SSWM Word Count :: 384
His gentle tactics seemed to work, as her small sharp puppy teeth grazed his paw lightly in retaliation. Her muzzle would lunge forward, deflecting his parted jaws, and the boy would let out another growl, shaking his head and rolling from side to side. His tail still wagged behind him, glad to see that she was enjoying this even if it wasn’t a rough wrestling session like he was used to with his siblings. It was awkward being around someone so small even though he wasn’t much older than her; perhaps it was because of his royal blood that he was large? Being raised in a strong pack also played a role, but his young mind didn’t quite make the connection that she’d be malnourished. There was no malnourishment in the Court, with food stored when it wasn’t actively being hunted.
Her chocolate body leaped forward, and for an instant Skoll was afraid she’d land on his stomach and knock all the breath out of him. Tiny or not, that wouldn’t feel very good, and he tensed reflexively, hind paws rising to shield his abdomen. Instead, however, she fell against his neck, and he yelped, tilting his chin down against her small frame. He began to roll over to dislodge her, but she’d already barked and toddled away.
Her yapped challenge and inviting play-bow made Skoll grin impishly, though he remembered how fast he could be and how he’d have to correct his speed in order to make the games last longer. He would chase his sister a lot, and she was always upset and put off when he caught her so easily, so he’d had the foresight to “pull his punches,” so to speak. It was a concept that few children thought of, but the son of the King was advanced in that regard.
Skoll responded to her challenge with an eloquent “grrrrr” then scampered toward her, putting a cap on his gait so she’d be able to outpace him for a while. Every once in a while he’d twist around and try to nip at her ankles or cut in front of her to force her to change direction, but he was as careful as he could be, and he let her feel like she was winning the game for a while.
Image courtesy of Christos Tsoumplekas@Flickr; table by the Mentors!
<style>.charskoll { background-image:url(http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7049 ... lmanip.png); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position: top center; background-color:#7DC523; width:450px; margin:0px auto; text-align: left; padding: 410px 0px 10px 0px; color:#A1561D; font-family:verdana, serif; font-size:12px; line-height:18px; border:1px solid #FFFFFF; outline:1px solid #000000;}
.charskoll b {color:#FFFFFF;font-family:arial; }
.charskoll t {color:#6C7230;}
.charskoll p { text-indent:40px; padding:5px 15px; margin:0px; }
.charskoll p.ooc { font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:11px; }
.charskoll .name { font-size:45px; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; text-align:right; margin:0px 45px 15px 0px; color:#FFFFFF; text-shadow:#000000 2px 2px 1px; }
p.template-credit {text-indent:0px; text-align:center; font-size:10px; font-style:italic; width:450px; text-align:center; margin:0px auto;}
</style>
[/html]