It's been a week, and Muffin was still nowhere to be found. Nadwe didn't talk to anyone anymore, and Dino seemed to be the only one to notice Tbh was missing as well.
Whatever, that didn't matter right now. He was already running late for his meeting with Laff, and he didn't have time to worry.
He knocked on the door of Laffs farm, being quickly greeted by Laff eying him impatiently.
"Yous're late."
"Yeah, sorry, I couldn't find the right sniper." Dino apologized, hoping Laff wouldn't be too upset.
He sighed, stepping aside to let Dino in.
"It's alrigh'. Cmon in."
Dino smiled and entered. Thankfully, Laff seemed to be in a good mood. If he had been in a bad mood... Dino decided he'd rather not think about it.
"I needs to get somethin' real fast, I'll be with yous in a second." Laff said, going into another room. Dino looked around the one he was in, even though he'd been here several times, something felt... off.
Then he noticed.
There was a mantle at the far left of the room, and it was normally empty. Now, there were two new things on top of it.
The first he couldn't tell what it was, there was a black cloth over whatever it was. The other thing, however...
A wooden stake. Dino walked up to it, grabbing it and examining it nervously. It was stained slightly red, and smelled like blood as well.
Dinos mind was racing. Tbh was missing. Tbh was a vampire. Vampires could only be killed with a wooden stake.
Laff had a bloody wooden stake.
Dino reached over and pulled the cloth off the other thing, hoping there was something there that would prove him wrong and Tbh was still alive.
Instead it was a jar. With Socks in it.
Dino stared in disbelief, now even more confused and scared. Socks was supposed to be dead! Or he thought he was anyway. And how in the name of frick did he fit in a jar?!?
Dino needed to get out of here before Laff got back. Without a second thought, he grabbed the jar and Socks, stuffed it in his hoodie (along with the stake) and ran outside as quickly as he could.
He bolted straight toward the woods, knowing Laff would be on his tail the second he found out he'd stolen his pet spaceman.
The run to the military base was a blur, but Dino somehow managed to make it back without any problems. He went in through a hole in the fence near the back, and ran to his room, locking the door behind him and collapsing onto his bed.
He pulled the jar out of his hoodie, unscrewing the lid and lying the jar on its side next to him so Socks could crawl out or something.
The spaceman seemed a little dazed at first, then locked eyes with Dino and backed further into the jar, trembling.
"I-it's okay Socks, I'm not gonna hurt you." Dino said, forcing a smile. Socks eyed him skeptically, then stepped over the rim of the jar, tripping over it and falling face first on the bed.
Furrysaur stifled a laugh. Tiny Socks was starting to get kinda funny.
Dino cleared his throat. "So uh... what happened?" He asked fun size SocksFor1.
"L-Laff took me to s-some king of l-lab and... shrunk me... killed Blaza..." the spaceman started to break down.
Dino was really struggling to hold back laughter. The situation wasn't exactly funny, but Socks voice sounded so squeaky-
"Blazas not dead." Dino stated.
"Real-" Socks was cut off by a call from outside.
"Dino? Where'd yous go?"
Dino froze. Laff definitely knew he'd taken Socks, and if he found him... what if he met the same punishment Socks had received? He really didn't feel like sitting in a jar the rest of his life. It'd been over a week since this had happened to Socks, and no one other then Dino came to Laffs place regularly. It could take months for him to be found if Laff did that to him! He had to hide. Now.
He quickly grabbed Socks bolted under the bed, backing as far against the wall as he could. Socks didn't protest, he seemed just as scared as Dino was.
Dino heard footsteps go over to the door and start rattling the handle. Dino had never been happier he always locked his door.
It rattled a little more, then clicked open.
𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺? Dino thought as it swung open.
Dino cupped his hand over his mouth, breathing as silent as possible as he watched Laffs feet move around from under the bed
𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦...
His feet stopped as he passed the bed. Oh my cod, this was it. He was going to get found and stuffed in a jar or killed.
"Laff? What're you doing here?" Dino recognized the voice immediately. He silently thanked Blaza for his timing.
"Dino stole somethin' of mine." Laff growled.
"Really? That doesn't sound like Dino. What'd he take?"
"I can tell yous. It's... a surprise."
"I'm sure it is. Get out. We both know neither of us will hesitate to kill eachother, so for your sake, leave and don't come back."
"What makes you think I'd kill yous?"
"I know what you did. I know everything, you pathetic villager. Unless you're here to tell me what you did to Socks, you're going to leave."
"You've made a mistake." Laff whispered, walking off.
Dino waited a few seconds, then sighed with relief and crawled out from under the bed. Blaza jumped a bit at the sight of Dino, but cleared his throat and stood there awkwardly.
"So, uh, I did take something from Laff," Dino began. "But he's not really his to begin with. Also, I know where Socks is. That's what I stole. Complicated." Dino rambled, holding out Tinyfor1.
Blaza gasped. "Socks?!?"
"Blaza! You're alive?!? I thought... I thought Laff killed you..." Socks trailed off.
Blaza burst out laughing. "You sound- so- stupid-" He said between wheezes.
"Shut up! This is a serious lore thing!" Socks squeaked.
"How can I take you serious if you sound like a fricking mouse?!?"
"You just do!"
Socks jumped off of Dinos hand and onto Blazas hoodie, crawling up to his neck and disappearing from Dinos sight.
Blaza flinched. "DID YOU JUST LICK ME?!?"
"Yes."
Well, it was good to see the twos friendship was still in tact.

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I just realized I spelled stake wrong when I first wrote this, now I'm dying of laughter picturing Dino freaking out over a bloody steak-
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