03-10-2012, 02:35 PM
(WC: 385)
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[/html] She laughed at him. Claudius immediately bristled: his fur stood on end and his stance became much more rigid. He hated being laughed at, mostly because it meant that someone else had noticed how silly he was. From that, he hated being weak and he hated when others noticed his weaknesses. He supposed it made sense given the number of weaknesses he had: he could not fight, he stuttered, he used to walk with a limp, and he used to twitch. Being reminded of these many incapabilities and neuroses tended to make it much worse, so Claudius would have to try his best not to let them take over. Of course, once they got a hold of his body, there was no stopping them; it was as if he was standing beside himself and letting someone else do the talking (or the stammering and twitching, in his case).[/html]
She smiled and revealed more of herself. Claudius was about to snap back with something rude, but then he noticed she was all bandaged up. He tried not to let himself feel bad for her, since he hardly knew her and she'd already laughed at him, but he was a naturally caring wolf and couldn't help but empathize with her. His wounds had taken a long time to heal and there were still marks hidden underneath his fur.
The girl explained that even though he had nothing to fear from her, the terrifying wolf standing behind her might pose a problem. Claudius glanced from one wolf to the next, trying to decide what to do next. Maybe it would just be best if he left. He couldn't tell if it was a joke or threat, since smiles could mean all sorts of things. After all, Attila would always smile and call him his brother, but he'd never been very brotherly.
Claudius took a hesitant step back, but then paused when she asked for his name. He frowned, not wanting to give her anything more to tease him about.
He was about to suggest that he should leave, but then hesitated. She didn’t seem like she was being mean and he didn’t think she wanted to hurt him. Maybe he just needed to take a leap of faith. Mustering up his courage, he replied: “C-cuh-Claudius… Aston… Fuh-rom… AniWay-a-a…” [html]