Dance, my little puppets,

Win/7.1/01  

     Pearly white teeth flashed in an awkward smiles as Nakki nibbled at her thick winter coat to comb out dried dirt clumbs that clung to it. Yes, despite all rumors, Iromarians were actually quite cleansly. They smelt of tree rot and fungus, which others aligned with death because they were scents that came with decaying carcass, but that was the nature of wetlands. The land was naturally muggy and musty and logs that floated in the stagnant waters to decay. Thus, it was actually quite the clever illusion. Their fur could be sparkling clean of any dust and others would still cringe away. Granted, there were a few Demons that liked to cake themselves in mud, but Nakki only did that when she was on the hunt to disguise her smell. She was doing this less and less lately, however. The restlessness from her long journey to Moladion was wearing off and she was settling into her more natural lazy routine.

     Nakki’s pink tongue flashed over her fur to lick out the last of the grime. Her teeth then snatched up the hairs and preened them out. Nakki’s fur was far from glorious luster or astounding fluffiness, but it was clearly healthy. She puffed her chest up to admire her laborious job in the reflective ice at her paws. Her coat looked refreshed and light and the illusion cast upon her made her seem a bit larger than she was. A yawn stretched wide across her mouth and then she turned away from her image in the mirror. Lazily, her eyes scanned the white forest surrounding her and eventually came to rest upon a boulder. She probably should head back to Iromar… eh. Too far. She’d just lay about there anyways, and she could just as well do that on the boulder here.

     With a shake of her head, she paced forwards with long, lose strides. She crouched low to the ground and wriggled her haunches in preparation to leap up to the top of the gray, snow-capped stone. Her muscles contracted smoothly, powerfully and she was airborne, heading for her perch of the day with light, agile paws. Once she landed up there and settled, she’d sleep until night came. Then, she might go home and take that little Siren out for another bloody hunt… maybe. It seemed like a lot of work to motivate herself, let alone the unwilling little pup to go out. There probably wasn’t much out there anyways – it was winter, after all.

Näkki