I'm leaving Blade, Shadow and Dragonfly for a moment to show you what Bryan is doing at the same time. He's on his way to Wellington to see if he can transfer almost all of his money from his bank, to the Ellesburg Municipal Water Authority (See "The Water Bill") to cover his housemate's water habit. This would be easier if he was in Ellesburg, where they are used to Mer--here in a small town he's afraid he'll be treated at the bank either like a talking dog, or a con man. He's brought every piece of ID he owns in his satchel. He's also stressed out about having to find a new place to store Patrick--he wants him out, but he doesn't want to dump Patrick on anyone else he knows, and he doesn't want Patrick out on the street either--he *likes* Patrick; but Patrick is just too expensive. And all this stress is making his teeth run. And you are thinking "What? Teeth?" Yes, the Mer have one more modification. Experts think that it wasn't an Azali modification, but an illegal Mer one, since at the end of the Empire they were acting as lab techs. Mer have hollow canine teeth that have, much like a snake does, an injectable substance. It's both an antibiotic and a powerful anaesthetic. Mer have some resistance to it themselves, but Bryan once knocked himself out when he was 6 and had just gotten his eyeteeth in-- He was eating a banana chip and bit his tongue. His grandmother thought it was funny, and when he woke up 15 minutes later, asked him if he felt well enough to go to the zoo and see the otters and eat ice cream, and of course he said yes. His mother thought this was terrible and Nona should have taken Bryan to the doctor immediately. Nona just laughed. Grandmothers know what they are doing;) Bryan is hoping no one notices that he's jamming tissues into his teeth like a kid with a nosebleed. Muffin has come to see what the "big dog" is doing. Muffin thinks she can cheer him up. ___________________________ Atenais (Liudmila Metaeva) made the patterns for Bryan's shirt--I've been applying them in Photoshop so you'll see them wander around in the different images;) Mrs. Doris Lindholm (in the back) is Rhi's Sienna, of all things, with an older morph. Muffin is just paint.