DISPATCH FROM AMAUROT - SCRIBENS MENSE PRO FFXIV
0905 BELLS - DIE 3 - ASTRAL MOON 5:
SUBJECT:
Regarding Canis Pugnax
POLICY: Cotidiana Submission
Bark
The air was chill. Bitingly cold to be honest. A level of chill that no place ever seemed to match, not even Coerthas following the calamity. The snow crunched beneath their shoes as they wandered down the gray cobbled path towards the stone and steel clad building with it's narrow construction and steep rounded roof. "I'm not trying to be purposefully contrary Cor Meum. It's more that I'm trying to simply temper expectations, as a chocolatier might to prevent their candy from going off in the preparation, less the introduction of the main ingredient set everything awry."
The Elezen turned her coats collar up against the cold as they finished their walk towards the building. "I know I have a thing for Corgi's and that this dog we're going to see is not a Corgi. I haven't said no yet, but honestly, the stories I've heard of the dog's your people raised are rather frightening, ferocious, low to the ground, stocky and all muscle. Bone crushing jaws-"
Aellae's hand lifted, and pressed the switch for the doorbell. The chime sounding their arrival was immediately followed by low whuffing barks that resounded through the whole house they'd arrived at. The clattering of canid claws, a sea of them rushing to the door could be heard, as well as the deep throated laughter of the person walking with them. "No! No! All of you back from the door. Baaaaack- siiiiiit- bonum canes! Bonum Canes! Yes!" The door was then pulled open before Bex and Aellae. Somehow the woman before them was entirely what was expected. The utilitarian trousers, the flannel of the button down worn over an untucked survival shirt. The short boots. The mousey gray hair trimmed to neck length and worn tight to the head. "Come in. I've been expecting you. I'll get the tea from the samovar and you can meet the pups."
Not that meeting the pups was going to be a trouble, as the restrained behavior from a moment before that had earned the praise had melted in the face of two new people and a cavalcade of new scents that had just wandered through the door. The door was closed behind them and the woman kept speaking as she walked off. "Move to one of the sitting rooms and I'll bring the tea." With a slightly confused look to one another, the couple complied, with a half dozen Canis Pugnax pups on their heels, swirling about their legs like a migratory flood of short grey fur and snuffling snouts.
Aellae set herself down into a chair as Bex settled her bottom against the rough hewn wooden table beside it. The furniture was not the sort of finery that a crafter of the Vernier line might have made. But the utilitarian choice was immediately obvious even at a passing glance. Their were teeth marks in the wood. How many generations of puppies must have been raised in this house? There came the sound of activity from the kitchen, and amidst a cacophony of barking cries the tide of wobbling pups vanished towards the kitchen. All save one. Whose rump wiggled side to side and then bounced up into the chair with Aellae, then turned to Bex, and propped a paw upon the arm of the chair. Eyes set upon her, he issued a single demanding low whuff of a bark.
The Elezen tried to resist. Truly she did. Corgi this beast was not. Bred to be cute? Not a chance in this or any other realm! Yet, as she looked into those soulful puppy eyes, at that slobbering tongue. The wrinkled face that only a mother could love. Her heart melted. This pupper was now her baby. She leaned forward whilst Aellae watched on bemused. The Garlean quipping "Pugnis Rex~ he won his first war!"
"Aellae Neru! We are not naming him Pugnis Rex!" Before either of them could speak again though. Someone else had something to say.
"Whuff!"