Serpent Lake alloy

gucci exhaled. he was unaware that he'd been holding his breath. his heart still beat fast, but now he'd begun the arduous process of calming himself down.

they ain't gonna eat'cha, they ain't gonna eat'cha...

he inhaled deeply, like a frog would, and exhaled again. 

alright, alright. don't go havin' a conniption lil' guy, these... these are good folk.

he found that this thought calmed him down somewhat.

the dog got back up on all fours and shook his fur out, and suddenly became aware of another thing; his belly wobbled slightly more than before. this new and far more cataclysmic revelation was what his already panicked mind latched onto in some weird and sudden juggling of priorities.

he, a triple grand champion, several times best in show and most handsomest stud by judging of best breeders in the field - weighing past the acceptable parameters! 

oh, the fall from grace!

he madly preened himself in the lake's reflection as the sesh worked, trying to get his belly fuzz to stick out in a way that might make him look fluffy instead of horrifically fat. this familiar ritual was all it took to, once he looked at his flank in the water and determined he now looked somewhat more presentable, make the initial horror fade, and pass the mental wheel to a more reasonable segment of his brain.

gucci turned to tavina.

"miss tavina, ah... ah hope ah ain't been - naw." the neb shook his head. "ah ain't been meanin' t' be offensive in mah manner o' speakin', but ah know ah've surely been. s' jus'... s' jus' ah had these preconceived notions 'bout how a wolf was s'pposed t' act n ah guess... well ah guess ah experienced a lil' bit o' ol' shock t' have all that come crashin' down 'round mah ears. haha." 

he hopped over to the, well, the wolfess, and placed his puplike paw on top of hers. "ah hope ya understand that mah reaction was a thing o' uneducation, and nawt usual for mah manner o' treatin' respectable folk such as yourself, n that ah don't think no less o' you nor any o' mah good hosts in akashingo."


for all of this, he kept his gut sucked in.