An average-seeming collie wants to be Carrie's mate. Will he be able to win the pompous and portly pooch's affection?

A very, very, VERY longstanding request. I just hope it was worth the wait.

I decided to make it a double-whammy, combining the requests of  fenrirkar and  DGADController by writing a Carrie sequel including a stuck doggo~

Hope you enjoy!

----

Expertly hidden in the countryside just outside London, was the headquarters of Albion Labs. A secret Parliament project, A biogenetic research facility designed specifically to research and conduct experiments based on the evolution of animals, with a healthy staff number and a wide variety of machines to assist in experiments and care for the animals. One such experiment is enhancing the intelligence of animals to human levels, which so far has provided fruitful results...

---

Sector C was where the Albion's scientists performed their tests on domestic dogs. It was styled like a standard dog shelter, with the highest level of care from the cleaners, scientists and carers alike. The kennels surrounded a large courtyard that looked akin to a small park, with fresh green grass, trees, and even a pool for the dogs to have a dip or a drink. The grass was rather littered with bones, chew toys and tennis balls, because even though the dogs occupying Sector C sported human-level intelligence and even the ability to communicate in human speak, they were still dogs who loved to bite things and play fetch.

One such dog was a young border collie named Jake. A spry and energetic young male with black and white fur which was always scruffy and almost always covered in dirt or mud. He was a good 2 years old and still had the playfulness of a puppy, which made him rather popular among the carers. The other dogs seemed to like him well enough too, since he was friendly and competitive.
When it came to things like monthly aptitude tests however, Jake didn't really stand out. He was intelligent of course, but his obstacle course scores were always rather average. He wasn't amazing, but he wasn't terrible either.

Just average.

And it was another average morning. He was laid on his front in his comfy bed, just after enjoying a yawn and a good stretch after waking up not too long ago.
His ears pricked up and he raised his head from his paws as he overheard a familiar voice from the corridor outside his kennel. Once he was sure who it belonged to, he practically rocketed to the large door, jumping and leaning against it with his tail wagging.
Each dog in Sector C was assigned a carer, to oversee their personal routines and make sure they were happy and healthy. Two such employees walked by Jake's kennel, and he let out a happy bark as he recognised one of them. A thin young man with black hair, much like some of his own fur, who wore the white lab coat with the Albion Labs insignia on it, just like the girl beside him, and all the other carers.
And as always, he was carrying a tub which Jake knew contained his breakfast.

"Darren! Darren!" The collie barked, his voice dotted with grunts and whines due to his muzzle not being built to produce human words, "Hey!"

To Jake, Darren Morgan was more than just his carer who brought him food. He was his best friend. They were always happy to see each other, and Darren was always happy to play with him. He knew his absolute favourite spot to be scratched, and he was the best at playing fetch. Sometimes he threw the ball so hard Jake couldn't see it flying, and it somehow ended up back in his hand!

"Alright alright, I'm here," he snickered at the collie's excitement, then turned to look at the girl with him, "I'll see you later, Emily."
"Yup, see ya later Darren," the girl said with a smile, which she turned toward the kennel, "Hiya Jake!"
"Hi Emily!" Jake near yelled, bouncing on his hind paws as he leaned on the door.
"Okay buddy, back up," Darren instructed, and the collie did was he was told right away, getting down on all fours and backing away as his carer unlocked the door. Once it was open he pounced, nearly knocking the poor boy off his feet. He was used to it of course, and quickly wrapped his arms around the dog so he could hold him against his chest.

Emily just giggled while Darren spluttered from his fluffy charge licking his face. Despite his human-level intelligence and ability to speak, Jake was still very much a dog at heart.

"Okay, okay!" The carer managed to get out, and gently set Jake down inside his kennel. The collie sat down and relaxed, still looking rather happy.
Emily smiled and leaned down at the doorway, giving the collie a little scratch between the ears and receiving a lick for her troubles. "I'll see you both later."
"Alright, see ya," Darren smiled, and Jake waved a paw as the girl walked on down the corridor, letting Darren close the kennel door.

Jake didn't know Emily nearly as much as he did Darren, only her name, what she looked like, that she was really nice, and that she was Carrie's carer.

And then his heart began to flutter as images entered his head at that name. Carrie. The most beautiful dog in the kennels, according to Jake. Her beautiful fur, her dashing eyes, her confident poise...

