Wordcount: 415
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: Tan adapts to life in the village.

NOTE: This is a very rough draft with no editing at all (per National Novel Wiriting Month rules) and is presented for amusement value only. Think of it as a periscope into my writing process rather than a coherent story!

There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing. These snippits are also posted out of order, so please refer to the Outline to figure out where it’s supposed to fit.

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Give A Dog A Job

Tan wanders the village for a few days in a frustrated agitated pacing. Finally after the thousands circuit one of the adults pulls him aside and asks what’s wrong.

“I need a job.” says Tan, frustrated. “I need something to do, I’m not made to sit still and do nothing.”

“Can you hunt?” asks the adult.

Tan frowns, “I could I supposed.”

So they try him out hunting, but once he gets outside the village a ways he ends up freaking out and heading back in. Tan’s not sure why he doesn’t want to go out further, but he’s adamant that he can’t follow them past a seemingly arbitrary point that changes.

So they give up on that idea and set him to hunting mice and rats.

He’s good at that, but too good and they soon run out of small rodents that he can catch. The mice are just too fast and the possums and raccoons and rats soon learn to leave the village alone.

So they use him as a babysitter, which turns out to be a pretty perfect fit. He follows the younger kids around, putting himself between them and danger as needed and picking them up and carrying them back to the central camp area when they stop listening to him.

He seems to enjoy the job and the caretaking adults are pleased as punch to have him helping out. It’s a little odd to get used to a talking dog that is so much larger than their own canines, but he proves himself trustworthy time and time again. Soon they are leaving the kids with him without any more worry than they’d give another adult.

The older kids think he is awesome and follow him around without being prompted. He tells them tales of his puppyhood and random stories that he remembers hearing from other people. It’s new and interesting and he’s always finding new things to share.

He has one main fan who is smart kid and they talk about all sort of things, from science to philosophy, although Tan’s not as good at the second. And of all the things that could be out in the sea and beyond the sea.

The kid is an adventurer and a scientist who wants to be out testing theories and pushing boundaries and Tan is more than happy to help him. His enthusiasm is contagious, even if some of the other adults, Gray included, aren’t always willing to humor his dreams.