"Be right back," David said as he slid out of the booth and gestured towards the side hall and the restrooms. Dead End just nodded. He still had half a mug of incredibly terrible beer and a few questionable battered and deep fried morsels on his plate, though he was sure his time was coming.

This wasn't exactly a romantic date; they didn't exactly do romantic dates. But they went out drinking in terrible bars with terrible bar food and sometimes talked and sometimes just were there with each other and that was all they needed.

The music was terrible and almost too loud, but Dead End had held off on asking David to dance. Nobody else was dancing and, well, what he wanted was his body against David's and the lead-up to everything that would come after.

Yeah they didn't really do romantic dates, but they sure had fun.

Dead End guessed he'd grabbed a piece of cauliflower, fried beyond flavor, but wasn't entirely surprised when it ended up being a mushroom. He'd been close.

The door swung open and Dead End glanced in the direction of the night. Two women, dressed a little too nicely for the place. Straight towards the bar and none of his concern or interest. Though the door didn't close right away; instead it seemed to bounce and Dead End thought he saw something furry dart in.

Was it a stray dog? There were plenty of dogs on the streets these days. But he'd lost it, if it had existed at all, as the lone waitress came circling by.

Weird. Really weird. And then something brushed against his leg.

"Hey, lost puppy?" Dead End questioned as he peeked under the table. A pair of eyes and... well, maybe it wasn't a dog? Maybe it was a sheep? But weren't those white? "You hungry? You like fried... stuff?"

Dead End grabbed a piece of something and held it down. Carefully the dog-sheep sniffed it and then turned up its nose.

"Yeah, I could have chosen better," Dead End admitted, laughing. "I didn't come here for the food. But this isn't a good place to stay, either."

Glancing around, nobody else seemed to have noticed the dog-sheep or that he was having a conversation with it.

"I don't know if you can understand me, but if you can, there's a back door by the can. I'll let you out that way."

Dead End blinked, sure that the dog-sheep had nodded.

He left his jacket in the booth; David would be back any moment and he still had his beer to finish anyway.

Walking quickly, he made a beeline for the restrooms and just as he reached the side hallway, there was a blur of dark fur and the dog-sheep was at his side. In the orange light illuminating which bathroom was which, which only mattered if things weren't too desperate, Dead End really wasn't sure what the animal was. But it was clearly smart and it clearly didn't belong in a place with deep fried questionables and terrible beer.

"Here you go, puppy," Dead End said as he bumped the panic bar on the door and it opened into the alleyway without an alarm going off. "Don't know where you're trying to go, but this wasn't it."

The dog-sheep gave him a little look and then darted out. And even as Dead End heard the telltale squeak of the men's room door behind him, he followed the dog-sheep to see what it would do.

David would figure it out eventually.

As the alleyway door closed, the dog-sheep hopped up on a crate and stared at Dead End.

"So I'm guessing you have an owner we need to find? I bet they're worried sick," Dead End said. He reached to let the dog-sheep sniff his hand and when he'd gotten a little nudge, started petting between those thick, curly horns that confirmed the animal wasn't a dog. It was definitely friendly, or friendly enough. And the more Dead End thought about it, the more he was sure he didn't actually know about every animal that existed.

He glanced towards the end of the alley. The dog-sheep's owner couldn't be too far away. Maybe they'd even be calling.

"Come on, out into the light," he said. "Even if it isn't where we normally belong."

The dog-sheep followed him and then moved to his side. They'd just made it to the street, which wasn't exactly a well-lit main road, when Dead End heard an accented voice calling out.

But instead of darting off, the dog-sheep nudged Dead End.

He laughed and nodded, and accompanied the dog-sheep down the block to where a young man with dark hair, Japanese maybe, was glancing worriedly around.

"T-chan!" he cried when he saw the pair, and the dog-sheep bounded ahead.

"All set?" Dead End asked a moment later as he strolled up to where the man was apparently having a conversation with T-chan.

"He apparently had quite the accidental adventure," the young man said with a little headshake. He paused and, straightening, reached into a hidden pocket in his clothing to pull out a business card.

"My name is Count D; I recently opened a pet shop nearby."

Dead End took the card and flipped it between his fingers.

"Can't really do pets in my line of work, unfortunately."

"Do come by the shop anyway so I can thank you properly? It's the least that T-chan and I can do," Count D countered.

Dead End laughed. He might be able to do that. Especially since it looked like T-chan was now glowering. Cute dog-sheep, or whatever T-chan was.

"Yeah, but get on back to it. This area isn't the best at night and I need to get back to-"

"Dead?"

He turned and waved; yeah, he'd been gone for a bit too long.

"I was just..." Dead End nodded in the direction of Count D and T-chan, but... the sidewalk was empty.

David frowned.

Dead End held up the business card with two red-tipped fingers.

"Let's go get another round," he said as he slipped under David's arm. "Do I ever have a story for you..."