He was snapped out of his fantasising by feeling Darren's hand splayed between his ears. "Hey, did you hear me?" The carer asked.
"Huh?" Jake mumbled dumbly and shook his head, causing his ears and chops to flop a bit, "What?"
"I said I got you some steak pieces for breakfast," Darren said, and nodded to the bowl with some moist meat cuts piled inside it.
"Oh! Thanks!" The collie barked and trotted over to his bowl, humming happily as he chewed his food.

Darren watched as his charge ate his breakfast, then decided to speak his mind. "Hey Jake, are you alright?"
Jake turned his head from his bowl, cheeks bulging. "Mmf?"
"You've been spacing out a lot lately. Something on your mind?"
"Nuph!" The dog hastily retorted, then swallowed his food, "Nope, I'm fine! No problem at all!"

Darren raised an eyebrow but didn't press it further, letting Jake get back to his food. Though he did begin to wonder if he should let a doctor know about the collie's behaviour...

---

A little while after breakfast, Jake slipped through the dog-door at the back of the kennel into the courtyard. It was a lovely sunny day, and the smell of fresh grass filled his sinuses. Dogs began emerging from other doors to fill up the courtyard, grabbing toys to throw around and bones to chew on, or doing their business or talking amongst themselves.
Jake was about to join them, about to go in search of his favourite tennis ball that he'd left outside the day before, when something stopped him.

His heart swelled with excitement when he saw a particular door flap open. It was much wider than the other flaps, and for good reason. A familiar, intoxicating scent wafted through his nostrils.
An incredibly fat husky bitch stepped outside, her cheeks rounded and her neck padded with inches of fluffy flab. Her round belly squished against the doorway as she wriggled outside, making her look like a grey and white barrel with that massive middle of hers. It even squished against her thick legs and thunderous haunches. Her fluffy tail was curved upward, swaying side to side like her belly as she waddled out into the courtyard.

Carrie.

Jake's tail began wagging as he watched the hefty husky plodded out, her fat face smugly raised in the air. Other dogs either ignored her or rolled her eyes, though some, like Jake, couldn't help but watch her large form jiggle and ripple.
Carrie was always the centre of attention wherever she went, for one reason or another. Usually from how obese and pompous she was. She was surprisingly healthy for her weight, and always acted like she was the leader, no, queen of Sector C.

And Jake had no qualms in bowing to her. Large and in charge, he liked to call her.

His chest swelled when the husky cast her aside glance his way. His tail began to waggle happily as her stare lingered, her eyelids lowered seductively and her maw contorted into a smirk. She struck a pose, raising a front paw and slowly swaying her tail. The sight made the collie's heart skip a beat, and he felt a tingle in his nether-regions, causing him to squirm a little.
She knew he was fond of her, and she loved it. An absolute attention seeker.

The large dog turned and stretched out her thick limbs, sticking her large wobbly rump in Jake's direction before laying on her side on the cool grass. Jake was almost hypnotised, seeing the large, fluffy white dome rise and fall with her every breath.

"Hey Jake," a familiar voice snapped the collie out of his trance, and he turned his head to see a Jack Russell Terrier in a red collar trotting up to him.
"Oh, hey Tony," Jake replied, still sounding a little distracted.
Tony smirked knowingly. "Stalking Carrie again?"
"Wh- no!" Jake barked, ears backed against his head as he got flustered, "I just...happened to be looking in her direction!"
"You've 'just happened to be looking in her direction' for weeks now," Tony snickered, "Come off it mate, you like her~"

Even with his human-level vocabulary, Jake couldn't find any words to deny it any longer. His best friend was a smart terrier, and he caught onto these things quickly.
"Yeah, I do," he sighed, dipping his head shyly, "She's confident, proud, beautiful-"
"Fat," Tony cut in teasingly, "What, you like 'em big?"
The collie pattered his front paws, getting more and more flustered. "She...she looks soft and warm..."
"Hey, whatever floats your boat mate," the terrier said, sitting next to him, "she's just a bit too stuck up for me. And I'd be scared of getting spayed by her sittin' on me."
The idea of all that soft, warm fluff on top of Jake made the collie shiver with pleasure. Of course he was too shy to admit it, but he'd had thoughts of mating with Carrie many times in the recent past.

