Serpent Lake alloy

tavina kept her gait manageable for @Gucci as they walked the long red lands down to the lake. her own eyes watched for those aforementioned birds. out here, the already small man seemed downright tiny — or perhaps he always was. "you said your owner."

tavina was not a vague creature. she preferred directness, even at the expense of her companions. 

"but you're a noble here. and i wonder if you understand the power that you have, my lord."

tavina's purple eyes were warm when they turned back to him. the lake loomed ahead. and the sky threatened rain.

for the small convenience of matching his pace, the little neb's gratitude towards the sesh was immense. the lands surrounding the mesa received little snowfall even in midst of winter, but still the cold winds blew and tugged at the chihuahua's proud mane, slowing him down as he walked near the taller dog's legs.

when the woman spoke, he lifted his head.

"ain't that relative though?" he laughed. "doesn't matter what we call ourselves, we're all jus' dogs 't the end o' the day. sure, some live wild like y'all, but once ya find yahself a human, you'll know what ah mean." one black-brown eye winked, as if sharing some secret knowledge - which gucci believed it to be.

"i don't think i know what a human is." tavina stopped at the lake's edge, watching how the ripples moved with the sound of the wind. they wouldn't be able to stay out long, but she suspected gucci was only pleased to be out at all.

"in the world of wolves, we are all our own master. none can own another. not even the fellahin are owned. they are free to come and go. and if they no longer wish to be servants, then they leave." was it so with dogs and humans?

the sesh hunted around for a wide leaf and another. she stacked them, curved them, and then searched for moss, eventually soaking all of it in the cold water.

yo apparently my reply never sent or got deleted?????? wtf???????? excuse me while i rewrite and so sorry for the holdup <3<3

he trotted up to the lakeshore, where he got to studying his reflection. did he get any pudgier? was his fur any messier?

"mm, that do make some sense." the chihuahua muttered, mostly to himself, as the inspection preoccupied him. "y'all're the wildest ones ah've ever met, nawt t' mention..." he trailed off as the sesh spoke again. gawd, he was getting fat wasn't he? that's what he got for eating portions bigger than himself. but declining them would be rude. besides, wasn't raw meat good for quality of fur and shininess of the eyes? he thought he could remember a study that--

as gucci himself wasn't going to do a double take, his brain took the wheel, putting the metaphorical vehicle into reverse to back up and once again take a look at what was just said to him.

the chihuahua froze.

very, very slowly, he lifted his head away from the water. at the speed of a racing snail, he rotated it to look at tavina. his mouth felt dry. his tail dipped under his belly. he spoke:

"...y'all're nawt dogs?" the pitch on the last syllable was pleading to be told she was just using a figure of speech.

no worries at alll!!

some transformation seemed to come over gucci. tavina stopped what she was doing to watch him, her purpled eyes observant and solemn. his posture seemed to bend toward what she would call submission or perhaps even fear.

"we're wolves," the sesh said simply, brow furrowing for a second. how did he not know this? she knew he was a dog, though she could not be prevailed upon to understand more facts about his species, save for the apparent truth that they came in all shapes and sizes.

"wolves have never been owned. dogs are. but we all walk on four legs and wear fur." the physician gave a slow shrug, hoping to ease whatever mood had come over him.

about a thousand thoughts raced through his mind, then none at all. in the blissful emptiness of his mind the revelation had time to develop into understanding. as this happened, he stared blankly ahead, trough tavina and beyond the landscape.

what was before him came back into focus, and gucci lifted his head to look at the...

...wolf.

he gulped.

"ah... ah did nawt know that." still he trembled, despite trying to will his body into neutrality. "-tho ah guess... well ah guess it makes sense, don't it?" he gave a little laugh so nervous it practically tripped over his lips.

and it did make sense. first, the everpresent scent unlike that of any dog he'd ever met. then, the fact that none of them looked like a breed he recognised, yet all shared strong, similar features despite not being related. third, their way of life. while gucci never had any business with strays, he doubted any collarless dumpster-diver could fell a deer and drag it home for dinner, still warm and delectable. lastly, none of them knew what humans are.

again, he gulped. despite all those dots that a toddler could connect without a guide, the chihuahua never entertained the thought because they were nothing like wolves. where was the savagery, the brutality, the primitivity? why hadn't he been eaten the moment he was seen? he was aware of his size in relation to non-toy breeds, and it took no genius to figure out that something as wild as a wolf would see in him a quick snack. so why didn't they?

