[i]Welcome back to Chapter 5 of Green Grove! With the newest piece of art ready to go it's time to post! This story is an example of what I offer to the highest level contributor on my Patreon page, found here: https://www.patreon.com/comidacomida

Green Grove is a story that, at its most basic level is about the difference between age and appearance. It will contain mature components and some adult content including sex (all adults-- some more consenting than others). Due to this contrast there will be some chapters marked as adult. This story was prepared for Spinyfur with art provided by the amazing Savannah Horrocks. You can find her website here:

www.savannahhorrocks.com

Many/most of the characters in Green Grove are the property of Spinyfur as this is a commission story but I have filled out sections of it with contributions of my own; there are also a few characters that were contributed by Wolfsinn.

And now: Chapter 5.[/i]

Green Grove
Willful Overtime

Green Grove was the finest private establishment job Lhoton had ever held. After his parents had given him over as a ward to the public schools he had been marked as a 'troublemaker' and taken out of the traditional system. From there he was presented to an alternate learning institution that focused less on intellectual development and more on making use of his natural tendencies towards physical solutions to problems. It was a 'special program' designed specifically for the more in-your-face breeds. The school had a reputation for molding its most promising recruits for military service in the WSA's elite forces; with the ECC war in the Central Occupation Zone in full swing the government was more than happy enough for any new recruit.

He turned out to be one of the most gifted his class had to offer and he became a stunning success story for the program. During his time at the facility the ECC war came to an end thus the open call for military recruits was finished-- less of the graduates were handed off to become soldiers. Although Lhoton wasn't interested in military service that meant there was a chance that his developed talents could have ended up getting wasted on a second-rate guard job. Having even less interest in being a civilian soldier with a gun (police) or without one (private security) Lhoton jumped at option three and went to Boxhallow Academy because it paid more, moved him up to a higher social class, and was a lot easier than handling unruly bully boys.

It was there that Lhoton first learned about Toy Dogs and the high profile market of 'Pet Children'. Slavery was illegal and had been in the ECC a full two decades before it was outlawed in the WSA-- nearly 200 years before Lhoton was born... yet the Toy Dog society did an incredibly good job of distancing itself from what was traditionally known as ownership of an otherwise independent being... and it did so with that exact verbiage: Toy Dogs were not considered capable of independence in a world far too large for them to navigate without help. He found a strange similarity between their existence and what he'd gone through learning to be the perfect 'Guard Dog'.

The entire system had left a lingering bad taste but he'd needed the money and his task was simple enough: he had to keep the peace at the school and keep his muzzle shut about anything that would cause public outcry or social backlash. His job, as it turned out was as much about covering things up as it was about staying quiet. He wasn't supposed to stop the wrongdoings; he was supposed to help management cover them up... and that led to a 'disagreement'. From there it was less than two weeks before he was 'made redundant'. Unwilling to be swept under the rug and forgotten he took the next obvious step: he exposed EVERYTHING to the ECC aristocracy.

The administration at the academy had gone as far as to make certain he received death threats to keep him from testifying but there was little they could do once his mind was made up: Terriers rarely let go of anything they bit into and the same was true for Lhoton and trouble... and he caused a LOT of it. By the time his presentation was done to the ruling party (many of whom were clients) the aristocrats threw the book at the administration and dismantled the entire academy before it became a public debacle. Between a few substantiated stories about malnutrition and abuse and some unsubstantiated rumors about mass burials of less desirable students Boxhollow was done. It was nearly the end for the Toy Dog society yet they proved very resilient... and also forgiving.

While Lhoton had expected to be blackballed from any future 'discretion required' position he was surprised less than two weeks after the dust had settled by an invitation with an open position offered by Green Grove, the only Toy Dog school outside of the ECC and therefore one of the few still operating without heavy sanctions. He had little interest in pursuing any future job in the field but he was surprised three days later when a private car pulled up in front of his run down flat. Despite his hesitance in becoming involved in the Toy Dog industry again he had a hard time turning down the president of the school, who had come in person to see him.

The President, Mr. Sopus was a surprisingly normal, almost pleasant middle-aged Beagle who had apparently been monitoring the dismantling of Boxhollow and had learned of Lhoton's involvement. Even though the Terrier was mere weeks away from eviction for nonpayment of rent and had scarcely two bill notes to his name he had been ready to turn down the job until he learned that Mr. Sopus wanted him SPECIFICALLY because he had been the Dog to speak out against the atrocities in the Toy Dog trade happening at the academy.