"You think she'd like me?" He quietly asked his smaller friend.
"Honestly, I dunno mate," Tony admitted, scratching behind his ear, "I've seen her giving looks to every dog in this place, but I've never seen her actually with anyone."
"Well, maybe she's just waiting for the right dog," Jake pointed out, a hint of hopefulness in his voice, "besides, she winked at me~"
"She winks at anyone on four legs," Tony snickered, glancing aside to his friend, "but I guess it couldn't hurt to try. Just gotta get her attention somehow."
"How should I do that?"
"I dunno, impress her or something?"

Jake nodded and looked back toward Carrie, who had rolled onto her back to sun herself. He felt a warm flush and his tail began to wag as he thought about how she looked like a fluffy round dome, and began to fantasise being closer to her. Closer to that soft fluffy dome of belly. Watching it rise and fall with her breath. Feeling that soft, warm flab against his paws...

"Hey, c'mon," Tony's voice snapped him out of his daydreaming once again, "let's do somethin' before we get called back for a test or whatever."
"R-right," Jake muttered, trying to push his fantasies out of his head, "What do you wanna d-"

The two dogs' attention was immediately grabbed by a tennis ball bouncing by them, followed by a small stampede of dogs barking after it. Giving into their canine instincts, they decided to bring up the rear and join the fight for the coveted rubber sphere.

---

Later in the day, Jake found himself back in his kennel, laying on Darren's crossed legs as his carer sat by the wall and treated his fluffy companion to a nice scratch behind the ear. Jake responded by stretching out across his lap and wiggling his hind leg. As intelligent as the dogs at Albion Labs were, none of them could decline a lovely scratch.

The collie began to wonder where Carrie enjoyed being scratched, and his ears wiggled as he remembered. He was going to ask Darren for some advice on how to approach her.
"Hey Darren," he spoke up, "can I ask you something?"
"Oh, sure you can," the young man said, looking down at the curious eyes of his charge, "what's up buddy?"
"I...um," Jake muttered awkwardly, trying to figure out a good way to put it, "um, let's say, hypothetically, there's a dog you really really like, but you don't know too much about her and you want to impress her...?"
Darren had knowing smile on his face. "Would this dog be named Carrie?"
"Hey!" Jake barked, his ears flattened against his head, then he looked aside shyly, "Um...but yeah, it's Carrie..."
Darren smirked and gave the collie a soft pet between the ears. "Nothing wrong with that buddy, in fact I think Carrie might like seeing someone return the affection for once."
"You think so?" Jake asked, looking up at his carer with some hope in his eyes, "You think she'd like me?"
"I don't see why she wouldn't," he said with a nod, "You just have to do something she likes for her."
Jake tilted his head. "What should I do?"
"Well she seems to love good food and being pampered, but if you want, I can ask Emily for you."
The collie's ears pricked up as hopefulness raced through his body. "Really? You'd do that?"
"Of course I would," the boy smiled and petted Jake's head, "Don't see the harm."

The carer was suddenly assaulted with licks up the face as his dog raised his front paws against his chest.
"Thanks Darren!" He barked happily between licks, "Thank you thank you thank you!"
"Alright, alright!" Darren spluttered, gently pushing the dog off of him, "Calm down! I'll speak to Emily later and let you know what she says, okay?"
"Got it!" Jake pattered his paws on the floor, his wagging tail brushing the tile and his muzzle forming what looked like a smile.

And as the afternoon went by, Jake was overwhelmed with both excitement and nerves. He was going to get to finally speak to Carrie. Maybe be alone with her.
Alone...and close. Close to her soft, wobbling belly. Her fluffy, meaty haunches. Her rounded muzzle. He might get to rest his paws against that soft, round dome of a belly, feeling them sink into her plush, warm flesh. Or even rest his head against it, listening to it grumble and gurgle as it digests her last, large meal. Watching her thick, thunderous haunches ripple like disturbed water as she struts around. Presenting her bulbous backside to him, wiggling and wobbling side to side for him while he-

"Jake?" Darren's voice pierced into the collie's daydream once more, "You alright? You look a bit funny."
"U-um, yeah," Jake half-lied, "just a bit nervous is all."
"No need to be," he smiled and stroked the dog down his head and neck, "She doesn't dislike you, so just be yourself. But maybe don't bounce around a lot."
Jake felt a little warm flush of embarrassment through his face. "R-right...anything else?"
"Try not to get distracted by anything. A girl likes when you pay attention to her and spend time with her. Especially a girl like Carrie who loves attention."
"Uh-huh...oh, maybe I should bring her something! A ball maybe?"
"A gift would be a good idea," Darren agreed, "I'll speak to Emily about what you should give her."
"Thanks!" Jake barked, wagging his tail once again.

