Nothing like an early morning run... urgh

[Anonymous]

There was no such thing as sleeping in at Nall's house.  Once breakfast was prepared she expected everybody currently under her roof to be awake, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to eat and start the day.  Zézette could do it and she was only two, so anyone else that wasn't sick or dying didn't have any excuse for lolling around in bed.  Especially Atam, Atam should have known better by now.  Whenever Atam came to visit, she always made sure to draw another bucket of water from the well in the morning.  Not only was it good exercise, but water was a surefire way to wake up Atam and it also saved laundry time.

The whistling of the tea kettle was the final alarm.  She took it off the stove, poured the boiling water into the teapot, waited a few seconds.  Nothing.  She didn't mean to grin so widely when she picked the bucket off the table and began walking toward the guest room.  Waking up in the morning was supposed to be serious business.  If she kept it up little Zézette, who was hopping along behind her, would think tossing water on a sleeping person was quality entertainment.  She shrugged it off, there was a time when it was quality entertainment for her, watching another party dump water on Atam, she figured it was now her time to do the water dumping.

Opening the door to a bedroom was the first alarm Nall gave anyone sleeping over.  It made creeping in later that much easier.  She lifted the water bucket until she could grab the sides and crept into the room.

Atam was lounging on the bed, his legs crossed and arms folded behind his head, wide awake.  He winked at her.  "Morning Nall.  Had a bit of a wild dream huh?  Anyone I know?"

Nall almost dropped the bucket, her face turning vivid pink and green eyes widening.  "Sephnia," she rasped.  Now he should forget all about it and come get breakfast.  Zézette bounded into the room, hopped across the lines on the wood floor, jumped up onto Atam's bed and poked him in the shoulder.

Atam laughed.  "And people tell me I'm bad.  Ah well, I'm sure they'll turn up eventually and I'll get to see'm."

Nall figured she was supposed to smile and act embarrassed.  She couldn't.  Atam wouldn't think it was so funny if she hadn't tried to shrug off his question.  She felt a little dizzy, lifted the bucket and drank a couple gulps of water, splashing a little on her sleeveless white shirt.

"Yer s'pposed to be sleep," Zézette poked Atam again, furrowed her silver eyebrows and stuck her bottom lip out.  "Yer no fun."

Atam laughed and ruffled the little girl's silver curls.  "You should try it sometime.  Nothing like waking up to a bucket of water in the summer."

Now was probably the best time to get out of the bedroom and put as much space and time as possible between herself and Atam, so he wouldn't remember to pester her about her nightmare.  "Tea is... near... ready.  There's a few..." she coughed. "Rolls, honey... jam.  Can't stay... long...work."  She walked out of the bedroom as fast as she could without tripping over her skirts, set the bucket of water next to it's companion in the kitchen and almost ran out of the house without grabbing her coat.

She needed to get away now, but she figured the people she knew in town would think something was up if she didn't have her coat.  Or maybe they would just think she'd come to her senses and stopped wearing the long coat when it was so hot.  Whatever they'd think, they wouldn't think it today.  She snatched the lighter, white linen coat from it's peg next to its leather mate for colder weather, and dashed outside while draping it around her shoulders.

Nall stopped running once she was at the middle of the village, paced a few steps up and down the street and looked up at the sky.  Now that the space problem was solved, she had to figure out something to eat the time.  She didn't have any sort of work today.  Maybe she would walk around idily, or go visit a neighbor, or just go to the tavern to see if there was anyone with some sort of job.  Her stomach rumbled then, and she regretted not stopping to grab a roll or two before her mad dash.  She ran a hand through her messy, light brown hair and began walking.

[Anonymous]

So let's take a look back. In the past month she'd managed to get lost, twice, get chased by an angry mod of stall owners and get stuck in her dog form for two weeks. The angry mob was angry because one of them had caught her stealing food, and that was the village of people with no sense of humour apparently because everyone was suddenly chasing after Sevine and throwing things at her. It was only thanks to the extra speed of having four legs that she'd escaped with her thumbs, but unfortunately that had left her stuck in the forest as a dog with La'marri the closest point of human habitation that she hadn't already been chased out of.

