Like Lightning From Her Name [Open]

[Mitchell Terrell]

Usually Rob walked the dog before he went out to work in the mornings, but sometimes (like today) he got called in early for an emergency and Mitchell was left to take Emma out. He didn’t mind walking her; she could be quite excitable when out and adored to run, but she never usually gave Mitchell any problems. He couldn’t run with her, but whenever he took her out he always took a frisbee with them and ran her energy out that way. It wasn’t so bad at this time of day. The park was usually pretty quiet before the morning rush started and they would usually be back home before the pressing crowds of people got too much for him to handle.

This morning the dew was heavy on the grass, the sun just beginning to break through the heavy clouds, but the weather was promised to pick up as the day progressed. Wearing a plain black coat over his Space Invaders tee, Mitchell was unusually comfortable as he headed through the park around the edge of the lake, Emma trotting along beside him at the end of her leash. The English Setter was clearly itching to run, so as soon as they got to an open clearing Mitchell let her off, sending the frisbee hurtling through the air and smiling as she bounded after it. For about ten minutes they played that way, with Mitchell sending the frisbee soaring and Emma bringing it back. He threw the frisbee again and Emma ran after it… but then she kept running past it, hurtling off across the grass and into the copse of trees on the other side of the clearing.

“Shit! Emma! Emma, c’mon girl!”

Mitchell went after her as quickly as he was able to, but there was absolutely no way he could keep up with her and within moments she had disappeared from sight into the trees. Panic instantly gripped him. How the hell was he supposed to get her back? Rob would be devastated if she got lost, and the panic was joined swiftly by fear and upset at the thought that he might not be able to find her. For roughly ten minutes Mitchell searched the park for her, calling her name, and by that point the fear had been replaced with outright terror, along with a growing exhaustion from rushing around as quickly as he was able. Seeing someone heading down the path in his direction Mitchell approached them, frisbee in one hand and empty leash in the other, trying but ultimately failing to keep the panic out of his voice. “Hi, have you seen my dog? She’s a Setter, red and white with a purple collar. She ran off, and I can’t find her.”

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex loved mornings. Especially now school was out for the summer. All he had to worry about was helping Kali manage the Kafe, and his fiancée over the summer. Today he had a shift at the Kafe, but it didn't start for a few hours. After Ann had left early for her own job at Josef's self defense clinic, Alex had decided to go for a walk before his shift. He'd picked up some coffee on the way, and headed down to the lake. It was a special place for him, holding some dear memories for him. After all, it was where he and Ann had had their first date, as well as the place he had proposed.

He walked along the path, bundled in a green hoodie over his grey polo shirt. His dark hair was held up in a short ponytail, and he'd traded out the majority of his earrings for small, somewhat subtle studs. Around his left ring finger sat the engagement ring Ann had given him in a display of equality. Not that he minded. He loved jewelry.

Sipping his coffee, Alex was enjoying the morning out before getting stuck at the desk behind the scenes at the Kafe. Sometimes he missed the line cooking or serving, but this paid better, and he didn't want to let Kali down. With his thoughts wandering, he didn't even notice the panicking man until he was right in front of him. Alex startled for a moment before registering what he was saying. Right. Looking for a dog. "Sorry, I haven't seen her." But he looked so worried, and Alex hated to just leave him... "Would you like some help looking for her?" Hopefully his offer wouldn't be brushed off, though if it was, it wouldn't have shocked him. It wouldn't be the first, and probably not the last either.

[Mitchell Terrell]

While Emma could certainly be head-strong and wayward, she had never run off like this before and after spending a little while looking for her Mitchell was fast running out of ideas to try. The adrenaline of panic was stopping him from feeling the pain of his exertions, but he was tiring quickly from rushing around and knew that he wouldn't be able to keep going at that pace much longer. He knew that he had no choice in that matter, though. He had to find Emma, one way or another, even if it meant he would have to spend the next three weeks lay in bed trying to recover. Not only because he adored Emma, but because there was no way he was going to be the cause of Rob losing his beloved pet.

When the younger man said that he hadn't seen the dog, Mitchell's heart sank. “Oh...” There weren't a great deal of people around at this time of the morning so his pool of people that could have seen her was small, and even this one dead end was like a kick in the stomach. Just as he was about to apologise for disturbing the boy, however, he heard the offer of help to find her. “Please, if you don't mind. She's normally good, it's not like her to run off. She must have seen a squirrel or something, I guess.”

Suddenly a thought occurred to Mitchell. “Oh!” He reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone, flicking through the image folder to find a halfway decent picture of Emma. It was difficult photographing a dog that rarely sat still for more than a few minutes at a time, but after a few moments of shuffling through various photos of her lying asleep on Rob, he managed to find one of her playing with her stuffed pig and showed it to the other man. “That's her. Thank you for helping; I've been really struggling on my own.”

