Novacaine may have been growing older, but the dreamy confused look in his eyes had never left. He was still the same pup he'd always been, but now in a somewhat ganglier body, all long-limbs and awkwardness. He'd also grown, if anything, more detached from his family, spending more and more time alone, exploring the finer points of his home territory.He still had his tree-house, too, although he'd done substantially more digging there in recent time to be able to fit inside.
Good thing, too, because at this precise moment, there was something inside of the hideaway that he'd made for himself. Something he wasn't entirely sure what to make of.
It was a little red-and-teal something, that smelled different from a wolf and looked different and Novacaine wasn't sure what to call it. When he asked it what it was, all it said was "Smirnoff", which he was fairly certain wasn't a type of animal. Added to that, Novacaine wasn't even entirely sure it was real. Not that Novacaine had ever to date actually hallucinated. He was a little disappointed in that. His sisters had so much fun! Well, okay, sometimes they didn't. But as far as Novacaine was concerned, they did, and he was a little jealous although he'd never say that aloud to them.
So when the very plausible realization that there might be a hallucinatory animal taking residence in his private super-secret hideaway...well, that was pretty much awesome.
Except now, a couple days out, Novacaine was starting to question just what was going on with his new imaginary friend. For one, he was still there. For another, he seemed to be hungry. Novacaine was pretty sure that hallucinations weren't supposed to get hungry.
What Novacaine needed was an outside opinion. The opinion of someone who knew a lot about the world, and who didn't see things that weren't real.
Stormkeeper! Of course! She was the smartest wolf Novacaine knew. She could climb trees! She could find monkeys! She'd be able to settle this once and for all. And if the creature *weren't* imaginary, then maybe she'd know what to do with it.
Inspired by his new, brilliant idea, Novacaine trotted off, nose to the air, curiously sniffing for his friend.
