Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 15] Ch.5 Hunting Dog

Fido unfolded as he crawled out of the case and yawned. His maw glowed the same sickly crimson light as his eyes. He shook out his limbs and took stock of the room sniffing around. Unlike the puppetry magic for Shar'mander and the Helga limbs, Fido was essentially autonomous. A meat and bone robot if you will. With AI based on the original synapses formed in the brain with some not-so-subtle modifications to establish who the master was and some preset orders.

There were other modifications as you would expect from the mad scientist twins, but I wasn't going to all of that right now. I put all the libraries and stuff away then with a flick of my left arm the silver bone whips wrapped around it and settled into place. For the final touch Shar'mander settled in the pocket on my shoulder.

I held the jar of eyeballs to Talisa. "You want to feed him?" I nodded toward Fido who was sagging a little due to magic deficiency and having been asleep in storage for so long.

"Can I?" Talisa's eyes sparkled with eagerness and curiosity. As if to ask if it could eat and be fed as well as asking if she could have the privilege. The zombie dog construct wasn't exactly a cute thing. Heretical would be the closest summation of it. But Talisa was so intrigued by the new and fascinating she seemed like an eager puppy in her own right. When I handed her the jar with eyeballs her ears wiggled cutely and something about this makes me feel strange in a different way.

Even Liz wasn't super fond of me plucking eyeballs and keeping them in jars. And Lilith used special tongs when handling 'slippery' or 'slimy' materials, but Talisa just reached her fingers in as if it were a box of Scooby Snacks.

"Here boy, are you hungry?" She kneeled down, and then held out the eyeball. All the other girls in the room cringed. I whistled and Fido's ears perked up and her waddled over to us.

"Awwwww, he's so cute. Hi Fido." Talisa said as the monsterized dog fiend construct approached her. He ate the eyeball out of her hand, and she started petting him as if he were any other puppy. Fido seemed to like it though. His tail was wagging, and he nuzzled her for more treats.

I have to keep in mind that Talisa is a DRAGON. The top of the food chain. Everyone else is probably scared of him because he can and will do serious damage to them if he gets violent. But he probably wouldn't even be able to make a mark on Talisa even if he tried.

It wasn't her fault she was a mountain lion compared to a squirrel in relative danger levels. Everything here was probably weak and fragile compared to her. But that didn't mean that was the whole truth. If there is one thing that I've learned, it is that first impressions can hardly tell you anything about a person's character.

As a master of disguise this holds even more weight.

However, Talisa was one of the few dragons that had even been seen in dozens of years. They were extremely reclusive for a list of reasons, but Talisa was bright, intelligent, and curious. Let's glaze over the fact that she joined the sorcery class without any hiccups and examine how she went to an unknown place without even knowing the language or most of the customs.

And yet after a few months she was fluent in the language and didn't feel like an outsider at all. She adapted almost too well in some cases, like right now while she was in a festering dungeon feeding a demon dog eyeballs.

While Fido ate them, his muscles filled out and his posture straightened. The dry mummified skin took on an almost healthy color and the red magic circulating inside him strengthened.

"You're such a good boy, Fido. Yes, you are. A strong noble hound. Rawr." Talisa cooed and growled cutely. My heart, she's so freaking cute I'm going to die!