---Back On Penelope's Earth---
Penelope was driving back from the eventful meeting with Arthur, she could feel her lips were still warm from his kiss, then she quickly became confused and conflicted. Not about the whole thing with Arthur and his family having animal souls as well as having their own human race... But the fact she allowed a stranger to get so close to her so quickly, she'd kissed him.
"OH MY GOD I KISSED HIM!" Penelope suddenly shouted out loud as she gripped the steering wheel tighter.
She always prided herself on being a sensible and respected young woman, not letting anyone get close to her too quickly, more so on the love life front. Penelope never kissed on the first date, never had sex until she had been in a relationship longer than two months (but this was yet to happen), and never been obviously turned on by a man.
Arthur had already ticked off two of the three things on the list, Penelope has only met him briefly the first time and just five minutes ago at the pub, not even spending the whole day together, just a little in the afternoon. She then, realising this, started to feel bad about herself.
"You are nothing other than a whore" She whispered to herself angrily, "You were too easy, stupid stupid woman".
Penelope arrived back at her cottage, opening the door with her arms extended ready for Hardy to jump up at her, and he did.
"Hello my beautiful boy" Penelope picked up Hardy with a grumble and kicked the door closed with her foot, "How are you doing?" She put him back down and rubbed his head.
"Woof" Hardy responded.
"Would you like some foodies?" She said in a high-pitched voice.
"Woof" He responded loudly, meaning yes.
Penelope got his food out of the fridge, put it in his bowl alongside some fresh water outside, and sat with him in the garden. She was sat on the grass for a change, laying back, Penelope began to relax, until she had another thought... 'God I'm so horny now, it's his fault' She thought, suddenly letting out a loud laugh, making Hardy look up from his bowl briefly, then lowering his head back down.
'He know's I would, he knew how I felt down there... Wait how the fuck did he know? Was I moving my legs suggestively? Could he see I was wet?' She raised her head slightly to look at the front of her dress. 'Nothing' she thought to herself, 'how on Earth did he know?' Penelope's thoughts turned to something different this time.
"Oh my god he's magic" Penelope said out loud in disbelief.
"He healed my hands, he healed my hands HE HEALED MY HANDS HE DID I'M NOT CRAZY!" She stood up quickily and jumped up and down, "I'M NOT CRAZY".
Hardy looked up from his bowl again to look up Penelope as if to say 'you are crazy' but he did truly love his owner, so he resumed eating.
After she had her little moment, she decided to bring her laptop outside and place it on the garden table, after making a cup of tea of course. She placed her items down and sat on the garden chair, starting up her laptop, Penelope sipped her tea as she thought to herself. 'So what human subdivision did he say he was..?' This is something she could not remember, she tried for a good half an hour to remember what term he used, but she just forgot, it was a complicated name after all!
"His soul is..." Due to being a Palaeontologist and needing to use Latin terminology on a regular basis, Penelope remembered that Arthur used a Latin term for his particular animal soul, the only problem being is that she didn't know the whole Latin language, hence the laptop.
"Um um um" She was trying to remember what Arthur said, out loud, Hardy thanking god he had finished eating (random repetative noises irritated him) so he walked back inside through the doggy door. 'What did he say bugger?' Penelope thought through and shook her head trying to remember what he said.
"PICUM" She suddenly shouted, causing Hardy to run back outside to she what was happening.
Seeing how much Hardy was startled, Penelope apologised to him.
"Oh I'm sorry my boy sorry I'm ok" Penelope patted the chair next to her for Hardy to jump up and sit in, of course he happoly obiliged
"Sorry Hardy" She whispered to him and stroked his ear gently.
Penelope had remembered what Arthur called his soul, Picum, so Penelope typed it in to the search bar and waited for it to load. She had taken a sip of tea, and before she swallowed, the result came on the screen...
Woodpecker.
Penelope automaticially spat out her tea right onto her laptop screen.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" She shouted out loud.
Hardy watched his owner, well, freak out, just as Arthur said not to.
"OH MY GOD IT ALL MAKES SENSE" She shouted again, she stood up and used her dress to wipe her laptop dry.
'The woodpecker, that odd woodpecker that's been following me for ages, I wasn't wrong, I wasn't crazy I was right' Penelope wondered over it in her head. She sat back down, and out of curiosity, looked up what having a woodpecker soul means to her human race. She couldn't help but smile...
'Fiercely loving others, strongly committed and wanting validation and mutual emotions from your loved ones... Woah' Penelope's heart raced at this description, until she had an alarming thought at the back of her mind. 'Hang on I saw that woodpecker the morning I went to work and met Arthur in the field, surely that wasn't him too'.
But she had realised shortly after this thought the woodpecker was unusual, like the woodpecker that had been following her, who she now thought was Arthur (she was clearly correct). 'How did he know where I lived before that?' She wondered. Penelope only went to work and went home, not going anywhere really, she started the new field work close to her house the same day they met. 'I wonder if he's been waiting for a while to talk to me' and 'I wonder how he knew where I was', then finally, the conclusion to all her thoughts... 'Was that his voice I heard in my car that morning?!' This mystery, the potentially solved scenario, sent Penelope into an impatient spiral. 'I need to message him, I need answers!' She was determined to get to the bottom of it.
Penelope had put the napkin Arthur wrote his number on in her handbag, so she ran back inside to rustle through her handbag to find the number, bringing it outside and sitting down preparing her message to him. 'Friendly casual' she'd thought, she didn't want to be too pushy as he told her some much about hinself, but she did need answers, preferably straight away. Penelope then decided what she wanted to write...
Text reads -- Hey Arthur, it's Pennie here, thought I'd check if you gave me your real number or not ;) Seriously though if it is you, I really enjoyed us getting to know each other today and I was wondering if maybe if you are not busy tomorrow we could maybe spend some time together, if you would like? Don't worry if not, let me know :).
The text that made her heart beat a million times a second was sent, all she needed now was a reply...