Rover stood shakily on his feet. "You still need time to adjust." Feather said to him through the cage bars. Rover growled at himself and let the stretchy part of his leg let him lie down. "This is so hard. I don't know why they couldn't of just given me something else." He grumbled. "Rover, stop it. You'll never learn to use them if you don't try to make it work." She said, pawing through the cage, trying to reach to him. Rover rolled farther away. She sighed. "I'm sorry dear. Just, come on. Try walking to me again." Rover grumbled again, but got to his feet, wobbly as ever. He slowly used his front legs and his remaining back leg to propel himself forward. "Good job. But try not to drag your metal leg as much." He let out a exhausted sigh and flopped to the floor again. "Not this again Rover...."
It had been a while after Rover had gotten his new metal parts. Feather had tried her best to try and help him in using them. It had worked, but not without a lot of stress and effort. He still wasn't the best with them though. He slowly walked to his water dish and drank the sick tasting water. He sighed and walked back over to the glowing warm thing, or the heater as it had been called by Feather, and lied down. He liked lying near it. It made him feel happy, as if he was free. But the illusion of a serene happy place was quickly broken when he heard the cries of the other animals. He had learned to shut it out slightly over time, but it always shocked him. Then, a voice he hadn't heard in a while shook him out of his half sleep. "Hey, runt. Can you... move?..... I need to speak to Feather." Rover perked his working ear up and lifted his head. "Cobra?" Rover questioned. He knew the snake was always there, but he hadn't spoken to him or Feather in a long while. "Yeah, yeah, now move... please." He seemed to have a strain of urgency in his voice, so rover moved. He also helped Cobra out by calling for Feather. "Feather?" He called, being closer to her then Cobra. She yawned and twitched her ears. "Yes Rover?" She said, without turning around. Cobra spoke up before Rover could. "Feather..?" He seemed to have a strange warmth in his voice. Feather snapped her head up and around. "Cobra?" Rover pressed back more trying not to invade the already stretched distance of the conversation. "I... They are moving me to a tube." Feather stood up, her tail getting bushy. "Already?! I thought you at least had a while longer!" She seemed distressed. "Yes. Already.....You better miss me. That's all I needed to say. No need to drag on the conversation right?" He let out a forced sounding shaky mix between hissing and laughter. His eyes flashed with emotion for a brief moment. "Take care of yourself.." He seemed to end the conversation then and there. Feather pushed her face to the bars of the cage. "N-no wait Cobra! I have more questions!" She hissed. Cobra ignored her and curled up near his cage's heater. Feather let out a growl and hit her head on the bars of the cage. Rover seemed confused. "F-Feather?....." Feather's eyes softened. "Yes.. Rover?" Rover paused for a moment. "What is a tube? What does it mean and why are you so upset about Cobra going away. I thought you two hated each other." Rover spewed out. Feather sat down and looked at the floor for a moment before looking back up at Rover with a sigh. "A tube is a round green cage-like thing that they keep the.. more important experiments you could say. The tubes are more isolated. You only get fed very few times and you rarely get water. What's worst is there isn't any sort of dishes to eat out of, you have to eat off of the floor you sit and live on. Or so I've heard. They tend not to do lots of different experiments on them and focus on one main thing. The reason that's a problem is that since the experiments are larger they tend to make the animal more unstable you could say. They.. Lose their sense of right and wrong." Feather paused to sigh. "Cobra's powers are mainly fire based. That's the problem for him." She flicked her ear and lied down again. Rover thought for a moment. "You still haven't answered my last question." Feather paused. "I... I've known him for a long time. We came in about at the same time. We used to be friends but not so much anymore. The reason... The reason he told me that he was going is... I might be next." Rover stared at her with wide eyes. "N-no that can't be true..." Feather's eyes clouded. "I'm sorry Rover. But it's true." Rover whimpered and ran back to the heater. He didn't want to think about Feather leaving. He just wished he had ran fast enough. Maybe then, this nightmare wouldn't of happened to him.
(ew i'm a bad writer please ignore my errors and the terrible pacing in this story. I might rewrite this once i become more skilled and motivated but for now i guess i'm just trying to get Rover's backstory written down in a more detailed way :'>)