While spending the three day trek to the village as a dog wasn't all that fun, seeing as animals tended to try to eat dogs that certainly wouldn't have attacked a person, walking bare ass naked through the forest wasn't exactly better, and it would have just taken longer. Now that she'd reached her destination though, Sevi was regretting not having stopped for a break to turn back for a while before she'd entered the village. It wasn't worth it now, taking the time to move away to a safe distance, before she'd feel far enough away to be naked. She certainly didn't want someone taking a nice stroll in the forest to stumble upon her.

So she was living the dogs life, eating what scraps she could find and living the stinky, panting existence of a husky in a very warm climate. At least until she could find someone willing to take in a stray dog, that is, and thus far there had been no biters. Not that she hadn't been trying either, but these damn people just had no hearts.

Her long tongue lolled out of her mouth in an attempt to pant away the heat as she sat at the mouth of an alleyway between two buildings, hiding in the shade form the early morning heat. It would only get worse too. Not many people were about, just a few striding purposefully to whatever tasks they desperately needed to attend to.

With a whimper she lay down, head resting on crossed paws. Damn people not wanting her. Her! She was freaking adorable in her dog form, yet no one wanted a free pet. True, she was a free pet that would try to get some clothing and food from them in whatever way possible, and a bed if she could manage to swing that. Mooching was what she did for a living.

Her eyes closed lazily, but at the same time her nose picked something up. The sweet smell of honey, jam and fresh bread mingled with something she could never describe. It was the smell of a good person, she supposed, some aspect of scent that only a dog could ever understand that identified a good potential owner. Flicking her eyes open and standing in a single motion, Sevi trotted towards the woman striding along, keeping her best non-aggressive face on so as not to frighten her.

Tail wagging, she trotted along behind her, getting closer and closer until she was right beside, always staring right up at her face. Make them think you wanted to follow them home, that was the key. Make them think they were special, that you liked them in particular.

[Anonymous]

A sudden thought made Nall stop and slap her palm against her forehead.  Dashing out of the house so suddenly was going to make Atam think something was wrong with her.  Something was wrong, she just didn't feel like getting interrogated about it when she slunk back home.  Or worse, when Atam caught up to her.  It would be like him to go try to find her.  He'd want to know what was wrong and if she wouldn't tell, if there was anything he could do to help her feel better.

In this case, it was nothing she wanted to talk about and there was nothing he, in particular, could do.

Hopefully it was something that would just... go away.  Just some weird phase.  The thought made her feel a little better.  

She peeled her hand off her head and saw a black and white dog (or maybe a wolf-dog?) staring up at her.  It didn't look like any of the village dogs she was familiar with, but it seemed friendly enough.  She smiled and sat on her heels, holding a hand out for it to sniff.  "Hey," she said in a coarse, raspy voice.

[Anonymous]

Yeeessss, that's it, fall in love with the cute doggy, yah sap.

Plonking herself down on her hindquarters, Sevi greedily sniffed at the offered hand. That wasn't entirely for show either, as a dog she really, really enjoyed a good sniff, sometimes of things that would make her sick to think of as a human. She licked at the woman's hand affectionately, and then nuzzled into it, raising herself up a little to do so.

Her tail wagged furiously, beating up a small cloud of dust off the cobblestone street. Alright, that was enough of that, time to bring out the big swords. Widening her eyes, Sevi let out a low whimper. The sound was just about the most pathetic thing she'd ever heard, or produced for that matter, all broken and whiney. A heart of pure stone couldn't completely ignore that cry for help, and to top it all off she was sucking in her belly to make herself look thinner than she really was.

All she could do was hope this pigeon took the bait, and that she was rich and left her clothes and bath tub unguarded.

[Anonymous]

Nall's heart might have been a little frayed around the edges, but it had never been close to being called pure stone.  She was also fond of dogs, especially the more wolfish looking types.  So she was delighted when the dog licked her hand.  Completely slain when it nuzzled into her hand.  She scratched behind the dog's ears and tried crooning at it, but it came out as a thin, ragged noise.  More gutteral breathing than a soft croon, so she cut it out after a second.  It didn't stop her from bringing her other hand up to tussle the dog's ears.

Then it whined.

