VANILLA

Katze was sitting and playing with his laptop. Cuddled up on the sofa, he was dressed in casual afternoon wear of light blue trousers and a sleeveless, black top. The keyboard was softly clicking to his busy fingers, but they instantly halted as he caught sight of his new Master standing the doorway - smiling. Next to the master was a fine example of a Boer bull that Raoul decided to name Shandi. It was a beautiful and powerful dog that demanded nothing other than utmost respect once laid eyes on. She reached Raoul to the middle of his thighs and was robustly built with bulging muscles underneath the brown, short fur. Black pigmentation framed her orange eyes, which gave the impression that her gaze was burning with the intensity of fire. She was already three years old, but Raoul - who had no history of being a particular animal lover - grew instantly fond of the dog that crossed his path, when he was visiting the construction site of the University in Ceres.

Raoul had been talking to the architect when they all heard some commotion coming from the workers. The dog had stolen someone's bag in hopes of finding some food in it, and was nearly lynched for the deed. Five grown men had the dog cornered with metal sticks. At first, Raoul only watched the fierce battle for survival from a distance, but then felt urged to intervene on the behalf of the animal. He rushed to make the workers stop, but a nearby droid guard had fired a gun before he reached the conflict. The dog collapsed and was badly bleeding from the wound on its side, but by no means was the animal giving up its last breath. She was fighting and deserved more then a dirty construction site as her final resting place.?

Katze remembered that day so well and it always brought a smile to his face. Raoul and Katze had stepped out of the car, all covered in blood from the chest down, as if they had partaken in some massacre. They entered the Centre calling for help while carrying that huge, dirty dog wrapped in Raoul's white mantle. The medical personnel had rushed to aid the two people, but were completely taken aback as the animal was placed on the stretcher. The attending physician stuttered.

"I'm...I'm s-sorry, but...but...t-this is...a dog. We don't treat animals here. You have to leave."

Raoul returned a focused, angry stare and leaned closer to the doctor rumbling in a way that made even Katze jolt.

"This is a damn hospital, no? People come here when they need help..."

"Yes,people, not animals," the physician argued and pointed at the dog, but Raoul stood firm and delivered with a calm, but steady voice.

"I am a person!" Raoul emphasized. "And I need your help...even if it is to save my dog."

There was a moment of silence and flickering glances were exchanged between the medical staff - waiting for the final decision of the doctor in charge. Finally he nodded.

"Alright people, roll it into section eight...prepare for surgery..."

Raoul had spent two days away from work to be there at Shandi’s awakening. Jupiter, who couldn't quite understand why one of Her favorite Blondies would be interested in keeping such an animal, dealt with the animal's aggressive behavior. It was the first time an animal had been transported to her Hive to be improved. If this dog was to be owned by Raoul, it had to remain docile and loyal to him no matter what. Enhancing traits and features was a great talent of Jupiter, but little did she know just how devoted a dog could be.

Since that day, Shandi has never left the side of Raoul; not in meetings, where she lay under the table and notifying of her presence with an occasional snore if the meeting was too boring - not in bed, where she snuck under the covers once he fell asleep - not at the dinner table, where she waited for him to drop her something while resting her head in his lap - and not even in his bathtub.

Katze looked at Shandi by Raoul's side and smiled at the images from the previous week. Raoul had one of his Blondie whims and wanted to be cared for like royalty. Katze had prepared a bubble bath whilst a servant was rinsing fruits of all sorts, which were then decorated with cream. Once Katze and the servant had attended Raoul with everything he demanded, the two young men retired to Katze's room to play computer games. It had all been peace and quiet until Raoul's vicious roar disturbed the silence in the house.

"Katze! Anyone! Get in here!"

Shandi had not taken it well to be rejected by her Master when she was craving for his fruit salad. As her Master was incapacitated in the bathtub, holding a book and not wanting to get out, she simply marched up to the bowl and buried her face in it. Raoul's crude words didn't do much to fend her off, and thus Shandi gladly lapped up the last bits of fruit, leaving only a trail of drool behind. Of course, the amount of cream she ate along with the salad brought about a grand thirst, but there was a nice tub of water with tasty bubbles that could do the trick. It was then that Katze and a servant arrived to this peculiar scenery. Raoul was howling from the tub and complaining about the impertinence of the animal, whilst the servant and Katze tried to hide their laughter as they made an effort to pull Shandi away from the agitated Blondie.

"Can't you just lift her away?" Raoul gesticulated with a frown.

"She's an awfully lot of dog, Master," the servant panted as he tried to move the dog that matched his weight. Katze assisted but to no use. Shandi began wiggling like a snake and within seconds she was free from their grip and back with her face in the tub.

"Can't you two even get a stupid dog out of here?" Raoul rumbled, at which Shandi lifted her head and snorted the bubbles off her nose. She pierced Raoul with her gaze almost as if he knew she was being insulted. Raoul tilted his head.

"Don't you dare," he said warningly, but far too late. "No, dog...no!"

Shandi made a leap through the air and landed on top of the Blondie. The servant and Katze were holding on to each other not collapse of laughter as tears of amusement were running down their cheeks. Raoul's repeated plea to get Shandi off his chest was to no avail, for the two mongrels could hardly move of laughter. Finally, Shandi made peace by licking every inch of the Master's face with her enormous, fleshy tongue. She handed him a series of rather slimy, but persistent kisses that effortlessly broke Raoul's anger. He placed his hands on her muscular back and held her close.

"Oh, someone give this dog a minty," he managed to giggle between her kisses and before the evening had come to an end, Raoul and Shandi had been joined by Katze. However, the redhead had refused to remove his underwear and to his great comfort, Raoul made not effort to try to persuade him otherwise, or even make a comment about it. A lot of things have changed since Dana Burn - but some things remained the same. Katze's random abashment for his body.