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It's early in the morning, the sky is clear and it's a perfect day to be taking a walk in the park. The elderly professor is walking along his usual route, clutching a bag in his hand. Lovey-Dove lets out a soft coo, launching herself from her owner's head. flapping her wings. He comes to a stop, watching her as she soars far above him.
"Nice to stretch your wings, eh, Lovey Dove?" he remarks. Whenever he takes her out, the pigeon always seems so happy to take to the sky and stretch her wings. Surely, it's far nicer for her than being stuck in a building? In spite of that, she always comes back to him. Not that he minds in the least. She's been with him long enough now that it would feel strange to not have her familiar weight sitting comfortably upon his head. Also, he feels he would quite miss her if she was no longer around. Over the years, he has come to deeply appreciate her companionship. His lips lift at the corner, fondness shining in his eyes.
Continuing on his way, he walks through the park, listening to the distant trills of birdsong, with Lovey-Dove staying close, flying around in circles. Reaching a bench, he takes a seat and places the bag in his lap. The paper crinkles as he unrolls the top.
"Well then," he murmurs, reaching up to push back the glasses sitting precariously upon his nose. "I wonder if the pigeons fancy a meal?" Feeling a weight settle upon his head, accompanied by a soft coo, he speaks again. "Yes, of course, Lovey-Dove, there's enough for you too. Now then." Reaching into the bag, he gathers up fistfuls of bird feed and hurls the seeds over the ground. Lovey-Dove is immediately off his head, flying toward the food. "Honestly, it's not like you didn't already have food at home," he murmurs, his mouth turning up in a wry smile.
It doesn't take long before another pigeon ventures in, followed by another. Soon enough, several of them are gathered together, cooing loudly as they peck at the food, flapping their wings and stumbling around as even more food rains down upon them.
"There you go." The professor watches on with a gentle smile. "Plenty of food for you all."
After several minutes of watching the birds eat and occasionally throwing more food toward them, there's a sharp bark from close by. The birds flap their wings and make frantic cooing noises as they take to the sky, Lovey-Dove flaps around in circles, beating her wings furiously.
"Hm?" He has just enough time to turn his head and notice the moving orange blur out the corner of his eye before he's suddenly set upon by some fuzzy bundle of fur with four legs. "What the devil?!" The bag falls to the floor as the befuddled old man tries to defend himself against this dog that is all over him, wagging its tail so fast that it's a mere blur, covering him with licks. "Just what is this?"
Since when did dogs just go randomly jumping all over people and licking them? It's bizarre. Sure, some dogs are friendly, but they don't typically go this far. It's almost like this dog knows him, but he's pretty sure he's never seen it in his life. Poor Lovey-Dove is still cooing frantically somewhere, no doubt terrified by the strange animal that has just invaded their territory.
"Missile! No, Missile, what do you think you're doing?!"
Ah. A saviour. Thank goodness. No, wait, rather than saviour, isn't she the whole reason this is happening to him? A red headed woman wearing a yellow coat is now pulling the dog off of him, looking quite flustered as she does so. "I'm so sorry! Missile, you can't just jump on people like that!"
"Well." After wiping his face with his coat sleeve, he exhales loudly, fixing her with a pointed stare. "If I might give some advice, miss, perhaps you would do well to keep that creature on a leash in future. It seems your dog is quite a rambunctious and overly friendly fellow. Never before have I been set upon by a dog like that. Though... I suppose it could have been worse."
"I don't know what in the world got into him!" the young woman exclaims, holding the furiously wriggling Pomeranian in her arms. "He's not usually like this, although... now that I think about it... there have been times where he almost seemed too happy when meeting new people. But then again, he's a Pomeranian. Maybe that's normal for their breed?"
"Hmm, I'm really not sure that's normal for any dog." The statement is made with a raised eyebrow. "I swear, your dog was acting like I was an old friend he hadn't seen in years. That goes well beyond being friendly."
"Yeah, I know. It's definitely not the first time he's freaked out like this, but it doesn't happen that often." Setting the dog down, she speaks in a sharp voice. "Behave yourself, Missile."
