Manners Will Get You Far

Fever may have been trying her best to act aloof and ignore him, but Daemon saw the squinting of her eyes, saw the irritation furrowing her brow. He knew he had won this battle against his sister whether she admitted it or not. With a smug smirk of victory that met his cousin Kintsugi's smirk, the boy settled in to pay attention to their Aunt Ikigai. Kintsugi, Damira, and Thyrus all gave their inputs as well, and Iki praised them all for their contributions. Daemon's chest swelled with pride—only to swiftly deflate once their next task was given to them. Drink tea with good manners.

The crimson pup peered down at his cup of tea, staring into the steaming liquid in bewilderment. He had watched how Ikigai drank hers, using her dexterous toes to handle her cup, then saw how Fever had done the same. Well what the heck?! How was he supposed to do that?! His toes didn't move like theirs did! Feeling a bit like this game was rigged from the start, Dae lowered his muzzle to the dish, attempting to scoop it up in his paws to bring it to his mouth, but almost fumbled the cup twice. After a third failure to hold the cup, Daemon gave a little puppy growl of frustration and dropped the dish back onto its saucer with a clatter, then dunked his muzzle straight into the tea, lapping it up with gusto so much that it splashed all over his face. Was it the most polite way to drink tea? Absolutely not, but who cares? He still drank his tea!

"Daemon Mendacium"