Lucy hummed to herself as she washed the caked dirt from beneath her claws. She'd had the most lovely day. An early breakfast in the kitchen, by the fire, then cooking breakfast for the Lord. She was still learning his tastes, but the kitchen staff were pleased that she could follow their instructions and not burn toast over a fire. She was used to communal kitchens from her home village.
She had then had hours of exercise, starting with dance to limber up, and then throwing herself into acrobatic routines that grew increasingly more challenging. No one supervised this exercise, but once from a passing mind she sensed envy. To a narcissist, an emotion that was like candy! She devoted herself even more fully to her exertion on the parallel bars, focusing on grace and beauty. Without hearing herself, she muttered the slogans taught to her by her Pouncing and Tumbling tutors: "It's no good to land the jump if you don't look good doing it. Be the best and keep on smiling. Depend upon your tail, trust its balance..."
After this lovely recreation, she had been summoned to the garden to begin her chores there. The others saw how quickly she learned, and were soon glad to have her. Her strong claws were good for weeding and planting, and she could clip stray leaves by bringing together two fingertips. She rather enjoyed digging, and the part she'd dreaded - telling apart weeds and desired plants - was ridiculously easy. The weeds were the ones in the patch that smelled different.
Now, she was getting clean and beautiful to begin her work at the Chainned Inn. Serving drinks, making people happy, and dancing. How perfect an end to this beautiful day! She wondered what dancers were allowed to wear (she liked her black dress, which was sort of like nudity, but hungered for variety.) She knew she was not allowed to sing, but perhaps they would let her string a rope and perform the Dance Without Gravity. The other dancers would want to learn if they saw it, and that would give her more leverage still.
"This life, I'm a dancing queen," she hummed to herself, applying kohl and mascara, red gloss for her lips. "With the cutest tail you've ever seen..." Really, Lord Travanix had allowed her to do almost everything she wanted to. She wanted a nap in mid-afternoon, in a place of her choosing, and she was desperately hungering for physical contact - with anyone! In time, she could petition to fill these needs as well.
"And I don't have to service anyone in the bar," she reminded herself, thinking fleetingly of the brutal, demeaning physical acts that Travanix had once run through her mind. "If they ask me to, I'll just refill their drink and tell them to take it up with Lord Travanix." She giggled to herself. Subtly disobeying anyone who wasn't the Lord was her very favorite past-time.
She had then had hours of exercise, starting with dance to limber up, and then throwing herself into acrobatic routines that grew increasingly more challenging. No one supervised this exercise, but once from a passing mind she sensed envy. To a narcissist, an emotion that was like candy! She devoted herself even more fully to her exertion on the parallel bars, focusing on grace and beauty. Without hearing herself, she muttered the slogans taught to her by her Pouncing and Tumbling tutors: "It's no good to land the jump if you don't look good doing it. Be the best and keep on smiling. Depend upon your tail, trust its balance..."
After this lovely recreation, she had been summoned to the garden to begin her chores there. The others saw how quickly she learned, and were soon glad to have her. Her strong claws were good for weeding and planting, and she could clip stray leaves by bringing together two fingertips. She rather enjoyed digging, and the part she'd dreaded - telling apart weeds and desired plants - was ridiculously easy. The weeds were the ones in the patch that smelled different.
Now, she was getting clean and beautiful to begin her work at the Chainned Inn. Serving drinks, making people happy, and dancing. How perfect an end to this beautiful day! She wondered what dancers were allowed to wear (she liked her black dress, which was sort of like nudity, but hungered for variety.) She knew she was not allowed to sing, but perhaps they would let her string a rope and perform the Dance Without Gravity. The other dancers would want to learn if they saw it, and that would give her more leverage still.
"This life, I'm a dancing queen," she hummed to herself, applying kohl and mascara, red gloss for her lips. "With the cutest tail you've ever seen..." Really, Lord Travanix had allowed her to do almost everything she wanted to. She wanted a nap in mid-afternoon, in a place of her choosing, and she was desperately hungering for physical contact - with anyone! In time, she could petition to fill these needs as well.
"And I don't have to service anyone in the bar," she reminded herself, thinking fleetingly of the brutal, demeaning physical acts that Travanix had once run through her mind. "If they ask me to, I'll just refill their drink and tell them to take it up with Lord Travanix." She giggled to herself. Subtly disobeying anyone who wasn't the Lord was her very favorite past-time.