According to the Beagle HIS school was above all of that and if such things were discovered by Lhoton then he would be praised rather than swept under the rug. The genuine nature of the Beagle's words combined with Lhoton's monetary situation created the perfect storm for his acceptance of the position. The thought of the improvement to his social status the job carried was less of a concern but he would have fooled himself to think that it didn't factor in; there was something valuable about a job with status for a low born Dog.

He rose quickly through the ranks of supervision staff (Green Grove's term for security) and eventually was transferred to their Corrective Trainer program. The staff had noticed his capabilities with controlling the most unruly 'puppies' and he aced the training program, taking half the time most other CTs needed to gain their position. From there Lhoton became one of their primary trainers in less than a year. Despite the prestige he was awarded by the administration and (begrudging) respect of his peers the Terrier didn't bother deluding himself; he realized what Green Grove was and what it meant for its 'valued students' but he was able to spend most days also reminding himself that it was just a job.

Thankfully the Terrier's experience at Green Grove had been much more positive than at Boxhollow Academy... mostly because Mr. Sopus had been generally truthful about the quality of care provided to its students. While he didn't approve of the Toy Dog trade he did realize why Green Grove was so important: if a Toy Dog failed to act appropriate there were few alternatives that didn't result in complete and utter meltdown for them. He hated to admit it but the world was not made for Toy Dogs and that meant his only chance to help was to find a way to make sure they acclimated to their place in it. At least he was reassured that Green Grove wouldn't abuse them in the ways he'd seen at Boxhollow... most of the time.

In the years he'd worked at Green Grove he'd encountered an occasional 'problem'. While the issue was always swept under the rug he was at least pleased to see that those responsible were made to pay for their wrongdoings. Back at Boxhollow he'd seen multiple cases of staff taking advantage of the students sexually; it was a common enough practice that the small Dogs who were so used had even earned the nick name of 'Squeaky Toys'. The Terrier scowled just thinking about it... but it wasn't the only reason he had to scowl.

He was a cut above most other Dogs in the CT program in terms of holding himself to a professional standard and being confident in himself. True, he found himself generally annoyed at things though he'd made it a point to master that frustration into something useful. Because of that he'd been appointed to oversee Corrective Training problem cases and found his tactic of wearing down their resistance like an endurance match. It had been done to him during his training and it had done wonders; he had no reason to think that treating Toy Dogs should have been handled any differently and his success cases proved that his methods worked.

Lhoton had ended up staying several hours after his shift had ended which meant that he didn't have time to go home before his plane left. While most of the CTs split the moment the work clock hit the top of the hour before a vacation Lhoton had been forced to deal with a last-minute enrollment; as a senior CT he was the administration's first choice when it came to such 'special cases'. He quickly smoothed out his fur in the mirror before folding up his work uniform and stuffing it into his duffle bag. From there he put on a shirt and jeans before gathering up the rest of his gear and heading for the exit.

The Terrier hated changing in Green Grove's employee locker rooms for any number of reasons but the most disturbing was also one of the most common: some of the more perverted CTs liked to beat off to dirty thoughts about their 'favorite students' and usually didn't bother cleaning up after themselves. It was even more awkward to walk in on one mid-paw. There was no doubt what they were fantasizing about; pornographic material wasn't allowed in the school but some of the more tasteless CTs had plenty of eye candy during their shifts. Lhoton wasn't oblivious to the fact that there were doubtlessly Squeaky Toys at Green Grove but he didn't have to like it and he made it a point to uncover inappropriate handlers every chance he got.

The big Dog lingered at the last bench in the locker room as he passed it; he'd learned to hate that bench. While Green Grove had a convoluted administration system with multiple supervisors and senior employees as one of the elite CTs of the school Lhoton only had one direct supervisor, and that was Dyle Levrier. As far as Salukis went Dyle was jointly the best and worst of them. The majority of Saluki families remained in the ECC or parts further east and were so aristocratic that it hurt to hear them speak but those that did make their way across the ocean usually did so because they'd been ostracized from their families or were black sheep.

Lhoton didn't know what the case was with Dyle's family but the Saluki was a 3rd generation transplant so it wasn't really worth asking-- especially since most interactions with him ended up with the Saluki trying to get into his pants. The Terrier wished he wouldn't have given the damn horn dog a reason to pursue him but the Saluki's interest stemmed from two events in which Lhoton had needed a 'favor'. The professional in him would never have stood for offering sexual favors in exchange for any self advancement but neither time was for his benefit; there were certain things he wouldn't stand among the student body and there were certain lengths he'd go to if it meant that those issues were resolved-- Dyle made those happen.