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex had never grown up with a pet. It just hadn’t been feasible when he was younger, with his parents having to deal with his medical bills as well as everything else life tended to require. As a teenager, he hadn’t really wanted a pet in the dorms, mostly out of respect for his roommates. And his apartment building now could be a little iffy on pets in the units. Still, he appreciated animals, and wouldn’t mind his own one day.

The nursing student wished he could have said he’d seen her, but he hadn’t, and didn’t want to give false hope. Still, if he was in the older man’s position, he’d hope someone would be willing to lend a hand in looking for his own pet. He didn’t mind offering. “I don’t mind, no. I don’t have to be at work for a few hours, so I have the time.” Even if he didn’t, he was sure Kali would understand if he was late for a good reason.

He studied the picture of the setter, the artist in him able to commit her picture to memory. “Okay, got it. What’s her name, and which way did she go?” He wished he had some food or something with him, in case he needed to bribe her closer. “Is she friendly with strangers?” He asked not because he was scared, but more to gauge how hard this was going to be. If she was just going to run in the opposite direction of him, he may not be much help. But he really did want to help. “Are there certain words she might respond to?” He had friends with dogs that liked things like ‘walk’ or ‘car’ or ‘Daddy.’ Maybe this one did too. “And you’re welcome. Dogs can be really fast, especially if they’re chasing things.” Hopefully, the setter was smart enough to stay away from the road.

[Mitchell Terrell]

Mitchell had never had animals of his own as a kid, though the house had been shared by his younger sister’s gerbils. He’d helped handle them and care for them sometimes, usually when Nina had been away at camp, but he’d never really been very interested in animal life. He held no ill will towards animals at all, they’d just never really been his thing. Mitchell had met Emma many times before he’d moved in with Rob and had found it impossible not to fall in love with her. She was an absolute sweetheart and had the most adoring personality Mitchell had ever met, in human or animal form. The thought of losing her now was a sickening one.

Through his (admittedly rather short) working career Mitchell had come to know all kinds of people, both good and bad. Tragically, as with most things in life, the effects of the bad tended to outweigh those of the good. However that just made him doubly appreciative of those who strive to be one of the good, however small the gesture may be. “Thank you, you have no idea how grateful I am. If you need to go at any time please just go; I don’t wanna be a burden.”

When the boy handed the phone back Mitchell pocketed it, giving a small nod of his head. “Emma, and she went over that way.” He waved a hand in the vague direction of the copse of trees that she had rushed at, but that had been a little while ago now and she hadn’t been there on his first sweeps of the area. “She’s the most friendly animal I’ve ever met; she loves absolutely everyone. I don’t think there’s a single mean bone in her body.” That had been a massive help when Mitchell had first met her, since it hadn’t been too long after his accident and he’d still been very sensitive to everything. Emma’s unconditional love and friendliness had been a massive help in getting him interacting with people and things beyond Rob and his family again. At the boy’s next question Mitchell gave a quiet and slightly awkward laugh. “Uhh… She’s quite fond of ‘Piggy’. It’s a long story, don’t ask.” Of all the words guaranteed to get Emma excited and ready to play ‘piggy’ was always top of the list. She adored that much loved and much abused plushie. “Yeah, they really can. They’re not so easy to chase down.” Especially not if you only had one leg with which to do so…

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex had never really bore any ill will against people. He’d seen good and bad too, and admittedly had dealt poorly in the past with the bad. Granted, that had just been high school bullies. Water under the bridge now, he supposed. He wanted to help people, and while he knew that the road wasn’t always going to be sunshine and rainbows, he knew it was going to be worth it. It helped to be nice to those he encountered in his life as well as those he encountered in school and eventually, work.

“No, no, it’s fine. I have some time before work, and my boss will understand if I’m late.” If the dog wasn’t found before he should be going, he’d just call Kali. She wouldn’t be that mad, he was sure.

Hmm. If this Emma liked people, maybe she’d just gone off and made friends with someone. Hopefully they’d had the sense to snag her and look for her owner... and not steal her. No, people around here were better than that. Pushing his glasses up his face, Alex glanced back to the trees she’d run through. “Hopefully she just made friends with someone else?” That was what he was going to hold out for, for the older man’s sake. Now he had her name and a good trigger word, he pointed up the path. “I’ll go this way and see if I can see her.” With that, he took off jogging up the pathway. Red Setter... Red Setter... there were several dogs out playing, but none that really matched what Emma was supposed to look like...

