You decide to...
Leave him here with the machine and shut the bookshelf upstairs
Trying to push the larger human body into the pod with your canine frame sounds way too difficult for what it's worth. Surely Rufus would be fine sitting in here for a while... if he ever wakes up that is. You watch him breathing and he seems deeply asleep, and likely won't wake up for a while
You turn and head for the stairs, naturally climbing your way up on all fours just as if you'd been doing it all your life. You still feel slightly unsettled by it, but know you'll have to get used to it while you're in this body. You reach the top of the stairs and slowly push the door shut. You hear it click and know it should be sealed shut now
You hear a car pull into the driveway, and hear your mom getting off the phone. You marvel at being able to hear so distinctly what's going on and how much you can hear. You walk out of your bedroom and make your way into the living room. Everything looks so big! You can't believe how different everything seems when you're a canine. Rufus has a very different perspective than you usually do
The front door opens and in comes your mom. You feel the urge to run up and greet her and decide to let yourself do so and pretend to be Rufus for a bit so no one starts questioning your behavior. You run up to your mom with your tail wagging wildly behind you. It's the strangest sensation but it feels great, like all your happiness is getting sent out into the world through the exuberant piece of backbone
"Hey buddy! You been a good boy while we were out?" Your mom reaches down and pets you affectionately, and you can't help but get lost in the ecstasy it sends through your mind. It feels... so... good! You bark in agreement without really thinking and are almost shocked by your own volume. You pant happily and pretend to be Rufus
"Marcus, are you home? Can you feed Rufus and let him out for me please?" Your mom calls out across the house. She walks to her office space and sits in her chair, ready to finish up with work
Knowing that 'Marcus' won't be coming to feed you any time soon, you follow your mom to her office and lay down on the floor beside her chair. After a few moments of no response from Marcus, your mom stands back up and calls out again
"Marcus? Are you home?"
You stand up and watch her walk to your bedroom and then to the back door to check the yard. Of course, she finds no Marcus, and decides you must not be home yet. Sometimes you would pick up shifts without warning or stay over at a friends before coming home. She new it couldn't be the first because your car was parked outside, so she just assumed you were out at a friends place. Little did she know you were standing right in front of her... on the floor as a dog
"Sorry buddy, I guess you'll have to wait till Luke gets home. He'll be here soon I promise." She pets you affectionately as she sits back in her chair and gets back to work. "You're a good boy, aren't you Rufus? Such a good boy."
Your tail starts wagging furiously at the praise. You didn't realize how amazing it felt to be called a good boy until now. It gave you such a sense of pride and happiness that you couldn't believe Rufus got to feel about this. You pant happily and lay back down on the floor when she stops giving you attention. After a few minutes, you stand and walk over to the living room and find Rufus's dog bed beside the couch. You approach it, not sure how it will feel to a canine. Hopefully it's relaxing, you could use a bit of sleep right now. You step onto the soft bed and instinctively curl up like a dog, without even thinking about it. It feels very comfortable on your fur-covered frame, and you sigh in contentment. Maybe you'd get to stay this way for a while...
You wake up to the sound of the front door opening, and rush over to it excitedly to find Master's brother coming home. Your tail wags excitedly as you bark up at him in welcome. You get a surge if happiness as you start thinking about Master, and wonder where he is
"Hey Rufus! Good to see you too bud. Good boy." Master's brother give you some affectionate scratches behind the ears and it feels amazing as always. You follow him to his room and sit on the floor beside his door, hoping he'll feed you. As you watch him walk around his room putting things away, your mind starts turning in your head... wait why do you feel so... then you remember the fact that you're actually Marcus, not Rufus. You shake your head for a moment to clear it, your floppy ears flapping against the sides of your head which in all honestly wasn't as unpleasant a feeling as you would have assumed. You realize how you thought of Luke, and almost would have chuckled if you could, realizing Rufus thought of you as his master, and remembering the surge of love you felt when you had thought of yourself. You suppose it would make sense, being your pet and all, but it still felt good to know how much he loved you
Your mom calls from her office to Luke to feed Rufus and let him outside. You continue to watch him, and are surprised when he addresses you and tells you to come. You almost had forgotten you were in Rufus's body, and quickly started to follow. Not even the human side of your mind could deny it was hungry. You hadn't gotten to eat dinner before you swapped, so now you get to eat Rufus's dinner instead. Realizing what Rufus's dinner was, you watch with dread as Luke pours you a bowl of dog food
"There you go boy. Eat up!" Luke puts away the food and leans against the counter, waiting for you to eat. Begrudgingly, you approach the bowl knowing you have to. If you didn't, they might think something is wrong and take you to the vet or something, and you really didn't want to experience that side of Rufus's life
You sniff the bowl for a second, your stomach growling and your mind slightly unsettled by the fact you're about to eat this kibble. You stick your head in and start munching away. Surprisingly, it's not actually that bad. It tastes vaguely like what you remember to be chicken, but still containing the overwhelming kibble taste to it. You scarf it all down, not really thinking about what you're doing since you're so hungry. After you finish you look up to Luke, almost wanting more. Luckily, dogs don't get seconds whether they want it or not
"Alright, come on boy. Let's go outside."
You follow Luke tot he back door where he lets you out into the yard. It's fenced in and much bigger than you remember as Marcus, probably because you're much smaller now. You run for a minute or two, just enjoying the air rushing through your fur, before remembering why Luke brought you out and why he's waiting by the door on his phone. You look for a spot where you won't be as visible, but can't find one, so you begrudgingly do your business in the middle of the yard. It decirle wasn't a pleasant experience with your human mind being self conscious about whether or not you're seen. You know no one will care or think anything of it since you're now a dog, but you still have that nagging in your brain about it. Quickly you finish and run back the door. Luke looks up to see you run inside and he closes the door behind you
You watch as he goes back to his bedroom, likely to continue with social media or play games or something. You look around and see there isn't much to do. You decide to go back to your dog bed and sleep some of the time away. You curl up comfortably, and quickly fall asleep in the dog bed
Later that night, you awake to realize it's already dark outside, and everyone is asleep. You stand up and walk to the kitchen to realize it's midnight. You walk to your bedroom, thinking you should probably swap back and go to sleep. You reach the bookshelf and realize how much bigger it's gotten. How are you going to open it? You realize maybe it would have been better to try and lock Rufus in the pod and leave the bookshelf cracked open. That way you could get to the pod and change back. Knowing you can't change the past, you sigh, if a dog can sigh, and try your best to open it the way it is. You look around and don't see anything that will help, and decide to just try and reach the book by standing on your hind legs. You reach up and try to pull it out, but with your paws it's impossible to grab. Instead, you resort to knocking it over, and watch as it falls. It lands flat on the cover, making a loud smack sound. You freeze...
Listening for anyone who might be waking, you stand there, frozen. Quietly, you think you hear rustling coming from Luke's bedroom. Quickly, you try to reach the button but you can't reach that far back on the shelf. You try and try but you can't reach it. You hear your brother's door click quietly as it opens and you quickly jump back to land on the ground. You missed your footing and land on your chest, your bottom jaw hitting the ground hard and slamming your muzzle shut with a clack. You blink your eyes to help clear your dizziness, and look up to see Luke standing in the doorway. You stare up at him for a moment and realize you only have a few seconds to make a decision before he goes back to bed. Should you get him to help you? Or should you try to figure it out another way? As he comes closer and picks up the book, looking at the cover, you panic and decide to...
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