Surprisingly cool things here

Unagi thinks nothing of trotting up to her mother with the rock held securely in her mouth. After she greets her mom, the pup retrieves said rock before tilting her head back to at Cel while her tail wags happily behind her. At her mother’s question the pup tilts her head, wondering what the woman thinks of her since the sight of a pup with a rock seems strange to the woman. A giggle spills out around the object in her maw as Celeste nuzzles her forehead, mismatched eyes squinting with glee as her face crinkles into lines of pure joy.

Then Cel follows her first question with another and Unagi carefully sets the rock back onto the ground. Mouth works as she swallows the extra saliva that had built up around the object and she looks up at her mother’s warm, smiling face. Tail still wags lazily behind her form and the lines of joy have morphed into a more serious, almost ashamed, expression. With some reluctance in her voice, the pup admits, “My teeth hurt.” Growing was a difficult and lengthy process and the girl is finding that she often feels an ache deep within her bones. That is normal to her by now.

However, recently, the girl has been feeling a strange dull, and sometimes sharp, ache in her mouth that reminds her of when she lost her puppy teeth. Since Unagi has never been through life before, she assumes that means that she will be growing in yet another set of teeth not realizing that the ones she has are actually permeant. A few beats after her explanation, she adds, “The rock helps with the ache. When I chew on it, my gums start to bleed but I feel better.”

Unbeknownst to the girl, she is having some dental issues due to a few pieces of bone that got lodged in her gums from one of her many meals. Mom had wanted to know her reasoning for the rock and the pup easily offered her the truth. Flashing a smile that includes some red, swollen gums, she asks, “What are we going to do today!” Never one to miss out on fun, the pup quickly pivots the conversation away from herself and, instead, to what the day holds.


"Hattori-Klein Unagi"