Nall's eyes widened and glittered a little at the edges.  At first she thought the dog was hurt, snatched her hands away from the pointed ears and gave the dog a quick look.  No blood or obvious wounds.  Maybe it was hungry.  "You-" Nall coughed a little.  "You hungry... poor... thing *cough* Whose... supposed... to be... takin' care..*cough* o' you anyway?"  She patted the dog's shoulder.  "I might... have something... you might like."

[Anonymous]

Victory.

Sweet, teary eyed, victory. She was still amazed, after all her life of being able to transform, at the things dogs could smell. She could actually smell the woman's concern. When she started to talk though she sounded sick, and Sevine had to fight the urge to shrink away. Sick people might be contagious, and her canine immune system was inferior to her human one.

Still, she couldn't help give what passed for a grin when the woman seemed to take the bait. Practically offering up a platter of food, albeit probably dog food, right then and there. It was more than Sevi had dared hope for. Standing up on all fours she spun around once, tail swishing about, then rubbed her shoulder against the woman's legs, quite ready to trot off after her to her rich, sick person home.

[Anonymous]

How cute!  It was like the dog could understand what she was saying.  Though, Nall just figured it was a friendly creature and was just responding her pats and attention.  The dog's excitement was infectious.  Nall smiled widely and jumped to her feet, already trotting back toward her house.

Oh yeah... her house, where Atam was...  and she said she had work today.  Nall stopped, looked down at the dog and sighed.  She could always say that her job got canceled.  It happened.  Wasn't all that odd - and lookit what she found on the way back home.  A nice doggy!  Nall smiled again, walking a little slower this time.

The last word people would have used to describe Nall's little house was rich.  At the same time, poor wasn't usually the first word people would use to describe it.  The word that most would have used was little, followed by wooden.  Two silver haired people were sitting in the wide yard around it: a man and a tiny girl.  The man had pointed ears, wore his hair in a high ponytail that was long enough to coil next to his leg and was dressed in a sleeveless, dark grey robe.  The little girl had large patches of silver scales on her face, arms and legs, a little silver tail poked through a hole in her blue dress and little silver horns poking out of a short mop of curls.  Her features were sharper than a human child's, already starting to get pointed and angular and her lips, while not scaly, were gunmetal grey.  

The girl's purple eyes grew round when Nall started walking across the yard and locked onto the dog.  She watched for about a second before letting out a shriek and jumping into the man's lap, burying her face in his chest.

[Anonymous]

Tongue lolling out, Sevi trotted along at the woman's heels, filled with glee that she'd finally found a pigeon. It wasn't difficult to keep up, in this form she was quite swift, so when the woman slowed her pace Sevi began to get frustrated. Damn woman was supposed to be letting her steal, not taking a nice stroll.

After what seemed like an age they reached the woman's home. Sevi could tell it was her home from the smell. It smelt of her, and of some other people, probably the two in the garden, which brought her attention to the state of the home. It looked clean and well kept enough, but it was so....little...and wooden. It looked like someone had built a shed, decided it was too big and made it into a house instead.

Great, just great. So she wasn't rich. Fine. That was alright. Sevi could just take some clothes and leave, try a different scam once she could get back into human form and not wander about in the buff.

Her vision wasn't her keenest sense in dog form, but still she studied the odd pair as the woman walked towards the house. They were both weird, but she looked more at the little girl, who seemed to be part lizard or something. The little tail made her aware of her own, which began swishing slowly.

Furry ears went flat against her skull as the girl screamed, making her stop and hunker down a little. It was an instinctive reaction to the sudden noise that she simply couldn't fight, which wasn't too bad except those canine quirks had started invading her human side too. Raising back up she glanced up at the woman then back at the girl, letting out and whimper. She looked like she wanted to run forward, and she did. Children had an odd ability to pull dogs towards them, but she didn't move, she continued to play the good doggy, glancing up at the woman to ask for permission.

[Anonymous]

The man patted the girl's head and laughed.  "It's alright, Zézette.  It's ok.  You know Nall wouldn't bring home anything that could hurt you."

Nall smiled widely, sat on her heels and began to scratch behind the dog's ears.  She held her wrist up as high as she could so, when Atam got Zézette to look back, the little girl would see that she was petting the dog.