This was all so exciting to the collie. Scary, but exciting.

---

Once nightfall had come around, the plan was set. Jake sat out in the courtyard, which was softly lit by spotlights on the roofs surrounding the garden. It was a clear night, with the crescent moon hanging in the black sky.
The plan was made, and it was simple enough. Jake would give his gift to Carrie and confess his feelings to her, and if he was lucky, she'd appreciate his efforts. And if he was really lucky, she would even return those same feelings!
The collie was sat on a patch of grass, with a bowl right next to him. Darren had come through on his word and spoke to Emily, and she set them up with a juicy steak laced with some kind of chemical from the labs. Apparently it made the food even tastier, though Jake couldn't really see it. To him, it just smelled funny. But if Carrie liked it, that was good enough for him.

His heart skipped a beat when he heard the familiar sound of a door flap opening. The widest one was moving outward, and his tail brushed the grass when he saw the familiar ball of husky flab plodding outside. She looked rather disinterested at first, though her eyes lit up when she sniffed the air and caught a nice scent from his direction.
Jake couldn't help but watch as she waddled over, her large round barrel of a body wobbling and swaying side to side in her proud gait. Her thick front legs raised up high in her step, still showing her superiority despite there only being one other dog watching her. She quickly became aware of this, but she simply tilted her head in curiosity.

"Oh, it's...Jake, yes?" She spoke up, her voice carrying an upper-class tone of unknown origins.
"Oh, yeah I'm Jake," he muttered, his heart racing as he shuffled on his front paws, "N-nice to finally talk to you like this..."
"And you brought me a gift?" She continued, eyeing up the steak by the collie's side.
"O-oh, yeah! Yeah, a gift," he barked nervously, as if suddenly remembering what he was doing, and moved to nudge the bowl toward her with his nose, "You like this stuff, right?"
"Like it?" She giggled and greedily licked her chops, "I adore it~"

The hefty husky wasted no time lowering her fat muzzle into the bowl and greedily scarfing up the steak. Jake had no problem at all with her behaviour - in fact, with her loudly snorting and chomping, and the grease and added chemicals dribbling down her chins, she looked...even more attractive. He had no idea why, but seeing her be so gluttonous was rather pleasant to watch.
After a while, all that was left in the bowl was a small puddle of grease and chemical that Carrie was eagerly lapping up.

With a happy sigh, she flopped her oversized haunches on the grass with a whump, and gave the collie a smile. "Thank you for the lovely midnight snack. It's about time the dogs around here started showing me the proper respect~"
"Oh, i-it's really well deserved," Jake agreed, still rather nervous but feeling much more comfortable seeing how well the two of them were getting along.
"I would ask why you would suddenly go to this trouble for me out of nowhere," Carrie said, looking up at Jake with a knowing smirk, "but I know already. You like me, don't you?"
Jake's heart skipped a beat once more, then raced. She was definitely sharp if she'd caught on this quickly. "H-how did you- I mean I didn't- I, uh-" he stammered, feeling a hot flush beneath his fur.
"Let's be honest, who would be able to resist me~?" The heavy husky said, stretching out her legs and getting into a pose on her side, her rounded middle squished out and protruding a little more as if she were inviting him to touch it, "But it's nice to see the proper respect every now and then."

Jake was both relieved and still nervous. He was happy that Carrie was so accepting of his efforts. Darren and Emily's help wasn't in vain after all. However, his work wasn't done. And once he was able to pry his eyes away from the round, soft, inviting dome that was Carrie's overfed middle, he'd be able to gather his thoughts enough to ask the big question.

