In Which Alyssin Has a Less Noteworthy Encounter

April 9, 1201

"Spot!" Stupid name, stupid dog. And the damn dog had taken off into the forest--again. Thetis was upset, Aidric and Florian were working, Honora was too damn pregnant to do much of anything... so, of course, it had to be Alyssin who went after the beast. Like always.

Christ. She hadn't even wanted a dog!

"Spot! Where the hell are you?"

Probably headed off to that same old oak he liked to piss on. "Fucking dog..."

"...Dora? What on earth did you do to your hair?"

Or the forest dwellers had eaten him. That would be fun, explaining that to a four-year-old. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you're one of those fuckers who likes to eat people. Great. Just what I need right now."

The green woman smirked. Probably thought she was an easy meal. The lucky thing about being a smart mouth, though, was that it came with a need to learn to run away quickly. "My apologies; you're not Dora. Dora's not nearly old enough to have those kinds of lines about her face."

"Dora and I don't look that much alike." She mainly said it for the sake of being contrary. The handful of times she'd met Dora had been downright unnerving. "How does a nice girl like that know something like you anyway?"

"Straight to the point, aren't you? I like that." The woman flexed out her fingers and cracked her knuckles. Those fingers had probably wrung more than one neck in their lifetime. "Let's just say I made Dora what she is today."

"What, scared all the personality out of her?"

"I thought you said she was a nice girl."

"Yes, I said she was nice. I didn't say she was interesting." Speaking of interesting, she'd figured that if she ever ran into one of these creatures, it would be a lot more noteworthy an encounter. "Look, you didn't eat my dog, did you?"

"Your dog? Ugh, no. I hate dog." She gagged. Her skin may have been green, but her tongue was as red as anyone else's. Perhaps somewhat redder. "If you have a cat, though, I'd advise keeping it indoors if you're attached to it."

"No cats. Husband's allergic." She wouldn't mention that Dora had a cat.

"Funny. Sometimes I think I'm allergic to my husband." With a flick of her hair, the woman nodded toward the east. "I saw a spotted dog run off that way. I'd advise finding it before my sons do; they both love the taste of dog."

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