"Zézette look," the man placed a hand on her head and tried to make her look to the side, but she pressed her face further into his chest.  "Don't you want to see what Nall found?"

"Is scawy..."

"No it's not, I think I'm going to go have a closer look," the man started to stand up.  "You don't have to-"  The little girl began to shriek again and he promptly sat back down, laughing again.  "I guess Nall is just going to have to bring it over here huh?" He winked at Nall.

Nall sighed and stood up, patting her leg to attract the dog's attention.  Once she had it she began walking towards the man and Zézette.

Who finally turned around and stared in wide eyed shock at the fuzzy creature following Nall.  That look gradually became more curious than frightened as she got closer.

[Anonymous]

Tilting her head as the girl shrieked again, Sevi would have sighed, were she capable. Children were a conundrum to the dog part of her brain. On the one hand she desperately wanted to play with them, but on the other they actually frightened her. They pulled ears and tails, yanked out fur and threw things at her. She was also wary of the urge to use them as a toy, rather than as a playmate.

Responding to the leg pat Sevi trailed behind the woman, weaving left to right to look at the pair from either side of her skirts. As she approached the little girl, who had her rapt attention by this point, her footsteps slowed until she stopped a few feet away. Sniffing the air she decided these two were predators or some kind, but likely harmless to her.

Tentatively she took a few steps forward, until she could stretch her neck out and sniff at the little girls dress. After a quick sniff her plonked down on her haunches, ice blue eyes regarding the girl curiously. Dropping to the ground she settled there, lying with her eyes still looking up, trying to appear as harmless as possible. If the girl was scared f her there was likely no way she was getting into that house.

[Anonymous]

Zézette wasn't sure what she was feeling when Nall started walking toward her, bringing the four legged animal with her.  Even as she stared at it with wide, curious eyes, she grabbed onto more of Daddy's dress.  There was a brand new, living something.  Something that big people petted on the head, just like some of them (mostly Daddy) did to her.  This didn't look like any other kid, she never met a kid that walked on four legs.  It had a weird face too.

She squeaked when it sniffed at her dress, burying her head in Daddy's... was it a tummy or his chest?  

"It's alright Zézette," Atambrean cooed.  "Look, look, she's nice."  Atambrean stretched a hand out and stratched behind the dog's ears, lengthening his nails just slightly so they could cover a little more of her head.

Zézette sniffed when Daddy moved his hand over to touch the new something.  Her bottom lip started to wobble a little bit.

Nall plopped down on her heels again and began patting the side of the dog's neck.  "See?  Nice," she smiled widely.  "It's... a dog... Zézette."

Zézette didn't care what it was called.  It was getting all the attention from Daddy and Nall.  She wanted attention too...

Zézette let go of the man's robe with one hand and stretched it toward the dog.  She let it hover above the dog's nose for a long second before smacking it down.  The little lifted her hand and readied another when her hand was gently snatched by the man, who chuckled.  "Like this," he said, guiding her hand slowly toward the top of the dog's head and bringing it down in a soft pat.  "Gently."

"Genly?"  Zézette looked up and smiled a little when the man nodded.  "Dog.  Nice dog."

"Yes..." Nall smiled widely.  "A very... nice dog."

[Anonymous]

There was no way any human could ever appreciate the paralysing joy of being scratched behind the ears, or on your rump, or your belly. It made sex look dull. While those glorious nails ran across her scalp, Sevine was completely and utterly helpless. She hated that feeling of helplessness, always had, but that hatred paled in the light of petting.

Blinking as the scratching stopped; she let the world come back into focus, specifically the little hand hovering about her snout. It seemed to float there, disembodied until her inferior canine eyes could focus on the girl behind it, and my that time to little paw had slapped her on the nose. Her head jerked backwards a little as the tiny smack startled her. It wasn't hard or anything, just unexpected, like a bee sting.

The first urge was to bite the hand, but trained dogs fought that urge every day and Sevi had the advantage of a human mind. She was a good doggy.

She let the girl pet her for a moment, then threw caution to the wind and rose up into a sitting position again. Allowing herself a single long lick of the girl's cheek she took in her taste, noting the combination of sweat, soap and other such things.

