Puppies and Joy

Puppies and Joy is a Sandbox Verse blog written by Kiro Cloudwatcher about Fien, a young woman who encounters The Black Dog and The Merryman and decides that the Internet is the best place to vent about things. During the blog she struggles with her deep secret and the guilt she feels over it while also dealing with her declining mental health. It can be read here.

Synopsis
Puppies and Joy opens with Fien breaking down and doubting her sanity. She then explains that she has recently encountered a huge black dog with glowing white eyes, followed by a second experience two days later where it was sitting on the side of the road, smoke coming from its mouth. She then goes on to say that shortly before she started writing, she saw the dog again, this time accompanied by a tall, faceless, clown-like figure in patchwork clothing with razor-sharp teeth.

Later, the dog appears in Fien's room and subsequently vanishes into a cloud of black smoke, leaving behind a book which was written by an as-yet-unnamed individual and which Fien had previously destroyed.

Fien brings the book to her therapist, who sees it and asks her about it, confirming that it is real and not a hallucination as she had thought it might be. This shakes her, as it implies the dog is also real, and potentially the clown.

Fien explains that the book was written by Eefje, a longtime friend of hers who is heavily implied to have died before the events of the blog.

Shortly after, Fien attempts to burn Eefje's book, but is unable to bring herself to do it, describing it as the last piece of Eefje she has left. Out of frustration, she goes to a bar. As she leaves, she encounters the clown again, but is simultaneously completely paralyzed and full of energy. When she suddenly finds herself able to move again, she runs home, where she finds a partially burned, handwritten note in Eefje's book. The note reads "murderer."

When Fien next updates, she makes it clear that she's done her reading on the Fears, and reacts both by criticizing the Fears' names for being overly bland and by being shaken by the confirmation that the Fears exist outside her head.

Fien describes more of her time with Eefje, recounting the time that she challenged Eefje to a bike race, which resulted in Eefje getting hit by a car, resulting in lasting problems for which Fien never forgave herself.

Fien burns the book again, but immediately afterwards is attacked by the Black Dog; she panics and stabs it with a kitchen knife, but the wounds are inflicted on her instead. When she gets back from the hospital, she finds the book back on her bed.

Fien knows she needs to reveal a secret she's keeping if she wants to ward off the Black Dog, but she refuses to do so, as it would mean breaking a promise she made to Eefje and wouldn't get rid of the Merryman as well. She wants to make them stop following her without becoming a servant, but doesn't know how.

At a Christmas Eve party, Fien is almost attacked by the Merryman, but the Black Dog attacks it, preventing it from harming her. The same thing begins to happen after this point: she encounters the Merryman, she is paralyzed but laughing, and the Black Dog attacks the Merryman. After a number of such meetings, she is left feeling completely drained.

Fien, whether out of guilt or simply giving up, begins wandering around, inevitably coming face-to-face with the Merryman. Before it can torture or kill her, however, the Black Dog attacks it once more, healing itself when the Merryman attacks it by inflicting the damage on Fien instead, as it had done when she stabbed it. Fien runs away and resolves not to let the Fears get what they want, even if it's what she deserves.

Fien finally reveals her secret. Eefje told her she was going to die, and a few months later, her condition had worsened to the point that she asked Fien to kill her by turning her IV all the way up. Fien initially refused, but Eefje told her that Fien was the only person she would let do it, and she agreed to do as Eefje asked.

Fien, having rid herself of the Black Dog by revealing her secret, finds it and the Merryman once more. The Black Dog looks at Fien and vanishes when she posts her revelation, leaving the Merryman, which she avoids by plunging herself into the river.

Continuity

 * After the events of Puppies and Joy, Fien is revived as Hella, the undead servant of an unknown Fear, in 2 Birds 1 Stone. (However, Hella's identity as Fien is first revealed not in 2 Birds 1 Stone but in There are Birds Inside Me and I Have No Face.)

Trivia

 * Fien and Eefje cameo in Alexandria Memorias Chronicles, specifically "Merel's family," where Fien saved Eefje from a truck that would have hit her and they are now happily dating. (In the Golden Age, Fien's sister, who is briefly mentioned in Puppies and Joy, is expanded into the character of Merel, a student at Alexandria Memorias University.)