Written for the Story Secret Santa as a jump in for The_Amazing.
Comments are much love and constructive criticism too <3
A cat's or dog's perspective on the oddness on the holiday season.
It is the time I both love and hate the most. I can never tell when it gets so cold water starts to become solid and rain turns into pretty but cold light flakes; when foreign friendbeasts put strange lights on their homes and become even faster and busier. But here it is again, and it is the time most of us who stay outside for the night don't like. Those thin boxes we hide in and under only do so much to keep us warm.
I hear someone coming towards our home in this narrow street and cock my ears. The rather quick steps giving off the unique sound can only come from my friendbeast, and I immediately sit up and wait impatiently.
"Tickles!" my friendbeast calls and tells me something else I don't understand while holding out a huge cloth. It's one of those things that keep you less cold, and my friendbeast looks so happy having found one that I reply with a happy bark. He is finally in front of me and I can't stop myself from jumping at him and licking his face. But I know my friendbeast likes it. He always does these happy, ragged sounds whenever I do so, and he always hugs me and ruffles through my fur on the head.
He calls me again, catching my attention, and then he says "for a walk". Those magic sounds that mean we can roam the streets together. When I instantly stand and look at my friendbeast intently, he emits those happy ragged sounds again and picks up a bag, throwing it back over his shoulder. Then he tells me "Come", and before he can even turn around, I am already on my way. At the end of the narrow street I turn my head to see if my friendbeast is still there because sometimes he can't keep up with me, so I have to wait. This time he is fast and reaches me only a few moments later.
"Good boy," he says doing that thing with his mouth that means he is happy, then we both turn to the right into a wider street, and right at the end of that one, where we usually turn to the left, my friendbeast suddenly calls me. Turning around again, I see that he is going the other way. Wagging my tail, I run towards him. I know where he is going. He always goes there when this time comes around again. It's the place he found me long ago, and it was at exactly this time that he found me back then. When everywhere around were those lights and foreign friendbeasts put on cloth things that made them fatter and warmer. Just like now.
When we reach the small place near a path above the stream of water, he stops and starts speaking to me again, ruffling my fur, stroking me and from time to time hugging me. It feels nice and so I wag my tail and lick his face whenever I reach it. Then there is a smell of another dogbeast in my nose, and it is very close by. I perk my ears and look to the side at the trees, bushes and grass. Somewhere in that direction it is.
My friendbeast looks at me and seems to say something with an expression that usually means he is nervous. Maybe he has smelled the other dogbeast too, so I walk towards the smell and hear how my friendbeast follows me. When we walk around a bush we have already found it. There is a puppy sitting in a small box, tucked into a cloth thing. It shivers and has its eyes open, just looking at us with its big dark eyes. My friendbeast starts making those wailing sounds and kneels down beside it, just like he did when he found me. He is a nice friendbeast who cares for other beasts. And because he cares and seems to like the little puppy, I also come closer and sniff at it. If my friendbeast keeps the puppy, our pack would grow and we would have another friendbeast. I lick it to show my friendbeast that I like the puppy too, and he strokes me again, making those ragged happy sounds. I hope it means we will keep the puppy, and my hope turns into reality when my friendbeast picks up the small box with the puppy and calls me again to go.
On the way back home we take the route where we end up in the middle of a relatively peaceful giant other pack with many foreign friendbeasts rushing through the street in different directions. My friendbeast puts down his bag and takes the cloth thing out of it. He taps down on the bag and I sit on it before he follows my example and puts the cloth thing over us all. He takes the puppy with its cloth thing and puts it inside his own, close to his chest. He did this with me too when he found me, and I know it's better that way. I hope the puppy gets warmer.
Then some foreign friendbeasts come closer to us and give my friendbeast some flat, round chinking things that he takes happily. As time goes on, other foreign friendbeasts come along. Some of them speak with my friendbeast for a while and when they come back again, they have a small strange tree in their hands with balls hanging from it that they give to my friendbeast, along with a rustling bag. I can smell the food inside it. That is good, because getting food is not easy.
After another while the small puppy starts wailing a little, and my friendbeast cradles it, trying to soothe it. I jump in too and lick its little face, but it doesn't stop crying. My friendbeast pulls out the food and breaks a piece off it, offering it to the puppy. It's small, but seems big enough to already eat. It really takes the food and munches it. Then the rain that turned into flakes comes down on us and my friendbeast gets up and gathers everything to go home. He takes the strange tree last, but I wonder why my friendbeast needs a tree. It doesn't give food or warmth.
When we are home, we all huddle inside the big box, covered by the cloth thing, the tree standing beside us. It's getting darker but the strange lights the foreign friendbeasts put up keep the night away, but not the cold, but together under the cloth thing, we don't feel as cold as the days before. And my nice friendbeast took in another dogbeast like me. I feel happy knowing there are friendbeasts who like us and give us food, water, warmth and a pack. When I watch my friendbeast, he is looking at the small tree with his mouth doing that happy thing. It must mean the tree makes him happy. But I'm not sure. Sometimes my friendbeast is weird.
Then there is suddenly the sound of a loud monsterbeast stopping in front of our street, and a female friendbeast comes out of it. The female friendbeast has an own bag she drags over to us, and I immediately recognize her. She always comes to us in this time and gives us nice things that keep us warm and fed. It's a nice female friendbeast, like my friendbeast. And she smiles down at us when she reaches us, petting my head. Then she notices the puppy and pets it too. She hands my friendbeast the bag she dragged over and he looks very happy. He even hugs us tight and starts speaking with us in a happy voice. They speak a little more and the female friendbeast seems to look a lot at the puppy. I hope she will help it stay alive.
She leaves then, but my friendbeast looks very happy and cuddles the puppy. I don't understand, but maybe she did something to help us. I lick my friendbeast's face and he hugs me tight, the puppy between us. Then he does that happy thing with his mouth again and looks at the strange tree. He speaks something I don't understand, and then he tells us to go to sleep. It is a strange time for me full of things I don't understand. It is cold, but my friendbeast still looks happy. I don't like the cold, but I like my friendbeast, and if my friendbeast likes this time, then I like it too. And I will put up even with the lights in the middle of the night and with the cold flakey rain.