Flopping back down Sevi did something that was so natural in dog form that she constantly had to fight it in her normal human body, she rolled over. Tail wagging she squirmed on the ground then lay still, happily looking up at the three, waiting for pats. No one could resist petting the soft carpet of hair on her belly, no one.

[Anonymous]

Zézette squealed when the dog licked her like she was a piece of yummy food.  She was scared for a second, until she saw that Daddy and Nall were smiling big and looking happy.  They wouldn't let a dog eat her.

"She kissed you Zézette," the man said, ruffling the girl's hair.  "That's how dogs give kisses."

"How... do you know... the dog... is female Atam?" Nall asked, raking her hands through the fur on the dog's belly once she rolled over.

Atambrean shrugged.  "A hunch."  He was then licked on the chin by Zézette, whose tongue was longer, pointier and noticeably darker than a human's.  "Oh gross," he said lightly, laughing afterward.  "Why don't you pat the doggie on her belly Zézette?  Look, she likes that."  Atam attempted to dislodge Zézette from the front of his robe, but she clung tighter.

"What's dog's name?" Zézette asked.  Everything had to have more than one name.  Daddy was Daddy, and a man, and a big person.  Nall was Nall, and a woman, and a big person, and a human.  The dog couldn't just be a dog.

"Good question."  Nall took her hands off the dog's fluffy belly and stood up.  "I'll see... if we have... anything she'd like *cough* to eat.  We can think... up a name... once she's got *cough cough* some food."  Nall walked into the the house.

Zézette looked at the dog's now abandoned belly, let go of Daddy's dress and crawled over to the dog.  She softly put a hand on the dog's belly and began rubbing it back and forth.  Then, delighted beyond all means, she looked behind her and said "I'm doin' it genly!"

[Anonymous]

A good hunch too. Looked like the man had some sense in his head, though the woman she wasn't rightly sure yet. Not that she really cared, these people were just means to an end. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the glorious sensation of having her belly rubbed.

She couldn't help her head snapping towards the woman as she mentioned food, making her spasm slightly and curl into a crescent shape, still on her back. If not for the girl, Zézette as she recalled the man saying more than once, if not for her taking over on Sevine's belly she would have been up and trotting towards the food. As it was however she froze, tail flopping happily, torn between pats and dinner. Pats held out for a while, helped by the desire not to offend the little girl, but once the woman had disappeared inside the house Sevi rolled back onto her paws and stood up.

With another lick to the girl's cheek she set off, tail whipping behind her and mouth lolling open. Following the scent of the woman she navigated the small home, finding her quickly and planting her bottom on the floor, peering up at her host. A small whimper and a single stamp of her forepaw conveyed her hunger.

Food food food food food food...

[Anonymous]

Zézette waved bye-bye to the doggy when she got up and began following Nall.  Then decided to see what Nall was going to get to feed her, stood up and toddled after her.  Atambrean figured that the little girl was in safe hands with the dog and that they'd both be around Nall in no time, so he stretched out on the grass and pillowed his head on his arms.

Nall rummaged around in her pantry.  There had to be some jerky in there somewhere.  Gaston dropped off a few pounds of it last week when he took down a young buck.  Nall hoped Atam hadn't found it and eaten it all.  It wasn't everyday she had so much meat, if he did she was going to march him into town and buy more.

Zézette, still following after the doggy, plopped on the floor when she did and watched Nall poke through the shelves in the tiny room where she kept some kinds of food.  Then something else got her attention, two red things were coming out of the ceiling, right above Nall's head.  Zézette looked up, her eyes widening as they stretched down.

Ah, there it was.  Nall stood on her tiptoes to reach the sack of jerky.  And felt a pair of hands on her neck.  She jumped, reaching up to grab the hands and yanking downward.  Something that was primarily red, indigo and brilliant platinum fell through the ceiling and landed with a THUMP on the side of Nall furthest from the door.

Zézette's face crumpled up and she screamed.

Atambrean cursed, pushing himself to his feet and running into the house.

[Anonymous]

She could smell such wonderful things. Venison, for one, and bread and cheese. The salty odour of jerky wafter though it all, overpowering the more subtle scents. Her mind was blank now, completely overcome with the amazing level of smell her canine form was able to detect, all of it filled with the smells of meat. Meat for her.

