Continuous Events

Day 1

Che heard a knock on his bedroom door as the morning sun streamed into his room. He yawned as he invited whoever knocked on his door. Seith walked into Che's bedroom.

"Just got a call, Rutherford's in Coastal Tyonek with Seyton. He says the dock master needs help moving some barrels from the dock. I'd suggest taking a couple of strong dires, Denver for sure," Seith glanced at Che, "the second dire is up to you. And clean your room when you get back. The room's still mine." Seith finished with a chuckle before walking away, leaving Che's bedroom door open. Che huffed at Seith's action. Che got up, closed his door and got dressed for the day.

He walked down to the dire barn where he shoved the door open. The daylight quickly flooded the barn, causing dust to glitter in the light. Jackson lifted his head up from his father's back and he yawned.

"Morning, Jack." Che said with a smile as Denver woke up from his deep sleep and let out a huge yawn. "Oh, good morning big guy! Come on Denver, we've got a job to do!" Denver hopped up, shook off the pine chips that stuck into his pelt, and followed Che to the cross-ties. Che slipped a halter on Denver and clipped him into ties. Che began brushing Denver's thick fur, straightening out the cowlicks with the spray bottle, and checking his pads for stones.

"Stay here, I've gotta wake up Comfort," Denver's head tipped to the side, "it'll do him some good to get out and go into town." Che left Denver tied up, struggled for a bit, and came back with a strange blue-black dire. Che tied the new dire in the cross ties next to Denver and began brushing the fur clean.

Denver let out a snort at how short the new dire was compared to him.

"Hello, Comfort. Hope you're feeling strong." Denver commented and Comfort shot him a glare.

"I hope you're feeling strong." Comfort retorted. "I am strong." Denver snorted at how defiant the smaller dire sounded. Comfort eyes shone and he grinned his teeth at the larger dire.

After the pair were cleaned up from the night's rest, Che led them to the wagon outside. Che harnessed Denver with no problem while Comfort needed a lot of work to put on the harness. Eventually Che convinces Comfort to put on the harness, where the pair were hitched to the large wooden wagon. Comfort jumped in the air, excited to work finally while Denver stood patiently as Che sat in the seat and snapped the reins across the dires. Comfort began pulling hard against the harness and Denver was surprised in how strong the small dire was. Denver began to pull the wagon towards Coastal Tyonek.

A short while later, the trio found themselves in front of the city square, plenty of cars, people, and Tokotas. So many Tokotas. Comfort had never seen so many of them, with so many different colors. Some looked like him, a dark blue black color while some were as pale as freshly fallen snow. Che allowed the pair to come to stop as he called Rutherford to make sure they knew where they were going.

"Hey, I just got here and I have no idea where the pier is." Che said on the phone, followed up with sounds of agreements and a "Are you sure? I think I can find it on my own." Denver's ears pricked, knowing that meant Rutherford was coming with Seyton to lead them through the town. His tail began wagging in joy. Comfort inhaled deeply, trying to figure out where the scents were coming from.

Che snapped the reins once again and kept the dires at a walk as they began to navigate their way to the city statue, where Rutherford told them to meet up at. Once the trio found the Tokota statue, Che led the wagon to the side, where they'd be out of the way of the traffic.

The smell of the cars burned Denver and Comfort's noses and the pair sneezed one after the other.

"Why do they drive around in those smelly things?" Comfort asked Denver, who shook his head.

"I have no idea," he coughed, "I wish I knew."

Che hopped down from the wagon seat and gave his team some pets and scratches. "He should be here any minute now." He said, calming the dires.

"I hope so," Denver snorted and Comfort laughed.

"Hey, slacker!" A familiar voice rang out behind Che as Rutherford and Seyton walked up. Denver's tail began smacking Comfort harder than before.

"You smack me one more time and I'll bite your tail." Comfort playfully threatened. Denver ignored him as Seyton nuzzled into his neck.

"Sey, c'mon. We gotta lead theser slackers to the pier," Rutherford winked at Che, who rolled his eyes. Che hopped onto the wagon and whistled to his team to walk on. Rutherford set the pace for the wagon, hollering when folks would walk in the path of the wagon. "C'mon, got a job to do!" Denver rolled his eyes at his handler's behavior.

Once the handlers and Tokotas were at the pier, Che carefully backed the wagon up to the boat as Rutherford spoke to the dock master. Che and the captain of the boat began unloading the boat and loading up the wagon with the heavy barrels.

"Got room for one more barrel?" The captain's gruff voice called, as he lifted one more.

"I think so!" Che grabbed the barrel from the captain and played TETRIS to get it to stay on the wagon. "Where are we goin'?" Che asked and the captain told him which house needed these barrels. Che clicked his team on and the team moved on towards the house the captain pointed to. Comfort and Denver strained against the leather harnesses. The weight of the wagon had changed quite a bit since they first arrived at the pier. Comfort and Denver paused to catch their breath and when the pair started pushing against the leather harnesses again, the wagon wheels began a slow rotation. The sound of wood on wooden planks creaked as the dires got their hind paws under them. Once the wagon was moving, the pair didn't have to strain as hard to keep the wagon going.