"C-Carrie," he began, and took a deep breath to lower his stuttering, "Um...I don't suppose...y-you wanna hang out more often...?"
"More often?" Carrie repeated, and looked down toward Jake, her flabby chin squishing against her chest, "Let me guess, you'd like to be my 'mate', as it were?"
Jake nearly choked up at the idea. "D-depends what you mean by 'mate'..."
"Would you like to be friends, or would you like to be...closer than friends?" She asked with a smoothness in her voice, not exactly sounding opposed to the idea.
Jake pattered his paws, the poor collie getting badly flustered. "I-I, uhhh...I uh...!"
"I'll assume you mean the latter," the husky giggled, her fluffy tail giving a soft sway, "Well, if you know me as well as you seem to, you'd know that I don't just want to date any dog in the lab. I have standards, and I have tastes."

Jake's thoughts came to a crashing halt, and his ears flopped. He didn't want to believe he'd failed, he almost couldn't...but it was starting to sound like it, from how she'd answered him. His ears lowered, as did his head. "I understand-"

"However," the husky continued, cutting Jake off and causing him to look back up at her with rekindled hope in his eyes, "you do seem like a nice dog, and it's not every day a non-human shows me such respect, so...I shall sleep on it and give you an answer tomorrow."

Jake could barely contain himself. He gave a little leap for joy and nearly barked his excitement. But Darren's advice to keep calm replayed itself in his head and he stopped himself. "I-I mean...sure, that's fine!"
The husky giggled and grunted as she stirred, trying to right herself, but her overweight frame made it awkward. "Ooff..."
"Oh here, lemme help," the collie offered, and bounded over to her other side to push his head against her soft frame and help to get her up.

Thankfully, it was enough to get the blubbery bitch onto all fours, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "That's better, thank you Jake."
"No problem," the collie smiled, his tail wagging behind him, "D-do you need help getting to your kennel?"
"No no, I can handle it myself," she assured him, and slowly turned herself to face the direction of her door flap, "But thank you for offering. Come and find me tomorrow and I'll let you know if you've passed the test, so it were. Goodnight~"
A dumb whine sounded from the collie, and he felt a warm flush as she giggled at it. "S-sure, n-night..."

The husky began strut-waddling back to her kennel, but the collie didn't move. He was content to watch the massive mutt wobble and jiggle back to her kennel for as long as it took. Even if it took all night, from the speed she was going. She was certainly in no hurry.
Once she pushed her head through the flap, Jake decided he would turn and head for his own bed, though he was unsure if he would be able to sleep from being so anxious to hear her answer. However he froze again, upon hearing some ladylike grunts from toward Carrie's direction. He turned around and saw her doorway being blocked by a blob of husky belly, and a pair of jiggling haunches and thick paws dragging on the ground but getting no traction. A curved fluffy tail flicked around in discomfort.

As Jake raced over to Carrie, he could hear her grunts and whines more clearly. She sounded more irritated than uncomfortable. "Are you okay?" He called softly.
"Y-yes, I'm fine," she lied, her hind legs wiggling helplessly in front of him, "I just seem to be caught."

'Caught' wouldn't exactly be the word Jake would use. He took note of how the sides of Carrie's barrel-like belly plugged up the hole completely, and squished out from the back end. Her rump wiggled and wobbled right in his face, her tail brushing gently against his snout.

She was less 'caught' and more 'stuck'.

Jake couldn't believe a dog could get so big, even if it was Carrie. Had that steak done that much to her body so soon? Even with the chemical laced on top of it, surely it wasn't that quick to take effect?
Though it had to be, from this situation. She merely wiggled through her flap earlier, and now she was wedged!

"If you're still there," Carrie grunted from the other side, "would you mind giving me a little push?"
Jake shook his dazed surprise from his head and got closer, his heart racing as he saw Carrie's fluffy behind wobbling and jiggling right before his eyes. "S-sure, gimme a sec..."

Jake paced around the round mound of husky backside, trying to figure out how he could do this. She was tightly wedged into the flap, and he couldn't think of any possible way to help her that didn't involve...physical contact. He was going to have to touch her.
The very idea made the collie shiver. Not out of nervousness, but delight. Ever seen he first laid eyes on Carrie's larger form, he had been wondering how she would feel.
He lacked the opposable thumbs to get a grip on her legs, and he didn't want to dig his claws into her and cause her any harm. He was going to have to try pushing her. A vain effort judging by how tightly wedged the hefty husky was, but he was too excited by the idea of getting to actually touch her to think of anything else.