That thought was enough to start saliva filling up her mouth, threatening to spill over the sides and drip off her chops should food not be imminent.

Just as the woman found what she was looking for, Sevi sensed, more than saw, something wrong in the room. A....thing descended somehow from the ceiling, clasping the woman's neck before being tossed aside.

Rising swiftly to her feet Sevi hunkered down, hackles raised and teeth bared. A low growl became a series of short, warning barks, the human mind now gone under a wave of panic. Terror filled her eyes. The something had frightened her, which was the only reason she hadn't already lunged at it.

[Anonymous]

Nall backed up a few steps after tossing the thing that touched her neck, raising on the balls of her feet and putting up her fists.  She listened closely to Zézette's screaming, anytime now Atam would be coming to pick her up and take her to the safe spot.  Once the screams died down, Nall could run for her staff and properly fight the intruder.  After Atam put Zézette in the safe spot, he would come back.  All she had to do was make sure she was still alive once he did.

The colourful blob rose up about a foot, it's mass of colours becoming objects.  The red was a robe with long sleeves, wrapped a few times around a slender waist.  The indigo was either a pair of wide legged pants or a skirt with enormous pleats.  The platinum was a crown of hair spiking out like a lopsided dandelion puff around a pale face with high pointed ears.  It was winking at them.

Atam slid to a halt at the pantry door to find Zézette sitting on the ground, screaming her head off (she stood up and went to hug his leg as soon as he stopped), both the dog and Nall bristled and ready to fight-

And Marduk, oblivious as always.  If he got Nall to pull back, maybe it would inspire the dog to do the same.  Atam knelt, letting Zézette cling to his stomach and putting an arm around her.  "Marduk, you shouldn't scare Nall, she doesn't like to be teased like that.  Next time she gets to kick your ass."

Nall, her arm already pulling back for the promised arse-whupping, loosened up when she heard Atam's voice.  Atam wouldn't be talking if there really was something dangerous there.  Her eyes focused, the colourful neck grabber becoming a familiar face.  Nall lowered her arms and settled back down on her heels, taking a deep breath and sighing.  "Yes... I think I'll... start carrying a pan... hit you in the head..." Nall smiled a little.  "Maybe... knock a little sense... into you."

Marduk looked up at Nall, right eye still closed and bottom lip poking out.  "Really Rouxinol?  It might just make my head fall off."  As soon as the words were spoken Marduk's head fell off, but was still connected to the body by a rope that looked like it was made of sparkling light.  Marduk giggled, looking straight at the dog and grinning widely.

Nall sighed.  Atam considered the dog lucky that she was dog and didn't know that heads weren't supposed to go casually rolling off shoulders.  Maybe she would just think Marduk had an extraordinarily long neck.

[Anonymous]

Sevi could only bark and whimper intermittently as the thing morphed into a man, her hackles raised and teeth bared menacingly. Whatever that thing was the woman wasn't happy to see it, so it was something bad. Damned if she was going to die from some blob man.

As the other man entered, Sevi considered running now while the man was distracted by the other man and just cut her losses. She also really wished these people would introduce themselves, it was getting confusing.

Luck struck her, which in itself was odd, when the man with the girl, Zézette, provided her with both the newcomer and the woman's names. They were Marduk and Nall respectively. Excellent. Now the man was the only man and she wouldn't confuse herself any more. It was clear that the 'danger' was gone, but she couldn't help herself growling a little. The man called the woman, Nall, Rouxinol....which didn't help her name confusion at all. Maybe her name was Nall Rouxinol, or Nall was some sort of pet name she just didn't get.

Either way, her thoughts, and her growls, were cut off when the man lost his head. Literally, it just flopped off. If she had a human throat right then, Sevi would have screamed. Not only was a head now only attached to its body by a thin strand of something, but it was looking right at her. Now, being a woman of the world Sevi had seen many things, encountered many magic's. She could turn into a dog for gods sake, so she wasn't one to judge or be easily started by the odd powers of others. What frightened her here was the fact he was looking at her, and she could have sworn that he could see the real her beneath the canine mask. Someone out there had to be able to tell she was a shape shifter, and it'd be just her luck if this guy was the guy who would do just that.