Neither of the two encounters with the Saluki had been horrible; being all but married to his job Lhoton didn't exactly have a chance to date and he was even able to get off the second time but Dyle certainly didn't seem to mind riding him like a horse and it was obvious that the smaller Dog enjoyed himself both times-- much to Lhoton's great displeasure at having his chest and neck bathed in Dyle's fluids. Perhaps he might have enjoyed himself more if he had any interest in males but fortunately he got some small amount of revenge on the administrator when Dyle had asked after their second arrangement "So... you enjoyed me, did you?"

Despite never having had sex with another male before Dyle Lhoton had carefully measured his response to make the Saluki wonder. "Out of all the times I've slept with a guy? Yea... I guess you do rank pretty high up there."

Being unable to get answers about the other Dog's questions about other partners meant that Dyle was driven insane with curiosity and Lhoton was willing to call that a win. The one thing about Dyle was that he was predictable which meant that his ongoing flirtatious and obvious nature was less annoying than the much more subtle Wyesinn... and that was mostly because Lhoton had a hard time trying to figure the Fox out-- or even if he WAS flirting; a gentle touch here, a soft smile there, and an overtly friendly wink SHOULD have been enough to confirm it, and yet in Wyesinn's case it still wasn't enough to be sure.

Rumors had circulated about the doctor being gay ever since Lhoton had started (a few months after Wyesinn had). Some of the long-time staff suggested that the Fox had been having affairs with several of the temporary interns that came and went from the medical services but no one has ever directly confronted him about it. The truth was that Lhoton doubted the rumors since he'd heard that anyone that has tried to actually make a pass at the Vulpine has been politely denied. The Terrier hadn't even ever heard of the Fox leaving campus; the administration gave him a small dorm no larger than any of the temporary housing assigned to resident staff during their stay and Wyesinn somehow made it work.

Snorting, Lhoton finally pushed his way out of the locker room and pushed the thoughts from his mind at the same time; he was technically on vacation which meant he was done with work and work activities-- ESPECIALLY work activities that involved frustratingly sexual predators like Dyle or confusingly frustrating uncertainties such as Wyesinn. The smile of a Dog with a week of freedom on his paws was JUST finding its way to Lhotton's muzzle when he heard the scream of a little pup, followed by a powerful caterwauling-- the kind his trained ear identified as one that could only have been caused by a playground injury.

Out of all the places Lhoton spent his time on the clock very little of it was related to what the employees of Green Grove affectionately referred to as 'The Doll House'. Designated as the Quality Training Program (or QT, pronounced 'cutie', much to the Terrier's chagrin), the Doll House was the area least in need of a Corrective Trainer. The vast majority of the pups enrolled in the QT Program were the ideal kind of Toy Dogs most adoptive parents expected when they adopted ('bought' was a more realistic verb in Lhoton's mind but management didn't like that kind of language) their little bundle of joy (aka: future family trouble).

Since Lhoton's job had him working with the worst of the worst students he rarely had a reason to be anywhere near the Doll House, except it was at the front of the school and between the locker room and the employee entrance. His particular route, in fact, brought him through the small playground the Doll House had in its open courtyard and it was there he encountered the origin of the disruption. A Klee-Kai pup had taken a spill and the little girl was bawling huge tears as she held her leg. The Terrier let out a deep breath and approached.

In the scheme of things Lhoton knew that the consumer market for Toy Dogs changed taste every four or five years and the Klee-Kai was a relatively new addition to the shops; Green Grove only had arrangements with a single breeder and there were only two Klee Kai students enrolled at the school so the CT already knew with whom he was dealing. Lhoton didn't generally interact with either of the two Klee-Kai students; Karin was an honest-to-goodness pup about eight years old and not in need of his 'special kind of training' while her (much) older 'sister' Kandy was a professional student.

The former lived in the Doll House and was pampered in luxury and shown off as an amazing testament to Green Grove's custom learning environment while the latter was more a member of the staff than an actual participant in any program; Kandy was almost 30 and served as an example for the students who needed a role model for proper behavior. Considering he was in the Doll House and the little pup was crying crocodile tears over a 'boo-boo' he knew exactly who she was. Clearing his throat, the huge Dog had to try his best to remove the gruffness from his voice before taking a step closer to address her in a professional tone. "Okay... So... what's happened here then, Miss Karin?"

The little pup looked up at him, cheek fur wet as she blinked fresh tears out of her eyes. "I... I..."

