Russell

"It's so fucking hot," Russell moaned, rolling onto her back so that all four stubby paws stuck straight out towards the obscenely blue sky.

"We know," came a chorus of exasperated voices. Russ squinted against the sunlight, glowering at the motley crew of stray dogs sprawled around her.

"PEEEeep," said Mythri, clearly echoing the dogs' sentiment. The young dragon was perched on the edge of the fountain, carefully washing off her collection of shiny stones in a manner that reminded Russell of a raccoon. She would occasionally pause, popping a stone into her mouth and crunching on it as if it were some sort of delicacy. Russell shuddered at the sound, rolling to her belly and stretching out as long as her corgi form would allow. At least it was cooler, here in the shadow of the fountain at the town center, than it had been anywhere else they'd tried

"Everyone's against me," she moaned pathetically.

"No, everyone's just heard you repeat the same thing thirty-seven times today," Erris' tone was soft and motherly; the black lab mix snuffled at Russell's ears with her greying muzzle.

"But mom!" she began, trying to squirm away from the other dog. "It's just so... so... boring and -"

"Hot?" said the pack, almost as one. Russell sighed dramatically, pushing herself to her feet.

"Fineee, I'll go find something to do."

"Thank the gods," muttered Evelyn, a particularly grumpy elder mutt that was small even by Russell's standards. She seemed unbothered by Russell's glare, chewing at one white paw.

"Mythri, you comin'?"

The dragon chewed loudly on a blue-green stone, small paw-like hands folded as she considered it. Finally, she let out a whistle-chirp of agreement and carefully placed her rocks back into her belly pouch. She hopped down from the fountain and clambered over three dogs before reaching her fairy's side; the dogs weren't too upset -- despite Mythri's heavy little frame, she was relatively cool to the touch.

Mythri climbed aboard Russell and they were off, strutting down main street; they were a strange pair -- one rainbow-colored corgi and a young dragon -- but Shaman had plenty of stranger folk around. It didn't take them long to find the ice cream shop, peering eagerly inside.

"Gotta do the human form thing if we want one of those," Russ muttered. "They don't throw anything out ever."

The rainbow corgi entered a nearby alleyway and several minutes later a short, curvy young woman dressed in oversized clothes exited. Russell squinted against the sunlight again, trying to adjust to her much larger -- and largely unfamiliar -- body. She took stock in a nearby shop window; her pale white-blue skin gleamed coolly in the light as she tried and failed to fix her messy, short rainbow hair. Hooded rainbow eyes peered back at her curiously from her reflection. Mythri crawled up to cling to her back.

"Right. Now all we need is money," Russ said, considering her options. Pickpocketing seemed the quickest, but she'd have to be careful abou the target.