The pair of dires padded along the busy streets when Che tightened the reins, stopping the dires in front of a small family.

"Hey, are you the folk in need of supplies?" Che asked and the woman politely nodded. "Awesome, I'll help you guys unload the barrels." Che hopped down and began unloading the wagon of the heavy barrels. Once he was finished, the man shook Che's hand and the small child the woman was holding petted Denver and Comfort's noses. Both dires let out happy yips as the small child ran his tiny hand across they're soft fur and giggled at the dires reactions. 

As Che sat down in the seat and directed the team back to the dock, he stated, "I'm glad I brushed you two off. No one would've petted you guys if I hadn't!" Denver growled back and Comfort rolled his mismatched eyes.

Back at the dock, the captain and his crew helped load another load into Che's wagon.

"These are mostly food stuffs," the captain growled, "and they belong to Miss Remmington over Snowfall Lane. I hope you get these to her quickly, it's fer her birds." When Che looked at him, confused, the captain stated. "Her home is a large white two-story house, with a circle drive. At the end of the lane." The sea-worn captain turned away, smacked the side of the wagon before swearing at his crew, something about damaged goods? Che didn't know nor did he care. He and his crew had a job to do and that was getting Miss Remmington for bird feed.

Comfort kept up with Denver quite well, despite being several inches shorter than the black dire, even leading them at times. Denver couldn't help but be impressed by how independent Comfort was. The team slowed down to round a corner and head down Snowfall Lane.

The road the trio found themselves on was much quieter than the other roads in town. The birds were chirping and more small children were playing in small fields outside of homes. Some kicked around balls, some played on the small road that cut through the fields. Comfort and Denver glanced at each other, not sure how to feel about the sudden change of pace. This road didn't even feel like the same bustling city they just left behind.

As they walked, a large building rose to the right hand side, much larger than homes and the familiar barn. Several small children ran out of the large building, screaming whether in joy or in fear, the dires would never know. Comfort stopped, panicked by the small children. Denver stood very still. Che shushed the terrified dires, and the small children stopped at the strange thin fencing. Comfort's heart pounded in his ears and Denver lowered his head as his own heart rate slowed down from the fear. Che was able to redirect the dires to the task at hand.

After the large building and scary children, the team continued walking towards the end of the lane. Che could just barely see the top of the large two-story house.

"Just a couple of hills and we'll be done!" Che hollered to dires, who flicked their ears at him. 

As the sun began setting, Che and his team finally arrived at the large white home with the circle driveway where a beautiful woman was standing with two doves on either shoulders and a toki sat at her knee. Che waved as he led the dires around the circle driveway.

"Miss Remmington?" Che asked the woman, who giggled as her birds played with her hair.

"Yes, sir," she stroked the small bird, "and you are?"

"Che Reyes! I'm doing some unloading for the city," Che introduced himself and explained what he was doing. The woman explained where the bird feed was going to go in her shed. Che began unloading the barrels from the wagon. The pair of dires yawned, both exhausted from their journey to Coastal Tyonek and here where Miss Remmington lived.

When Che was finished unloading the wagon, Miss Remmington strutted over to the tired dires.

"Is it okay if I give these two a treat, help get their stamina back?" Her voice was sweet and Comfort found himself wanting to lean into her. Che shrugged and said that'd be fine. The woman gave the pair some fishy crackers and a quick drink of water. "Well now, I suppose you'll be on your way, then?" She asked Che, who nodded.

"Yes ma'am. Gotta get these two home," Che patted Denver's thick shoulder and Miss Remmington smiled.

"It was lovely having you, Mister Reyes," she stuck her hand out and Che shook it politely. "I hope to see this pair in a show some time. They're excellent examples of their breed," she gushed over the dires. Comfort felt his face turn hot and Denver paused the ground, embarrassed. Che laughed and mounted the wagon after saying his goodbyes.

The trek back to the dock was much less exciting, since the sun had gone down now. The busy streets were quieter now, the sounds of tarps being rolled up for night were the only thing the team heard. 

When they approached the dock, the dock master shrugged.

"We're all done for today! Come back tomorrow, got at least six boats to unload." The dock master grinned, "Seith put y'all up in the inn for the week. He said you'd be a hard worker!" Che sighed, finally happy the day was over.

Che led the dires towards where the dock master told them and found two very familiar shapes standing in the light of the inn. It was Rutherford and Seyton, standing by the door, with a stable hand holding Seyton's lead rope.

"Heard you've earned your weight in gold," Rutherford teased when Che hopped down from the wagon. Another stable hand quickly took his place and led the dires towards the nearby stable for overnight Tokotas.

"Can we talk in the mornin?" Che slurred, "my whole body hurts." Rutherford laughed hard and smacked Che on the back.

"Absolutely. Let's get you some dinner first." Rutherford agreed.