great babysitter, he thought to himself.
“Now..!” He got back up. “What should we do? Seems like your, uh... Masters will still be busy for a while.” He paused to think. “Am I allowed to take you guys out to the bathroom?” He looked in the direction of the dining room. He really didn’t want to bother them with potty questions. Also, none of the pets seemed to need to pee. “Mmh...” He looked around. “Do you still want to play? You have to be nicer this time, tough.” The pups nodded happily. “Okay, then. But I won’t give back the toy that makes you go crazy!”
Todd ended up playing with them for an hour, tossing balls and plushies around for the pups to catch and scratching their bellies.
Finally, Celeste and her friends got out of the dining room.
It was late now, and the guests needed to go back home.
As everyone was preparing to go and saying goodbye to each other, Angel stayed at its Master’s feet, waving goodbye to its friends.
Once they were gone and the door was locked, Celeste crouched at Angel’s level.
“You did great, tonight, Angel. But I’ll have to punish you for lunging at our guests when they arrived, you understand that, right? You need to learn how to control yourself.”
Angel shamefully looked away.
“It’s okay, puppy. I know you’re tired and so am I, so you’ll have a simple punishment, okay? Also, it’s because I know you can do better and won’t disappoint me like this ever again. Am I right, puppy?”
Angel nodded. It hated making its Master mad. It knew it deserved the punishment.
“Your punishment is to sleep in Robert’s room. I don’t want a disobedient mutt in my bed tonight. Do you understand?”
Angel opened its mouth to contest, but Celeste grabbed it by its throat before it could say anything.
“Now, now, dogs don’t talk and you know that. You wouldn’t want to make Master mad, now, would you?”
Angel looked away, defeated.
Celeste took her hand off it’s throat and got back up.
“Good. Now go. Robert will prepare you to sleep.” She said, before leaving.
Todd sympathetically looked at the pup and followed Celeste outside the living room.
As soon as they left, Robert walked up to Angel.
“Your bed is already in my room.” He said harshly, tying the leash to its collar. “You better not wake me up.”
He brought it to his room, took of its clothes, untied its hair and ordered it to go on its dog bed in the corner of the bedroom.
Robert then changed himself into his pyjamas, went to the bathroom and came back to lay in his bed.
“Why am I always the one stuck with the dumb mutt...” he muttered to himself as he went under the covers.
But Angel heard him. It made them sad that Robert didn’t like them, but they didn’t really like Robert either. Guess it’s fine then, but the words still hurt them.
Angel had difficulty falling asleep; they were used to sleeping in their Master’s arms, but tonight they had to survive the cold temperature of Robert’s room and the loneliness. In that moment, they felt a bit like Todd’s dragon. Alone and misunderstood by an angry villager.
But Angel would never hurt anyone, unless Master told them to.
Angel fell asleep quicker than it anticipated. Having a full belly does help, and their bed was warm and fuzzy.
They couldn’t wait until tomorrow; they could finally see Master again.