"Ro...xie.." The human said, a bit garbled, in between pants.
The beagle looked like she might faint. "Did you just...talk?"
"Yes," she said, accentuated by a yipping noise afterward. It was getting increasingly hard to form complex words...as if her voice was no longer equipped for it, and she kept ending up with a bark, a yip, or other noises that her throat seemed more equipped for now. "Hard. Need help."
Roxie was wondering if that stoner who cleaned the cages had slipped her something. She was actually talking to a human...well, that she did all the time, but the human was talking back. And Maddy seemed focused, unlike the other human she'd been playing with, Ethan, who had already wandered off.
She leaned down. "Help with what?"