It was with great excitement that Nuru stumbled through the halls of the demon dorms, banging against the walls and feet scrabbling as they left claw marks on the floor in his wake. It might have bothered some of the residents if not for sound proofing.
He could not wait to tell the demon all about the amazing adventure he had had today – even almost saving a frightened little fuzzy scareling being abused by a big mean kelpie. He was quite proud of himself even if it didn’t end very nicely. He was also somewhat hoping Zar still had some bat jerky lying around to give him, or perhaps some screenut butter, or both! That’d be awesome.
He suddenly skid to a stop and gave the targeted door before him a gentle knock. No answer? He frowned grimly at the door and knocked notably harder. Still no answer. Knocks soon turned to shifting to dog form to scrabble loudly and obnoxiously at the door with his untended and messy claws. Paint slowly peeling away with his incessant attentions… peeling away Zar – down to the wood.
After what felt like hours of slowly drilling a hole through the demons door Nuru finally shifted back to listen, not even an exaggerated and frustrated sigh? Zar must not have forgiven him yet. He frowned deeply at the door.
“Look. Ahm sorreh, okeh?,” he pressed his body lightly into the door, “Ah didn’ mean tah embarrass you. Ah just… ah wanted some respect, okeh?” still nothing.
Frustrated now, Nuru grabbed the door knob and began to swing his body to and fro against the door, “Ahm so-oh-ohhh-oooorree-eehhh-ehhh-“ YIPE! The door was apparently unlocked the whole time as the door suddenly swung wide open, sending the boil unceremoniously stumbling inside.
He quickly scrabbled to his feet, claws scraping messily against Zar’s floor. Nuru winced, that was totally coming out of his treat funds. Still, he got a better look at his surroundings now. It seemed Zar was here not too long ago, working from the looks of his desk.
He sliiid into Zar’s big comfy leather work chair and grasped the arm rests trying to look serious for a moment before pointing up at a piece of Zar’s décor, “Ah demand you move that five inches south!” his tone gruff and demanding, clearly an imitation of someone else, “- and when you’re done with that – fetch me my slippers!”
He flinched and looked around, so certain Zar must have heard him. No one was there. He slunk from the chair and shifted again, feet getting all kinds of mucky paw prints all over Zar’s floor as he stuck his head under the bed to slide a box out; one full of various chews, squeaky toys, and even a few plush minis that make delightful noises when bitten.
It took no time at all before the contents were scattered all over Zar’s room and the barghest, now exhausted, climbed onto the bedspread and snuggled up with his favourite plush. His eyes were fixed on the door until he eventually fell asleep.
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Many hours passed and it had gone from night until morning. The barghest was now sprawled out on his back, clumsy long legs sticking up every which way. A floppy ear twitched and he could swear he heard a door close, he immediately rolled over and sat straight up in a single fluid motion. Tail flopping wildly – but immediately went stiff. He was staring at a closed door alright, but no Zar in front of it. His gaze quickly turned on his chair. Also empty, cold, even. Zar’s scent had all but faded at this point. This wasn’t like him?
Nuru shifted back again to steal Zar’s chair once more. Something wasn’t right, this didn’t make any sense. He took a deep slow calming breath but all that erupted from it was a frantic exhale and a desperate staring at Zar’s work. It was just work. None of it alluded to where he had gone. Not even a little.
He knew what he was about to do was very very naughty and bad but it was the only idea he had right now. He reached for Zar’s pen and slid a paper near and turned it to the blank side and began scrawling out the word ‘Missing:’ and below that ‘My Zar’ followed by a rather crude rendition of the incubus himself. He repeated this over and over until he had a mountain of them and deftly crammed the whole lot into a large bag and then grabbed several containers of screament glue too.
Supplies in hand, he started down the demon dorms and began pasting a poster on every last door he could find.

Nuru was not going to rest until he found his boilfriend.