She was bored to death, completely alone without anything to do, and could not bear waiting for the next human to pay her a visit doing nothing. And so she did the only thing a sane dog would do in that situation:

  She chased after her tail.

  It burned a lot of energy and made her feel dizzy and lightheaded, so it was the best non-destructive coping mechanism she had available. Then, she would rest a bit and get back to square one.

  Then, once in a while, when she was too bored of being bored, she would try to decipher her main screen or chat with the system.

  The light blue screen asked patiently, as it was more than ten times she did it without thinking. This time was no different, but still, she tried hard to oblige and find something worth talking about.

  'Did you make any progress on the small project you mentioned earlier?' She asked apologetically.

  It took her some time to learn how to articulate her thoughts into 'words.' But the system was nothing but patient, and they did get some really long chat to help her learn.

  'Sure. I would definitely like a new toy to play with,' She replied eagerly, trying hard not to overhype herself.

  Her vision exploded in a light show of a color she had never seen before it stabilized into lines beyond her box, suggesting a somewhat round solid object was surrounding her on all sides. But the most amazing was that it was completely see-through and did not impede her vision at all.

  'Err... okay. What about that weird color, though? Never seen anything like it.'

  'That would be even cooler if I could see anything within that sphere. Except for the wall of my box, that's it.'

  'That’s unfortunate,' She sighed. It did not help feel any better about that meaner side of the system that would not cut her some slacks and let its nicer side help her for a change.

  It empathizes with her. And while it always sounded nice, she knew it was also manipulative and nagging. And that its following message was more likely to be both.

  And here it was. First, she sends a juicy bone her way as bait.

  The ability to see through wall would definitely save her from her boredom for quite some time. Dogs loved to keep watch of things. And at this point, even watching other dogs fighting their boredom would help her with her own.

  But then came the trap. And just like that, the two-face system went from being sympathetic to her to trying and guilt-tripping her into trying her boring tips and tricks that never worked. The next thing she knew, it would tell her about the benefit of meditation. AGAIN.

  Yet she gave it her go-ahead because the system, even while nagging 90% of the time, always brought up something new for her trouble.

  The system retorted sarcastically before going on with her usual nagging.

  See? If she good a chewing bone each time the system mentioned meditation before, she might have enough to build a ladder to climb out of her box. And maybe save a few spares for her enjoyment. And all that in less than a day.

  She was bored and covered her eyes with her paws and whimpered to convey her feelings as she wished the system's nagging gone, only to see it replaced by the next one.

  The system taunted her in response.

  'Call me dim-wit again, and I'll shut you down,' She threatened, growling softly.

  She sighed. That one she also read about once or twice, almost word to word, except for the last two sentences that were new and seemed to be suspiciously aimed right at her.

  'You should at least try to reformulate,' She complained.

  'Sure.' She dismissed the system's retort while trying to reign in her growing expectations

  'Did you just tell me how to get that anti-stealth see-through ability you mentioned earlier?" She asked, not believing what she had just read.

  'Nevermind.' She didn't buy it but chose to play along. 'Thanks anyway. You are the best.'

  And then, a clicking sound let her know that the system wasn't in a talkative mood anymore, leaving her puzzled about what it just said. She only recently discovered what idioms were, as the system likes to use picturesque ones to convey its feelings. However, that last one was something else.

  'Baldness is bad, noted. Though whoever invented that language must have a nasty case of shedding to be concerned about losing hairs. I'm losing mine like no one's business, and so far, I have been doing fine, right?'

  And then, she decided to take a quick nap before going back to her routine.

  ★☆★

  Whoever invented meditation must have been a sadist.

  Cause whenever she closed her mind, trying to meditate, daydreams of delicious food or fun games rushed at her like a pack of wild dogs, demanding her attention, barking, nipping, or inviting her to play. It was not hard to acknowledge those thoughts and feelings. But letting them go was torture. And the moment she tried or even succeeded for a couple of seconds, other wants would come and bite at her when she least expected it.

  'Magic is cool, and I want it. Magic is cool, and I want it. Magic is cool, and I want it. Magic is...'

  She tried to keep focus and not lose sight of her objective. But every time, another wild thought would come and attack her.

  'Goddammit. Meditation is a pain. And magic is freaking hard to get.'

  The system nagged at her again.

  'Not helping,' She retorted.

  That sounded like a piece of good advice, so she decided to try it immediately. Not that she felt guilty for what the system did without her prompting.

  Concentrating on her innate talent while trying to meditate was not that hard as it was located in that strange place in her mind right between sleep and wakefulness. She never felt it for long, but right before waking up and right before falling asleep was always when that talent of hers became the most pregnant. So that's exactly what she did, laying down for a nap, only catching herself right before she fell asleep, repeating this process until the whole falling asleep and bouncing back to awakeness became a well-honed rhythm, as consistent as her breathing.

  And just as she felt like her innate talent was growing, the more she concentrated on it, a doorbell rang and made it shoot back to awakeness, all idea of meditation and magic soon forgotten. The door rang only when one or several humans were entering the building. And it was the middle of the day. So whoever entered was here to adopt one of them.

  'That might be my big moment!' She sprung to her feet, racing to the wall facing the alleyway the humans walked on.

  That's right. She agreed to the magic stuff to help her get a family, so better calm down and let it do its job.

  Although it was already hard not to be excited when she was hearing the sound of human voices coming closer.

  'Please choose me, please choose me,' She desperately wished, wagging her tail. 'I'm small, smart, and sweet, and I can siiiing tooooo'