He raised his front paws and pressed them into Carrie's soft haunches, then leaned forward to try pushing her. The husky let out a few grunts, her hind paws trying to push on the ground. Of course, it was a waste of energy, as she didn't budge an inch.
He then tried to push his body against her backside, curling her tail downward for decency's sake. He wasn't that enthusiastic about being closer to her. Not yet, at least.
He kept shoving and shoving, causing Carrie to jerk forward a little, but every time he lessened the pressure the blubbery bitch simply squished back out like nothing had happened.

"Phew," he sighed, leaning on the poor plump pooch's backside, "I can't get any progress here."
"Oh marvellous," Carrie huffed, sounding more irritated than discomforted, "I shall have to wait for the humans to help me then."
"S-sorry," Jake muttered, lowering his ears and feeling a pain in his chest.
"Oh don't apologise," the husky sighed, likely rolling her eyes, "at least you tried to do something. I'm certain the other mutts in these kennels would just tease me for my predicament."
Jake began to feel a little better, and even decided to try gaining her favour some more. "It's not your fault these door flaps weren't built to suit a dog of your...incredible stature."
"Hm, it's good to hear some sense from another canine," Carrie said, sounding a bit less annoyed now, "perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me company a little longer?"
"Not at all!" Jake answered rather quickly, his tail beginning to wag, "It'd be cruel to just leave you alone like this!"
"Eager, aren't you?" She giggled, and gave the collie a gentle, playful bat with her bushy tail, "Is it really out of the goodness of your heart~?"

Jake felt another warm flush under his fur, warm enough to make him start panting. He backed away, to give his eyes another treat, and the two dogs got to quietly talking. It didn't last too long though as they were quite tired, Carrie from her midnight snack and Jake from his nervousness and helping shove the porcine pooch through the flap. The collie ended up nestling down against her belly, feeling its soft warmth squish against him. It allowed him to nod off right away.

---

As expected, when morning came and dogs began exiting into the courtyard, a large group had circled around the blubbery bitch's backside. Some were surprised, some were amused, others were rather...'interested'.

"Whoa, Carrie really did it this time!"
"What a pig!"
"I never thought a dog could get so fat."
"How soft do you think she is...?"

But Jake hadn't been intimidated. He made sure the gathered crowd kept their distance while the Lab's maintenance humans worked on getting Carrie free.
"Back off, give her space!" He'd barked, "The last thing she needs is you all making fun of her!"
Some dogs respected that and backed away, while others stayed and watched, wondering what Jake could possibly see in such a pompous lardball of a dog. However, Tony decided to support his friend and help try to get the others to back off.

Eventually, a soft grunt and a heavy thud sounded from behind the two, and they turned to see a slope of fluffy rolls and folds that were Carrie's back. She slowly got onto all fours and gave herself a little shake.
"Oof, it's about time," she muttered unfavourably, and slowly turned herself around to look at the group of dogs, "Well I hope you all enjoyed the show. Hmph."
The crowd quickly dispersed now that the possibly vengeful princess of the kennels was loose.

Instead of angry, she was more happy to see Jake, and she looked right into his eyes. "Thank you for keeping me company. Believe it or not, I appreciate it."
"O-oh," Jake muttered, pattering his front paws shyly, "It's no big deal, r-really!"
His flustering only got worse when she gave him a soft lick on the cheek. "I've thought about it...perhaps I will give being your 'mate' a chance~"

A stream of unintelligible babbling was all the poor collie could manage while Carrie plodded off with her usual sway. Though there was more of it now, with how the roundness of her belly nearly reached the floor now.

"Well look at you buddy," Tony snickered and gave his larger friend a nudge, "Told you it'd work out!"
"Y-yeah," Jake said, swallowing and wagging his tail nonstop, "Thanks Tony, I really appreciate-"
"Pardon me," Carrie called from over her shoulder, and gave her tail a little sway, "Are you coming, Jake~?"
Tony snorted and moved behind Jake to push him forward. "Go on mate, see to your girl."

Jake needed no more encouragement. Unable to control himself any longer, he burst into a fit of energy and raced after Carrie, catching up rather quickly. Sure, hanging out with Carrie wouldn't be as energetic or bouncy, but it would be just as fun.

When Carrie flopped down on her side, Jake happily draped himself ontop of her, squishing into her massive middle. He was so glad to have a new ball to play with.