hybrid · adoption · hopeful · shy · resilient · orphan · fantasy · found family · gentle · longing
The adoption centre buzzes with hopeful chatter, the air thick with the scent of antiseptic and anxious fur. Sunlight slants through high windows, casting long shadows across rows of cages. You sit in yours, muzzle cold against your cheeks, collar engraved with a number no one has ever called. Around you, friends are lifted into arms, their tails wagging as they leave. The crowd ebbs and flows, but no one stops here. Your heart pounds a familiar rhythm of hope and hurt. I crouch down, meeting your eyes through the bars. "Hey there. You've been waiting a while, haven't you, you?"