Wait. There was... a half red and white, half... mud colored dog running around further up the path, playing with a black and white and a sort of brown looking dog. Picking up the pace, he called out the dog’s name. While she looked his way, she continued to play with the other two dogs. Sighing, Alex got closer and called out to her again. “EMMA! PIGGY! LOOK!” He didn’t actually have the piggy, whatever that actually was, but it seemed to do the trick. She quickly abandoned her friends and came barrelling towards him. Muddy paws came up to rest on his legs, and she merrily stuck out her tongue to wash his face after dropping a round pebble on the path. “... So you’re Emma. Your Dad is looking for you.” The setter tilted her head, wagging her tail off before dropping back down to pick up the rock again. Before she could take off again, Alex looped his fingers through her collar. “You stay with me. We’re going back to Dad.” It was a little awkward, walking her slightly stooped over, but for once Alex was actually grateful for his height. If he was any taller, it would be really awkward.

... Okay, awkward level just increased. He didn’t actually know Emma’s owner’s name. Flushing a little, he walked the dog along and called out to him. “I’ve got her! I think.” She was sort of red and white under the mud, and her collar was purple...ish. A little breathless, Alex looked up at him. “I really hope it’s her. If it’s not, I’ve just stolen someone’s dog.”

[Mitchell Terrell]

Before the accident Mitchell had been the sort of person who tried to befriend everyone. He held no ill will towards anyone unless they had done something to deserve it, and his confidence had allowed him to chat to anyone with ease. Since the accident, however, he had come to realise that sometimes even the nicest seeming people could be the most judgmental. He had become incredibly sensitive to the staring, to the hushed comments that they thought he couldn’t hear, and he had retreated within himself. As such even the simplest acts of kindness meant more to him than words could say.

Mitchell gave the younger man a small but clearly very grateful smile. “If it gets too close to the time, please just go. I would hate for you to be late just because I can’t keep my dog under control.” When the suggestion was made that maybe she’d just befriended someone else, Mitchell nodded. “I hope so, yeah. She’s not the brightest of dogs, but she adores people. Hopefully she’s just harassing someone for cuddles, somewhere.”

Even though Mitchell was still quite clearly tense and upset, having someone else to talk to about it and another pair of eyes looking for her was helping to calm him down. The more eyes there were looking for her, the greater the chance of her being found and of Mitchell being able to take her home again. And possibly keep her locked up forever so there would be no repeat incidents. “Okay. I’ll head around that way, and we should meet up at the top of the path over there” Mitchell said, gesturing in the direction with his hand. He was tiring, of that there was no doubt, but he had exactly zero plans to stop looking before Emma was found and home safely again.

When the boy set off Mitchell did too, though his pace was significantly slower than the boy’s jogging. He kept calling out to Emma but she made no appearance, and after a few long minutes that seemed to stretch out to eternity he was beginning to lose hope again. Then he heard the younger man calling out that he’d found her. Moving as quickly as he could in the direction of the voice, Mitchell let out a loud sound of relief as he saw that the half-dog half-mud monster that the boy was holding was indeed his pet. “EMMA!” He made his way over as quickly as he could, leaning down to throw his arms around Emma’s mud-soaked neck. The setter wagged furiously, drenching his neck in licks as she rubbed against him.

After a moment Mitchell clipped the leash onto her ruined collar and returned to standing properly upright, facing the younger man. “Thank you! Thank you so, so much!” It was only then that he noticed the paw prints on the man’s legs. “Oh, she got you all dirty. Oh! Here!” Mitchell dug around in his pocket, quickly producing his wallet. “Let me pay for the cleaning.”

[Alexander McKenzie]

The instructions made Alex feel that much more determined to find the wayward dog before something happened to her. “Really, it’s okay. My boss likes animals, so I really doubt she’d be mad.” Besides, Alex had been a model employee for years. One late start to a shift wasn’t going to kill anyone, especially once she knew why, if it came to that. For now, he was just going to focus on trying to find the dog. “That’s good, if she likes people. If that’s the case, hopefully they’re good enough to return her.” He didn’t think crime was a huge issue in Pilot Ridge, but a stolen dog would really suck.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. If the older man’s reaction was anything to go by, this was apparently definitely the wayward animal in question. Relief was clear on Alex’s face as he watched the reunion between dog and master. Mud monster or not, they were both clearly thrilled to have each other back. The fact that Alex could assist with that really made him feel good. It had been a while since he’d been able to do something like this for someone, being stuck in school all semester, but now he had, he was happy. He loved helping people, and this was no exception.

“Hey, you’re welcome. I’m just happy she’s okay. I mean, dirty, but she’s not hurt or anything, I don’t think.” She hadn’t been limping or whining at all during the way back, but didn’t dogs hide being hurt? Or maybe that was cats. He couldn’t remember. He hadn’t really noticed that he had pawprints on his legs, but now it was pointed out, he glanced down and had to laugh. “Yeah, I guess she did. But it’s okay, it’s not that – whoa.” The stranger was offering him money? Alex shook his head. “No, no, it’s okay. Really! It’ll come out in the wash. It’s no big deal, I promise.” Okay, Kali would probably give him a funny look, but he could deal with that. He was doing an office shift anyway, not serving, so it would be fine. “Please, I’m just happy you have her back safe.”