Lhoton let out a breath and took a step closer. "You what?"

She looked away, still holding her knee. "I fell off the climby bars..."

The Terrier looked at the jungle gym next to her, needing no further explanation. Although he was able to reconstruct the event in his mind and was easily able to tell from the abrasion on Karin's knee that her injury wasn't severe he knew that nothing was resolved for a puppy unless they were suitably heard. "What did you hurt?"

Dialogue was also good for getting them to stop crying... audibly, at least. The Klee Kai snuffled, wiping at one of her eyes with the sleeve of her school uniform (one of the eye-achingly pink frilled dresses assigned to the students in the Doll House). Her tail tucked a little more as she looked up at him plaintively. "I hurt my knee."

Gritting his teeth uncomfortably, Lhoton took a step closer and went down to one knee. Despite the fact that he still towered over her the Terrier had been reassured many times that it was far more comforting to a pup to kneel down next to them; what he knew for SURE was that the same posture was a great way to antagonize any Toy Dog in their teens. Strangely enough he was surprised when Karin actually looked a little happier about having him down on the ground next to her. He wasn't really sure what to say next so he bluffed his way through the interaction. "Do you think it's gonna fall off?"

Her eyes went super wide at that, ears rising to the top of her head as she gasped. Karin pulled her injured leg even closer to her body. "I don'wannito!"

Lhoton had always been good at being gruff but compassion was something he often had to fight toward displaying. Clearing his throat again the big Dog searched the ground with his eyes next to the pup for any indication of the best way to go. He remembered something he heard one of his coworkers say about her own pups. Rhona was matronly (and built) in the way a brick house was 'stalwart' but apparently she had pups who loved her so he thought back to her comment about kisses fixing everything. The Terrier fought to make his next question come out as if it were a natural conversation. "You know... I heard kisses... uh.... fix everything...?"

Karin's ears relaxed slightly as she looked up at him. "They do? Even an ouchie?"

Surprised he was able to get away with the strange little charade so easily the big Terrier nodded, reaching down to rest a paw almost the size of the pup's head in what he hoped was a comforting way on her shoulder. "If you have an 'ouchie' we should probably take you to the H.O., Ms. Karin."

She looked at him blankly. "The H.O.?"

The CT cursed himself in his head before he hid his grimace with a smile. "The Nurse."

In the Corrective Education portion of Green Grove the 'Nurse' was the term the staff used for students who were being given certain 'procedures' and the actual center for healing was the Health Office, or 'H.O.' for short. Obviously Karin wouldn't have understood the abbreviation because in the Doll house the Nurse was a caring, pleasant, here's-a-lollypop kind of person. The pup nodded vigorously right until Lhoton reached out to pick her up. "Wait! Waitwaitwait! I don't want my leg to fall off!"

The CT sighed, realizing that he was bordering on being late for his trip and his own poorly-planned intent to address an issue outside his scope at the school and during his time off was rapidly jumping up to bite him in the ass. "It won't fall off."

"But it might! You said it might! It needs a kiss!"

Trapped by his own stupid logic Lhoton sighed, cursed himself in his head, and leaned down to press his muzzle to the top of the Klee Kai's head. "There. All better."

Apparently she didn't buy it. "But I didn't hurt my head!"

Loosening the already loose neck of his t-shirt the Terrier sighed. He brought his right paw up to his muzzle and touched his index finger to his lips then lowered that same finger down to lightly tap a spot of undamaged skin right next to her abrasion. "There. All kissed."

She still wasn't about to buy it but at least she let him pick her up. He had to explain that he wasn't a certified kissing expert and that he wasn't allowed to give anything more than first-aid kisses but he was sure the nurse would be able to take care of everything. At that point she relented and he had to explain the entire hierarchy of medical practices involving muzzles and lips and whiskers, and tongues, and fingers.

Somehow, despite of himself Lhoton managed to come up with something that apparently made sense to the pup despite it being total and complete BS... and, if he thought about it too much, sounded more like porn material than any medical practice, but thankfully the little pup's mind wasn't wired in that kind of way. By the time they arrived at the nurse's office Karin wasn't crying anymore and was actually laying against him in the crook of his arm. The Certified Nurse on staff was a young Brittany Lhoton didn't recognize. She looked up as they entered, face a complete mass of sympathy and compassion. "Oh my goodness! Look at all those tears!"

Lhoton felt a LOT more comfortable speaking with a full sized Dog than a puppy that wasn't officially in his care, even if she seemed to be laying on the doting attention a little thick. "Ms. Karin fell down in the playground."