She shrunk away from him, eyes never leaving his face, and retreated to Zézette and the man, pressing against them and cowering slightly.

[Anonymous]

Atam chuckled and scratched behind the dog's ears.  Maybe dogs were aware of the general rules of the world too.  Now, if only there was a way to let her know that Marduk knew about as much about them as Zézette; or maybe it'd be better to say that Marduk knew of the general existence of Things Living Things Do and Don't Do, but just decided to ignore them.

Zézette's screams distilled into a bout of tears, which lessened even more when Atam began patting her shoulder with the arm he had around her.

Marduk's head slid back up to it's proper place, the fluffy hair flattened smooth on the side that dragged against the ground.  Then it twitched and leaped back up, sending off a little shower of brightly coloured sparkles.  "I got another one!"

Nall nodded, turning back to the shelf and pulling down the sack of venison jerky.  Once, the news would have made her happy, now it just made her feel guilty and nervous.  Guilty, because the Dragon Boys Marduk hunted were probably the newer ones with little to no connection to their Master's capture of Atam.  Nervous, because she wondered if the Dragon or whoever took over in his place was somehow aware of what was happening to his minions and was having Marduk and Mr. K followed.  If they were, it would only be time before they were followed back to La'marri.  The Dragon was canny, she couldn't assume that his successor would be any less so.  It wouldn't be a Dragon Boy that tailed them, but someone else and if he was good enough, he'd mention the little house Marduk and Mr. K kept visiting.

Once the Dragon knew... she shuddered.  Wondering for a moment if she could even say it was through simple fear anymore.

"Listen Marduk," Atam said, his expression serious.  Marduk appeared in front of Atambrean in a puff of sparkles that clung to whatever they touched and rolled off like drops of water.  "If K's in on this little joke you might want to tell him it's over.  Nall will kill him even if he just sticks his head in the door and says 'boo' and if he does anything more dramatic and scare Zézette, I think I'll kill him.

Marduk giggled.  "I didn't bring Mr. K Tam-Tam, Rouxinol doesn't like him.  Who's this furry thing?"  Marduk waved to the dog cowering at Atam's side and leaned in close to stare her in the eyes.  "I've never seen an animal like you.  Do you have a name?"  Marduk grinned widely.  "A nickname?"

Nall sat on her heels next to Marduk, the bag of jerky open at her side and one big piece offered to the dog.  "Marduk..."

Marduk's open eye widened.  "Her name is Marduk too!  Is she Marduk Tinwe too!  Or is she something else?"

"No... her name is..."  Nall stopped, tilting her head to the side.  She didn't know if the dog had a name, much less what it was if she had one.  Marduk needed to be distracted before the poor dog's name ended up becoming Marduk somethingorother.  "No... I wasn't trying to... tell you... her name.  I just... wanted to tell... you to... summon Mr. K... I need to... see him.  I'm not mad... at him... anymore."

[Anonymous]

For a dog, failing to understand what was going on around you wasn't the worst thing in the world. Dog's tended to grasp the mood, and occasionally key words like 'food' and 'walkies', but mostly the conversation washed past them without meaning.

Unfortunately for Sevi, she was only dog in part, so having no clue as to what was going on in this crazy household was quite irritating, and a little scary.

She should expected it really, being in La'marri and all. Mages were so thick in this town, hell even she was a mage, so it only made sense that nothing would make sense.

While pondering what Marduk had gotten, Sevi was caught off guard by him suddenly popping in front of her, spraying little sparkles into her. They may have acted like droplets, but droplets tended to get caught in her fur, leaving her sparkling slightly.

All of the names washed over her, despite her sincerest efforts to remember who was who.

The tantalising smell of dried meat stole her attention away from the fool who thought her name was Marduk. Pulling the big hunk of jerky from the woman's hand greedily she tossed her head back and wolfed it down, only chewing it enough so that she could swallow it.

As it was still travelling to her stomach, Sevi's wet nose buried itself in the hand that had fed her, sniffing for more treats. She didn't go for the bag, that would have been a bad dog thing to do, but merely hoped her sniffing was enough of a hint.

Somewhere deep inside, behind the wall of hunger, the thought occurred to her that she should get a collar with her name on it, to avoid this stupidity in the future.