Stacey opened her eyes to find that the van was moving. The doctor was drowsing with his head resting against the window and a nurse was nodding away in her seat. Twisting her head, Stacey saw one of her bodyguards in a seat closer to the front of the vehicle. She couldn't see which one but the glimpse of the uniform was enough.
Stacey stared at the program's doctor who had been sent on the long road trip with her. Come to think of it, she didn't even know his name. His name badge swayed from his pocket and she squinted at the words there.
Dr Sun Jin.
So that's what his name was. She wondered if anyone had ever called him Sonny Jim and whether he minded it. There was no way she'd ever ask him. That would be rude. So should she call him Dr Sun or Dr Jin? Which was his family name? Which way round were people's names here and did people habitually address each other by their surnames or first names? Maybe she'd ask him later when he woke up.
Stacey drifted in and out of sleep and only got up to go to the toilet at a rest stop with the nurse's supervision. Otherwise, she only sat up for her meals. Most of the day was spent sleeping. At night, they stopped for the night at a small town to stay at a hotel. The doctor received a phone call from the hospital to tell him the results of tests they had done in the hospital the night before. Stacey didn't remember even being in the hospital.
The doctor made a trip to the local pharmacy and put Stacey on a drip during dinner. While Stacey was eating, the rest of the cavalcade had been out exploring the small town or eating as well. Against everyone else's protests, Imiliana had brought back a grey, stray, long haired dog.
It had the face of a bull terrier, the coat of a deerhound, but the build of a mastiff, with a long rope like tail. Strangely enough, the tail was covered in short hairs. The grey coat was slightly curly, patchy and bald on some places where old battle scars were visible. One of its ears was short and pointed, the other ragged. Just from a glimpse of what lay between the dog's legs, it was a well endowed male. It also stank.
Imiliana burst into Stacey's room in the middle of dinner. Behind her came bristling Huo guards who were trying to stop both her and the dog. When the protests and Imiliana's noisy arguments were brought to Stacey, the grey haired mutt took the effort to ingratiate itself with her. The dog pawed Stacey to pat it and it kept trying to lick her hands and feet. Because of her apprehension toward any animal now that she knew they could be beastmen in disguise, Stacey tried to push the persistent animal away.
Imiliana whined and begged, while the dog jumped and slobbered and barked until Stacey felt herself getting a headache. Stacey tried not to notice how Imiliana surreptitiously took items off Stacey's dinner plate to feed the dog when she thought no one was paying attention. It was fine. She was not angry. Stacey was a very gracious person. She was full anyway.
The dog kept half climbing up Stacey's chair to place a paw on her thigh or between her legs and thrust its nose toward her face. It licked her wherever it could.
"Fine," Stacey gave up, feeling fed up with the noise and mess. "You wash it. You feed it and you look after it. Don't ask anyone else to help you take care of it."
"I'm going to call you Greyjo," Imiliana cooed to the dog, taking it into Stacey's bathroom before anyone could protest. "They agreed to let you stay. Isn't that great?"
Stacey heard Imiliana squealing and giggling in her bathroom for over an hour. There was a lot of banging, splashing and crashing in there. Hopefully the girl wouldn't break anything that they had to pay for. Finally, there was the sound of the hairdryer that covered all the squeals and silly giggling. Stacey couldn't wait for Imiliana to get out of her room and leave her alone. She rubbed her face.
"Seriously," Nurse Redfern said crossly, after the dog's barking and crashing about in the bathroom started again. "Who hired that useless assistant of yours?"
"Somebody's favour," Stacey shrugged, rubbing the space between her eyes. "Or returning favour. Or something like that. She's out for experience. I've been told to ignore her and put up with her until the program is over."
"You must be a saint to be able to put up with so much snark from her," sniffed the nurse. "If I were you, I'd toss her out onto her behind and leave her behind."
"Can't," Stacey said gloomily.
"She's a menace to everyone, including herself. Especially you," Nurse Redfern grumbled. "She's provoking you on purpose. I saw how she pinched you earlier. She even tried to steal your dinner for the dog. Can you believe it? I don't believe you'd be safe on your own with a spoiled, selfish brat like her."
"Hush, she's coming out," Dr Jin shushed.
Imiliana opened the door and the grey dog that didn't look much cleaner, but smelled much better, bolted out to knock over the IV pole, dashing through the room helter skelter. It leaped onto the table, gobbling up the rest of Stacey's dinner. It the jumped on Nurse Redfern, pulling and tearing Nurse Redfern's shirt, so that a few buttons popped off, knocking her over. It stuck it's nose under Nurse Redfern's bra to lick her and then slobbered all over her face.
Nurse Redfern screamed and pushed it off. The dog stuck its nose up her skirt instead.
The bodyguards came in to try and catch the dog or chase it out of the room. The dog leaped onto the table and threw itself at Stacey, knocking her her chair to fall backwards. Ning dove and managed to save Stacey's head from hitting the floor just in time, while the dog pranced on Stacey's chest, drooling and slobbering all over her. Its paws felt lecherous.
Someone finally caught the dog and carried it out by the scruff of the neck, followed by a shouting, begging and complaining Imiliana.
Silence fell at last.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Stacey was helped up toward the bathroom by Ning while Nurse Redfern hurried back to her room to change her damaged shirt. The other bodyguards were helping to clean up the room and someone was walking toward to open door to close it. There was the clicking spatter of running paws and suddenly Greyjo the dog was back. Greyjo squeezed past Stacey into the bathroom, nearly making her lose balance.
Stacey was shoved into the bathroom by Imiliana who was chasing after the dog. The door inadvertently slammed shut in Ning's face courtesy of the cavorting dog. Stacey was pushed head first into the bathtub of dirty bath water. Stacey pulled her head out only to have it thrust back in again by a heavy leaping dog and Imiliana tripping and falling on her.
Imiliana held Stacey's head down while using her to get back up. She gripped a fist full of Stacey's hair.
"Bitch. What are you doing tripping me up for? You're just trying to bully me and control me like everyone else, aren't you?"
Stacey flailed and struggled to lever herself up off the hard bathtub rim. Imiliana let her up out of the water when Stacey thought she was about to drown because she couldn't hold her breath any longer. Greyjo sat beside them quietly, watching with a cocked head and a tongue hanging out. It looked smug, as if it was smirking to itself.
There was a knock on the door.
"Is everything alright in there, my lady?" Ning's voice asked in concern.