There were the sounds of an argument. One voice sounded like the pound attendant from earlier, the one who put him down...
A shudder made it's way through his canine body. He figures he'll never get over that.
But there are other voices, too. One is a laughing, pleasant voice, a slight accent. One is dry, nasal. Familiar, but different, warmer, more human...Thoth, maybe?
Jared thinks a moment and considers that it probably is, the god's mortal disguise being the source of the difference. He feels hope swelling.
"Bark! Bark bark!" In here, I'm in here! he says.
He hears the attendant yelp in surprise. The door bursts open and the attendant looks at him, white as a sheet. Jared can't resist the temptation to give him a doggy grin, tongue hanging out.
The attendant sputters. "I don't understand! We put it down!"
A man of vaguely Middle Eastern features, a long, thin nose and a thick mop of black locks tied back in a pony tail, enters behind the attendant and sneers.
"I beg your pardon? You were just explaining you weren't at fault for accidentally killing our friend's dog, and now, upon realizing you DID NOT do that, you have the gaul to be upset?" said the man with the dry voice. Jared barked and yipped, and Thoth spared him a brief, small smile, before returning his ire to the luckless attendant.
"Oh, don't be so hard on him, Birdy! He's just had a hard day, haven't you, sir?"
The third voice enters in the form of a young Latino man, barely older than Jared, tattoos on his knuckles and bare arms, with blond highlights in his hair. He drapes a companionable arm around the increasingly confused attendant. "Don't mind my friend Birdy, here. He's an academic, don't you know, doesn't like people unless they've been dead several centuries."
Thoth rolls his eyes. "Raphael, must you use that insipid nickname?"
The young man winks. "Yes, because calling you Aleister Ibis makes you sound too impressive, and if someone doesn't let the air out of your ego, you'll float away."
He laughs, and moves over to the table and begins unbuckling Jared from the straps. Jared expected the knuckle tats to say something intimidating or funny, but they just seem to be letters that don't form words in English: ICXC on the right hand, NIKA on the left.
The attendant makes one last effort to regain control of the situation.
"Stop! You can't just take that dog, this is highly irregular!"
Raphael gets Jared unbuckled and helps him down to the floor, snapping a small leash to his collar.
"So is you killing a dog and it coming back to life." laughs the young man. "I recommend just putting today behind you. Knock off early, go take your boyfriend out for Italian food, have a fun, spontaneous date night."
"H-how did you know I'm gay?!"
The man smiles beatifically, passing Jared off to Birdy.
"It's a Gift." he declares, pronouncing the capital.
Birdy rolls his eyes, leading Jared out of the room and muttering. With his enhanced doggy ears, Jared is pretty sure he hears "...insufferable busy body show off..."
But Jared is too excited to give it much thought. Free! He's out, he's free, he's ALIVE!
"Bark bark BARK!" I'm ALIVE!
"Shh. You'll spook folks, barking that much." said Birdy.
He takes Jared to a small, forest green convertible, and has him hop in the back. A few moments later Raphael bounds out, sliding into the passenger seat and beaming at Birdy. The latter sighs.
"What did you do?"
"He's going to propose tonight. They're going to honeymoon working for Food Not Bombs. He got into this job to make the world a better place and look after animals, not put them down. He just...needed a little reminder."
The older man shakes his head, but affectionately.
"Can't resist helping, can you?"
"Nope! You ok back there, Jared?"
"Bark!" Yes!
"Great! Alright, hit it, Birdy! Let's get out of here!"