Sarah and Malice looked around to see if Travis was there. As canines, their noses ought to be able to pick up his scent. However, there were a few problems with that. First, they didn't know Travis's scent well enough to pick it up. Secondly, they hadn't much training in following a particular scent. And third, and probably more importantly, there were so many Animalians of different species, it was nearly impossible to determine just one particular scent among them. But finding Travis shouldn't be too hard. After all, a white dog with black spots should still stick out.
Finding Travis did indeed turn out to be easier than expected, namely because he wasn't the only Dalmatian there. Sarah and Malice saw him sitting at a table with two other uplifted Dalmatians. One of them was a large male with a considerable shoulder breadth, perfect for carrying people over them as he climbed down a ladder. The other was a female whose muscles and bust size easily rivaled the Husky sisters. Travis seemed rather puny between those two, though he was probably more trim than the usual boy. His parents (they could be no one else) were obviously double-dosers, which raised up Sarah's hope that they would approve of her.
Travis was the first to spot them. "Hi, Sarah," he said happily, his tail wagging a bit, "Mum, Pop, this is Sarah, that Husky girl I was telling you about."
Travis's parents looked at the Husky sisters and his dad said, "You're bigger than I was imagining. So, which one of you is Sarah?"
"I am," said Sarah, "This is my sister, Mary Alice."
"I prefer Malice," said Malice.
Travis's mom looked at Sarah and said, "You're the one who used to be human, aren't you? I do like your hair." It was pretty common knowledge that the one thing uplifted females of any species envied most of any human or former human was that the hair they had on their heads. Of course, there were equines who had manes, but it wasn't quite the same thing.
"Thanks, I try to take care of it," said Sarah, nervously brushing her hair with one hand. Even though she had the body of a full-grown woman, she was still a 14-year old girl at heart and she couldn't help but feel really awkward right now.
Malice, however, was not so encumbered. "Well, Mr. and Mrs..." said Malice before pausing and saying, "I'm sorry, I don't know what your names are."
Travis's dad chuckled and said, "It's ok, names didn't mean to other dogs before the virus. I'm Dallas, this is my wife, Dot."
Sarah and Malice both raised eyebrows at that. Travis's mom chuckled and said, "Yes, the firefighters weren't that terribly creative. But call me 'Dottie' and you die." Her tone was teasing, but Sarah didn't think it would be a good idea to annoy her.
"I'd rather call you by your last names if you don't mind," said Sarah, "What was it? Johnson or something?" She thought that was the name of the Fire Chief, but she wasn't sure.
"No, we decided to pick our own last name," said Travis, "We're the Fleck family now."
"The Flecks?" asked Malice a bit dubiously.
"Ok, so we're not much more imaginative than the firefighters," said Mrs. Fleck, "Can you expect more from us?"
"Uh, anyways, the reason I wanted to talk was, uh..." Sarah fidgeted, feeling embarrassed again.
Malice was less prone to embarrassment, "She thinks Travis is cute and she wants to date him."
"Mary Alice!" snapped Sarah, feeling her face go bright red under her fur.
"Well...I guess that kinda fits in well," said Mrs. Fleck, "After all, Travis has talked a lot about Sarah, haven't you?"
"Mum...not in front of Sarah," groaned Travis.
"So you wouldn't mind if he and I..." said Sarah.
"Can I, Pop?" asked Travis eagerly.
Mr. Fleck frowned a little and said, "Well, it's alright with me, but there's a little problem. Sarah's already had two doses of the Animalia virus and you only had one."
"You and Mum double-dosed," protested Travis.
"Well, we didn't know we could get a second dose," said Mrs. Fleck.
"How'd that happen?" asked Sarah curiously.
Mrs. Fleck gave her a small smile and said, "That's a bit private and you're not close enough to the family yet. Though I wouldn't mind if a nice girl like you went out with Travis."
"It's fine with me, but I think we ought to talk with your parents first," said Mr. Fleck, "If you two are going to do things that could get Travis exposed again, your parents ought to be agreeing first."
"So...you don't mind if I sit and talked a while, do you?" asked Sarah.
"Sure, you can sit with us," said Travis, "Plenty of seats for the both of you."
"Thanks, but I want to do some more looking around," said Malice.
Before her sister walked off, Sarah held her arm and muttered to her, "Don't try to seduce any policemen."
"Don't worry, I'll be on my best behavior," said Malice before heading off.
Sarah sighed a bit. Malice probably wouldn't break the 'no-mating' rule, but that wouldn't stop her from shamelessly flirting. After all, Malice had very little shame to begin with. Then Sarah sat down at the Flecks' table and said, "So, tell me about working at the fire station."