Gift-Fic: Greeting the Newest Van Dort
by: Flaming Trails

A shrill whistle pierced the sky. Ferdinand looked up from his feeder, then bounded his way over to his master, wings fluttering in a curious parody of a wagging tail. “Hello, Ferdy,” Victor said, greeting his steed with a nervous smile.

Ferdy yipped and “licked” him with his proboscis. Victor chuckled and rubbed his head between the feelers. “Yes, yes, I’m happy to see you too…I, er, need to introduce you to someone.”

Ferdy yipped again, multifaceted eyes catching the light and turning into a gleaming rainbow. “There was a recent addition to the family, you see,” Victor explained, twisting his fingers together. “Someone whom we like very much, but…well, it’s not right to make it official without seeing how you’ll get along.” He swallowed and turned his head back toward the house. “All right, Alice, let him out!”

There was the creak of a door being opened – and then a beige and white blur shot outside, yapping all the while. Ferdinand barked and bounced away. “Easy, boy!”

The blur ran around Ferdy’s legs, then stopped to sniff at one, revealing itself to be a little dog with big batlike ears, four stumpy paws, and a stubby tail going a mile a minute. Victor scooped him up and held him close, absently tracing over the crooked white streak on the pup’s beige forehead. “Ferdinand – this is Lightning.”

Giant butterfly and tiny dog regarded each other curiously. Then Ferdinand’s proboscis flicked out and swirled the fur on Lightning’s face. Lightning yapped and tried his best to lick him back, tail thudding against Victor’s arm. Victor grinned. “So you like each other?”

The End