Staring at the dog for a moment, the professor decides it is now safe and gestures for Lovey-Dove to return. The bird settles upon his head, letting out a soft coo. Missile approaches them, more calmly this time, and rears up with a soft bark, wagging his tail. He could swear that the dog seems to not be looking at him but the bird perched upon his head this time. What a curious creature indeed. Well, as long as he's not a threat to Lovey-Dove, it's all fine.
"Well, I'll say as much, he's a cute fellow." He probably should be quite irate with this dog for interrupting the pigeons' feeding time, but it's getting harder and harder to be, the longer he looks at the dog's face. "I'm sure he's quite the tearaway."
"Oh, you don't know half of it." She makes an exasperated noise. "Is that bird your pet?"
"Sure is. Her name's Lovey-Dove."
"Huh." A look of wonderment passes over her face. "Never seen someone wear a bird on their head before. Sorry about him scaring her."
"She's fine now." Holding his hand up for Lovey-Dove to hop down, he lowers her toward his lap. "There we go. You're alright now, aren't you, Lovey-Dove?"
Lovey-Dove coos softly, cautiously holding out her head. Missile leans in, giving her an eager sniff as he wags his tail.
"She seems like a sweet little bird." She reaches out, gently stroking her head with a finger. Straightening, she looks at the scene, taking in the sight of the fallen bag and the seeds scattered over the ground. "It looks like I interrupted you feeding the birds. Really, I'm so sorry about that."
He gives an exasperated sigh. "I heard you the first time, young lady. You really don't have to keep apologising."
"Sorry, er, oops. Haha, I did it again, huh? Well, I suppose that Missile and I should be going then. We'll let you get back to it."
Missile responds with a soft whine, lowering his ears.
"Oh, come on, Missile, what's with you all of a sudden?"
Looking at the dog, then back at the woman in bemusement, his gaze is drawn to the badge pinned to her coat. "Hmm, wait a minute."
"Huh? What is it?" Her eyes widen slightly.
"Oh. That badge. It just reminded me..." His mind flashes back to that one time, walking around the station with a cup of coffee, keen to spend his time with a living, breathing person for a change. Sometimes, it did get to be a bit much, cooped up in a room with a corpse and he fancied a change. Seeking out Jowd, he had found him at his desk, humming with a smile on his face as he snipped away at cardboard. In front of him were a pile of cardboard scraps, that he learned were supposed to be badges. Was he still making them to this day?
"Oh, my badge?" Her face lights up. "That's right, I'm a detective!"
"Seriously? Surely Jowd hasn't got the entire precinct handing out his badges?" Just what was the world coming to? Had it gotten to the point where they were cutting costs and actually using those badges in place of real ones? He slowly shook his head, trying to make sense of it all.
"Oh, no, I was given this a long time ago. Wait, so you know Detective Jowd?" She sits down on the bench.
"That's right. We've worked on a few cases together. Matter of fact, I'm a medical examiner." Ah, so there's a connection after all. Interesting. It still does not explain how this dog can possibly seem to know him.
"Wait, really? I had no idea... I... haven't even been given a murder case yet. Not that that's a bad thing or anything! I'm not sitting around thinking 'I wish someone could get murdered so I can finally get a murder case', I swear!"
He stares at her, lost for words.
"Oh, er, I guess I said something pretty weird just now, didn't I?"
"I'm... going to pretend that I didn't hear that. Anyway, could you be that young lady Jowd brings up now and then? What was your name... Lynne, right?"
"That's right!" Lynne's face brightens. "Detective Jowd is my hero. You know that he saved me?" Her expression fades as she thinks back. "It was ten years ago, when I was taken hostage while in my favourite park."
"Taken hostage..." he repeats, his brow furrowing. Thinking back, he recalls an incident, that definitely took place around a decade ago. It had involved a girl being taken hostage in a park. Fortunately, things had been resolved more or less peacefully, though Jowd had suffered an injured knee, and the man responsible for taking a child hostage had ended up in hospital, but it could have been much worse. Actually, wasn't that around the time Jowd had started acting a bit odd? Something had definitely been off about him since that day. "That's right, I remember now. He took you under his wing after that. So you're a detective now, eh?"
