Snippet #1462859

After reading what Carmen had carved, Syde gave a small nod to signal his approval. The kappa shuffled over to him and examined his dirt-covered fur. He attempted to brush it at first, but soon gave this up and proceeded to pick out the clumps of mud individually. Syde sat to submit to the cleaning. Occasionally Carmen had to tug out a piece of dirt that had really entangled itself in his fur, but it was nothing to him so he endured without complaint. By the end of it, Carmen had gotten out the biggest clusters of mud, but Syde still appeared quite dirty. He had time to clean up at the house, anyways.

Now for bringing the body. They headed back to the house in silence, dwelling on their next task. Though Carmen had said 'we', Syde couldn't much imagine him even helping hauling Lord Anthony anywhere. He might have the strength to carry the body on his own in human form... Certainly not as a domestic dog, and with ease as a hellhound. But taking his true form took a lot of energy - energy he may need to help clean up. So he would try to carry Lord Anthony by himself, and if that didn't work he would take whatever help Carmen could offer.

As they neared the house, Syde debated whether human or dog form would be the least messy, and decided to remain a mud-coated canine. He paused at the back door though, ears swiveling forward. His nose caught whiff of something out of place. Masculine hair gel and... an office sort of smell. He stared intently at the door, the fur about his nape and shoulders rising in distrust. It hadn't been too long, had it? It couldn't have been two hours already. How could the inspector be here so soon? But Syde could think of no other reason for the alien scent..