his head hurt. gucci raised a paw to it, feeling like someone was drumming on his skull. "yeah. yeah." some hope trickled into his voice. "we do. we's all jus', jus' can-ines. n we don't," he glanced up. "we don't eat each other, 'cause that'd be a sort of cannibalisin'." a volatile smile tugged at his flews. oh please don't make a meal outta me now that the jig's up.

how could he not have known? she wanted to ask incredulously after this, were it not fo gucci's continued words. but now his drawl seemed muted. now he seemed to gather into himself with — it was unclear.

tavina went back to her work. "some wolves eat coyotes and foxes. we do not do that here. so it stands to reason that dog would also not be on the menu." with no frame of reference for his reactions, the sesh found herself offended beneath the cool smile in her purple eyes.

"i have met many dogs. in fact, i met one named nala not far from here. she was pretty with long white fur and bright eyes. you come in many sorts of looks." humour when she felt none.

the line of her shoulder was aloof when she bent back over the water.

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.

tavina was a logical sort and as such her mind turned immediately to why indeed she had been so offended. the queen had snapped at her many times and ramesses had brushed by her in the halls on too many occasions to note. her long time at the bedside had made her the target of wrath by many patients, especially those terminally ill.

and none of those times had ever stung so much as this.

the sesh did a mental inventorying of her physical self first. she had been rather uncommonly warm as of late, though she attributed it to spending longer times beneath the mesa. today was the first she had felt so aligned. and today was the first time she had ever felt such a fool. tavina watched gucci frenetically groom himself, somewhat detached as she tried to make sense of herself and her own reaction.

the sesh then had a thought that was so absurd she nearly allowed a nervous chuckle to escape into the spring air. it felt as though she had — her mind spun circles, trying to avoid bringing the sentiment into existence. her thoughts hopped on one foot and began to pull faces, all manner of increasingly more ridiculous things to avert manifesting the words.

with his new discovery about the inhabitants of the mesa and her most recent explanation that he would not be eaten, why, that left nothing else. 

gucci gave a loquacious apology. tavina smiled. it is forgotten, her eyes said, though her entire manner stiffened with surprise when he put his paw over her own. she stared at the contrast of light and of dark, of small and of large, of dog and wolf —

at the way his stomach seemed irreverently held.

tavina sought her normal composure, dreadfully questioning herself, her motives, her — predilections. "it has been a very jarring day for you, neb," she said softly. "i don't hold any of your reactions against you. just know that your place in akashingo is as assured as it ever was, dog or wolf or otherwise."

and somehow - despite minutes ago being chiefly concerned by the possibility of being cannibalised, and afterwards by his growing berry gut - gucci found his erratic mind finally put at ease by tavina's acceptance of his apology. the soft look in her russian violet eyes assured him his erroneous behaviour had been forgiven...

...unless he horribly misunderstood it??

the dog inhaled sharply, brows creasing slightly. no, he would not let himself panic anymore. that emotion had done its quota for the day, and now would be the time to clock out and let common sense come in and preform janitorial duties upon the mess of a situation its predecessor had made.

gucci exhaled.

"ahm glad." he looked up at the healer, smiling warmly, and patted her paw. "ahm nawt lyin' when ah say y'all've been a real blessin', 'specially fo' a lil' hapless man such as me."

he retracted his paw, then cleared his throat.

"now, ehm ehm, ya don't suppose y' could tell me o' the purposes o' th' plants you've been gatherin' n if there's any way ah can help?"

we can keep going or fade (i can fade w my reply if it's awkward)? kinna want a more recent interaction, but if youve plans we can keep rolling 

ill fade and i would loveeee another one anytime!

tavina smiled. "it's been nice to have you here. i truly think that your presence has helped the prince recover. he was quite lonely and even languishing before you arrived." 

despite the little bite which still reverberated dully within herself, the sesh was happy for the distraction. "i want to carry as much water to the queen as possible. the moss holds it best but all of it will drip away before i reach her rooms if i carried that and nothing else. so i am using these two leaves to put around the moss. they will also serve as extra watercups."

in time she would spot the wheeling shadow of a hawk, and declare that they had spent enough time outdoors. together the sesh and the noble would return, tavina quiet beneath her watermoss but ears cupped to any drawling words gucci might give.