The CN was doting all over the pup, murmuring soft words of encouragement and comfort while she all but ignored Lhoton. The orange-and-white furred Dog took the Klee Kai from the CT's arms, not even bothering to greet or dismiss him as she hefted Karin up into her arms. They made their way off to one of the immaculately clean care rooms. The Terrier was ready to scowl at being ignored by a glorified secretary but the expression never made it to his muzzle as he froze every single muscle in his face; Karin looked at him over the attendant's shoulder, holding up one little paw to wave goodbye to him. Lhotton found a rare smile hidden somewhere inside him and he brought it out for use in response as he waved back.

Something about the interaction struck with him as he sped his way to the airport. While he usually preferred to be at least two hours early for a flight he realized he would get to the gate with barely a half hour to spare... yet he wasn't stressed. Despite staying after his shift, having to change in the locker room, further delays because of an injury at the Doll House, and being all but ignored by the medical staff at GG the event that remained on his mind the most was Karin's wordless goodbye. He wondered at that feeling; were moments like that why Dogs had puppies? Were those the moments the reasons why the richest 1% of the nation paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to have "puppies" that would never grow up?

"Don't forget your suitcase, sir."

The reminder from the attendant at the check-in counter snapped Lhoton out of his spiraling thoughts to focus back on the present. With his duffle bag already on his shoulder he stepepd back to grab his suitcase before he left the counter. "Yea... thanks."

Between his duffle bag and his suitcase the Terrier had everything he'd need for his island vacation and he was looking forward to getting away from anything and everything having to do with the school... especially little puppies that had him questioning the insanity of way-too-rich and way-too-powerful Dogs who thought nothing of dropping the price of two houses on what was essentially a custom-bred slave. Lhoton prided himself in making unruly not-exactly-pups behave; encountering a well-behaved REAL pup gave him pause and made him wonder just how much--

NO! He reminded himself that he was headed to the Pynmin Islands so he wouldn't have to think about work, school, Toy Dogs--- NONE OF IT! He was going to have a full week off where he could just think about himself. The only actual brain power he'd have to invest was in figuring out what kind of drink he wanted with what kind of meat and which lucky bitch he'd end up with during his stay. He was a willful Dog and all of that tenacity would be brought to bear on making sure that he was focused on the 'here-and-now' of his vacation. He had seven days where his only orders were those he gave to give himself. He had one week where he was only accountable to himself.

The Terrier trotted down the walkway toward the terminal with a happy spring in his step. Despite his duffle bag and suitcase weighing him down his ground-eating stride had him passing lazier, slower, and less-inspired Dogs left and right. He ignored them as nothing more than obstacles toward his week of happiness and came to a stop only once he reached the security checkpoint. There was a small line but the clock on the wall reminded Lhoton that he still had plenty of time even if he had been late getting out of the school. Letting out a deep breath, Lhoton smiled when his turn came up in line and he was met by an attractive, athletic-looking Doberman woman dressed smartly in her airport security uniform. She seemed bored. "Anything to declare, sir?"

Lhoton smiled at her. "Other than 'you have beautiful eyes'?"

He didn't usually go for the easy pick-up lines but he had to admit the situation would add something of a challenge to it; he was on vacation-- why not? His comment snapped her out of what was likely a mindless repetition of her job (he knew it well). "Excuse me?"

His smile widened. He was more than ready to get every last thought of work off his mind and he was hoping the Doberman would help with that. "My plane doesn't leave for a half hour. When do you get your next break?"

Twenty minutes later the Terrier slid inconspicuously out of the women's restroom, zipping up as he did so. He'd left his luggage in a locker near his departure gate and he had just enough time to pick them up before his flight boarded. He left the Dobie back in the bathroom so she could take a few minutes to 'freshen up' but he didn't really have the time or inclination to hang out for any after-deed chit-chat. They both knew it was a one time thing anyway and with twenty three more condoms for the next seven days Lhoton was more than happy enough to be on the look out for however more opportunities presented themselves.

He'd read a report several years before he'd found employment at Green Grove talking about how people working with pups were some of the most raucous, lewd, and sexual in their private lives because of how proper and clean they were required to be throughout their work week. Considering how Lhoton often found himself working six (and sometimes seven) days a week he figured he had his right to be on the prowl during his vacation. The Terrier was clean and went to great lengths to stay so. As long as nobody got hurt he didn't mind the idea of a little fun... or a lot of it for that matter. The Terrier collected his baggage and made his way to his flight looking forward to what the next seven days had to offer.