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How had she managed to slip away from him? How?? Connor's near panic stricken mind was running a marathon as he whirled around, eyes scanning down both sides of the street for a puppy in a pink collar and leash. All he had done was take his eyes off of Peebles for a second while she sniffed around a lamp post, because somebody driving by had honked at him (who? he had no idea). He had looked up, squinting into the bright sunlight, shading his eyes to see, and only barely registered the tugging on the end of the leash before with one sharp tug, the leash slid right out of his grasp.

P-Bubs had taken off like a bolt of lightening, gone within a split second, as fast as her still short little puppy legs could carry her, which was apparently incredibly fast, as she was around a corner and out of sight before Connor could even process what the ******** had just happened.

So now, he was searching, calling out "Princess! Peebs!" As he strode hurriedly along the streets, with no idea where his "precious" (dry laughter) Peebles had gone.

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One street over, Princess had found something interesting. A flower bed, with freshly planted flowers, ripe for the digging! The soft earth gave easily beneath her toes and paws, and she panted happily as she began to construct herself a wonderful hole, flowers be damned if they got in her way.

Peebles stopped what she was doing, looked up, and yipped in alarm when she noticed a strange hand with strange fingers was stretched out towards her face. Tumbling backwards to move away from the grasp (and likely crushing more flowers in the process), she then flattened herself in the dirt and let out a whine, an all too guilty expression on her face. If Nathaniel grabbed her leash and gave it a light tug, she would hesitate at first, but soon slink out of the flower bed to wherever to pulled her.

-----

Connor was still looking for her, but had just turned a corner to go down to the next street, though his voice as he shouted for his dog might have just been faintly heard by Nathaniel.

The entire time Peebles was being led out of the flower garden, she piddled, her tail stub and back end low, her back legs half locked as she begrudgingly went where the strange man pulled her.

And then she heard her owner's voice, and she suddenly perked up, back end all a wriggle as she began to bounce and bark excitedly. Rescue! Rescue was coming!

---

Connor heard the excited yapping before he heard a quiet voice calling towards him as he rounded the corner onto the street where his dog had found a flower bed to play in. Sighing in relief, he began to jog over, giving a small wave to indicate he was on his way, his face set in a firm line as he came to a stop and held out his hand for the leash.

"Thanks. I don't know how she got away from me." He began, before his eyes wandered down to a trail of dirt, following it all the way to the flower bed, where his puppy had obviously wreaked some havoc.

"Oh s**t." He moved his gaze back to his puppy, who was jumping all around his legs, and frowned. "No, Peebs. Bad."

She was not even remotely listening to him. <******** sakes...Right well, thank you, anyways. Sorry about your.." He looked back towards the garden, his nose wrinkling slightly, "Gardening?"

Whatever. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, right? Not by Connor, of course, and he definitely wasn't going to offer to help.

Connor ran fingers through windswept and probably slightly disheveled hair to push it out of his face, smoothing it back to it's usual style, as he continued to wait with an outstretched hand for his leash, and subsequently his puppy, to be returned to him.

"Right. Well, again, sorry about that. Puppies, you know? Worse than ******** children." He glanced at the garden again, and noticed the wet spots.

"I mean, to be fair, it's probably already full of cat s**t and piss anyways, right? People just let the ******** things wander around, not giving a s**t who or what they bother.

"You wear gloves, don't you?" He really saw no problem, here. "Come on man, just hand the dog over, and I'll buy you a drink or something."

Because alcohol was always the solution.

There was a slight narrowing of Connor's eyes, his face slipping into a cold mask when he realized that this guy wasn't going to be handing that leash back until he got whatever the ******** it was he wanted. Money, no doubt, though that was something Connor didn't actually ******** have to give.

"How about you, like, stop being a ******** p***y and just tell me what you want." Connor replied, his patience wearing thin. "Because when someone offers you a drink and an apology, and you don't accept it, one begins to think that maybe he's dealing with an opportunistic a*****e. So, what's it to be, huh? What can I do to make this all better for you?"

Below, Peebles had begun to whimper again, a high pitched whine ending in a sharp bark directed between the two men, as if she could sense her owners growing agitation.

"Ya, because you probably scared the ******** piss out of her." Connor snapped back, coldly, on edge, defensive, unwilling to just roll over and submit to what he considered to be extortion.

And as much as he loathed to admit he was struggling financially, it was getting to a point where he was too exasperated to care.

"And neither can I, because dog food isn't ******** cheap. In fact, her piss and excrement is probably worth more than your damn plants. You should be thanking her for her grade A quality, expensive god damn piss. Your flowers just got showered in luxary. Now give me back my dog. If you're hoping to get money out of this, it's not going to happen, because I don't ******** have any."

This man was maddening. Connor had tried to be reasonable, had tried being angry, and had tried asking him flat out what the ******** he wanted. Nathaniel held onto Peebles leash like he was never going to let her go, not without...whatever, Connor didn't know. And at that point, if it weren't for the puppy, the bartender slash hospital security guard slash paramedic in training would have walked away by now.

Instead it was becoming very, very tempting to punch this other guy in the face, and Connor was not a physically violent person.

He scoffed a laugh. "If you even ******** tried, I'd kick your god damn a**." She was a rescue, abandoned in an alleyway as a small puppy, and with some prodding, Connor had taken her in. He lived alone in an apartment that was too big, refused to make lasting connections with anybody he met, and had left his old life half way across the damn country behind. That dog was all he had. That dog had become his damn life, and he couldn't imagine being alone again without her.

"I've ******** acknowledged it." He spat out, "And you can just ******** excuse me for not appreciating that you're holding something of mine like a hostage for ransom."

More plants? More <********> plants?? Was this a*****e for real?

"Right. Fine. But I'm not doing s**t until you hand that leash over. Keep in mind that a**-kicking is still on the table, if you choose to be a total shitbag over this."

Whatever Nathaniel said was lost, Connor's hand still held outstretched, but his eyelids blinking as he swayed on his feet. Around him, the world began to bend, move, shift, as his vision jumped skyward, and suddenly, he was no longer looking at the man holding his dog with accusing and angry eyes, but a blank expression that lasted about five seconds.

Somewhere high above, for just a few moments, Connor was able to see himself, Peebles, and Nathaniel below. The vision was skewed somehow, curved, not quite right, and there was a fog around the edges that invaded inward rapidly as he was suddenly, and violently, pulled back down into his own eyes again.

Instantaneously, a dull ache began to form in his head and Connor hissed out a long breath, a hand going up to it while his other was thrust in the direction of the damn leash, finally able to snatch it from Nathaniel's grasp.

"I'm not going to ******** bolt, you a** wipe." His voice shook a little, and he hated himself for that, but what had just happened, as uncommon as it was, was extremely jarring regardless.

"I can't just ******** pay up, anyways. I told you that." He wound the leash around his hand, and Peebles for the moment seemed content to just sit next to his feet, stub tail wagging. "So three things. How ******** much do you need, do you take email transfers, and do you think you can clench your a** cheeks and hold on until I can pay you?" His voice had become more steady now, the pain in his head only adding fuel to the fire of his agitation.