Dog Eat Dog World (ATTN: Arthur, PU)

[Merlin]

Merlin took Arthur out for a lesson. Today's lesson also asked for Alice's attendance, but she was presumably running late. Merlin, being impatient as always, opted to begin the lesson without Alice's presence.

The lesson required Merlin and his students to transform into dogs, as Merlin had just finished explaining.

"Are you ready, lad?" the old wizard asked Arthur. He smiled giddily, because today would surely be a highly educational experience. Even in the summer weather and heat, the robed wizard hardly had a drop of perspiration on him.

[Arthur]

*Arthur had no qualms to this. After all, it was a dog...he'd watched Ector's dogs, all they did was lay around, eat and...well, you get the idea. How hard could it be? Arthur nods.*

Uh, R-ready as I'll ever be, I guess.

[Archimedes]

Perched on a nearby branch was Merlin's feathered familiar, Archimedes, looking as unamused as ever, with his wings crossed indignantly as he watched the two below. He really couldn't believe Merlin was going through with yet another lesson of this sort; the past three times he had changed Arthur into an animal, it had only led to trouble for the boy (at one point, the owl himself got more involved than he had wanted to). Knowing there was no way he could change the stubborn old coot's mind, Archimedes just kept watch to make sure their antics didn't lead to any mishaps.

[Merlin]

"Very good!" Merlin said. The enthusiastic wizard shook his wrinkly arms to force back his robe's sleeves. He waved his magic staff and... tapped it several times on Arthur's head, as the wizard was a forgetful one. "Ahhhh," he stalled, but then he recalled the words. He recited them (which ended, of course, with 'digitonium'), and Arthur soon found himself transformed a young golden retriever, with a red collar. The dog retained some of Arthur's physical traits, most notably the eyes. Of course, this wasn't revealed until after the thick smoke cleared.

Merlin waved the smoke from his face, coughed, and laughed when he glimpsed at Arthur as a canine. "Hah, hah!" He turned to Archimedes and gestured to the dog. "Look, Archimedes!"

[Arthur]

*Arthur felt completely off balance, tripping over his own paws.*

Whoa, What, oh!

*He fell to the ground, shaking his head a bit.*

Heh, g-guess I'm not used to walking on four legs just yet.

[Archimedes]

Archimedes simply rolled his eyes at Merlin's enthusiasm, not in the least amazed at Arthur's furry new form; he'd seen him as at least three other different animal species, before. Merlin's magic never phased him, anymore. "Yes, yes, splendid." Archimedes didn't even like dogs much. Noisy, smelly, and uncouth creatures.

"I just hope you know what you're doing this time, Merlin," the cranky old owl nagged, raising an eyebrow in disapproval.

[Frenchie and K. Sera]

Frenchie glanced around at the woodlands. In spite of the summer heat, he still opted to keep his sweater and beret on, even though he was forced to pant to try and keep cool. How much farther to the nearest farm again? K. Sera had told him that there was one half a mile from here. Personally, he wasn’t much for the country. Burrs and stickers got caught in your fur, nasty wild animals could be lurking about, and it wasn’t like you could get dinner from a can or trashcan out here. Dogs might be descended from wolves, but Frenchie could never picture himself actually running down and eating some animal. It just seemed so... so... primitive! He’d leave that up that kind of thing up to his wild kin.

The farm dogs should definitely be grateful for everything that he and K. Sera were doing for them, coming out here to the boonies to spread the word about the glorious movement sweeping the globe in his dreams that was the prestigious Pound Underground.

"Sera.” K. Sera muttered. Even with his heavy mop-like coat the puli looked none the worse for the wear, perhaps because he came from a country background.

With a sigh of relief, Frenchie nodded. “You are right, mes amie. Let’s stop for a drink.” Maybe they could find their bearings while they were at it. K. Sera didn't have the best sense of direction after all...

[Merlin]

"Yes, Archimedes," Merlin replied dryly to the contentious owl. He grimaced at the pessimistic owl for a moment, before clearing his throat and raising his arms in the air. With his magic and his words, Merlin transformed himself. From his head to his feet, he lifted into the air, and gradually dissolved into a spiraling mist of magic dust and sparkles. Then with a large poof of magic, Merlin's dog form was all that remained of the wizard. He was a blue saluki, with patches of white fur, as well as white ears. The dog was definitely aged, and wore Merlin's glasses. His eyes, unsurprisingly, was also the same.

"Alice is late," he muttered. "Well, can't postpone a lesson for tardiness, can we?" He then trotted to Arthur. "Are you ready, Wart?"

[Arthur]

*Arthur looks down at his shaky legs, trying to stand again. It'd been easier as a squirrel, sure, because of low center of gravity...but as a dog, this form of walking proved more difficult for the boy, as he was more high off the ground. Even so, with a bit more effort on his part, he was able to stabilize himself, although he was still a little wobbly. He looks up to Merlin, looks back at his legs, then looks back at his mentor again.*

Yeah...yeah, I think I am. Where are we going?

[Merlin]

Merlin began to trot off in a specific direction. He was about to answer the Wart's question, but he was distracted by an unexpected presence. "Oh?" He had seen two other dogs, one in distinctive clothes. A sweater and a hat? This warranted a meeting!

The dog cocked his head and said to the youth, "Come along, lad." The old blue dog invited himself to approach and greet the French dogs. "Good afternoon, fellow canines!" His voice was affable as he greeted the pair.

[Frenchie and K. Sera]

"Bonjour, monsieur!" Eagerly, Frenchie shook the paw of the old saluki before him. Hmm, he had never seen a mostly blue dog before. Interesting. "I am Romeo Beaumont DeGaulle, but many just call me Frenchie. And this is mes companion and deputy, K. Sera." He gestured to his hairy companion, who stood nearby.

"Sera!" Sera woofed a greeting as he bounced in place as high as his short legs wold allow. Although it didn't look like it, he was studying the newcomers with much interest.

"The K stand for 'Killer'." French half-whispered to Merlin with a grin. At least that's what K. Sera had explained to him when the poodle had asked him about his name before. Noticing a much younger golden retriever in the background, Frenchie hailed him. "Bonjour, young sir!"

Just when he had fretted that they would never meet any other dogs out here, they had finally ran into some. Somebody up there liked him. "If either of you are having the time, perhaps you would be interested in joining a global movement that help fellow canines everywhere?" Frenchie recited with all the smoothness of a door-to-door salesman.