"Yeah. I passed the detective's exam back in the winter. Ever since that day, I just knew it was my destiny to become one, and I finally did it."
"I see." He gazes at her, taking in the sight of her beaming face. She looks so happy talking about her profession. Jowd must be feeling quite proud himself, seeing his young protege climb the ranks. Will she one day become a notable detective just like him? Well, it's early days yet, but with Jowd coaching her, perhaps she'll be fine. "Anyway, how is Jowd doing? Perhaps I should give him a call sometime."
"Oh, he's doing fine. I even went over to his place last night, with Missile too. He absolutely insists on coming along. He's really taken to Kamila."
"Kamila... oh, right, his daughter, yes?" Seeing Lynne nod, he glances at the dog. "Did he jump all over her too, then?"
"Er. Yeah, actually." Lynne lets out a short laugh. "Bowled her over even. He's just such a friendly dog. In fact, he even gets along really well with Sissel too. Strange, isn't it? I mean, they say cats and dogs don't get along well, but that's obviously not true for those two."
"Hmm."
"Sissel's a bit of a mystery himself, even." Lynne put a finger to her chin, tilting her head. "Actually, I'd say he's the greatest mystery of all. I mean, how can a cat stay a kitten for ten years?"
"You what?" He regards her with astonishment.
"I know, right? Kamila says he's a very special cat, but it's so weird. And he was even there at the park ten years ago. I picked him up and the poor little thing was unconscious. Detective Jowd took him home, and he's never even aged a day. Isn't that just so weird? Did he never tell you?"
He slowly shakes his head. "Not at all. How curious." Raising his head to gaze at the sky, he watches the birds fly past, remaining silent for a minute. "What an interesting mystery we have here."
"It is, isn't it?" Lynne puts a hand to her cheek. She meets the Pomeranian's eyes. "Wouldn't it be crazy if Missile actually knew something?"
Missile gives a short bark, thumping his tail on the ground.
"Too bad we can't actually talk to him, huh?" Lynne chuckles.
"Yeah, right. Like that could even be possible." The professor looks at Missile, his brow furrowing. It's all so curious. Jowd's definitely got his secrets. Then there's the cat that never ages, and an absurdly friendly dog, who belongs to the very girl Jowd saved ten years ago, in that park. Maybe there's a connection there. Of course, he could try asking Jowd. but wouldn't it be more interesting to figure it out himself first? "Which park was it again?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean where Detective Jowd and I met? It was Temsik Park."
Missile gets to his feet, barking excitedly as he wags his tail over his back.
"What's that, little dog? Are you telling me I should go to Temsik Park?"
Missile rears up, responding with a joyful bark.
"Missile?" Lynne looks at him in wonderment. "What in the world... I've never taken him to Temsik Park. Why would he even..."
"Hmm, most curious indeed. It's almost as if he's telling me to go out and solve this mystery myself." Looking thoughtfully at the dog, he exhales with a bemused smile. "Well, why not. I have plenty of free time and I do like a good mystery now and then."
"I'll leave that one to you. It's all so very mysterious, and I'd love to know, but I have a feeling I'll probably find out when the time is right. In the meantime, I've got other mysteries to chase." Lynne rises from the bench. "Perhaps we'll see each other around?"
"I imagine we may." He nods at her. "You have a good day, now."
Watching Lynne disappear into the distance with dog in tow, the professor exhales. "Well, quite the morning we're having so far, eh, Lovey-Dove?" His gaze falls upon the scattered birdseed. A bird has already flown down and began pecking away. Lovey-Dove coos softly. "Right, I suppose we should be thinking about getting home. I've got a lot of thinking to do." Picking up the bag, he gets to his feet and begins the journey back home, his brow furrowed. “Hmm. I wonder what Jowd is hiding behind that beard of his.”